For stationery-geeks like me, the beginning of September is definitely cause for celebration: ‘back to school means’ that all shops are full of beautiful notebooks and planners. However, if you are so keen on stationery like me, you might be inclined to criticise each and every product: nothing is exactly the way you’d want it to be.

Obviously, the Filofax and bullet journal craze has not left me untouched, but in the end I decided I needed my time and creativity in other fields than decorating my planner. Nevertheless, I still love a beautiful planner, so I (too), have made my own.

Blogging, illustrating, even going to school can be tough while you do a full-time job, and it needs a lot of organization to avoid being overwhelmed. It often happens that I get last minute tasks or comissions, so I have to be flexible, while I don’t want to neglect priorities like this blog either.

How it works for me

It took several months to build up my own (rather simple) system: I often cannot tell in advance, which day of the month I’m going to do a certain task, I only know I have to do it that month. At other times I can foresee which task belongs to which week, but not the exact day. So the first type of planner I created is one called ‘monthly tasks’. I use this sheet to jot down, for example, in September that I have to see my accountant in December.

When the actual month is nearing, I start to panic: how am I gonna do all these ‘monthly tasks’? This is the time when I take my ‘weekly tasks’ planner sheet. I distribute my monthly tasks into 4 weeks of the month, so as to break down the heap of to-do-s into smaller pieces. By the end of September, I have a better idea of when exactly my October tasks need to be done.

The last step of my planning process comes on Sunday evenings or Monday mornings when I grab my ‘daily tasks’ sheet and add the different ‘weekly tasks’ to the days of the week. This means I can go to bed on Monday night without worrying about when I’ll do all the rest of my weekly tasks.

Like the system? Use it!

Everyone has different planner systems that work for them, but if you like the way I plan, then you’re in luck: I’m sharing my planner pages. Personally I sometimes use analogue and sometimes digital versions of the same system, but this time I created a printable version for those who love to write with a pen. You can find 3 A5 sized sheets in the pack: a monthly, a weekly, and a daily tasks sheet. You can print as much of them as you need. If you use Filofax, you can add it to your planner but you can also stick it to your wall to get a bit of garden atmosphere into your office.

You can download the planner pack from my content library. To get the password to the library, you need to be subscribed to my newsletter (you can find the password at the bottom of the latest newsletter). You can subscribe under this post and tadaaaam, you have access to the planner as well as other free goodies.

What kind of planner system do you use? How does it work for you? Share it in the comments below!