My New 2019 Planner

I can tell you right now that 2019 is going to be absolutely insane!  We have so much happening next year it is just plain crazy and if I'm not organized and on top of things I'll likely need to drive myself to the loony bin.  Most important though, I want to make sure we can get it all done because from where I stand, it all seems pretty darned important.

I have to make sure things are not forgotten and fall through the cracks.  I will need time in order to get everything done because there are only so many hours in a day.  And of course there is always the financial aspect of things.  I want to make sure I can afford everything.  Running out of money won't be an option.  Planning ahead and being organized will help me be far more successful in accomplishing all that we will need to do next year.  Hopefully without breaking the bank.

I got started on my 2019 calendar in September.  I used Publisher (Microsoft Office 2013) like I always do to make up a plain template for the entire year, month by month.  I picked out my fonts and started out by filling in all of the holidays, seasons and plugged in our birthdays.  I went through the school district calendar and added in all the breaks and dates the schools are closed.  Then I figured out a couple days off for me so I can have a break every once in a while too.

I decided this year, rather than write in my daily chores on my planner pages each month, I'd just go ahead and put those on as well.  Save me a little bit of time.  I also went ahead and scheduled a few fun things so we'll be sure to do them and not get too caught up in all of our busyness.

This time I added my monthly goals to each of my pages instead of making that separate.  Along with that I put in some motivational quotes that I really like and then I decorated it with various clip art snips to make it pretty.  Once I was done I tweaked it here and there, added a few things, took some out and once I was satisfied with it I printed it out.

At Wal-Mart I went to the office supply section and bought a really pretty 1" inch 3 ring binder, some plastic dividers with tabs and a really nice pencil pouch with three different zippered pockets in it.  The binder is the same brand and style as the mini binders I bought last year to make my journals.

I used plastic sheet protectors to put the calendar pages in and a sheet of return address labels to print the labels for my tabs, both of which I already had on hand - Daily Planner, Meal Planning/Groceries, Projects, Graduation, Family Vacation.  

I labeled my tabs and put everything together in the binder.  I also added some college rule loose leaf binder paper to certain sections for writing lists or making notes.

I put pens, mechanical pencils, a clic erasure, scissors, paper clips, post it notes and flags into the pencil pouch along with some restaurant coupons.  Under Family Vacation I inserted our receipts and confirmations into sleeve protectors and put those in the binder.  Graduation has our preliminary party plans.

I found a brand new wool Givenchy bag at the thrift store last summer that I plan to use this winter.  It is really nice and my binder fits inside it beautifully with loads of room to spare so it will be handy to pack this puppy around with me.  Along with everything else I seem to need on a daily basis.

Because so much is going on this school year I plan to begin using my new planner next month.  I'm excited to use it and put it into service.  I have great hopes that this binder will help me keep my wits about me and help me hold onto my sanity.  If luck holds out and the planets align I may even get it all done.