How I use my weekly and daily planners at the same time

Several people have asked me for an updated post on how I use weekly and daily planners at the same time, and I'm happy to oblige!

For years and years I struggled between weekly planners (which didn't have enough writing space for all the details I wanted to record each day) and day per page planners (which didn't allow me to plan ahead). Using the two planners together lets me plan effectively in my weekly and record lots of details in my daily.

I've been using a weekly planner along with a separate daily planner for more than two years now. My system of using these two planners together has evolved over the years. Here is an update on how I use these two types of planners together.

First of all, I use my weekly planner (this year, my Plannerisms planner) for all planning. I use my weekly pages to map out my appointments, any tasks I have to do on specific days, and my prioritized task lists at the bottom of the page under the daily columns. In the last 3 lines of the daily columns I plan my dinner menus.

I use the column before Monday to write my daily goals so I can easily check them off each day when they are done. This gives me a quick and easy visual of how well I'm completing my goals throughout the week.

After years of trying bajillions of different planners, I've found I need the vertical daily columns to map out my days, with space on my weekly pages for my to do lists. This lets me see the layout of my week, what I need to do and when I have time to do it.

I also use the monthly pages in my Plannerisms planner to see the overview of the month, what's coming up, and to note things I need to do that month (like renew my car insurance, schedule dentist appointments, or other things that need to happen that particular month).

I use my Monthly pages for fixed dates like birthdays, travel and appointments.  I don't consult my monthly pages every day, just when I need an overview.

Also in my Plannerisms planner I plan all of my goals: annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily. I wrote a big post on using the Plannerisms planner for goals, you can click here to read the details with lots of photos on how to use.

So the weekly planner is used just the way you would normally use a weekly planner. The difference comes in with the daily planner.

The key to using a daily planner with the weekly is that NO FORWARD PLANS GO IN THE DAILY. The daily is for planning and recording TODAY ONLY. In the past I've tried putting appointments and plans into the daily and the weekly then synching them, and things always fall through the cracks. Unless you're really diligent about synching your two books every single day, I highly do not recommend planning in both.

So then how do I use the daily planner? Here's the details:

The day before, I start filling in my daily page with appointments and any tasks that MUST be done that day. I don't write anything that I might do, or could do if I wanted, because if I don't get it done that day I'll have to rewrite it. I only write things that MUST be done THAT DAY. Then during the course of the day, if I get my urgent tasks done and I have time for other tasks, I look at my to do lists on my weekly page and see what else I can fit in today.

I do a lot of recording in my daily pages. I write expenditures (I'm trying to keep track of spending to make an accurate monthly budget). I write in other tasks I did that day so I have a record of when I did things. I note phone calls, make notes of any details, write cute things my kids did and said, note the weather, and anything else I need to record that day on my daily pages.

I change my mind a lot on what day per page planner to use. I want a large page size in a portable book. Right now I'm using Franklin Covey two pages per day:

I like the structure of these pages. I use the task list on the left of the left page to write my to-dos for the day. The appointment schedule goes from before 6 am to after 7 pm and has lines for the half hours so I can map out my day. The lines at the bottom left of the page are where I write expenditures. And the entire right page is for notes, journaling, and recording details.

This two-planner system works with any weekly planner and any daily planner. About two and a half years ago I used my Organised Mum weekly planner with my Quo Vadis Textagenda daily planner (which you can read the details of here), but I was synching them so that system quickly failed.

Several months later I used a self-drawn weekly planner with my pocket size Moleskine day per page planner, and that worked really well. You can see that post here. You can see more details on how I used my Moleskine day per page planner in this post here.

I've continued to use a weekly planner with a daily planner ever since then. For the past several months I've been switching my daily books around a lot. I crave the permanence of a bound book, but have a hard time finding one that's big enough to write enough each day but still light enough in my bag.

I love the structure of the Franklin Covey 2PPD and the ability to have so much information in my binder, but there are several things about it that bug me: the impermanence of the looseleaf pages (I'm bad about switching pages around between binders and losing them), the bulk and weight of the book, and that I can't have the entire year's worth of daily pages in my book at once. But the worst thing about using my FC is that because it's so big and heavy, I don't carry my weekly planner with me which causes me to plan ahead on the monthly pages of my FC, then synch back to my weekly pages. I don't like doing this, I prefer to do all planning in my Plannerisms planner and not go back and forth.

