Guest Post: A Look Inside Robyn's Uncalendar Pro

Many thanks to Robyn for this guest post showing how she uses her Uncalendar Half Size Pro weekly planner (with some other inserts too) for managing her very busy life!

How I use my planner:

The cover is a Staples GTD planner cover, a very plain 3 ring binder. I would love something prettier but I haven’t had much luck finding anything pretty AND functional in the 3 ring format. I have a rubber band (purchased at Target) around the front cover, I use this to hold papers, pens, etc. that I might need for a particular meeting.

Once I open the cover, I see my week’s tasks in a page protector. This is an old template that I have been using for years, probably the only planning tool I have used consistently for that long! I write the week’s tasks and have space to record the billable hours associated with each task. I have an accounting business and have a lot of small repetitive tasks from week to week, so I just transfer the tasks from the prior week so I don’t forget anything. The few times I stopped using this system, I either forgot to do these tasks or did them very late, so I stick with this planning tool now, even though it seems like overkill.

The next thing I have in my planner are my project management pages. During my busy season, I may have 30 or more projects that need my attention. I needed a system to prioritize these projects and help keep track of their status. I have four pages: Priority One, Next Up, To be Scheduled, and Waiting on Client. Each new project gets a post it note, and I put the post it note on the appropriate page. Then when I am writing out my weekly task list, I consult my Priority One page to see what needs to be done that week. I just printed these on card stock, laminated them, and stuck them in.

I use the monthly tabs to schedule client appointments, personal/kid appointments, and keep a riding/training log for my horses. These are the Uncalendar monthly pages, but I need tabs, so I just stapled them to a set of tabs I happened to have lying around.

I use the weekly pages to record personal to do’s as well as work tasks, appointments, shopping list, etc. These are the Uncalendar weekly pages as well. I love these but I haven’t quite figured out what I want to do with all of the boxes. I do like the yellow box next to the date on the weekly side. I can put the day’s most important task in there so I make sure it gets done.

Behind the same tab as the weekly pages, I needed to add daily sheets. I printed these from a template I got from the DIY Planner website. I would actually prefer an undated daily format for these since I don’t need them for every day, just on my busiest days when the weekly space is not enough for all of my tasks and appointments. I already had these printed from a previous calendar so I just threw them in there.

 The next tab holds note pages, and I love these Uncalendar note pages! They are great for when I meet with clients- I need to write everything down since my memory does not work. Many times I will have a to do list from the meeting and this provides a great format to record the notes and then a to do list from the notes on the opposite page. I added a little tab for any note pages that require action so I can add the action to the weekly task list or project planner.

The last tab is labeled “Off Topic” and I put anything here that I clip from magazines or print out that I don’t want to forget about but don’t really need to do anything with at the moment. I also put entertaining quotes, inspirational pictures, things I want to buy but can’t afford, etc.

And that’s it, I hope you enjoyed looking into my planner!