This week’s spread was inspired by the Happy Planner parenting layout. I don’t often use a vertical weekly spread, but since the parenting layout is only 1 page for the days of the week and there’s still another entire page of space to plan, I decided to give it a try.

This post contains affiliate links. If you click one of the links and make a purchase I’ll receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) in exchange for referring you.

Before the pen

This was my inspiration:

Image credit: The Happy Planner

The main customization I did was on the left page.

I really like the design but I didn’t need all of those sections. Some of the customisation I did:

• Removed the meal plan section – I don’t meal plan in a weekly spread. I live alone so only have to cook a few times per week. The mini weekly overview could be useful for exercise routine, class timetable or work hours if you work part time.
• I like the idea of the categorised checklists, but didn’t like the pre-filled titles that MAMBI chose, I don’t always have the same list categories every week so would prefer a blank title section and I’ll choose my own
• I like to use dot grid for pomodoro trackers and habit trackers, but decided not to have a dot grid section this week for more flexibility

I like a 1 page weekly spread but rarely use vertical weekly layouts. I thought about removing the divider lines but decided to keep them (I may tried the layout again with them deleted).

Here’s how I chose to use the 3 sections:

• Daily priorities
• What I actually did that day
• Skincare routine

The last one might seem a bit odd but I’ve always struggled with acne. I’ve just bought some korean skincare products to try to see if that helps, but I also wanted to be a bit more consistent. I’ll usually just look at my skin and go what does it look like it needs today then use products for that. Which means I bounce around a lot between different serums, cleansers and moisturizers. I sometimes forgot to exfoliate and make time to do skin peels and masks so wanted a section to track this. I may end up making a separate skincare routine printable if I think planning it like this is useful.

This is what I ended up with:

Notice those dents in the paper? I’d been using different types of paper from my stash for test prints (including for this planner). I normally use thicker paper but I’d run out. This is Kmart’s anko brand which is not as thick, hence some minor dents in the page. While the paper is a bit flimsy at least no highlighters bled through to the page underneath.

After the pen

I wanted to add some color so using highlighters seemed an obvious choice for the weekday header. I chose the Sharpie S Note highlighters and paired them with some Happy Planner stickers.

I wasn’t sure about these color choices at first (normally I avoid pastel), but I quite like how this spread turned out! I think I must have subconsciously been thinking about the colors of the notebook when I was choosing colors for the spread because I only realised afterwards, that the colors of the highlighters used somewhat matched the colors of the Happy Notes book I was using.

And here’s the spread after I filled it out for the week:

I was going to use the small box at the bottom for this week’s blog post, but didn’t end up scheduling a post for this week in the end as I was working on the weekly planner kit.

I used a 0.5 Muji gel pen. Love those pens but since the boxes are quite small the 0.38 tip would’ve been a better choice. I like how bold the pens are, certainly a lot more bold than the Frixion erasable pens. I’ve been thinking about trying the Grabie erasable pens but they’re so expensive! If anyone has used these pens let me know in the comments if they were worth the splurge.

I’m off to Europe later this year (first time I’ll be transiting through Doha so hopefully the war has calmed down by then…) So created checklists for the countries I’ll be visiting. I could’ve just used a printable with a 2 column checklist but aesthetically I prefer separate lists for things so I can add some color via the headings.

Notice that the box stickers are slightly off in the photo below? There isn’t an even amount of color on the left and right sides of the sticker. For some reason the Happy Planner (particularly their sticker books with lots of boxes) can have their cuts slightly off. Win for me as I’m not bothered by it so my sister donates the miscut sticker books to me instead of selling them in her shop.

If you want to change it up from checkboxes, try highlighters instead – fast and easy.

There’s no yellow sticker in the book so I made do by just adding a border around the heading instead. The stickers definitely look better though.

Rather than rule up a habit tracker with a bunch of sections I wouldn’t use, I used the highlighters to create a quick habit tracker with my goal number for each type of exercise to get done that week.

You can see I was doing a bit of white out when my writing got a bit messy trying to cram things into the boxes. If I use this layout again I’d try it at a larger page size or use a 0.3 pen instead.

If you want to try this layout you can download it for free here (you’ll also get access to the rest of the printables library). I’ve included both US letter and Happy Planner classic size versions of the weekly planner and the notes / checklist page (plus they US letter size are fillable PDF’s).

Supplies used

• Square box is from the Happy Planner Colorful boxes sticker book
• Transparent number stickers from the Dates and Holidays Happy Planner sticker book (no longer available but the Happy Planner Months sticker book has plenty of number stickers)
• ‘Buy’ sticker is from handwritten plans happy planner sticker book
• Muji 0.5 black pen
• Sharpie S Note highlighters
• Happy Notes notebook
• Officeworks Keji correction tape

Related post: Favorite Stationery Shops in Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka)

Would I use this layout again?

Yes, I liked this layout; except I used up all of the space in each of the 3 boxes for each day and ended up adding a half sheets notes page for the overflow.

If I use this layout again I’ll try it at full page size (8.5 x 11″ or A4 page size) so there’s more room to write in the boxes for each day. 

I may reduce the checklist and replace the bottom section of the checklist with dot grid (for a habit tracker) instead.

If you want to try this layout you can download it for free here (you’ll also get access to the rest of the printables library). I’ve included both US letter and Happy Planner classic size versions of the weekly planner and the notes / checklist page (plus they US letter size are fillable PDF’s).

Want more week on 1 page printables? You can find this bundle in my Etsy shop and online shop.

Liked this weekly spread? Pin it to refer back to later