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Thursday, March 22, 2012

Preparing for the Planner Drought

This time last year I found out the hard way that April-May-June is the Planner Dry Season.  The current-year planners are just about sold out. The academic and mid-year planners don't start for several months yet.  If you're experiencing Planner Fail or are in need of a new planner due to changes in circumstances (higher workload, for example) you might have a hard time finding a new planner.

Luckily there are several planner options that begin now!

Some brands have planners that start quarterly, so you can begin a new planner in April:

Planner Pad (click here to read my review) has the option to choose which quarter you want your planner to start, and goes for 12 full months so your year can start in whichever quarter you choose.

The Women's Success Planner (click here to see my review) comes in quarterly books so you can start in whichever quarter you like. (Don't forget you can get 15% off your total order at The Success Choice including planners and leather covers by entering the code plannerisms12 at checkout. (I make no commission.))

If you use a binder organizer (like Filofax or Franklin Covey) there are some April-start options for you.  Click here to see Franklin Covey's April-start inserts.

There are also options that allow you to start a new planner in any month:

Personal Planner UK lets you choose which month your planner starts, and goes for a full 12 months, so your planner can start in any month at all.  You can also choose just about every feature of your planner from the layout, cover, features and end pages. Click here to see my post about it.

An option that allows you to start your planner on any day of the year is an undated planner. My very favorite undated planners are by Uncalendar (www.uncalendar.com), which has several options including bound Full Size (see my review here), bound Half size (see my review here), and 3 ring binder versions of the Full Size and Half Size.  Uncalendar planners also have designated goal-setting pages and loads of tips for setting and achieving your goals. I actually just ordered a bunch of these last week: new Full size and Half size bound, and a stack of their Monthly planners. So no matter what nuttiness this spring brings, I'm prepared!

If you'd like to print your own, check out Steve and Ray's excellent selection of formats they created and posted over on Philofaxy (click here for the printables list with links to the files). These are designed to be hole-punched and used in a Filofax or similar binder, but you could also have them bound into a book if you prefer.

What about you? Are you entering the Planner Dry Season satisfied with your current system? Or are you searching for a new planner now?

8 comments:

  1. I know this 1st hand. I bought a Moleskine in December of last year for $21.00. In February I spilled a full cup of coffee all over it. When I went to order another one, no one had one in the format I wanted. I found one through the Barnes and Noble website and paid $50.00 for it. It was the only one around that I could find. Still I am struggling with planner issues. Currently I am using The Moleskine week on a page with notes. I like it but it isn't perfect. Hope you are well! Greg

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  2. DayTimer also has some options that allow you to pick your start date based on quarterly divisions.

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  3. I'm also using a Moleskine weekly notebook (18 month version); I've been using it faithfully since Oct 2011. However I am very excited because based on your excellent review I ordered a full year of The Woman's Success Planner, the quarterly version, so I can start it in April. Thank you for such a detailed review! I will let you know what I think of it.

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  4. For me its that time of yr when I have a look at my current planner, and see if it can be tweeked or have a complete change over to one of the other planners i have bought. Again always refining the way i plan, both for work and home life. :)

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  5. I just saw on erincondren.com that if you order now you can get April through December of 2012 at 40% off the normal $50 price. A great deal and a wonderful planner!

    Erin

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  6. Waiting to see what you have to say about the planner pad, it's always seemed to make sense to me. Never ordered one but it seems so reasonable

    Tracy

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  7. I saw the same deal Erin did, and ordered an Erin Condren life planner a couple of days ago. I wasn't able to justify spending the $50 in December when I started looking for my 2012 planner, but also couldn't find another that I really liked. After 2 1/2 months of trying to go all digital and using google calendar from my iphone and computer, I can't take it anymore. I tried, and failed to kick my planner habit. Counting the days til my Life Planner comes!

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  8. Finally someone who can relate to what I am going through: planner drought! I used to drag around bulging Personal and later A5 Filofax planners (or Dutch equivalent Succes www.succes.nl/en-nl/) with even day-on-2-pages filled to the brim. After a burn-out, I started life 'light' as a freelancer with a Moleskine monthly that doesn't fit more than 3 appointments or actions a day. However, last month I got fed up with all the loose (and lost) to-do lists, notes and addresses. But by then of course it was the dry season. I have spent hours trying to get a Qua Vadis Trinote 2012, and in my search I found this blog.

    I have looked at the Uncalendar and Planner Pad websites. Now I feel a slight panic at all those colorful Uncalendar goal boxes, so I ordered the Planner Pad, of which I like the funnel structure (weekly projects, daily activities, daily schedule). Now I can't wait to get it and also learn how you feel about it. Thanks for the tips!

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