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Home / Craft News / Craft Room Confessional- I am a planner failure

Craft Room Confessional- I am a planner failure

June 11, 2015

So when I bought my Kikki K planner in March, I had high hopes and visions of a planned, organized, lovely lifestyle.

Craft Room Confessional- I am a planner failure! Why can't i get the hang of using a planner??

Cute notes! Washi tape! Adorable reminders!

Guess what?

Not so much.

I’m not sure why, but I’m just not getting the hang of it.

I keep a lot of what I have to do in my head…. or scribble on manilla tags….and then I forget to put it into the planner.

I’d love some ideas and links to inspiration folks! What techniques work for you?

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Chief Craft Test Dummy, Craft Evangelist, Founder, Editor, bottle-washer, trouble-maker, and creative whirlwind.
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Comments

  1. jengd says

    June 11, 2015 at 11:48

    I love the look. I love the cute, colorful accessories. I know from past experience that it just wouldn’t get used so I didn’t buy any of if and I have to say I’m shocked that it’s such a trend. When I was working, I tried to use a paper planner. Soon thereafter, I started using an electronic planner and found that I kept forgetting to update the paper one. It didn’t make sense to keep the information in two places because then I ended up with a bit in each. I always have my phone, I always have my calendar. It’s not sexy but it works.

  2. Traci Brennan says

    June 11, 2015 at 12:25

    I hear you…and feel your pain…or whatever you want to call it. I tried the planner thing, too. Cute planner, cute accessories…sat and gathered dust! Either I forgot to drag it out and write in it, or what I had to write down wasn’t worth recording! Frankly, I have better things to do than be a slave to a book. My suggestion for you is to do what I did…carefully box up the planner and the cute accessories. Carefully carry them out the front door and place in the trash. Dust off hands. Go back to whatever worked for you to begin with and feel the freedom!

  3. Regina says

    June 11, 2015 at 14:30

    Me, too! I have a monthly calendar from the dollar tree and a spiral bound notebook in the basket beside my chair. I plan meals by the week on my calendar and make the shopping list in the notebook. Also recipes, etc, torn out and put into the pocket of the calendar. It’s so fun to go through the notebook when time to get a new one! Sometimes post it notes for appointments for my son, who is 22 and Asperger. Works for me the very best. And it’s fun in November to go to the dollar tree and decide on the next calendar. Weekly? Monthly? Plus, they have conversion charts, a ruler, and plastic cover. I love how Traci put it. I refuse to be a slave to a book. Good one, Traci!

  4. Diane says

    June 11, 2015 at 16:07

    it’s not you, Jenni. I think some people are just not planner people. I have tried several. It always go back to what works for me: Google online calendar and a little notebook for my notes, to-do’s, thoughts and plans. I keep all appointments and schedules on the Google calendar. I can check it from cell phone, iPad or computer. All the rest of my life is pen and paper. You just need to use what works for you.

  5. Georgia Browne says

    June 12, 2015 at 10:04

    OMG Jenny – join the Club. You appear to be organized (and you most likely are) but you just can’t do EVERYTHING. I feel the same way sometimes – not too often – but the same way. No one can be absolutely perfect. I have lofty goals for myself too and probably do much much more than most people that I know but it never seems enough. I believe that you do well and you should be proud of yourself. You ‘watchers’ certainly are. My best solution for being in a quandary when I just have too much to do is, as previous posters have said, – write it down with pencil and paper. Doesn’t it feel good to scratch out what you have FINISHED ??
    This sounds like a session with a psychiatrist. You can send me the $275 for the appointment. gb

  6. Phyllis Strickland says

    June 12, 2015 at 11:42

    This post made my day!! I am a planner failure, too. I have tried many planners, back in the day it was Franklin, Covey, you name it. Nothing worked. I was ready to buy one of these planner kits hoping the crafty angle would do the trick. I am so happy to read your post, you saved me from doing that! I just have to accept that my brain doesn’t work that way. I do what the rest do – iCloud calendar accessible on my 6 electronic devices from Apple Watch to Windows PC in my office. Then I use paper lists and a cool $4 silver notebook from the clearance bin at Staples to keep track of to dos and projects.

  7. Katherine says

    June 12, 2015 at 11:49

    You are totally not alone! I tried paper planners over the years and when someone introduced to me to Cozi, an electronic planner, I said goodbye to paper planner forever. They are so cute, but I just don’t have time and I am a visual person but I get that electronically now. I knew when all these new planners came out I didn’t purchase because they just don’t work for me, thanks for,your honesty!

