Are you a big fan of using your planner?
They’re very handy to keep track of appointments, manage your schedule, and take notes.
And yet, are you a big fan of writing in your planner?
Because I find that to be a big pain in the ass – the daily stuff at least.
The things that I write down because I do them every day: yoga, fold laundry, and make tomorrow’s lunches, to name a few.
I love love love my Emily Ley planner, and it works fabulously for me – and yet, I hate rewriting the same shit over and over again.
And I’m 99% certain I’ll feel that way regardless of the planner I use, and you will too, I’m betting.
I’ve been using Emily Ley’s Daily Simplified planner since 2014.
Yet only last year did I discover this one little hack that saves me a substantial amount of time.
Actually, it was my husband’s idea.
While the idea is not original, I hadn’t thought about it at the time, and I don’t see many blog posts about it.
What is this little planner hack I use that will save you so much time writing in your planner?
I’ll explain below, plus show you where you can get them.
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The simple hack that’ll save you so much time writing in your planner
The super simple trick is stamps!
Stamps that required an ink pad. Those kinds of stamps.
I’ve been using this method for about a year now (and the inkpad I use is even older – like 20 years old – that I still had with my childhood stamps set).
Seriously, using stamps is so much easier than writing – repeating – everything every day.
If you look at the pictures below, you’ll see I write yoga, fold laundry, make lunches, and poop scoop every day.
I started doing this in January of 2022 and haven’t looked back.
Every day I’d have to write those same things down.
With using planner stamps, I no longer have to spend as much time writing in my planner.
Because each daily task gets its own stamp.
So if filling in your repeated to-do’s every week is a big pain in the ass, using stamps will help the task be a lot less of a chore.
To do this, you’ll need to find stamps that symbolize your daily to-dos.
For example, the planner stamps I use are for:
- yoga
- folding laundry
- making tomorrow’s lunches
- poop scooping
- trash night (every week)
These are my daily to-do’s.
You could also get planner stamps for other daily/weekly tasks like:
- drinking enough water
- exercise (swimming, running, biking, dance, etc.)
- walking the dog
- getting groceries
- meal prepping
- time for yourself (reading, nails, music, etc.)
- pick up the kids from school
Continue reading to learn the easy way to start using stamps in your planner.
How to use stamps in your planner
It’s very easy to use planner stamps, however, you’ll need to put a little thought into them before you start stamping.
Here’s how to get started:
- identify your daily tasks and write them down
- find a stamp to match each task
- get an ink pad
- create a “stamp cheat sheet” for reference to use at first
- start using your stamps (but leave room for tweaking)
Easy peasy – and your inner elementary schooler will love it.
Here’s my cheat sheet for last year (I didn’t need to make one this year as I remember what’s for what):
Now that you’ve created your stamp cheat sheet, it’s time to stamp.
Stamp the lines in your planner for which days you do each task. It’s that simple.
I like to do all my stamps quarterly.
That way in case something changes or I want to tweak, the rest of my planner isn’t stamped out in a way I don’t want.
I also set aside about an hour every quarter to stamp out my planner.
I’ve been struggling the past two weeks because I must’ve not finished my stamping last time I did them (I stopped midway through August – I must’ve gotten distracted, #parentlife).
And it made me double down with the realization of how much of a real pain writing out every single task is.
Goddamn it.
You can also use inkpad colors other than black if that’s your thing.
For example, brown for poop scooping and yellow for exercise (as yellow invokes warmth and happiness).
I’ve tried to do that using fancy colored pens in my planner but I can’t keep up with it.
So black ink for my stamps it is.
The stamps I use
My husband bought the stamps I have off Etsy from the shop Efplanner.
All of her stamps are hand-drawn and so cute. They’re sturdy and well made too.
There are tons of planner stamps on Amazon too.
You can see below the stamps I use:
This one is for yoga, which I try to do every morning.
This one is for folding laundry, which I also try to do every morning.
I put one load in at night and switch it to the dryer so it’s ready to be folded in the morning.
This plate and silverware stamp reminds me to make tomorrow’s lunches.
This stamp is for poop scooping. Enough said.
Lastly, this is one for taking out the trash.
I put it in once a week as it’s designated for trash to be taken to the curb, but would obviously work for every day.
I’m contemplating getting one that’ll be for W’s homeschooling, haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
That brings me to my next point:
Make sure you buy the correct size stamp.
Stamp size matters
It’s easy to get excited at the stamp design and forget to look at the size.
Remember to measure the space you have to write in your planner and pick a stamp that will fit in between the lines.
The first time I measured it I think the line was 2 inches, but for demonstrative purposes, see below.
You can use the measure app on an iPhone to get an accurate measurement in a pinch.
Stamps you’ll like
Picking out your stamps is the fun part.
I’m considering adding some of these below to my planner.
Take a look and see if they’d fit your planner needs too:
- Water tracker (because it’s true – out of sight out of mind!)
- Habit tracker wheel for helping you stay accountable towards a goal
- Library books due (would also be good for keeping track of pages read or a reading list for school)
- Customized text so you can stamp whatever a bajillion times
Your takeaway
Planners are great, and I use mine every day.
Unfortunately, writing in your planner can be time-consuming, especially when penning up those daily to-do’s like make lunch, poop scoop, exercise, and drink enough liquids.
It’s time and energy you don’t have to spend, so why spend it?
Instead, use small planner stamps for your daily to-do’s.
Simple, easy, and not too expensive either.
Now I’d like to hear from you.
Would you try this planner hack?
How do you manage your tasks in your planner?
Washi tape is popular, but I can’t stick to that (oh boy, I accidentally wrote a pun).
Share your thoughts below and please share this post with your planner fanatic friends.
