I made a planner - isn't that comical.

This is probably my favorite finished project as of late. (and probably my most desperately needed as of late...) Last fall I'd bought one of those binder style planners, about 5"x5" thinking 'great, small, fits in my purse!'.

Yeah except that really translates to 'great, small, can only write one appointment per day...if you abbreviate' and that just doesn't fly. I really don't know what kind of freakishly-minuscule-handwriting folks they cater to, but I can't do it.

But I kept using it because...well, because I'm cheap and stingy and couldn't rationalize throwing away a "perfectly good" planner, right? Forget the fact that it was pure junk, and I didn't really USE it. I had an obligation as a responsible consumer to carry the darn thing until we both crumbled to bits of dust, thus continuing the cycle of life. Its biblical, its maybe in Ephesians.

(side note: this will show you what a crappy Bible scholar I am, I really have only a vague idea of what's in Ephesians...pretty sure Target planners are not covered though.)

So finally, I decided THAT'S IT! I'm going to be wasteful! ...because I'm forgetting doctor's appointments! and that's no good.



So I wanted a bigger planner, one I could actually write out b-i-r-t-h-d-a-y in the appropriate day, instead of scrawling 'bd' in a size 2 font. Or actually have room to write out which one of us had a "Dapt215" and maybe even with which doctor.



But...standing in the planner aisle of target, I was suddenly reminded "oh! that's right! I'm cheap and stingy" and didn't really want to pay $17.00 for a faux leather, snap closure, WITH RULER! binder. (I mean, c'mon! a RULER!)



So as I'm bitterly mumbling about why planners are so darned expensive, I happen to glance at the refills. ....refills.... huh. wait.



The refills are...8.5x5.5....kind of the same dimensions as an 8.5x11 piece of chipboard cut in half. DING! lightbulb!



So, grab the refills, head home and cut a piece of chipboard in half, a few coats of a hideous bright pink (why did I paint it bright pink? I'm not a bright pink person by nature?) drilled a few holes, toned down the obnoxious pink with some various patterned papers, and a few o-rings, and voila! Planner! Cheaper and cuter (although I'm fairly sure 'cuter' isn't a word)

I still need to swap out the O-rings for a smaller size, but that's what I had and they work for now!

So color me happy! And a bit more organized (a bit) because now I can actually keep track of what we're doing each week. fan-tastic.

**note** yes, it did occur to me to do it completely handmade and just make up calender pages, and address pages to fit, and print them out. The reason I didn't? ...I'm out of printer ink. And can never for the life of me remember which number I need...98? 92? cripes. I am contemplating making up a bunch and trying them out on etsy though. we'll see.