In today’s busy world, it seems that there is little room for “white space”. I am more than guilty of lacking what some would call a “balanced life” some weeks between juggling and scheduling a full time job that I love, running H&T (also a full time job that I love!), working out, relationships, carving out time for friends and family and sleeping enough.

If you’ve seen my Snapchats (bannc), you know that sometimes I can be quite the night owl and still somehow manage to wake up, fuel myself full of coffee and head to work out bright and early.

However, what helps keep me centered and scheduled in my organized chaos of a life, has always been a physical planner. Yes, an old fashioned – use your colored pens + pencils – kind of book. I still use my iPhone calendars but I’ve always been a firm believer in writing things down, making lists and checking things off (could anything be more satisfying!?)

This is why I also love Emily Ley’s Simplified Planners so much – because the help me do just that. The new ones just launched last week and I’m already filling mine up with birthdays, wedding weekends and other important dates, so that it’s all ready to go later this year. I also paperclip in birthday cards as reminders of when to mail them out because I still believe in snail mail and handwritten thank you notes at all times of the year.

The other reason I love these planners so much is how simple they truly are – you can schedule your day by the hour – add in meal preps, weekly highlights and reminders and be inspired by quotes each day. You can also prioritize, forgive yourself a little for not getting everything done perfectly and carve out that much needed “white space” for yourself and your loved ones.

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