With Christa, the Christmas Elf – 2 December
Christa’s End of the Year Planning Tip for today is right on time – record updates to holiday lists, plans and future ideas. Examples of the types of information you might need to update might include:
- Gifts purchased / gifts received
- Christmas Cards send / received
- Ideas for next year
- Get tickets for an annual event as soon as they go on sale
- Recipes that you just discovered and want to try next year
- New decorating ideas or items you’d like to try and pick up in the after Christmas sales
- Outfits planned / worn to different holiday events
- Who’s bringing what for a family get-together
- The thing (whatever it is) that you said to yourself, I’ll have to remember that for next year!
Maybe you just read that list and said that none of it applies to you for whatever reason. Most of that list is worded in reference to the winter holiday season. However, most apply more generically – maybe it’s birthday/graduation/anniversary presents you are planning for or tracking, and the family get-together might be a reunion picnic. And I really can’t imagine that there’s someone who has never said to themselves “I need to remember that for next time.”
Your Personal Assistant
Think of your planner as your personal assistant. It’s role is to go everywhere with you and collect information that you want or need to reference at a later time. However, you have to enter the information in the planner so that it can provide it back to you at the right time.
There are all sorts of special forms for collecting different types of information. But all you really need is a blank page to get started for any type of information and lay it out on the page in a way that is helpful to you. Most of my “forms” have started with a sheet of dot-grid paper. The dot-grid makes sectioning it off easier by providing just enough structure to create lines, but not forcing me to fit into someone else’s row/column dimensions.
Other things might be better noted in a Future Log associated with a future event or time frame (i.e. tickets for December event go on sale in September). Maybe you have a “To Buy” list for the after Christmas sales. Maybe you use a special seasonal planner with a section for capturing ideas for next year.
The key is to decide how you are going to capture information so that you can recall it at the appropriate time and train yourself to do so consistently. It should be a habit – something you automatically do – when you have new/updated information that you want to recall. This will make your planner your personal assistant and aid you being more productive every day.
I have been using planners for over 40 years. I had a co-worker years ago who called my planner, my second brain. At the time, I don’t think I realized how close to truth that idea was.
Some Specific Examples
Here are a few specific examples of how I plan and track these types of information in my planner. For me, the function is much more important than the form – if the information is clear for me to understand, it doesn’t have to look perfect.
Cards List(s)
My cards lists are different whether it’s cards for a holiday (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas) or for birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions. I hand make my cards and since I’m making multiples of cards for holidays, the list usually has an outline of the project steps for producing the needed number of cards and a list of people I’m sending the cards to. For the birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions, the list is ordered by date of event, the person’s name, occasion, the date the card was sent and a brief description of the design used. I learned to do this after sending my Mother a birthday card that was very, very similar to her Mother’s Day card. Neither of these lists include addresses. I store addresses on my computer and print the addresses directly to the envelopes. My Mother, on the other hand does include all the addresses for every name on her Christmas Card lists. We are all unique and our minds and our processes are our own.
Potluck Dinner / Who’s Bringing What
I create a simple grid depending on the size of the get together and number of people bringing stuff. I label sections for Meat, Vegetables, Starches, Breads, Desserts, Beverages, Tableware, etc. I leave enough space under for what is being brought by whom. If it’s a larger gathering, I include the quantity and allow more space to list dishes and providers. It’s usually a single page, but has been more for larger groups. Nothing fancy, at all.
Future Log / To-Do Items
I don’t normally have a section for a season or holiday in my planner, or not until it is approaching and I start collecting specifics for the coming event(s). For example, I have no Halloween section, but have created a small section of pages when I’m working on costumes for my granddaughters and need to note ideas, techniques, sketches, supplies needed, etc. But when I say to myself “I really need to get them to decide on their costumes by mid-September next year”, I put a reminder note to “Decide on Halloween Costumes” on my annual Future Log under August. If I already have a Monthly Planning sheet for the month, I would add it to my list of things to plan for that month. For example, noting that I should have bought tickets for the Polar Express train ride in September, rather than waiting until November or December might go directly on my September planning page if I’ve already begun to compile the next year’s calendar.
Other items might go directly on a list – shopping, to-dos, someday, etc. Ideas that come to me digitally, get stored in OneNote. It is so easy to capture links, webpages and even capture images from my phone and group them in whatever way makes sense to my brain.
Free Downloads
I happen to have free downloads for notes pages – lined and dot grid for US Letter (8 1/2″ x 11″) and Classic (7″ x 9 1/4″) sized planners on the Free Downloads page. I also just added a 2 page Future Log page in US Letter size. The first page has a blank area at the top for a title (i.e. 2026 Future Log) and 12 sections titled with the months of the year. The second page has blank space rather than the month names. You could use this gift planning/tracking, menu planning, etc. I have a Future Log page titled “Birthdays & Anniversaries” and under each of the months, I can list the day and name(s) so that I can easily see what cards I need to be making next. This page may get updated to add (or remove) a day/name, but often carries over from year to year in my planner.
Did You Miss Yesterday’s Tip?
If you just found Christa’s End of Year Planning Tips, you can find the first tip here. Check back tomorrow for Tip #3.
And don’t forget to “Sleigh the Day”!
Happy Planning,
Linda
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