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A5 Planner Set Up With My Limelife Planners Inserts

By Katie Poppe on April 18, 2016
1 comment

I’ve always been a spiral planner girl, but this year I’m trying out the binder system. You can’t beat the customizing options and organizing capabilities of ring-bound planners. Let me tell you, my Limelife A5 planner inserts have me seriously approaching planner peace! Limelife designs are vibrant, their layouts are straightforward, and everyone knows their quality is top-notch! Here’s how I’ve set up my binder system so far.

GETTING STARTED

My approach has been pretty slow and steady. My creative heart wants to deck my planner out with cute clips and page markers, stuff the pockets with more pretty page flags than I can ever use, dangle fluffy and shiny charms from the strap, and line the page edges with all things adorable. But I have other planners for that! My yellow Kikki K is strictly (okay, mostly) for getting things done and keeping my life in order. I need to be able to focus on my tasks and access information without getting distracted by shiny things. I’m using a few extra planner accessories, but my Limelife inserts provide a good fix of decor so that I won’t feel bored with my simple set-up.

FRONT POCKETS

  • Quality page flags for long-term notes
  • Cheapo page flags for quick throw-away notes
  • A few paper clips
  • A simple mini notepad
  • A couple of sturdy note cards
  • Some washi for taping down miscellaneous notes and bits
  • Inspirational art card handmade by a dear friend
  • SECRETARIAL POCKET: Dottie Mini Notebook and paperwork/mail collected throughout the week. I try to clean it out weekly.

NON-DASHBOARD

Dashboards are pretty popular in the planner community. A typical dashboard is a sort of title page that houses sticky notes, inspirational quotes, or photos. I decided a dashboard would be redundant since my pockets have all of that. Instead, my first page is always my right-now planning page, usually a daily planning insert. It’s front and center, with no searching or section flipping to distract me. I use several different inserts depending on my needs. This Checklist Add-On insert is perfect for me, since I naturally tend to categorize my to-do lists. The add-on comes with 30 pages in two colorways. Check the Limelife site out for other layouts that might also work for you, and for the digital version of the checklists.

CALENDAR

I’m using Limelife A5 weekly planner inserts with the Elizabeth design. My weekly layout is a classic horizontal week-on-two-page format. Limelife has tons of designs from floral to stripe to watercolor, and several different layouts to choose from. This set is more than just calendar inserts. Here’s a rundown of what’s included:

  • Monthly pages, including tabbed dividers for each month
  • Weekly pages, with your choice of layouts
  • Accounts/passwords
  • Contacts
  • Holidays/special dates
  • Goal-setting
  • Lined note pages
  • Customizations:  3-hole punched, 6-hole punched, or unpunched; start month of your choice; layout format of your choice

 

One of the best features of Limelife is that ALL of their planners (A5 and spiral), are customized with your choice of start months. So, if you’re ordering in March, you get your money’s worth with no wasted months. I only include a couple of months at a time in order to minimize binder bulk. My “Calendar” section houses my monthly overview, and the monthly tabs house the weekly spreads.

 

 

SECTION TABS

The Decorative A5 Planner Tab dividers come unlabeled for you to use how you choose. I adhered clear labels from my label printer to the front of each of my tabs. Since I no longer need my past months, I’m borrowing the January divider from my calendar inserts. A strip of thin washi hides the original wording so I can re-purpose it.

I use an oversized divider to block off the rest of the sections that I access less frequently. Onto coordinating yellow cardstock, I traced around one of the original dividers that came with the planner and added a little extra width. This cuts down on the visual clutter to minimize distraction.

