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All About Planners

Printable planners to organize your home, business and life!

January 10, 2020

The best planners if you want to keep work and personal in the same planner

If you need to plan work and personal and are fed up with switching between and carrying around 2 planners, here are some planners you could try to keep everything in the one place.

1. Horizontal 2 sections

Some planners that have already divided the boxes for each day into 2 sections:

  • Whistle and Birch
  • Plum Paper
  • Erin Condren
  • Purple Trail
  • Recollections
  • Happy Planner

plum paper horizontal planner versus erin condren plum paper haul best planners for 2017

Related: Plum Paper Planners Haul & Review (better than the Erin Condren?)

My favorite would probably be the Day Designer for Blue Sky – it has lined writing space too.

day designer bluesky collab planner horizontal checklist lined academic student cheap affordable alternative floral

Day Designer for Blue Sky Horizontal

One planner that truly combines work and personal is the It’s That Kinda Day Planner

review of the its that kinda day planner

2. Horizontal

If you need more space to plan work than personal or vise versa, a horizontal layout with one big box for each day can be divided in half to whatever proportions you like! E.g. 2/3 for work planning with the rest for personal etc.

There are far too many planners that have this layout to list!

3. Weekly Spread + Notes

This is my all time favorite weekly layout – days of the week on 1 page and notes / lists on the other.

The weekly planning page can be used for work and the checklists for personal to do’s (or vise versa). If you want to divide the weekly planner in half  you still have the option too.

Some planners that come in this layout:

  • Plum Paper (has 2 columns ideal for separating work and personal to do lists)
  • This 1 page weekly planner printable set from my shop paired with the notes or checklists kit
  • Mi Goals
  • Life Inspired

I often use this type of layout to do blog post planning on the weekly planner and to do’s for my blog and personal on the other page.

horizontal lined notes weekly spread layout monday start life inspired plans simple minimalist checklist goals bill spending meal planning gratitude

Life Inspired Weekly Planner Review

4. Categories

A planner layout that doesn’t seem to be as popular as it should be! This layout is great for clustering things together.

plum paper me planner custom organized planning ideas inspiration bullet journalling in a planner symbol key highlighter pens

Related: Trying out the Plum Paper Me Planner 

My favorite planners in this layout are:

  • Limelife Planners Layout C review
  • Master Plan Family Diary Review
  • Blue Sky Teacher Planner
  • Plum Paper Me Planner

Teacher planners & student planners are also similar to this layout. The days of the week can be covered up with washi tape and the subject section converted into days of the week. I did this with the Erin Condren Teacher Planner. A cheaper alternative is the Blue Sky Teacher Planner.

erin condren teacher planner customised for weekly planning color coding categorised blog planner

Using the Erin Condren Teacher Planner for weekly planner 

5. Appointments + checklist

If you like to plan your workday in lots of detail e.g. you’re self employed, I recommend these planners:

  • Top Down
  • Planner Pad
  • Lorna Leigh Lane Weekly Planner 
  • Passion Planner Review – Compact and Classic Sizes 
  • Live Whale Weekly Planner
  • Day Designer for Blue Sky Planner
  • Lucky Life Tools Planner
  • Commit 30 Weekly Planner

planner pad weekly planner review color coding blog planning planner habit tracker ideas inspiration weekly spread bullet journal

Review of the Planner Pad Weekly Planner 

6. Color Coded Checklists

If you don’t like allocating tasks to certain days and prefer to just work off a to do list (which is what I tend to do), color coding tasks is a good way to keep everything neat.

How to color code your planning using highlighters categorised to do list checklist planner hack budget diy-min

Daily planning using to do lists categorised by time 

Another option instead of checklists, is to use color coded note paper. Download some from the library here

free printable color coded note paper planner diy accessories notes page planner insert rainbow erin condren kikki k filofax plum paper

7. Sticky Notes

Not only are these an ideal solution when you need just a bit more space to plan each week, sticky notes are affordable and can be re-positioned / re-used for a number of weeks.

