Planning Perfect

2020 is drawing to a close…thank goodness….so the next few blog posts will be focused on wrapping up 2020 and kicking 2021 into high gear!

I am always on the hunt for the perfect planner. I’ve tried both digital and paper styles and just couldn’t find the one that covered everything all in one. I am a picky planner. I’ll tell you, I probably keep my expectations too high and I am not very flexible on my “wishlist” items… but I just couldn’t find a planner that had it all. Until I stumbled upon the perfect planner system while browsing for sticker and washi tape subscription boxes. Before I tell you all about this needle in a haystack, let me detail out to you just how picky and complicated I was making the search, so that you can appreciate just how perfect this planner is!

My *important* requirements:

1. Paper light enough to use all of the colored pens I have amassed yet thick enough to prevent bleed through
2. Decorated but not too decorated because I want to use stickers and washi tape but I am not creative enough to start with blank bullet pages
3. Monthly overview/Weekly overview/Daily –I want a place for all 3 views but rather than having the months at the front, weeks in the middle, and days at the end, I want all of the month’s views to be together.
4. Small enough to fit in my purse but plenty of room to write
5. Different looks for each month (I get bored with the same thing after a while so different color months changes things up)
6. My work, personal, and side hustle all in one planner…separate but still in the same planner
7. Cost effective
8. Plenty of note taking space

Alright…Those are the MUST HAVES…As I said, I was being picky….so giving a planner system an A+ rating is a huge deal for me!

I know, I know get to the point…here it is: Silk & Sonder

Like I said, I was looking for a sticker or washi tape subscription box when I found Silk & Sonder. I have a slight obsession with getting mail and packages. Guess what? Silk & Sonder fills that requirement too. A planner subscription?!? It’s like a dream come true!

S&S delivers a new planner to your door every month. The planners arrive a week or two before the new month so you have plenty of time to get it setup. Each month is a new theme but the month/weekly/daily layouts stay the same. The planner’s colors and accent colors change each month as well as the overall theme, which is centered around a word such as “happiness”. The planner, which measures 8.5×7, is a lightweight spiral bound book. The book fits perfectly in your purse without taking up too much space. Like most subscription boxes, you can pay monthly or annual (After one month, I swapped to the annual plan as it is a savings of almost $80!) The paper is a nice cream color which gives it an elegant look and it is thick enough to prevent bleed through, even when I use my beloved Sharpie pens.

At the beginning of each planner is a large monthly calendar followed by a few pages with the next few months laid out in a calendar view, with note lines, so you can pre-plan for upcoming months as well as focus on the month at hand. Each week consists of 4 pages. Two pages are dedicated to the week overall, looking at your weekly to-dos, meal planning, habits, health plan, and shopping lists. Each week also gets two pages that are grid pages with space for each day. These pages are laid out perfectly as they have the structure but plenty of room for creativity, stickers, and washi tape. The week also gets 2 notes pages which are grid style so you can make to-do lists, jot down notes, make shopping lists, etc. There are a couple of notes pages at the beginning and end of the planner as well, in case you need more note taking space.

S&S advertises as more than a planner but more of a planner and journal all in one. I wasn’t really looking for a journal but figured I would skip over the parts that I didn’t need. However, I surprised myself and fell in love with the journaling aspects. After the monthly overview, there are journal prompts where you reflect on the previous month’s wins, highs, lows, and fails. Then, using prompts, you set intentions for the new month. Next up, you’ll find several trackers. My favorite is the habit tracker, which I love to keep myself accountable. The tracker that I didn’t think I would use, but have since looked forward to filling out each day, is the daily reflection. For example, the month of November, the word is Happiness. The daily reflection page has a small line for each day where you write down what brought you happiness that day. Its a journal without taking up too much of my non-existent free time. They have sleep,mood, and expense trackers in each month too!

S&S includes a couple of extra pages each month filled with things like coloring pages (a great way to zone out and relax!) and some delish seasonal recipes. The creator also writes a letter each month giving you motivation for the month and explaining how the word of the month came to be selected. Each month also has a few pages that change each month but are great tracking/journaling tools. For the month of November, we have pages to creatively show our playlist that brings joy as well as a happiness jar to fill up. The part that I love is that these pages are a push in the right direction without being just a space with some lines and text. I personally use these as I have time or when I need a mental break.

Once you subscribe to S&S, you are invited to a private FB group. The group is FULL of creative minds, just like me and you, who share how they have personalized the pages to fit their life. For example, I really didn’t need the sleep tracker page but its a great page already laid out for each day of the month so I was able to search and see how others were using this page. I didn’t find the idea from the group, but it did help get my creative juices flowing, and I turned that page into a social media tracker to track how good (or poor) I am doing at reaching you! The creator of S&S is also an active member of the group which I am such a fan of. Once you interact with the creator once or twice, you read the intro letter in a whole new way, because you’ll realize you’re now reading the letter than a friend wrote to you.

At first, I was totally unsure about the month-at-a-time approach. I am a HUGE planner. Like OCD planning. I felt like I wouldn’t have control over the coming months if I didn’t have them in my planner. I was so wrong. The monthly approach has given me the ability to focus on the here and now. It is literally a weight off my shoulders–not having the full year in my planner makes it a much lighter load in my purse! If I NEED to remember something for the upcoming month, I write it on the small future month at the beginning of the book or make a calendar entry in my digital calendar. Once the new month’s book comes in, I pull up my digital family calendar and transfer the important stuff.

A new year is a blank slate. A fresh start. A new beginning. Don’t start 2021 planner hopping. Grab the December issue ofSilk & Sonder today so you can get acquainted with a new setup before the new year rolls around. If you start now, you’ll be prepared to tackle your new years resolutions and ready to focus on your word of the year. The best way to succeed is to plan for success!

Cheers to the holiday season being upon us! Let’s finish 2020 strong and make 2021 a great year!