  8. Molly Maloney says

    June 12, 2015 at 12:21

    I have no help to offer on how to start using your planner, because I’m a failure at planners, too! Like a magpie, I’m attracted to the bits and bobs that come with planners, as much as with the concept of PLANNING. But whenever I’ve resolved to use one and gotten the whole kit and caboodle of inserts and tags and pockets, the darned thing has ended up gathering dust on my desk. Part of the issue is that I hate lugging around more stuff in my bag than absolutely necessary, so I’m already predisposed to NOT having it with me. As for the rest? I assume I just haven’t gotten in the habit. Either way, I know myself well enough now to know that as cute and attractive as planners are, I won’t use them. So I shut my eyes tightly and walk on by.

    Thing is, I have swiss cheese brain, and I do tend to forget things. Soooo, I use my phone calendar because it is always with me AND I look at it regularly for other things AND it sends reminders (which, for me, is about 80% of a planner’s purpose). I have a blank, weekly calendar from Post-it on my fridge for things the my whole family needs to know about – birthdays, school events/holidays, outings, up it goes with the handy dandy giant magnet sheet on the back. Events, etc. get noted in bright colored markers. Since I’m regularly in the kitchen, this is a perfect in-your-face way of noting family stuff.

    I think the questions you need to answer for yourself are – is your current planning system broken? If not, don’t change it! If it is, figure out what you NEED from a new planning system.
    What do you hope to get out of a planner? For instance, some folks use them more as diaries of daily life, some folks want everything in one place so they’re not as scattered, and still other folks really just want proactive reminders about early release days and dentist appointments.

    A good, useful, long-term planning system needs to fit your brain and your needs, not the other way around!

  9. Della Rogers says

    June 12, 2015 at 14:04

    I am not an organized person and have people in my life who keep trying to make me so. It causes pressure ans lots of resentment from me. I would take this lovely planner and turn it into an old fashioned scrapbook. Cut pictures out of magazines. cut pictures of movies stars and pretty houses and swimming pools and new cars. Anything you like the looks of. Take some ink or paint and slap it on a few pages. Stamp and color on some pages. Cut out some shapes with a die cut machine. Use vibrant colored papers. Anything that comes to mind.
    Don’t want to do this… the garbage can beckons. I sure like what Traci said! Whatever you decide, let it be your decision. have fun. That is the point of the whole thing. Hugs.

  10. Cynthia Collins says

    June 15, 2015 at 23:05

    I feel your angst about this.. I have failed writing down my homework assignments, pDAs, iPhone, iPad, speaking to the computer, automatic planning updates, Franklin planner, every other premade planner system created by or for people Who love paper, binders, pens, stickers, organizers, and basic coordinated office supplies. I really don’t have any helpful suggestions, but perhaps a bit of encouragement I am in my seventh decade and still find myself writing things down on odd bits of paper.

    I can follow a plan about almost anything for a brief amount of time, but the upkeep and I are not friends. The thing that seems most consistent for me is to have 1 million different notebooks I can almost anything for a brief amount of time, but the upkeep and I are not friends. The thing that seems most consistent for me is to have 1 million different notebooks with writing sticks nearby and then I write stuff down. In the past couple of years I have even started to put the date including the year on the page. I figure that eventually somebody will either have a wonderful bonfire or exercise their OCD and put it in s in the past couple of years I have even started to put the date including the year on the page. I figure that eventually somebody will either have a wonderful bonfire or exercise their OCD and put them in some type and put them in sometype of order.

    Thanks for sharing.

  11. Rosemary Paul says

    August 25, 2015 at 02:22

    I am so happy that someone else cannot conquer those planner either! I tried, I tried so very hard! I started with a SMASH book, but I thought, “Well, it has a lot of pre-printed pages that really didn’t involve my lifestyle. So try again.”
    I then moved to a Erin Condren Life Planner. It is full of all kinds of goodies to play with, pens to color with, stickers to stick with! But….
    I am a retired engineer. I have designed roads, bridges etc, how can I not understand how to do this stupid planner?!
    I have a $75 planner with maybe 3 things written in it. I have promised myself that I will not buy a 2016 insert for this thing until I figure out 2015.
    I can’t be that stupid as I had a Daytimer when I was working and used it everyday to keep track of meetings and appointments. I must be the only person not to understand this, I am going to hide under the bed until the trend is over.
    Then, I came here and saw, I AM NOT ALONE.
    I am FREE!!!! Shove over dust bunnies, I am getting out from under here!

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Hi! I’m Jenny, the co-host of Hands On Crafts for Kids on PBS and the Head Dummy behind CraftTestDummies.com where you’ll find craft product reviews, tutorials, and craft industry news.

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Jenny Barnett Rohrs is Head Dummy and Pied Piper behind CTD, which focuses on reviews, tutorials, and craft industry news. Jenny has appeared on HSN, Scrapbook Soup PBS series, and is currently the co-host of Hands On Crafts for Kids on PBS.

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