One Frugal Thing — My Daily Planner
by Katy on June 5, 2025 · 27 comments
I started using a Mossery brand daily planner in 2020, as they were sold at a neighborhood store and I liked the size and configuration of the calendar pages. I also appreciated how you didn’t have to replace the entire thing each year, as they sell replacement inserts to tuck into their reusable covers. I learned that this specific planner helped me to stay organized and productive on a daily basis, which is how I became brand loyal.
Then I figured out that you can get a full year and a half from the planners by purchasing the blank pages instead of the calendar pages, so I switched over to that in 2021. Yes it took an hour or so to draw a calendar grid on each page, but I’m never one to shy away from a time consuming frugal hack!
My hack job calendar is a few weeks from running out, so I drove down to the store last week for a fresh blank insert only to discover that they’d closed their brick and mortar and don’t sell the blank inserts on their website. I even went to the Mossery website only to discover that the shipping on a single planner was $24.98, so I started a new plan from scratch.
Deep breath, Katy . . .
My friend Rosalie and I happened to walk over to a local consignment shop the other day, where I discovered that they had an entire shelf dedicated to nothing but used blank books. I chose one big enough for my over the top daily to-do lists, yet small enough to fit in my purse.
This $3 specimen fit the bill.
It took me a couple of hours to transform it from a blank book into a daily planner, but it was satisfying work and justified the binge watching of some old ER episodes. My current calendar still has a few weeks before it runs out of pages, but I’m now ready for that event.
I put way too much research into sourcing a not expensive planner replacement, but am ridiculously happy with my $3 solution. I didn’t overspend, I didn’t support that Schmeff Schmezos guy and I got to exercise my creative muscle! I love nothing more than figuring out frugal solutions to everyday problems.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
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{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
Love it! Way too go!
Thank you!
I love this! I recently made my own journal with papers and materials I had around the house. I love it so much I will likely do the same when it’s time for a new daily planner as well.
Even better to use what you already had!
Could you share the name of the shop you referred to? I live in Portland and will soon be in need of a new notebook. 🙂 If you don’t feel comfortable…email me?
The store was “Little OTSU” on Division, although they’ve switched to online only. You can order from their website and pick it up at the store that took over their space, which I think is called “Secret Store.”
I‘be been doing something similar since I discovered Bullet Journaling years ago. I’m not fancy, but have tailored it to my needs, which was what I needed/wanted. I used to use a composition book, but now do a weekly version on the computer and print it out.
So smart!
Love your solution. Very inspiring. My heart goes pitter-patter over planners.
My daily/weekly/monthly planner currently has this entry in all caps, but I won’t shout here: “Finish the damn house projects!” It’s also highlighted in yellow for effect. I’m weary of our house to-do list, but overall it’s getting smaller, although this week we added the joyful tasks associated with a leaking shower. There’s a rental cottage down the street I purposely walk past so I can dream of a potentially simpler existence.
The start of every week I write in my planner “Carry Forward Last Week’s (Month’s)(Year’s) House Projects”. :-{
I feel your pain. Just when I think we have made good progress towards finishing our house projects something else comes up – in June it was a new screeching noise during part of the dishwasher cycle which I have been reliably informed means the recirculating pump is on its way out and since it is not worth repairing given the cost …
I, too, am heavily dependent on my daily calendar/to-do list but this year that took me in the opposite and non-frugal direction from you. I was looking for a new datebook and I found one with a padded and embossed cover that looks like the inside of a library with shelves. Some of the books show the spines and others the front covers. And the books are various colors. I get so much pleasure every single time I use the datebook, that it is worth every penny to feel like I am interacting with a fine old painting each day. I’ll be frugal in other ways…
1. Turned my school van in for the summer today. (I don’t live far from where the vans and busses are kept, and we only have 1 car so my boss lets me keep it at home during the school year.) Last night I swept out all the dirt and cleaned all the seats and windows on the inside. After my last student this morning, I took the van to the car wash to hose it off – just rinse off the dirt. $3. Found 50 cents at the car wash, so only $2.50 out of my pocket.
2. Found a $10 bill yesterday!
3. In the process of baking a batch of “Heart Healthy Muffins.” Considering the only truly “healthy” thing about them is that it uses egg whites equivalent to 4 eggs, I’m not spending money to buy egg whites and I’m not wasting the yolk..
I just use 4 whole eggs. The recipe uses an entire 20 oz box of raisin bran, but I can only find 18 oz (national brands) or 22 oz (store brand), I just use the 22 oz store brand and it works just fine. The recipe makes approximately 6 dozens regular size muffins or 12 dozen minis. I make the minis and freeze them.
3.5. Only had 1 mini muffin pan until recently. One of my parents (kid’s dad is a doctor, family is Pakistani, very nice people) gave me a VERY GENEROUS end-of-school year gift which included a $50 Amazon card, a $25 Dunkin Donuts card and a $25 Panera card among other trinkets. I bought myself a set of 2 silicone mini muffin pans and a 1/2 sheet baking pan. I will pass on my old mini muffin pan to Salvation Army. Still usable, but best used for maybe an artist’s pallet to put various colors of paint in them. It has definitely seen better days.
4. I don’t own a cooling rack for cakes/cookies/bread/muffins, etc. I do what my mother always did…linen dish towels to the rescue! I have those and they don’t take nearly the space cooling racks would. One less gadget in my tiny kitchen.
