Back in January, in addition to having a weekly planner, I bought a small notebook from Amazon to use for things that aren’t planner specific. At the time, I was only a week into using the notebook, but now that I’m almost four months in, I thought I’d do an update post.

I’m so glad I decided to buy it, first of all. I told myself when I started with it that the notebook didn’t have to be perfect and I could use it for whatever I wanted—there were no rules.

The main thing I use the notebook for is weekly goals; this section is used for goals/things I want to accomplish during the week that aren’t necessarily have a designated day but it’s stuff I need to get done. Some examples are upcoming blog posts, any tasks I need to do for the theater group I volunteer with (like I’ve been working on the program for the upcoming show), writing my HOA check or paying my credit card, stuff like that. I also like to write out my goals for the weekend so I can assign them to either Saturday or Sunday; it also helps me to visually see what needs to be done.

Other stuff I’ve put in the notebook:

• Things I want to purchase: a running list of things I want to buy, including my balcony furniture, new running sneakers, etc., basically any big ticket item that I have my eye on.
• 2022 books: a list of every book I’ve read so far this year.
• 2022 bucket list and goals: it’s this list written down in the notebook.
• COVID tests and results: I add any time I get a COVID test and its result; so far, 1 was from the cold I had last December, 1 was from the COVID scare I had the first week in January, and 2 were required by work for re-entry testing after winter break and spring break, and thankfully all of them were negative.
• Shows to watch: a running list of shows I want to watch across various platforms (Netflix, Peacock, and Hulu).
• Movement log: any time I do a workout or go for a run or walk; I decided to name it “Movement log” so it includes every active thing I do besides just running.
• 1 highlight of the day: it’s basically self-explanatory—every day I write down one highlight or good thing from the day; I set it up so that all of the days are grouped together, so as time goes on I can see all of them together.
• List of gifts to buy: this is more of a current list that I needed to make for upcoming birthday gifts and Mother’s Day gifts for the month of May.
• Books I own to be read: a list of books I currently own that I haven’t read yet; I created it in hopes that I’ll stop going to the library and read books I actually own.

I tend to get overwhelmed when I feel a bunch of things bouncing around in my head, and it’s been helpful to have the notebook to write stuff down in. Once I can see everything written out, it’s easier for myself and my brain to determine what needs to be done first. I’m looking forward to adding more stuff to the notebook as the year goes on, and maybe at the end of the year, I can do another recap of things I’ve included in there.