How to Plan Your Life Like a Pro: 10 Simple Planner Hacks That Stick

If you’ve ever bought a shiny new planner, filled it with dreams, and then left it untouched on your desk… you’re not alone. Most women love the idea of planning, but staying consistent can feel overwhelming. The truth? A planner is more than just pages—it’s your roadmap for creating a balanced, intentional life.

When you learn how to use your planner effectively, it becomes less about “getting more done” and more about feeling grounded, focused, and in flow with your daily life. It’s like creating a ritual for your week that blends productivity with self-care.

Here are 10 practical tips (that actually work in real life) to help you use your planner in a way that makes you feel more organized, calm, and in control.

Incase you missed my last post on planning, you can read that here. I still use my Louis Vuitton GM planner but I have turned that into an agenda and binder for my finances. I keep documents together, store passwords, keep track of my budgeting, etc. I am all about giving a strong energy towards keeping my financial life organized and elegant. As they say "where attention goes, energy flows". So I find that the more devoted time and organization I give my finances, the more growth and abundance I see in that area. 

Years ago I purchased this gorgeous python notebook cover from Gigi New York. It's an A5 size, comes with a gorgeous notebook with gold foil trim paper.

The TUL junior system fits perfectly inside my Gigi python notebook cover. 

Allow me to introduce to you, the best thing since sliced bread...TUL discbound system. (which is also similar to the Levenger Junior system and the Staples Arc system). These agenda systems are amazing. For one thing, they are clean and minimal, not a lot of frilly decoration or multi colored, which I tend to shy away from. I am a Capricorn, I like things clean looking. Also, the paper is a heavy weight paper, so ink doesn't bleed through the pages, something I can't stand about most planner pages. 

I currently write with my Pentel Energel pen in Gold. It writes beautifully on these thick pages. 

I also added on these Erin Condren black and gold monthly tabs to make it easy for me to flip around to the dates. I love them.

1. Start with a Sunday Setup

Think of Sunday as your “reset” button. Spend 20–30 minutes mapping out the week ahead. Begin by looking at your calendar—appointments, deadlines, and events. Next, add in household tasks, workouts, and self-care. The magic of this step isn’t just getting organized—it’s about reducing decision fatigue. When Monday morning comes, you won’t waste time wondering where to start. Instead, you’ll feel grounded, already knowing what’s on your plate.

✨ Pro Tip: Make this ritual special. Brew tea, light a candle, and treat your planner time like a date with yourself.

2. Use Time-Blocking

Instead of writing endless to-do lists that make you feel behind, try time-blocking. Assign specific hours for specific activities—like “9–11 AM: Deep Work,” “1–2 PM: Calls & Emails,” or “6–7 PM: Dinner + Cleanup.” By creating containers for your tasks, you protect your focus and avoid multitasking.

✨ Why it works: Time-blocking gives you a visual sense of control. It also helps you honor both your work and rest, making sure you’re not overcommitting.

3. Prioritize Your Top 3

Every day, write down your Top 3 non-negotiables—the tasks that absolutely must get done. These are usually the things that move your goals forward or give you peace of mind (like finishing a work project, paying bills, or scheduling a doctor’s appointment). If your day gets messy, finishing these three things ensures you still end the day with progress.

✨ Tip: Keep your Top 3 realistic. They should feel doable, not overwhelming.

4. Add Meal Planning & Fitness Tracking

Your planner can do double duty as a health tool. Use a section to jot down weekly meal plans, workouts, or even track habits like water intake or sleep. This way, your planner supports both your productivity and your wellness.

✨ Example: Write out dinners for the week on Sunday. Each night you’ll know exactly what’s for dinner—no last-minute stress.

5. Include Gratitude or Journaling Prompts

Planners aren’t just about managing time—they can also support your mindset. Add a line each day for gratitude, affirmations, or a quick journal reflection. For example, “One thing I’m proud of today” or “Today I’m grateful for…” This helps shift your energy from overwhelm to abundance.

✨ Why it matters: Gratitude journaling is proven to increase happiness and reduce stress.

6. Color Code for Clarity

Assign different colors to different areas of life: blue for work, pink for family, green for finances, purple for self-care. When you open your planner, you’ll instantly see where your energy is going. Bonus? A colorful layout makes planning feel more inspiring, not like a chore.

✨ Hack: Use highlighters, washi tape, or gel pens—whatever makes it fun.

7. Keep a Running To-Do List

Instead of scribbling random tasks all over your daily pages, create a “master list” section. Anytime something pops up (like “buy birthday card” or “research new skincare”), add it there. Then, during your Sunday setup, choose the most important items to schedule into your week.

✨ Benefit: This keeps your mind clear and prevents those “I know I’m forgetting something” moments.

There is a science behind list making. In fact, it helps the brain to keep up with your goals, desires, etc. Writing to do lists actually assists the brain whether or not you ever accomplish the tasks. I can tell you this, most of the things I write down, naturally happen when they are meant to. My favorite lists to make are my monthly intentions lists. Even when I'm not focused on them, when I look back, 9 times out of 10, they happened. 

8. Schedule Self-Care

So many women use planners to manage work and family but forget to schedule themselves. Block out time for a bubble bath, a yoga class, or simply 20 minutes of quiet reading. When self-care is in your planner, it becomes non-negotiable.

✨ Reframe: Self-care is not a luxury—it’s maintenance. Treat it like any other important appointment.

9. Do a Monthly Review

At the end of each month, take a page to reflect. Ask yourself:

• What went well this month?

• What drained my energy?

• What do I want more of next month?

This practice turns your planner into a growth tool instead of just a task manager. Over time, you’ll start to see patterns—and that awareness will help you design a life you actually love.

