Happy Planner, Happy Life

There's nothing like filling out my planner every week to at least make me feel like I have my life together. I'll admit it, I'm a plannerholic. Every time I walk into Michael's I warn my roommate to absolutely not let me buy any more planner stickers - but it doesn't stop me from browsing the aisle longingly each time.

Over the course of my college career, I've had various different planners, generic ones purchased from a college bookstore or Walmart, a Lilly Pullitzer one, and currently a MAMBI Happy Planner. Every single one of my planners have been full sized because I do better with more space on a page, mostly for the monthly overview because I need those squares to be as big as possible! Out of all the planners I've had, the Happy Planner from MAMBI is definitely my absolute favorite!

It's similar to the coveted Erin Condren planner except it's so much more customizable, not to mention so much cheaper!!! (Especially with a 40% off coupon at Michaels, hint hint). The planner is also reusable because the pages are easily extractable (no pesky binding issues) and you can get new monthly inserts. The MAMBI brand also has meal plan inserts, workout tracker inserts, and a plethora of different covers to choose from. This planner originally came with a flexible, laminated cover but I swapped it out for a rose gold hard cover because I needed something more durable. (The rose gold phone case was a coincidence, but purchased at Charming Charlie's if you're interested).

My favorite thing about this planner is the monthly tab at the beginning of each month because the motivational quotes are usually so pretty and it also has a section to write down my monthly goals, important dates, and what I have been doing for that current month! I liked the "Currently" section so much, I found a weekly version of it for the planner and printed them out because I change my mood so often throughout a month, it's hard to pick just one answer for these prompts.

I'm involved in a lot of student organizations and activities on campus, so I need a planner to keep me organized, of course. Like most, my planner is color coded.

I usually like to reserve one specific color for an organization (pink for my sorority, yellow for classes, etc). but lately I've been so involved in various different things, I've run out of highlighter colors to use!! So I've had to double up on things like orange being for both of my student media groups, purple being for payments and work (because they're both about money), etc.

However that meticulous type of color coding is only reserved for highlighters. I don't color code any sticky tabs or pens because that would drive me crazy to have to keep up with.

Color coding the monthly overview in my planner is not something new, I do it in every planner I get. However, the weekly layout of the Happy Planner was new to me this year and I've really come to love filling it out. I try to designate my Sunday nights to filling out the layout for the week.

I love that each day has three separate sections because it gives me room to write whatever I want in each section. I wanted to make sure my planner was more than just text and "reminders", so I try to use stickers, stamps, and drawings whenever I can to decorate it!

There are certain sections in my planner that remain constant each week, such as the "Week at a Glance" section in the top left box, the "Coming Up" section which is usually in a box somewhere towards the bottom right. Then I also have a TV section in the bottom left which doesn't really change much (because tv schedules don't randomly change), but I swear if I don't write it down, I'll forget to watch, and I am an aspiring tv show writer so tv is very important to me!

I'll be the first to admit I have terrible handwriting and I cannot draw to save my life! So I really depend on stickers and stamps to add some interest to my planner. Here are some of the tools I use to fill out my planner each week.

Tools of the Trade

Highlighters are a must of course! I have plenty in stock once they run out so I'm never worried about using them too much for my planner or notes for class. My grandma gave me an entire pack of fine-point Sharpies of sooo many different colors (orange, teal, lime green, etc). but I mostly stick to the standard red, blue, and green colors for my planner. Lastly I won these fine-tipped pens in a game of Loteria once and they've been so handy and make my tragic handwriting look much less tragic and prettier!

These stamps are the newest items added to my planner decorating collection. I'd always seen them around the craft stores but I never gave in until I saw them on sale and I decided, why not! I was on a budget so I decided not to by the accompanying jar that contained all the different color ink pads, so I limited myself to 2 colors. At first I was a little bummed, but then I quickly realized I can use my highlighters to color the stamps and they transfer that color just as well!

