My 2019 Happy Planner

I briefly mentioned using a Happy Planner as a crucial part of my methods for staying organized this year, but I wanted to take the opportunity to go into detail about it because I'm really excited about mine! I've been dying to show you all how it came together, with the help of my friend Hannah of So Obsessed With. 

In fact, I'm taking a page out of Hannah's book (she has a set of posts all about her Happy Planners that you should definitely check out) this year, and going for some "frankenplanning". What that essentially means in the world of Happy Planners is that you take parts of different planners (or, in my case, parts of a Happy Planner and Happy Notes) and combining them into one. I used the Classic size for my planner this year, and it really works for me (even though it's less portable than the Mini I used to have).

When you open up it up, you'll immediately see the typical title page for a Happy Planner, where you can write your name (and your contact info). I've taken the liberty of placing a couple of stickers on the cover where I can identify my different Zebra mildliner colors, but more on why I did that later.

The first section of my planner is dedicated specifically to the month I'm currently in (plus the next month once I get halfway through the current one), which is a set of pages pulled from my yearly Happy Planner. There's a monthly page where I jot down important events and make a list of goals to complete, and I leave the other items blank to complete at the end of the month. This is followed by a monthly calendar that I decorate with stickers to mark birthdays and events, and there's also a space to the left of the calendar where I make a list of my planned TBR for the month (though I'm terrible at sticking to them).

Weekly spreads follow the monthly calendar, and there are actually a variety of layouts that are available depending on which Happy Planner you pick. As you can see, mine has a monthly calendar in the top right, for easy reference, and there's another lined space underneath, which I am currently using to track my reading progress in a week. The actual weekly spread has an empty box up top, which I use to write down what I'm grateful for that day. The lined area underneath is what I use to jot down my to do lists, mark off days with important event plans and occasionally use to write down memorable quotes or experiences that I don't want to forget.

Behind the monthly spreads, I have a couple of extra pages: one for tracking my spending and reading habits, one for tracking the movies I've seen*, and one for tracking a miscellaneous set of things (anime, fandom merch, video games, movies, etc) that I consume in 2019.

The second section of my planner is dedicated specifically to books and blogging. I pulled the pages for this section from Happy Notes, specifically the kind with dot grid pages so I could essentially treat it as a bullet journal. There are also a number of pages designed by Hannah in this section. Here's a full list of the pages below:

• Stats tracker, resolutions & books to read in 2019 - On the top half, I made an area where I could track a variety of stats I wanted to look at this year. I'm curious to monitor everything's growth to figure out what needs to be worked on! On the bottom half, I wrote down all of my resolutions for easy reference and I also made a section where I get to pick a book a month that I really want to prioritize reading.
• Books Read in 2019 - This is a slightly more detailed version of the Goodreads challenge tracker page. I have a pixel area where I get to color in the box depending on the type of read it is, and there's room to list the title, author and star rating per month. This is the first section where the Zebra Mildliner colors come into play, as I have colors and symbols assigned for different categories.
• Trackers for Friends with ARCs and Buddy Reads - Can you tell I like making pages with the space to track things in lists? This page covers the two collaborative parts of my reading life: Friends with ARCs, a feature I do with Rachel of Hello, Chelly, and buddy reads.
• Goodreads Challenge tracker* - This is a simple layout where I get to color a box in every time I finish reading a book.

• Picky Pledge Challenge tracker and planning* - These pages will help me track what I've read to complete this particular yearly challenge, as well as give me a place to jot down my potential TBR for any categories.
• Trackers for Rereads, Series, Classics, Genre - I did mention that I love my lists. This page covers different aspects of my reading that I wanted to track this year, and I get to either check off an item or add to the list when I read something that fits the category.
• Events - Inspired by Kristin of Super Space Chick, this page exists to track any bookish events that I get to attend in 2019. I'll also include a note to find out whether I got anything signed, or picked up any books during the event.
• Book Haul - This page exists to track any books that I receive or purchase in 2019. The Zebra Mildliners come into play again, as I have different colors and symbols assigned.

• Mini book reviews - I started jotting down brief review notes after I finished a book in August of last year, and it's been a wonderful help in actually penning the reviews you read on the blog and for doing What We Read videos on the channel. I don't really go into a lot of detail (since that's generally just how I am as a reader and reviewer), but I do try to take note of things I want to mention when I talk about the book.
• Read or Die challenge tracker* - Hannah was kind enough to make me a checklist of all the books I had on my TBR at the end of 2018. I do so love checking off lists, so this is extra motivation to get more of these titles read so I can check them off.
• Instagram tracker, planner and challenge tracker* - I can track when I post on Instagram, jot down potential ideas and keep track of any challenges I want to take a part in on these very cute layouts created by Hannah.

• End of the Year Survey* - Inspired by Jamie's survey, Hannah created these pages as a place to write down potential answers up through the end of the year. 
• Bookshelf, Kindle shelf and audiobook library* - These pages are just fun visual representations that I can fill in every time I read (or listen) to a book that corresponds with the categories. The audiobook section is filled in, mostly because I rarely read via audio and these are the ones I own but haven't read yet.
• Series tracker* - I'm extra fond of these pages too, because I am trying to catch up on/finish a lot of series that I'm still interested in. These are simple enough layouts that I can keep track of what I've read in each series.

And there you have it - a little look into my Happy Planner for 2019! I'm really grateful to Hannah for all of her fantastic pages (and you can likely DM or email her about them if you're interested) and all the inspiration she's given me with how to set up mine, as well as Kristin for her inspiration for some of the bookish pages.

Are you using a planner this year for personal or bookish things? I'd love to hear about it!

*Any pages marked with an asterisk were created by Hannah.