Five Ways to Afford Planner Pretties

One of the things that is most overwhelming with the planner craze is how much STUFF there is available. You want it all, but how do you afford it? Here are 5 ways I keep my accessory budget to a minimum:

1. Use your craft store coupons.
    Stack them if you can. Wait for the 25% off including sale items if you want to buy a lot,         or just go often and use the 40% off coupons. Installing the phone apps makes this easy,     and I've seen up to 55% off offers.

2. Ask for things for birthday/Christmas presents. 
    Make sure people know to use the craft store coupons here as well, or just ask for gift           cards to your favorite craft store!

3. Three words: Target Dollar Spot
    You can find all sorts of stationery items, pens, stickers, sticky notes and some really             awesome washi tape among other things for $1-$3.

4. Swap groups
    Search Facebook for private groups that swap supplies. I am part of a washi swap group       and a planner supply swap group. It's a lot of fun to get 'happy mail' and I've met some         really awesome people. 

That moment you realize you have enough washi to sort it by color :)

5. Reward sites

    There are several reward sites out there; I personally use Swagbucks (yes, that is a referral          link). If I really put the time in, I can earn $25 a month in points. Typically though, I earn

    $5-$10 a month, mostly from using it as my search engine. Searches will randomly award     you with Swag Bucks in varying amounts.I also answer the Daily Poll, watch Sponsored       Videos (I'll admit I mute these), and sometimes play the Swag Games. Shopping online at           certain sites will also earn points. You can earn bonuses for meeting goals each day. You     then redeem your Swag Bucks for gift cards, the most popular being Amazon, Visa gift         cards (to be used online only - buy an Etsy gift card with it!), or a PayPal deposit (your           Swagbucks email must match that of your PayPal account). I love saving up for a little           guilt-free shopping spree!

Look for the guy with the laptop for some easy Swag Bucks - often it will let you go through multiple times!

BONUS: I save a lot of money on planner supplies by not buying things I have found I don't really use. For me, this means sticky notes. I have a dashboard with some sticky notes, but I don't use many of the page flags or larger notes, so no matter how pretty they are, I don't buy them! 

Hopefully I have shared at least one new way to maximize your planner pretties budget - comment below to share YOUR tips!

Why "Pretty Simple Planner"?

Pretty simple really.

When designing my planner layouts, I started with something simple and easy to create. I didn't want to spend too much time on them before knowing if they'd work for me. A side benefit was that they were the perfect canvas for decorating :) Of course, it wasn't long before I had a week where I wasn't able to decorate, and the whole week was kind of depressing. After that, I decided there needed to be a little bit of decoration worked into the pages, but not so much that it was distracting. Thus, Pretty (but) Simple.

Still a lot to do before the shop opens...better get to work!

How it all began...

Famous Last Words - "It'll be easy!"

Yeah, not so much. I've toyed with the idea of a blog/Etsy store/being crafty for income (if not exactly profit) for a while now. The problem was, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do. While I like to crochet and sew, it didn't seem like the path I wanted to take. There were so many options making it hard to focus or know where to even begin. I wanted to be able to grow and possibly change my product as time went on, but somehow kept landing on a planner theme when trying to choose a business name.

I've had a planner since high school, where we were given one to keep our assignments in. For a while I just used a 2 year pocket calendar and a TON of to-do lists. Eventually I switched to a store-bought agenda planner, getting larger formats when I was busier. Ultimately though, they just never really worked for me. 

I started researching options and found the wonderful world of modern planners. The choices! The colors! The accessories! I have always loved stickers, stationery and office supplies, and this was a great excuse to buy new stuff. After countless hours debating what to choose, I bought my first binder kit. Almost immediately I started customizing. Even then, it wasn't working out. I scoured the internet looking for alternatives. But still, there was always something off. No lines on the weekly view. Lines on the monthly view. Notes on the left. Five row and six column months. Too bulky. So I started creating my own layouts. 

After designing and auditioning a handful for my ring-bound planner, trying out personal vs. A5 and horizontal vs. vertical, I was sooooo close to planner peace. I ended up making a Traveler's Notebook-style, super simple (no cutting or hole punching!) and functional. I loved how streamlined it was. However, instead of adding a little color so it didn't depress me when I didn't have time to decorate, I abandoned it for another purchased planner. Instagram and Facebook just made it too tempting. At least I was smart enough to not commit to a full year ;) 

So, what to do with all of the layouts sitting around on my computer? Sell them as printables on Etsy of course! While it is a bit overwhelming with the amount of competition, I figure if mine have that one thing that sets them apart and makes it right for someone, then it is worth trying. Of course, I once I started adding and removing customizations, I ended up with a lot more options than I had anticipated. I'll take the slight delays in opening the shop for a better variety at launch. Right now, I'm happy to be creating and moving forward with this idea instead of just dreaming about it.