Yes, I really do carry all of these items with me daily in my backpack. I have two different types of white out (my schedule is constantly changing so I need to update it) and I got tired of scratching out old plans because it looked so ugly and it wasted valuable space, so I invested in white out. I also have a tape runner for double sided tape which makes pasting cut outs so much easier into my planner and of course an exacto knife is essential for cutting things out. My friends have made fun of me for carrying these things around but it comes in handy when they're asking for an Exacto knife or white out!

Stickers are a game changer for my planner filling ways. They make everything look much more sleek and organized! I'm the type of person that has sticker anxiety - that feeling when you want to put a sticker somewhere but it has to be a good place otherwise you waste the sticker! - so it's hard for me to freely use stickers willy nilly, but I'm slowly getting over that irrational feeling because it's silly. I have so many stickers to use, I shouldn't be afraid to "run out." I also try to use any other types of stickers I have laying around whenever I can, whether it be leftover Lilly Pullitzer stickers from my old planner, or Spongebob stickers from a Sonic kid's meal.

The online planner community is huge, and there are so many different things available for planners to print out or use as inserts. They even have decorative stickers in the exact size of the boxes in the weekly layout, but that's a little excessive for me. I only like to print things out that will be practical for me to use.
Like I said earlier, I loved the "Currently" section on the monthly tab so I printed out a weekly version of it and I like to paste it on the side column of the page. I alternate between using sticker paper and printing these on regular paper (hence why the double sided tape runner comes in handy) and also explains the Exacto knife! I just think these are great to add to a page if it's looking a little bare in certain areas.

This is something I made out of an old composition book. I took out the leftover pages and hot glued all my post its, sticker pads, and tabs onto the cover so when it opens up like a booklet, they are all organized neatly and ready to use. It has been one of the most handy things I've had. These post its and stickers are great for making tentative plans or for adding reminders!

This is a closer look at the "Currently" printable that I like to cut out and paste for every week.

Sometimes there are weeks where I am too busy to fill out a "Currently" section, or I may not even paste one onto the weekly layout at all. Other times I am too busy to really fill up my planner or alternatively, there's not much to plan at all because it's a slow week (rare, but possible as the semester winds down and there's only finals to look forward to, yay).

I'm still pretty new to this planner decorating business, and as I've said before I have terrible handwriting, but just these small things like adding stickers and tracing things with highlighters has made my planner look much nicer and brighter and just makes me so happy. I look forward to adding things to my planner and filling it out, seeing what stickers I can use. My favorite ones are the motivational stickers because I'm a "words of affirmation" type of person, so motivational words go a long way with me.

As you can see, I like to use whatever stickers I can get a hold of! Monsters University is one of my FAVORITE movies EVER and it felt appropriate to use for Probate Week because it is a "Greek" centric movie.

For this "Currently" sidebar, I filled it out throughout the week instead of waiting until the end of the week to fill it in afterward, which I sometimes do. It's all depending on my mood!

As the school year winds down, my planner starts looking a lot less colorful and a lot more empty, it's so sad! But, with the school year winding down and my summer wide open, I have a lot of free time to dedicate to this website! What type of content would you like to see from me?

This is the current week. Wish me luck on finals!

I won't lie, keeping up a planner like this takes a lot of time and effort. One time I spent a good two hours filling up my planner, reflecting on my past week in the "Currently" section, seeing what items on my to-do list I had or had not done, and filling out the upcoming week's events - so this type of planner may not be for everyone.

Are you the type to just write down the basic need-to-know info and that's it? Do you prefer electronic/online calendars? (I tried, I'm just such a kinetic person!) Or are you looking to branch out into breathing more life into your planner like I did? I highly suggest it! For someone as busy as I usually am, not only does it help me stay organized, but looking at all the bright colors and motivational stickers makes me feel less stressed! I thought it would be the opposite, where more clutter on the page makes me feel frantic, but it doesn't, it helps me see where I can find time to breathe. (That's why I put a "don't forget, have fun" sticker in the TV section for finals week!) Do you have any other planner tips? Please share with me! I'm always looking for ways to improve my practicality and planner!!


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