I love to plan even more than I love to implement. Yep, it’s true….although I’m working on that. On the other hand, the adage of “Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail” is absolutely correct. So here are a few of my favorites:
Homemaker’s Friend Daily Planner
I met Sue Hooley, the designer of this planner, a couple years ago. She was sweet enough to send me a planner to try last year. It was perfect for my needs, so I didn’t think twice about purchasing it again this year. It has a yearly section, a monthly section and daily pages with plenty of room for notes, to-dos and appointments.
There are sections in the back for task lists, projects, and even perforated shopping lists. I love it that each week is numbered. It keeps me on track realizing how much time I really have to accomplish my yearly goals. There are also beautiful photos and Scripture verses throughout.
I’ll be introducing you to Sue in a few weeks and you will love her. For now, you can take advantage of trying out this year’s planner for free the rest of the year if you buy next year’s in advance. Since Sue is so nice, she is paying me a small affiliate commission if you buy it through this link. However, I would totally put this as my number one planning resource even if she wasn’t.
Living Forward Ideal Week
I go a little crazy with planning so I really enjoyed Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy’s book, Living Forward. I did a short summary in one of my building blocks posts. In the book, the authors recommend creating your ideal week and working towards it as a goal. They provide it as a free resource here.
Google Calendar
I’m really a pen and paper type of gal, so I shy away from digital calendars. However, I’ve started using Google Calendar again for my blog posts. It’s just so much easier to schedule since I tend to, ahem, move things around a lot.
Errands App for iPhone
I don’t work much off of a to-do list. I try to put things directly on my calendar instead of keeping a long list that just shows me how behind I am. However, I still get a small joy out of checking things off a list. I’m sure there are better apps out there for to-do lists. This one was uncomplicated and free, so I chose it. It works for me!
Notebooks
I must confess that as much as I love all of the planning resources above, my favorite is and will always be the plain little spiral notebook. Well, I like the purple ones, but otherwise nothing fancy. I take notes from classes, podcasts, and books in them and do my weekly review in them. My favorite time of year is when they go on sale for 17 cents! You should see the big stack I just purchased….for school, of course.
What about you? What are your favorite planners and tools?