120 Things to Put in Your Planner (When You’re Not Sure What to Write)

Wondering what to fill your planner pages with? Check out this huge list of things to put in your planner, from your cleaning schedule to a medications tracker to the meal plan for the week! This list of planner ideas is a perfect way to put your daily or weekly planner to great use to help you stay organized!

There’s nothing like the thrill of getting a brand new planner at the start of each year. The blank pages offer endless opportunities to express your creativity through cute doodles and inspiring quotes, all while tracking important life events, appointments, routines, and habits.

But if you’re not a natural-born creative, or if the thought of a blank journal makes you overwhelmed, then you may need some inspiration for what to write in your weekly planner sheets.  

Beyond the obvious things like doctor’s visits and your kids’ field trips, here are some awesome ideas for things to put in your planner… and be sure to check out my post on the best pens for planners – I tested 15 different pens!

Calendar and Important Dates

Most planners, whether a daily planner or weekly planner like, will include a calendar for each month as well as space to plan each day.  This is arguably the most important part of a planner and the reason why you actually have one in the first place.

What to keep track of here is pretty obvious, but here are some ideas for important dates to include in the calendar pages: 

• Birthdays – You can also add this free printable perpetual birthday calendar to your planner!
• Anniversaries
• Meetings and appointments
• Holidays
• Family functions
• Social events

Brain Dump

A brain dump is one of the things that I absolutely recommend to include in your planner. If you’re not familiar with doing a brain dump, it’s essentially the act of getting ALL of the things out of your mind and onto paper, whether it’s a new Netflix show that you want to start watching or the two random items that you have to buy for your kid’s school project.

Getting those things out of your head has TONS of benefits, and your planner is the perfect place to record all of those thoughts.

I have lots of different brain dump templates for you to choose from, so you can find the perfect layout to fit your needs. Then just tape the template onto a blank page or hole-punch the sheet and add it in.

To Do Lists

If you have random post-it notes of things that you need to get done, then you may want to include some of these to do lists in your planner:

• Work to do list – A list of items that you have to accomplish for your job, either daily or weekly.
• Daily to do list – You can use your daily planner to write a to-do list for each day of the week.
• Weekly to do list – I personally use these free printable weekly to do lists to keep track of deadlines and other things that I need to get done each week… great for time management help!
• Monthly to do list – Certain things only need to be done once each month, like changing out your air filters or picking up your medication from the pharmacy. These monthly to do list templates are perfect for tracking those to-dos. 
• List of priorities – Write down your top 3 priorities for each day or your top 5 weekly priorities. This allows you to focus on completing your most important tasks.

Finances

Personal finances can be a tricky thing to track, but using your planner to keep track of monthly bills, automatic savings account transfers, and online banking log-ins can help!

Here is a list of finance-related things to put in your planner:

• Bill due dates – You can grab the free printable bill trackers to include in your weekly planner… just print, hole punch, and use these sheets to keep track of your monthly bills.
• Financial account usernames and passwords – You should only keep a record of your important log-ins if you’re confident that you won’t lose your planner.
• Contributions to your savings account – Get motivated to reach your savings goal! You can even color code your planner writing and have a specific color for dollar amounts that you’ve saved each week.
• Charitable contributions or donations made – You’ll be glad that you kept track of these when tax time comes around!
• List of recurring subscriptions – Keep track of these so that you’re not wasting money on memberships and subscriptions that you don’t use.
• Work-related expenses – If you have work-related expenses periodically throughout the year, you can create a page in the Notes section and keep track of those amounts.
• Tax due dates – If you’re self-employed like me and have to pay your own quarterly taxes.
• Track your income and spending – I have a detailed guide on how to track your finances in your weekly planner here.
• Important receipts – I keep a small plastic envelope insert in my planner for certain receipts that I want to keep, like for items that I think I may need to return.

Health and Habit Trackers

A Happy Planner, or any weekly planner, is perfect for keeping up with health goals and habits that you want to track. Here are some ideas:

• Doctor appointments
• Daily water intake – You can grab a free printable water tracker to include in your planner here!
• Food log – Jot down the food items and calories consumed each day to help with your health goals.
• Pill or antibiotic tracking – Make sure you remember to take your birth control, vitamins, or antibiotics with a simple chart.
• Step counts – Use this step tracker in your planner to motivate you to walk more.
• Bed times and sleep log – Track your bed times in your planner to make sure that you are getting enough sleep each week.
• Mood tracker
• Weight – Trying to lose weight? Track your daily or weekly weigh-ins in your planner to see how far you’ve come.
• Exercise tracker
• Mental health journal – You can use the daily section of your planner to jot down 1-2 sentences each day as part of your evening routine.
• Other self care activities

You can find loads of adorable printed habit tracker pages from Happy Planner, or grab my free printable habit tracker sheets here!

