day planner addiction

it's that time of year when i get giddy at the thought of starting a new day planner.  i love making lists.  it's recreational really.  even though i am not consistent and there are always huge empty patches in my planners, the thought of a new space to leave my mark is always invigorating.

i was merrily chatting about this topic with chelle last weekend and she had to laugh at me.  you see, we're always together crafting at christmastime and apparently this is a topic i bring up every year during our scrappy sessions.  an observation that i've had recently is that i get excited about this topic not once, but twice annually.  as a perpetual academic, august 1st is also a "new year" event for me and my schools supply me with free agendas prior to this exciting date.  on the left is my stack from the last couple of years and on the right is my new data keeping baby.

my planner pages are currently housed in a little black binder that i found at staples.  it was a delightful miracle at the end of a shopping nightmare.  i had ignorantly gone out to grab a filofax as the pages i bought were six hole punched to fit filofax (or kikkik) as i was also ignorant of the whole hole-punching scene.  turns out one doesn't just "grab" a filofax, at least not in the shopping center that i frequent.  i quickly did a google search in the safety of my car and realized that the filofax costs way more than i'd want to spend anyway.  i quickly jumped to plan b: repunch this first  trial month myself so it would fit in a non bignamebrand planner that could be purchased locally.  that plan didn't work so much either as the planners i saw were all just biggish.  i mean, why do they have to be a good inch plus bigger than the a4 pages all.the.way.around.  it makes the book so BIG.  blerg.  i was okay spending $40ish on something i really liked, but not on something that was just meh.  finally, in my wanderings, i stumbled upon this little folder at staples that is perfectly sized, has slots on the cover and spine to change out my prints each month, and only cost $6.49.  sold!  at least until i decide what i really want.  whew!  what a relief!

this is the december version of the cocoa daisy day planner.  i wanted to get a head start in using it to make sure i really liked it and to work out all the kinks. 

so far, so good.  on the left is an added a december calendar page from http://www.printfree.com/Calendars.htm .  on the right is an extra divider page i made with patterned paper from my stash.  the card is another i downloaded free from elise cripe.  I have been using those quite often lately and need to download the rest of them (i only printed four pages the first time).

i don't think i'll be the type to decorate my planner pages on a daily basis, but i did enjoy pulling out my barely used stamps and adding in a few on the week at a glance page.

here is a view of the daily pages.  see.  pencil only.  i'm very ocd about this, although i have seen entirely erasable pens mentioned several times recently and might look into getting one.  maybe.  probably not.  i have been a pencil girl for a very long time now.

this is the divider i made for the set of calendar pages that i bought at staples.  the cover had a business man on it originally and just didn't seem right.  i also like to keep paper clips on the calendar and daily pages so i can clip together the used pages and easily find the current day and month.

and a little overlay page with some washi tape strips in case i need them to attach paper bits to my pages.  i just didn't want to carry the bulky rolls around.

so far, i am enjoying this little book.  i'll keep you posted.  :)