Kelli was home on Tuesday afternoon and wanted to have a Happy Planner party.
Do you know what Happy Planners are? I didn’t until Kelli jumped onto the crazy.
Happy Planners involve planners/organizers with lots of stickers and do-dads. At first, I thought them to be silly. Really, I’m 54 years old. Do I need stickers in my life? Then I thought silly as who wants to take all that time simply to be organized. It takes so much time!!! If you don’t know much about them, here’s a little overview and later I’ll show you pictures of us playing.
The planner looks something like this when you get it…
There are tons of different layouts and sizes of planners. There are some that are themed differently too. For example, there is a faith-based planner. All the inside pages have a scripture or religious type wordings. There are also some “girl power” type themes. Like I’ve said…something for everyone.
Here’s a typical planner.
Some are wallet-sized for you to keep in a purse. Some large like what Kelli has. There is truly something for everyone when it comes to these planners.
One of their selling features is that the pages can easily be removed and put back in. Regular paper can be punched and added in too.
The sky is truly the limit on what they have thought of that can be put in these planners/organizers. Everything from tracking your water intake to adding a sticker because you took the dog to the vet to tracking menstruation periods to keeping menus to keeping track of taking your meds…to organizing pretty much anything.
Then to make it all cute, you purchase some stickers and such and make it your own.
Here is a typical page of Kelli’s once she has it all done. The book turns into something more of a scrapbook/journal/planner/record keeper.
Remember, the pages were originally blank except for the numbers for the days.
Isn’t that cool looking? I really do the look as it seems to make the tediousness that life can sometimes be, look a lot more fun. I saw a printable from Etsy that you can record the movies you watch or books you read. Admittedly, I kind of aspire to all of this.
But like I said in the beginning…it takes so much time and I’m short on that. Kelli was insistent that I try…so I did.
I don’t know if I’m ready for a full out day to day planner. I’m really just trying to get my feet wet. I’m sure some of you can relate. Your daughter is into something so you try just as a way to spend time with your daughter. That is totally me at this point.
The thing I really want is an updated address book for my personal stuff. I also want a place for passwords and for keeping addresses for the blog. I send out so many packages and am hunting for addresses. Having something would be awesome. BUT…believe it or not…the company has all the different planners and organizers but they don’t have address books!! AHH. So I decided to be a cheapskate and create my own.
Kelli and I were at a Hobby Lobby a few months ago and bought a bunch of Happy Planner things. I might not have fallen down the rabbit hole had it not been that things were on clearance.
I ended up buying this planner….
It was $5 or so…
It was an 18 month planner from July this year through 2021…but I’m not using this one as a planner. This one is going to be revamped into a book I can use for addresses and passwords and blog addresses. So…this is what I started on.
I added some stickers to jazz up the calendar pages.
I need to add birthdays here…stickers too!!
I put stickers over the names of the month. I’ll be writing on them for the address book portion.
The inside is laid out like this….
I used tapes and stickers to cover portions and make it my own. It’s so cute. I love it!!
Admittedly, it was all kind of fun. Georgia threw a fit and wanted to outside so Kelli and I took a little table and moved outside. It was HOT but Georgia was content.
We gave her stickers and paper.
I actually had a lot of fun doing this and hope to continue on and do more. My next plan is a project book. They have this paper for project planning. I’d love to use this for the quilts or cross-stitch I am working on.
Then I would get a punch and punch the instruction I print from EQ and put them in with the project page. They have pouches that could hold fabric samples too. Oh my. I hope this doesn’t turn into a rabbit hole!!
It’s a great way to spend time with Kelli and Georgia and I love having a chance to do that…and all of my kids are going to love it if I can actually keep track of my passwords!!
Are any of you Happy Planners? Please do tell any tips, tricks or hints.
I’m not much of a planner. For writing things down I have a notebook with addresses and one with projects. I have folders for quilt patterns. That’s it.o
I have never heard of Happy Planner. I’m so far behind with housework and yard work I need to do some serious planning. I track my passwords in Notes on phone and iPad. I keep the passwords in alphabetical order so it’s very easy to find them. Below is a sample of a typical entry.
Walmart
Gmail
05roB6455
My user name is one of three email accounts I use. So I only include the barest of info. When I access a new site and setup account,I jump into notes and record my info. It only takes a minute or so then when I need info it’s right there handy since my phone is always close by.
I record addresses in my phone under Contacts so I always where to find. If I don’t have a phone number I will still record the address.
