My 2017 Planner

I have always been a list maker. Each morning I write a list of things I want to achieve that day. Sometimes I write it out the night before so that I can go to sleep without going over in my mind what I need to do the next day. At the end of the day I take pleasure in crossing off the tasks I have completed and feel a sense of achievement if I have managed to accomplish them all.

This year I decided that, instead of having lists lying around the house, I would make a planner where I could keep everything organised in a fun, creative way. Although there are lots of lovely planners you can buy, I decided to use a recipe journal I have had for a few years, but never used. I think I bought it because it was purple, my favourite colour, but I have another lovely recipe folder that I have been using, so this one has been stashed away in a cupboard until now.

I decorated the front with scrapbook papers and a small tag, and I also decorated the back and inside cover.

The journal has six dividers so I have 2 months for each divider and use word stickers for the months.

On the inside of the divider I glued small calendar pages so I can see the dates at a glance.

I use a page for each week and write down important dates, what I’m reading, art and craft projects I’m working on, and weekly menus. At the top I attach a stack of To Do notelets with a paper clip so that at the end of each day I can transfer any tasks I haven’t completed to a new list and throw the old one away.

The paper clips are also handy for keeping snippets I have clipped from magazines or junk mail, of things I want to remember or look up on the Internet. I attach the weekly menu to the page with washi tape so that I can easily take it off at the end of the week if I want to, and in its place I put pictures for art inspiration that I have cut out of catalogues or magazines.

Plastic sleeves provide a place for photos taken during the week.

I set the pages up a month at a time so I can easily write out my lists each day, and then when I have time I can add embellishments like stickers, decorative tape, and pressed flowers from my garden. I find it is a fun and creative place to keep things organised – everything together all in one place. It is like a planner, journal, and scrapbook all in one.