Hello Gorgeous,

Welcome back! As mentioned, this week’s topic is on planner routines.

I have to be honest with you, ever since the pandemic happened, my planning style and system has changed and continues to change. I went from being super busy, to only having a little bit of things to do. I went from using an A5 size planner, to pocket, and then now a personal wide! And that’s okay because our lives change, and our planners have to adjust to those changes as well. Because life happens, our planner routines can vary.

So, what is a planner routine? How do you get one?

To me, a planner routine is having a system set in place where you have specific tasks to do regarding your planner and its functionality.

Additionally, planner routines are great to have to help us stay on track on our planners and how we use them.

Your planner can be used however you like; whether it’s a daily planning routine, weekly planning routine, monthly planning routine, etc. and even a combination of all of them.

For example, maybe on Sundays you map out and plan out your week ahead. And because you like to plan on Sundays for the week ahead, this can be part of your weekly planner routine. Another example is, a day before a new month begins, you can take out the previous month’s inserts – and this can be part of your monthly planner routine.

As part of your daily routine, you can check your list of to-do’s and fill out your habit tracker.

Just like planning, while it’s tempting to copy someone else’s planner routine – it is ultimately up to you to figure out and decide what works for your planning style. For example, if someone’s monthly planner routine includes taking out old inserts (because they have a ring style agenda); but you have a coiled agenda – it won’t necessarily work for you.

This is why it’s important to note how you use your planners. For example, if you use your planner to track your fitness goals and other health information, you may need to update your health information daily (if you are taking medication for example).

Another example of a planner routine is checking your monthly calendar for any
meetings or birthdays, and then transferring those events into your weekly spread.

These planner routines serve as a gentle reminder as to how you will delegate your planning style in terms of the steps you will have to do in order to make your planner work for you.

Samantha from @ sammysplanner on IG, has a fantastic freebie for planner routines. (Click on her handle to head on over to her LinkTree account to download). She offers vertical and horizontal layouts, as well as some blank layouts so you can fill out the cards as you see fit.

Below is an example of the template she provides. You can choose to cut these into cards and put them inside the pockets of your planner or simply print the entire sheet out and use it as s reference as necessary.

Make sure to tag us and @sammysplanner if you use her template.

That's all for this week! Feel free to message or email me if you have any suggestions for blog posts or need help with anything. 

xoxo

Daisy Martinez