#PlanningForPleasure with My Textured Turquoise Shutterdori

Some of my friends have been telling me that they’re curious about how I use a traveler’s notebook as a planner. I thought it’s about time I share how on this blog.

Since August of this year, I’ve been using a fauxdori as one of my planners. If you don’t know what a fauxdori is, do read this post wherein I explain what you need to know about it.

Anyway, I’ve been using a fauxdori called a Shutterdori for the past couple of months. It’s called Shutterdori because it’s made by a business called Shutter Creations. I have two Shutterdoris, one an A5 size pink one that I’ve been using as my home planner and a standard size one in textured turquoise that I use as my on-the-go  planner.

Below, I show you my set-up for my textured turquoise Shutterdori. This is how it looks like on the outside. It’s made of synthetic leather. I super love this color!

When you open it, you’ll see this DIY dashboard that I made specifically for the holidays. I made it using a plastic folder, washi tape and card stock.

This is the back of the dashboard where I glued some page markers. The top portion of the dashboard is open, which allows me to insert stuff inside, such as this laminated card stock that I made into an erasable to-do or to-buy list. On the right, you’ll see the cover of my folder insert, also from Shutter Creations.

Here’s the inside left pocket of the folder. I actually placed the folder behind my first notebook insert, which is my Financials notebook, so you can see the cover of the notebook there on the right. I place important receipts in the folder pocket.

My Financials insert is something I printed myself, using the layout I downloaded from Wendaful. Inside it has pages that track my monthly income, expenses, debt and savings. I just used card stock for the cover.

Below, you can see the back cover of the folder on the left and the front cover of my Lists insert.

I made my List insert using Ray Blake‘s grid layout, then used card stock again for the cover. I have different types of lists inside including lists of books I want to buy, movies I want to see and restaurants I want to try. I also used this notebook for Christmas planning, with lists of gifts to give and food to serve for our Noche Buena.

Below you can see the back cover of the List insert on the left and the front cover of my Journal insert on the right.

The journal insert is actually from the Airees Creates fauxdori that I got as a prize from a giveaway. I use it to write down thoughts and quotes for the day. I also glue stuff in there as sort of a memory keeper or scrapbook.

The next insert is the Monthly insert. It’s the one with the pink card stock cover on the right below.

I ordered it from CN Papercrafts. It came with another fauxdori I ordered. I use the monthly insert for future planning, to jot down events or occasions that I know we have to attend in the months to come. I also use it to track which weekends our girls will be staying here with us. I also track holidays in it. Below you can see how I decorated the month of December.

Then I have a Recipe insert, which I made using Ray Blake’s grid layout.

Here I list down in detail the recipes I love to use at home. This is helpful to me especially when I’m in the grocery. When I see ingredients in the grocery, I try to search for recipes inside my insert to see what I can cook.

The next insert is my Notes insert. That’s the orange cover on the right. I made it using Ray Blake’s lined pages layout.

I use this as a regular notebook. For instance, when I attended the Philippine Homeschool Conference, this is what I used to take down notes.

The back of that is this one below. You’ll see on the right a plastic zip envelope that I bought from National Bookstore. I taped it on the back portion of my dashboard.

This is where I stuff planner stickers, photos and gift certificates that I want to bring with me wherever I go. Below is the back portion of the dashboard. I chose another Christmas-y card stock in honor of the season.

So, that’s how I have stuffed my Shutterdori. I’ll be changing the set up somehow within the coming week to prepare for 2016. For instance, the dashboard is definitely going to changed. I also need to change my Financials insert because it only has room for up to this month. Plus, I want to add more plastic zip envelopes because I want to try and make this a wallet/planner for 2016.

That’s the thing about fauxdoris. They’re very flexible and you can customize them according to your preferences and needs. You can add or use any type of insert you want. Since what you want and need may change over time, it’s easier to make the necessary changes with a fauxdori compared to other types of planners.

If you use a fauxdori too, I’d love to know how you use them. Let me know in the comments or give me a link to a post. For those of you who are new to fauxdoris/travelers notebooks, I hope this post has enlightened you somehow on what you can use them for. I’d love to know what you think of my set up. 🙂