Last week, I began a newsletter series focused on my comprehensive plan for a successful low spend planner year. If you missed that post, you can find it here.
To very quickly recap, this plan takes the following 4-prong approach throughout the year:
Self-reflection (January)
Inventory (January)
Measure, Prevent, and Adjust (Daily, Weekly, or Monthly)
Final Review (December)
Let’s now talk about the next step in this journey.
Step 2: Inventory
This step may take a few hours to a few weeks, depending on how much planner stuff you have and how detailed you want to be in collecting this information.
But let me warn you first.
I’m not going to lie, this step sucks.
It’s exactly what you think it is.
And if you’re like me (with tons of planner supplies…just remember I’ve been in this space for over 20 years now), you have a lot to do. There may be dread, fear, frustration, and pain involved in completing this task.
However, it’s going to be OK. You’ll get through it and you’ll be OK.
In addition, you can use this step to your advantage. I’ll come back to that.
As you’ve probably guessed right now, this is a step where you take inventory of all of the planner supplies you already own.
And if you’re anything like me, you’ve never done this before. Because it’s time-consuming. Or scary. Because if anyone really knew how many *unused* notebooks you have, they might think…
<ahem>
At a minimum, you’ll need a pen and a notebook (none of us has any of those supplies, right? 😏). If you want to get fancy and detailed, you’ll need a computer.
What is the goal of this treacherous exercise? To help you understand what you already have. It might sound daunting and absolutely like your worst nightmare, but it’s one of the most beneficial tasks you’ll take on for this strategy.
Why? Because, self-awareness, remember? It will help you understand what you have collected (hoarded?) and not lose sight of it in your next moment of weakness. So when you get ready to push that “Buy” button, you’ll think twice…because you already have 32 rolls of washi tape. You don’t need another one. You just want it…but you already committed to not spending unnecessarily.
And this task does have tangible benefits. Every time I rummage through any of my bins of supplies, I end up finding things that I forgot I bought years ago. So think of it as a challenging exercise, but one with little unexpected rewards along the way.
If that reasoning doesn’t work…think of this as an opportunity. You can start a planner supply inventory list that you can maintain forever. Or, at a minimum, you’ll get an idea of what you have right now. Remember that fountain pen you bought 4 years ago? No? Well, now you’ll be forced to see it. Maybe you’ll even want to break it in.
In addition, it’s an opportunity to purge. Want to get rid of stuff? Make a pile of stuff you want to destash or give away. Did you know other planners will pay money for your used stuff?
Finally, it’s an opportunity to organize. Want to arrange your supplies better? Do that as you create your inventory list. Knock out two tasks at once!
This is a time of inventory, purge, awareness, and so much more.
The most minimalistic way to do this is to create a simple list. On that list, you’ll want to tally a quantity, the manufacturer name, description of the item, and a model/color/dominating trait. So for example, you might write down:
“1 TWSBI ECO Fountain Pen, Silver”
You also need to decide if sets should be listed together or broken up into each part. A set, if kept together as one item on the inventory list, could look like:
“1 Set of Zebra Mildliners, 5 highlighters, Bold theme”
But you can take this to whatever level makes sense for you. And you can store your list in whatever system makes sense for you. If you want to maintain your inventory list over time and easily search it, I recommend storing your list in a computer program like Excel, Google Sheets, Notion, etc.
Categories To Consider
I have a comprehensive stash that started in my early twenties in an adjacent hobby called “paper crafting”. Due to this, I have tons of “categories” of supplies. I decided to record my stuff in a spreadsheet to make it easier to search later.
Here are some of the categories I came up with, in case they help you:
Planner covers (and note the size - in fact, you might want to include a separate column for size/type/model)
Notebooks (note the size and paper type)
Planners (note the size, year, if dated, and paper type)
Stickers (note the purpose: decorative, functional, etc.)
Washi tape
Pens (note the type: fountain pen, ballpoint, etc.)
Fountain pen inks
Stamps
Stamp pads
Stamp pad refill inks
Markers/highlighters
Planner inserts
Pouches/pen cases
Planner cover embellishments (charms, strings, clips, etc.)
Cutters (different types of scissors, punches, etc.)
Tools (printers, cutting machines, etc.)
Adhesives
Figure out what works best for how you think about your planner supplies.
Feeling overwhelmed? That’s expected with this exercise and it’s completely normal. I would recommend taking a look at Instagram reels and/or YouTube videos to see how others have done this themselves. The planner influencer Mark Fig (of Mark.Your.Pages) recently did a series of Instagram stories on how he put together his comprehensive inventory. Hint: he uses a software database to catalog his extensive stash.
But you don’t need all that. You could just get a pen and paper, put 3 columns across the top, and only document quantity, manufacturer, and item if that helps you feel less stressed.
“3 TWSBI Fountain Pens”
What’s the most successful inventory strategy?
The one that you’ll actually use!
RANDOM FUN FACT: I have over 100 unused Field Notes notebooks. 😱
All posts in this “A Plan For a Low Spend Planner Year” series: