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How to Mesh Planning Real Life and Business Life

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The Plum Paper ME planner is the perfect solution for meshing business and personal life in one amazing planner. Let me show you just how I customize and use my planner.

The following photo is my planner for last year, I’ve made a few changes in section titles for this year.Plum Paper Week at a Glance

First let me show you the categories I chose to fit my life and blog, then I’ll explain how I use each section.Plum Paper Blog Categories

IRL

This is my “in real life” section. I use it to keep up with family activities, appointments, sports, etc.

To Do

This section is a mesh of my IRL and business. I use it as needed whether for personal or business items. Its 4 lines are perfect for 4 must do tasks of the day.

Post

I use this section as my editorial planner. I cut the small (1-3/8 inch x 1-7/8 inch) post-it notes in half for a perfect fit. Post PlanningAs I plan my editorial calendar, I place the title of each blog post on a small sticky note, then place the sticky note on the day the post should go live. When I finalize my post and hit either ‘schedule’ or ‘publish’, I remove the sticky note and write the post title in pen on my planner. When I glance at my week, I can easily see what posts are completely finished and which need work. And, if I need to change my schedule, the planning sticky notes are easy to move to another day.Plum Paper Post Planner

Sponsor

In this section keep track of what sponsored posts are due, the network or contact information for each post, and a list of required social shares for each sponsored post. When the post is completely finished and turned in I put a check mark beside it, when payment is received for the post I go back and highlight it.

Collaborate

This is a new section for me this year since I’m working and collaborating with many different bloggers and brands lately. I plan to use this section to keep track of all things related to those collaborations. I also plan to keep track of blogger education in this section, since I’m taking online courses, and working through classes with accountability groups.

Review/Share

Last year product reviews had their own section in my planner, where I kept track of review due dates and giveaway information. I’m scaling back reviews, so I added share to this section in my new planner. When I do have a review, I will keep track of it in this section. This year I will also include social media chore threads and affiliate link sharing in this section. I found it so easy to forget what chore threads I joined each day, now I write down the initials of each group and which social media thread I joined. When I complete the thread, I simply highlight it so I know I can move on.Chore Thread lists on my planner

Social

This section organizes my social media networks. I am moving toward batch scheduling my social media shares, so this section will help me keep track of when I need to do that. Monday for Pinterest, Tuesday for Facebook, Wednesday to search for great content on the web to share with readers across multiple channels, Thursday for Twitter, etc.Plum Paper Planner

Now it’s time to think about what sections would be most beneficial for your life and business. You get to choose 7 section titles for the weekly spreads. Last year I left the bottom section blank, so that I had room for any overflow or daily notes. If your children are really involved in extracurriculars, you might want one section for your personal commitments, one for family/child commitments, and then use the rest for your business. Maybe you run more than one blog or have a social media network that needs its own section.  This is the beauty of the Plum Paper ME planner- it is completely customizable for your needs!

Now that you have the categories in your Plum Paper planner customized perfectly for your blog, its time to think about add-ons.

You can add Blog Planning section with places for your stats, planning and more. There are 16 things you can choose to add to your planner! Each planner does have a maximum number of pages you can add, so you’ll need to choose your add-ons carefully.

If you want to do all your blog planning right in your Plum Paper planner, just add extra note pages. You can choose to add a note section in the back, or to add a few pages to each month- or even a combination of the two! I prefer a combination myself and that is the way I do my blog planning, with simple note pages that I can use as needed. This year I did add the Blog Planning section also to help keep track of my larger goals and statistics.

Plum Paper Planner

I should mention all the standard stuff that comes with your planner too. You’ll have a month at a glance page at the beginning of each month, plus a planning sheet on each month’s divider. My favorite is the great ‘for keeps’ pocket included in the Plum Paper ME planner- it’s perfect for keeping a small stack of post it notes for planning, receipts that need to be filed, papers your kids need filled out, etc. There are many more standard things in the planner that you should definitely check out!

A Plum Paper ME Planner is the perfect choice for meshing all the hats a working Mom wears! I hope you will give them a try for your 2017 planning, and if you can’t wait you can go ahead and order your 2017 calendar with the last few months of 2016 in it too.

