In my Planner – Courtney

We're connecting with team members, friends, family, and loved ones to chat about how they use their planners in their day-to-day lives, and specifically, why they love their particular planner. 

Looking at someone's planner is an intimate view of how they live their life. Beyond the obvious scheduling of appointments and other commitments, the way one uses a planner says a lot about them.

Up first in our planner series is Courtney, who works in our shop. 

While we’re still dipping our toes into the fall season and wrapping up the end of the calendar year, I find myself running a tight ship between my work at the Market, school work, mom life, and trying to squeeze a semblance of a social life out of the few staggered minutes leftover. 

I find the end of the calendar year always tends to pick up for us [the kiddo and I] around this time; school – for both my daughter and myself, after school programs, working on my own creative projects, and homework. In short, keeping my head on straight is no simple task – some days there’s either a shortage of usable hours, other times I find the problem is that there’s only one of me. Keeping it orderly can be quite the task some weeks and for this I rely on the sanity kept in my daily planner. 

I’m currently using the B6 Slim Midori 2021 Diary planner.

Writing this out, it seems almost impersonal at this point to have my planner keep me on the straight and narrow without having given it it’s own name. Not only does it set out my day-to-day intentions; it makes it more enjoyable to fit the tetris pieces together. 

Using the monthly overview, I really like the muted open concept where I can scribble in my appointments, plans with friends, and assignment due dates. More importantly, to me at least, is the fact that I can plan deeply with the diary. Using the undated, lined pages are my favourite feature, or at least one of the many! Why? Because they are stated in divided sections so I can use the space however I’d like to, whenever I’d like to.

There’s pages of very important games of Xs & Os with my little one while we waited for our order from Shorty’s Pizza, as well as diary entries of cherished moments of days passed, to-do lists with varying levels of completion, assignment due dates, and even picture day scribbled in, for the little one. 

More recently, I’ve had the joy of adding in an appointment as a vendor for First Fridays as a pop-up vendor for a friend's studio; this gives me a much warmer feeling than the drab assignment schedule I tend to focus on primarily.

I really do love this planner, if I were to list my top three favourite features I’d have to say, in no particular order: The minimalist style of the planner - I found personalizing the monthly pages to be fun and cathartic, having the lined sections left undated was particularly useful so they’re available for more than a single dated day. Lastly, while it remains a simple indulgence I deeply enjoy the size of this journal – it fits nicely into the smaller pocket of my backpack or purse, as well as the plain cover. I can decorate as I’d like and use the provided sticker labels to date it when it’s ready for storage (Hello 2022).

Of all the things fall brings, chaotic schedules is one of them. Having a tool that keeps things in check is nothing short of a god-send.