A DIY Planner For When You Can't Find One You Like

 I've had my eye on a couple of planners recently because I'm tired of the system (or lack thereof) I've been using. Once the newness wears off, I often revert back to a piece of paper and a pencil. This isn't very effective, though, so I started looking online for something amazing that would fit my needs. After realizing that there wasn't one that was everything I needed, I made my own.

My new planner is a 1.5-inch binder is the most beautiful, bright colors I could find. I'm pretty sure I won't lose it because of its size and the fact that it probably glows in the dark.

With school supplies on sale right now, it was easy to gather up everything I might possibly need to go inside the binder.

I printed off two sets of calendars from August through December and punched holes in the top for putting it straight into the binder. I don't want them in the page protectors because I'm constantly writing on them, and it's too much work to pull them in and out. 

The front cover already has a pocket built in, and I added a pencil case full of pens, pencils, sticky notes, an eraser and other fun doodads. Now I won't have to keep track of all those little things because they're tucked right in at the front of the planner.

Page dividers with pockets and labels separate the months from August to December.

One set of calendar pages is for schedules and events.

And the other set is for blog posts.

Each month also has notebook paper for meal planning, shopping lists and those great ideas I tend to have at random moments. This way they'll all be in one place.

I have two folders in my binder for receipts.

And page protectors for handouts, craft show information and anything else that needs to be saved but not written on. I can't wait to really dig in now and start organizing. Hopefully these ideas will encourage you to do the same.