I don’t use my planner in a cute, color-coded, Instagram-approved way.
It has coffee stains on the corners, grit stuck between the pages, and sticky notes tucked in random places.
But it’s also the one thing that keeps all my different “lives” from crashing into each other (aka mom of three, restaurant owner, writer, gardener, horsewoman, etc, etc…)
Here’s how I actually use my Old-Fashioned on Purpose planner in real life—no idealized routines, just the stuff that’s working for me right now.
1. Project mapping (aka my monthly “command center”)
This may be my favorite part of the whole planner. I’ve been using this brain dump method for so long, when we designed the planner, I knew it had to be a part of it.
First, I list everything I want to happen that month—work things, home things, kid things—all in one spot. The goal is to get it out of my brain and on to paper.
Then I number them by priority (because not everything is as urgent as we think it is as first glance).
From there, I take 2–4 of the projects and break them into baby steps. This is the magic that turns big, vague, stress-including projects into actionable tasks (that actually get done).
For example…. Instead of:
“Plan supper night at the Soda Fountain” (this feels vague and formidable)
I’ll write:
– Map out 5-course menu
– Create menu in Canva
– Test the dessert to make sure it works
– Order more chairs
– Make a reel to market it
I plug these little steps into my weekly and daily to-dos. If it doesn’t get broken into steps, it doesn’t happen—at least not at my house.
2. Habit tracking
I’ve gone through many seasons of overcomplicating habit tracking. These days I just keep it simple and use the habit section to nudge myself, not shame myself.
Some things I’ve tracked over the years:
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Miles walked
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Workouts
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Water intake
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Sourdough feeding
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Seedling watering
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Reading time
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Riding my horses
I don’t always track all of them at once. I usually just pick 2–3 that matter most in that particular season.
If it’s a crazy restaurant month, maybe I’m just tracking “walk” and “water.”
If it’s winter and a little slower, I might track reading, sourdough, and workouts.
I’m not aiming for a perfect streak. I’m aiming for awareness. That’s all.
3. Lists, lists, and more lists
I know some of you hate lists…. But my brain is basically a browser with 47 tabs open at all times. Lists are my lifeline.
There are lots of notes/lists sections in the planner and I use them for things like:
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Soda Fountain lists:
– Menu ideas
– Things we’re running low on
– Decor or equipment we need to purchase -
Biz project lists:
– Website tweaks
– New product ideas
– Content brain dumps -
Random life lists:
– Gift ideas
– Books I want to read
– Things to research later - Homestead lists
– What needs planted
– What needs harvested/processed
– Upcoming projects or plans
Could I keep alll of this in my phone? Technically, yes.
But when I pull out my phone, I inevitably end up scrolling instead of adding the thing I meant to write down. Paper is my way of sidestepping the rabbit hole. Plus, having all my lists in one physical place means I’m more likely to act on them instead of letting them die in the Notes-app graveyard.
4. Fighting garden amnesia
Every year I promise myself I’ll remember when I planted what in the garden. Every year, I don’t—unless I write it down.
So now I jot down:
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What I planted (variety, etc)
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Where I put it (rough description or quick sketch—I like the graph paper grids in the back for this)
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The date I planted it
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Anything noteworthy (late frost, weird pests, insane production, total flop, etc.)
This doesn’t need to be a fancy garden journal. I’m just not into that. Half the time it’s quick scribbles like:
“5/28 – Transplanted ‘Atomic Grape’ tomatoes in back left bed. Started slow.”
These little notes are gold the following year when I’m planning. Instead of reinventing the wheel or repeating the same mistakes, I can flip back and see exactly what worked (and what wasn’t worth the bed space).
5. Seed Tracking
Seeds are sneaky. They don’t take up much space, they last a while, and suddenly you have four packets of the same lettuce you don’t even like that much.
I use my planner to:
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Make a simple seed inventory (what I have, roughly how much)
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Note the year I bought each packet
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Jot down which varieties I liked and which didn’t work well for me
It’s not fancy, but keeping inventory like this keeps me from:
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Overbuying seeds I already have
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Planting old seeds that barely germinate (soooo frustrating..)
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Forgetting that seeds are perishable (even though the packets lull us into thinking they last forever)
When it’s time to order seeds in the winter, I always check my pages before clicking “checkout.”
6. Favorite recipes: keeping the repertoire front and center
I don’t know how many times I’ve stood in the kitchen at 4:30 p.m. thinking, “We have nothing to eat,” while having a freezer, pantry, and brain full of recipes I’ve just… forgotten.
So I keep a running list of “winner” recipes:
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Weeknight meals that come together quickly
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Crowd-pleasers we make for guests
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The kids’ favorites
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Special occasion dinners that are worth the effort
Sometimes I’ll make little notes like:
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“Great for busy nights.”
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“Good for company.”
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“Uses up lots of eggs.”
When I’m meal planning (or panic-cooking), I scan that list first. It keeps us in a rotation of meals we know we love, instead of defaulting to the same 2–3 things or giving up and microwaving cheese in a tortilla (ahem).
Yep. My planner looks lived-in…
I love watching the pretty planner girls on Insta, but mine just isn’t like that.
If you flipped through my planner, you’d see:
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Months where the habit tracker is half empty
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Pages that are total chaos and others that are oddly neat
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Arrows, cross-outs, doodles, and grocery lists invading the margins
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The occasional torn page
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Dirt smudges and cat footprints
That’s how I know it’s working.
It’s less about making a pretty book and more about creating a home for your life on paper—a place where projects, habits, gardens, recipes, and random brainwaves can land.
If you’ve been wanting to use a paper planner but feel like you “won’t do it right,” consider this your permission slip: there is no right way.
Use it to think, to remember, to plan, to dream, to notice patterns. Let it get messy. Let it reflect real life.
That, my friend, is where the magic is.
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