Happy Planning My Way To Increased Productivity!

Using a diary or planner to make lists and remember important things is nothing new.

Whilst many people have embraced modern technology to keep track of everything and have gone paperless, a few months ago I discovered a whole new world of planning like nothing I had seen before.

There are groups on Facebook (that I have joined) for people totally addicted to creating gorgeous planner pages that are inspiring yet practical at the same time.

I have been quietly watching from the sidelines as the planner world went into frenzy mode following the anticipation of Erin Condren’s release of her new planners and the subsequent waiting and then delivery of these highly sought after items.

I love pretty things, I love crafting and I love organisation and really wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

Unfortunately these planner come at a price and if you live ‘down under’ a really big price.

rose gold life planner from erin condren 2015

Erin Condren.com has this and many more planners available.

With the Australian dollar tracking in the low 70’s plus delivery costs to Australia, you need to invest about $130.00 to get the rose gold edition.

That is a lot of money for some printed paper and a rose gold tone covered coil.

In the mean time I also found another alternative that you can buy in Australia for a much more respectable figure of just under $50.00.

Every year I buy a traditional diary and religiously enter in everything I need to do for about 1 week and then I slack off. It’s boring!

I decided I wanted a planner to decorate and use as an incentive to make better use of my time.

It is not hard for me to relax for a few minutes a few hours by scrolling through social media every day.

My goals and dreams are not going to become a reality if all I do is think about them.

I need to take action and use my hours at home after work to be more productive and procrastinate a lot less.

AND then something awesome happened…..

On all these group pages that I follow there are lots of RAK (Random Acts of Kindness).

I saw a post from a lady in the USA who offered a Create 365 Happy Planner as a ROK and to be eligible to win in you had to live outside the USA or Canada as she understood our despair at the prohibitive costs for us.

Well….I was the lucky winner!

Create 365 Happy Planner Australia

🙂

It took a couple of weeks to get here, but this baby is now mine!

To say I am excited is an understatement.

This planner runs from July but she even sent me some blank date inserts so that I could start using it straight away.

Decorating my Happy Planner

This is my first attempt at decorating a week layout and adding in the things I have to do.

Stickers, washi tape and goodness knows what else will fill my week with prettiness.

My new plan of attack starting from today is that I MUST complete my To-Do’s before I spend time on social media or relaxing in any shape or form, so that when I do I don’t have to feel guilty about it.

Being a single mum l do have very full days with work and running the household. As I experiment with this style of planning I will break up my week into practical chunks and get shizz done!

Wish me luck!!!

Do plan or just go with the flow?

Sharing for #IBOT with EssentiallyJess.com

27 thoughts on “Happy Planning My Way To Increased Productivity!

  1. How awesome is that!!!!congrats. I resisted an EC planner even back when the exchange rate was better as it was stil expensive but I am amazed at Aussies still investing in it now. I love your alternative. I plan, just not as cute. Xx

  2. In life I go with the flow but with my blog I have been using a diary as a planner that I decorate with washi tape to motivate myself with pretty pages. I also celebrate achievements with stickers in the diary. I find it really motivating to tick off all the items I have listed in my blog to do list each day.

  3. What a great prize to win! I am a big planner and couldn’t live without my diary. I’d love to have the time to make it pretty but I would end up just scribbling my notes all over it after a week or two of pretty. Have fun with it!

  4. I used to love planning, now I find I get more done if I just ‘do’. Planning is just a fancy way for me to procrastinate 🙂 Having said that, I do have a paper wall calendar so I can figure or where on earth I’m supposed to be from day to day!

    1. I forget things too and it really annoys me, so this is my way of trying to get on top of that, and I love sparkly things, so win-win!

  5. Ooh, I’ve had my eye on the gold dot one of these.. it is so pretty! Can’t justify the cost at the moment but congratulations to you! There are some lovely people in the world!

    1. I initially fell in love with the Erin Condren planner, but waaaaaay to expensive. Even if I had not received this gift I would have bought my own Happy planner as you can get them retail in Australia at a fraction of the price of an EC.

  6. Hi Nikki,

    I love a good planner! I have switched to using my phone, but I remember the days when I would eagerly anticipate my new yearly planner. Not that it made me better at time management, but I just love how they look. And they always make me feel more productive…

    1. The phone thing just does not do it for me. The most important thing is doing what works for you.

    1. I do like to be able to glance at my week and make sure I do not forget the important stuff, even if the day changes.

  7. As much as I love being organized I don’t know if I could commit to this type of planner. I had a FiloFax years ago and it was great but I do tend to just write myself simple notes on a piece of paper every day or set up reminders in my electronic calendar. It works most of the time…unless I lose the paper or forget to look at my e-reminders 🙂 Thanks for sharing via Blogging On Your Own Terms #Sharefest

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