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Having a well organized planner that is used to its true potential can really be your key to organization and peace of mind.
The right plan can really help you stay on track with not only what’s going on in your busy life, but is also a great way to remind you of certain good behaviors to keep up, to give yourself little surprises each day, as well as helping you reach any goals that you may be looking to achieve.
With the right planner, and the right approach, this could help you in a whole bunch of different areas of general life, as well as time keeping, organization, and defeating anxiety with preparation and anticipation.
Below we have listed some of the important things to look out for when buying a planner, but also some of our most useful and creative ideas when it comes to organizing the planner itself, and in turn, your life.
Keep reading to learn how to organize your planner as well as some fun ideas on how to decorate it and bring some sunshine as well as organization into your life.
What Is An Elastic Planner?
When talking about different kinds of notebooks, you may refer to them all with the umbrella term ‘notebook’, or have your own cultural term for each style of notebook, so it can bear clarification.
An elastic planner, sometimes called a ‘traveler’s notebook’ is a type of organization system that allows you to have multiple inserts and leaflets, allowing you to customize your own notebook.
Most notebooks are glued at the spie and are permanent, a planner is semi-permanent and allows you to create your own series of inserts that are unique to your organization systems.
Put simply, if you buy a generic notebook they will just contain blank pages, with this type of planner you can insert your own systems, having a section that is notes, another insert for a calendar, and many more fun options like using it for a wallet.
Often you can find planners that are ring bound or disc bound, they use a metal coil or other disc system to attach the inserts to.
This can often take a little more time and can get quite fiddly, this said the elastic planner is much easier to use.
An elastic planner has a series of elastic loops on the interior of the planner’s spine. Like a ring bound planner you can attach many inserts into the elastic planner, but it’s much more easily done by simply slipping each insert through the individual elastic loops.
This way you can easily slip them in and out as you need them without having to painstakingly thread a metal coil through each insert. Elastic insert systems are just way easier to use but just as secure.
Usually, the elastic notebook is usually secured by its own elastic loop as well, to keep the whole notebook closed and contained.
They are perfect for traveling, hence their name ‘traveler’s notebook’ because they are super useful when traveling, don’t have any metal on them that can trigger airport security, and can contain a lot in a small space.
The cover of most elastic planners is either leather or cardboard or some other durable material that is not metal or plastic. A material that isn’t rigid is ideal so the elastic can have some give on the notebook.
It’s worth looking out for the planners that have interior pockets on the cover, this is ideal for slipping in tickets or other mementos knowing you won’t lose them.
You can also buy traveler’s notebooks, or elastic planners, in quite a few different sizes.
The two most common sizes are the regular A5 size that is common of most notebooks, or you can get the smaller passport size notebook, the size of a passport, that can fit in smaller things like handbags, etc.
The size can depend on what you are planning to do with your journal or notebook.
Insert Ideas
As we mentioned, the main advantage of these planners is that you can create your own unique insert system. You can buy individual and different inserts that can serve different functions.
For instance you can have a calendar insert so you can plan your time effectively, but you can also add a notes insert so that you can journal. Here’s some ideas of different inserts that may help in various different situations.
Importantly, part of why these traveler’s notebooks are so useful and practical is that no matter what insert you have you can refill or reuse it easily.
Filled up a whole journal insert on your last trip? You can easily buy another journal refill and replace it for your next trip.
This means your traveler’s notebook can last way longer than the average life of a notebook. Plus you can easily store and organize your filled inserts for memory.
Notes Insert
We all have the notes app on our phone, but a physical journal is way more conducive to actual journaling. Having a journal in your elastic planner means that you are way more likely to actually journal, especially if you are traveling.
These note inserts are perhaps the most common insert and nearly all traveler’s notebooks will have a insert which is just blank pages.
You can journal in these notes, or you can write down important information. They can be really useful when you are traveling, beyond journaling, just so you can note things down easily, write notes, and more.
Drawing Pad Insert
Another popular riff on the journaling insert is the drawing pad insert. Put simply, while a journaling insert would have lined pages for writing, a drawing pad insert will be blank, for drawing.
Some people enjoy doodling while they are commuting and traveling to different places, and others with a more artistic temperament will also enjoy sketching things they see when they are traveling too.
If you think you might journal one day and sketch the other, buying an insert that has blank pages can allow you to do both easily.
Calendar Insert
A calendar insert can be really useful and allows you to easily have access to your calendar.
Having your calendar planned out like this can allow you to wake up and know what you are doing each day, or what is coming ahead, so that you can plan accordingly and waste no time.
Whether this is an everyday calendar you use to plan your life, or simply a calendar you use to organize your holiday and travels, it’s really useful to have this included as an insert.
