If you have a Happy Planner chances are you already love planning. Whether you’re the type of girl who uses a full sticker kit and loves no white space planning or this is your first planner and you’re writing directly on the pages there’s no wrong way to plan.
I know… that sounds like a bunch of wishy washy crap… like when someone says “you can be anything you want to be” when the neighbors kid asks if they can be a fire hydrant when they grow up. Not a fire fighter… this kiddo wanted to be the hydrant.
So while there’s no wrong way to plan you don’t know what you don’t know… which is why I’m putting together a list of my favorite ways to add function to your happy planner. Hopefully one of them helps you!
BONUS: Grab a FREE set of note pages for your Happy Planner at the bottom of this post!
Sticky Notes
Sticky notes are probably the most functional thing you could possibly add to your planner… because they’re easy to put in and easy to move. They’re very low commitment which is nice.
If you have an appointment that may change go ahead and put it on a sticky! I love to use sticky notes to pre-plan my weeks… that way if I need to put whatever on next weeks spread I can and then when I get to next week I can easily move those sticky notes further down the calendar or go ahead and add them to the actual planner.
Of course, you can just use a pencil to write on the planner and then erase it if that’s not the right day or time or whatever but sticky notes make it easy to just pick up and move an entire appointment. Plus Happy Planner makes sticky notes that are the perfect dimensions to fit directly into their little Happy Planner boxes!
Score!
Floral Paper Clips
Alright so technically they don’t have to be floral paper clips… in this case we’re talking about any paperclips that come out the top of your planner. Basically these little guys are bookmarks.
Take the rose gold floral clip up above. It typically marks my daily to-do list in my planner… so instead of searching for one specific page I can just flip directly to it.
Now if you don’t have a million pages or sections you may not need a top clip… or you may just need one to mark your current day or week. My Happy Planner only has one top paperclip and that’s all I’ve ever used in that planner. My travelers notebook on the other hand? The one I use for my blog and business? It has more paperclips than… I don’t know crayons in a box. What’s something there’s a lot of?
Now you can go paperclip crazy and simply add these cute little guys to every single page but if you’re using them functionaly think about which pages you clip to often and add a clip to the top of those pages. Make sure they’re durable so that you can toss your planner in and out of your bag without them getting hurt. The little floral clip up above and the bow clip below are very sturdy… I have a little deer clip with delicate antlers that stays at home because he would get decimated in my purse.
Still Confused by all things Planner? Check out my Planner 101 post where I go over the different planner types, accessories, stickers, vocabulary etc.
Notes Pages
This one may be a given… I believe most Happy Planners come with a couple notes pages already built in! But if you need more space to add notes then this is an easy one to do.
In fact, Mambi makes cute as a button Happy Planner Note Pages so if you want to order a pack all you have to do is pop them into your planner and you’re good to go. If you’re looking to add notes pages right now there are a million and one different Happy Planner printable notes pages out there that you can print, cut and punch.
There is even a full set of notes pages (with 2 different designs) for FREE at the bottom of this post!
Score!
Dashboard
Alright now we’re on to a dashboard… a dashboard is perfect for your planner because you can easily move it from day to day and keep any supplies you use on a daily/weekly basis on hand. My dashboard has sticky notes on one side and a pocket on the other side.
You can keep stickers in your little pocket or receipts, notes, anything that you may need. I tend to keep receipts in mine until I’m sure I don’t need them anymore. It’s real easy to toss receipts in this little pocket when I’m out and about… I just have to remember to clean it out so that it doesn’t end up littered with receipts like the bottom of my purse.
Think about what you use every single week when creating your dashboard and add those elements in. That will make it super functional!
I love having a little pocket in my planner to add receipts, notes, movie stubs, bills I need to pay, things I want to punch and add to my planner but can’t until I get home and have my punch handy.
If you made a dashboard for your planner you may have a pocket already but if you’re looking for a pocket (or maybe you just want more pockets…) you can grab a pack of pockets from Happy Planner for relatively cheap. Plus you get five of them so you’ll have plenty of pockets!
I find that adding allllllll 5 to your planner at once is too many but do whatever floats your boat. I decided to split the 5 pack with a planner friend so we could each have a couple.
Habit Tracker
A habit tracker is like a pringle… you can’t have just one. These little guys are absolutely a-m-a-zing. They’re basically little boxes with one big box on top and seven little boxes below… so you can write in a task (like wash the dishes, feed the dog, post to instagram) and then check it off below!
The task itself isn’t important but these little bad boys are perfect for helping you remember to do something every. single. day. You can put them in your sidebar so that they’re always out front or throughout your week if you want to put emphasis on a specific day.