✨ Bonus: Add a vision board page for the next month.

10. Make It Pretty (and Personal)

The more you enjoy your planner, the more you’ll use it. Add stickers, doodles, inspiring quotes, or even tape in photos. Choose pens and markers that make writing fun. Your planner should feel like a reflection of you—a mix of structure and beauty that makes you excited to open it every day.

✨ Remember: A planner doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to inspire you.

Using a planner isn’t about becoming a productivity robot—it’s about creating a rhythm in your life that feels intentional and balanced. When you treat planning as a ritual, you not only get more organized, but you also create more space for joy, creativity, and self-care.

So grab your planner, light a candle, and start small. Even one or two of these tips can completely change the way you move through your days. Before long, your planner won’t just be another notebook—it will become your secret weapon for a calmer, more focused life.

You may also like:

🎀 My go-to green smoothie recipe for health + weight loss

🎀 How to do a love bath ritual

Please feel free to email me at ashlina@thedecorista.com if you have any questions!  I’m always happy to help with decorating, life advice or even picking out a specific perfume!  Have an amazing day!!

Also, check out my Amazon shop HERE to shop all my favorite things, tips and tricks.

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As always, thank you so much for stopping by today, I truly appreciate all of you! xo, Ashlina

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Life Hack: Why you should definitely start a Bullet Journal

Let’s talk about your mornings.

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, you should probably know that routines are EVERYTHING to me. I start my day with with specific routines, I have always been very intentional about how I show up in the mornings. The thing about my routines, is that I like to make them glamorous. Pretty. Curated so as to really visually be lit up. That’s why I make a big effort to make everything around me really pleasing to my eye.

For as long as I can remember, I typically spend the majority of my mornings in a notebook. Whether its my planner, journal, doing the morning pages, making to-do lists, etc. I am always comforted by the act of sitting down with my coffee, pen, paper and letting all the things in my mind out. It helps me to start the day with a clear, focused mind.

When I first became a new mom, all of a sudden I had zero time to sit in my notebook and to be completely honest, it gave me serious anxiety on top of all that post-partum stress. As someone who finds comfort in organizing my thoughts on paper, I felt pretty out of my element.

A friend of mine suggested that the best way to plan/document/make lists for her role as a busy mom is bullet journaling. Apparently it’s an efficient form of planning that is perfect for busy people. As per usual, I had to do some extensive research on this to see what exactly it consist of and how, if at all possible, it would work for me too.

WHAT IS BULLET JOURNALING?

In a nutshell it is a method for living in the intersection of Productivity and Mindfulness. It is a system created to efficiently organize your life, with intentionality, managing your thoughts and balancing your time. According to neuroscientists, a bullet journal helps you externalize thoughts. Put simply, this frees up mental space so you can think more clearly and concentrate better.

Psychologically speaking, bullet journaling is more powerful than other paper-planning methods because it’s also a life record, you document everything. In addition, writing things out offers a higher memory retention rate which makes you feel more confident in your life.

After suffering throughout childhood from ADD, Ryder Carroll wrote a book called, The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the future. He gave a Ted Talk on how to declutter your mind which I completely believe is something that holds most of us up in accomplishing all that we want in our own lives.

Quickly, I was very intrigued. I am always game for anything that helps with productivity, mindfulness, efficiency, etc. So I gave it a shot. At first it feels very complicated because you really have to look into how to set up a bullet journal. It took me a while to figure it out. Once I got into it, I became hooked.

I’ve always been a person who looks everywhere for the perfect planner/calendar/notebook. It seems to be hard for me to find the perfect layout. The thing about the BuJo is that you set it up yourself, according to your needs, your interests and whatever works for you. Each week/day/month can be the same or different and it appeals to my ever changing needs. It is the only system that I have consistently used and never gotten bored. There is so much fun and variety and its in a compact notebook and over time you can keep all your BuJos as a life record keeper series of books.

Here’s what you do:

• Grab yourself a dotted notebook. I went with the 1917 gold Leichtrum A5 size. I use these .03 pens that are and I love these highlighters because they are pastel and almost watercolor like.

• Read this BuJo basics breakdown post here. (this post was so helpful to me). I also like this one, its fun and colorful if that’s your thing. I especially love this write up on BuJo for moms.

• Look online for some inspiration and gather ideas so you can begin to plan out your book. I would start here.

What I love about the Bullet Journal Method:

Everything I need is in one place. One book to carry. I used to keep a journal, a planner, a log of lists, a notebook for taking notes, etc. So many different notebooks for different things. This method allows you to keep all of your necessary written collections in one book! So practical and efficient for any busy gal, especially moms.

The Index & Collections. I love that you keep what they call ‘collections’ which are lists of things like recipes, blog post ideas, notes for planning Romans birthday, book lists, moon phases, crystal tips, client notes, etc. Anything I want to record and make note of, I keep a collection and I document the page in the index (which makes it easy for me to find later). OBSESSED with this. It helps me so so so much.

Variety. Some weeks I am feeling creative and some I am not. With a BuJo I don’t feel the pressure to make things pretty in my planner all the time. I really like changing things up from week to week or month to month and the freedom I have to do that is what matters to me the most.

Peace of mind. There really is something to having an organized mind. When you get everything out of your head and down on paper, it transforms your life. You feel in control of all the things running around in your brain. I can remember in the early days of Real Housewives of New York, Ramona always attributed her success to writing everything down in a spiral notebook. That always stuck with me because my grandfather swore by the same method. There is something to it. I have been using the BuJo method for 6 solid months (which says a LOT for a planner ADD girl like me) and I have accomplished more at one time than I ever have before. There must be something to the productivity/mindfulness method.