I was actually at my friend Ryan’s apartment yesterday, um, I don’t know in this articles going up, but Ryan has his own YouTube blog, which I will link up in the card for you guys he is a man with the plans, and I brought my binder over And we were kind of looking at each other’s planners and whatever, and I have been decorative planning for several years now.
Actually I started a decorative planning when I started my youtube blog. So what like, four or five years – something like that and it’s taken a long time for me to really understand my style and figure out. What makes me happy so we had a discussion about planner piece and if it’s even achievable and all of that stuff. So I wanted to kind of share with you guys my mentality of how I have gotten to the point where I feel like.
I have achieved the planner piece, the illustrious elusive planner piece. So a lot of my journey with planning is centered around the Erin Condren products. I have tried several different things and what I keep going back to is simplicity. For me, I am NOT one of those people that can have four or five different planners. It’s too much for me, my brain doesn’t work that way. I have a very simple life.
I am single, no kids, no partner. I have a dog like that’s it, so I don’t really have that much stuff to track or write down or whatever you know. But there was a time where I was using a couple of different planners for different things, and now everything is in this planner. What I use now is the Erin Condren binder system, and I’m just going to flip through and like talk to you guys, while I’m flipping so yeah, but this has just been working really well for me, oh my little, my little dots are over here.
Here we go, I’ve done several articles on this particular planner. I did put in a just cover because I feel like that helps with you know not ruining these pages, but I did actually end up ordering a neutral planner, because I love the way that the neutral was. But, to be honest, I decided that neutral is not for me and you guys are probably thinking like what Emily you’re like super neutral. Yes, yes, I am, however, I’m super neutral in my like regular daily life.
However, in my planner is like the one place that I can be super colorful and more bold and loud, and it doesn’t cause me anxiety, like color in general, like lots of like big colors, really cause me legit anxiety. So that’s why my home is very neutral. My wardrobe is very neutral, I’m very neutral, however, in here I actually really enjoy it, so it’s kind of like my little outlet, if that makes sense anyway.
Here are these pages. This has where I track my menstrual cycle paydays and then like work holidays, so I mean you could track whatever the heck you want to on there here. I actually just made this not too long ago. I had one of these in my last planner too, and this is like kind of just like projects or things I’d like to do so like I have my entryway living room, half bath garage laundry office, kitchen, dining room, loft master bath bedroom, and then I have An extra one, but just thought that you know this would be kind of cute to put in there and then over.
Here is my first July, a budget that I’ve done. I used to have a erin condren, deluxe monthly planner, and that only has my budget, and that was it. I love the idea of the deluxe monthly planner when I was actually tracking every single dollar that came in and came out, but I don’t do that anymore. I do follow the Dave Ramsey plan and, at the point that I was tracking everything I was, you know paying down debt saving up my six month, emergency and saving for a house so like that was really nice to have like a tangible place to see everything Like the incoming and the outgoing, but now that I’ve already purchased the house, I’m in baby step four and six, because I don’t have kids, so I don’t not doing college savings.
So I just like an overview. That’s just works super well for me, and I decided to do that in the sheet at the very front of the month. So anyways. If you guys want to see any of my budget bud, you don’t want to see any of my budgeting articles I’ll, throw it up and a card for you guys um, but yeah, and then this is the first month. I just wrote down some things, but I never really. I don’t know I don’t know what to do with this page.
This is this is my problem and I know that some people have actually like taped these pages together, so it just flips to the month. I may or may not do that, I’m not sure I mean I might find a use for these two pages at some point, but this is my month of July. That’s already happened and then speaking of planner piece. So, for me, what has worked really well, especially when you’re first starting is don’t buy all the things.
I know that’s so hard to do, because I bought all the things and I ended up not using all the things this is before. I discovered that people had like dedicated a planner, instagrams and people did. Plan with me is on YouTube and I did not know any of that yet so I had already established my youtube blog just a little bit. I had done a few articles and I decided as soon as I started or as soon as I got my first planner, that I was going to start planning articles and I did, and I actually didn’t do any talking at all.
I mean I said like hello and then I would just you know fast-forward through it, and then he like show you all at the end and it was like very, very decorative and I felt like everything needed to have a theme because that’s the only stuff, I Kind of saw online, it was very femi and it inevitably didn’t end up working for me, which really sucked, but that’s okay. Over the years, I have established a love for two major sticker brands that have really worked for me and the first one is coffee, brick planner, which all these little scallop boxes and then all the scripty words are from her and then I also am in love With Christian designs, I feel like the majority – well not in the majority at least half of the stickers in each shop really appeal to me and that just I don’t know it works well with my brain that I can support these two shops by the things I Need and I feel like it all kind of flows well together.
I hope that makes sense for me and a normal like weekly basis. Usually my two or my go-to things are these scallop boxes because I usually will write in things that are happening, and then these are also which I absolutely love, that they are mat removable stickers. So you can actually peel them up so say I didn’t. You know, edit that day I can pull that up and it’s just so easy. I do obviously have other sticker shops too, but I kind of just sprinkle those in where they go and I’m not super dedicated to one shop or another.
