I finally finished the tedious preparation for selling planners: design, printing, photography, editing, and posting. Now, we’re ready for pre-orders!
“When you intentionally use your everyday life to bring about positive change in the lives of others, you begin to live a life that matters.” ― John C. Maxwell, Intentional Living: Choosing a Life That Matters
Before I walk you through each of the planners, here is the layout of the monthly overview which appears in all the planners.
The week starts on Sunday just as how most wall calendars are – you know, those free calendars most companies give away, some with coupons for drug stores and pharmacies while those from banks have beautiful scenery.
The last column is for notes, ideally for ideas that belong in that week but not on a specific day. The notes column also has the week numbers. I find this most helpful when switching between monthly and weekly overviews.
The weekly activity tracker is also present in all planners. Here, you can keep up with activities you do less than once a day, ideally, a weekly activity. This can be a regular visit to the park, weekly cleaning or other chores, or even that ipon challenge (money saving challenge). I use the weekly tracker for my activities with church like worship attendance including the time I arrived, weekly financial giving, and encouragement – who I intentionally encouraged for that week.
Other common pages are owner information, year at a glance, important dates to remember, notes, and contacts pages. I utilize the year at a glance as a chain calendar but I’ve minimized it to only track when I ate out and when I ate junk food. For the past 5 years (or longer), I have been keeping my junk food habit in check and a chain calendar helps me minimize my consumption and avoid bingeing as well.
Every planner has a pocket and although the pockets of the Big Pocket Planner and Basic Planners are expandable, I recommend keeping loose sheets to a minimum and immediately transfer those “loose thoughts” into collection containers like a bullet journal. Planners and journals are not just meant to keep things but also to keep them organized and useful. With that, let’s begin the tour.
The simplest of the bunch, the Pocket Planner contains 12 monthly overviews, a weekly activity tracker, 2 notes pages, a contacts list, and a small pocket for those little loose sheets. It is 5.25″/135mm by 4.125″/105mm and about 0.125″/5mm thick.
The Pocket Planner is ideal for those who just want a handy analog planner calendar. It is easy to carry around in your pocket or leave open on a desk.
The Pocket Planner is a good size when you’re only starting out on using planners. Hindi nakakatamad dalhin kasi maliit. (You won’t hesitate to bring it with you since it is small.)
The Pocket Planner’s big brother (or sister), the Big Pocket Planner contains a year overview, 12 monthly overviews, a weekly activity tracker, 4 notes pages, a contacts list, and an expandable pocket. It is 8.25″/210m by 5.5″/140mm and about 0.125″/5mm thick.
The Big Pocket Planner is ideal for those who want a handy analog planner calendar but have huge hand writing. Since it is about the size of a regular notebook, it easily fits into a bag, a big pocket. You can also leave it open on a desk or on a book holder. It is useful for those who have a lot going on but don’t have to go into much detail – a meeting, an event, a birthday – things you just can’t afford to miss.
Other than having more writing space compared to the Pocket Planner, the Big Pocket Planner has a daily activity tracker. This can help build or break habits. I use the daily tracker for vitamin intake, quick cleaning chores, and self-care. The daily activity tracker is like an upgraded chain calendar, which I mentioned above.
“Good habits are hard to form and easy to live with. Bad habits are easy to form and hard to live with. Pay attention. Be aware . If we don’t consciously form good ones, we will unconsciously form bad ones.” ― Mark Matteson, Freedom from Fear
The Big Pocket Planner has a year overview. I use it to keep track of things that recur monthly, but not on specific dates such as my monthly period. I also note here when I visited my grandfather or when Anja spent time with her dad. If you use a bullet journal, the year overview can be used similar to a calendex.
Basic Planner
The most sophisticated of the bunch, the Basic Planner contains a year overview, 12 monthly overviews, 54 weekly overviews, 2 daily routine pages, a weekly activity tracker, a monthly finances tracker, 12 notes pages, a contacts list, and an expandable pocket – oh, and it also has a page marker. It is 8.25″/210m by 5.5″/140mm and about 0.375″/10mm thick.
The Basic Planner is basically what you need when you want to set goals and distribute your tasks throughout the week. The weekly overviews are most useful for planning ahead or for breaking down big projects into bite-sized pieces. More than a calendar planner, the Basic Planner is almost a journal providing prompts and space for creative thinking, doodling, and even meal planning.
The Basic Planer weekly overviews have a change of layout or prompts every 9 weeks. The change in layout and prompts aim to break routine and inspire creativity. The last 9 weeks change prompts every 3 weeks to aid in planning and goal setting for the next year.
“Progress is impossible without change; and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” ― George Bernard Shaw
The letters in the middle of the weekly overviews are for meal planning or logging and mean breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner. The symbols below it are 8 drops for tracking water intake.
When you feel thirsty, you are already dehydrated.
The lower left section of the weekly overviews are for emails, calls, or messages to send out, etc.
There are two pages for daily routine to allow scheduling for weekdays and weekends. Other people may have a change of routine mid year and need a fresh page.
The monthly finances tracker is best used for recurring expenses like bills, grocery shopping, and transport expenses. There is a space to track income sources, compute your balance, and set an amount as savings.
Whew, it seems like the Basic Planner isn’t so basic after all 😉
You may view the whole album of 2018 Planners here.
“Paper is to write things down that we need to remember. Our brains are used to think.” ― Albert Einstein
Do you use a planner calendar or journal? How does it look like?
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