How to make your own printable planner pages: Tutorial for Beginners

We all love to customise our planners and that’s why we all need printable planner pages. It can be anything: note pages, trackers, additional planner sections, menu pages, recipe pages, memory keeper pages and many more.

In this step-by-step tutorial, we’ll unravel the art of printing and cutting planner pages, transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary. Whether you’re a seasoned planner pro or stepping into the world of organization for the first time, get ready to embark on a journey of creativity, customization, and effective planning.

In a world where one size doesn’t fit all, the beauty lies in crafting a planner that resonates with your unique style, goals, and preferences. This tutorial is your guide to turning plain pages into a personalized planner oasis, a space where your plans, dreams, and daily musings seamlessly come together.

So, gather your enthusiasm, spark your creativity, and let’s dive into the wonderful universe of DIY planning, where every page is a canvas waiting for your personal touch. Whether you’re creating your own pages, exploring a trove of free printables, or investing in premium designs, this tutorial is your passport to planner perfection. Let’s get started on this exciting journey of crafting your very own planner haven!

WHAT PAGES TO ADD TO YOUR PLANNER

Now that you’ve decided to embark on the journey of crafting your own planner, the possibilities are as vast as your imagination. The beauty of personalization lies in tailoring your planner to meet your unique needs and preferences. Here are some key pages you might want to consider adding to your planner for a comprehensive and customized experience:

1. Monthly Calendars: Start your planner with a bird’s eye view of each month. Monthly calendars are your go-to pages for important dates, deadlines, and upcoming events. Whether you prefer a traditional grid layout or a more artistic design, the choice is yours.
2. Weekly Pages: Dive into the nitty-gritty of your schedule with weekly planner pages. These layouts allow you to break down your tasks, appointments, and goals for each week, helping you stay organized and on top of your game.
3. Daily Planner Pages: If you thrive on the details of each day, consider adding daily planner pages. These sheets offer ample space for hourly schedules, to-do lists, and reflections, ensuring no task is overlooked.
4. Goal Trackers: Turn your planner into a goal-setting powerhouse with dedicated goal tracker pages. Whether you’re aiming for fitness milestones, career achievements, or personal growth, these pages keep your goals in clear view.
5. Habit Trackers: Foster positive habits by incorporating habit tracker pages. Whether it’s a fitness routine, water intake, or daily reading, these trackers help you stay accountable and celebrate small victories.
6. Project Planning Pages: For those juggling multiple projects, project planning pages provide a dedicated space to outline tasks, timelines, and milestones. Keep your projects on track with these purposeful additions.
7. Meal Planning and Grocery Lists: Elevate your planning game by adding meal planning and grocery list pages. Plan your weekly meals, jot down needed ingredients, and streamline your grocery shopping experience.
8. Budgeting Pages: Take control of your finances with budgeting pages. Track your income, expenses, and savings goals to ensure financial stability and peace of mind.
9. Note Pages: Unleash your creativity and spontaneity with blank note pages. Whether it’s doodles, ideas, or random thoughts, these pages are a canvas for your imagination.
10. Self-Care Pages: Prioritize self-care by adding dedicated pages for wellness activities, gratitude lists, or inspirational quotes. Create a holistic planner that nurtures your mind, body, and soul.

Remember, the beauty of crafting your own planner lies in the freedom to mix and match pages based on your lifestyle and goals. Tailor your planner to reflect the unique tapestry of your life, making each page a meaningful addition to your planning journey.

WHERE TO GET PRINTABLE PLANNER PAGES

Now that you’re ready to embark on your planning journey, where can you find the perfect pages? You have a few options: create your own, explore free printable planner pages, or opt for premium designs. The choice depends on your creativity, time availability, and budget.

Creating Your Own Planner Pages

Dive into the world of creativity by making your planner pages from scratch. If you enjoy design or have specific preferences that you can’t find elsewhere, this option allows you to craft pages tailored to your exact specifications.

Crafting your own planner pages is always an option, especially when it comes to note pages without intricate graphics. It’s a straightforward process – simply select the appropriate sheet of paper, cut it to match your planner size, and punch the necessary holes. Personalizing your planner becomes a breeze with this hands-on approach, allowing you to tailor each page to your exact preferences and needs.

