Using a Plum Paper Monthly Planner for Blog Content Planning
Last year, I wrote this post about how using a monthly planner helped me to organize and simplify my blog planning. For the past 2 years, I have used a monthly planner exclusively for blog planning because of the simple features it has.
In a monthly planner (as opposed to a planner with weekly, hourly or daily layouts), I was able to brainstorm posts using note pages at the back, plan out when to post articles and share them on social media in the calendar pages, and outline my articles in the note pages between monthly calendars.
Since I’m a hobby blogger (rather than one using a blog to run or promote a business), this system has worked relatively well for me. However, I found myself having to create certain sections in my monthly planner to keep up with expenses, passwords, and other things that go with running even a hobby blog.
When I wrote that post about Monthly Planners last year, I looked into several planner companies that offer monthly options, and now see that there are even more on the market. Emily Ley now offers a Simplified Monthly Planner (LINK) as does the Happy Planner. These are both great new options if you don’t need all the fuss of weekly or daily planner and just want a monthly calendar with some extra pages for lists.
However, I noted in that last post that Plum Paper not only makes a monthly planner, but you can customize it with various types of add-ons, including ones for blogging. Realizing I could use some pages meant just for blogging, I decided to go with a Plum Paper this year.
In this article, I highlight the many ways you can get your Plum Paper Planner customized. I also focus on the blog-specific add-ons that they offer.
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The Many Ways You Can Customize Your Plum Paper Planner
A lot of planner companies claim that they offer fully customizable planners, but I have never seen another company provide the number of options offered by Plum Paper. From the size of the planners to the binding and all the bells and whistles in between, this company has customization down to a science.
I am going to focus this article on the options available for their monthly planners. Like many monthly planner companies on the market, these come with a standard two-page calendar spread. In this planner, you have a sturdy, coated tab page per month which has a dashboard page with sections for goals (up to 3), birthdays, events, and “things to remember.” On the opposite page, there is a lined sheet for notes.
Although the tabbed pages are a little slick due to the coating, I found that I could still write on mine with my Frixion pens.
The paper is 70lb (105 gsm) Mohawk paper, but it is slicker than those used by other planner companies. I prefer this texture as it makes it easier to erase pencil and Frixion pen. The paper is just thick enough to keep pen from bleeding through to the other size, but not so thick that it makes the planner bulky. Here are my favorite Frixion Pens for this planner (#Ad).
At the beginning of each planner, you will find a nameplate page followed by two yearly overviews on 2-page spreads. There are two more 2-page spreads that follow. One spread is for “Special Dates” and the second is for “Ideas, Plans, Goals.” These spreads have a lined box for each month of the year. What’s nice about these is that they’re not dated, so you can add the months in the order your planner is arranged. After this is one notes page before the tabbed calendar sections.
Also, each monthly planner has notes pages in between (which you can add more to)- about 11 pages total (about 6 front and back). This is plenty of room for sketching out blog ideas and outlining posts. There is also a double-sided “My Contacts” page at the end along with a page for passwords and the next year’s calendars.
Finally, each planner comes with a thick, coated cardstock folder- with pockets on both sides. If you order a bound planner, you can choose and customize a cover from their many designs, which are made of their sturdy plastic (thin but pretty hard to destroy). To protect the front and back covers, there are separate clear cover overlays.
However, note that they sell many different kinds of planners- from personal to teacher to student planners. They also have many layouts to choose from including various weekly spreads (lots of types of vertical and horizontal versions), daily layouts, grid layouts, and more.
Plum Paper Monthly Planner Features
Planner Size- You can order a planner in one of 3 sizes: A5 or 5.8×8.3”, 7×9”, and 8.5×11”
Color Scheme- For the A5 version, you can choose between Modern or Colorful schemes. The larger planners also include a neutral option (which is what I chose). If you go with modern or colorful, the colors are assigned to the tabs and carry through the books. If you go with neutral, you can choose to have your planner untabbed.