In that respect, I do like little icons like this. One is a 110 and a million this ones once more with love. This little dr. Guy is from plan to plan sticker Co yeah. So I mean I love like little things like that. Just to emphasize the event in the box also, these little blobbies are super cute from oh hello, stationery like there’s so many fun things to put in there to kind of, like judge up your planner, if you like that, if you like super basic and all you Want to do is just have different, colored pens like you go, you do your thing.
You know so yeah, that’s kind of like my mentality, like walking through how I lay my stickers down and how I choose what I choose. So this is like the week of July 4th. Clearly this is July 4th right here and then um here is this week, um so yeah. But another thing I really wanted to talk about was that I know there are some people in the planner community that get not necessarily upset, but maybe like a little perturbed if other people copy their style – and I feel like copying or emulating is how people find Their style, so I always take it as a compliment.
If someone’s going to tag me on instagram or send me an email saying: hey, here’s, my first spread or here’s a spread that I just did and I really emulated your style or I copied your style. What do you think or whatever like? I think, that’s amazing, because that’s how you find what works for you, one of my biggest style inspirations, has been Jen plans and I will leave her Instagram down below. If you are interested.
She also has a youtube blog, which I will link for you guys if you see her style, it’s very different than this, but this is kind of how I came to this conclusion. She has a lot more white space than I do typically in her weeks, and she does do some of the decorative icons. But I definitely do a lot more and I did try out her style like exactly for the longest time, and I just figured you know what I love that style.
It really works for me. I, like true times of you, know I work and then I put my washi in and then you know. At the end of the day, I cut my washi and then I put in what’s going on and what’s happening, but for me I wanted a little bit more decoration in mine and some of you may see this and go oh, my gosh. This is so overwhelming. I don’t know how you’re getting anything done and some of you may see this and go.
This is super boring? Yes, oh everyone has a different way of doing things, but finding that person or that account or several accounts, either on Instagram or Facebook or whatever and just kind of using those as like, okay. Well, I’ve never thought of doing it this way, but maybe I should try this and see how it works. For me, in my life you know Jenna and I actually know each other. We’ve met a few times now, but you know she’s a busy mom.
She works outside the home. She is married and also has three kids and a dog, so her life is so different than mine, but I could still take inspiration from what she has done and what has worked well for her style. So I just kind of took her style and revamped it for myself, because that’s really at the end of the day, what you have to do, you have to figure out what works for you and not necessarily worry about what everybody else thinks of your planner.
Your planner is for you and no one else. I, however, really like to make mine pretty I do have you know a blog online. However, I don’t have to share this stuff. If I don’t want to so you know, I just really enjoy sharing it, and I make it pretty because I want to make it pretty. You know I’m not really doing anything for the camera any longer. I’m really doing it because I love it so anyways. This is another week, that’s all filled in I’m going to flip a little bit more here and show you some other things that have really helped me we’re into August already.
Oh my gosh. So this is actually this week. This is today, and hopefully I’m going to get this up sweet so as I went through this week, so these are kind of like the Emily Leigh colors. So I kind of did a little bit of rainbow and then over here is just kind of whatever. But what I have done – and I’ve actually done this – this is how the conversation started with Ryan yesterday is what I have done, and not what I was explaining to him is that I went through the majority of the weeks for the next year and just put In my work and anything else that I knew was happening so like a birthday or like right here, oh I have a giveaway on Monday.
I don’t think this article is going to be up by Monday, but you never know, and I have like a girls night with my friends Megan. I jazz – and you know like there’s stuff in here and like my trash day, there’s stuff in here that I already know that’s going to happen. So if I lay this down, it’s so much easier for me that then, like mentally throughout the week, come upstairs to my office and then like fill in the evenings or anything that needed to happen in the day time or what’s happening in the weekend or what’s Coming up so that’s really helpful for me to like pre-plan at least the things that I know, and even if say this the day of the 8th.
You know I’m off work or something I can lift this up and I can put in something else. It’s not a problem, but my biggest challenge was just starting with a blank page and not even having like my work in there and then it’s like gosh. Now I have to think about what I want to do. I got to think about what theme I want to go with and about a month ago I ended up. I think it was actually the July 4th weekend.
I just was super inspired and started just planning out my weeks and it’s just making my life so much easier cuz. I don’t have to think about it anymore, so yeah, but then like here, I’m going to be on a road trip with my mom like the last half of this, but I am working over here. So yeah it’s just like, let’s just put in the things and then also like, I have other things going on so like I found out that the wild collab sale is going to be the 22nd through the 25th.
