5 Collections I’m dropping from my Planner this year (2021)
Hey friends
Do you have excess junk in your planner? Pages or collection you aren’t really using? I did.
As I was going through my 2020 planner again, for the like the millionth time (who else is excited to move into a new planner?), I started to remove some bulk collection pages. I was comparing it to the ones I actually used in my current planner.
Now for 2020 I carried 3 – 6 months with me for future planning, but always removed the months that had passed. It cuts on bulk when I take notes, list, add stickers, etc. I do keep my collection pages in the back though. So I was flipping through them and removed a few I just never really used this year.
1. Master Packing List
Now I removed this for 2021, but if I am able to get vaccinated before summer is over, I am going home for a visit. SO I will need it back. However, I am not getting my hopes up as I am not at risk, work at home, and 80% confident I had it over July this last year. If I can get the antibodies test I will. I love to visit home once a year, they usually pay me too and I can spend time down there and swim, camp and just visit all the peoples. It’s so fun going home as everyone is so welcoming and loves me. I also have a slew of kids to meet this year with 4 new babies in the family! So yeah, if I can I will but I am not expecting it yet.
2. Places to Travel
Along with my pack list, I usually keep a goal travel list for the year. Not this year. In 2020, we wanted to drive the East or West Coast (whichever we got to) and eat all the things again! We wanted to do a Train to the springs and sit in the natural hot springs. We had our eye on a souther weekend trip to the sand dunes and I wanted to go to Utah to hike. Obviously, we didn’t travel. We drove around the city a lot, did a few solo walking areas. But nothing like what we had wanted. Eh. It wasn’t the worst year for us, but since I am not sure what 2021 will hold, we are just not planning anything outside the city apart from possibly moving at the end of it.
3. Year in Pixels
I used both a year in pixels and a menstruation version to last year. I am ditching both this year. I track it on my monthly so I can be prepared but I think an overall for me isn’t needed. I also found my mood for most of the time was chill or similar. Unless I was in a sad week (ovulation for me) I am pretty content to great mood-wise. I am fortunate and I think it was just a bulk of color. I do think this is a great tracker if you are tracking pain, medical issues, or concerned about a mood issue. It might not be as useful as logging it with triggers though. For example, I track pain in my shoulder (pinched nerve) just with lined paper, when and why I think it acted up – for example, slept on the couch, or something.
4. Monthly Habit Tracker
I am ditching this to do a year-long one I can reflect on more easily. Since I designed my own planner pages this year, I started crafting my own sections as well. So I separated Months, Weeks, and Days out. Then I added collections at the back like usual. I was fiddling around with habits how I usually do them – in excel and tape them in – and realized I would much prefer a year glance. I set about making one. I hated the folding ones so I tried doing a page one. I perfected it and it will be in the shops soon – both print and digital. I am really happy with this one as I can see how often I say, changed the bunny box this month vs last – since I like to remove old months into a new calendar. It’s going to be really handy to look at trends over the year and get back on track I think.
5. Goal Progress Bar
I struggled with this year’s goals for myself. I am pretty content, I usually am so I set goals based on sections: Friends & Family, Personal Development, Spirit, Finances, Fun & Rec, Physical Environment, Health, and usually a projects section. In each of these spaces, I feel pretty content. I wish I had more money, clearly, we all pretty much due – but we have what we need. I doubt we’ll do much travel this year, health is always the same (I’m too fat, I assure you). So I decided to skip over a lot of these sections and just focus on health. I’ve also been chubby and overweight, so if this my main goal, maybe I can accomplish it. I really picked 3 health goals – get to Dr. and ask about ADHD meds (which I will help immensely), log all the food, and because it’s due and I should, a pap smear. I have a few smaller ones – like I want to read 26 books this year (did 19 last year!) but nothing like I normally set. So I kicked my tracker out and just pasted the usual goals in.
If curious, I use projects as things I want to try (or buy). Such as this year – I want to try needle felting and crocheting! I also work in products and things like that I know I want to try to make – my 365 day journal is in there. I want to reshape it and make them into books on Amazon this year, etc lots of project goals! Always.
Okay! Those are the spreads I kicked out of my collections. I added a few of the ones I’ve made over the year too.
I’ll cover a full setup for my planner next. I think it’s always important to look through other examples and see what works for you – try it and if it doesn’t nix it. That is why Bullet Journals are so popular and why I love my disc! Remember you can learn to print directly on to the cut sized paper over here if you buy an insert and want to print it on pre-cut paper! It’s easy and a game-changer for your planner.