Maybe your planner isn’t as useful as it used to be, but don’t throw it away just yet.
An empty planner can be easily repurposed into a powerful tool for self-care, art, and more.
Before we jump into our suggestions, we want to note that in times of stress,
exhaustion is a common symptom and it’s okay not to be as productive.
It’s normal to slow down and you should take time to rest when you can.
However, building a routine is worth some effort
as it can help reduce decision fatigue and promote healthy habits.
Your planner can still help you out, and we have some tips to share.
Here are our favorite ways to repurpose daily, weekly, and monthly planners.
The spacious pages in daily planners are wide open for reinterpretation.
Our favorite is the Hobonichi Techo, but any will work well for these new uses.
Page-a-day planners provide plenty of blank space to fill with drawing and writing challenges.
Find a prompt list for drawing or flash fiction.
Write out prompts ahead of time to motivate yourself or take it day by day.
Use your daily planner as a journal.
Write down what you’re thankful for, record your dreams, or use it as a space to vent.
A written record can help untangle the factors behind your emotional state
and improve your self-awareness.
If you’re using a planner from the current year, all your entries will be automatically dated--
a bonus for some future historian.
Weekly planners can be repurposed in plenty of ways to organize your thoughts
or add structure to shapeless days.
Vertical weekly planners, where each day has its own column divided into hours,
are well-suited to timed activities like exercise.
The Kokuyo Jibun Techo Biz Diary provides all the space you need to lay out your goals.
Schedule your exercises ahead of time
or track them after-the-fact to see if you’re where you want to be.
Start out with achievable, realistic goals that will build motivation.
A half-horizontal planner, like the Hobonichi Techo Weeks,
has days on one side of a spread and a memo page on the other.
This layout works really well for meal planning.
Pick recipes for the week
and use the memo page to write a shopping list.
You can mark successful recipes with index tabs to refer back to later.
A fully horizontal planner like the Leuchtturm1917 Weekly Planner
has a two-page spread of blank boxes for each week.
If you’re into snail mail, this format will help track what letters you’ve sent out
and what you’ve received.
Use the leftover space for drafting topic ideas and noting down potential themes.
Monthly planners display a whole month at once, so they’re fantastic for bigger-picture planning.
Here are some tips for what to do with them.
Monthly planner layouts can be repurposed into a mini drawing challenge.
Use a prompt list, document the view out of your window,
or just create whatever patterns or creatures come to mind.
Seeing an entire month at once can give you a bird’s-eye view of your behavior.
Our guide to habit tracking can help you start collecting information,
but all you really need is a trait you’re aware of and the intention to write it down.
Consider documenting your sleep patterns or screen time.
Although these can be tracked through apps,
copying down information by hand makes the process more mindful.
You can also try tracking events you’re grateful for.
Just write one sentence in each calendar square of something you appreciated that day --
you’ll be surprised at how quickly they add up!
No matter the planner layout, if your planner is from JetPens, chances are it’s fountain pen friendly.
It’s perfect for swatching your collection of art supplies or bottled inks!
Use this opportunity to make sure you don’t have too many of the same color,
or make a catalogue of your supplies.
Any kind of planner can be repurposed.
Try these ideas and let us know what works best for you!
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Thanks for watching!