The other day I was thinking about someone whose life is a disaster and desperately wishing I could just sit down with them and a planner and a pack of pens and just get their life on track. And by “the other day” I mean 3x a week since I was in junior high watching my friends forget about tests and projects or watching Sarah Braverman on Parenthood.

I am dead serious when I say that I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve forgotten about something that I was supposed to do (something legit) in the past 5 years. Maybe the last decade. Similarly I get a lot of people who are impressed that I juggle a lot of different balls (SAHM, freelance, blogging, HPBC, etc). And the reason is because I’m your worst nightmare of a control freak. I ambushed my mother-in-law 3 weeks ago about Thanksgiving plans. Not a joke. It’s just been who I am since I was a young girl, actually. You can imagine I was a lot of fun to raise. I actually think I get a lot of it from my mom – as a salon owner she has always been completely on top of her scheduling and time use. Therefore I’ve always been very aware of time and plans.

I am SUCH big believer in having and using a planner – of whatever sort. I think it is so good for everyone. Yes, it prevents you forgetting your mom’s birthday and which week you’re supposed to teach Relief Society. But it’s a whole lot more than that! It helps us all be more intentional about our time, more conscious of where our hours are being spent. It helps you truly prioritize, and make time for the things which are important to you. Have you ever looked back on a week and been like “but I didn’t get any of that ~other stuff done”? Or have you wanted to read more or work out more or spend more time with your family, but it just never seems to happen? Of course you have, because we all experience that. Planning helps you get it all done, or at least more than you’re currently doing.

Since it’s back to school and there are cute planners everywhere and everyone is settling back into a schedule its just such a good time to develop a planner habit. I tweeted quite seriously about how my dream job would be setting up and teaching people how to use planners, and enough people (2) responded that they would actually like something like this so here we are. Don’t encourage me guys. I’ll always turn it into a blog post.

Coming to you from the deepest parts of my lil planning heart, here are my planning basics for beginners!

5 Beginner Steps to Using a Planner

It somehow feels so intimate to share my planner with you lol. This is about 80% done – I add in “to do list” items and other updates as my schedule evolves and changes.

