Workflow Wednesday: How I Use The Printable Charm Planner Pack
Workflow Wednesday: How I use the Printable Charm Planner Pack
I go back and forth with my planning and scheduling support. Mostly I like my planning systems to be digital and in the cloud, so that I can get to them whenever and from whatever device I have handy. But I have a weakness for pretty planners, too.This year I put together a printed planner for my blog that has been a huge help for keeping me on track and organized. Also, when I’m overwhelmed, I move off the computer to paper. I don’t know why, but the simplicity of paper and pen seems to help me feel like everything is more concrete and achievable. Or maybe I just like being able to cross things off with a pen when they are done.I’ve been following Sarah Bell of Printable Charm on Instagram since before she launched her shop, and I love her designs and her philosophy toward life: "I want to feel good about spending quality time with my family, knowing we are focused on the things that will actually matter in 10 years!"So when she put out a call for bloggers interested in trying and reviewing one of her Printable Charm Planner Packs, I jumped at the opportunity.Official disclosure: I received a free planner pack for review, but the images and opinions in this post are my own.I chose her Chalk It Up Planner because I love the simple, modern look. The planning pack also comes in Glam Slam and Seaside Watercolor designs - it really was hard to choose a favorite!Each of Sarah's planner packs include the following:
2 years of calendars with daily and monthly views
Birthday and anniversary perpetual tracker
Blog planner
Health tracker
Financial freedom tracker
Direct sales planner
Menu Planner
Teacher Planner
Appointment, activity and black sticker sheets (to be printed on sticky paper)
Notes pages
Workflow Wednesday: How I use the Printable Charm Planner Pack
Workflow Wednesday: How I use the Printable Charm Planner Pack
Workflow Wednesday: How I use the Printable Charm Planner Pack
Workflow Wednesday: How I use the Printable Charm Planner Pack
She also offers a separate Goals Planner and a Travel Journal And Planner.I printed out the menu planner immediately I’ve written about my commitment to menu planning before, and this one-page menu planner and grocery list is perfect for the way I plan our family’s meals.I liked her blog planning designs, but I already have a planner printed and bound that will through the end of 2014. I may look at using some of these pages for my 2015 planner. I especially liked the weekly sheet that includes an area to track social media promotion for each post and the stats tracking sheet.The financial planning section is great, but I already do all these things online. If you are just starting with budgeting or really want to have this work in a tangible printed format, you’ll love these forms. There are monthly budget planners as well as a sheet to help you track debt payments and savings goals.Because I mostly keep my calendar in iCal, I didn’t think I’d be using the calendar pages. But on a week I was feeling particularly overwhelmed with my to-do list, I decided to print out the daily calendar to help me map out how to get some stuff done. I printed the month of October half size and stapled it into a planner pad. Then I filled in all my scheduled appointments, tasks from my to-do list, and my family’s schedule for each week, making sure I wasn’t overwhelming myself on any one day. This has been really helpful in getting caught up in the last week, while still protecting my still-fragile daily energy. The daily view, with its division of morning/day/night is really great for helping me see my day in manageable segments.There were two things I’d have really appreciated that this pack didn’t include. First, a linked index list of the contents. Because there is SO MUCH in this planner, I spent a lot of time scrolling through it, looking for the one page I wanted to print. It would be great to have an index at the beginning that would let me jump to the section I’m looking forSecond, I would have liked a very simple project tracking sheet. I know there’s a separate goals planner that contains something like that, but there are many small projects in my day to day life that I need to break down into smaller steps to take action on. I’ve been using this free printable from Ann-Marie Loves.The upshot? If you like to plan on paper, and love pretty design, these planner packs are awesome. You can find your own here at Printable Charm.