I haven’t had a paper planner in years, and have been pretty happy with my bullet journal system.  However, the one hold up for me with the bullet journal was in setting up the new pages, primarily the month at a view calendar pages.  I liked having one each month to consult, but when a new month came and I had to set it up, I never could get going on it.

So, when Mary Heather mentioned that there was a mini-planner for the last few months of the year, I figured it was a good non-committal way of trying out the paper system before investing a lot of money in it.

I tried it and loved it, so in the last two weeks, I’ve been getting set up for 2016.  First off, I ordered the Inkwell Press A5 inserts (they are out of stock now, but they are making quarterly planners that are pretty similar to the mini-planner I have been using).  I decided to go with the inserts thinking it would be easier to also incorporate some standalone lists in a binder, rather than in a bound planner.  I love me some lists, and the bullet journal method really helped me sort out bigger projects, so I still plan to use those strategies in this planner.

Then, I picked up the pink Carpe Diem planner binder along with a few accessories last week.  The Carpe Diem planner does come with it’s own inserts, and I kept some of the pieces from those inserts in here, while primarily using the Inkwell inserts.  It came in yesterday, so I spent some time last night cutting apart my mini-planner and inserting that along with the inserts for the first three months of next year into my binder.

I basically saw the polkadots on the inside, and had to have it.  I also love the one large pocket on the inside left, along with the several smaller ones for holding business cards, receipts, etc.  I haven’t used it for long, so can’t really give a product review, but I’m pretty excited about using this for the next year or so!

I don’t embellish my planner much, but I’m a sucker for cute stationary items, and let’s face it, these stickers had me at “Like a Boss”.  I got the stickers and the post it notes bookmark, which slips in and out of the binder rings really easily so you can move it around as needed.  I liked the idea of having the little post-its handy.

So far, using a paper planner is helping me keep track of my tasks, but also, it is helping me to feel accomplished at the end of the day.  I often feel like I’m not getting enough done, but when I look back at the day and see the things that I did complete, I feel really great about it.  It is also helping me to limit my tasks for each day.  I can always add a post-it note to the page to add more things to my list, but I’ve found that if I fill up the little space available for the day, I’ve probably got enough things lined up, especially since other tasks seem to pop up. A lot of my “to do’s” are big umbrella items – like answer 75 emails – so your mileage may vary.  I didn’t really expect to be a paper planner convert, but it has happened!

Jess reminded me that Inkwell Press has a referral program that enables people to save $10 off of their first purchase of more than $50, and gives me some rewards, too, so here’s my link if you are interested!  🙂