Please share what categories you are going to choose in the comments, I’d love to hear what works for you.

giveaway

Plum Paper $50 Gift Code

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59 Comments

  1. I’m the same way. I have tried electronic calendars but it’s just not the same. I need something I can flip open everyday. Old school all the way.

  2. I’m a planner nerd! This looks like a fantastic planner to use! Love that I could customize and have both my blog and personal life all in one planner!

  3. This planner looks amazing. I am overwhelmed with my family’s busy schedule. I think this will help organize the chaos. Love that I can customize it.

  4. I used to use a Passion Planner. It didn’t work for me. I’m still into calendaring, which I know is an antiquated process, but it really helps me focus. I do need to better organize my social, blogging and planning for writing and find it hard to do that in my current planner, but my kids activities take up so much space in the day.

  5. I NEED this planner! I am in the market for a new planner that is more functional for me. I have six kids and their schedules, plus 3 businesses to keep up with. Love how you shared exactly how you use it.

  6. I am on the endless search for a planner for my life! I cannot use my phone for this. I love the features you share. I love the personalization factor. Does it have a month at a glance as well? If so, what do you use that for? I love to see how others make use of this ! I am still struggling. Thanks

  7. Wow, this planner looks amazing!! I have never heard of the company before, but it sounds perfect!! My head is spinning thinking of which categories I would add . I’d probably add bible study, prayer requests and something with recipes. Thank you for the giveaway!!

  8. I have a hard time with this. I need a good planner and only 1! I have the family calendar, business, pilates, etc. I need a one stop planner in my home.

  9. I love being able to see exactly how you use your planner. I get planners, but end up not really using them. Seeing how others use them is inspirational and give me ideas I can use to make better use of my planner collecting dust!

  10. I love my Erin Condren planner, but I loved some of the tips you provided. I like writing in a paper planner so much more than a digital one, ANY DAY.

  11. I can’t believe how organized you are! Some of your system might work well for me. The only thing I can’t use is post-it notes because the cats pull mine off all the ding dong time.

  12. I can’t work without my planner, it has everything that I need written on it. From schedules to events it really helps me keep track of the work that needs to be done! It would be great to have a personalized one. This sounds amazing.

  13. These are all great tips! I have been trying to get more organized, so will look into this planner 🙂

  14. This sounds like such an awesome planner!! I’m almost due for a new one, this one sounds perfect!! I especially enjoy that the different categories, that could help me out a lot. 🙂
    Thanks for sharing!

  15. Thank you for sharing how you merge the different parts of your life in one planner. I have struggled to find the way to do it. I have my IRL, our blog, work, and an etsy store (and outside sales!). I started dividing my planner too and it helps.

  16. I wanna be so down with the planner life I really do. I am just bad at organizing my stuff on paper…I’ve always struggled with it but I am ready to buckle down and get to organizing.

  17. I really need to get more organized with a planner like this! I have a hard time meshing my wahm and sahm life!

  18. Very cute! This planner looks so similar to one I have from Erin Condren – I absolutely love it! I love your idea of using post-it notes that are easy to remove from the planner, genius!

  19. I am a school teacher and I would be lost without my planner. I am always looking for new ones that will meet my need, and this one looks great!

  20. This is a great idea! I use a planner for my home life and my work life, but not for blogging. Thanks for reminding me to treat blogging more like a business.

  21. I recently started using a planner again (I used to use planners years ago), and it’s been so helpful. I find that the layout really makes a difference. I really like how this Plum Paper one is setup! I would have a schedule/IRL section, chores, blog tasks, and I really like your system for scheduling posts.

  22. I have been trying to combine my personal and blog stuff in one planner, and it just doesn’t seem to work for me! I like how you set yours up. As for me, I have three planners – one personal, one blog, and one homeschool. Lots of paper but it seems to be working right now!

  23. I have been looking for a great planner to use for both things and this one looks great. I am going to have to look into getting one.

  24. A planner keeps my life in check. I don’t think that I could ever function without one. I love the way this one is laid out.

  25. I’ve been looking for a new planner after using intheleafttreetops mom planner last year. I’ve found I need a horizontal planner with more room for notes and came across your post. I’m excited about all the add ons available too.

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