MY SECTIONS

I allowed myself a few weeks to use a temporary setup to really figure out my organizing needs. Hand-labeled mini page flags were a great solution for that. I stuck them onto my unlabeled tabbed dividers until I knew what I wanted to label them. I ultimately determined the following sections would work for me:

  • Business—for info that I access frequently, or that I will transfer to my dedicated business binder later on
  • Look Up—for book/podcast/app titles I want to look into, wish lists, websites to research, etc.
  • Friends & Family—contact info, birthdays, important things about their lives that I should remember but tend to forget, date ideas, etc.
  • Social Media—content ideas, design team details, tips
  • Personal—health, journaling, self-improvement, travel
  • Inserts & Stickers— I’m using A5 punched sticker sheets and varying inserts (lists, charts, graph paper, etc)
  • Notes—Blank/lined note pages (I’ll be absorbing my inserts into this section soon).

SUBSECTIONS – When I accumulate several pages of the same topic, I like to create subsections. Narrow page flags are great temporary tabs. They can be hidden behind the main section tab to reduce the visual clutter—see the little blue subsections under the red Notes tab?

THE PEN!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t tell you about my pen! My favorite pen to use on Limelife paper is a black Staedtler Triplus Fineliner. It writes on Limelife paper with no bleeding and dries instantly.

Limelife A5 Planner Inserts, coupled with their Decorative Tab dividers have been a huge factor in helping me develop a planner system that works. My binder setup is still a work in progress, but I’m sure planner peace is just around the corner.

This blog post was written by Meka Allen for the Limelife Planners Media & Creative Team. For more information about Meka visit her on Instagram @yespleaseplanning. Please share and repost this blog entry with your friends! All we ask is that you give credit to Limelife Planners and the post author.

The Perfect Binder for My Limelife A5 Planner Inserts

By Katie Poppe on April 11, 2016

You’re a planner girl, so I know you understand me when I tell you that I just had to play “fitting room” with my new Limelife A5 planner inserts. They’re absolutely gorgeous!  They’re special—I mean, one does not just toss these beauties into any old planner and go about her day! Come hang with me as I try on a few of my A5 binders.

MY INSERTS

There are a host of insert designs to choose from on the Limelife Planners. I got the fun and funky “Elizabeth” pattern, with Layout G weekly inserts-- a clean, classic horizontal week on two pages format. The binder section dividers are the Decorative A5 Planner Tabs. They’re a mix of Limelife design favorites.

The colors and overall feel of these elements are energetic, confident, and tastefully colorful. I needed a binder that would match the vibe of my inserts – not overly serene or too serious; something that would both animate me and inspire me to get things done.

TRYING ON A FEW BINDERS:

I’m a confessed planner addict, so of course I had no shortage of options at the ready. My light teal striped Webster’s Color Crush has a great neutral colored interior that wouldn’t compete with the vibrant designs of my inserts. But the mellow exterior color made me put it back on the shelf; it was just a bit more calming than what I had in mind.

Either of my Filofax Domino Patent lovelies could have won the prize. The Turquoise Filofax is the perfect shade of boss-lady-meets-dreamer. And, seriously, all the heart eyes for the floral Jane design paired with the pink Domino Patent!  Despite the color win, I wanted this to be my everyday planner, so I needed to fit in much more than my Limelife stickers, so a few more front pockets were in order.

JUST RIGHT

What spells lively, self-assured, creative professional more than this bright yellow Kikki K?

It’s substantial when held, and has classy gold hardware. The insides have a subdued striped pattern that echoes the feel of the Limelife designs without overpowering them. There are just enough pockets to stuff with the essentials. There’s even enough room for my Dottie mini notebook. Really, just… perfect!

The no nonsense side of me wants to pretend that planner peace has nothing to do with aesthetics. But the truth is, I’m multilayered, and I like a balance of both form and function. I love all of my A5 binders, so I would have managed just fine with any of them-- Limelife Planners inserts are a shining star no matter what! But hey, what good is being a planner addict if you can’t take your planners out and try them on for size every now and then? 

Stay posted for my follow up post to see how I set up my A5 binder!

This blog post was written by Meka Allen for the Limelife Planners Media & Creative Team. For more information about Meka visit her on Instagram @yespleaseplanning. Please share and repost this blog entry with your friends! All we ask is that you give credit to Limelife Planners and the post author.