Well, it's official. I now belong to a not-so elite, not-so underground society of people with OCD organizational tendencies.
That's right. I am officially and unequivocally a newbie Planner Addict.
I know, right? What can I say? It's the latest of My Obsessions. And when I get obsessed with something, believe me when I tell you...I'm. All. In. Not that I really have a ton of things to plan exactly, especially with not working full time right now. But hey, a girl has needs. And the OCD girl in me needs to feel organized and in control. It just is what it is.
It began simply enough, with a desire to buy a planner to keep track of bills and important dates and stuff. Because, you know, my iPhone is great, but technology sucks sometimes. And I just find it lacking in reliability for the long term. And so, I set out to purchase a planner. But which one?
Let me just tell you, it's not an easy thing choosing a planner. I liken it to buying a new purse--it takes some serious thought. You have to have the right amount of compartments, the right size, the right color, and it has to be Über-functional.
That's right. I said Über.
And apparently, there is a "planner season," and I was NOT in it. So finding the ever-so-perfect planner became a challenge from the get-go. But I narrowed it down fairly quickly to two planners: a Paperchase one in a tealish-blue, and a kikki.K one in mint, both in A5 size. (A5 is planner-speak for 5.8 x 8.3 inches--go figure). Neither of these planners are sold in the U.S., which proves to me that I have a knack for making complicated things even more complicated. After all, buying from other countries makes things more expensive! And I'm kind of cheap frugal.
But you know what they say...what a girl wants...
So after learning that the kikki.K planner (from Australia) is sort of a unicorn of planners (hard to get), I settled on the Paperchase planner.
It's got a sort of wood-grain effect on the cover. Naturally, since it was not "planner season," all the cutest A5 Paperchase planners were sold out. So I kind of settled on this one, but I do love it. After it arrived I started moving in (planner-speak for, you know, getting the planner all set up) to it and joined some FB planner groups. And I kept seeing that unicorn...that kikki.K mint planner...the unicorn...taunting me. So I set out to get one too.
I know, I know, OK? I have problems. And let me tell you, it wasn't easy to get that unicorn. I nearly gave up. But 3 emails, 2 phone calls to Australia (G'day, mate!) and 1 credit card authorization later, my kikki.K was on its way to me stateside. She arrived in short order too, considering it came all the way from down under.
Isn't my unicorn beautiful? And I got her just in time (yep, she's a her). They discontinued this particular style and I was one of the last people to be able to purchase one directly from kikki.K. Yay, me!
So what's a gal to do with not one but TWO planners, eh? It took me awhile to figure that out too. But honestly, after I decided what all I wanted to include in my planners, I realized fairly quick that I'd need two of them in order to do it! So now, after a couple of weeks of arranging and re-arranging, I have finally settled on a great arrangement. My kikki.K is my full-on organizational planner, wherein I keep track of bills, important dates, contacts, etc. And my Paperchase planner is my personal journal. I've added sections for Journal pages, Gratitudes, Quotes, and Poetry.
You know, I used to use a planner years ago and it was very handy. But I had no idea how big of a "thing" they are these days. People decorate the pages and all sorts of things, which, being the artsy gal I am, I am doing also. Makes me feel creative even when I'm sitting at my desk. Gotta love that. But planners are a really big thing. The planner groups I joined on FB--some are just to share pages and setup etc, and some are for buying and selling, while some are for purchasing planner supplies. But I've seen some planners sell in those groups for over $200! In fact, a mint kikki.K (like my unicorn) was posted there today, selling on Ebay for $250.
Dude, I 'm dead serious. Unbelievable, isn't it? I could almost make my car payment with that much money. I'd never pay that much for a planner. It'd have to be real live unicorn for $250. And even then I don't think I'd do it.
But anyhoots, I'm all moved into my planners and enjoying the quasi-organized life that my latest obsessions are helping me to create. And lets face it: there are worse things I could be than a wee bit OCD and organized. It's not like I'm obsessed with vampires or something.
Ahem.