My life has many moving parts as I play many different roles, from marketing professional to blogger to wife and friend. With all of these moving parts, I have to stay organized. Now I will warn you it’s a little like organized chaos but it works for me. Since Erin Condren kicked off their Black Friday sale today I thought I’d share some of my favorite tools to keep organized day-today.
How I Stay Organized Day-To-Day
Erin Condren LifePlanner
My Erin Condren LifePlanner truly is my lifeline. All of my important events and daily activities go in my LifePlanner. You can read more in-depth about how I use my Erin Condren LifePlanner here as well as see a recap of my planner spreads for November here.
For me, having something fun and colorful makes me more organized, so I love to decorate my planner with washi tape, stickers, colorful pens, photos, etc.
Although all of my meetings go on my digital work calendar, I do use my LifePlanner for important tasks, deadlines, or very important meetings. This just gives me a visual reminder as I keep my planner open on my desk during the day.
For Thrifty Pineapple, I write down all of my deadlines for campaigns, photoshoots, invoices, scheduled blog posts, or Instagram posts, really anything related to Thrifty Pineapple.
Lastly, for my personal life any birthdays, trips, Junior League obligations, date nights, holidays, etc. also goes in the planner. It really does keep me organized and after 5+ years of using an Erin Condren LifePlanner, I’ve found a system that works for me.
I prefer the Erin Condren vertical planner because as I mentioned my life has so many moving parts, but I know the vertical planner doesn’t work for everyone. I would say if you have no idea where to start the horizontal spread is a good starting point because it’s the most popular.
Notebooks
I think I have tried every Erin Condren notebook they have and my personal favorite is the Coiled Notebooks in size 7×9 with a grid interior. When I am taking notes my brain is all over the place so I personally like the freedom of the grid notebook. This size and format is the perfect thing to take meeting notes, my daily to-do list, and just general thoughts and ideas.
I do also really like the softbound notebooks, these make great gifts, but I personally prefer the coil. I do find these to be a tad more professional so typically if I am interviewing for a job or have something off-site I will grab one of these notebooks from my stash but they aren’t my day-to-day go-to.
Notepads
Now there’s a clear difference between notepads and notebooks. Notebooks are great for meeting notes, long notes, or brain dumps but I like to keep an open face notepad at arm’s length every day. This is great for random thoughts, one-off items, scratch paper, etc. My favorite notepads are actually from Patterned Goods. They offer personalized notepads and tons of different patterns. These also fit nicely in between the pages of the coiled notebooks and the LifePlanner so I often find myself tearing off the pages and sticking them in places for future notes or past ideas.
Use code ANGELA10 for 10% off at Patterned Goods.
Pens
A good writing utensil makes all the difference. I do really like the Erin Condren dual-tip markers and have used those for ages! I also like the new fine tip markers for more precision. These are great for adding color to your planner and they don’t bleed through the paper which is a really nice perk. I really only use these markers exclusively in my LifePlanner.
My everyday pen is actually the Pilot Acroball pen. I’ve easily been using this style of the pen for years now. It’s smooth easy to write and lightweight as well as affordable. I’m a total pen snob (I take after my dad who used to buy me pens as gifts growing up), so I could probably write a whole blog on my favorite type of pens but the Acroball is my favorite affordable everyday option.
Other Organizational Tools
PetitePlanner Folio System
When I worked in the ad agency world I used to have to bill my hours to my clients and literally keep tracking of what time I worked on every single project and for how long and the PetitePlanner system was absolutely perfect for that. I used that system exclusively for tracking my time and it made turning in my timesheets at the end of the week super easy.
You can read my complete PetitePlanner review here.
Planoly
I use Planoly to keep my Instagram grid and posts planned out in the future. I’ve been using this tool for years now and it’s a total timesaver. I can’t recommend it enough.
Notes App
My notes app on my phone is also a huge tool I use daily. Any random thoughts, ideas, notes, go here while I am on the go and then eventually get written down in my LifePlanner. I especially use this for travel planning, caption ideas, reel ideas, etc. Jared and I also have some shared notes where we easily collaborate, like our running list of restaurants to try in Houston.
Digital Calendar
Lastly, I do use my digital work calendar, as well as a shared calendar with Jared which is a must-have. It does keep me straight and I add any events, plans, or Junior League items there to let Jared know a plan of anything upcoming.
Like I said it’s a little organized chaos but it works for me! I forgot my LifePlanner at home yesterday and I felt like my whole day was thrown off!
Erin Condren does currently have their Black Friday sale live for 30% off EVERYTHING, so now is a great time to stock up for the new year or grab any gifts!
Shop Erin Condren here
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