So, predictably, I have ordered a new day per page planner to try. It is A5 size but soft covered so it won't be as heavy as the hard cover A5 daily planners I have. The daily planner I've ordered is a Time Traveler, you can click here to see it. (Updated: my Time Traveler planner has arrived! Click here to see my post about it with loads of photos of the features.)

I have used Time Traveler day per page planners in the past, although in the small size they no longer make. In fact, my favorite planner of all time is a Time Traveler so I have high hopes for this new one! Time Traveler planners have lots of features I love like smooth white paper, loads of full-color maps, notes and information pages.

So anyway, that's how I use my daily and weekly planners together! Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more specific details.

Brush Dance Perennial Grace 2013 date book

I bought this planner just because I had to have it. It's beautiful! This is the Perennial Grace 2013 Date Book from Brush Dance.

The Brush Dance date books are approximately A5 size, with a hard cover and elastic strap closure.

There is a pocket in the front, TABBED months embedded in the weeks, and beautiful art and quotes every month. I especially like the art, colors and quotes in this date book!

At the beginning of each month there is a month calendar with moon phases and holidays for the US, UK, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand printed on the day spaces. The month's flower, gemstone and theme for the month (Women's History Month etc.) are also indicated at the beginning of each month. The weekly pages begin at the first day of the month and end on the last day of the month.

There is a week per page, and the daily spaces in the weeks also have all the holidays printed in the day spaces, and month reference calendars at the top of the pages. The designs and print colors are beautiful and so pleasant to look at!

At the end of the month there is space for notes.

And at the end of every month there are several pages for notes. The paper in the Brush Dance date books is thick and is fountain pen friendly! Excellent paper.

At the back of the book there is a tab and several pages for Addresses.

I love the positive vibe and sheer beauty of Brush Dance planners and calendars. I have reviewed several Brush Dance planners, and Paul B did a guest post on his Brush Dance planners, click here and scroll down to see them all.

Brush Dance date books and calendars are currently up to 75% off on remaining stock on BrushDance.com. You can also get Brush Dance planners and calendars on Calendars.com, Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Franklin Covey vegetable tanned leather binder

This is the FC binder I bought off ebay. It arrived just a few minutes ago. I LOVE it. The leather is buttery and smooth.

Sorry for the bright sunlight and janky angles, I took these pictures in haste to get them out to my tweeple.

Smooth tan leather. 

The closure is the flattest I've seen so far on a Franklin Covey binder. It's a small metal stud that fits into a magnetic ring so it opens and closes easily yet holds tight.

 Inside, sorry for the shadows. Secretarial pockets front and back, card pockets front, zip pocket back, elasticated pen loop front.

 Right side.

 Left side.

 I did a total-guts transfer from my Veronica. This binder has 1 3/8 rings and could definitely hold more pages.

 There still some room on them thar rings!

 Gorgeous.

 It's a fatty, but oh so comprehensive.

JUST when I had completely committed to my bound day per page planner. Now what??

February pressure

I'm feeling it. Are you?

I'm feeling the pressure to settle on my planner system for this year. We're just over a month into the year now, and if I can make a final decision now I'll be set for the year (with minimal recopying/ consolidation into my planner of choice).

Luckily I've been set on my weekly planner, which is my Plannerisms planner (of course!).

But I've still been doing some back-and-forth on my day per page planner.

This is the third year I've used a day per page planner for recording each day along with my weekly planner for planning. The system works extremely well for me, but I still have a hard time deciding which day per page to use. I want the biggest page I can get, but in a book that's not huge to carry around.

I've been going back and forth between a bound day per page (one I dated myself in a beautiful Paperblanks notebook, which you can see all about here):

and Franklin Covey Two Pages Per Day inserts.

I recently received a Franklin Covey binder, and even though it's very nice, it's pretty huge. In fact, if I'm honest it's bigger than what I want to carry in my bag everywhere.