Binding- You can have your Plum Paper monthly bound in a sturdy, single silver coil, arc disc punched (you provide the discs), or unbound (so you can bind them yourself).
Starting Month- Unlike many planner companies that only offer a few starting months, Plum Paper planners can start on any month. Since I started my blog in September of 2019, my blog runs from August to July.
Number of Months Included- Another nice customizing feature are the number of months you can include. For the monthly planners, you can choose to have your planner include anywhere from 12 to 18 months. (For the benefit of using 16, 17, and 18-month planners, see this post here).
Adding Holidays- Plum Paper also offers lots of customization where holidays are concerned. You can include holidays that pertain to certain countries (USA, Canada, UK, or Australia) and religions (Christian, Hindu, Jewish, or Muslim). Want to include special dates that are personal to you? Sign up for an account and you can add have those added to your planners.
Add-Ons for Plum Paper Planners
Plum Paper add-ons are where the customization is taken to a whole new level. While some planner companies offer separate budget planners, meal planners, or memory keeping planners, Plum Paper allows you to turn any planner into a specialized planner.
This works really well for Monthly Planners, where you can included the add-ons and still stay within the page limit for coiled planners (they can only be so big before the coil won’t fit). And, they have so many different ones, there is sure to be one to fit any need.
Home Add-Ons
These consist of three categories of add-ons: Meals, Family, and Budget
Meals- The add-ons in this category include meal plan pages, shopping plan pages, and meal stickers.
Family- In this category, you’ll find “My Home” pages, home-themed stickers, baby pages, baby tracking pages, baby-themed stickers, and cleaning pages
Budget- The budgeting add-ons include a full set of budget pages and additional monthly budget pages, mostly for expense tracking, budget tracking pages, and budget stickers
Business Add-Ons
This section has five categories: Direct Sales, Blog, Photography, Social Media, and Business Tools
Direct Sales- Here, you will find a pack of direct sales pages, additional monthly pages for direct sales, party pages, and direct sales stickers.
Blog- I’ll give more detail on these below, but note that the blog add-ons include blog planning pages, additional monthly pages from the blog planning pages pack, and blog stickers.
Photography- This category includes photography planning pages and photography stickers.
Social Media- For this category, you can add social media pages and social media stickers.
Business Tools- This category is a bit of a catch-all, containing brainstorming pages, contact pages, password pages, meetings pages, and mileage pages.
Lifestyle Add-Ons
This section is made up of Fitness, Self-care, Travel, and Wedding add-ons
Fitness- Under this section, you can choose the Fitness add-on, additional fitness pages, fitness-themed stickers, and wellness-themed stickers.
Self-care- This has several types of add-ons including a reflections add-on, additional reflection pages, reflection-themed stickers, prayer pages, gratitude pages, habit tracker pages, and self-care-themed stickers.
Travel- You can choose travel pages and travel-themed stickers.
Wedding- This category includes wedding planning pages and wedding-themed stickers.
Teacher Add-Ons
Plum Paper breaks this down into grade levels and tools
Grade Levels- These include preschool-Kindergarten pages, Elementary School pages, Elementary School teacher-themed stickers, Middle and High School pages, Middle and High School teacher-themed stickers, Homeschool pages, Homeschool teacher-themed stickers.
Tools- This category includes student contact pages, parent communication pages, and behavior log pages
Student Add-Ons
The add-ons for students are similar to those for teachers: grade levels and tools
Grade Levels- These include Elementary student pages, Elementary School student-themed stickers, Middle and High School student pages, Middle and High School student-themed stickers, College student pages, and College student-themed stickers.
Tools- This category has one add-on: dispersed assignment pages
Notes and Lists Add-Ons
As the name for this section suggests, there are two categories, one for notes and one for lists.
Notes- These add-ons allow you to include more notes pages than what is already provided in the planner. They can be placed behind a notes tab, or evenly dispersed throughout the planner. Choose from lined, dotted, graph, or blank pages.
