planner setup and organization

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I love decorative touches in my planner, but it’s all about function for me. I’ve used a goals based system for years, and my planner is set up this way. It goes from goals and planning in the front to tracking and projects in the back. Over the next few weeks I’ll share each section in more detail, but for now I’ll show you the general setup.

The front pockets of my Moterm planner hold some supplies that I use most often in my daily planning: stickers, sticky notes, washi tape and a notepad. I also have my business cards and an “if lost” / “in case of emergency” card up front and handy.

The front of my planner is my main decorative spot. I have an animal print dashboard layered with some photos and animal print vellum (I love me some animal print). The three photos are reminders of my three goals: 1 – get healthy, 2 – buy a house, 3 – grow the biz.

This flyleaf holds my favorite Frixion pen, as well as my task cards. I use these cards to list recurring tasks I have to do so I don’t have to write them out over and over again.

Now we get into the meat of my planner. As I mentioned, my planner is split into two main sections. The first half of my planner contains my goal planning, then my monthly, weekly and daily pages. (Random sticky note to cover private info 🙂

I use a lot of stickers on these pages, but they don’t get in the way of the functionality. In fact, they add to the functionality of my planning through color coding and calling attention to important dates and reminders.

Notice on the daily spread above, you can see a task card in action.

The second half of my planner is mainly for trackers. I have them categorized into: wellness, personal (fam), shop and content. Pictured are mostly blank inserts to protect private info.

In each section, behind the trackers, I also keep extra grid note paper for project planning. I really do most of my project planning on my ipad, but sometimes I do smaller project lists in these sections.

Since I carry my planner with me everywhere, I use the back pockets as a wallet. Here I keep my cards (which are covered with card skin stickers to match my planner aesthetic), COVID Vaccine card, some cash and receipts.

In the pen loop I keep my gray highlighter.

Lastly, I use the big pocket at the back to hold misc papers I need deal with, sort of like an inbox. I also added a piece of cardboard to give my planner a little structure since it’s a bit floppy.

Here’s a video showing step by step how I set up this planner:

My planner is seriously my personal assistant, my work horse. But that doesn’t mean she can’t be pretty too 🙂

How about you? Are you #TeamFunctional or #TeamDeco?