5. Wild turkey (NOT THE KIND IN THE BOTTLE – THE KIND WITH FEATHERS) in the crock pot for supper. When I cook turkey or chicken, I use cheap white wine instead of broth or water for the liquid. Didn’t have quite enough wine left today; however, I put some water in the bottle and gave it a good shake in order to rinse out that last little bit of wine.
Woo hoo on your #2, Melissa! I love finding bills.
And re: your #5, I now find myself wondering how a wild turkey with some Wild Turkey (the kind in the bottle) would taste.
I think you should use Wild Turkey 101 for that.
Forgot..
my husband and I use a free calendar app so we have it at all times on our phone. (No, it’s not Google Calendar.). The appis called Team Up. Appointments, or other tasks, can be color coded. My appointments are in ref, my husband’s are in green, if both of us have to go, it’s in blue. We introduced friends of ours to the app and they also have a color for their dog’s appointments. One person has to be the “administrator of the app, but you can download the app to everyone’s phone in your family and color code each person. If one of us is at a doctor appointment, for example, and needs a follow-up appointment, we can easily see all appointments each other has and schedule accordingly without interference.
Since we returned from mini vacation a bit heavier on the scale and lighter in our finances we been eating leftovers and smaller portions.
My cardio rehab has ended so I joined the local wellness center $15/mo. My cross trainer shoes need replacing as there’s not much cushion left. I was able to find a pair of Merrells marked down at the hospital gift shop. I was at the hospital to take in an EOB that shows I don’t owe $69 from a test last June.
Stopped by a dog rescue garage sale and snagged several
new with tag items. I’ve listed. If they don’t sell, they’ll make great gifts and I’m only out $10
My journaling/record-keeping system is probably more complicated than it needs to be, but I’m rocking the privilege of being old and set in my ways.
(1) I used to buy weekly planners for my daily journaling, but I’m now using any old blank book or notebook I can find or am given by a friend.
(2) I use a small Anne Taintor binder (“It’s so complicated being me”), for which I can find replacement loose-leaf pages, for my container deposit/found change records.
(3) And I use a spiral-bound “Decomposition Notebook” (recycled paper, etc.) for my monthly to-do lists. DH ripped the back cover off this one during one of his “not responsible for his own actions” phases in the later years, but I just work from the back for the lists.
Had to look up Anne Taintor. Love! I use a “Franken planner”. Calendar pages I punch to fit into an old happy planner.
Poor Wednesday! “Wednesday’s child is full of woe”
I’ve never had a day planner but it looks nice. I’d probably do better with post it notes stuck everywhere but I don’t do that either. I’ve always jotted things down on scraps of paper. But paper and pencils/pens are not around much anymore so I use my phone. It amazed me when I realized I don’t even have to type anything just tell it what to write and it does.Oh these modern contraptions.
I finally broke down and bought a dry erase calender to go on the freezer door at eye level after DH retired because he was no longer using the Outlook calendar from work to keep up with his bazillion medical appointments.
For everything else I have a little metal notepad with miniature pen and refill paper pads. Bought it many years ago at the drug store.
I’ve been using blank books from the thrift shop for a few years now — and they work great! I do mine on Jan. 1st or 2nd of each year, adding birthdays, anniversaries, etc. as well as Important Events (like Husband’s retirement). It doesn’t take that long, and reminds me what’s due when, as well.
(I also add an extra blank page for every month for scribbling down notes, future deadlines, etc., as they come.
My current calendar is in a beautiful hardbacked Monet blank book. It’s a pleasure to look at it every time I use it.
I also keep a financial count for every month in a separate notebook — one of those blackbound ones kids get at the beginning of the school year. Every month — income and expenses, broken down into categories — plus income tax results, royalties from book sales, etc. It’s a huge help to be able to turn to whatever month I need, and just check when questions come up. It also keeps us aware of how we’re spending.
What a great way to use blank books. It’s one of those things people give as gifts, and I never end up using them because:
* Nothing seems “worthy”
* I don’t want anyone to stumble across my inner thoughts
They usually end up going to the free library. I see a lot of them at the bins! I’ve been cleaning out my kids’ rooms, in preparation for their summer homecoming, and they have lots of blank books too!
I’m more inclined to try electronic ways of keeping track of things. Either that, or I keep everything in my head. Really, I’m married to an organized person who reminds me where I need to be.
My one frugal thing today was riding my bike 4 miles round trip to the library in order to see the look of joy on my grandson’s face when I got on video chat with him and told him that I had NEW BOOKS. It was so worth it. When I showed him the first book and asked if he would like me to read it, he said, “I would love that”. (He just turned 4).
I usually find a free calendar that I can use as a daily planner. It does not have a lot of room to write in the box for each day, but I make it work. Some years someone will give me their extra calendar. This year I found a few extra calendars at the senior center. I helped myself to one.
I’m here for it.
I love this! I discovered a couple of years ago that I like the satisfying feeling of finishing a list, highlighting each task and then ripping the whole paper up when I’m done. I now have an Enormous Pad of Already Used Paper (TM) that is paper (old school papers of my son, backs of mail) that I turn into a pad using two binder clips and an old piece of cardboard. It’s a scratch pad for all of my many business/life tasks and can be as messy as it needs to be. When I’m done for the day, I rip it up and put it in our paper recycling.
I use a digital calendar for everything else, but this works as a free and eco way to get my tasks done without wasting “new” paper.
I have also made a pile of my son’s old school notebooks that still have pages in them, which I will be using as my journal for the next year. He needs fresh ones in the fall, but these ones have plenty of pages left.