I had a great email conversation with Patty of Homemakers Daily, who is my Franklin Covey inspiration. She's been using FC for 20 years and has a system that works well for her. She tracks her finances and archives consistently. I aspire to that level of planner functionality. But in our email conversation, she said I should probably stop struggling to use FC and just keep using what's been working so well for me these past three years: a bound daily book along with my weekly planner. Looseleaf pages make me nervous because I'm so bad about switching them around between binders, causing them to get lost. The permanence of a bound book means I always know where to look for information. Having "permission" from my Planner Guru made me feel free to go back to my bound book.

Is my system perfect? Probably not. But it works well for me in the vast majority of situations. And it's portable, which is extremely important to me for capturing details on the go.

What about you? Have you settled on your planner system for this year? Or are you still figuring out what you need and want from your planner?

Planner News

Here's some planner news for you:

First up, there are still some Plannerisms planners available to order. The Collins UK site is currently showing only Pink, but if you would like to order Teal, Black or Purple just email me (Laurie at Plannerisms dot com) and I can put you in touch with the right person for a special order. I've been really pleased with sales, and I've received wonderful comments from customers! Click here to see Plannerisms customer comments.

Next, if you haven't seen the Moleskine 2013-2014 catalog, go check it out (here). Yet again they're coming out with some really cool things this year. One of their new planners I've already gone on about (here) is the Turntable Planner, which is such a cool idea: you can use it horizontally or vertically.

Another new Moleskine planner is an addition to the Professional Planners lineup: the Dashboard Planner. The Dashboard has a weekly layout similar to my Plannerisms planner: vertical days with space below for lists and notes.

Moleskine's Star Wars lineup has expanded with 18 month as well as 12 month planners in Large and Pocket size. And, the Pocket size Daily and Horizontal Weekly planners will be available in Magenta, Brilliant Violet, Orange Yellow and Oxide Green.

Next up: the Quo Vadis 2013-2014 catalog is also out now. Go to http://exaclairretailers.com/ and click on Consumers below the catalog you want to see. They are bringing back an old favorite, the Quarter 26, which is great for people with an appointment-heavy schedule. You can read more about the Quarter 26 and its return here on the Quo Vadis blog.

If you're feeling swamped with recurring events and can't seem to keep track of them, you need to get yourself a WeekDate planner. Their Only Write It Once system means you write all your recurring events that happen every week and every month only once, so even when you are planning weeks ahead you can still see what's happening each day. Unfortunately, this might be the last year for WeekDate planners: if they don't manage to sell all their stock this year, the company will probably not be able to afford to print 2014's. WeekDate is an awesome company run by wonderful people, and their innovative products really do help save your sanity! I've done lots of reviews of WeekDate products, please check them out.

And finally, last but definitely not least, Brush Dance planners and calendars are now 50% off on their website (www.brushdance.com)! If you haven't seen Brush Dance planners, you really should check them out, they are beautiful. I recently bought one just because it was so pretty and I had to have it. (Review will be up in a couple of days. :)  )

***Edited to add something I had originally intended to put in this post but forgot in my flu-induced haze: Mstraat kindly pointed out to me that Uncalendar's Lifestyle Pro looseleaf pages are now available UNPUNCHED! Yes you read that right! Their Full Size and their Half Size pages now come unpunched so you can fit them into your Filofax, Franklin Covey, Circa or whatever else you like. 

So that's the planner news I know. Have you heard any interesting planner news out there?

Franklin Covey Veronica binder!

I'm so excited Veronica is here!!

This is the Franklin Covey Veronica binder in Compact size, Latte color. I bought this from skhen who bought it in the recent FC sale but didn't like the stripey effect on the cover (which is a variation of the natural leather). She intended to return it but I'm not bothered by the stripes at all so I offered to buy it from her. She kindly agreed and shipped it to me super fast! Thanks so much skhen!

She even included cool stickers! Love!

I always like it when my binder looks good with my phone. Don't they look great together??

Ok, let's get down to some serious details. Last time I told you about my FC reboot I was using my Filofax personal Aston binder (which you can read the details of here).  Below you can see the state of it with the FC 2 pages per day inserts sticking out the side. Also, I recently started using the FC Expenses envelopes, which stick even farther out.

I have three months of FC 2PPD in here, and 12 months of month on 2 pages as well as lots of Filofax pages (contacts, info, etc.). I want to put more pages in, but this binder is at capacity.

