I would be lost without my planner. I keep it at my work desk during the work week and review it every morning and evening before going to bed. If my workbag doesn’t already weigh a thousand pounds, I throw it in my bag because I feel lost without it. The planner comes home with me on Friday after work and it has it’s own little home in my apartment so it is always easy to find. My week is packed with things to do that I have my schedule down so I don’t need to refer to my planner often, however it feels so good to cross something off my to-do list! Here are 10 ways that I use my planner that I think you may find helpful too!

1. Use Post Its I like to use Post Its to make mini to-do lists for the week so I have everything important in one place. Usually, there is a Post It for important things that have to be completed that week and another with blog posts that need to be finished or published that week.
2. Include Your Work Schedule Each Day It may seem silly, but I write my work hours each day in my planner so I can have a better idea of what my day will look like. When I was working retail, my hours changed daily so I always had to schedule the things I had to do outside of work around my work hours. I still write down my work hours and make note of what I can accomplish before and after work. Lately, I have been staying at work late and getting overtime, so I take a minute to document what time I actually leave the office. This came in handy a few weeks ago when my overtime approval paperwork got misplaced and no one remembered what time I left the office that night. Luckily, I had written it down in my planner!
3. Have a Daily To-Do List I would be lost without my daily to-do list! My list includes tasks for work and things I would like to do when I get home from work. There is something just so satisfying about crossing off an item or two and feeling so accomplished! Anything not finished that day gets put on the next days to do list!
4. And a Weekly To-Do List This post it stays in the top right of my planner so I can easily see what I have coming up that week. Sometimes it is difficult to plan everything in advance, so I write down things that I would like to get done that week like going to the food store, laundry, cleaning the apartment or going to the DMV.  If I run out of time during the week and don’t get to it, I spend my Saturday morning catching up with those tasks.
5. And a Monthly To-Do List This list will have all of the fun things I want to do that month like restaurants or place I want to try that month. It is my own personal monthly bucket list so whenever I find myself with a free Saturday I can look at my list and get inspired.
6. Use A Paper Clip To Keep Track of Important Items An easy way to hold on to an invitation or an important document. Anything that is important or I’ll need that week gets clipped to my weekly calendar so I can find it easily.
7. Keep A Grocery List There is a note on my phone that I keep updated on items I need to purchase however I also have a written note on a post-it as well. I think I will always be old school and prefer the handwritten grocery list when I go food shopping.
8. Make Daily Goals For the next two months, I have scheduled little tasks or goals of things to achieve to make my life easier. Most importantly, I have zero excuses not to do them because they should only take me 5-10 minutes to complete. For instance, take out the trash, run the dishwasher, go around with a garbage can and throw out what I can, and even schedule the time to read before bed. I understand that life often gets in the way, so if I don’t get to that task I can easily push it to the next day.
9. Use the Front Pocket for Stationary The rule is if you need a stamp that you can never find one! Which is why I keep a few stamps and stationary in the front pocket of my planner. If I have to send a card for a birthday, I will tuck it into the front pocket and write a reminder closer to the date.
10. Spend 30 Minutes at the Beginning of the Week Reviewing Your Week Ahead This is when I start my to-do lists, see what is going on that week and try to plan social plans around my free time.