For Christmas, my little sister gave me a Happy Planner, and I couldn’t be happier!

(What? I had to make that joke)

I wanted a planner that could do several things for me:

• I wanted it to start on Monday and end with Sunday (since Sunday is the “pinnacle” of the week)
• I wanted an hourly schedule, but I didn’t care so much about Friday or Saturday since I’m “off” typically on those days
• I wanted a place where I could write out my habits
• I wanted a place for a looooooooooong to-do list
• I wanted a space for the items that I do EVERY week
• I wanted a TON of space for notes in the back

I decided to go for the Happy Planner, because:

• You can take pages in and out as much as possible, which means a never-ending notebook at the end of my planner
• You can use their special hole-punch to put in notes from meetings, hand-outs, or other important information (like budgets, school calendars, yearly performance objectives, metrics, etc!)
• This also means that you can create your own planner and put it in!

Okay, so obviously you know where I’m going with this: I created my own planner pages.

But first, let’s talk supplies:

• I started with this planner! I chose the Happy Planner Notebook, because it comes with pre-punched note paper, and not a calendar. I wanted to make my own planner!
• I purchased bigger rings. There are three sizes, and I wanted the medium size! But okay, I purchased the mega size, too.
• I purchased just a butt-ton of stickers.
• Some people love washi tape. I’m mixed.
• THIS IS IMPORTANT: the punch! This is what turns ordinary paper into Happy paper.
• I am also OBSESSED with these sticky notes.
• Thick project paper to print Happy Planner sheets on!

Now if you AREN’T into making your own planner calendar, note that there ARE some already out there! There are also some you can purchase off of Etsy.

But here are my pages: DOWNLOAD HERE

• I love that each week, my to-do tasks that never change are already written on my planner. Before, I had to write them down every single week.
• I also love that I have a space where I can write out exactly how Sunday is going to go.
• I decided to make my pages without months/dates, and utilize Happy Planner Stickers to fill those in.
• I wrote pre-existing stuff in a lighter font, so that it’s easier to write over if I need, although I do love me some white-out tape.

And here are two examples of how I use them!

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Here is another week!

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With COVID-19 changing my schedule so that I work from home (and my weekly appointments look different now), I decided to change up my pages — here is what it will look like next week!:

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I love this new format because I have a space on the right page for different projects that I’m working on! And of course — Women in Youth Ministry has its own spot!

Every time I am completed with a month, I take that month out and file it into a folder — if I need to reference that month in the future, I have it! But it’s not taking up space in my planner.

Other things I’ve hole-punched and keep in my planner:

• Our all-church calendar (printed from our Google Calendar)
• Our Youth Calendar, including dates that schools leave for spring/fall/winter/summer breaks.
• My performance objectives for the year
• My personal goals
• A printout of the most recent metrics
• A printout of the most recent budget report
• A list of my weekly work-flow (it explains my job just in case I were to get sick!)
• A few other printouts that I like to keep on me at all times.
• A hefty notes section in the back.
• (Because of all these additions, I only have 6 months of printed months at a time — which is why I archive completed months and have a full calendar in the front of my planner!)

I’d love to see the ways that you are using your planners — so PLEASE tweet me your pics!

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