Free Daily Planner: Your Secret to Staying Organized

Are you ready to plan some new things in your life for the upcoming year? Are you ready for a new way to stay organized? Would you like to print a daily printable planner that has everything you need? This article will help you make your own custom planner very quickly and easily.

It’s no secret I love to be organized, but in a sea of fancy (and expensive) planners it took awhile for me to finally find a system that worked for my lifestyle; and let me tell you, it’s SO much simpler than I expected. For about a year, I’ve been using a printable daily planner that has become so ingrained into my life I’m not sure I could function without it. Well… perhaps I’d function, but not well, and certainly I wouldn’t know where I was supposed to be or what I should be doing. Using a free printable planner for each day of the workweek took almost all the stress away and gave me the organization I craved; plus I found that scheduling my days with intention actually created blocks of ‘extra’ time in my time! This free planner has spaces for the date, daily schedule, 5 main goals, meal planning, to-do list, notes, and a water tracker (gotta stay healthy, you little planning machine, you!)

Each Sunday night, I print 5 copies of the free printable daily planner and staple them together. If you have really busy weekends, go ahead and print 7 copies if needed for the entire week. 

Then, fill out the timeslots you have appointments or commitments. I automatically write down school drop-off/ pickup times and then fill in appointments, meetings and sports schedules. Look for large blocks of time, and that’s when you can pencil in large tasks. As a blogger, I block schedule those chunks for tasks such as projects, making recipes, editing photos, taking photos, writing posts, working with brands, etc. I also pencil in my cleaning tasks so I don’t skip those accidentally on purpose.

TIP: Don’t forget to factor in time for traveling to each place. I’m way more on time now when I pre-plan when I need to leave the house to get various places.

It’s easy to get mired down in a long to-do list, but as I’ve learned in this life-changing book, you have to narrow down your goals and ‘eat’ the ugliest one first. Each day, I write down the 5 main goals I must accomplish that day. No more, no less. Sometimes ‘shower’ is a goal. Sometimes ‘drink wine’ is a goal. Usually I have 5 solid business related goals, but on days you don’t, it’s okay to put ‘take nap’ as a goal. Find the 5 things that will bring you the most joy once they are done– even if that ‘joy’ is simply the feeling of having the weight of a non-preferred task done.

Next comes the meal planning. This is SO KEY. No longer do I wait until 6PM rolls around and then call in a Hail Mary pizza order. I’ve reduced the amount of food we waste and tracking what I plan to cook means I’m making simple meals on busy days and saving the more time intensive ones for nights we are home. And if meal prep is part of your weekly struggle, our Meal Planning Made Easy Printable Binder ​is a lifesaver when it comes to answering the age-old question, “What’s for dinner?”

Now for the to-do’s. These are the little things that pop up each day. Your main focus is your goals, but in each day there may be emails to send or calls to make, non-essential errands to run. If those aren’t part of your goals for that day, add them to the ‘to-do’ list. If they can be done later in the week, add them to a goal later in the week or the to-do list down the road. Basically, these are things that can be done with all the free time you’ve created by tracking your schedule and slaying those goals!

DOWNLOAD THE FREE PRINTABLE DAILY PLANNER HERE (OR CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW)

I’m sure many of you are in the same shoes– juggling work, kids, sports, friends, travel (yours or a spouses), daily chores– it’s enough to keep me up at night wondering who I’d let down, and how, and when. THIS WILL SOLVE THAT.

Slay your day, baby, slay!

If you or someone you know can use a free printable daily planner, please share the love!