Using Multiple Planners in Different Sizes

There are many different planners on the market today - the big companies, as well as hundreds of smaller companies that have become more recent. It can be hard choosing a company, let alone trying to figure out what size of planner you need. There are people who pick one company (I’m talking about you, Franklin Covey die-hards!) and stick with that one brand. Then there are others who like to hop around (like me!) and try new and different products.

I feel like I have tried many different planners and several different sizes to warrant a discussion on the topic! There are different reasons for using multiple planners:

1. You have multiple life categories that you plan for, and you need lots of planner real estate.

2. You keep your home and work planner separate because you have private, classified info in your work planner and it can’t leave the office.

3. You simply don’t want to combine your personal life and work life

4. You have a home business and you want to keep a distinguished line between your “work” time and time at home.

As for sizes, you may be one of those lucky people who can fit all their important information into a small planner that you can carry with you on the go. That is amazing, and it makes for a very portable catch-all.

Here is a non-exhaustible list of the most common planners that are pretty popular:

• Disc Bound - Happy Planner Mini, Classic, big, junior

• Ring Bound - A5, Half-Letter, B6, A6, letter, Personal, Personal Wide, Pocket

• Bound - A5, B6, Personal

• Coil - Classic, A5, B6, Letter

  So now why would someone have multiple planners in different sizes? Well,

  1. One may be for at home or work, and one may be for on the go. The larger desk planner can be laid open and stationary, and the on-the-go planner could be a Pocket Sized Planner strictly for reference or for on-the-go notes.

  2. If a life-category takes precedence in your life, you may need a bigger planner for that, and then a smaller planner for the rest of your life. (i.e. Work might be bigger or smaller, and your personal planner may be opposite)

  3. Some people carry a different planner for each life category. For instance, a school planner, a work planner, a personal planner, a finance planner, a memory planner, a workout or health/wellness planner.

  4. Some people may only need a certain type of layout. For instance, there are only monthlies, weeklies, dailies, or a combination of the three. Personally, I love a combination of all of them, but appointments are easiest on a monthly calendar if there are only a few appointments. Businesses might enjoy using a daily hourly so they can schedule appointments at different times throughout the day. For the majority of people, I feel like the most commonly used planner layout is a combo of monthly and weekly since it gives the best of both worlds. You can schedule important dates on the monthly, but you still have enough room on the weeklies for additional information.

  Thanks for reading today’s blog. What type of planner layout do you use? Have you tried a combination and/or different types of planners? Let me know in the comments and we’ll see you again next week!

  Sandra