I make my own planners with blank journals, colored pens and stickers from Dollar Tree. Less than $10 and I can personalize to my own liking. I also use the notes app on my iPad to jot down things when a journal isn’t handy. I just transfer them to the journal later.
Georgia is so cute. I noticed the pictures of her with her hair bands. My granddaughter never would leave them in.
I bought a new address book for computer passwords. I have a Citicard account so in the C section, I write in pencil my user name and password. It works beautifully. I use a simple day calendar for the year, I buy it each November or December. I put important info in it, but only important stuff. I keep every one in a cabinet in case I want to know when I bought my car or dishwasher.
I’m almost 75 now and I’m so grateful I don’t have to do all this organizing anymore. Each day is a new adventure.
Wonderful arrangements party. I am so happy. So pretty pic.
I have never heard of happy planner and I think yours turned out cute and its something you needed. I still use an old fashioned rolodex for addresses and numbers. Its so easy to take one out or add one in and the husband can use it. I also have them in my phone but the rolodex is more current.
I started with a Happy Planner when I had to keep detailed records of what I ate and drank also exercise. Since then I’ve changed to only notebooks cutting regular notebook paper to my preferred size. My main one has everything you mentioned and also has several sections with crochet notes, yarn stash, crochet patterns and finished projects. If you get a punch you can make your own covers, tabbed dividers, pockets and pages from anything.
I’m fond of my Mead Weekly/Monthly planners. They come in 3 sizes and aren’t too heavy to carry around in my purse or tote.
Jo if you get tired of making your own address book you can get an internet password book from Current. It has room for name, address, phone, user name and password. This is what I use. As for a planner I like the Quilters Planner.
I keep an address/phone book on paper that includes passwords, it’s not cute but it has the stuff I need, like the phone number for Tom Snow (who happens to be Tom-something-else-I-don’t-know) who plows my driveway, he’s under “T” and “S”. I keep a cheap paper calendar by my main house phone, and that’s it, haven’t converted everything to phone because I like to see my month written down. Otherwise, the time you spend (and the money all that washi tape costs) can actually be spent DOING something or VISITING someone. I’m old fashioned.
I have never heard of a happy planner, but from looking at your pictures, it may be the same as a bullet journal. I loved the idea of the bullet journal, but I just couldn’t make myself keep up with it. Hopefully you will be better at it than I was.
I guess I’m old school as I buy a yearly wall calendar from Lang and I enter all appointments, etc on it. I keep them and periodically when I’m trying to remember when something occurred I pull them out and look…lol Years ago when I had a busy social life I kept a purse size calendar too to keep track of things. I still have an address book but have taken to enter in addresses under contacts on my phone. It’s handy when I’m out and about and have a need for an address. At one time I kept an idea book where I would glue or staple things I came across that were inspiration. It becomes cumbersome to carry around so I quit. I may need to pull it out and keep it next to my computer as I always jot ideas on slips of paper and they get out of control…lol
I just use a calendar. My address book is almost 20 years old but it is getting to the point there are more deceased people in it than living. My journal is over 30 years old without being written in and my project planned is 3 or 4 and yet to be used. And I am pretty organized. It’s a trade off; there are other things I would rather do.
Me! I almost squealed when I saw that you were a happy planner too! I have been for a few years. stickers and fabric and quilts are my jam!
Love love love my Happy Planners, my stickers-all of it!! It’s not just a calendar!!! It’s an experience!!!
I have been using happy planner for about 5 years. I converted most of my coworkers who then converted others. I love to color coordinate my weeks. Every Sunday my teenage daughter and I do ours together for the week. It’s a bonding thing. This is our 4th year.
I too love the chance for bonding. For the most part I don’t care what craft I’m doing…It’s the bonding I truly love!
I use my Happy Planner as a hybrid between HP and a Bullet Journal. I use the monthly calendar to keep track of any appointments or events, but the weekly pages I use as a daily journal. I white out the printing and just enter the day and date and go from there. I enter my daily events and add things I want to get done that day. I’ve been journaling for 18 months now and haven’t missed more than a day or so. I’m 75 so my daily activities are very different from yours, but it’s satisfying to mark off my goals as I accomplish them. I’ve added a Books section where I keep track of the ones I’ve read. I have a separate Happy Planner with only Project and Notes pages where I’m keeping track of my quilting and knitting projects. As for addresses, I keep all that in my phone under contacts. I keep 3 calendars: one on my phone, one in my Journal and one on the kitchen wall. Each helps me in a different way, so I maintain them all. Enjoy your Happy Planner journey!