My current setup and inserts in my A5 - August 2014

Hi guys!

This blog has been a while in the making...

I love my planner. I love being organised. I love decorating and I love pretty things. But recently I have spent so much time decorating, planning and organising that I ran out of time to actually DO any of the things IN my planner!! :-(

I have used Life is Crafted inserts and enjoyed them but I missed seeing my week at a glance in the one planner.

I loved my DIYfish inserts. I felt I had the best of both worlds. Detailed daily pages while still being able to see my weeklies. There was even a section for monthly/weekly To Dos and a place to put my menu planning system (see menu planning video HERE). I soon discovered I never used the monthly/weekly To Dos as I hated flipping back and forth (If it's not in my immediate view, I forget about it). And I was also using the DO2P which I LOVED at first. It looked so pretty decorated and inspired me to use my planner. I even journalled in there too! But all this took up so much time. I found that as I was time poor, I spent all my time planning and decorating and I ran out of time doing the tasks the planner demanded of me!

So I tried not decorating for a while to see if I could utilise my time this way. COMPLETE FAIL! It's funny but I didn't even look at my planner on those days as it wasn't pretty enough to write in!! (hang my head in shame) ;-) I can't explain it but if my pages weren't visually appealing at all then I wasn't motivated enough to write in it.

I also tried the free philofaxy DO1P inserts. They worked great and were the perfect amount of writing space. But that too was lacking 'something'...

So, I decided to go back to my old planner pages I created earlier but tweaked them with things I liked from other inserts I tried, tips I got from others or ideas I discovered for myself. And I am LOVING them!!

Day On 1 Page 

Here is my weekly DO1P (undated). I love the pop of colour it gives without having to add washi everywhere. I love the 8am-6pm schedule, the 'all day' section up the top and the ability to edit the time where appropriate.

I love my dinner section. This is a time saver. I was always cutting washi arrows to achieve the same decorative effect.

I always break my To Dos up into HOME and OUT categories as I find it much more organised and it helps me to plan out my day.

My favourite part is the washing section (not in the generic version).

I do mounds of washing as I have 2 kids under 2 both in cloth nappies, as well as kids clothes, adults and towels and sheets washing. This washing check list really helps me. The triangles get shaded in for what washing needs to get done that day. The square boxes are for ticking off when it's completed (and you all know I love a good check box!)

Week View / Menu Planning

I really love this section as it is such an asset to my planning system. I loved DIYfish's concept of flipping out the weekly section so you can view it all easily. I took this idea further by adding my menu planning also, so it's right there at my fingertips. No more flipping around. It's all there in front of me. It reminds me of what we are having for tea, what I need to de-frost, buy etc.

I also love the colour system. I'm a visual person so I need to see things in colour to make it stick in my brain.

Weekly To Dos / Tracker

This is an easy to access weekly check list of To Dos and Tracking. I LOVE this section as it has really helped me plan out my week and track things that are important to me. It also helps me to track my OrganisedLifestyle YT and Blog as it is right there and easy to read (again, very visual). The generic weekly inserts do not include the YT/blog tracker.

This whole system is really working for me as I no longer feel distracted by continual planning or decorating. I still enjoy decorating my pages but now I only add accents here and there which takes only minutes.

Now, I am by no means an expert on designing inserts but since they are working so well for me I'd love to share them with you.
These are FREE undated PDF templates for A5 (you need to print 2 to a page) The links are below. Please use and enjoy them and leave me some feedback on what you think.

* For personal use only. Do not sell these inserts.

Have a great week!

Jen :-)

PS. A YouTube video on how I use these inserts will be up soon!

Day On 1 Page inserts HERE - (Print: 2 per page to make A5 size)

Weekly To Dos/Tracker inserts HERE - (Print: 2 per page layout 2-1 (blank on left, insert on right)
* (NEW) WEEKLY TO DOS/TRACKER GRID VERSION HERE

Weekly View/Menu inserts HERE - (Print: 2 per page layoit 1-2 (insert on left. blank on right)
* (NEW) WEEKLY TO DOS/TRACKER GRID VERSION HERE