Emily Ley's Simplified Planner - OBSESSED!

I have been on the look out for the perfect planner for... maybe 3 years now. Every year, I'm tempted to spring for one of those fancy ones that have stickers, and pretty covers, but I've always settled for something simple that I've found at Target or Home Goods. Until yesterday, that is!

Lately I've been feeling overwhelmed with my schedule. Trying to balance working from home, school schedules, volunteering, editing, keeping up with my normal "mom" duties... it's been hard! So I've been cutting out a little bit of time every day to work on organizing and streamlining my workflow. For starters, I needed a better calendar. When I asked for suggestions, there were two that I kept hearing again and again.

The STARTplanner and The Simplified Planner. After a bit of research, I found that The Simplified Planner by Emily Ley was the one for me! Not only was I obsessed with the white and gold polka dot planner, but it also had hourly time slots. This.Is.A.LIFE SAVER!!!!

I'm running around all day. Amelia & Lucy both have 2 different drop off and pick up times and 2 different schools, and I'm seriously terrified that one day I'm going to look down at my watch and see that I've forgotten somebody somewhere. So I needed something with time slots to schedule out my day accordingly. I also needed a place where I could write down my daily tasks that don't really have a time frame. Enter in, the to do list on the right hand side....

YES! Now we're getting somewhere! I need to write down my daily tasks for my business. Wednesdays are my biggest days for working. I touch base with my weekend clients, schedule all of my Instagram posts for the next week, work on client blogs, and continue editing from last weekends session. I need to be able to see my to do list and check it off accordingly. I also need a space to write down what we're having for dinner because if it's not on my calendar, everyone is getting a pb&j, and that's that. So the fact that there is a specific spot right there for meals is amazing!!! And then a whole spot just for notes and other things that I might need to jot down. This is where I was sold, but there's more!!

I love the monthly lay out. I use washi tape for client sessions because I hate white out, and if for any reason I need to move a session around, I can just peel up the washi tape and put it in a new spot. It's also cute and colorful! This is the washi tape that I use, and in case you are wondering where the cute Halloween bat stickers are from, they're here!

Speaking of stickers, Emily Ley has added a sheet of super cute stickers to the very front of the planner. How cute are they?!

Over all, I'm completely head over heels for this planner. I spent a ton of time transferring all of my appointments, sessions, and schedule from my old planner into my new Simplified Planner last night, and I already feel so much better. Being able to see every task that I need to do makes me feel less overwhelmed, and now I can just tick them off as I go! If you're in the market for a planner, I can't recommend this one more. Although my raves might make it sound like I'm being paid for this post, I'm not! Just a brand new fan right here!

Emily Ley has recently released 2018's calendar on her website. I opted for the academic calendar because I needed to be able to put Amelia & Lucy's entire school schedule in there. Because I ordered it yesterday (thank you, same day Amazon shipping!!!!!) I did lose all of August and half of September, but it was worth it and I plan on just purchasing next years academic calendar when it comes out!!

What's your favorite planner??