Personal Daily Planning Pages: October (free Printable!)

We've talked about my planning binder before...

A Look Into My Planner

Planning Binder: Daily, Weekly, Monthly Pages 

and most recently,

Changing with the Seasons: My Summertime Planning Binder

and here's the thing. I learned that sometimes you've got to redesign and rethink the pages you're using. Figure out what works and what doesn't. And that's really the benefit of custom pages, right? You can change them. Unlike in the rest of my life, when it comes to my planner, I thrive on change. I need to mix things up every once in a while. Sometimes I need more structure, sometimes I need less.

I liked using "blank date" pages because 1) I could just print out a whole bunch and fill in the dates later, and 2) if I skipped a day (or week, or month), it didn't matter much.

And for a season, that worked for me.

But this season, I realized that if I was actually planning on using the pages every day (and I was), it made more sense and saved some time if I just dated them. And, well, I wanted something completely different. I get bored! And if I'm bored with my pages, I don't use them.*

Here's what I'm using now, and here are some examples of how I'm using them:

Blank pages. I tried using a one-page spread for my daily planning pages, but it just wasn't quite enough room. Close, but not quite. So I went with a two-page spread, and while I know that I won't fill in every little line, it gives me lots of room to be flexible.

And here's "today." (Okay, so it was "today" at the time I took the picture.)

I usually end up listing my "to do's" at the top of the left-hand page:

Here, I used two columns- one for my household tasks (which I usually do in the afternoon, so I hadn't gotten a chance to get them done, yet), and my "online" tasks.

I've also divided up tasks by morning, afternoon, evening; or I've put the high priority in one column and the lower priority in a different column... it's nice to decide how to organize my tasks based on what's going on that day.

And here's a different day. I don't usually use the whole page for my tasks list, so I can use the rest of the page for notes or reminders, or for prayer requests I'd like to remember. There's no set"spot" for anything, so I can shift everything around based on what my day looks like.

The right-hand side of my day usually looks a little like this. I debated if I should include a full schedule section, but I don't need a daily schedule often enough to really justify using the space. If I do have appointments to remember, I'll write the time and details on this page.

I also like that these pages give me flexibility to include some journaling if I'd like, and again, I don't use the whole page most of the time.

One of my new favorite uses for my daily pages is my blessings list. My small group started reading "One Thousand Gifts," and I was really challenged to make daily gratitude a habit. And where better than right in front of my face! On this particular day, I didn't need to have my meal plans because we were eating at Camp (I know, we're blessed), so I just started my list at the top of the page.


So there you have it! My current daily pages.

And, because I'm creating them for myself anyway, I figured that I would share the fun:

Pre-dated October 2014 Printables. For you! 

If you'd like to download my pages for October, go ahead and click here.

A note about printing: These pages are 8.5 x 5.5 sized, so they should fit in Martha Stewart small format binders, A5 size binders, and Classic size binders. You may need to trim a little.

You will want to print these double sided, flipping on the short end of the paper (or top-to-bottom printing). They'll look a little crazy at first (i.e. the pages don't seem like they're in order) but it should work just fine. After printing, cut the pages in half, and three-hole punch the edge you cut.


And if you don't want my pages, that's just fine! Remember, it's all about what works for you. If this format doesn't work for you, go find one that does!

Happy Planning!


*I've found that there are two kinds of "bored" when it comes to planning pages: sometimes the boredom is easily solved by changing a font or mixing up a color, and sometimes "bored" actually means "doesn't work for me anymore."

If you're feeling bored with your pages, I'd recommend that before changing everything (or printing every single pretty printable you find online... been there), you figure out what the problem is. Too much structure? Not enough structure? Sections that don't fit your lifestyle right now? Not enough space? Too much space?

I know it's tempting to just overhaul the whole thing, but if you put a little extra thought into it, you'll be more successful at finding a planner that you actually use- one that works for you.