Your Life on Paper (Tips and Tricks for Your Planner)

Even though this semester hasn’t officially started, I’ve already been having to start getting back into the swing of things for school and it’s already getting overwhelming.
I told myself a few weeks back that once I returned home, the first thing I needed to buy was a month-by-month and day-by-day assignment calendar/agenda/planner. Some people like their phone or some other type of electronic device to keep organized, but personally, I like the “old-school” pen and paper. Some don’t even keep an agenda, because they have the unbelievable ability to remember everything in their brains. Unfortunately, I’m not one of those people.
I feel sane having an organized planner and being able to cross things off on my to-do list makes me feel accomplished so that I can continue through the year motivated. I have compiled a list of tips that hopefully are of use to you if you are also an agenda keeper. Have a great school year!

1. Keep a month-by-month and day-by-day.
I find doing this really helps me organize the most proficiently. Month-by-months help me organize big and/or important events while day-by-days help me prioritize my daily to-do lists. I like to cross out or “tick”/”check” finished to-do list items on my day-by-days.

Month-by-month

Day-by-day

2. Make yourself want to organize and stay organized.
Create a system and stick with it. For me, this included picking out an agenda in my favorite color, a pretty pattern, and color-coding things. As a person who loves bright colored pens, I assigned a certain color to a category. For example, blue for school-related items, green for choir-related items, and pink for holidays. 

3. Block out all noted dates before anything else.
This seems like common sense, but if there are dates you already know you’re going to be busy on, write on them as soon as you possibly can to avoid schedule conflicts and anything of the sort.

4. Use sticky notes.
Sometimes, my to-do lists tend to be longer than the little space stationery brands give you to write on, so using sticky notes to continue my list is very helpful so I can then just stick them right on top of my day-by-day dates. But, my favorites are the little flag-type adhesives I call “tabbies”. I like to tab my current month-by-month page and day-by-day page.

5. Make it a habit.
It might seem tedious, but I find that planners are only helpful if you stick to keeping them up daily. Once it’s part of your every day routine, it becomes addictive and like second nature.

Do you keep an agenda? Have any tips? I’d love to hear them.