I have been working on reorganizing my planner for the new year. I am always trying to simplify and improve the process. I was tired of spending money on planners with pages that I didn't need or couldn't use. I also wanted more room for things I did need and different pages. I decided to make my planner myself for the new year. a combination of pre-printed calendars, printables, and some office supplies from Staples. I decided to use the Arc Planner from Staples. I love that you can add or delete things as you need. I was tired of spending money on planners with pages that I didn't need or couldn't use. I love the fact that I can make this planner work for me!
I also bought the punch so that I could add things that I print out as well. It was a little pricey (but more cost effective than similar systems), but well worth it in my opinion.
Here is what is in my binder now:
Information Sheet:
When you open up my planner, the first thing that you see is my information sheet. I took a planner class once, and the instructor said that this is one of the most overlooked but necessary pages in a planner. If you lose it, how will someone contact you to return it? I never worried about this before, but after hearing that suggestion, I will never forget to include it! My life is in this planner!
My Daily List
The next page is my Daily List. I printed this one out from Andrea Dekker because it has space for both my work and home life. I usually keep about one week's worth of these sheets so that I can add items as they come up. As I finish each task, I highlight it (I don't know why, but the highlighting makes me feel accomplished - don't judge!). When the day is over I take that day's list out and add any unfinished tasks to the next day's list.
My In/Out Folder -
Calendars
My monthly calendars.
I bought monthly labels similar to these ones so that I could label the months for easy access. I only keep four months at a time in my actual planner, the rest are tucked inside a folder in my file cabinet. This helps keep my binder from being too bulky. That is one reason that I LOVE the arc, because you can add and delete papers to the planner whenever you want or need too because of these handy rings. I also love the fact that they come in various sizes so you can customize your planner to fit YOUR needs. I opted for the larger rings because I use my planner for my household, school, and blogging and TpT needs.
Dividers
Behind the calendar, I have five divider tabs for each section of my life basically.
I have them labeled Meals, Household, Blog, School, and TpT. The beauty of this system is you can label them however you would like to suit your own needs.
Meals
In the meals section I keep my weekly meal plan, grocery shopping list, and recipes for the week if needed. Again, I really love the flexibility the Arc gives me to add and remove sheets.
Household
Because I am a list person, I also printed out these forms from The Confident Mom for keeping my household tidy. I love that she has both the filled in file and a file that you can customize yourself. I like some of the suggestions she gives, but not everything applies to me (for example, I only have a one-story house, so cleaning the stairs is not something I need to have on my list).
Blog and TpT
At the beginning of this section I have my monthly blog posts at a glance sheet. I printed this one from Productive Flourishing. They have a freebie link for each month.
I also have some sheets that I have printed out from this Blog & Store Organizer for Teachers packet I bought on Teachers Pay Teachers from The Clutter-Free Classroom. These are divided accordingly between the Blog and TpT sections of my planner.
School
I keep just about everything school related in this section from my yearly plan, to our school calendar, to our duty schedule. I also keep my student's passwords for AR, Study Island, etc. In addition to these items, I have also printed out several printables from The Together Teacher including the Thought Catcher and Meeting Notes. There are also several great articles and ideas for staying organized as a teacher. Even a blog post about the Arc.
Now, that you have made it through this EPIC post, it is time for a
Giveaway!
Thanks to the AMAZING people at Staples, you can win an Arc Planner for yourself! January is a great time to re-evaluate your organizational systems, especially with tax time coming up soon! Get organized now!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
