2020 Planner Setup & A Giveaway!!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED: Jessica Gipson you are the winner!!! I will be sending you an email. Thank you to everyone who entered!

Happy New Year everyone! One of my favorite days of the year is the day that I set up my new 2020 planner for the new year. I love how all of the blank pages of a new planner represent a fresh new start, a new year and new possibilities of things to come.

Althought it seems like a daunting task to set up a new 2020 planner, its so great to have everything nicely organized. Over the past year I have been in my Erin Condren Life Planner and have loved it. It also helped that I got my new planner on sale in November for a great price (I paid $35 for it, which was amazing!). If you go to Erin Condren’s website you will see that all dated planners are 20% off at the moment.

The one thing I did change about my 2020 planner is that I purchased the neutral version. I like that the neutral has a subtle pop of color. It does not commit you to a color scheme for the week if you don’t have a kit. I am still using the vertical layout. I like the way I have set up and use the boxes whether I have a weekly kit or not.

Over the last few days I have been working on setting it up and am loving how it is coming out. I wanted to share some tips that may come in handy when setting up your planner for the new year.

Look Through the Whole 2020 Planner First

Look through your whole planner carefully. Each planner is different. And even the planner I just bought, although it is still Erin Condren, there are some new features. I watched countless YouTube videos of other planners setting up their new Erin Condren to get a look at how the layout has changed.

Make a rough plan on how you want to use each section. My new planner has extra note sections and an area for goals/birthdays which my previous planner did not. Consider how you might want to use these sections. I am using one note page for my budget that way I have everything in one book.

Birthday/Anniversaries

The second thing I do is add in birthdays and anniversaries. I use the year at a glance area to do this with different colored translucent circles from Erin Condren. That way as I plan each month, I can quickly reference this section to see what birthdays and anniversaries I have that month.

Special Events

Next, I add in other special days and events that I know are coming up. Things like the last day of school, school breaks, and any parties or vacations that are planned will go on post-it notes throughout my planner. I also mark them in my year at a glance section at the beginning of the book.

Weekly Events

Maybe you go to a weekly class, or your kids have basketball practice on Thursdays. I add in these types of weekly events for as far ahead as I know they will go. For example, basketball season ends in February, so I have marked all of my daughters games we have in January.

Appointments

I transfer all of my daughter’s well-visit and dentist appointments from my phone into my planner. Typically I do this with a post-it in the monthly section since they are planned so far out.

Short & Long Term Goals

Since the New Year is all about new goals and plans, now is the perfect time to write them in your planner. Writing down your goals makes them more concrete and you are more likely to achieve them.

Once you have these things in your planner, you are ready to move into your weekly planning as usual. If you are new to Erin Condren and want to receive $10 off – click here.

My Work Planner

For work, I wanted to try a 3 ring binder planning system but did not want to commit to a huge price tag. I found some cute and affordable planner goodies at Dollar General. I got a ton of planner goodies for around $20! It’s a no fuss, simple planner and I think it’ll be great to keep track of my schedule and to-dos while at work.

Giveaway Time!

To share the love and show my appreciation for my readers, I wanted to give away a planner and organizing bundle. One lucky ready will win a meal planning pad, budget planner, stickers, an undated planner and other accessories to get the new year started off right!

These items I purchased from Dollar General – as well as a sticker book from Michael’s – and they are so cute! To enter, comment below what planning system you plan to use for 2020! I will announce the winner on Sunday January 5th right here and on my Instagram stories!

Good Luck & Happy Planning!

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