Monday, January 2, 2023

2023 Goals and Planner Stack!

 My Word of the Year for 2023 is "Resourceful" and that's because I've decided to get my finances in order this year.  Top priority is sticking to a no-buy/low-buy year.  No buying craft or stationery products, clothes (except blanks to make t-shirts and jogging pants with iron-on vinyl), makeup, or eating out by myself.  I am allowed to buy patterns for yarn or materials I already own, maintain subscriptions for services that don't include physical products, groceries, meals out with family or friends, and my manicures (every 3 weeks).  The low-buy is mainly that I can replace things I use up once they are gone, not just because it's on sale.  I already had to stop myself from stocking up on Bath & Body Works Vanilla Bean Noel lotion today because I have a tube of body cream I haven't even opened yet.  Use it up, Wear it out, Make Do, or Do Without.  

I used the MakseLife worksheets to figure out my other goals for this year.  I strongly recommend checking out their website for the free printables if you have a planner already or can't afford the hefty price tag for one of their planners.  It breaks your life down into 8 categories and you rate where you are now and where you want to be by the end of the year.  Here are mine:

  • Personal:  Take time daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly to focus on goals and progress.  Take time to do hobbies that interest me. Give myself grace for my limitations.
  • Fun & Recreation: Make an effort to meet new people and spend time outside my home.  Find more ways to have fun that don't involve shopping.
  • Work & Learning:  Get to Senior Tech at work by the midpoint of the year.  Learn how to make videos for TikTok and YouTube. 
  • Family & Relationships:  Spend more time with my family... really Connect not just being in the same space at the same time.  Try to find a sense of Community in my local area.
  • Health & Wellness:  Follow up with doctors to get my health back on track.  Drink more water or sugar free tea.  Eat healthier.  Exercise 1-2 times a week. 
  • Spiritual & Personal Growth:  Spend time each day on Gratitude.  Find some spiritual practice that I can devote time to regularly. 
  • Financial:  Set up a budget.  Start saving $25 per paycheck.  Do a No-buy/low buy year. 
  • Physical Environment: Clean up the living areas so we can have company.  Spend time outside the bedroom to recharge.  
Some of these goals may seem easy but they are things I've been struggling with for years, so I have them written down and public so that everyone can keep me accountable.  Don't be afraid to call me out.  I need the guilt trips sometimes.  That's how I was raised in the 80's and 90's by my Italian mother.  

Now, On to my Planner Stack for 2023!  It's a doozy!  Ready?


I have a Hobonichi Weeks as my Everyday Carry, where I keep track of my work schedule, appointments and meal plans.  I usually summarize my work day in here.  I can only fit a few sentences and that is usually where I put it.  

Sidenote:  The meal planning part is new this week, since I am trying not to buy meals out for breakfast or lunch anymore.  I wrote out my yogurt breakfast every day and alternating lunches between Peanut Butter & Fluff sandwiches and Hot Pockets.  Since my bariatric surgery 9 years ago, I'm rarely hungry during the day and once I got some iron IV infusions in November, I stopped suffering from Pica.  For the past 4 or 5 years I had been stopping before work and on my lunch at McDonalds every day to get at least a large Coke with extra ice that I would chew non-stop.  Lunch consisted of 2/3 of a hamburger or 4 chicken nuggets with BBQ sauce.  EVERY DAY!  Then I discovered I had absolutely no iron stores in my body and needed to get the IV infusions so that my blood could function properly.  Once I had that, I immediately stopped craving ice and had no desire to eat fast food anymore.  Unfortunately, I still don't feel hungry, so I have to force myself to eat something.  The easiest things besides going thru the drive thru on my 30 minute break is to make a sandwich or heat up a HotPocket pizza.  Not healthy, I know, but it's something.  And it's still relatively cheap, and I will actually eat it.  I used to buy salads and vegetables and never eat them.  Eventually I will get better about what I'm eating, but right now I just need to make sure I'm eating something.  

I also have a Hobonichi A6 grid notebook to use as my social media planner, where I can keep track of ideas and execution of my social media updates.  

I have a Hobonichi Techo A6 notebook as my daily journal.  It's small but a page per day, so it's enough to do a bit of journaling every single day.  I also want to keep track of my crafting in these entries.  I plan to write out a summary of my day every night before I go to bed.

And then there's my Leuchtturm Bullet Journal v2.0 where I am keeping up with goal planning, habit tracking, my budget, and gratitude. 

Then, last but not least, my 8-in-1 Sketchbook Journal based on Clark Kegley's 6-in-1 Journal videos on YouTube.  You basically split up a blank sketchbook into sections so that you can keep track of multiple subjects in one notebook. My 8 subjects are: Brain Dumps, Jo, CJ, Finances, Learning, Crafting, Social Media and Gratitude.  A lot of these subjects overlap other notebooks, but I like the blank pages that I can mind-map or brain dump ideas on before putting the mess in order and writing it in my more formal planners.   This is also where I'm tracking my Pixel a Day for my mood.  

In the past I have bought multiple planners and then not kept up with them.  I'm determined to make this system work this year, come hell or high water.  I actually have a few more notebooks I ordered this weekend from Aura Estelle that I might or might not use.  I don't mind having the same things recorded in multiple places because I like writing on paper, and sometimes the act of writing helps with my anxious mind.  Especially at night when I'm fidgety but need to get to sleep.  

What's your goal for the new year?  Do you have a Word of the Year like I do?  Do you collect planners or journals?  

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