Ep #250: Out of the Weeds + Listener Q&A: Processing Paper, Ideas for Digital/Paper Hybrid Systems, Planner Peace from NZ, and Visualizing Summer

May 12, 2025

In today’s episode, you can tell I’m feeling a lot better than I did last week! I share the strategies that got me feeling much less “in the weeds”, including airtight task capture and inbox cleaning, plus monthly work planning.

Then, I share a Planner Peace segment from Ross in NZ, who uses mostly digital tools plus a paper daily and has an incredibly well-thought-out and organized overall ecosystem!

After that is the May Q&A! Topics include:

  • Finding planners with affordable shipping to AUS and NZ
  • Handling incoming papers without letting them overcrowd your desk
  • Planner suggestions for a daily with decent-sized hour markings that go from 5a – 9p (my ideas: Hemlock & Oak, Full Focus, Ink + Volt)
  • Suggestions for getting back into planning for someone with more limited use of her writing hand
  • Ideas for visualizing the summer as a whole (my ideas: Essential Calendar (affiliate – use code BESTLAIDPLANS for 10% off; summer spreadsheet in Apple Notes/Google Sheets/Notion/etc!)

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14 Comments

  • Reply Jane C May 12, 2025 at 12:28 pm

    Congratulations on episode #250!! 👏🏼 What an incredible milestone, Sarah.
    Whenever you’re ready, your NZ fan base is totally up for hosting BLP Live – International Edition. Laura can bring her kids as well, it would be amazing! oxo

  • Reply K May 12, 2025 at 3:21 pm

    For the listener who suffered an injury which affects writing, can I suggest experimenting with voice to text on phone/tablet? I find it suits some aspects of planning more than others – good for lists, haven’t tried it so much for calendar events, but it’s definitely worth playing around with to see what works for you.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 12, 2025 at 4:17 pm

      oh great idea for our listener K! Thank you!

  • Reply Yukun Wu May 12, 2025 at 11:02 pm

    Well, I’m glad that you are out of the weeds now, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger, and of course, the bonus is that you get to share it right on Ep. 250 – which is a very special episode and a milestone as far as I’m concerned. The methods that eventually got you out of the weeds are valuable, too.
    I do think it makes sense that if you cannot get to all of the questions in this episode, you go through more questions in the next episode. Now, I would like to help out the fellow listener who has her right arm injured and hence her ability to write compromised, but, you see, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger, only when you and I meet in person or have a video meeting together can I demonstrate how I write with my right hand for a few words, and then switch to my left hand to write a few words, and generally switching between writing with my right hand and writing with my left hand. I’d like to know how you’d like me to go from there, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger.
    I didn’t previously know the procedures for submitting planner peaces. I’ll look for that in the past episodes of the podcast.
    And no, I don’t think you’re getting old, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger. But then I realized what you meant is that you eye sight is now reduced. In that case, I think it’s true that you don’t need to force yourself to read texts that are smaller than a certain font size.

  • Reply A May 14, 2025 at 2:11 am

    Great episode! For the listener looking for Australia/NZ planners, May Paper Co is a great option. I live in the US but have been using their inserts this year and have really loved them. They have great paper and lots of layouts to choose from.

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 14, 2025 at 9:12 am

      oh thank you for the tip!!!

    • Reply Jane C May 15, 2025 at 4:33 am

      Thanks for sharing this tip. Their aesthetic looks right up my alley! 💛

  • Reply Sophie May 14, 2025 at 5:02 am

    Great to hear you are getting out of the weeds Sarah! I thought I’d respond to the question around more affordable shipping costs for Aus/NZ. As an Aussie, here are a couple of suggestions of Australian stockists/planners that might have more friendly shipping to NZ. (Worth noting that $26 USD from Erin Condren is currently about $50 AUD/NZD so that’s still a lot for postage!)
    Planners Avenue are Australian and stock Erin Condren and Happy Planners among others: https://plannersavenue.com
    Simply Planned is an Australian Stockist of Erin Condren: https://simplyplanned.com.au/
    Curation by Saint Belford is an Australian (book bound) planner that I like: https://www.saintbelford.com.au/
    Whistle and Birch are Australian and have lovely customisable (coiled) planners: https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/WhistleAndBirch
    Clever Fox is an international planner on Amazon Australia that has reasonable postage as well.
    Hope that helps!
    Cheers,
    Sophie

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger May 14, 2025 at 9:12 am

      Ooh this is awesome! I am going to share on an upcoming ep with our NZ listener!!

    • Reply Jane C May 15, 2025 at 4:35 am

      This is such a thoughtful post, Sophie, thank you! There look to be some real gems in there that I had no idea about. Can’t wait to explore – eeekkk! 😃

  • Reply Laura May 14, 2025 at 4:17 pm

    Hi Sarah! Loved the episode, do you have a link to the notion template you referenced?

  • Reply Tina May 16, 2025 at 6:10 am

    For the listener from NZ/AUS – one option is if they know of a specific planner they want, they can Google for shops in the NZ/AUS that sell the particular planner they are interested in or even (dare I say it), Amazon. I’ve found shops locally (in the UK and the US) that have on hand brands like Hobinichi, Erin Condrin, etc. They often will mail out even if you aren’t in the same city. You can Google stationary and bookstores for options. For the listener who wants a planner with large or darker headers, this probably seems obvious, but if you find a planner you like, but the numbers, letters, seem a bit too light or small, you can highlight (for example with a Mildliner or other brand, especially in a fluorescent colors) and it helps makes the headers easier to read. Again, I hope that’s ins’t an insulting suggestion, but it does help.

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