Stick To The Plan

It’s that time of year again. Everyone is on a quest to change all of the things that they seemed to “fail” at changing last year. We are all super charged up and this is the year to make ish happen right?! Until February hits, it’s the coldest its been all winter and we have resorted to our couches until we are sure that Spring has sprung. But lets try something different this year.

One of my favorite parts of starting a new year is picking out a new planner. This has been a routine for me for quite some time. I love paging though all of them at the store making a decision on the one that will be just right for me and my needs. Problem is by March I’m only writing in it every few days. By May I’ve skipped an entire week or two. By August the pen hasn’t met paper in months.

The concept of planning has always been something that’s worked well for me when I actively do it but I never can stick with it. Don’t know if I have ever mentioned it here before but I am a person that works in complete extremes. I’m either completely on or I’m off. When I am on it is ON but when I’m off? Well it’s not good. I haven’t found that good balance of being on top of things while also cutting myself slack. This is how I am in most facets of my life and this year I want to attempt to remedy that and find a happy medium. And I’m going to use planning to help me do it.

After my countless hours of watching YouTube planning videos and pinning everything on Pinterest that remotely strikes my fancy about getting organized I have come up with a three book system that I think (and hope and pray) will work for me. I know, I know. Three planners sound slightly over the top right? But let me just tell you if you take a look into the planner community you would be surprised at how seriously they take planning and organization; 3 little 3 planners are nothing. Now I am not an extremist just yet but have found value in some of the tools.

Like most, I have a bunch of goals, visions and plans set for 2019. It will take dedication, commitment and organization to get me there and I want to put my best effort in for the entire year, not just the beginning. Here are the planners/organization books I have started.

Vision Book

I purchased this last August at Target. The phrases on the front cover were the main reason I picked it up. “Be Bold. Live Live Freely. Believe In Your Power. Don’t Look Back.” The beautiful phrases go on and on. I needed something to house all of my thoughts and hopes for myself, blog ideas, goals etc. I used it only a bit and definitely had to bring it into the new year. I started by reflecting on the Vision statements I wrote when I first purchased it. I revised some of the existing ones and added some. That’s followed by my short and long term goals. I have some very specific goals for myself, tangible and intangible. Like a lot of people I want to travel, but there are places I have in mind for this year. I want to be more consistent here on my blog and milestones I would like to reach in regards to it. I am also making a conscious effort to end negative self talk which is a biggie for me. Words really do hold power I am realizing that many of my years have been filled with speaking the wrong things into my life. 

Budget Book

Last June I really took a look into my spending and tried a no spend month. From there I kept an eye on my funds but not as much as I wanted to. There are two types of people: spenders and savers. Full disclosure I am a spender. I honestly dont think a spender can be changed into a saver or vice versa. I do believe however there are ways to manage it. One of my goals is to save more money and pay off debt (shocker!) but I want to be intentional about this. Some of the videos I’ve watched are by people that have extremely conservative incomes and they are able to pay off a bunch of debt. Granted a lot of the methods are based on aggressively attacking debt on an extreme level but are very informative.

I plan to track my monthly expenses, debt, income etc. here. I will be doing bi-weekly budgets based on paydays instead of one large monthly budget. I’ve only done January so I’m working out the kinks but I think it will be good to revisit this topic here on the blog every quarter. I am really at a point where I want to free up the money I have going to debt to either save or spend on more enjoyable things.

Traditional Planner

More than anything this is where I will keep up with my daily routine. I am not a Google Calendar person. That alert will go off, I’ll swipe to dismiss it and it has been dismissed from my brain as well. I have to be engaged in my planning and having a paper planner does that for me. But what is going to keep me going this year? I don’t know honestly but as cliche as it sounds this year just feels different. Maybe this year will be different. Or maybe it’s just the fact that I’ll be 30 so I feel obligated to attempt to be adultish lol!

Whatever it is though I am hype. It’s a new year and I know everyone rolls their eyes once they hear “New Year, New Me!” (Including myself) but it is a chance for a fresh start. You don’t have to wait for a new year to start new habits or make life changes but it’s a good feeling to start Day 1 of 365 with a recharged focused mind.

I’m going to give this a go and see how I fair. What about you? Are you a planner/budget junkie? How do you like to plan? Let me know down below!

If you made it this far you are my M.V. P. Since you are here and we see on the topic the end of last year myself and two of my sister friends started a really cool thing. Introducing Poised &Petty; A live broadcast where we discuss all topics under the sun including fashion, love, friendship and business just to name a few. Our first episode of the year was centered around planning! Check out the replay below and be sure to catch us on Friday Jan 25th when we are live from Denver!! If you love Girl Chat grab a drink and join us!