My planning scene
On Tuesdays, I post a picture and just a few words.
This is my setup for meal planning/weekly schedule planning. I use this Blue Sky Planner (though mine was only $16.99 when I bought it.) because it doesn't have hours pre-written.
In my head, days start at the bottom and go to the top, so most planners are upside down for me. I love this blank one because I can set up my planner days in the right direction. 😉
(You think visualizing days is a little weird? Not everyone does it...but people with spatial synesthesia do.)
I often have my ATK Quick Family cookbook out as I meal plan (I just saw there are used copies for only $5 on Amazon!). And my grocery list is usually just on a scrap piece of paper from the recycling bag.
The tea is Constant Comment (yum!) and the phone is my 2.5 year old iPhone 4s, which I bought as a refurb. It's in an OtterBox case, which is totally clunky and big. But hey, I've had the phone for 2.5 years and haven't broken it, so I think that speaks to the sturdiness of the case.
And I just realized that my latest Mighty Fix is in the photo too! I got an ecloth, which is a cloth that's supposed to clean mirrors and windows without any cleaning products. It just arrived, so I haven't actually tried it yet.
I also got the ecloth and I love it so much! I never would have thought to try it on my own but with mightyfix I got the chance. It works great on windows and mirrors with no streaks and no chemicals!! win win!
Oh my gosh! I also love Blue Sky planners!!!! I've had one every year since I was in sixth grade and I absolutely can't live without it. It warms my heart to see fellow frugal people who like paper planners. 🙂
I'm a bit of a notebook and paper nut and so I have to ask, besides the layout - what's so fab about the planner to justify its cost? I always get amazed at how much some notebooks and planners can run vs just buying a regular notebook. It's like how graph paper notebooks can be had for $2 while an Engineering or Laboratory notebook will run you $20.
I like that there's a monthly calendar as well as weekly pages....a plain notebook wouldn't be quite as handy. And $16.99 for a whole year of use seems SUPER reasonable to me.
just wondering why you use a paper planner at all? You could use a free digital calendar like Google & your whole family would have access to it 24/7. We use different colors for each member of the family so it is really easy to spot each person's activity of the day.
This works well when everyone in the group can access the account freely and at will. It gets harder if you can't access a personal account from work, or are on the road a lot, or have a poor internet connection,...
I tried Google calendar but man, I just cannot get into the digital planning swing of things. I think I'm more of a pen and paper kind of girl!
I use star fiber microfiber cloths to clean all my mirrors with just a bit of water, and they work great. I also use them to clean glass table tops and window glass on the inside. I haven't gotten this month's Mighty Fix yet, but I have a feeling I know what it'll be, now.....
I love notebooks, too. I have to restrain myself from buying all the neat ones I see. I don't meal plan in a notebook, though. I build a basic idea in my head and run with it. It works for me, although I know many people could never stand to do it that way. I probably am less organized than I could be, I admit.
But hey, I'm using my Mighty Fix regular and snack size Lunchskin again today. I just ran them through the dishwasher after work yesterday and let them dry overnight. I love that they are dishwasher safe.
Wow, I had never heard of synesthesia before. I can't say that I visualize my day like that, but definitely the year. And decades of history also that way. I visualize my year as two columns side by side, though the left column has Jan-Aug, and the right column has Sept-Dec. It's strange because the columns are the same height, but one is divided into 8 sections, and the other into 4 larger sections, though clearly the fall months aren't any longer than the spring/summer (maybe I just like them more?).
I also tend to associate my sense of touch with colors. I have "red pain" and "blue pain" or when my husband rubs my feet it is sometimes purple. I wonder if that is similar... Very interesting!!
Yup, color synesthesia is a thing. My visuals are all black and white, but Joshua's are colored. And he hears sounds as colors...music in one key might be blue, while music in another key is red.
My months are in a race track shape, and like yours, it's not perfectly evenly divided.
There is a beautiful book called "A Mango Shaped Space" about a girl who sees words as colors. One of my daughter's favorites and a lovely story of accepting who you are.
OMG, I am FASCINATED with your view of the day as bottom to top!! I also visualize my days, but very much top to bottom. I don't think I have spatial synesthesia though.... My weirdo sensory thing is supertasting. Man, brains are amazing!
I also vouch for otter boxes. They are quite spendy up front, but they have an incredible warranty and have saved me HUNDREDS of dollars on phone replacement or repair. I am very clumsy and currently have a phablet (never again), so I drop it a lot. But frankly, I wouldn't go any other way for a phone case.
I think I am definitely in the minority with that because pretty much EVERY planner goes top to bottom.
Brains are amazing, aren't they? My daughter has dyslexia, and I know some people politely doubt it, because she did well in public school, graduated college without help, and holds a challenging job. Her boyfriend didn't actually disbelieve her, but I think didn't understand what dyslexia was like for her, until he was helping her with "some assembly required" stuff at her house. She was trying to read the directions for him and tell him where to place/attach parts in relation to other parts, and just couldn't do it. She couldn't interpret the directions into application to save her life. He finally took the directions from her and read them, which allowed him to follow them easily, because they are easy -- if one is not dyslexic.
This synesthesia thing fascinates me. I took a quiz to see if I have it, and I don't think I have it, but I do see words typed out in my head, which meant I always "read" them for spelling bees at school and still do to this day when trying to remember how to spell a word. I thought everyone did that, until I found out they didn't. Or at least, my classmates and friends told me they didn't.
Wow, that is a frugally small pencil! Love it!
I have never heard of spatial synesthesia before. I don't experience it but I do have ordinal linguistic personification. This means I attribute genders and personalities to things like numbers, letters, and months. I used to think everyone did this until I mentioned it to my husband.
The brain is crazy amazing. My 7 year old has a malformed brain. Things are not in their correct spots, some parts are malformed, she is missing most of the corpus collosum (that connects the two halves), and has a shunt to regulate the fluid pressure. Despite all this she is a functioning little girl (with some delays and health issues). When she was born (before they placed her shunt), there was only a thin ribbon of brain matter crushed along the inside of her skull. It is incredible how the brain can adapt and learn despite immense damage. You would never know just how bad things were.
Hi Kim: I know other readers join me in saying how glad I am that your daughter is doing well! Best of health in her future
I've been wondering how she's doing! I remember reading about her when you had a blog.
I love mighty fix. We got the ecloth last month and it has been great for my 4 year old daughter to clean windows! (She is always kissing them, so now it is her job to clean them.)
Constant Comment is one of my favorite teas, although I have been drinking a lot of Good Earth Sweet & Spicy (herbal) tea lately. It is naturally sweet.
I also have spatial synesthia!!!
Not for my day, but definately for weeks, months/ seasons!!
Here I thought I was a freak because I've never known anyone else does this. Thank you!!!!
Thanks for posting this deal! I ordered them as my daughter start kindergarten this month and we plan to pack lunch!
My days go bottom to top too! Have never found a planner that made sense with my mental calendar. Good to know!☺ï¸
They aren’t making this planner anymore !!!! Wah!! I’ve bought it the past couple of years. Substitutions???
Help!!
I know! I am so upset. I bought a vertically-oriented planner from Blue Sky and UGH I do not like it as much.
If you find something, let me know!
Bummer! I was hoping you’d found a substitute! I wonder if your blog influence could get them to bring it back, at least for special ordering! I’ll email their customer service and ask.