Why I Plan.....

I thought I'd start this blog off with the basics. So let's get started!

​It's a simple question with a simple answer: Why do I plan?   The truth is, planning is just a tool I use to plan for what may happen,  but not always what will actually happen. It's way to track my progress towards my goals....even if the goal is just folding the laundry.

My 2018-2019 Erin Condren Life Planner and my Monthly Deluxe Planner

I've always been a planner, even if my "planning" consisted of the dry erase board on our fridge or whatever cute post-it notes I could find at the store. I've always written things down and sort of mapped out my day or week as best I could. 

My first Erin Condren Life Planner 2014/2015

One of the things that lead me to using a "fancier" planning system was looking around online and researching different systems that may work for me. And of course websites like Pinterest lead me down the rabbit whole that is the creative planning community and that lead me to find Instagram accounts like  Jen Dufore's and many others! Inspiration was everywhere.....and even a little overwhelming. It was great because it took this idea of planning the day to day tasks and being more organized to a new, creative level, mixing the cute (the things I enjoyed)  with the functional. Adding in stickers, washi tape and the occasional photo actually motivated me to keep using my planner, so I had a book full of memories at the end of the year to look back on.

As a wife and a mom of two teenagers, with a full time career, there's a lot plan. Sports, Driver's Ed, school schedules , meals, family trips, medical appointments, household chores...... this list goes on. I even plan the mundane tasks like vacuuming because the satisfaction of checking it off the list makes the pain of actually vacuuming hurt a little less lol.

So why not just use my phone to schedule and plan out all my tasks and appointments? Because I don't want to. It's as simple as that! I look at my phone enough: reading emails, texting, watching videos, and countless hours scrolling Instagram and Facebook. Also because paper. And pens. And stickers!
Pen to paper is something I truly enjoy. It's more satisfying to look at when all the tasks are complete (or not completed, let's be real here), when I can look back at my planner and see how on our vacation week, instead of lists of chores, I squeezed in a picture: a rare moment when all 4 of us are in frame.

Planning with pictures in my ECLP

Do you plan? What's your favorite thing about planning? Leave a comment below! I'd love to hear from you!

Happy Planning!