This page may contain affiliate links. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase then I will receive a small commission. You can see my full disclosure here.
2019 is coming so fast… Check out my 2019 Planner Setup in a Classic Happy Planner!
I love love love this time of year! And not just because I have a good excuse to set up a new planner (but that’s definitely part of it). Thanksgiving… Christmas… I just love the atmosphere around it all!
And I love the possibilities of what I can accomplish in the new year.
If I’ve learned anything this year, its that we don’t know what is coming next. But that shouldn’t stop us from planning and setting goals of things that we want to accomplish. If anything, it means that we should take our goals seriously and not put them off thinking that we can do them later. Do them now, so later you can move on to the next goal. Never stop moving forward.
This year I want to be more intentional about working towards my goals and not just waiting for them to happen. Cuz we all know it doesn’t really work that way. 😋
But first lets talk about my 2018 planner setup. It will be a short talk. Because it majorly crashed on January 1st. Like I was sitting there watching the Rose Parade at 8am January 1st, staring at my pile of 6 planners and so overwhelmed and feeling very “Nope.” Story over.
I’ve spend the rest of the year switching between different kinds of planners.
So this year I’m trying something new.
And honestly, I will still probably change things up through the year. New planners come out, my needs change. It just happens. But that is why I love the Happy Planner system. I can change it whenever I need to without buying a new planner. But then again, I do like buying new planners too.
And I keep going back to Happy Planners.
I’ve tried so many other planners, especially this year. Inkwell Press inserts in a beautiful Webster’s A5, Day Designer day per page, and the Living Well Planner by Ruth Soukup. Oh, and I did use a Recollections spiral bound planner for my finance book before switching to an Erin Condren notebook.
Nothing against any of these planners. I love them all and in the right situation they would be perfect for someone. I drooled over the IWP inserts for about a year before actually even buying them. And then used them for about 3 weeks. They are so nice and really do have the thickest paper that I’ve ever seen with a planner! It just didn’t work for me.
And again, I’m back in aHappy Planners.
But why?
2 main reasons: The colors and designs, and the flexibility of the disc system.
Mostly, its the disc system. The prettyness is just an added benefit.
As we have already established, I change my mind with planners a lot. The disc system gives me the option to change parts of my planner without the rest of it being useless.
So now its time to look at how I’ve used this awesome disc system to create a planner that will *hopefully* not overwhelm me before the 2019 planning even begins.😂
My Franken-planned Planner
Ready to dive into the my setup for 2019? Okay, let’s go! And I’ve got lots of pictures and a YouTube video!
I used 4 different planners, and 1 extension pack, plus a section for notes. So 6 tabbed sections total. From each of the 5 planner layouts, I put two months worth of pages onto these discs.
I think it will work so well having multiple sections in one planner book. And it was important to me to clearly mark the tabs at the top so I know exactly where to turn for each section. If I have to spend too much time looking, I know I would end up not using most of them. But I’m hoping that by marking them it will be easy to get to the sections that I need.
Planners used (all classic sized):
- No Drama Llama (2019)
- Dashboard Layout Expansion Pack (Undated)
- Empowered Woman (2019)
- Coastal (2019)
- Faith (July 2018- December 2019)
*Side note: I do have a couple other planners I’m using- My Erin Condren Notebook is my Finance Planner (setup coming soon), and the mini blue Happy Planner with the matte finish cover (I think it’s called Fresh Romance) is going to be my daily quote notebook.
The cover is from a package of extra covers that was sold awhile ago… I think… I’m not even sure if it is still offered.
The clear discs (*all the heart eyes for clear discs!*) were taken from a TUL notebook that I got on clearance at Office Depot. If you go fast, you might still be able to find some. I saw them at two different stores in 4 different colored covers, and they had quite a few of them there. Plus it looks like they are still available online (at the time I’m writing this).
I think you can also buy clear discs from Jane’s Agenda.
The tab dividers at the top are all from Happy Planner. The labels on the tabs I made using Avery frosted labels and my printer. Super easy and basic. (There’s a picture of these near the end of the post)
Before I get into the details of each section and what I’m using them for, I wanted to let you know that I made a video so you can see the flip-through too. I also go into more detail about my mini Daily Thought Planner if that is something you are interested in knowing more about.
