2017 Planner Set Up for my Inkwell Press Ringbound Planner

Hey friends!  So, it’s a little late in the year to just be doing a planner set up, right? I know.

So, I’ve been wanting to switch to a ring-bound planner forever.  I’m not even sure why I kept buying coil-bound planners.  The last one I bought was an academic year Inkwell Press Classic, which I loved…except for the fact that it didn’t start in January!

Getting a new planner is one of my favorite parts of January, so it was a real struggle for me this year to watch everyone else set up their planners while I continued to use the one I’d set up months ago.

Unfortunately (fortunately?), my cat took care of that for me last week!  I guess he got a little thirsty and knocked an entire glass of water over onto my planner while it was unattended.

Logically, I know that doesn’t ruin a planner, but now the pages are warped and the cover is soggy.  It was pretty much the thing that put me over the edge to buying a new planner 6 months earlier than I should.

So, now I get a new planner!

My Planner Set Up for 2017

This post contains affiliate links.  To find out more, please read my disclosures.

Since I had some Christmas money left over this year, I decided to splurge a little on myself.  I picked up a Carpe Diem Planner from Amazon and got my inkWELL Press Classic Inserts to put in it.

(Side note: Inkwell Press no longer offers this option, but they have a variety of planners to choose from! You can also check out this post for details on my 2018 ringbound planner, which has different inserts!)

I am really excited to be able to move things around.

If there is one thing that has driven me absolutely crazy about my coil bound planners, it’s that I can’t rearrange things.  I’m not a 2 planner type of person, but I need to be able to plan my personal life and my business life at the same time.  When I keep those two schedules in different places, one gets neglected every single time.  Trust me, I like planners and planning enough to like the concept of keeping more than one, but I just can’t pull it off successfully.

So, What’s Behind Each Tab?

I love making my planner pretty, so this weekend I made myself some dividers for each section of my planner.  I used the paper and tabs that came in the Scarlet Lime Planner Society box, which I cut down and ran through my Laminator to make them a bit sturdier.

The sections I’ll be using in this planner include:

• Goals
• Calendar (my Inkwell Press Classic Inserts)
• Blog Calendar & Business Planning (my own printables)
• To-do’s
• Plan Ahead
• Notes
• Lists/Misc

Goals

The goals section is one of my favorite parts of setting up a new planner.  I love having a chance to write out everything I hope to accomplish.  I think this section is pretty self explanatory, so I won’t go into too much detail.  Since the Inkwell Press inserts come with a goal-tracking section, I don’t even have to do much.  I’ll probably re-label some of the sections to better suit my needs, but I haven’t done anything with it yet!

Calendar

This tab includes my monthly view, weekly view, and some week-at-a-glance printables for my business.

I know not everyone likes having a monthly and a weekly schedule, but I find it ideal for my needs.  My monthly calendar spread is where I plan ahead and keep all of my time sensitive reminders.  This can include doctor’s appointments, school functions, pay days, and deadlines.

I do transfer these over to my weekly view as it gets closer, but I also add reminders and other scheduling tasks to these pages.

Related: How I Use My Inkwell Press Planner (Coilbound)

I’m only keeping about 6 months worth of weekly calendars in my planner, to save space for the extra sections I’ve added, but I did keep the entire year’s worth of monthly calendars so that I can write in those plans when they come to me.

Blog Calendar & Business Plans

This is a section I’m really excited about.  As I mentioned above, I’ve really struggled with keeping my business planning separate, because I just can’t keep up with two planners. However, having it on the same page as my regular weekly schedule just gets too overwhelming and I end up not having enough room!  My plan is to keep one week-at-a-glance page behind my current week in the calendar section that gives  me a business and blog overviews, and then keep the details separate.

In this section, I will keep a monthly editorial calendar, a social media schedule for each week, a blog post planner, an income and expense tracker, a password sheet, and a few notes pages so that I can brainstorm new products and blog posts to put up.  Again, this is all available in the free printable library if you want to grab your own!  I did re-size mine to print as an A5, so if you need to do that, you can check out this tutorial from Laura at iHeartPlanners here.

To-Do’s

This is another section I’m looking forward to!  If you ever noticed my old coil-bound planner layouts, they were always full of to-do lists.  I had them on the side as well as all through the week.  I also had a ton of lists in my monthly view!  This section will be to house all of that away from my schedule.  I will clean it out and update it each month, but otherwise it will be running to-do lists that I need to remember.  I’ll probably categorize them or date them, but they’ll be totally separate from the rest of my planner.

Related: Your Planner Won’t Help You Get More Done

Plan Ahead

This will be another new space in my planner.  There are so many times that I’m told about something a year (or more!) in advance, and I never have a place to put it.  Think doctor’s appointments, big vacation plans, or information for my daughter’s school.  I’ll now keep a year at a glance page for 2018 and a blank notes page in this section to keep a running list of important dates that don’t fit in the planner yet.

Miscellaneous

The miscellaneous section is going to house, well, everything miscellaneous! I don’t have a solid list, because anything I think of that needs planner space but doesn’t fit a category will go here.  Some of the pages I have already include:

• bill tracker
• travel iteneraries
• password cheat sheet
• debt tracker (to pay off debt)

Related: How to Set Goals You’ll Actually Accomplish

In the back of my planner, I added a few extra dividers, so that if I think of something else I want to add, I have a space for it. I also added a sticky note pad and a small blank journal in the back so I have plenty of places to write notes or extra lists!

What I Used in My Ringbound Planner Set Up

I love looking at planner setups, because it gives me so much inspiration for my own planner.  Most of my favorite products have come from them!  I put together a list of links for all of the products you see in this post, with links to make them easier to find!.

• Carpe Diem A5 Planner in Platinum
• Open industrial 6 hole punch
• Scotch Thermal Laminator
• Inkwell Press A5 Classic Inserts
• Scarlet Lime Planner Society Kit (this is a subscription, and you can only sign up the 2nd through the 14th of each month)
• Business Organization Printables -these are mine, and they are FREE in my printable library.  To gain access, you just need to be a newsletter subscriber.  I strive to make all of my emails helpful and informative for you!

SaveSave