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Life is different right now. Maybe you’re suddenly out of work, or maybe you’re suddenly overworked and it’s frightening. Maybe like me, you’re learning how to work from home, while also caring for children, and trying not to anger either the toddler or your boss too much.

Life is different right now, and so your planner routine is probably a little bit different right now too. If you could use some ideas to either fill the empty space, or help cope with stress while the world is upside down, then read on.

These are my best planner ideas for Quarantine.

1. Decorate!

Normally, I advocate for only enough decoration in your planner to keep you opening it up. I think if you have the spare three hours to draw an elaborate monthly cover page, that you should be spending that time on your portfolio instead.

But things are different now, and whatever keeps you sane and calm is more important than ever. Plus, your planner might have a lot more white space than usual as plans get canceled or moved online.

So if you’ve ever been inclined to cover a whole page of your bullet journal in intricate doodles, this is the time to do it. Probably while binging something fun on your streaming service of choice.

2. Streamline!

When life gets overwhelming or stressful, it is not the time to complicate your planning routine. Maybe you used to have time to fill out multiple trackers while you sipped your morning tea after dropping the kids off at school. 

But now, you guiltily crack open your planner once in the morning to see what you have to do, and then once again at night to see what you didn’t get done.

It’s time to simplify your planning “committments”.

1. Cut back the spreads that must be maintained. Stop tracking. Stop making pretty daily headers. Mindfully stop using any pages that stress you out more than they help you.
   
2. Consolidate the things you do want to keep tracking. Make a list of the pages you need to visit every day, or migrate some of them to the same place in your planner, so that it’s less taxing to keep up with.

3. Take Care of Yourself!

Life is stressful. The news is stressful. You need to take good care of yourself right now.

Turn to a blank page and braindump all the things you could do to pamper yourself or decompress. Things like…

• Take a bath
• Journal
• Pick up that abandoned knitting project
• Take a walk
• Meditate
• Call your therapist
• Facetime your mom
• Put on a face masque (like the spa kind, not the N95 kind)

Your planner can be a tool to help you stay on top of your mental health, as well as all the extra laundry you have to do now that science class is that dirt pile in the backyard.

4. Be Productive!

It might go without saying, but planners are supposed to help us get stuff done, and if you’re anything like me, then finally tackling that big project can feel amazing!

Also if you’re like me, you probably have a backlog of projects you haven’t had a chance to tackle yet.

If you find yourself with some extra free time lately, then it’s time to break out that Someday/Maybe list and chose a project that will improve your life as you’re stuck in your house. Imagine how much better quarantine could be if you finally had that entryway shelf organized the way you’ve always wanted to have time to do.

5. Keep a Routine!

Use a tracker, use an hourly daily, I don’t care how you do it, but keep up with your daily routine.

• Wake up at the same time each day.
• Get dressed (even if it’s sweatpants)
• Eat meals at regular times
• Set aside time for yourself and your family every day

These are small ways that life can begin to develop a new “normal” while we wait for an uncertain end to shelter-in-place advice. You don’t want to lose touch with who you are while you put on hold the things that used to define your day.

So eat breakfast.

These are just a few ideas, and I stopped at 5 so it would seem like I know what I’m talking about.

What are you doing differently with your planner lately? Leave a comment below so we can all stay sane together!