Apart from a planner (of course!), these are the 7 things that I think are must haves for planning:

1. Notebook

A notebook in addition to your daily or weekly planner. Since most planners rarely include enough notes and goal planning pages, a second notebook comes in handy for brain dumping, goal planning, drafting spreads, master list, use as a reference book for cleaning checklists, glue in printables etc. Basically a place to organize everything except for your daily to do’s and appointments.

You could use a ring binder if you prefer. I use the ARC discbound system.

Related: Planner Organization: Why I use the Arc Planner instead of binders

2. Pens

One set of each of these pens in various colors for color coding

• Gel (I recommend BLOT, MUJI and PaperMate Inkjoy Gel 0.7)
• Ballpoint (I recommend Papermate Inkjoy 100 1.0M)
• Erasable pens (I recommend Frixion)

Yes you do really need all those pens. Different page types, different colors, they each have their occasion!

3. Highlighters

While you really only need a few highlighters with so many different types to choose from, I’d invest in a few of these:

• Thin and fat tip
• Dual tip
• Erasable (my favorite are the Frixion erasable bright)
• Quality highlighters that don’t bleed through (my favorite are Zebra)

Related: Pens & Highlighters Smear Testing: Which ones don’t smear 

4. Silhouette Machine

DIY planner stickers. Need I need to say more?!

Some tutorials:

• How to design planner stickers from start to finish (a sneak peak at my design process!)
• How to make your own custom Erin Condren (or any planner) header title section planner stickers (step by step video tutorial)   
• Silhouette Studio Software versus Photoshop: Which is better for making planner stickers?
• How to make planner stickers for free using Silhouette Studio (Introduction – Video Tutorial)

Related: How to organize planner stickers using folders (plus free printable labels)

5. Ruler

I like the Poppin rulers as the numbers are in big font and they’re heavy i.e. stay in place when ruling lines.

6. Journal tool

There are more and more nifty tools these days but one that covers most things is the Journal Guide from We R Memory Keepers

7. Printer

And not just any printer. A decent one that can be used for printing planner stickers, printables, checklists etc.

Read more:

• How to clean your printer (prevent smudging, streaks and make the colors POP!) 
• How to Choose a Printer (Including the best printer for printing printables and planner stickers) 
• How to easily print printables double sided (duplex printing tutorial)
• How to resize a printable to fit A5 or US half letter (5.5 x 8.5) page size 

More planning tips

• Planning 101: Planner lingo (what does it all mean?) 
• 50 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Planner
• Using a planner key and symbols to code your planner (efficient planning methods)

Found this post helpful? Pin it!