They’re also a quick and easy way to color code.

how to use sticky notes for weekly planning spread ideas plan with me color coding recurring tasks bill blog post content planning post it note creative inspiration

Planning the entire week using only sticky notes

8. Vertical – multiple sections

Vertical planners that have multiple boxes for each day are another good option for clustering things together. However, I don’t recommend vertical layouts if you have a lot of things, as each task will require multiple lines and you’ll run out of space in the boxes quickly. This is why I’m #teamhorizontal

Not many planners have the vertical layout with multiple sections for weekdays and just 1 box for weekends (ideal if you work a traditional 9 – 5). One planner company that does have this layout is Whistle and Birch.

whistle and birch teacher planner layout weekly review pros and cons monday start minimalist australian made similar cheaper alternative to erin condren

9. Custom Planner

There are a few planner companies that will create a custom planner for you. In order of the most customisation:

  • Agendio (highly recommend)
  • Golden Coil
  • Personal Planner

My planners from Golden Coil & Personal Planner are on their way,  I’ll post reviews when I receive them 🙂

agendio weekly planner personalised customisable build your own planner daily options font color cover checklist labels categories usa company similar to plum paper

Related: Agendio Review (custom, personalised weekly planner) 

10. Printables

Another option is to purchase printables (e.g. from my printables shop 😉 ) or learn how to make your own.

Read more: How to make a weekly planner in Photoshop (step by step tutorial)

With printables you can choose how to set up your week exactly how you want it. So if you want 3 pages per week (e.g. 1 page work, 1 page personal, 1 page for notes), or if you want to combine 2 weekly spreads, or if you want to print 2 copies of the same printable for each week, you can.

I always use my printables in discbound planner so I can add, rearrange and remove printables, page dividers etc. as often as needed.

Read more: Guide to Discbound Planners & Frequently Asked Questions

More planning tips

  • How to choose a binding system for your planner (comparison and which one I like the most) 
  • 15 Productive Things You Can Do In 15 Minutes or Less 
  • How to make planner stickers for free using Silhouette Studio (Introduction – Video Tutorial)

Found this post helpful? Pin it!

best planners for planning work and personal in the same planner should i use separate planners personal life home organizer

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  • Answers to 50 Frequently Asked Planner Questions (Planning FAQ’s)Answers to 50 Frequently Asked Planner Questions (Planning FAQ’s)
  • Weekly planning using only a printable to do list (Week 51 of the 52 Planners in 52 Weeks Challenge)Weekly planning using only a printable to do list (Week 51 of the 52 Planners in 52 Weeks Challenge)
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Posted In: Planner Roundups · Tagged: choosing a planner, home and work planner, how to choose a planner, how to make printables, planner faq, planners for home and work, planners that combine home and work, should i use 2 planners, work and personal, work and personal planner

Comments

  1. Bryan E says

    January 12, 2020 at 02:17

    I’m finding that using a “bullet journal” for preparation defeats the purpose of a bullet journal – to capture the ephemeral thoughts that pop up during the day – in meetings, while reading, etc.

    So, back to a daily-only layout for me. After capturing and filing information from the daily into the correct spreads, I lay out the header the evening before, then fill it out in the morning, then free-form for the day.

    I do use two journals – one for daily (bound dot journal 5.5×8.5) and one for spreads of whatever kind (disc bound 8.5×11) – to allow inserting /anything/ into my spreads.

  2. Janis says

    January 13, 2020 at 21:52

    I want to keep my work and personal plans in the same notebook, but I don’t want someone to see the planner on my desk at work and see that I have plans to clean my fridge. Discbound to the rescue! I keep a separate tabbed section for my personal to-do and journal items. Anything that needs attention during my work day (such as a reminder to call and make a medical or service appointment) gets noted on a mini insert that is placed with my work agenda until completed. It might seem silly to keep a separate list when my personal section is in the same notebook, but I don’t want the distraction of looking at home-based tasks when I’m at work.

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