I always go through the cycle of wanting to be more organized and plan my time, buying “the perfect planner” (or one that is on sale at target). Sometimes I use the planner for a month or so, other times its only for a few days. However long I use a new planner, I never fully USE it.
One day it felt like time for a new planner (I know, here we go again). I didn’t know what I wanted. I was definitely feeling too lazy to go to Target and try to look at planners with my kids, so I opened Pinterest to search. I searched several terms trying to find something. There are so many planners and systems out there guys.  Printable, hard copy, digital, or even a new and inspiring bullet journal layout. It was overwhelming.
Finally I searched “life planner” because when it comes down to it, I’m a busy mom and I need to plan out every aspect of my daily and long term life. I was starting to get discouraged, clicking around and not finding anything I loved. Then I finally found the Living Well Planner. I immediately recognized Ruth and I wondered why I never looked into the Living Well Planner before.

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I’ve been following Ruth Sokup since early on in my blogging journey. Always watching, but never fully listening to or engaging in what she had to say. Still, after seeing the price of the Living Well Planner and not wanting to spend that much money on YET ANOTHER planner I would discard after a week, I closed the window and moved on to something else.

A few days later, I was cleaning out my inbox and I saw an new email from Ruth. She was offering a new, FREE mini course. I looked into it and I was immediately enthralled. This is it. This is what I've been searching for. This new mini course is titled Crushing It, but the tag line is what really spoke to me. It says, "plan & achieve a life you love." I immediately signed up! After entering my name and email, I was offered a discount on the Living Well Planner I discovered a few days before. I took this as a sign that this is the planner for me.

 My First Impressions Of The Living Well Planner

I was so excited and impatient waiting to my Living Well Planner to arrive. I was super impressed when it arrived almost 4 says early. I knew immediately that this blue box on my porch was my planner. And not just because I was stalking the tracking!

I opened the box to reveal some packing paper, my sticky note sheets, and my plastic wrapped Living Well Planner. I carefully tore through the plastic.

Like I said, I've used a lot of planners. The quality of the Living Well Planner is amazing. The cover is very sturdy with metal reinforced corners, the divider pages are nice and thick, and the planner pages aren't thin like a lot of Target's planners. The stickers really set it apart. I do wish it came with more stickers. I could use three or four pages with more month stickers and more of the cute little event stickers. I might have to order this Sticker Set, I just wished it had more month stickers too!

My only other complaint is that the very first pages and the very last few pages were jammed into the metal reinforcing the corners. It came out when I pulled on it and it left a little crease but ultimately I didn't care enough to complain and/or get a replacement. I was too excited to just go ahead and use it! These bent corners definitely don't effect the functionality of the planner.

What's In The Living Well Planner

The front cover of the planner has a sturdy pocket that is great for holding the sticky notes. In the first few pages, you get serious with your feelings about yourself and your plans for the future. There are pages to keep track of important dates and contact information. Each month has your monthly goal sheet along with two pages for planning out these goals. A huge month calendar spreads over two pages so you can quickly view your whole month at once. Next you have 5 week spreads, each covering two pages. These week spreads are truly wonderful. They have the perfect amount of space to plan out your day, note the most important tasks of the day, and even plan all of your meals. I even used the space at the top of the pages to write down the work out I’m doing that week and an inspirational quote. After the week spreads, you have a monthly budget and an expense tracker. Finally, at the end of the month there is a page to write out your “Thoughts & Thanks” for the month and a notes page. At the very end of the planner you’ll find extra note pages, a cleaning schedule, the stickers, and an invitation to join Crushing It Central.

What You Won't Get With Other Planner Systems

A lot of this is pretty typical for a planner. The month and week spreads, the note, important dates, and contact information pages can be found in most planners. What sets The Living Well Planner apart is the quality of the planner and the integration with the CRUSH IT goal setting system. Having the goal, CRUSH IT, and project planning pages at the beginning of each month is so motivating. If you buy The Living Well Planner and actually USE these unique pages, there is really nothing stopping you from, as Ruth says, crushing your goals and living a Life You Love.

What I'm Using With My Living Well Planner

I'm mostly using a Pilot G2 .05 pen and a mechanical pencil. I'm also using my Staedtler Fineliners to add some important stuff or just some accent color. I can see through the paper the tiniest bit with the Fineliners but hardly at all with the Pilot.
I grabbed some lined Post-its at Target and I love that they are almost the same size as the Weekly Wizard Sheets. I wanted to quickly be able to open my planner to the current week so I bought these giant colorful paper clips to mark my page.
Even though I truly found the PERFECT planner for me, I will definitely still be looking for more accessories to use with my Living Well Planner! 

I challenge you to take the Crushing It Mini Course.

It is free so what do you have to lose?

The worst that could happen is you spend some time watching the videos and don't get anything from it.

But you might just have a break through with this goal planning method, like I did, and start not only setting, but achieving each and every one of your craziest goals.