Passion Planner - Week Three

Another week gone. Second week of work and first week of college done. I cannot express how much my Passion Planner is helping me stay on track with what I have to do and keep track of what I have done. 

Here is my planner at the beginning of the week. I had received an email telling me that my attendance was required at a training Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. With a little clarification on my job title, it was determined that I didn't have to be there. I also dropped my Wednesday night class and moved my Tuesday/Thursday class from 4pm to 6pm. That kind of made me a little uncomfortable, since I had highlighted the entire semester through December.

What was I going to do??

To start with, I covered Wednesday night with the cutest sticker I could find. Pandas are my favorite.

Then, I had to fix Thursday. Not sure how this is going to work, but this week, I did some extra studying, so covering it with green helped. I did the same thing for next week, too. In a few of the following weeks, I just used correction tape. It doesn't look pretty, but I'm sure I'll come up with some other way to make it look less like the train wreck I think it is (it really isn't, but if you know me at all, you know I am kind of a perfectionist).

A note on my study time. I plan it only by time. When I'm done studying, I write in what I did. This will help me keep track of my time and keep my accountable. If I didn't finish an assignment, then I can go back and check what I did instead. If you see on my to-do list on the bottom left page, I have written down what is do in the first part of next week (for my Monday and Tuesday classes). On next week's to-do list, I start with what is due Thursday, then add in Monday and Tuesday for the following week. I had to have it all written down ahead of time, because about mid-semester, I'll forget to look at a syllabus and forget that I had anything due. 

Now, for my pretty girl. She started high school on Wednesday at her dad's house. She called that night and told me how great it was. She ended up in an AVID class and is the only 9th grader who has been in it for three years. I guess they don't offer it in middle school up there.

She seems to be having a good time. I can't believe she's already in high school. Wasn't she just starting kindergarten?

Week Two with Passion Planner - Back to School Update!

This week marked my second with the Passion Planner, and my first of the new school year. Little Sis started 6th grade and we both cried a little bit on our way there because Big Sis was missing out on the milestone (and we will be missing out on hers when she starts high school next Wednesday).

Let's start with the obligatory "First-Day-Of-School" picture.

This week in my Passion Planner isn't as cute and fun as last week. Basically, it's because I didn't have as much fun! I went back to work last week on Thursday, but Monday was the first day back with my regular schedule. Here's the fun part: Little Sis starts at 7:47 with a Zero-Period. I don't start until 9:25, so what do I do in that extra hour and almost 45 minutes? Well, this week, I worked! I can't seem to stay away from my awesome coworkers, and I enjoy doing the tech-stuff like typing up student schedules into a spreadsheet for easy sorting to see where they are. You can see where I wrote in the extra time I spent at work. I am keeping track not to seek compensation, but to keep track of my own time. In the afternoons, I am off at 2:55, but school doesn't get out until 3:32. By then, I would have to fight after-school traffic, so I wait until about 3:45 or 4:00 to leave. It's been really hot this week, so I don't want to sit in my car with the A/C on while waiting to exit the parking lot.

I really do like that my Post-Its fit in the bottom section. I didn't want to write those lists directly into the notes section for two reasons: one, I might have wanted to do some drawing or doodling in that section; and two, I had planned to move the list to next week and just repeat the menus. (Because it's so messy looking, I won't be doing that!) I think it's funny that I made Buffalo Chicken that night, because according to TimeHop, I made it exactly two years previously on the first day of school in 2013. You can see that post (and recipe) here. It's still a hit -- there were not enough for both leftovers for my lunch AND seconds. 

My weekends aren't generally planned with a schedule, but my to-do lists can get pretty long. I like that I can write them in on those sections. I saw this on Passion Planner's Instagram as part of their Planner Crush Wednesdays. They have some great ideas that can be used with any planner, but work especially well with the Passion Planner.

Next week starts my college courses. I am taking three classes over four nights. I've already printed up the two available syllabuses, as well as other important information I may need. I have planned to keep a separate planner specifically for my college classes, since I'll be able to put more information, but I'm trying to figure out how I can use my Passion Planner. I think small square Post-Its might be the answer. I also bought some cute stickers and washi tape today. I will definitely update next week!

Week One with Passion Planner

I received my brand new, academic-year Passion Planner on July 31. I was so excited! I usually use a calendar year planner, but since I work for a school district and am going back to college, I figured an academic planner would be a better fit.

I started by labeling the months. It just worked out that first semester (for both work and college) is red, second semester is yellow, and summer (June and July) is blue. I went through and added in the college's dates and deadlines as well as my work's (and Little Sis' school's) schedule. 

Most of the time, I use the black Signo Gel pen or the PaperMate pencil.

Here's the end of July. I added in the events from my previous planner. I scheduled in time for events, but at the end of each day, I went in and added events that happened that day. My planner is also color-coded: 

General appointments - yellow

Work - orange

School (College) - pink

Study Time - green

Personal - red

Little Sis - blue

Budget/Finances - light green

I saw this quote on Instagram from Toby Mac. It was a perfect fit for the Passion Planner!

Here is this week. Yeah, I just said I'm not big on drawing. These don't count. I looked at pictures while I drew them. I really love the layout of the Passion Planner. I didn't have a whole lot of things planned this week, except work on Thursday and Friday (when we officially went back to work for the school year). But when we did some spontaneous stuff, I added them in so I could remember them. Wednesday was a throw-away day. I stayed home and did nothing but watch TV.

Since Saturday is a day with nothing planned, I made my to-do list in Bullet Journal style. I just realized that I've already planned my lunches for next week (decided what dinners to make and I'll just take left overs for the first few days). I need to do some major grocery shopping, though.

You may have noticed that when I mentioned my color-coding, I failed to mention Big Sis. The big news on that is that she actually went to go live with her dad over the summer. It's still a sore spot with me. In fact, I'm tearing up just writing about this. But I had to let her go. If I had resisted and refused, things would have been bad here. I'm hoping she'll come to her senses at some point and come home. She seems to be happy. She'll start high school (don't even get me started on the fact that I'm missing her FIRST DAY OF HIGH SCHOOL!!) on August 19. I really hope she'll send me pictures. 

What kind of planner do you use? How do you handle your to-do and shopping lists?