Once upon a time, I got a planner hoping to use it for school. However, when I opened it I found that who ever designed my planner made it for some one who traveled around the world and needed time zones diagrams, world maps, and other things that I found basically useless. I worked my way around these problems and added my own flair to my planner and I am now quite happy with it.

I figure other people have faced the same problem I have so I made this instrucable to help guide people stuck with an un-useful planner to make it into one that works for them. I will show you my process for personalizing a planner so you can make yours you don't have to use all the tools I use or all the designs I use. Feel free to make this your own.

Step 1: Round Up Materials

Let's start. I will begin with a list of things along with what purpose they serve so you can eliminate them if not necessary.

A Planner - really the only necessary thing

Scissors - for cutting (you will need to cut)

Tape:

Strong Tape - if you're ripping out pages

Regular Tape - For sticking on a label

Washi Tape or Decorative Tape - for decorating of course

Pens and Pencils:

A Pencil - you're going to need something to write in the planner with

Colorful Pens and/or Markers - they can be for writing but mostly for making the pages look nice

Sticky Notes - if you want to make labels for your planner

Step 2: Take Out What You Don't Need

For the first step, you'll need to remove the useless pages of your planner. This could be the index, if you don’t want one, the reference tables, world maps, etc. However, if you do want some of these pages it goes without saying that you should by all means keep them. On the other hand, if there are pages you do want that aren’t there just hold that thought, I’ll get to it later.
What I found unfortunate about ripping out these pages is that I couldn’t exactly do it in a graceful way that left my planner unharmed. I found a way around this by cutting a strip of strong tape and placing it over the ripped binding. This should help keep the binding in place as well as making it look nicer.

Step 3: Add Durability

I found that if I'm going to use a planner a lot the bookmark sting gets frayed. To solve this problem rip a little piece of tape and fold it over the end of the bookmark string. Trim but keep an edge all around to keep it intact. The tape will keep the string from fraying and it also makes it easier to hold the string.

If your planner doesn't have a string you can staple one to the top of the binding. I haven't done this before but it should work.

Step 4: Decorate

This of course is not necessary but it does look great and it helps you distinguish your planner from other people’s.

I used washi tape to make a design but you can use anything: washi tape, duct tape, sharpies, stickers etc.

Step 5: Label

There are of course many ways to label, this is just one very simple way.

Take a post it note or sticky note and write what you want to be on the label.

Stick it where you want it to go.

Tape it down so it doesn’t fall off. Done!

Step 6: Using Your Planner

Start by finding today's date in your planner. Put your bookmark on today so you can find it later.

Next figure out a system for how you'll write things down, you can use lists, colors, shapes, doodles and more. For more ideas on how to make the interior of your planner look nice and be very usable you can look up: bullet journaling, daily journal ideas, etc...

Step 7: Extra: Using Stickers!

My moleskine planner came with stickers or you can add your own stickers. If you are using moleskine there is a flap that might have stickers in it already or you can always add your own.

Flip all the way to the back of your planner to find the flap. Add stickers for use the one that are there. Good stickers to get for a planner are golden star stickers that are meant for teachers, the stars can help you mark important days.

If you don't already have a sticker flap and want one you can cut strips of duct tape as big as a flap. Then cut those strips again and stick them together so nothing sticks to the flap. Then add tape around three sides and stick it to your planner.

Step 8: All Done!

Well, you're all done. All you have to do now is use your new planner. I have put a few sample pages to give you some ideas for how to use stickers and icons to help you. One last tip: don't be afraid to doodle :D

I hope this instructable helped you make a planner that works for you!

Please comment down below to share what you did and what I can do better. Happy Making!