Design software, such as Adobe InDesign and Adobe Illustrator, powerful tools for crafting own printables with unique design elements. Perfect for designing everything from a digital planner to an own DIY planner, this is where your creativity as a graphic designer shines. You’ll learn to create everything from a single page to complex planner designs. If you want to keep your planning on budget, the best alternative is free applications like Canva. Unleash your artistic side and customize layouts, colors, and styles to match your unique vision.

Get Free Printable Planner Pages

If you’re not keen on adding plain sheets to your planner or if graphic design applications aren’t your cup of tea, dive into a world of free planner printables and planner templates available online. You can easily find a range of budget-friendly or even free printable planner pages right here on this website. It’s a hassle-free way to enhance your planner with stylish and functional pages without the need for graphic design skills.

Our platform, for instance, provides a collection of free printable planner pages, including monthly calendars, habit trackers, and more. Explore the variety and download the pages that resonate with your planning style. Here is a list of planner page types you can find in our Freebie Catalog:

Follow further instructions to print and cut our free printable planner inserts.

WHAT PLANNERS ARE SUITABLE FOR PRINTABLE PLANNER PAGES

Printable planner pages are incredibly versatile and can be integrated into various planners. Whether you have a Happy Planner, a store-bought planner, or even a digital planner like Goodnotes, these pages can seamlessly enhance your planning experience. The key is compatibility and personal preference. Tailor your printed pages to fit your best planner type, whether it’s a classic Happy Planner, any other discbound planner, or a stylish binder planner.

The Happy Planners or discbound planners

If you’re a fan of The Happy Planner system or other discbound planners, printable pages are your best friend. They seamlessly integrate with the disc system, allowing you to customize your planner with ease. The flexibility of adding and rearranging pages makes discbound planners an ideal canvas for your own printable creations.

In my view, when it comes to planner binding systems, the discbound setup takes the cake for simplicity and customization. With a discbound planner, you have the flexibility to add or change pages, dividers, tabs, and covers effortlessly. It’s a fully customizable system that allows you to tailor your planner according to your preferences. Plus, if you ever run out of space for new printable planner pages, a quick switch to larger discs provides an easy solution.

Being a devoted enthusiast of The Happy Planner, I’ve ensured that all my free printable planner pages cater to every Happy Planner size. However, if you’re venturing into creating your own printable planner pages, you might find The Happy Planner Page Size Chart a handy resource.

Ringbound planners

Ringbound planners, with their adjustable and refillable nature, welcome printable planner pages with open arms. You can simply punch holes in your printed pages and insert them into your ringbound planner. This versatility ensures that you can tailor your planner to suit your unique needs and preferences.

It offers a comparable level of convenience to a disc bound system, with the only difference being that you need to open and close rings in a ring bound setup – not a major hassle. If you’re the proud owner of a ring bound planner, you have the liberty to add extra pages and truly personalize your planner. However, keep in mind not to go overboard, as in many cases, you can’t extend the rings of your planner.

Various brands such as Filofax, kikki.K, Carpe Diem, and more embrace the ringbound system for their planners. Each brand utilizes different page sizes, making it challenging to create printable planner pages for every existing planner. Nevertheless, I incorporate the A4 page size into all my free printable inserts, providing you with the flexibility to use them for any planner with the same page ratio (A5, A6).

Coilbound and hardbound planners

Certainly, adding an extra page to a planner with a binding system like disc or ring makes the process more straightforward. However, even if your planner doesn’t permit adding extra pages conventionally, there’s a nifty workaround. You can simply place your planner insert over an existing page, essentially using it as a large full-page sticker. Another great way to add some customisation to a coilbound and hardbound planners is to print your pages on a standard size, trim them to fit, and glue them into your planner. This way, you can incorporate additional content and make your planner more versatile. It’s a bit more permanent, but it adds a touch of personalization to your structured planner setup.

WHAT PAPER TO CHOOSE

Picking the right paper is crucial for your own printables, whether you’re making them for a personal planner or a store-bought planner. Ultimately, the right paper choice enhances the quality and usability of your planner, making it a more personal and enjoyable tool for organization.