I did what I indelicately call a "total guts transfer" and took all the pages out of my Aston and put them directly into the FC Veronica. The Veronica has 1.125 inch rings (1 1/8 inch). Zoe also has the Veronica, and she advised me that the Veronica doesn't hold many more pages than the Aston, but holds them much more comfortably. In the comparison photos below you can see what that means. In the photos below, the exact same pages are in the Aston and the Veronica.

You can see the Veronica is not filled to bursting, unlike the Aston. Something to notice though, is that the Aston's cover is very flexible and can bend around the pages, allowing the binder to be stuffed full and the pages to go all the way around the rings. The FC binder cover is more stiff and the covers do not bend around the pages, so the capacity is limited by the size of the rings. I do not use the page lifters in the FC binder so I can fit in more pages.

Below is a closeup of the rings with the exact same pages in the Aston as in the Veronica. You can see how the pages go all the way around the rings in the Aston (top) but not in the Veronica (bottom).

So the Veronica does have the capacity to hold more pages than the Aston, but can't be overstuffed due to the stiffness of the covers.

I put an equivalent number and type of pages (mix of FC and Filofax) into the Aston and the Veronica to get some side by side photos. Here you can really see what Zoe means that the Veronica hold the pages more comfortably. The pages stick out of the Aston binder but not the FC.

Here you can see how stuffed the Aston is compared to the Veronica. Something else to notice is the Veronica's cover is puffy and thicker than the Aston's, making the binder bulkier overall. The additional width also adds significantly to the size of the binder.

Just for thoroughness I did the same experiment with my Malden to see how its capacity compares to the FC Veronica.  Again, the pages stick out pretty far from the side of the Malden but are completely contained by the Veronica.

Below you can see how the covers of the Malden curve around the pages, allowing it to be overstuffed. The pages go all the way around the rings in the Malden but not in the Veronica.

So if you are choosing between a personal Filofax or a Franklin Covey compact, be aware that the Filofax will hold the FC Compact pages but they will stick out and may overstuff your Filofax binder, which risks the ring mechanism breaking.

Below you can see the Expenses envelope I was talking about earlier. I really like these because we are doing a lot of DIY on our house so I have to keep receipts for supplies in case I need to return anything. I was losing receipts and forgetting where I put them, so this envelope holds them all in one place.

Below you can see the difference in width of the FC expenses envelope at the left and the Filofax Personal size pages at the right. I'm not bothered by the different page sizes in the binder.

Below you can see the 2 Pages Per Day layout in the binder. These are the Seasons inserts, which I really like. Clipped in the pen loop you can see my new pen of choice, the Uni-ball Signo which has really dark ink so my writing is easy to see on the page.

Something I didn't expect is that the rings themselves are fatter in the FC than in the Filofax, so Filofax pages (which have smaller punched holes) are harder to turn in the FC binder. I tried to get a photo showing the thickness of the rings, Filofax on top and FC on bottom but I don't know if you can tell.

Here is the inside of the Veronica binder. There is a secretarial pocket that opens to the left, and a full length pocket behind:

Inside the back cover there is a pen loop, a full length vertical pocket, and a notepad holder that can't be used as a pocket because it's open all the way through:

The closure is magnetic and holds securely:

I like the rings on the closure strap, but they do add a fair amount of bulk to the binder:

I haven't taken this binder out and about with me in my bag yet (been snowed in at home with two sick kiddos) but I wonder how the extra bulk of the cover will feel in my bag compared to my Aston.

I love the Veronica binder! The leather feels so soft, and it's pretty in a professional way so it would be appropriate at work and out and about.

Meanwhile I have another FC binder on its way to me, a tan leather binder with 1 3/8 inch rings I ordered from ebay. I'm curious how the larger rings will be. Will I love the additional capacity? Or will the binder be too big and bulky to carry everywhere?

I'm using the 2 pages per day and info pages in my binder in conjunction with my weekly + monthly Plannerisms planner where I write all my goals, schedules and weekly task lists. I'll do a separate post with details on what I write in which book. Basically, Plannerisms is for all forward planning and the FC daily pages are for recording.

I'll keep you posted on my progress!  :)