The Happy Planner: My Planning Journey

For those who have read my blog for a number of years you will know that I until fairly recently was in love with my bullet journal. Well I’m afraid that love has come to an end as I’ve found something new.

No, scratch that. I’d fallen out of love with bullet journalling and The Happy Planner came along when I didn’t know where to turn to.

It all started when I went back to office work over a year ago now. Actually it probably started a lot earlier than that. I was struggling with the motivation to use my bullet journal but going back to 9-5 work really zapped my want to keep layout out spreads.

I found the whole thing exhausting so I simply gave it up. I did try to restart this year but it fell flat and I didn’t know what to do. It’s obvious that my brain can’t handle everything but where to put everything in an organised fashion?

The hunt began

A Filofax maybe? Nope, I’d tried that a few times but always felt guilty when I didn’t fill it out. And though the covers were always so pretty, the diaries were so boring inside.

Research needed to happen so I looked at all kinds of diaries and planners until I found the one.

Enter…The Happy Planner.

I think it was their instagram I stumbled across first. I loved the structure of not having to draw out your own spreads but also the flexibility of being able to move pages around with the disk system. It was perfect for me.

Admittedly I got a little too excited. I bought an 18 month planner. Mainly because it was June of this year and I didn’t want to buy an entire 2019 planner where half of it would go to waste. But yes it was a risk.

I then got giddier and ordered a load of supplies (think stickers, washi tapes, pretty pens and highlighters) which I mainly spent with my birthday money. Even more risky.

But honestly so far it’s paying off. I am having a blast with this planner.

It has a monthly plan section.

And then there are weekly spreads.

Every Sunday (give or take) I sit down and decorate the pages for the week ahead and it is so relaxing and fun.

I’ve also started adding in extra pages like this one for my weight loss journey. The flexibility of this planner is great.

I wanted both a creative outlet and something to organise me so I don’t forget another birthday again. I don’t know how I survived before. I was definitely more stressed.

Plus it’s getting me out of my shell and planning more activities in my life which is more than I could have dreamed of. The last 6 months of my self employment especially saw me retreating into myself and finding any excuse necessary not to leave the house. Now I feel like I’m having fun again.

I’ll definitely review my planner early next year to see if I’m still loving it but right now I feel great!

How do you keep yourself organised? Do you have a planner of your own?