How I Stay Organized: My Life Planner

Welcome to Erin Condren Week here at CLMM! Jess and I are slightly obsessed with EC's fun, colorful designs and ingenious planning/life organization products. Nothing about this week is sponsored, it is completely our own opinions and nothing you see was given to us. We just really love this stuff and want to take a whole week to share the wonderfulness with you all!

About a year ago, Jess and I were talking and she was describing to me her Life Planner. I was all "wow that sounds awesome" and she was all "yes, it's fantastic, you have to have one."

I took her advice and in September 2012 I began using my Life Planner to, well, plan my life. It keeps my days organized and helps to keep me on task!

You can check out all the product features here. Today I am just going to share with you all how I use my Life Planner!

First of all, I have one "rule" for my life planner- no ink shall touch it's pages. That's right, I go old school here and ONLY use pencil. Apparently, as much as I try to plan my life there are always things that change and I can't stand having to cross out and write in. :-)

 One of the features I use on a regular basis are the stickers that come with the Life Planner. There are some that are pre-made (dr. apt, mani/pedi, etc.) and then there are blank ones. I love the stickers because they make important things stand out. Sometimes you need things to jump off the page and get your attention, like swim lessons, or that dentist appointment you made 6 months ago that is suddenly only days away. 

 The things I write in my planner:

Blog posts- I write in my ideas for the week and then I put a big "S" over them when they are scheduled, I also write in Jess' posts when she schedules them. This helps me with social media because I can see what I need to Tweet about for the week.

Weird work hours- I use Outlook to keep me organized at work so I don't include work appointments in my planner, however, if my work hours change I write it in to remind me and so I won't forget to tell our sitters.

Appointments and Events- obviously, I keep track of the whole family's appointments as well as special things we have to do, like birthday parties, swim lessons, play dates, etc.

Meal Plan- you can see here how I use my planner to do my monthly meal plan, every week I write in the meals we are having at the bottom of each day.

Goals- any projects I want to finish that week or important things I need to get done go in this handy little side section.

To Do- There is a weekly "to do" list space, but I usually write in what I need to accomplish each day in the actual day, not the "to do list". In the pic above, I have written in on Wednesday that I need to photograph and write a blog post. Sometimes I will make a to do list of errands I need to run or people I need to call. I love lists... 

I love the perpetual calendar in the front of the planner. This is another tool that I use weekly. I always check to see if I have a birthday or anniversary coming up. I can also see how many cards I am going to need each month and then I can add those to my grocery store list. 

Are you a quote person? I am! I love the quotes throughout the planner- just a nice extra :-) Another "extra" feature I love are the notes pages in the back of the planner. I use them for things like planning parties or weekend getaways so that all my notes stay in one place.

When you get something in the mail that looks like this, you know it's going to be good. I have just ordered my new Life Planner and I am so excited about the extra features this edition will have. I love anything that helps to keep my life on track, this life planner delivers!

The EC team sums it up nicely, "Enjoy!"