Welcome to Plan With Ilysse!

Hello, and thank you for joining me on this fun new adventure! If you’ve made it this far, you likely already know that my name is Ilysse and I’m from New Jersey. I figured the best way to start would be to tell you a bit about myself and the way that I use my planners.

I was born and raised in New Jersey, in a small town about a half hour outside of New York City. I grew up with a love for stories- true stories, always choosing to read non-fiction over fiction. When I was in the car with my family, I’d always be looking out the window and seeing other drivers and passengers, wondering where they were going or coming from, what story they had to tell.

I always thought I’d be a high school English teacher. My major in college was Literature with a concentration in Creative Writing. At some point, that shifted away from working in a classroom, but what never shifted was my love for the written word.

Now, in my 30s, I work in digital marketing. I’m the Project Manager of a Digital Marketing Agency, where we build websites, create social media content, and optimize SEO.

When I’m not working, I love planning, budgeting, and spending time with my family and friends. I can’t wait to tell you more about my budgeting journey, but let’s start with just the intros today- That’s a much longer story!

I’m currently using four planners and one notebook. I know, that sounds like a lot! Here are each of my planners and how I use them:

Classic Vertical Wild Styled Happy Planner® – 18 Months

This planner is what is referred to as a catchall- The planner I use for everything- Whether I’m noting a birthday, daily to-do list, bill due date, or simply a reminder, to call a friend, this is where I go to first. I have a black snap-in hard cover on my planner, which I’ve been using since 2018.

Here is what this planner looks like, although it’s currently sold out on TheHappyPlanner.com. It may still be available at local stores!

BIG Vertical Happy Planner® – Marvelous Mosaics – 18 Months

This is the newest of my lineup, and is sort of my catchall also- The reason I currently have two catchall planners is because I can’t decide between the classic and the big! I’ve always used a classic sized planner and I’m not quite ready to give that up, but I do love how the big planner has more space, which offers me more room to write in things that come up throughout the week that I may not have originally planned for.

Here is what this planner looks like, although it’s currently sold out on TheHappyPlanner.com. It may still be available at local stores!

Classic Custom Happy Planner – Stay Wild – 12 Months

This planner is available in both a horizontal and vertical layout, and I use the horizontal layout for wellness and journaling. Each evening, I spend just a few minutes in my planner reflecting on the day and being mindful of my moods and mental health. The lines in the horizontal are perfect for keeping it short and sweet, and I can always add in more pages if I need the room.

This one is still available online! It started in July 2020, but it is very easy to re-date the planner if you’d like to start using it now.

Classic Dashboard Happy Planner® 

I always used to use a mini dashboard layout as my social media planner, but switched to a skinny planner in 2020. Now, I’m going back to a Classic Dashboard, as I’m in need of more space between Instagram, YouTube, and this website! I unfortunately can’t find this planner on TheHappyPlanner.com, so I’m not sure it’s still available.

Franken-Notebook- Happy Planner® 

You may have heard the term “Frankenplanner” floating around the planner community. A Frankenplanner is when you take pieces of different planners (dividers, inserts, cover, discs) and combine them to make your perfect planner. In my case, I use a Franken-Notebook, where I have custom dividers from Cloth & Paper and various inserts to organize areas of life such as budgeting, home, cleaning, goals, and more. I have a video on this below!

I know that 5ish planners seems like a lot- it is! I’ve tried a Frankenplanner system before where I have sections for each of the above categories all in one concise system, but ultimately learned that for me, it was better to separate each. Maybe I’ll go back to a condensed system eventually, but for now, this is working well for me!

Thank you so much for joining me on this fun new adventure. Please visit me on Instagram and YouTube for more, and I’ll see you again soon!