Lists- The two in this category include To-Do List pages and Checklist pages.
Creative Add-Ons
Leave it to Plum Paper to include a creative section of add-ons. These do not have multiple categories. Instead, you’ll find options for Coloring Pages Set 1, Coloring Pages Set 2, and Scrapbook Pages for memory keeping.
Stickers
Plum Paper has lots of options for stickers, as well as a subscription. In the add-ons section, you will find categories for Planning, Seasonal, Holiday, and Decorative stickers.
These are numerous, so I’ll just say that you can find pretty much any sticker related to the add-on categories listed above and more!
Page Protectors
This add-on provides more storage in you planner. It is a vinyl sheet protector that is bound into the planner and has an opening at the top.
Plum Paper Planner Blog Planning Pages
When I ordered my Plum Paper Planner, I thought about the types of add-ons I would want. Luckily, the website allows you to preview all the pages, and I was able to find exactly what I needed.
Blog Planning Add-On
The main add-on is a set of pages that are placed in their own tab (with a cute computer icon on it) after the calendar pages in the planner.
Log On Page- The first page has a section for Log On Information for up to 8 online platforms.
Monthly Overview pages- After the Log On Information page are 12 Monthly Overview layouts. The left-hand page allows you to fill in the month. It has sections for Important Dates and Holidays, Blog Priorities, a To-Do- checklist for the month, sections for Giveaway & Review Notes and Advertising & Sponsor Notes. At the bottom are 12 shaded boxes for Post Idea Brainstorming.
The right-hand page is for Blog Posts. It includes a Blog Post Schedule with room for up to 20 blog posts. Each line has a place to note the date, topic of the post, and trackers for when you write, edit, and post the article. At the bottom of the page there is a Blog Reflection section with spaces to rate Blog Organization, Content Quality, Blog Promotion, Blog Income, Blog Traffic and Overall Success along with lines for taking notes. There is a separate section for Blog Statistics where you can track up to 8 types of stats and note the Target and Actual statistic reached.
Additional Pages. After the Monthly Overview pages, you the following two-page spreads for:
- Advertising, Sponsorship, and Review
- Giveaways & Contests
- Expenses Tracker
- Income Tracker
You also get a single Yearly Overview page, which includes a Financial Overview for each month of blogging with total yearly blog income. It also has a Blog Reflection section thiwhc allows you to track and rate, per month, your Blog Organization, Content Quality, Blog Promotion, Blog Income, Blog Traffic, and Overall Success.
Blog Planning Pages Add-On
I considered purchasing the supplemental set of add-on pages until I realized that they were duplicates of the Monthly Planning Pages. Since I don’t write that many posts, I didn’t need additional room for blog post brainstorming or blog post schedule.
Blog-Themed Stickers
I also considered purchasing the blog stickers, but ultimately decided against it since I don’t use stickers as much in my blog planner. That said, I did check them out and they’re pretty cute.
There are two sticker sheets, and you get two of each with the first add-on set you purchase. There’s an option to purchase up to 3 sets (or 12 sheets), but they are all the same designs. The first design has words like “schedule” and “deadline” along with blog-themed icons (computers, pencil writing on paper, and lightbulbs for ideas). The second page has flag-like stickers with words like “topics” and “edit.” It also has a few circular stickers and others that would be cute to decorate the monthly and goals pages.
All told, I’m really enjoying using this monthly planner for blogging. Although I don’t have as much use for some of the detailed pages to track stats and analytics, it’s nice to have a place to brainstorm posts and check off what I’ve done on a post before putting it up on this site. I’m also super impressed with the quality of this planner, especially for the price.
I would love to know if there are any other hobby bloggers out there and what you all are using to plan out your posts. Please chime in and leave a comment below!
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**Image credits- computer with coffee cup and notebook found on Pixabay.
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