A new year means a new planner

Every year I go through this search for the perfect calendar for the upcoming year. I have written about on my blog a few times. And some years I find the perfect premade product on the market and some years I have to pull out the scrapbooking supplies and get to work on creating my own. And honestly when it's all done, for that year that calendar is absolutely perfect for me. So I have been searching online for the perfect calendar, and there is one that I like because of all the trendy colors but honestly I know that it would not serve its purpose for me. One of the biggest things a calendar has to do for me is allow me enough space  to write things down that I want to write, sometimes that means a thought about something that I want to do or scrapbook, or sometimes that means the spending I want to do for a house project.  I need the space to write. And the planner that I love because I saw thousands of videos on, doesn't allow me to write horizontally and that would drive me nuts. And I can't stand writing vertically. It doesn't make sense to me. So it wouldn't work for me. It also has the days separated by morning, afternoon and evening and that wouldn't work for me either because like I said I like to write and most times it has nothing to do with the time of day or a scheduled event. I write appts./ meetings on the monthly calendar section of my planners and so times are not important to me when I am writing weekly info. And the cost of the planner honestly didn't bother me too much because I have bought Franklin Covey planners in the past and to be honest it makes perfect sense to spend the money on something that I  like; especially if it serves an important purpose for my everyday. But it has to function for me. And the one online doesn't, Franklin Covey planners used to be ok, but to me they are now to boring. Sorry but they are. And I don't want to have to decorate it all up if I paid a lot of money on it but I honestly know that I would end up doing just that. But the most important part to me is having enough writing room and I don't want too many stickers and all that on my planner pages because to me it's all about the writing.

So I was thinking about this since mid-September when my current planner broke. And this is the reason why I'm not buying that planner type this coming year.  The planner was awesome. It had a perfect hard pocket on the front that I used to make a scrapbooking page of some of our favorite photos from years past. It was perfect. It laid flat so I could write in it while laying in the bed at night, it gave me more than enough space for writing but it wasn't durable. It first broke in May and then in September the front cover was completely off and I was using a huge pink binder clip to keep it together... Here is a photo of it next to my new planner for 2014.

But once again it was perfect it broke.

But I also couldn't get it to fit into my purse anymore either without damaging it more so I decided that I needed a smaller planner. Smaller meant that I would loose out on writing space and the calendar squares would be smaller; but I was ok with looking.

Well it is December and the perfect time to set-up my new planner is now while I'm on vacation. So I felt like I had to rush and make a decision cause the holidays and new year is fast approaching.

So today I want to Staples and picked up an Arc notebook and refills for it. I also got some Martha Stewart products that have the same disc system and I decided that I really wanted to dress up the planner. It is the smaller version. I decided on that one although I love the bigger one because once again I can't get that bigger one in and out of my purse so easily.

The upfront cost seems like a lot to me because you really aren't getting a planner that's premade but after a few shopping trips for other home things, I decided to check out the 99cents only store. And they had planners from 2013-2014 for you guessed it $1.00. I wasn't purchasing them to use for the actual planner, but the acrylic to make the plastic cover that I wanted on my new planner, and a long plastic tab thingy. I also went to Hobby Lobby to find some more accessories and I saw the BH 12x12 dated plastic tab things for Project Life. But that cost was way too much.

This new planner combines the best of two things for me, a planner and it allows me to be creativity too. I love cutting down the acrylic to make the things that I need to be organized. I purchased the punch because honestly if I don't like the planner in 30 days I can return the punch per Staples no questions asked. Here is the inside of the planner, the pouch and was purchased but the quote was actually on a two pocket folder sold at the 99cents only store that I cut down in order to use the scripture.

The original images weren't showing up...reloaded images. Planner on the left was 2013 planner and one on the right was the ARC planner for 2014. This is the cover before I decorated it.

Front cover after I decorated it.

So do you use planners? Do you make your own? Do you purchase pre-made ones and dress them up? Share what you do...I'm curious.