If you are anything like myself, you love to be organized! Okay, maybe you aren’t like me but I do love to be organized. Even before I had kids and was working there had been times where I was working 2 jobs or balancing school and work where I needed to have some type of an agenda in order to organize my schedule. This also could include appointments for medical reasons, dates, self care things or just whatever else I felt like scheduling! One of the hardest parts though is actually finding an agenda that you want to use that will make things a lot easier and readable. Even with Covid 19 being around I still managed to get a planner. Mind you I didn’t really have a whole lot to play since I never went anywhere but I still had one none the less to put some things in there when I needed to have a place to remember things.

One of the most important things I look for in a planner or agenda is the size. I do not like to have small agendas. The reason for this is simple, I write big! If I have a small pocket size agenda it is extremely hard for me to be organized and eventually sooner than I would like I find myself with a super messy nearly unreadable agenda. If I have a few things to plan in the run of a day I find myself cramming all of the information I need in there. Which by itself is extremely anxiety inducing when I see my pages starting to not look so nice and clean. I like to write things out and even color code or highlight and when the agenda is such a small size it makes it very challenging for me to do that. I am not really a big sticker person however if I was that would also be another reason why I enjoy using a large style agenda more than the smaller ones. Just last year I purchased one online and when it arrived I noticed it was in fact a lot smaller than I hoped it would be and I found myself barely using it and when i did it was slowly becoming messy as I was putting more and more things in the planner per month. in the case of an Agenda, i would strongly suggest size DOES matter!

The next major thing I tend to look for in terms of an agenda is whether or not it has a spot with a monthly calendar and than it has a spot where I can add a daily section. This is part due to the fact that sometimes I like to use the daily aspect in case of more details. This year I plan specifically on sticking to using the daily part as a way for me to count calories and monitor my exercise. Instead of re-writing every day a new plan in a new notebook I want to just specifically use my agenda for much of my plans. The monthly is a great way for me to keep track of scheduled aspects of my life such as this blog, medical appointments, special events, even to streams and soon shop updates also! There is so many reasons that I love to have the monthly part so I can see just how things are laid out. Which ties back to having a large agenda to be able to put multiple things on one day and having it still look neat and not all cramped up.

Extra Space is some thing that doesn’t men literally a bunch of extra pages. It simply means that there is some space that is free around the pages for notes or a spot that I can jot down a phone number if I am on the phone and I don’t have to search for a piece of paper to scribble something on. I like to sometimes plan on the next month some things without having to use the actual calendar part first so having some space around the monthly sections is a major ask when searching for an agenda. After all. I will be using this foe the entire year!!

And finally, added bonuses! These don’t make or break a purchase of a new years agenda but they certainly are a much needed surprise when it is seen! Stickers are nice to have. Not that I really use them a lot because I find that it can be distracting and take up a lot of space within the agenda.

I think it really depends on what you are looking for personally when it comes to finding an agenda that you fall in love with. I don’t think finding the perfect one is something you should skimp on either due to the fact that you don’t get a new one every month! You are essentially using this for the entire year, and if you don’t like it, well you may not be inclined to even use it. I know my last one was small and compact because I had ordered it online due to Covid without thinking about checking the measurements and I absolutely hated it. I thought that it was cluttered because I write so big and in the small spaces it looked insanely messy. Another thing is don’t feel like you have to wait last minute. Normally they have a bunch of kinds come September when school starts so if you are like me and hated your last year agenda you can try to find a full year + 3 months so you can start it right away! I am happy that I did because being a stay at home mom I feel like I am accomplishing things even if I am just scheduling these blogs being scheduled or times when I want to write too!

What do you look for in an Agenda?
Do you have little rules and a certain look that you learn towards when picking one out for a fresh start to the year?

Let me know in the comments below, I would love to hear your thoughts and if they are as picky as mine too!