Back to school, old school style!

 With starting a part-time job and University classes starting in January, I need to stay organized. With modern technology, having a calendar on your phone can be quite practical. For people like me who prefer to write things down, I prefer owning a planner. I just prefer to write things down and be able to flip through pages. I know, it is not the most environmentally safe thing to do but I need to be organized with everything going on in my life. There is something about writing down when a mid-term or when an assignment is due, which days I am scheduled to go to work, any important appointments or meetings and what plans I have for the weekend. I also plan on using it to make to-do lists for my days off.

I remember the excitement I felt at the beginning of the school year when I got to buy my new school supplies and get the school agenda. I immediately would bring out all the magazines that I collected over the summer and would make collages to decorate the pages of my agenda. By the end of the year, what once was a very thin planner was thick, full of pages of cutouts and posters of my favourite bands. My highlight was finding a naked picture of Trent Reznor and having the picture at the center of my agenda during my last year of high school. My agenda was often filled with pictures of my friends, and sometimes funny notes that we would exchange in class. Yes, I am that old, that was our version of texting back in the day! How I regret throwing away these priceless memories (especially losing that photo of Trent!) and I wish I kept my old agendas! 

Once I got accepted to University as a full-time student and considering I applied for the winter semester, I am unsure if I would be receiving an agenda. I wanted something small that I could easily fit in my bag but would have a full month calendar as well as pages for separate days. I found the perfect, inexpensive agenda on Amazon! The best part is I got it in pink! Everything I own is black and I think this colour would be easy to find in my bag and well, next to black, pink is my favourite colour!

The moment my agenda arrived, I ripped open the Amazon packaging, pulled out my Sailor Moon postcards and took some of my son's horror movie stickers and went to town. My planner is nowhere near as extravagant as the ones I used to have when I was younger but I am quite happy with the way I personalized it! Today, we don't need to get our photos developed, I read all my articles online, we send each other text messages via our smartphones and have no need for brilliantly folded paper letters anymore and I don't have a use for magazines anymore. It is sad because something seems lost in this digital age. Also, my planner is small. My school agendas were a lot bigger and bulkier. Oh well, I am happy with what I got and the whole point is to have something cute but efficient. This works for me!

Here is a photo of the planner before I attacked it:

A boring, virgin planner!

This is the image I chose for the front cover, I put a lot of scotch tape to hold it all together! This brought back so many memories from my agenda decorating days!

This is what I see when I open the planner. A cute sticker of Jack Skellington!

One of my relationship goals! Cuddling and horror movies is considered romantic in my eyes!

Naturally, every Friday the 13th meant I had to put a Jason sticker! Let's hope I don't have any assignments or anything planned that day! 

Now we all know there will be a Friday the 13th in January, you're welcome!

I even had to put a sticker on my birthday! I chose Frankenstein!

My birthday is on the 17th! Let's hope I don't need to write anything down that day either, haha!

All in all, I am happy with my planner. I think it suits my personality well; cute and spooky! Do you still use an agenda/planner to stay organized? Do you decorate it too?