Planner Experiment – a free planner for October
I made it through September in my 2021 Bullet Journal and then I ran out of room. Rather than buy a new notebook and have the rest of the year in part of another notebook, I thought I’d run a 3 month experiment that might really help you too. I’m going to try a different planner for October, November, and December and see how it goes. I’ll do a detailed blog post at the beginning and end of each month telling you what I liked and what I didn’t and how it went. How does that sound? (I’ll share my September bullet journal pages soon!)
For October, I’m going to be trying a FREE and INSTANT printable option online from Scattered Squirrel. Right away I can tell you that a CON to doing it this way is that her website is HUGE and OVERWHELMING with tons of options. You have to hunt for what you want.
BUT
She has just about anything and everything you might want, if you have the patience (and a printer) to put it together. She has some pretty cool options too. So after I figured out what I wanted, I put it all together in a clickable list below if you want to try it too. But remember there are tons of options for each kind of page and for the size you want (full size or half size) so if you don’t like the color or style just search around on her site and you’re bound to find something you like.
My Free Scattered Squirrel Planner for October
Here’s the breakdown (I used full sized options). I printed out annual, monthly, weekly, and daily pages. I wanted you to see what it would be like if I decided to use this planner for a full year. I’ll show you the pics and layout first, and at the bottom of this post are the direct links for each page.
So that’s the layout of my planner. I still have to hole punch and put them in a binder. If I were building a planner for the whole year, I would probably make this a disc bound planner with some heavy and pretty card stock for a front and back cover. But since this is just a trial, I’m going to stick to a narrow three ring binder for the month.
Pros and Cons
So far the pros are that this is completely free, very customizable, and she offers well designed pages and some fun pages that aren’t available in regular planners.
Cons are that you have to fuss a bit with printing if you don’t want blank pages, and it can be overwhelming to set it all up. And if you don’t have a printer, it would be really hard to send to a print center.
Links for you
And since it’s a bit difficult to go through the site and find all these pages, I made some easy clickable links in a Google doc for you if you are interested in making one for yourself. The links are in the same order that I have them above. I’ll update you on how the month goes!
I have been making my own planner/bullet journal using discs for years. Basically because I prefer customizing different parts and I don’t like bound journals nor 3 ring style. I keep looking at offerings that come up re: pages like you have linked to wondering “will these work enough for me so I can free up some of my time I use to set up my months ?” The answer so far has been No. I’m looking forward to following your experiment as I’m sure I’ll find applications to similar issues I have or ask myself. I make covers for my planner using cut-down cereal boxes that I cover with pretty paper I have had for awhile so its a win-win for my budget and the recycling bin! Thanks for sharing. Cool site re: the printable pages. Keep us posted.
I’ve been visiting and use Scattered Squirrel printables for years, Alli is great and it’s great that she offer her printables for free. 🙂
Looking forward to your experiment!
Love this end of year experiment! I’ve used a habit tracker from Scattered Squirrel for a few years now. I’m so thankful for sites like hers and yours. I’ll be following along, can’t wait to see what’s next!
WOW! Scattered Squirrel is amazing! I have designed my own weekly dashboard page, and my interval planning page, but I’m always getting ideas from others. Thanks.
Kari-
I am having a hard time seeing the sample above – they are dark so I can’t make them out. Maybe it’s just old eyes. Anxious to see what you found. Thanks,
Try turning up the light on the screen you are using. It is in your settings, usually under display.
Hi Lynda, I just changed the format of the pictures. Hopefully that helps!
I’m still on the hunt for one small enough for a smaller purse. The old Franklin Quest pocket size was mine for years and years. Thank you for this link. I do love some of her pages!