Yesterday I assembled my new notebook planners for 2024. This is something completely different and I thought I would share in case it might help someone else. This isn’t fancy, but simple and practical.
For years I have used either this exact Blue Sky Weekly/Monthly Planner or a three-ring binder with printed sheets. The purchased planner worked, but it didn’t allow me to add anything to it. The binder allowed more flexibility, but it felt too big and had too much stuff in it. I found the binder to be distracting. I was also tired of it being on my desk.
The notebooks I made are smaller so I can easily carry just one of them to wherever I need to use it in the house without dragging around an entire binder. They also give me much more room for taking notes, unlike the purchased planner which was fairly limited and led to taking notes all over the place outside of the planner.
So I decided to try something new and use things I already had around the house. I’m quite optimistic that this will be the right solution for me. Time will tell, but I think this is it.
Notebook Planners With Comb Binding
So to “Use it up, wear it out, make it do, and do without” I used the things I already owned.
- 8.5 x 11 scrapbooking paper and cardstock
- Scotch TL901 Thermal Laminator
- Fellows Comb Binding Machine
- Printables from my shop
I have loads of scrapbooking paper in both 8.5 x 11 as well as 12 x 12. Many of the patterns I really liked were in the larger size. But I decided that since this is a new idea and an experiment, I would make it easier and use the sheets that didn’t need to be trimmed and could quickly be laminated. In each case, I used paper for the front cover and a coordinating solid cardstock for the back cover. I did trim off the excess lamination around the edges so the covers are almost flush with the inside pages.
I created six notebooks. From top left to bottom right they are:
- Sallie’s Rebuilding America Website
- Pantry
- Shop Products
- The Faithful Christian Woman Website
- Homemaking
- Personal Growth
Someone will immediately notice that I don’t have one for homeschooling. That’s because I’ve worked out a completely different system for homeschooling. I keep track of all of Caroline’s high school records in Joplin which is like Evernote (but free and open source). So I don’t need a notebook for keeping track of homeschooling.
These notebooks are basically for listmaking and keeping track of dates/timelines. Each one has different contents based on how I plan to use it. The nice thing about the comb binding is I can easily expand it throughout the year if I choose to. If I want to change a cover, I can simply pop the binding open and switch it out. So I like that there is a lot of flexibility with these that you don’t get with other options.
To give you an idea of how I plan to use each one, I thought I would share the notebook and links to what I included. I included a few photos of some of the internal pages. Generally speaking, I chose note pages that coordinated with the cover as closely as possible.
Sallie’s Rebuilding America Website
This is where I keep notes for posts and things I need to do on the back end of the website. It has:
- Gingham Monthly Printable Calendar Pages – Vertical
- Patriotic writing pages from I Love America Writing Pages (These don’t coordinate with the cover, but they fit the theme of the website.)
Pantry
This is my notebook for keeping track of my pantry and related things. (It’s a much prettier yellow in person. It refused to photograph well.)
In this notebook, I have pages from:
- Gingham Monthly Printable Calendar Pages – Horizontal
- Select pages from The Prudent & Prepared Homemaker
I didn’t include all of the pages from The Prudent & Prepared Homemaker because not all of them are relevant to our family at the moment. But I did print out and includes some of the forms, lists, and many of the note-taking pages.
Shop Products
This is where I jot all my notes about everything related to my products and shop. Product ideas, product updates, product promotion, etc.
This notebook includes:
- 2024-2025 Christian & Patriotic Holidays List
- Gingham Monthly Printable Calendar Pages – Horizontal
- Pages from Daisies & Gingham Journal Pages
- Pages from A Sweet Year Journal Pages
The Faithful Christian Woman Website
This is my notebook for keeping track of everything on this website (except for The Shop which is in the other notebook).
This includes:
- 2024-2025 Christian & Patriotic Holidays List
- Gingham Monthly Printable Calendar Pages – Horizontal
- Note pages from Cottage Pink & Blue Journal Pages
Homemaking
This is my favorite cover! It’s so cheerful. This is for keeping track of household tasks.
This notebook includes:
- Gingham Monthly Printable Calendar Pages – Horizontal
- Weekly Homemaking Checklists – Cottage Rose & Sage
- Pages featuring red and green designs from Fall Harvest Journal Pages
Personal Growth
This is starting off as the thickest notebook. It includes:
- 2024-2025 Christian & Patriotic Holidays List
- Cottage Rose & Sage Habit Trackers
- Monthly Personal Reflections
- Scripture Themes for Simple Living – Peace, Understanding, and Joy
- Pages from Cottage Pink & Blue Journal Pages
- Pages featuring green designs from Fall Harvest Journal Pages
So that’s my start! I’m interested to see how they expand and change over the coming months. It’s one of those things that I expect to evolve as I use them on a daily basis.
The nice thing is I can easily keep using them for more than a year. They can expand with larger combs and I could use them for years. This would be nice as opposed to needing to transfer over information from one dated planner to another each year. Instead, the notebook becomes a valuable, on-going resource and record.
I hope someone finds this idea helpful!