The Ghost of Planners Past

I dug through my chest of photos, baby blankets, high school love notes, and other keepsakes to bring you the ghost of planners past. I originally thought past, present, and future would all be in one post but there's a lot of photos so I'm actually going to break it down into two posts.

First up July 2010 - June 2011:

My system mainly consisted this monthly/weekly Blue Sky planner (which I decorated with magazine pages), 1 or 2 types of sticky notes, and penciling in all my classes, squishing what was due that day into the space next to it. 

I kept most things in pencil in case plans or due dates changed. The busier things got, the most sticky notes filled a page. For the most part, when I completed a full sticky note, I threw it away which worked as a great motivator. This system worked well for the time so a lot didn't change a lot moving into my next planner.

Next up July 2011 - June 2012:

I felt awkward having such an eye catching cover so I kept this one plain (read boring). Again, I mainly stuck to my planner (again, a monthly/weekly Blue Sky), a few sticky notes, and a pencil.

A few things I did differently with this system was I folded completed weeks in half, making it easier to flip to the current week. I also started using a few stickers to point to important date (bills, anniversaries, birthdays, etc.). Again, this system worked well while I was in college because it allowed me to write out all my due dates, inconsistent work schedule, and plan for social oThings I looked for when searching for my next planner was for it to be hard covered, less pre-decorating, and maybe a little bit more space to write in due dates. It took me some time so I kept my schedule on my phone and random sticky notes for several months

January 2013 - December 2013:

This system consisted of the Greenroom monthly/weekly planner, more sticky notes, even more stickers, a broken mechanical pencil, and running out of space more often.

Towards the end of the year I started looking for an alternative planner online since I didn't like anything I was finding in store. That's when I found the Moleskine planners which had way more space and allowed more room for colorful creativity. I transferred into a new planner before I was even completely finished with the one before.

July 2013 - December 2014:

I started with a few new sticky notes, a new set of pens, and started adding washi tape. Halfway through I switched to a different type of colored pen since the ones I was using were already starting to run out of ink/ didn't write dark enough for my liking. Here are a few of my favorite pages:

As you can see, I started color coordinating certain items (ex. purple = positive thought, orange = meals, etc.) and added weather and a various habit trackers (water, meds, etc.) not to mention stickers and doodles. I also moved my homework and other tasks to the lined portion of each weekly spread, lining up with the days that they were due. It wasn't an entirely consistent system and I moved things around a lot which kept me from staying on track (though it sure did look pretty and I hope to reintegrate the creativity back into my current bujo).

Since I was in a post-baccalaureate program at the time I thought I should stick with the same system so I bought another weekly Moleskine as time neared the new year.

January 2015 - December 2015:

Yup, that's a third set of pens that I switched to. They had a finer tip, got better reviews on Amazon, and they're pretty. Also, I think that cup stain on the front just speaks to how this planner was realistically used most of the time. Here are a few of my favorite pages from the last year including that time I tried to draw out what I was packing for a trip visiting family:

A lot of the same, right? What you don't see (because they would be boring) is a bunch of blank pages that I didn't have enough of anything to fill it up. The first half of the year I was still in school so it worked out just fine but ever since March-ish, I don't have a constant flow of homework to keep track of. Additionally, now with a more flexible due date of tasks, I hate that once a week is over, no matter how busy I was or was not, I have to move forward since its pre dated. I never expected to look for a system that allowed complete flexibility but that brings me to my current system.

But since this post is more than long enough for one day of reading, I'm saving all my tidbits of my current experimenting with a BuJo until next Wednesday. Also, join me Friday for an exciting announcement. If you have any questions or what a better look at any of the pages here, just let me know!

Hope your hump day was more pleasant than mine - I'm spending my first day off since Thanksgiving, stuck on the couch with the sicky... on the same day that I was supposed to be getting my flu shot. So much for that.

As always you can follow me on Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, Goodreads, Flikr, and Tumblr. Also, I'm working on finally releasing that quilt pattern so stay tuned for that through my etsy shop. Until next time my planner loving readers, live long, stay organized, and prosper!