Ideas for functional and effective planner organization.
![planner organization and setup](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-organization-and-setup-1024x576.png)
I’ve spent literal years tweaking and refining my planner organization and system to help me stay productive and accomplish my goals. So I thought I’d share some ideas that might help you find your perfect planner setup.
Right now I’m doing a hybrid of paper planning combined with digital planning. This week I’ll show you how I set up my A5 size paper planner, and then next week, I’ll show you how I set up digital planning on my iPad.
Functional Planning System
Planner Size
I’ve tried many different sizes of planners, and for the longest time I was a loyal Personal size planner girl. But earlier this year I decided to try A5 size, and now I don’t know if I’ll ever go back. I’m in the Louis Vuitton large ring agenda, and I just love all the space of an A5.
![planner setup](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-setup-1024x682.png)
Planner Pockets
I keep my front pockets pretty simple. I have a planner card from our August Stationery Sub in the little front pocket along with my most used sticky notes.
In the front secretarial pocket, I keep my most used stickers: transparent dots, some removable labels that I use as sticky notes, some headers, some icons, and some plain white labels that I use as correction tape.
And then in the back secretarial pocket, I have just a few pages of our grid notepad.
![planner dashboard](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-dashboard-1024x682.png)
![planners for productivity](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planners-for-productivity-1024x682.png)
Planner Dashboard
I use a clear pocket page from Catspresso for my inspiration dashboard. On the front, are some cards I printed up as little reminders of my purpose and intent for The Planner Spot.
On the back of the pocket page, I keep my task cards. These are recurring tasks I do week to week. I’ll share more on those in a future blog post.
The cards themselves are also from Catspresso, and I printed the labels on removable sticker paper.
![](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planning-sections-1024x682.png)
Planner Sections
I have six sections in my planner: yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, personal, and business.
I also have three bottom dividers that mark my pages for the current month, the current week, and the current day.
And there is one more divider at the top which I use as a page marker for my planning routines.
All my dividers are from Brooklyn Grace Co.
![planner inserts](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-inserts-1024x682.png)
![](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-sections-1024x682.png)
![planner inserts A5](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-inserts-A5-1024x682.png)
![planners 2021](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planners-2021-1024x682.png)
![planner setup 2021](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-setup-2021-1024x682.png)
![planner setup ideas](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-setup-ideas-1024x682.png)
Yearly Planning
In my yearly section, I have my year overview calendars for reference, which I also use for tracking my periods.
Next are my goals inserts. I have my yearly goals, a year overview for personal projects and a year overview for business projects. Then I have my monthly, weekly and daily goals and planning routines.
![planner organization](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-organization-1024x682.png)
![planner ideas](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-ideas-1024x682.png)
![planner pages](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-pages-1024x682.png)
Monthly Planning
I keep the whole year of monthly inserts in my planner. This is a four pages per month spread that I use for mapping out my projects for the month.
Color coding dots help easily differentiate personal events, shop calendar and content planning.
![planner spread](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-spread-1024x682.png)
![planner stickers](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-stickers-1024x682.png)
![planner flip through](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-flip-through-1024x682.png)
Weekly Planning
The next section is my weekly section. I keep a whole month of weekly inserts in my planner. This is also a four page layout. On the first page I do some meal planning, I note my schedule and tasks on the main weekly spread, and on the back I do some content planning.
![planner decorating](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-decorating-1024x682.png)
Daily Planning
My next section is my daily section. On the left, I have a daily dashboard where I like to keep a calendar card for reference, some tracking, and a spot for my task cards.
On the right is my daily insert. Here is where I layout my daily schedule and tasks. The back page is just a place for misc notes.
Just like my weeklies, I keep a whole month’s worth of daily inserts in my planner.
![planner 2021](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-2021-1024x682.png)
![planner flip thru](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-flip-thru-1024x682.png)
![planner set up](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planner-set-up-1024x682.png)
![planning](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/planning-1024x682.png)
Tracking Inserts
My back two sections are for personal and business tracking.
In the personal section, I have a perpetual calendar for tracking some health stats like weight, blood pressure, et cetera (this insert will be released in a couple of weeks). Then I made a couple inserts for my personal use: a blood glucose tracker and a spending tracker. Lastly, I have a yearly tracker for health appointments.
![plan](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/plan-1024x682.png)
![agenda](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/agenda-1024x682.png)
![plan with me](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/plan-with-me-1024x683.png)
My last divider is my business section. This weekly revenue insert is available in the printable shop, but I added my own headers and shading to the ones I use in my planner. And then I have a shop tracker, which I use it for tracking different business stats (again, I added my own headers). Finally, I have an insert for my passwords.
![lv gm](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/lv-gm-1024x682.png)
Wallet
A5 size planners can get super heavy and I carry my planner with me every day, everywhere I go. So, as you can imagine, lugging my planner around gets really heavy in my bag.
To lessen the load, I use the back of my planner as a wallet. I have a zip pocket to hold cash, and another pocket page from Catspresso for my debit cards and credit cards, as well as my license and my health insurance card.
I have a little adhesive pocket from Target that I put on a pocket page from Cloth and Paper to hold our COVID vaccination cards. In the pocket, I keep receipts that I need to log.
![louis vuitton gm](https://theplannerspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/louis-vuitton-gm-1024x682.png)
Back Pockets
In the little pocket in the back, I keep a couple of business cards. And in the back long pocket, I just keep miscellaneous pieces of paper that I need to tend to.
Lastly, I have my trusty Frixion pen.
Digital Planning
And that’s it, that’s my whole setup for my paper planner. Like I mentioned earlier, next week I’ll be back to share how I do digital planning. Both paper and digital planning play significant parts in my planning system and I can’t wait to show you more!
I hope you were able to pick up a few ideas for your own planner organization and setup. See you back here again next week!
* To my eagle eyed customers: all plans shown in photos are subject to change 😉
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