I know it's a little late, but Happy New Year my Friend!!!
January is one of my favourite months. I love the mix of cozy mid-winter and fresh starts. This year I'm getting a slower start to the year than usual. Minor illnesses and extra time off for my husband kept me off my usual new year game. But I think things are finally settling into place.
Planner Change Ups
I thought I had my planning system all figured out before Christmas came. I typically use paper planners with a digital project manager. Last year I switched to xTiles from Notion for the digital side of things. I got everything all set up and ready for 2026.
When it came time to start plugging plans into xTiles I hit a snag. I just didn't want to. I already had them written down in my planner and the thought of having to keep two systems updated was exhausting.
I'm slowly adjusting my paper planners to fill in the few gaps that the digital planner filled. Like planning projects, tracking progress, etc... I'm ok with the slow set up, it's allowing me time to evaluate what I truly need and how I set things up.
Instead of needing to print new pages each quarter, I went ahead and set up different planners specific to different things I need.
- General Planner - has my monthly and weekly planners in it. This is the planner I use for my day to day planning.
- Goals Planner - this has the whole year of goal setting pages in it. I use a combination of pages from the HB90 planner (not an affiliate, just sharing because I've found it extremely helpful for five years now) and my own for this. It also has all the weekly, monthly, and quarterly review pages in it.
- Community and Content Planner - right now this just has lists of ideas for posts, printables, and videos. My plan is to add structure bit by bit as I see a need for it.
- Calendars - I have one thin planner that has three 2026 calendars in it. Each one is for a different category so I could plan each one without distraction.
- Personal Planner - this one is mostly for personal things like tracking habits, health symptoms, home tasks. It's more journal/tracker than planner.
In addition to the planners, I also have the kanban boards I use for goals and projects. And this year I printed one of my half letter, single page per month calendars and taped to the wall so I can see all my deadlines and project timelines for the whole year.
Once I've got them mostly set up, I'll do a video walk through of each one for you. Let me know if you'd like a video of how I use them all together.
Around the Treehouse
One of my goals for the year is to make sure all the printable collections are updated to include all the same planner pages. I have four left that need the basics added to them so I'm going to start with those. They are the Pretty in Pastel, Sunshine Skies, Peachy Green, and Coastal Dreams collections. So, if you like any of those collections, keep an eye on their pages for new printables. I'll also let you know here when new ones have been added.
Over in the Scatter-Brain's Guide Facebook group we kicked off the year with a poll for which of those fours design collections would get the free calendar this year. The winner was Coastal Dreams! The 26/27 Academic calendars will be coming out on April 7th.
The first blog post of the year went live this morning. It's January's Reader Request post, and it's a good mix of extra planning pages. The goal setting pages I put in the Subscriber's Drey last month are included in it, along with some new printables.
If you'd like to submit a request for printables you'd like me to create or if there are changes you'd like to see made to existing ones, just click the button below and fill out the form. I share a Reader Requested post monthly when I'm able too.
How is Your January Going?
That's all the updates I have for you. We had a quiet holiday season and an equally quiet start to the new year. How about you? Is January treating you well? Do you have your planner (or planners) set up? If so, what are you using? I'd love to hear all about it. Hit that reply button and let's keep the conversation going!!!
I truly hope that you are having a fabulous day.
