How I use my weekly and daily planners at the same time

Several people have asked me for an updated post on how I use weekly and daily planners at the same time, and I'm happy to oblige!

For years and years I struggled between weekly planners (which didn't have enough writing space for all the details I wanted to record each day) and day per page planners (which didn't allow me to plan ahead). Using the two planners together lets me plan effectively in my weekly and record lots of details in my daily.

I've been using a weekly planner along with a separate daily planner for more than two years now. My system of using these two planners together has evolved over the years. Here is an update on how I use these two types of planners together.

First of all, I use my weekly planner (this year, my Plannerisms planner) for all planning. I use my weekly pages to map out my appointments, any tasks I have to do on specific days, and my prioritized task lists at the bottom of the page under the daily columns. In the last 3 lines of the daily columns I plan my dinner menus.

I use the column before Monday to write my daily goals so I can easily check them off each day when they are done. This gives me a quick and easy visual of how well I'm completing my goals throughout the week.

After years of trying bajillions of different planners, I've found I need the vertical daily columns to map out my days, with space on my weekly pages for my to do lists. This lets me see the layout of my week, what I need to do and when I have time to do it.

I also use the monthly pages in my Plannerisms planner to see the overview of the month, what's coming up, and to note things I need to do that month (like renew my car insurance, schedule dentist appointments, or other things that need to happen that particular month).

I use my Monthly pages for fixed dates like birthdays, travel and appointments.  I don't consult my monthly pages every day, just when I need an overview.

Also in my Plannerisms planner I plan all of my goals: annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily. I wrote a big post on using the Plannerisms planner for goals, you can click here to read the details with lots of photos on how to use.

So the weekly planner is used just the way you would normally use a weekly planner. The difference comes in with the daily planner.

The key to using a daily planner with the weekly is that NO FORWARD PLANS GO IN THE DAILY. The daily is for planning and recording TODAY ONLY. In the past I've tried putting appointments and plans into the daily and the weekly then synching them, and things always fall through the cracks. Unless you're really diligent about synching your two books every single day, I highly do not recommend planning in both.

So then how do I use the daily planner? Here's the details:

The day before, I start filling in my daily page with appointments and any tasks that MUST be done that day. I don't write anything that I might do, or could do if I wanted, because if I don't get it done that day I'll have to rewrite it. I only write things that MUST be done THAT DAY. Then during the course of the day, if I get my urgent tasks done and I have time for other tasks, I look at my to do lists on my weekly page and see what else I can fit in today.

I do a lot of recording in my daily pages. I write expenditures (I'm trying to keep track of spending to make an accurate monthly budget). I write in other tasks I did that day so I have a record of when I did things. I note phone calls, make notes of any details, write cute things my kids did and said, note the weather, and anything else I need to record that day on my daily pages.

I change my mind a lot on what day per page planner to use. I want a large page size in a portable book. Right now I'm using Franklin Covey two pages per day:

I like the structure of these pages. I use the task list on the left of the left page to write my to-dos for the day. The appointment schedule goes from before 6 am to after 7 pm and has lines for the half hours so I can map out my day. The lines at the bottom left of the page are where I write expenditures. And the entire right page is for notes, journaling, and recording details.

This two-planner system works with any weekly planner and any daily planner. About two and a half years ago I used my Organised Mum weekly planner with my Quo Vadis Textagenda daily planner (which you can read the details of here), but I was synching them so that system quickly failed.

Several months later I used a self-drawn weekly planner with my pocket size Moleskine day per page planner, and that worked really well. You can see that post here. You can see more details on how I used my Moleskine day per page planner in this post here.

I've continued to use a weekly planner with a daily planner ever since then. For the past several months I've been switching my daily books around a lot. I crave the permanence of a bound book, but have a hard time finding one that's big enough to write enough each day but still light enough in my bag.

I love the structure of the Franklin Covey 2PPD and the ability to have so much information in my binder, but there are several things about it that bug me: the impermanence of the looseleaf pages (I'm bad about switching pages around between binders and losing them), the bulk and weight of the book, and that I can't have the entire year's worth of daily pages in my book at once. But the worst thing about using my FC is that because it's so big and heavy, I don't carry my weekly planner with me which causes me to plan ahead on the monthly pages of my FC, then synch back to my weekly pages. I don't like doing this, I prefer to do all planning in my Plannerisms planner and not go back and forth.

So, predictably, I have ordered a new day per page planner to try. It is A5 size but soft covered so it won't be as heavy as the hard cover A5 daily planners I have. The daily planner I've ordered is a Time Traveler, you can click here to see it. (Updated: my Time Traveler planner has arrived! Click here to see my post about it with loads of photos of the features.)

I have used Time Traveler day per page planners in the past, although in the small size they no longer make. In fact, my favorite planner of all time is a Time Traveler so I have high hopes for this new one! Time Traveler planners have lots of features I love like smooth white paper, loads of full-color maps, notes and information pages.

So anyway, that's how I use my daily and weekly planners together! Please let me know if you have any questions or would like more specific details.