My July 2020 Planner Set Up

The number one question I get asked from friends, family, acquaintances, Instagram followers, and more is: what planner do you use?

We’re all searching for that perfect planner, aren’t we? Planners are highly personal, incredibly tactile objects. If you’re someone who uses a planner, then you know what I’m talking about when I say: a calendar simply isn’t the same thing as a planner. It’s just not!

Part of the reason why I use planners is because I sometimes just need space to write down what is on my brain—it helps me to remember and cement that information. Plus, seeing it written in my own handwriting is often easier for me to recall and connect with.

It’s hard to talk about planners without making exact recommendations: what works for me simply might not work for you! However, I do find people love looking at planners and learning why I (or anyone!) has chosen that planner. So, without further ado, this is my planner set up for July 2020.

Planner 1: My Bullet Journal

I use my bullet journal primarily as a brain dump and a daily journal. I make a few monthly lists—tasks, my playlist, a list of books I’ve read, and highlights—but then after that, I try to fit about 5-6 days on every two pages for my morning journal session. I have been doing one list from the original 52 Lists every single day since June 1—I’m almost done with that book, then I’ll move on to 52 Lists for Calm. I find this a great way to journal every day without the pressure of knowing what to write. Usually once I’m done with my list, I’ll write a few things on my plate for the day or that I’m thinking about.

This journal originally started as a work journal; I kept work journals at my old agency where I kept track of tasks and notes. I have probably 10+ journals full from over 5 years. This was a brand new journal then when I got laid off—it’s funny to see those first few pages of business-as-usual notes that turned into journaling and keeping track of phone numbers for lawyers and more.

I almost thought about just retiring it: transitioning it to a journal felt very weird and it took me a long time. However, I don’t like being wasteful with journals—so I just keep it moving and those first 25 pages remain as a testament to a very weird time in my life.

This month’s theme was a 70s-ish flower theme. Nothing fancy—just the basics. I really liked it though. For a full flip through, you can check out my Instagram!

Planner 2: My Habit Tracker

This planner is the Blue Sky Habit Tracker; you can find a very similar one here, but mine was not that expensive! I really like this layout because it involves a monthly page to write down your goals, pick your habits to track, and write. I typically use this for non-work things, like reminding myself to drink water or other habits I’m working on building. I haven’t filled out my July pages quite yet (just a little behind!), but this is always one of my favorite things to do at the beginning of each month: pick my habits, write what worked from last month and what didn’t, and what I want to focus on.

This month, I want to intermittent fast every day through the end of the month—so that will be on the list. (Before anyone asks, I use IF to help with my migraines!) I haven’t decided on my other goals quite yet, but that will come.

I also use these pages to write out my household tasks and to write notes for myself, as well as things I want to remember—like quotes or ideas I have for blog posts in the future! At the end of the week, I usually condense these pages into a notebook or word doc to help me keep track of all my ideas and brain dumps.

Planner #3: My Daily Schedule Notepad

I get soooo many questions about this notepad. So, here are the details; this is the Lamare Embark Weekly Notepad. I use this for planning each day and keeping track of tasks I need to do on-the-fly. Things like texts from clients saying “can you do xyz really quick?” I’ll jot that down and finish what I’m doing, then take it on. I also try to map out my week here: I’ll look at my Asana task list and transfer things to the day I want to get them done so I have a plan in place. It helps me to be able to glance at my week and know when I have meetings, deadlines, and specific tasks planned.

I don’t really use the habit tracker on this notepad—I tend to use that area to doodle! But I do list my top 3 moments during the week; when something good happens, I try to write it down immediately so I don’t forget! I use the to do section for quick notes as well.

Voila! My planner set up for the week. It’s a fairly simple set up, as I have been trying to use my Asana as project management—rather than trying to have one handwritten to do list! This has been a huge help in managing my clients more effectively—plus it’s tied to the tool I use for recording my time for clients, so that works out perfectly.

How do you use your planners?

Do You Need a Habit Tracker?

It feels like habit trackers are everywhere.

Back when I first started bullet journaling, I had never seen a habit tracker before. Now, they’re everywhere. Doodle in the edge of bujo layouts, printed in planners, on apps you can download on your phone.

Search for habit trackers on Google and you get thousands of results.

There are free printables and planners, cheap habit tracker planners you can buy in Walmart (I have one!) and so many more.

Habit trackers are everywhere.

But do you need one? How effective are they really? Let’s break it down.

What is a habit tracker?

The idea of habit trackers is this: you have a goal —> you break that goal down into month-by-month steps —> you set daily habits that contribute to those monthly goals (which add up to your larger goal).

Here’s an example. You want to reduce your resting heart rate over the next year. You set month-by-month goals of increasing your average number of steps (being more active) and using your standing desk more. Here are a few habits you might track:

• Drinking enough water

• Taking breaks to walk around

• Doing short workouts

Other examples might be self-care focused, like taking your medication everyday, doing de-stress rituals, and making time for yourself.

You can use all kinds of habit trackers. As I mentioned, there are tons out there! You can buy habit tracker planners, draw them yourself in your bullet journal or existing planner, and even download apps. There are lots of ways to make habit trackers a part of your life and daily routine. But here’s the question: do they really do anything?

Do habit trackers really help?

