August is the start of planner season so we thought we’d spend this week figuring out what planner style best suits you. We’ll be using the Clutterbug organizational categories to help figure out which planner style suits you.
If you’re not familiar with Clutterbug and her organizational system is quite an internet sensation. She has a a great YouTube channel, website, books and now her own organizational TV show on HGTV (Hot Mess House).
The Clutterbug organizational system is based on the idea that there is more than one way to organize your life and we here at The Desk believe the same idea applies to planners.
Stay with me here… I know this seems a little weird. You may not have ever thought about your organizational style (or even thought of yourself as being organized at all) but by playing along with us, we may be able to help you solve both your organizing and your planning system.
You might be wondering what we mean by all this. Over the last few weeks, Jesi, Jaclyn, Laura and I have been going through the Clutterbug organizational styles and it got us thinking not only about how we organize and clutter (or de-clutter) our homes. The more we talked it through, the more we realized how the Clutterbug organizational categories might also apply to planning styles.
What we have figured out over the last few weeks is that how we organize our physical objects can directly relate to how we organize our planning.
First, I recommend that you pop over and take the Clutterbug “What Clutterbug Are You?” Quiz. This will give you a jumping off point and then come back throughout the week to see our recommendations for planners and journals based on your Clutterbug style.
To give you a hint, I am a Ladybug, Jesi is a Bee and Laura is a Butterfly (Jaclyn is probably a butterfly but she’s been busy saving the world so she hasn’t taken the quiz yet). Since the three of us all ended up being different styles of organizers, we got to thinking how these styles of organizing might reflect in the type of planners that work best for us.
We lacked the perspective of a minimalist Cricket but we enlisted a friend of ours to be our token Cricket. She also likes planners so she was willing to give us her perspective.
Leave a comment and let us know which Clutterbug you are and come back this week as we run down each planner style.
Ladybug! And this sounds like fun.
I wasn’t expecting much, but the results of the quiz actually described me pretty well (I’m a bee) and provided some good advice.
hear that chirping? That’s me the Cricket
Butterfly… on steroids!
I’m a butterfly
oh wow. Looks like I am going to be in the minority–I am a CRICKET.
Looking forward to what the week brings.
8)
I found the quiz tricky—sometimes several answers fit, and sometimes none. I came out a butterfly, but after watching the videos on that and the bee, I’m definitely a bee.
I’m a bee!
I’m a cricket.
I’m a cricket too but I think I could answer the quiz very differently on another day.
Butterfly! I decided I wouldn’t try to learn about the other types yet because I am easily distracted, leading to confusion, and my totem animal is a squirrel!
Classic butterfly!
Definitely a bee. Looking forward to the planner recs in this series!
Butterfly poster child over here!
“Bees almost always come with a lot of stuff.” Ya think? 😉
Butterfly! Looking forward to this series; sounds like fun!
I’m a ladybug! This is fun.
I got cricket, though I think I also have bee tendencies.
I think that’s a fair cross over. Both bees and crickets like detailed organizational systems. Bees like to have things out when they are working on them and crickets will “pile” until they can make time to organize thoroughly.
Cricket here!
Well…I was given the Butterfly label. Some of the questions, I really couldn’t be sure just one answer.
I took the quiz twice with slightly different answers and still ended up as a ladybug. I think it’s possible for some folks to be one clutterbug with some leanings towards another. I’m a ladybug with bee tendencies I think.
I think many of us might slot into different categories depending on the situation. “Cricket in the kitchen, ladybug in the bedroom!” LOL.
I’m a Cricket! Definitely describes me and my planning style. “Crickets like very detailed and logical organizing systems which can sometimes take too much time to setup or too much work to use them properly.” I feel called out, haha!
I came out a bee but the description of a bee isn’t me.
I noticed that some of the questions none of the answers fitted at all. Others I could easily have picked all or most of them.
I can only say that you cannot classify people as neatly as this. Asking questions often lead to ideal or idealised answers. Also, you can’t ask the right questions for everyone. If this helps you that is a great outcome but if it doesn’t it can be frustrating.
In my case I’ll use different forms of organisation for different items? Keys,wallet and other very important day to day items get very specific storage locations. Keys very visual in the corridor leading to the front door and back door in a key basket. If any key isn’t there I will often get annoyed or almost distressed. I have to be able to see them. Wallet is more hidden but in a set spot. I’ll do that with other items but some locations look very cluttered and messy. Other times items have to be very minimal and tidied away but no also in set locations. Other items have no set locations for storage.
Put simply I think I fit into different clutterbug categories for different things. I can answer the quiz differently for each time I do it. Depends on my mindset when I do it I think? Perhaps I need an expert’s eye to see my place to define me properly not a quiz. I think I might also be ADHD so a lot of my quirks could be due to this and I suspect it makes me harder to define. I do have hoarder tendencies but also hyper organised tendencies (but these don’t work out because I always mess it up eventually).
I do wonder if there’s other similar quizzes that could work for me.
I agree that we all have areas in out lives where we may be more or less organized than others. The goal with this quiz and this series was to provide a possible tool for people who may want to think about planning and organizing in a different way.
Using the Clutterbug system to help with your planning wasn’t meant to stress anyone out. If the system doesn’t work for you or you already have all your planning figured out, just skip this series.
Butterfly here! And since they didn’t distinguish between neat and clean, I’m taking that with a grain of salt!
I’m a Bee!
I’m a cricket.
Apparently I’m a cricket!
I’m a Cricket…and I can’t argue with that. Luckily, I am doing some of these things. I’ve got different sized closed and open bins. There is a neat pile bin. Once it’s just an eye soar, it motivates me to deal with it.