No Drama Llama – Monthly Overview & Goals
Last year Happy Planner came out with the Trendsetter planner in the Happy Planner Girl line.
I’d never seen a planner with that layout. And still to this day, I think it is brilliant! Instead of having weekly pages, the month consists of a
- monthly calendar
- a 2 page spread with space for notes, to do lists, and habit tracking
- space for daily to do lists (that I have seen made so much more functional that even just a daily checklist!)
- 2 note pages
- plus the regular dashboard page that comes before the monthly divider
The No Drama Llama planner has the same layout, with a few adjustments to actual page design, and I’m still obsessed.
This section is going to be all about my monthly plans and goals. Anything I need to keep track of that is more than weekly will go somewhere in this section. The monthly calendar will be the main monthly calendar I use for my personal stuff (since all the different planners each have their own monthly calendar).
Dashboard Expansion Pack – Weekly Plans & Goals
This is the same layout as the Super Mom planner that came out a few months ago. I originally bought one of those, but when I found out that they were going to do the expansion pack (which I was really hoping for!), I returned the Super Mom planner (since I’m not a mom) and purchased two packages of the expansion to cover a whole year. It was much cheaper that way, although I did have to give up the awesome black metal discs I have been wanting for over a year. 😢
I haven’t completely decided if or how to use the monthly calendar for these pages. I’m considering using it to track my hours worked for my timesheets, and/or to have a view of all my bills in this planner (I have my dedicated finance planner, but it might be nice to be able to just see them in here too).
The weekly pages will be my main planning pages for the week. This layout should work really well with my need to make lists. I love the sections on the left of the page, and that even though they are labeled I can still change them to fit what I need that week.
Empowered Woman – Business Planner
This is another new layout that I really wanted to try! I’m so impressed with all the new weekly designs they have been offering during this most recent release! So the Empowered Woman planner came in a vertical lined layout. It is really similar to the hourly, without the hours.
I decided that it would make a good setup for my business planner. It is perfect for just making a list of things that need to be done each day or taking any notes of things I think of while I’m working. The box at the top is perfect for making notes of anything that is specific to that day that I need to remember when planning out what I will work on each day.
I will also use the monthly calendar for important dates and scheduling out posts.
Coastal – Social Media Planner
This one is definitely the wild card. I’ve always made the argument that I wouldn’t even know what to do with a social media planner. But the past few weeks I’ve been thinking about how I should be more intentional and consistent about what I post and how often. So the social media planner was born.
My main focuses are Instagram and Pinterest. Instagram automatically posts to Facebook for me, so I will just keep doing that for now. I also want to be more active with posting in my stories. I have very little experience with them so far so it will be interesting to see where it goes. With Pinterest, I mainly want to focus on how much I’m pinning each day and how many are my content vs other’s content.
Walk By Faith – Faith Planner
This isn’t a new one. I’ve been using this planner for a few months now. I’m hoping that by having it with my regular planner I will be more consistent about using it. I also added in a few of the mini SOAP’s note pages in case I want to use those while studying.
Notes Section
Should be fairly self explanatory, but I just have blank note papers of various sizes and styles behind this tab. I find that I regularly need to write random things down, and this will help me from going to my stash every time I need a piece of paper. Plus some of the half sheets will probably be used regularly, like the meal planning and expenses.
Maybe more to come?
Although I have a bachelor’s degree, I’ve been considering the idea of going back to school to get a certificate in accounting, finances, and Quickbooks… So if I do end up doing that this year, I will probably add another section to my planner specifically for that. But the earliest that would probably happen is May or August… so not really something to worry about yet.
Okay, so this has been a fairly long post, but I hope that you were able to get some ideas for your planner!
I should also point out that not all of the sections are ones I need to look at each day. Actually the only ones I plan on going to every day are my main weekly pages and faith planner. Business and social media pages are just for when I am working, and the monthly section will probably be weekly as I am making my plans and filling out my weekly page.
Have you set up your planner for 2019 yet? Let me know in the comments what kinds of things you need to always have in your planner, and if you have any pictures of it on a blog, YouTube, or social media let me know and I’ll check it out! I love to share my planners because I have so much fun watching how other people set up theirs! And don’t forget to check out the video that goes with this post on YouTube!
