My new planner!

I have to use a planner. I have to write things down to keep everything straight between all of us. I’m just not a fan of using my phone calendar for everything we have going on. I like to be able to see weeks at a time so I can make plans around Zach’s schedule and everything else that is going on.

For the past two years I’ve ordered and Erin Condren planner. And I loved mine. I really did. But it seems that customer service is really dwindling, and orders are showing up wrong. Then when they are wrong, it’s hard to get it fixed. For that price, I just didn’t want to mess with it. So I set out to find a new one. I tried three and just wasn’t happy with any of them.

Then, I saw this photo. {photo credit: http://www.thepolkadotposie.com/}

 

I was intrigued. I’d looked at some printable pages before but honestly, the thought of doing it myself was daunting, and well, I didn’t know if I wanted to deal with it. But I loved the look of these, and after reading the post by Jen showing off the pages, I clicked to buy! You can see her overview and suggestions here. I was able to use this post to help me figure out what I wanted and the direction in which to go for mine. You can also see her planner in use here.

I started with the Martha Stewart with Avery Home Office Discbound Notebook in turquoise! (photo credit: http://www.staples.com)

I also picked up two packages of Martha Stewart Home Office with Avery Discbound Notebook Dividers. (photo credit: http://www.staples.com)

I thought I would just send these pages off to print somewhere like Staples or something, but when I uploaded them and saw the cost, I decided no way! Out of Staples, Office Depot, FedEx, UPS Printing, etc, UPS was the most reasonable, but it was still too much. I did find a pretty good deal on www.bestvaluecopy.com but I thought the shipping was a little outrageous.

So, I decided to suck it up and give it a try at home. Let me say this. It was not NEAR as difficult or time consuming as I thought it would be. I labeled a piece of paper for a test page to show which side I put in face up and the end that was in the front of the paper tray. When it printed, I was able to see how I would need to put it in to print the backside.

I printed 10 odd pages at a time, got them out, arranged them for how they needed to in my printer and then did the corresponding 10 even pages. This was a good system for me. As I started getting the pages printed, I realized they were even prettier printed than the photos I’d seen of them. They are AWESOME! I’m sooooooooo pleased with these. Jen, the creator of these pages, is one of the nicest, sweetest people I’ve come across. She has been WONDERFUL with customer service making sure all was okay, if there were any printables I’d like to see, etc. You will NOT be disappointed if you get these pages.

The pages needed to be hole punched with a special puncher that fits this system. I purchased this here: http://www.levenger.com/Circa-Notebooks-326/Circa-Punches-328/Circa-1-2-3-Portable-Punch-8704.aspx

So, then it was time to put mine all together!

Mine is all put together and I adore it!!!!

So here are some of the things that I just love about this!

Monthly Calendar for every month

Notice whose 30th birthday is rapidly approaching?!?! :)

2013-2014 Overview

A section each month for notes, goals, to-dos, and home stuff

Weekly view with gorgeous colors throughout! LOVE!

Ability to fold notebook back for easier writing

She also has other things I’m able to incorporate, like pages for weekly meal plans and stuff for Christmas, which trust me, will be here before we know it!!!!!!

 

And here are some other things which I think are awesome:

• Pages pop in and out SO easily! I can add stuff or take it out, or rearrange it VERY easily! LOVE this.
• I can use this notebook and system year after year. Even the tabs are re-usable. They wipe clean so I can use them for different things if I want.
• It’s cute, bright, personalized and I just love it.
• It’s got a place on the weekly view for us to write down dinner ideas.

I could go on and on but I won’t. Just know that these pages are AWESOME!!! Don’t let the daunting task of printing deter you. It wasn’t bad at all and I’m so glad I jumped out and tried it!

You can purchase the pages here: PolkaDotPosiePrint Etsy Shop

Jen also has other printables available so make sure to check them out!!!! You will love them, as well as working with her!!!! Thank you Jen for bringing this awesome planner to life! You’ve gained a customer for as long as you make them!!!!!