New Beginnings

One month away from my blog, and I have missed talking to you guys! I promise I will not go away this long again, and to no longer take a six week class. Thankfully, with so much time away I have many stories to share, well mainly just stories about planning and how I got sucked into the world of stationery.

First things first, I have finally decided on a permanent blogging schedule stick to. I have been wanting to launch a planner addicts section to my blog to share my love of all things planning and stationery and I also want to share the lifestyle posts I was already providing so I am going to share my stationery posts on Sundays and sticking to Wednesdays for more personal posts. I have never really been able to post this frequently on a regular basis before, but I feel that this will be a great way to push myself to be more serious about my blog and to be more consistent with content. So let's welcome my new series, The Sunday Plans, and get on with the post.

A couple weeks ago, I was browsing YouTube and I came across a Plan With Me video (which I plan on doing myself very soon, and even a haul video) and a couple hours later I had watched more than a handful of videos on planners and planning, read multiple blog posts, and started doing my research on the different kinds of planners that existed. I have always been a fan of planners because writing down what I need to do and when helped me stay focused on all of the important to-dos in my life, as well as knowing when I made plans with someone so I don't forget. The only issue for me, was that every year when I would go to get a new one I would never really be that satisfied with how the planner looked, what was inside of it, and how everything was set up. That is how I ended up falling in love with the binder style planner, which is what I eventually ended up purchasing for myself. As well as falling in love with decorating my planner, I never knew there was such a following and love for this hobby.

The planner I purchased was the lilac band Dokibook from LoveDoki, but I purchased it through a third party seller on AliExpress, here. It's similar to the Kikki.K planners, which I did originally want to get but they are on the pricier end of planners and the one that is similar to the one I have is no longer being sold, and go for even higher prices on eBay. Since I was just introducing myself to the planning world, I didn't want to spend too much money in case I got tired of it in the end. But of course, I did not.

Not only did I not get tired of my planner, I have become pretty much addicted, my YouTube watch history is a little embarrassing. Here is a little look into the inside of my planner, the first photos is what I see when the planner is first opened, the quite on the right is a little dashboard card that my sister had lying around from the planner she got (yes, I got my sister into planners as well) and I just cut it down and stuck it on to a hard plastic cover with some washi tape.

The second photo is a look into the upcoming week for me and what I plan to do. I plan my upcoming week on the Sunday before and put in the plans I already have set, such as work, class, my internships, and important dates that I already know before hand. Also, personally, I work quite a bit and I'm usually at work five or six days of the week (thankfully I get a break for the next two weeks) so I need to know the major errands I need to get done that week and I decide when I should do what during the times I know I will be free. This is really important for me because if I don't tell myself when to do what, I will probably get nothing done and sleep instead.

Planning, and decorating what I use to plan my life, has really changed how I get things done dramatically. Since I usually am busy and need to get things done, seeing a cute decorated page with all of my to-dos really helps make me happier when I look at how many things I need to get done in a day.

I hope you guys enjoyed looking into my planner and I cannot wait to share all of my future posts on one of my favorite hobbies now. Till next time.

xo, Carla Mae

(P.S. Happy early birthday to my best friend, Kathy! <3)