1. Buy supplies you like! If your planner is ugly or boring you’re likely to forget about it. Invest in one that is cute, or cool, or themed just for you. My only recommendation is to get one that definitely has monthly calendar pages, and then from there you can choose daily or weekly layouts – whatever works for you. Grab some nice pens, post its, stickers, whatever else looks fun to you. It’s by no means necessary to do this; I’ve just found that it makes it more fun and habitual. You can always just try out Google Calendar for your phone/computer and see how you like it first! (I currently use this bullet journal and these pens – but if you’re a beginner I’d choose a more structured planner first – like this one.)
2. Plug in everything that you can – birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, school breaks, football schedules, General Conference, movie/tv premieres, Fast Sundays, anything you can think of that will impact your life. This is one of my favorite parts of getting a new planner. I sit down with a cold Diet Coke, a bunch of pens and stickers, and my good friend Google. Use fun pens and stickers or even just a random pencil, it really doesn’t matter. Just give yourself a good hour alone with your planner to start filling in predetermined dates and events.
3. Reflect on Priorities. One of the most common complaints I hear from people who are starting (or failed) to use planners is “Well what do I even put in it? All I have is work and church.” That’s the beauty of a planner – YOU decide what to put in it, and you can put *EVERYTHING* in it. Your whole life and anything that is important to you can and should go into your planner. So it’s really critical take a minute to think about your life. What things are important to you? It may be helpful to make a list. What things do you want to be sure you have time for every single week? Don’t be afraid to include things that aren’t necessarily scheduled, such as looking cute at work or cooking more at home. Be as specific as possible about the things you want and general goals. Your list might look something like this:
   1. Work – be on time, meet all of my deadlines, focus on that raise/promotion
   2. School – Attend every class, 2 hours study & homework time per day, research possible major change
   3. Family – spend more time with my husband/kids, call mom 2x a week, have a “real” date night, eat dinner together 3x a week
   4. Church – Attend all 3 hours and any additional meetings, prepare lesson/calling responsibilities, read scriptures daily
   5. Health – exercise 3x a week, in bed before 11 pm, drink more water, no fast food
   6. Apartment – check in with roommates 2x a week, clean shared bathroom, take out trash
   7. Finances – live by a budget, pay tithing, no frivolous spending
   8. Social – reach out to one friend per week, look cute every day for school/work, attend one school/church/community event per week
   9. Fun – Catch up on all of my shows, read for pleasure, 1 favorite restaurant meal per week, manicure
4. Fill in appointments and everything that is nailed down for the upcoming week on your daily or weekly spread. This might include work, your classes, church meetings, doctor’s appointments, haircuts, parties, etc. These are the relatively inflexible bones of your schedule that have to be done and have a set time.
   1. I like to draw them in as a box with their title at the top, indicate time and location, and then leave the remainder of the box empty for notes & details. You might include info like the test or paper due in that class, or the treats you are supposed to bring to that meeting. For example when I was teaching I would draw a box from 7:30-3:30, and then I would fill in the box with the bullet points of what I was doing that day.
      1. Before School – pick up copies in office, email parents
      2. Lesson – War of 1812 Day Two, double check Day One assignment
      3. Prep – make copies of War of 1812 quiz, write next unit quizzes
      4. After School – IEP meeting, help Josh with test retake
   2. Color-coding isn’t as hard as it sounds and it’s a fun way to make your planner a little prettier – and more useful for you. Choose a color for work, a color for school, a color for church, a color for important appointments.
5. Tackle Your Blank Space. Now that you’ve filled in all of the essentials, you should have a pretty good picture of your “free” time. I am not in the camp that says you should schedule every single minute of this time, but I do believe that failure to plan is a plan to fail. You will never get around to reading that book or starting that blog or losing those last few pounds or pursuing that dream if you just ~try to do it when you have time. You have to make the time! This is your opportunity. Looking at the list you made in Step 3, start to prioritize. Try to find time for all of those important things, of course. But pick a few critical ones first and schedule them in – in pen!
   1. Does working out slip through your fingers? Schedule in your 3 gym sessions right now. Maybe right after your afternoon class on Tuesday when nothing else is going on so you won’t be too busy? Get smart about your scheduling.
   2. Meal planning! This one is pretty basic and easy, but take some time to plan out your meals in as much or little detail as needed. I choose to cook about one “real” meal a week and I plan it for a night where I have a fairly open afternoon to prep for it. I know I never want to cook on busy days, so I plan crock pot or leftovers or fast options for those nights.
   3. Are you sick of last minute Sunday lesson planning ruining your Saturday? Plan to do it between those two appointments on Wednesday so it’s already done.
   4. Do you have a few phone calls you need to make this week? It may seem stupid to plan a phone call, but it isn’t! Stack them with driving times in the car or your walk into work or campus, or make them all in an unscheduled block somewhere else in the week.
   5. Plan your outfits. When I was waking up at 5 am for school I got into such a clothes, hair, and makeup rut. So I started planning it! I know it seems insane, but on Sunday night I would browse Pinterest for outfit ideas and then plan them out for the week. It made it much easier to get ready in the mornings and I started looking much better each day at school. Now that I’m a mom I actually schedule out days to wash and blow out my hair, do my nails, etc., because if I don’t they just never happen!
   6. Other things I schedule into my planner: chores, scripture study, grocery shopping, Reese’s naps & play times, TV shows, Sodalicious runs, you name it.

What you do with these plans is up to you. I still schedule in workouts and reading sessions that I blow off, so it’s ok if that happens. Sometimes just the mental priority and thought process of “Oh I’m gonna schedule in time for my husband” makes a difference, even if it doesn’t exactly happen when I planned it. Simply the act of writing something down has a profound effect on our minds, you know?

How often should you check or update your planner? Your choice. There have been times in my life where all I needed was to write everything down and then I didn’t need to look at it again for days. There were times where I carried my planner everywhere I went. Currently I leave my planner in the bookshelf in my kitchen, referencing it a couple of times a day, and taking a minute every single day to update and fill it out with new details and information.

My only piece of advice about how to use your planner moving forward is to give it an extended chance. If you’re new to the planner game you will likely forget about it or feel like it’s a hassle during the first week or two. Whether you carry it around, check it twice a week, or somewhere in between… just try to stick with it for a month or two. I guarantee if you give it the good old college try it can literally change your life.

I hope this was helpful! Let me know if you have other questions or thoughts about planning. I’m going to work on a post about bullet journals, which are planners for control freaks. Game changer. Planners gotta plan.