Recently I shared my own planning system for 2016 - you can read the blog post here and watch the video here on Facebook - and I mentioned that I also have another two planners for different uses which help keep me and the rest of the family organised in different ways. Both of these planners use a week-on-two-pages style of layout however they do differ slightly.
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Stick To Stigu
The Stigu planner is slightly bigger than A5 size and spiral-bound so it lies flat on your desk. It is marketed as a 'rest and zest handbook', incorporating a desk calendar, a notebook and a to-do pad. It opens with an explanation of how the planner can be used and introduces the monthly themes. Next is a full year planner over a double page spread and then we move straight into the weekly spread.
As previously noted, each month follows a theme; for example, Restore, Meditate, Breathe, Let Go - with each weekly spread having a note to help you achieve this theme. The weekly spread then has a lot of blank space on the left hand side for you to write your notes and to-do lists or to just doodle on and the right hand page is split into 35 boxes - seven days of the week, five columns - so you can have different columns for different sections of your plans. Each page has a perforated corner that you tear off at the end of each week - this acts as your page marker throughout the year which is a lovely attention to detail.
I am using this planner to try and keep a schedule for my blog, YouTube channel and, to some extent, my promotional social media. Last year I took a step back from it all and blogged less to try and find out what worked and what didn't work. I've now got a fairly clear idea of what I want to do in 2016 so have already planned out some ideas for the month of January which include certain blog posts, video ideas for my YouTube channel, how to grow my Instagram followers and some quiz themes for the Friday Twiz. At the end of each month I am going to look back and see what was successful then see how I can move forward with it.
Buy the Stick To Stigu Planner from the Stigu website.
Parent Planner
The Parent Planner has been produced by Jump! Mag with the intention to help you be more organised as a family. This planner is A5 size and also spiral-bound. The usage notes at the front of the book encourage you to 'dream big and plan small' and have spaces for you to write down your long term and short term goals along with hints to help create new habits and routines. Next in the planner is a space for recurring family appointments and then a 'small business social media calender' which would help with advance scheduling or keeping a track of followers.
The main body of the planner provides a monthly spread across two pages with more planning prompts such as bills to be paid, school appointments, a monthly goal and an inspirational quote. Following on from this, each week is spread across a double page and each day is split into five sections providing space to plan for morning, afternoon, kids, meals and your top three things to do on that day. Again, there are boxes available for notes to drive you towards your goals and achievements, to jot down your shopping list and more inspirational quotes to keep you focused, with the recommendation being that you carry this one planner with you for all aspects of your life. One thing that is missing from this planner is a page marker - I prefer to be able to flip straight to the page that I'm working on rather than scrabble through the book.
Now that my youngest is at college, there's little need for me to have a full scale 'family' planner but there are still aspects of family life that we all need to have as a central communication point. Therefore this planner is going to take the place of the kitchen calender and all the notes that are left around the house reminding people to do things. I will jot down college days, my running schedule, meal plans and medical appointments that we all need to be aware of and leave it in a prominent place in the kitchen where we can add notes to it.
Do have a look at the full planning blog post I wrote last week however I am interested to hear how you schedule your life. Do you use a planner to write in or do you use something more digital like your phone or Google calender? Let me know.