So I just kind of put a little sticky in here and then these little sticky notes are from Erin Condren and then I have another planner meetup, which I haven’t put in here yet and yeah. I even put in like all my budgeting things and anything that I know is in here like Labor Day Patriot day I’ll put in, and then you know I’ll, just put in little page markers for the things that are kind of pending ish, like I’m going to Go to state 4 with my mom and all that good stuff.
So yeah, I don’t know, I just think like this is going to work really well for me in the end that I don’t really need to think anymore. Oh maybe that’s the theme of this articles. Like I don’t need to think about it anymore, but I just really like the way that this feels I’m putting in all my paydays, I’m typically putting in laundry clearly. If I don’t necessarily do the laundry that day, I can still lift this stuff up and I could put it somewhere else without an issue.
I still have some weeks that I don’t have anything which is totally fine and you know I’m still consuming products, I’m still buying things, because I can’t help myself, but you know at that point I was like you know, I’m not sure what I want to do For that week, so I just skipped it, and then this one was actually blank until the other day, and I got my simply gilded box, the one with the malls – and this is the Stardust.
What was in there and I’m like this – is beautiful. I love it. So yeah, but I don’t have I’m out of my little work stickers and I haven’t decided which scallop boxes I want to use for this color palette just yet, but clearly I have until September, to figure it out, there’s also a grilled cheese festival in Minneapolis. I’m really excited about that plus there’s going to be one. So you know I want to go to that um, but yeah, but I like got like I’m going all the way into the end, so yeah there’s like a mother Blanc, one here well, this is a little bit.
Funky um here is like a little spooky one for you know, October and then into the next month. I’ve only done this, but this is like the actual Halloween Day, but yeah. So I mean I’ve obviously put like my dog’s monthly meds, that kind of stuff. You know like this is just like helping my mind work and I hope that this might help. One of you know, hopefully one of you out there, maybe the several of you.
I don’t know, but this is just really like working for me and yes, I’ve already made the decisions and yes, I can’t really use any new stuff, but that’s why I left a few weeks blank. So I think that’ll work pretty well for me and then like into December. I have well this is in December, but it’s actually the week of Thanksgiving, but I have some of this written down. I don’t know what I’m doing for Thanksgiving, probably hopefully nothing cuz.
That’s just my jam yeah, and this is like the first full week of December. Oh also, I got a question from Ryan. When I was we didn’t, you know we were flipping through this he’s like what are these little things mean over here and they’re, my paydays. That’s what they mean. You might not be able to see that one very well, but this one you can soulfully see but yeah. Those are my paydays, so I just keep track of that on my little thing there but yeah.
You know I don’t have anything there. This is the week of Hanukkah, so I wanted to use lots of Blues to celebrate and then the lights all that good stuff. This is the week of Christmas, which I think is so cute, and I used this kit, not a kit but like a couple of sticker sheets from one town and a million which I thought were super cute. This washes from 110 and a million of this washes from 110 and a million, and then this little green band is signifying my coworker is off, but it’s actually from one of the Erin Condren sticker books, I think from a long time ago, but it had the Gold and it had the right green tone – and I was like – let’s do it so anyway, but yeah I mean I’m going all the way into everything for this.
So this one’s really cute, which I love this one’s actually my birthday week, so this is January 9th – is my birthday yeah and I I’m also. I don’t even think I brought this up yet, but I’m also trying to stay motivated with bringing my lunches to work. So I got these really cute little like lunchboxes and then like on my birthday I’ll, probably go out, but whatever so yeah. This is the week of Doyle birthday.
This is Doyle’s birthday right there. It’s also my brother’s birthday, so yeah, but you know I just I’m loving the way that this is working for my brain and you know. I hope that you guys get a little bit of inspiration from this as well. It’s so cute. This is Valentine’s, even though I don’t have a final time, but that’s alright. This is a Valentine’s Day and then into March. I’ve done a few things love the way.
This looks it’s like huh, more springy, and then we’ve got st. Patrick’s Day week. So I mean I don’t know I just I just really like the way this looks, and I hope that you guys to do as well this one’s like a galaxy theme, which I love this washi, it’s like a sample that I had and then um. I don’t know I use this like art, deco II washi as well, so maybe I’m going to just stop it there. There are more weeks that I have filled out, but once I get into May I really haven’t done anything because you know if I get new stuff, I want to be able to use it.
I just prep ahead and that’s just been working really well for me and how this whole planner piece thing works for my brain. I hope you guys enjoyed the article, please let me know down below what has really worked for you to find your own planner piece or find your own planners style. I would really really love to know. We are all different. We are all unique, but I feel like we all have the opportunity to take inspiration from each other and I feel like there is definitely room for all of us as well, whether it’s on Instagram or Facebook or YouTube.
You know, I think everyone has a unique voice, even if your style is still growing and still moving forward. So anyway, that’s going to be it for me today. Thank you guys so much for reading and it feel free to thumbs up subscribe to all those things. Those youtubers tell you to do and I will see y’all in the next article bye guys well folks, it’s time to kick it old-school.
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