There are a million different habit tracker sticker options on Etsy so if you want to go the sticker route you’re probably covered… of course if your not a sticker kind of gal (or guy!) a stencil will let you draw out the boxes easily… over and over again. There are also stamps if that’s your weapon of choice!
Sticker Kits
Okay now we’re delving into the realm where people say “is that really functional?” If you’re the type of person who gets over-whemed with a lot of clutter sticker kits are probably not for you. If you’re the type of person who loves stuff?! This might just be your planning style. Sticker kits tend to have a mix of decorative stickers and functional stickers so that you have things like checklists and icons (like the little credit card to remind me to go to the bank). They also have pretty quote boxes like the “first I drink the coffee, then I do all the things” box.
For me, having a pretty planner encourages me to use it. It makes me happy. If looking at something so fully cluttered makes you a little anxious… probably not your jam.
I like to think of my planner as a functional planner for today, a scrapbook for tomorrow. I record everything in my planner from my to-do’s to activities I’ve taken part in, blog things I need to get done (like writing this post right now!) and then a year from today I can look back and I have an entire year’s worth of memories.
It’s fun to see the little things… like watching tv with a loved one or going to dinner and a movie. You’d be surprised by how many little memories come back by looking at those stickers and remembering the little things you’ve done and forgotten.
Functional Stickers
Okay so an entire weeks worth of stickers isn’t for you? It’s not all of nothing y’all… remember back to my fortune cookie quote at the beginning of this post “there’s no wrong way to plan.”
Perhaps you simply like checklists for every day or a half box for your blog posts three times a week. Maybe you go to the gym twice a week and want gym stickers or need to record doctor’s appointments. Trust me… there’s a sticker for that.
If you’re looking for the full break down try reading through my Planner 101 post… I go over allllll the different sticker options at the bottom.
Use a Punch to Add Items
A happy planner punch is an a-m-a-zing thing. It lets you punch any given piece of paper to fit into a disc bound planner system. Which essentially means the possibilities are endless! While there are tons of new pages to add to your planner one of my favorite things to do is to punch papers that I need or want to keep track of and add them directly to my planner.
Items like: wedding invitations, directions, business cards, appointment reminders, bills, addresses etc. Basically if you have a piece of paper you know you’re going to need on a certain date (like a wedding invitation) instead of trying to keep track of it on your desk or counter just punch it and add it directly to that week in your planner!
Hotel confirmations? Flight information? Punch those pages and stick them in!
Of course, you can always write that information down in your planner but at times it’s nice to have the entire sheet… and it typically saves a lot of time to simply punch it and add it in!
Bill Due
Kind of like the habit tracker up above you can use a bill due sticker, a bill due stencil or a bill due stamp but at the end of the day the result is the same! A little icon made up of one long box to write your bill on, one shorter box to write the amount due and one tiny box to check it all off when it’s paid.
I love these little bill due stickers because you can add them to your month ahead of time (say at the beginning of the month when you’re doing your budget) and then you have a built in reminder when you get to that day to pay the bill… and you can check it off when you’re done.
Easy Peezy.
Budget Printable
If you need more space for your bills… of you’d just like to keep them all together a budget printable is the perfect solution. Just print this bad boy out on normal letter sized paper and then trim it for your sized happy planner (big, classic or mini!). Then hit it with your Happy Planner punch and you can add a single page to your month or a whole budget section to the back of your planner.
Plus since it’s a Happy Planner you can easily move your little budget pages from month to month if that’s the easiest way for you to plan!
Meal Planner Printable
This little printable may look similar to the budget printable… and that’s because they’re from the same collection. Of course, you may not need an entire meal planner every week but if you do these little printables can be a life saver.
Simply print, cut, punch and use.
The best part about a meal planner is you can plan out your meals on one side and then your grocery list on the other side… and since it’s in your planner when you go to the grocery store you have your list right there. It all comes full circle at times like these!
Side Dangle Paper Clips
Okay y’all these little guys are so cute. So here’s the thing… side clips are perfect for saving a specific page. Yes, I know… that’s the same thing the top paperclips do.
Hear me out.
If you’re only using one paperclip in your entire planner than the top clip is probably your way to go. Ignore this section.
BUT if you have a notes insert, or budget insert, or any section with multiple pages you want to flip through (passwords, meal planner, habit tracker etc) then the side clips area more discrete way of keeping track of alllll those pages. I usually use a set of three in my notes insert so that I can flip to the 2-3 pages I’m currently using.
These little side dangle clips are perfect for that because they coordinate and help you flip to a certain page but they’re more discrete so you can use 3 in one section without feeling like you’re over-crowding things.
Get Your FREE Notes Printable
Grab your FREE Notes Printable for your Planner! I've included files for your travelers notebook or happy planner!