Shellie's Planner Story

I LOVE summer! I love the long days, going to the pool and having the energy to DO things. Once it gets cold and the air starts to change, I think for a moment that I might enjoy the fall activities, but MAN, I HATE COLD! As the days become shorter, I want to do less and less!   I WAIT for the Winter solstice! Bonus that Christmas will be in a few days, but I know that we will start getting more daylight. I have never tried light therapy, and maybe that would help but it just makes me sad. Driving to work in the dark and driving home in the dark… what could be worse! I have found that I haven’t been in the mood to plan lately. Events happen and I do write them down, but I often just want to lay on my couch and take a nap. I do try to make sure that I am not sleeping all night, so I am forcing myself to get up and do a little planning. It gives me a little motivation to do more. I have skipped my morning walks, 30 degrees in the AM is just too cold to walk, but I need to...

OMG! I love this time of year, when all the back to school items go on clearance.   I am OBSESSED with pens, pencils, paper, storage containers, if it is writing related, I WANT it. This year is killing me because I am following all these people on IG and see one clearance sale after another.   I feel fortunate that I have a spouse who will support my clearance sale habit! I saw the $0.36 and $0.40 planners at Michaels and he was out so he ran over with me and I found the deal too! Everyone was posting about the mid-liners and I was like “I need those now!” Messaged him with the picture of the mid-liners and he drops off 3 packages from Walgreens for me J . It’s hard though, because how much can you actually use? I figure that the cheap planners gives me some extra discs, stickers and the planner could be used for a handful of things.   I think I will start the memory planning and I think one of those big teacher planners will work great for that. But what will ...

We live a pretty flexible life.   There are times we have something in the books that we have planned for weeks, then other times, we have no plans and just see what is going on that we might want to do. I was talking to my husband last night about the activities that we do as a family.   We want to give our son the experiences that we never seemed to have.   When I think about my childhood, there are few things I remember, but I don’t recall being busy the way we feel like we are. There are plus sides to this… and then there are downfalls. We have created a VERY flexible child; he can sleep almost anywhere and goes with the flow.   He is good when we have to bring him to “gown-up” places and we don’t need to entertain him with electronics all the time. I love that I know we can bring him anywhere and not have an issue. On the other side of the coin, we have also created a child who wants to do things often. We spent the day at a festival, and then he w...

I love pens! I mean, like I look at a pen and want to write with it right away, if I like it I NEED it! I get excited when they are on sale and want every color in a style I love. Paper-Mate Flair comes out with new colors all the time and I get it stuck in my head that where I am just thinking about how much I want it. It’s a bad addiction. If someone picks up my pen to use I get a little sweaty, like are they going to press too hard, what if they take off with it? Ugh, I look like a NUT. I do get excited though when people ask me for my thoughts on a pen, then I have to go into great detail, do you want a ball point, gel ink or a fine line pen.   Are you left or right handed (lefty here!)? It depends on my mood with what I like in the moment. Usually I use my Paper-Mate Flair, then I might switch to my Stabilo 88’s.   It depends on what I am doing; writing, coloring, drawing… and sometimes I use a mix of them. I think that mixing the types can really give ...

As I flipped through Instagram there were many times when I doubted my talents, and myself and I questioned whether I should continue to do these things. The good news is that since I started my planner Instagram I have felt more empowered and have gotten such positive feedback on the things I do.   I remember telling my husband I was going to start my page and he said don’t take anything personally.   I promised that I wouldn’t, and I believe that he has prepared himself for the worst.   Luckily, this group of people are a wonderful group and for the most part, live by the golden rule.     Starting planning has really made me start thinking about things differently and I am starting to try things that I haven’t done for YEARS. I am drawing again, I practice hand lettering and feel like I can actually do it, and it is all making me a better person and want to be a better mom.   My son has started to want to play and make things with paper and I ha...

I know that there are other people out there that want to talk about their planners all the time.   To tell everyone how great and keeps you organized AND you get to be creative! Otherwise, we wouldn’t have Instagram’s or Facebook accounts talking about them, being part of groups… all that. Then there are the people who just don’t get it… What do you do? The nice thing is that the planner community is a positive one with very little “trolls” or rude people, we all know that there are some, for the most part though, it is a group of empowering women who support one another. I do bring a planner with me almost everywhere I go, I leave it on my desk, bring it to meetings and appointments.   I WAIT for people to ask me about it or be interested in it; then I let loose! I have a few people who I have brought along my path with me. I am a little proud when they show me their new planner and talk about their stickers. I don’t expect others to feel the same way I do thou...

So, I was planning last night and as I work on my planner I also watch You Tube videos to get inspiration.   As I am flipping through the people, I see that Kell of Plan has a Meal Planning Video, it has changed my way of thinking about meal planning! She gave me inspiration and I am excited for planning my meals for this next MONTH! Check out her video here … So instead of using a mini page and drawing out my month, I created this printable for 2 months’ worth of planning. Just print 2 sided, flipping on the short side if you can, otherwise having 2 sheets will work too.   Just trim them down to size and viola; you are good to go! I liked her idea of trimming the post-it’s to fit in the squares and then you can move them to your planner if you wanted, or you can write it directly on the calendar itself. Can’t wait to see if this changes my life! J