How I Do My Planning

I finally figured out how to show you an example of how I use my journal for planning my days and keeping track of my blog & money. I think it turned out pretty well. I did these pages on google drawing but obviously, I do this on a journal with normal lines. This took me so long to make and figure out but I really love it so I hope you do too.

I make a page like this every month so I know where we are at, how much we have paid off or have in savings if we have been doing good or need to do better. And if we have an extra bill this month or if we paid it off and we have a bill less.

So I write all our debts that we need to pay off that will take time and they are possible to pay off. Then our savings total. Finally, all our bills we have that need to be paid monthly.

These 2 pages are the main part that I use to keep track of my blog to make sure I am posting 3 or more than 3 times a week. The bottom of the 2nd page, I use to write blog ideas. I'll write the name of the post by the date and after it has officially been posted I will highlight it so I know it's done.

I use this page to track our spending. In the spending category, I will just write 1-2 words like "Walmart" or "7/11". Then in the $$$ category, I will write the total amount that was spent, sometimes I round other times I write the exact amount. I find that info in our bank statements so I'll just open our bank app on my phone and go through it like weekly. In the detail category, I will write exactly what I bought. 

I love this page because then I can look back at it. I can see how much money I spent on gas, groceries, eating out, random target trips, dates, and literally, anything else we spent money on. Usually, one page isn't enough so I use up about 2 pages per every 2 weeks.

We get paid on the 1st and the 15th of the month so I have a page for the 1st check and the 2nd check. By we get paid I mean my wife gets paid because I'm a stay at home wife. So that's how I separate my bills by the ones that need to get paid the 1st check and the 2nd check.  The 1st check is just 3 things but they are big ones. So I'll have tons of space left over I use to divide the left over amount on gas, groceries, and other. We use our "other" for dates, random things we need like soap and if go to the car wash or if we buy our dog toys literally anything that isn't gas or groceries. Ideally, if we don't use all the money we will put the extra amount into savings but we are still working on that part.

This page is exactly like the one before except it has different bills we need pay the 2nd check. So I'll estimate the amount the bill will be, I always round up. Then when the bill is paid I will highlight it and that's how I know it's done and I don't need to worry about it.

That's pretty much what the layout of my journal pages looks like. I feel like I do more than this in my actual journal but it's mostly because I add a lot of side notes everywhere. I bet to other people my real journal looks like I'm a mad woman with numbers that don't make sense. But this is what works for me and helps me feel organized. Like I said before this is just an example of what I do in my journal so the real thing I decorate with colorful pens highlighters and doodles.

Happy Labor Day guys I hope you get the day off or enjoy the labor day sales. I don't know about you but on Labor day weekend is the last week our pool is open so if the weather's good enjoy your last pool day! Don't forget to subscribe and comment and now there's a share button feel free to share my blog!