The new day planner

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I'd been using a large, spiral-bound weekly/monthly calendar as my day planner. I wrote everything in it, and when I wrote out my task lists, I'd paperclip them to the calendar so I wouldn't lose them (which I almost always did). It worked for me. Sort of.

I've tried to go paperless with my calendars. I've tried using the calendar in my phone, as well as on my computer (both the native Microsoft one, as well as trying the Google calendar). I'm the type of person who really just has to have a paper calendar. I have to physically write things down on it or I don't remember them. So every year I buy a new weekly/monthly calendar like the one I was using last year.

But this year I decided to try something a little different. Instead of replacing my calendar with another one just like it, I got a binder-style refillable day planner. It still has the monthly/weekly pages, but there's more room to write my task lists each day, and since it's a binder, I can add note pages when I need to, and reuse the binder next year instead of buying new each year. Not only is it more cost-effective, but I've been able to transform it from a simple calendar to a portable office. It has room for everything I need all in one place, and still fits in my bag.

When I was a kid, my mom had a job as a real estate agent, and I remember she had a day planner, too. She called it her "life," and carried it with her everywhere. She wrote everything in it and kept it with her. I remember that it could barely close because of the papers and receipts stuck into it. As a kid, that day planner was representative of my mom's role in the family, and to me, meant adulthood. I thought that when I was a mom, I'd have a day planner, too, and carry it around everywhere and call it my life.

Now that I have one myself, I know it's not a symbol of adulthood, but still, when I stick receipts into the front pocket or jot notes to myself, I can't help but remember my mom's day planner. Sometimes she'd leave it in the car and send a kid out to get it, and at the beginning of the school year she'd sit down with the school calendar and write out the important dates on her calendar pages.

It's truly just a day planner. I know that. But somehow I feel a little more adult whenever I scribble my own notes in the day planner.