Do You Need a Planner Inbox?

I’ll be honest with you for a minute: as someone who sells inbox dashboards every day, I never knew what a planner inbox was until a few months ago, and boy, what a game changer. I find this to be the main thing that makes me either use my planner or not each day.

I juggle being a mom, running a business and teaching, and like many of you, I felt that I didn’t always have time to plan. Ugh. Too many plans, too little time for planning – you can relate, can’t you? Added to this the constant comparison of gorgeous planners on Instagram, and all too soon it’s just another thing to feel inadequate about. This is where the combination of minimal planning and having a planner inbox come in.

I prefer a more minimal day-to-day planning style. Don’t get me wrong, I love to use dashboards, cards and stickies and the occasional bit of washi tape, but this is usually when I’ve actually got time to sit with a coffee and enjoy the process a little. But being more realistic, usually I just want to frantically scribble a few tasks down before I get distracted and everything else is just mental clutter. I keep my inserts plain and mostly undecorated so I can use them quickly, and more importantly, they’re more useful that way.

Why Use a Planner Inbox?

Do you ever have those days where you’ve been so busy you just can’t switch off? Do you ever worry about being away from your phone or desk in case you don’t have somewhere to write a reminder or idea that pops into your head? Do you ever feel stressed at the thought of forgetting stuff? You, my friend, are frazzled. You need to switch off and walk away from whatever it is that is causing your mind to run riot. However, if you want to keep a toe cautiously dipped into the water, walk away but take your planner with you. Preferably closed, to admire alongside a glass of wine in the evening. Use it then as a security blanket to know that if your mind intrudes on your evening with a super-important-very-urgent-thing, you can just write it on the first page and deal with it when you want to. Feeling better already!

What’s a Planner Inbox?

In my planner, the inbox is the crash-landing pad for anything that’s temporary, disorganised or super-important. Anything that doesn’t need a permanent home, or is just too random belongs here. All those really long term dates for months I haven’t got yet go here. To make it just slightly more organised, I have a few Add to Planner inserts for stuff I just don’t want to lose, then some paper, ideally lined, dotted and grid. Sometimes I keep inserts here that don’t seem to belong anywhere else, like my brain dump inserts that I use when my mind is buzzing. Of course, this wouldn’t be my planner if it didn’t have one of my inbox dashboards – no matter how messy the inside is, it’s got to have a gorgeous cover.

How Can You Get One?

It’s so simple. Add some plain pages to the front of your planner. It could not be easier. Make it more fancy with a nice dashboard, a few labelled inserts to make it seem less like an afterthought, and add plenty of frantic scribbles and the odd coffee stain.

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