I know that planners have always been around, in fact that used to be all we had before new technology and smartphones. But it certainly seems that over the last few years planners have become the newest must have, at least for women. Does anyone else have trouble finding a planner that does exactly what they need/want but with no extra, wasted space? Because that is definitely my struggle!
I’ve always been very organized, and always been fond of writing things down. As the years have gone by and technology has evolved I’ve grown very addicted to my google products. My google calendar is my life; I put everything on it and its color coded. In addition to that I share my calendar with my husband and daughter so they always know what’s going on. My daughter also shares hers with me.
I am also a huge fan of google sheets. If you aren’t familiar it’s basically an excel spreadsheet but in the google family of products. People laugh when I say I have my life on a google sheet, but it really is true. I can go back several years and tell you about expenses for a certain month. I can even go back and look at specific creditor accounts and tell you the date and amount of an exact payment if you asked me!
So that being said, over this last year I’ve had a desire to get in on the new planner craze. I’ve looked at planner after planner both online and in the stores without finding one I loved. I finally did break down and order one online to the tune of $36.95 because I thought I’d finally found a winner. While it is beautiful and has a lot of nice features it is too big for my purse, has too many pages/features I will never use and is missing things that I wish it had.
So now I have this crazy hodge-podge of things happening when it comes to handling my personal business. I have this too-big planner where I write my bills as well as any appointments or events in, but only on the monthly calendar pages. I’m literally not ysing any other section. I have what I call my “bill notebook” which is simply a spiral bound notebook where I write down all of my monthly bills and when I plan to pay them using my own method of organization. I have a smaller notebook where I jot down notes and write my to-do lists.
All three of those books I carry in my purse along with the notebook I use to keep work notes in. Lets also not forget my folder which houses to do items, bills, etc. That is a lot of “books” in one bag! In addition to all that written documentation I still use my google calendar for any appointments/events I need to remember. I also utilize a google sheet to track my checking account on; again with my own method which includes digital budget envelopes as well as a separate google sheet for savings. I only recently cleaned up the savings spreadsheet. It used to track our emergency fund as well as all of our sinking funds but I recently found a bank that allows me to track all the sinking funds there!
So now that I’ve explained all of my madness I really wonder how everyone else does it?! If you are a planner girl have you found a planner where you truly use all the features as well as one that encompasses all the features you want? If you are a digital girl then what do you use/do? I would so love your feedback on this, really!
I’ve actually been toying with the idea of just creating my own. I really am almost at that point anyway with the way I handle all of my different books. But if I do that I’m not sure if it would be something I’d do only for me or if it’s a product I could market. I’d love your feedback on that too!
So please ladies hit me up! Not to leave out my male readers, if you handle the personal finances/calendars and have any input send it my way! This is the kind of content I want to put out to you and be of help to you so please tell me how I can help you while you are helping me!
~Carla~
Arise and Glow 