It took me a long time to come around on habit trackers. I really didn’t like them to start with. I found them a little fussy and they stressed me out; if I wasn’t able to check those boxes (and for my loftier goals, sometimes it just wasn’t possible!) I found myself getting upset.

However, I think there are ways to make habit trackers work for you. Not everyone is going to want to meet the same habits. I don’t want to drink 8 bottles of water a day (I know, I know, but also, that’s so much water), nor do I want to exercise everyday. There are things i want to do everyday, like make my bed, wipe down the counters in my kitchen, and write for 20 minutes. So I track those habits, because they mean something to me and by using a habit tracker, I’m able to see just how good my routine is getting.

The question is: are habit trackers right for you?

Here are a few things to consider:

• Use a habit tracker that works for you. My husband uses an app on his phone to remind himself to take breaks every 2 hours while he works, drink enough water, and take his medication. I use a habit tracker planner to help me keep control of my house to do list and daily habits. Different methods, same idea.

• Pick habits that mean something to you. If you browse bujo layouts everywhere, you’ll see a ton of habit trackers that track water intake, sleep… you get the drill. Sometimes, I find bullet journaling to be a little esoteric; the fancy charts that track sleep and mood and habits… it’s a little overwhelming and while I love data, I don’t necessarily want to quantify every aspect of my life into a chart. So my advice is: pick habits that are meaningful to you and as many (or as few) of them as you want.

• Don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. If you find tracking your habits makes you stressed out or super irritable—then it’s not for you! Don’t put it in your bujo, return the planner (or give it to a friend), delete the app, whatever. If it doesn’t work for you, it doesn’t work for you and that’s ok.

Do you use a habit tracker? Do you like it? Let me know in the comments!

How to Plan the Perfect Christmas & Stay Organized

Repeat after me: there is no such thing as a perfect Christmas.

Your Christmas might not look like a Hallmark movie (and good gravy, wouldn’t we all love an ornately decorated Victorian farmhouse mansion to cover in garland?). Your Christmas might not even look like the one from the Santa Clause.

Whatever Christmas you love, that’s the perfect Christmas for you.

For me, Christmas is this: the tree lit, watching movies on the couch with Danny, Forrest, and Remus, fresh cookies in the kitchen, a candle lit and smelling like either 1) cinnamon or 2) pine trees. That’s Christmas. When I was younger, Christmas was making sugar cookies with my mom, watching the old, classic claymation movies on TV with my brother, and waking up at 3am to open presents (and try to make as little noise as possible with my brother). Christmas every year can be something different, but I want to put the disclaimer here that, there is no perfect Christmas; there is no prescriptive Christmas.

If your Christmas a little Christmas tree with rainbow fairy lights and a Netflix binge on your laptop, then baby, godspeed.

No matter what your Christmas is, I want you to have the most perfect one possible.

For the last two months, I’ve been working on a Christmas planner for myself. I’m planning to make a BUNCH of embroidery projects for my friends & family this year, and organizing everything was starting to become… a lot. I had lists upon lists of thread numbers, patterns, fabric I needed to buy, hoop sizes… it was a lot. I was tired. So I started mocking up a gift planner sheet where I could record everything I needed.

Then, I started working on a planner for my decorations, to start cataloguing everything I had and figuring out if we would need to buy more lights (aka which of ours died during the year they were in storage). From there, I started making all kinds of parts to this personal planner: bucket lists, shopping lists, cookie backing lists, a memories sheet to add to my scrapbook. I showed it to Danny once I had it printed and he said: “are you going to share this on your blog?”

It hadn’t even occurred to me to share it, but I started digging around on Pinterest and there are some Christmas planners out there… but so many of them put the onus on gifts and buying and planning out your Black Friday. That’s not something I’m super interested; I just needed one place to keep my lists, keep a running tab on my embroidery projects (and who I’ve gotten a gift for and who I haven’t, so I don’t have to crawl under the Christmas tree to check), and maybe write down a few important memories.

I thought: why wouldn’t other people enjoy this?

So here it is: the Christmas planner of your dreams. It includes:

• 3 pages of gift lists to record who has a gift & who needs a gift (plus a notes section for any details, such as crafting supplies). This is perfect if you like making gifts, like I do!

• A decoration planner to record what you have where. Keeping track of decorations always feels like a chore. Come February, I end up realizing I’ve had bits of decor still up, with everything else packed away.

• A shopping list for home, work & school, and “misc” to help keep you organized when it comes to remembering if you need more flour or powdered sugar for those super important sugar cookies.

• A bucket list to keep track of movies that you must watch, activities that make your Christmas (trip to the Christmas tree farm, anyone?), cookies that you love to make, and more.

• A memories page to record the best things that happened, everything you did, and your memories of Christmas day right away. This page also includes a section of things to remember for next year, like that your kiddo loved a specific movie or song!

• A page just for Christmas Eve & Day to write down your plans. This page actually has two sections for Christmas eve because I found I needed much more room than was available! But you can use the second section for notes or Boxing Day!

I keep mine in a folder on my desk, but I plan to laminate the pages once Christmas is over to save in our family binder. You can keep yours loose leaf if you want, put them in a binder, cut them up to stick in your planner—whatever works!

I hope you love this planner as much as I do. To download, click the button below—it will take you to a separate landing page, but don’t worry! Your planner is well within reach.

Thanks for reading & happy holidays! If you’d like more planners like this one, let me know in the comments!