Many Uses for the Erin Condren Life Planner

I know back in January I blogged about how I use the Erin Condren Life Planner specifically for school. Well now that I have graduated and I am out of school, I use the planner to help manage all other aspects of life, including this blog. So this year they added some new updates and I just had to get a new one, I love it so much and its so pretty.

I love it! I got the gold edition this year and its so pretty, I got the color spearmint and I just added my name on it. I could have put the Holladay family or something but its just Zack and I so I figured I didn't need it. 

This is how thick it is. I got the 18 month planner so it goes from July 2014 to December 2015. I know it will last this long because I hardly take it out with me and its held up really well so far. Eek I just love it!!!!! 

Here's the inside:

Love the inside, I haven't written in the cover yet because its just too cute, I don't want to ruin it with my handwriting (anyone else have this problem). I love that gold polka dot vellum, its very fancy and just adds a nice touch.

You can kind of see how the vellum works, its just clear paper with the polka dots. 

Next you have the first cover page and I actually use that space to write down my color coding system, yes I have a system and yes I generally stick to it.

Also I love that its made and produced in the USA, I love to purchase products that are made here!

Most of the magic in my planner happens on the monthly view, I use that thing up:

As you can see I have been writing my bills down on sticky notes, then gym stuff and a lot of other lovely things I put down in the book. On the list over on the right I put my cleaning chores, like the bathroom, reorganize the dvds etc. On that card in the middle (its a project life card) I just wrote a list of things I wanted to do for the month. 

Here is the back of that card, I used a new Erin Condren Coil Clip which is a new feature on the planners this year. 

Here is a view of the right side of the monthly view:

I love marking my pay days and in August (You'll see in a minute) I started marking my husband's paydays as well. I also mark of the days of the month as we pass them, its just always been a habit of mine. 

Here is the August monthly view:

This month I marked the paydays using the little neon garage sale stickers. I loved that because it used up less space. Then I used the orange flag notes for the bills and in the upper right hand corner I move the bills over as I pay them. Even though church is always at the same time I always mark it off in my planner, then I put doctor appointments using the stickers Erin Condren gives you and I created my own stickers on her site. The brown sticker says Camping Trip and the Blue one says Temple Trip. 

I decorate the monthly view a little bit with Washi Tape. I get my washi tape all over, Etsy, Amazon, Target and Staples are my go to places. I have recently picked up some nice ones at Michaels and they always have coupons so that is a great place to shop for planner supplies. My stickers all come from Michaels as well. 

Here is what a typical weekly view looks like. On the Martha Stewart Dew Drops I write the chores I need to get done that day, on the lines down at the bottom I right my scripture reading (devotional) and my meal plan. In the night section I typically right my blog ideas and any other plans I might have. I transfer bills from the monthly view as well as paydays and write what is due. I mark the weather up at the top using weather stickers found on amazon and my iPhone. Again on the left hand side I write out a To-Do list for the week. 

Here is what a typical page view looks like without the decorations and colorful pens. I love the clear ruler so you can still see what is going on Thursday and not have it block that day. 

I love that it has a year at a glance calendar (I bet you can tell what I keep track of here). The planner also has a 2016 and a 2017 calendar in case you want to know when certain days are in the future. I always look at this to see what day my birthday is on. My birthday is always on a Wednesday or Sunday, kind of cool on leap year its always Friday. Anyway... onto supplies. 

I carry my supplies in this cute little makeup bag I bought from the clearence section at Target. It works great for planning on the go and I keep page flags, pens, washi tape, and sticky notes in this pouch. Here is the inside:

As you can tell I use the papermate flair pens the most in my planner. They are so vibrant and bright and I just love the way they turn out on the page. I love colorful things. I also use the Staedtler pens, which offer a more refined point but are equally as vibrant. I also have the sharpie pens and I generally switch out between the Staedtler pens and the sharpie ones quite often. 

Next the project life cards: 

This book I bought at Target in the scrapbook Isle. As you can see it came with a lot of different patterns and I just think the they provide a great addition with the coil clips to my planner. 

Next I have a sample of the Neon Garage sale dots I bought at Target. They were $3.00 I want to say and come with 300 stickers so I highly recommend those for things you have to jot down every month. 

Here are there weather stickers I talked about, super cute:

Washi Tape I bought at Staples in a set. I just love how all these colors tie in together and it cost $9.00. 

And last but not least how I store my Washi Tape, in this caddy I found at the Dollar Tree. 

Well there you have it folks, I hope that gave you some great ideas for how you can organize your supplies, and your planner. 

Check out the Erin Condren planners and use this link to get $10.00 off your first order. (To get the $10.00 off you must sign up with an email account using the link, the coupon code will then be emailed to you)

XO 

Caitlin

(PS this post was not sponsored, I bought all products and supplies with my own hard earned money)