Planning is something I THRIVE on! I wouldn’t be where I am today without really, really good planning.
When I plan I feel in control, like I can tackle all the things that need to get done.
There’s a huge sense of accomplishment every time I mark something off my list. It feels great!
But can we talk about the outrageous prices of planners?
AGHHH!!
They’re SOOOO expensive and you use the worksheets up and it’s gone. You might as well set a match to your money. I’m so passionate about this, I started creating for myself a Household Binder. It’s printables that all help you organize your life, BUT, you can just reprint out the pages as needed FOR free (!!!) anytime you want. THIS is how it’s done! THIS is how to save money, first and foremost.
I created one binder and my audience wanted more. I now have a whole selection of binders in my store, which you can see here, to organize everything in your life for much cheaper than you’d get in the store AND, you can reprint them anytime you want to!!!
But that’s not all you can do to be saving money on planners, here are some tips for other methods and top ways to save money on planners.
Top Ways to Save Money on Planners
Have you gone to the store to buy a planner and no matter what you do, your bill seems to always end up above 50 dollars? That’s a lot, especially if you are trying to save money. I always like finding ways to have a frugal lifestyle and I assure you these top ways to save money on planners are great for you to keep your planning under control and in budget!
Buy digital over physical
I love buying digital products! I can access them instantly, plus I can buy them from the comfort of my own home. Every time you go to a store to buy a planner you’re not only spending money on the planner itself!
You’re being charged for the “convenience” of getting the planner at the store. Also, if you buy online, there’s shipping costs involved. Of course, the store needs to make money off their products, so all of those costs are translated to you, the consumer.
Most of the time, planners are dated and it’s just frustrating that you want to plan something and that planner is only good for a certain year. When you buy a digital product, you can make sure that the planner you buy is blank so it’s a ONE TIME purchase that you can re-use again and again and again!!
It’s also cheaper because you only need to print the pages that you want or need! Literally guys, I bought this physical planner online and it arrived at my home a while ago. I looked through it today and it has around 150 sheets of paper in there. I looked through it closer and guess what, when it boils down to it, it’s really only 9 different pages!!! It’s just repeated, over and over and over. I hate that. I don’t NEED 150 sheets of the SAME pages. That’s dumb!
It’s just a waste of paper AND money! Why not buy something I can print just what I need. No extra waste.
Search for Free Printables
I love Pinterest! But something I love even more are all the designers and bloggers that provide amazing printables for free!
If you search online for “Planner Free Printables” on Pinterest, you’ll see what I mean.
There’s awesome content for you to get lost and find free planners for you to keep track of everything.
Free printables are awesome!
Here at SarahTitus.com, I have several free planners you can download:
Consider the supplies you use for planning
Planning is more than just a planner. You’ll want to personalize it too. Stickers, markers, pens, and all those sort of things can add up quickly too.
However, if your tendency is to walk into a craft store for a pen and you come back with a whole bag of supplies, that’s not good on your wallet. And the more trips to the craft store that you take, the more you’ll bring home.
I had to start limiting the amount of times I go to the craft store. I was going every week and spending $50-$100 each visit. Now, I go once a month and spend about $50.
It’s so hard to walk away, I know, so limit the amount of time you’re there!
Use what you already have
Raise your hand if you have tons of cute notebooks, markers, stickers, or washi tapes somewhere in your home?
I get it. Sometimes we feel that a new planner or, new markers, and new stuff is going to help us get where we want to go: more organized, reach our goals more, but it’s not true.
Planning is a HABIT and it comes with practice. Getting that new supply isn’t going to make you hit that goal you want. You’ll hit that goal if you set a habit.
Use the supplies you have on hand already. I bet you already have most all of what you need to get started!
Go off brand
I love crafts and stationary supplies. Literally. I’m obsessed!
My heart just longs for those super cute markers, colors, stickers, and so on!
But unless you’re a designer and your profession really needs the real deal; you can just get almost the same products off brand.
In fact, truth be told, China has CUTER stuff than we have here. So, order on ebay from China. You’ll get cuter stuff and it’ll be a fraction of the price! Everyone will wonder where you got such cute stuff!
Buy through out the year
If you really want to buy physical planners and save money, you can try buying them halfway through the year – most planners (previous year) are on clearance for obvious reasons.
Also, right after the new year, most physical planners are on sale too.
Stores ordered an abundance of planners, and what didn’t sell is overstock and they mark them down.
Use your phone or computer
This is an amazing way to plan, with reminders and completely paperless; and virtually free if you already have a phone, email, and internet.
Did you know that most email providers – Google, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc – offer calendars with reminders for free?
I am the kind of girl that likes to have my digital planner and print what I like, but if you really like to keep everything on hand and set reminders, this option will save you tons of money.
Score high value coupons
In my area, Michael’s has a coupon every week in their ad for 40% off one item. If your planner is $27, 40% off that is $16.20. It makes it a lot more reasonable price-wise.
Likewise, Hobby Lobby has a coupon on their site that I pull up on my phone every time I’m in their store and they scan it at checkout.
Depending on their sales, sometimes it’s a 40% off coupon on the home page you can print and take the to store to use as well off one item.
Either way, check the home pages of your craft stores, sign up for their email lists, and look at their ads for discounts.
Create your own planner
If you have a knowledge of Photoshop, why not create your own planner templates?!
You can customize it any way you want and it’ll be your own design. Then, reprint it as needed.
You can even open up your own store and sell to others what you create!
In my Shopify store, I sell printables and in just my FIRST month of opening up my store, I sold $52,060 dollars in revenue. I’m not saying everyone can just go open up a store and make millions, but if you COULD make even an extra $500/month on something you literally spent time creating ONCE, wouldn’t you do it???
