Another beautiful weekend is around the corner. For me, this weekend will be full of camping, s’mores, hiking, and the promise of an awesome sled ride down a ski slope. Sounds fun right?
Here’s the problem: I am TERRIBLE at using my Filo on the weekends. Yes, I know. My poor, beloved Malden is just as upset about it as I am sure you are.
Don’t get me wrong- I am great at advance planning for future weekends. The dinner with a friend on August 27? Yep, it’s in there. The bridal shower I’m attending on September 3? That’s in there too. Color coded and everything.
My problem comes into play with daily planning during each weekend itself. You see, during the week my Malden sits right next to me on my desk at work. It is always right there, open and ready for planning. But during the weekends everything changes. When I’m at home, the Malden is usually either in my handbag or closed up on a table (poor guy). And when I’m running errands and such, he once again sits perched in my bag.
It always seems that the last minute lunches/dinners/coffees/errands that I do on the weekends are always being added either later that night, or the next morning. Sometimes even the next Monday! I don’t know what happens, but my planner usage goes out the window. Because I track a lot of random things, i.e. weather, what I ate for dinner, and a gratitude list, trying to remember all the things I did on Monday can be challenging. On the weekends, it seems that my Malden becomes more of a space to record what I’ve already done rather than what I plan on doing. Which I suppose isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
So, as always, this is where I need your help. How do you use your planners on the weekends? Do you advance plan even the last minute lunches, or do you use them more to record what you’ve already done? Since I am out and about most weekends, how do you suggest I integrate my planner into my weekend life (even though it’s always in my purse or within 20 feet)?
As a side note, the Malden will likely stay pretty sheltered in my handbag this weekend- the thought of him coming in contact with gooey marshmallows, campfires or sunscreen is terrifying!
J to be honest I don't use my planner much on weekends. I wrote down general things if I need to remember a specific time but that's it.
Have a great weekend.
I find that it's only important to forward plan, or write things down in your planner, if you need to have somewhere to refer to if you need to remember where you'll be, when. If you already know where you need to be, i.e. if you can remember it in your brain easily, esp. the last-minute things, then you don't need to forward plan. But if you want to put these in your planner after the event, to keep your planner up-to-date or to be able to keep track of your days, it's fine to write it a couple of days later. If you are worried about forgetting some things on the Monday, maybe make it part of your Saturday/Sunday night routine to spend 5 minutes writing things into your filo. 🙂
i do use mine on the weekends. not only do i start each day w/a glance at my schedule (my brain isn't what it used to be when i was younger) i also record stuff every day (weather, mood, tarot card for the day, etc) but i also keep my to do list on each day's page…and most of my personal stuff to get done happens on the weekends, so i need to use it if for no other reason than to see my task lists.
i also do my weekly advance planning on sunday nights, so even if i veg like a lump on saturday, it gets used for that ; )
@CP- Yay! It's nice to know I'm not alone (even if I'm trying to change my ways!)
@TPS- I like the 5 minutes at the end of the day idea. I've started to do that more during the week and I find it really helps!
@Zoe- See, I really need to start my weekend days with a glance at my Filo. I do it during the week, but it somehow all disappears come Saturday morning! And who knows, maybe a new insert format will help 🙂
For the most part, my planner gets the same use each day (in that I look at it and rely heavily on it). I look at it in the morning to see where I need to be (though most times I remember once the day arrives – if only because I've been looking at it for days/weeks/months) and what needs to be done. I tend to use it more on the weekends because I have more to-dos written down. I may not get them all done, but they're there just in case I have the time.
However… I have been slacking a little lately. I'm going to write a detailed post about this, but in short, I'm trying to streamline my lists and to-dos so that I'm not relying on the planner so much. The main idea here is simplicity. In an effort to limit my stress and anxiety, I'm trying to cut back on the "get-it-done" mentality. So, as much as I could give you tips and/or advice, I'm going to let go of any control over enabling you to look at your planner on the weekends and say, Good for you! 😉
Sometimes (and I can hardly believe I'm writing this), it's just good to step away from the planner.
Also (I forgot to address this), if something comes up last minute, I do write it in anyway since I like to look back and see what I was doing when. I don't necessarily do that with task items though. There's so many, I couldn't possibly keep track all the time. Plus, once it's done, it's done. I don't need to know when it was completed. If it was a special thing, then I might jot it down, but for the most part, that's not the case. And I always use my planner for forward planning.
I use my as much on weekends as I do during the week (but I also usually have emails, etc. for work that I have to make note of on Sat/Sun). I use my diary pages for both log-book style entries as well as tasks/appointments and on weekends that's no different for me than week days.
I also set aside some time on Sunday to look ahead at my week and make notes/todos as required.