When you are traveling there are often many opportunities for spontaneous plans as well, whether that’s some new friends inviting you somewhere, or even the opportunity to meet friends in a different country.
Knowing your calendar and easily being able to access it certainly allows you to make more considered decisions without ruining other plans
Wallet Insert
When traveling, losing your items, passport, money, etc, are all a big worry and is something that can happen easily to anyone whether you are clumsy or not. One way to reduce this is to have all your things in one place, such as your traveler’s notebook.
A waller insert can be like your traveler’s purse, keeping all the things you only need when traveling such as your specific currencies, ID cards, change, receipts.
It’s really helpful to have your wallet in your notebook like this, even if it’s just a safe place for money you don’t want to carry on your person.
It also means your important documents and IDs that you may need for certain border crossing are all in one place, maybe even with your plane tickets, so that you don;t lose them by accident.
To-Do List Inserts
Journalling and taking notes can often be quite different things that you may want to keep apart. Namely, a journal entry is like a diary and you won’t necessarily throw these away without thought.
On the other hand a shopping list or to-do list might make it into the trash. When you are storing and keeping your journal entries you might not want all the lists to be in there.
As a result, having a separate insert for lists can keep your journal entries neat and separate and this allows you to write lists easily and not worry about recycling each list as you use them.
Put simply, a to do list insert is just a useful way to make lists. Whether this is something you do at home to give your day some direction and satisfaction, or this is something you do while traveling so that you can make sure you get the boring day-to-day stuff done without forgetting.
Clear Plastic Insert Zippable Pouch
When you go traveling do you ever have that moment when you return and you empty your bag to find loads of random trinkets and polaroids you completely forgot about.
You may have totally forgotten about these and even lost some that you don’t remember. What’s really great about these zippable pouches is that you can keep all your small trinkets and souvenirs in here, and importantly you can keep polaroids in here too.
Many people love to take a polaroid camera on holiday with them and while they are great they physical polaroids you print out can get lost or damaged easily when traveling to and fro.
With this insert you can keep them in a little plastic sleeve in your flat journal. This ensures they don’t get damaged, lost, and are easy to find.
Passport
While not technically an insert, this shows the value of these elastic planners when on holiday.
By simply using one of the connecting elastic loops to slide your passport in means that you can also be sure where your passport is and can easily get it in and out of the notebook thanks to these easy to use elastic inserts.
By having your passport in your notebook like this, you’ll ever lose it or have it stolen, and you will know exactly where it is when you are traveling.
Fun Ideas For Your Traveler’sNotebook
So we have talked about the inserts you may want to buy, but there are also some great ideas on how to decorate and add some nuance to your notebook that might make your travels better, especially when solo traveling.
Although, many of these tips are totally great for everyday journaling as well.
Write Positive Affirmations For Each Day
There are often huge preparation periods before a successful traveling holiday, especially when solo traveling. If you have time, planning and adding things into your notebook before you leave can help make traveling interesting and more fun.
One way to make your travels more poignant is to write some positive affirmations, or quotes, for each day in your journal.
If you know you will probably sit down and journal each day as you travel, it can be worthwhile to have a prompt or quote or affirmation to reflect on as you do so.
Regardless, simply opening your journal and reading an affirmation can help remind you why you are traveling, give you something to think about, or remind yourself of something important you want to keep close to your heart.
If affirmations aren’t your thing, you could try a prompt for journaling. Things like ‘reflect on the food you ate today’ or ‘how has the weather affected your mood?’.This can make for more interesting journaling and is useful if you struggle starting each entry.
Give Yourself Fun Tasks Each Day
If you are more of a doing person than a reflective one, it can be a fun idea to give yourself alist of silly and fun tasks to do while traveling.
This means aht each day you won’t get bored and always have something to get you out of the house or focus on while you travel. Underneath each task you can reflect on how it went and what funny scrapes you may have gotten into
Some fun ideas are:
- Take a photo of the best monument you see today
- Write a letter to someone at home who you miss
- Try a local dish you have never had before
- Buy a stranger a drink in a bar
- Ask a local about what’s fun to do, and let that be your day.
- Pick a letter from the alphabet and choose a bar or restaurant that starts with that letter
Final Thoughts
As you can see these traveler’s notebooks are a super optimized way to approach journaling and organization.
The customizable nature is ideal so you can include the things that matter to you most. If you travel regularly, these planners can be totally reusable and you can replace your inserts as you fill them up.
Even if you aren’t traveling they are really useful for day to day organization if you enjoy having a planner.
If you know someone who is planning on traveling this could be a really good gift for someone. You could even embrace some of the suggested ideas here and write them yourself.