The Absolute Best Way to Plan Your Day

Things in my life that I can control: my nail polish (a bronze-y red), which book I read (a cheesy romance), and what I eat (literally eating a bowl of Cookie Crisp right now - don't judge!).

Things in my life that I cannot control: my special needs kid getting put on homebound schooling, our new puppy pooping on the floor, library books that are overdue because of the medical issues with the kid, and that I'm already out of makeup. 

(Yes, I could have controlled two of those by returning books early and ordering makeup timely, but...shush!)

Use a Planner to Deal with Your Day

But I can control using my planner to deal with all the stress. Today, I'm going to walk you through how I plan my day in a way that makes sense, even for the laziest and most scatterbrained among us.

(Me. I'm talking about me, y'all.)

Let people know about Giftie Etcetera! Pin my planner pic to Pinterest or share on Facebook.

Please never feel pressured to plan the way that I do.

The most effective planning is whatever works FOR YOU!

Just pick and choose what might work for you, and steal those ideas.

Bonus puppy picture! This guy, K-9, takes more planning than the kids!!!

In this post, I'm using a Franklin Planner Monticello Day on One Page Compact daily page. Those pages are basically divided into three parts, but if your planner isn't, you can just think about it as a task list, a schedule, and a notes section.

The Task List 

Basically, any tasks that I plan to do today go on this list. I have an ongoing list elsewhere (divided into this week and future tasks), but this is my plan for one single day.

All of us can get through one little day, right?

So I really limit my task list to things I MUST do today. Some are urgent. Others can only be done on a non-work day or before the weekend or while I'm in town anyway. Makes sense?

Let's talk about the details in the above picture.

Where I say "@B" I mean "waiting on my husband." I use @ to indicate a pending item. I use A for son #1, L for son #2, B for my husband, and initials for anyone else I am waiting on.

In this case, I mean once my husband tells me his schedule, I'll schedule a babysitter. It's dependent on his action but I must schedule today.

Other little details include using circles for to do items (they are quicker to draw) and having a context code (like H for home, C for computer, and W for work).

The Schedule

Schedules are simple, right?

Well, in a planner, they can be tricky!

Do you put tasks on the schedule? Do you note drive/waiting room time? What about plans that are flexible, like going to the gym?

Here's how I handled that stuff in the picture of my planner page...

I rarely put in drive time if it's the first thing in the morning (at 8 a.m. for me), but for any other appointments, I include drive time with a second entry. For example:

8:00 am - Meeting

10:15 am - Leave for Doctor
10:45 am - Doctor

I have slashes to show wait time while my kid is in therapy and testing. I find that time useful for planning, doing a bit of my paid work, or processing paperwork.

I only put tasks on the schedule if they are time specific, like when I am in town and need to drop off books at the library next to the doctor's office.

Oh, and notice the circle/square task hack. The circle goes before the main task and the square under the subtasks. For example:

O Go to library
  [] return books
  [] pay fine
  [] reserve new release book

The circle/square trick allows me at a glance to group related tasks together.

Where necessary, I note the details of an errand next to the errand (such as an address).

For flexible plans, I put a question mark after them.

The Notes

My notes section covers a wide variety of stuff.

Today, it happens to include my daily checklists (am, pm, chores, and workout) and my menu. I also put notes from doctors or actual lists of things to pack for the day in that area.

By keeping it flexible, I capture everything that doesn't really have a place.

Honestly, my Loyal Readers already know all of these tips. But it never hurts to review and figure out which parts work for you.

Etcetera.

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