Happy Planner hell....or my attempt at being more organized and creative failed.

This is my adventures with trying to plan and become more organized and creative. I had been using a Clever Fox planner for awhile. I started out with the Pro version that was full-size a couple years ago. However, that was just a bit too big and bulky for me to tote around everyday. So I bought the A5 version and used that from January 2020-September 2020. Then I heard about something called The Happy Planner. 

I don't remember where I first heard about them. But they seemed awesome. So much more customization. The disc bound system seemed full of limitless options. So I bought one. I had the brilliant idea that unlike my Clever Fox Planner - I could easily combine it with my Budget by Paycheck printouts.  It seemed really cool. I went to Hobby Lobby and discovered this entire section dedicated to planning. 

The aesthetic were these dark flowers with an inspiring "GOOD THINGS ARE COMING" emblazoned across the cover.  It was larger than my Clever Fox planner but smaller than the binder I had my Budget By Paycheck workbook in. (I would eventually discover that there were many different size options - and the one I got was the Classic sized).  

This seemed absolutely perfect. I started consuming as many YouTube videos as I could while setting my planner up and buying the basic planner must haves for a noob planner. 

Then I found out that not every planner was the same layout. There were several different layouts. My Clever Fox planner was a weekly layout. It worked pretty well for me. The color scheme was gray scale - which if you know me - I really like minimalist color palettes and I don't even vary my wardrobe very much outside of black and gray. 

The Happy Planner I got was a Monthly layout. I watched some videos from people on how they used it and how the decorated it. I dated the daily tasks spots with the days of the week and the date. I would either run out of space when I'd try and add stickers or would have too many things going on that day I had to do or make note of.  

And during all of this I was buying stickers and dashboards and sticky notes and other planners because I heard of these "Frankenplanners" and "Transformers."  I made a ton of purchases (and a lot of returns...don't worry they were never used - I'd get stuff home and then look at them in more detail online and realize something that I bought wasn't quite for me...even though it was on sale). 

One of the most compelling reasons that drew me to them was the fact that I felt like I had lost my creativity as an adult. The intriguing and colorful spreads were enthralling that people did. And I've wanted to continue my calligraphy and learn new lettering. It seemed perfect. 

With my foray into the Monthly Layout - I felt like I was lacking space. So I purchased a Vertical Layout planner. But I honestly didn't like the color scheme. It was too bright and white and not my preferred grayscale. 

I tried creating my own layouts and researched how people made their own printables. Canva has been a fun thing to dabble with but it seems that any good program costs a lot of money and there are a lot of free and low-cost printables out there. So I bought a few. Still wasn't in love. 

I tried printing things out and combining it with the existing planner but the fact that the pages are printed on both sides that you have to be ok with having random pages that don't make sense in a planner unless you cover them up with something. And I just couldn't get behind that aesthetic. 

Then came the Frankenplanner. I had found their Budget planner with the clever cover "GIRLS JUST WANT TO HAVE FUND$" and I purchased it. It was on sale. I figured I could combine my Budget by Paycheck with that and be even more organized. And I saw people have these frankenplanners where they used the Monthly Layout for the ToDo list. Have the vertical for their appointments and days and such. And then they had their budget or other planners. 

So my Frankenplanner was born. It was pretty thick and hefty with the expander discs. And this was about November when I started that. And between November and December it was a pain to keep updated. The vertical left me with too much space. I was regressing to my ways as a child where I wouldn't use stickers for fear I'd find something better to stick them on and I didn't want to waste them. And using the Monthly layout section to write down the daily tasks seems repetitive. Because my life isn't crazy...so my planner literally consists of my what I've got going on that day that's out of the ordinary....at least at a very high level. 

My meeting schedule at work changes too often - and I'm salaried and work from home these days. So writing down meetings is pointless because that's what Outlook is for. And on any given day - they're reschedule and shuffled around so often I'd spend loads of time just making sure my paper planner was updated.  And while I take notes - I take a lot of handwritten notes during the workday - that my cheap college-ruled notebooks I buy in bulk work very well for random scribbles - not super pricy planners or notebooks. 

During the last two weeks of 2020 I barely touched it. I'd update things here and there. I struggled using the Budget Planner. It didn't jive how I like to budget my income or track my bills. Keeping track of 3 month spreads - then their individual sections was just tiring. And it wasn't making me feel creative. And the planner was too big for me to put in my purse (and I carry a very large purse). I also struggled with writing in it. I'm left-handed. And to effectively write on the right side pages - I'd have to pull the pages out

So I pulled the Frankenplanner apart. I felt like I was in Happy Planner hell. The bright and cheery colors didn't appeal to me. I wanted simple and minimal but with the dark aesthetic. But I didn't want the layout that that planner had. So I found some more printables that were a horizontal layout and bought some pre-punched filler paper and spent several hours figuring out how to print them so they'd end up the correct orientation. I've used that for a couple weeks - and that horizontal layout made me realize that I really missed the simplicity of my Clever Fox planner. 

I went into this in September wanting to start planning out my days more - but my days are pretty consistent. I have my kids on a 2-2-3 schedule (50/50 custody). They go to school. I work M-F. I have typical 8ish-5ish hours. On days I don't have the kiddos - I try and go to the gym or I have a HIIT class and Jiu Jitsu. And I sometimes decide to do things at the spur of the moment. Some days I wake up planning to do laundry or go grocery shopping and sometimes that doesn't happen. So planning my life and organizing in this manner was not going to be for me.

So I placed my order for a new Clever Fox Planner for 2021. Not sure what I'm going to do with my Happy Planner. (I've started posting a lot of the unused or gently used items on Mercari). Not sure how I want to approach utilizing my Budget by Paycheck workbook either. Not sure if I want to continue to print and have to cut pages down. Or switch back to just using my binder with regular letter sized pages. 

But what I've learned from this - is that planning and using stickers is not my creative outlet. Here is to 2021 still looking for my lost creativity.