This is barely a "project" to blog about, but I'm sure other people have had the same frustration as me of having a notebook-type planner with no pen holder available. So I made one and its great. Plus, I feel like I need to talk about planners, because I've been starting to use them again and I wanna talk about it like a nerd.
I'm kind of old school, in the sense that I need to write things down with pen and paper, rather than typing it into my phone or into a Google calendar. I've tried using to-do lists on my phone (there's an app for that!), but it's not as satisfying as writing a to-do list out on a notepad, and then crossing out the item on the list when its done. I love making lists! I also really like my own handwriting. Is that a weird brag? It's not even a humble brag, its just a weird brag. I'd show it off on instagram, but that's weird. It's a weird brag. My handwriting isn't perfect, it can be messy or neat depending on the urgency of writing something down. Hand writing in general is just familiar and personal to me, and I love that. Also, I feel like I'm the only person my age that I know that prefers cursive over print. Do kids these days even learn cursive? Is everything typed up now? Wait, what was I talking about again?
My planner/organization style is heavily dependent on three things: post-its, colored pens and highlighters. I am at a loss without this
holy trinity of organization. But yeah, post-its are the best. I use that stuff for everything, in all different sizes. The only kind I dislike are the neon pink colored ones because they hurt my eyes. If I was a famous person, I would totally use my celebrity status to promote post-its in hopes that I can get a lifetime supply of post-its. If I was one of the "stars" in a Bravo TV
Real Housewives series, my tagline that shows in the opening credits would be "I'm gonna need a bigger post-it." Actually it wouldn't, since that's kinda lame and I would want my tagline to be more sassy! But I say that quote from time to time at work, even though I'm the only one who laughs at it.
Last year, my planner of choice was this old Esprit planner. (Does Esprit still exist?) It was the 6-ring binder style kind, personal-sized. I liked the size of it, it had a week on one page, which was perfect since I don't need that much writing space and I would just stick post-it notes on it anyways. I ran out of planner paper though, and the binder is kind of falling apart, so I decided to try something new this year. I found a "leather"-bound planner at Marshall's for only $5. The layout is a week on two pages, which is kind of too much space for me, but it was $5 so whatever. It's slim, which I like since my old planner was bulky. My biggest gripe is that the monthly calendars start the week off on a Monday, when I am used to calendars that start the week on a Sunday. You would think that it wouldn't be such a big deal, but I've been writing stuff down in the wrong box. It throws me off. But I deal.
The other gripe I had about this planner is that it doesn't have a loop to hold your pen. What good is a planner if you forget a pen to write stuff in it? So I made one with a piece of elastic that I sized around my favorite pen. If you size it around your smallest-sized pen that you use, it'll accommodate all your pens since its stretchy (duh.) I just stitched across the elastic to form a loop, cut the excess elastic off, and attached it to the inside of the back cover with a hot glue gun. Problem solved!
The elastic that I had on hand was kind of thick because it was what I had laying around. I would recommend buying a thinner elastic for this project because you don't really need the heavy duty kind to secure a friggin' pen. Elastic comes in so many colors now, making a diy pen holder is a great way to personalize your planner.
