I’m back! I didn’t blog about One Book July last week as I felt that I didn’t have anything to really elaborate on. My post would’ve been more photos than written content, and while that’s great, it just seemed like a pointless post. This week, however, I do have a few things to comment on. I will also wrap up my thoughts on how my One Book July experience went.
I am still really enjoying my A5 rings set-up. I still haven’t really been using my B6 as much as I thought I would, but next week my kids are back in school, so that will more than likely be changing. I have made some changes to my A5 planner since my last blog post, but nothing too drastic.
During the past couple of weeks I decided to add a to-do list section to both my personal and business sections of my planer. I felt that I needed a running to do list in my planner, somewhere to just jot things down that I need to get done, but in no specific time frame. This way I can schedule myself items to take care of during the week when creating my daily task lists. This works well for the business side of things, as sometimes I can’t always fit the tasks that come up during the current week, and then I forget that I needed to do something. Keeping this running list has made planning things much easier.
In addition to the running to-do list inserts, I have also added week-at- a-glance inserts to the business portion of my planner. I have been using these inserts to future plan out my weeks. This week’s work planning seemed to be go much smoother as I transferred items from the weekly down to the weekly tasks. I’m sure you’re thinking I’m just re-writing a task list multiple times, but I’m not. The running to-do list is items I do not want to forget, which is then only referenced when I plan out my weeks on the weekly overview. These inserts (pictured below) are more of a general quick glance at everything I have going on as opposed to the final, full-detailed weekly.
{A list of products used in the image is at the bottom of this post}
Something I have noticed with my current set-up is I have been using WAY more stickers in my spreads than I typically do. I might use a few icons or something, but I typically shy away from having fully decorated spread because I feel I can’t do it or it looks overwhelming. With the weekly inserts I’m using, I’ve found that decorating those still lets my page(s) be functional. I’m quite shocked with the amount of stickers I used on the weekly spread below, and I LOVE it!
{A list of products used in the image is at the bottom of this post}
I have always browsed Instagram, or looked at the planner pictures my design team post and have planner envy. I’ve NEVER had a weekly spread look this pretty! This weekly layout has also been an extremely functional way of planning for me. These inserts have definitely made planning my week so much easier, and less cluttered looking. I have a love of Excel spreadsheets, so maybe that’s why this weekly layout speaks to me. Even though we were super busy last week, my planner still looks nice and organized and everything is much easier to read spread out like this.
{A list of products used in the image is at the bottom of this post}
So now that July is officially over, what have I learned? Am I going to stick with this system? Am I giving anything up? What am I keeping?
Sitting here reflecting on how the month has gone, I think this one planner system has worked for me. It has stream lined everything into one planner. While I had plans to use my B6 and utilize the same inserts in both planners, I have really only used just the one. I’m sure that will change as school starts back up, but I could be wrong!
My biggest take-away from this has to be that I made my planner fit my needs instead of just buying a planner I think will work for me. I have noticed that I have been much more productive this past month using the inserts that I purchased for the business side of things than I had been in my Erin Condren Planner. I think because each insert has a purpose and I’m not just trying to fit what I need into something that isn’t really designed for that need.
The only thing I can really say I’m giving up after this past month is my Erin Condren Planner. I wasn’t sure at the beginning of July if I’d stick it out the full month in the new system, but it really is working for me, much better than I had anticipated. I did go ahead and place an order with LimeLife Planners for the A5 rings planner that came with the weekly layout I am using for my personal plans. It’s just worked out so well for me this past month, that I don’t foresee me switching weekly layouts any time soon.
To answer the “what am I keeping” question. Easy. All of it. The system I set up at the beginning of the month, besides the newest additions of the to-do lists and week-at-a-glance pages, is working out perfectly as it is. I really didn’t see myself saying that when I took this on. I am pleasantly surprised and am happy with my choice.
I’m curious if I’ll take on One Book July again next year, as I don’t see how I could possibly change things up. I could be wrong, I could have planner itch again by June and we’ll be re-thinking this whole thing.
How did your month go? Did you make it to the end of the month still loving your One Book? Did you change your whole book during the month? I’d love to know how it went and if it was as successful as my month. Drop me a comment below, no matter how it turned out.
Accessory Products featured in post images:
- May Planner Basics Printable Kit from The Planner & Paper Company
- Die Cut Tabs with teal foil from The Planner & Paper Company
- Planner Girl Stickers from The Planner & Paper Company
- Meal Planning Kit from The Planner & Paper Company
- Marching Band Sticker Kit from The Planner & Paper Company
- LPD June Kit with Die Cuts – Lauren Phelps Designs Monthly Kit
- Baseball Stickers from Birds Fly Studios
- Small sticky notes from UBrands
- Flower clip from LizzyBeth Bows
- Pentel Energel 0.7mm needle tip pen
Inserts featured in post images:
- A5 Weekly Layout C from LimeLife Planners
- Horizontal Weekly Checklists from Peanuts Planner Co
- Weekly Dashboard & Routine Inserts from Wendaful Designs