Parties, Social Events, and Holidays

• Birthday parties
• List of gift ideas – This is especially handy around Christmas time!
• Holiday menu ideas – If you host Thanksgiving, for example.
• Party planning checklists
• Seasonal activities and local events that you want to remember
• Party theme ideas
• Birthday calendar
• Holiday planning – Track gifts that you need to buy, holiday events to attend, sales you want to catch for Black Friday, and Christmas cards that have been sent and received, and more!

Household Management

If you’re responsible for multiple household tasks, like cleaning and cooking, then you can use your planner to track those items as well. Here are some household tasks that you can keep track of in your planner:

• Menu planning – Grab some free printable meal planner templates to add to your planner here.
• Grocery lists – I use a master grocery list that is incredibly helpful!
• Pantry inventory
• Fridge inventory
• Freezer inventory
• Cleaning checklists – Daily, weekly, monthly
• Lists of things to clean room-by-room
• Maintenance schedules – Keep track of when you need to change the air filters or when to expect the pest control man. Or, you can be super-organized and create a Household Maintenance Binder!
• Car Maintenance – Use your planner to track when your car is due for an oil change, tire rotation, etc.
• Favorite recipes
• List of your family’s favorite meals 
• Themed dinner night ideas
• Packing list for upcoming trips
• DIY and home improvement project ideas
• Gardening lists – Keep track of vegetable seeds that you plant so that you know what seeds to buy for next year.
• Contacts – Jot down addresses and contact info for friends and family.
• Contacts for people that perform services for you – Your planner is a great place to keep track of contact information for hairstylists, lawn care companies, maintenance people, etc. so that you always know who to call.
• Website usernames and passwords
• Emergency information -I HIGHLY recommend that you have a separate emergency binder as well!

Goals, Self-Care, and Beauty Routines

• Personal goals – Things that you want to accomplish each week or month.
• Daily affirmations
• Daily scripture readings or devotionals
• Menstrual cycle
• Gratitude list – Jot down things that you’re thankful for or start a separate Gratitude Journal!
• Information about different beauty products that you use – foundation colors, hair colors, favorite nail polish colors, etc.
• Morning and evening beauty routines
• Hair routines
• Journal prompts
• Prayer tracker or requests
• Makeup inventory list
• List of hobbies you want to try
• Vision board ideas
• Beauty appointments

Fun Things to Put in Your Planner

If you use your planner more like a bullet journal, then you probably want to include some fun stuff in there also. Here are some ideas for how to fill the blank planner pages with other random things that you may want to track:

• New quotes that you read
• Movies you want to see
• Books you want to read
• Schedules of your favorite tv shows
• Titles of songs that you love
• Bible verses you love
• Netflix/Hulu/Amazon shows you want to watch
• Date night ideas
• Recipes to try
• New restaurants to try
• Bucket lists – Places you want to visit or things that you want to do during the summer or holidays.
• Blogs/podcasts you love
• Memories – Cool, funny, or inspirational things that happen to you that you don’t want to forget
• Inspirational quotes that motivate you to get things done – Here’s the one that’s hanging over my desk: “Dreams don’t work unless you do”
• Photo-a-Day Tracker – If you love photography, you can find some great photo-a-day challenges on Google, and track them in your planner
• Funny quotes to post on social media – Currently on my list: “I killed another plant… Lord help me if my kids grow roots and start photosynthesizing.” (Yup, that’s an original) 🙂
• Your wish list – Things you want to buy for yourself… kind of like your Amazon cart but in paper form!

Children

Keeping up with your kids can be hard! Why not use your planner to help remind you of all of the parties, field trips, homework assignments, and dentist appointments!

Here are some kid-related things to put in your planner:

• Kid’s activities, parties, or extracurriculars
• Contact information for your kids’ schools and teachers
• Due dates of school projects
• Your kids’ school schedules
• School supply lists
• Teacher wish lists – Or keep a teacher’s favorite things form in your planner for random teacher appreciation gifts throughout the year.
• Special school events (Spirit Week, Picture Day, etc.)
• Major Milestones – First steps, first tooth, etc.- I wish that I would have started this earlier so that my kids’ baby books are more accurate!
• Kids’ allergies, list of medications, or other important health info
• Funny things your kids say – Jot it down so you remember how hilarious your kids are (which could be useful when they’re working your last nerve!).
• Parent-teacher conferences and notes
• List of kids’ chores
• Test dates for school
• Growth tracker
• Kids’ allowance tracker
• Kids’ birthday wish lists
• Christmas wish lists
• Fun activities to do with your kids
• List of boredom busters for kids
• Kids’ immunization records
• Playdate reminders
• List of kids’ clothing and shoe sizes

Pets

• Vaccine records for pets
• List of microchip numbers
• Vet contact info
• Pet appointments like grooming or vet
• Boarding contact info
• Pet supply inventory
• Feeding schedule and details – Like what type of food, when to give treats, feeding amounts, etc.

And, there you have it!  A TON of fun and useful things to keep track of in your planner! 

What about you… how do you use your planner? What things do you keep track of? I’d LOVE to hear from you! Leave me a comment below!

And be sure to check out my free printable color coding key for planners… you can use this to help keep track of different categories and planner ideas so that each has its own designated pen color!