Paper size

What paper size to choose totally depends on what country you live in. If you are from USA, Canada or Mexico, more likely the most common paper size will be US Letter paper size (8.5*11 in / 21.5*27.94 cm). For the rest of the world it’s A4 paper size (21*29.7 cm / 8.3*11.7 in).

If you still not sure what paper size you have to use, check your printer information.

I would recommend using one of these standard sizes for my free printable inserts, as the planner pages are alined by the centre of the paper sheet for double side printing.

My free printable planner pages come in two sizes – for US Letter and A4. The paper size is mentioned in the file name. For example, Printable-Name-Letter.pdf or Printable-Name-A4.pdf. Choose the correct file according to your paper size.

Paper weight

If paper is thin, it’s more likely that graphics and even writing will show through to the other side. To avoid it use a heavier paper. The best paper weight for The Happy Planner is 28 lb / 105 g/m², but you can also use 32 lb / 120 g/m².

Paper type

There are two paper types available: matte and glossy. Glossy paper is shinier and silkier, while matte paper has a more muted feel to it. It’s nice to touch glossy paper, but if you write in a gel pen or a fine pen on it, your writing will be smeared. Matte paper definitely goes better for the writing purpose.

Apart from that, almost certainly, pages in your planner are matte. In the case with The Happy Planner it’s 100% sure. It’s good to use matte paper for extra planner pages to keep your planner look cohesive.

Paper color

You will be surprised, but white color can be very different. There is a scale of brightness (1-100) to indicate how white paper is. The bigger the number of brightness the whiter paper color is. For planner pages it is better to choose brightness about 100 to have really white paper, otherwise pen ink can look dull on your pages.

Indeed, for most planner pages you will use white color paper, but it can be a great idea to print some monochrome graphics on colored paper. It’s always worth a try.

Printer type

It’s really important to know what type of printer you have – inkjet or laserjet. Although many paper brands are suitable for both of these types, some of papers are compatible only with inkjet or laserjet printers.

My recommendations

I really love HP papers. I use it almost for all my printing and have several types of it with different paper weights.

For printable planner pages I would recommend HP Printer Paper 28lb. This heavyweight 100 bright paper Letter size is optimized for high quality printing in all inkjet and laser printers and copiers.

HOW TO PRINT

You will get a Printing Instruction with every printable page kit from My Cozy Planner.

A comprehensive guide on using your home printer to produce own printables, ensuring high-quality printed pages without resorting to a print shop. This section covers everything from selecting the right page size to understanding how your own printer prints and the importance to run a test print for ensuring perfect results.

All my free printable planner pages are in multi-pages PDF files. After choosing the right file according to your paper size (Printable-Name-Letter.pdf or Printable-Name-A4.pdf), you have to decide what page of the file you need to print. You can find the list of intuitively understandable names of pages on the 1st page of your PDF file. Check the image below.

You can open the PDF file for printing in any PDF reader application or even in your web browser. For the screenshot below I used Chrome browser to open the file and make printing setting.

These settings should be enough for simple printing:

1. Choose your printer in the section Destination.
2. Select Customised option for the section Pages.
3. Type the number of the page you want to print. Choose the right page from the list on the 1st page of your PDF file.
4. Leave Default settings for the section Scale. Otherwise your printed page will not match to your planner size.

You can also go for Print Using System Dialog option if you need to adjust more settings. The settings in this dialog box can vary for different printers.

Sometimes you may want to have your planner page printed on both sides. Some printers can flip a paper sheet automatically (check your printer settings), but for most of them you have to print the first page side and manually flip it over and print the second one. It is important to place the paper sheet in the right position for the second page printing, otherwise the page can be printed upside down relative to the first one.

In most cases you do not need the same planner printable on both page sides, unless it is Note Pages. As an option, you can combine 2 different planner printables on one sheet of paper. For example, on one side it can be Sleep Tracker, on another side you can print Mood Tracker or My Cozy Notes page.

HOW TO CUT

Let’s dive to mastering the art of cutting your own planner pages for a beautifully crafted personal planner.

All printable planner pages are rectangle shapes. Hence, you can easily cut them out with any tool you have, even scissors, which you almost certainly have at home. There are several other ways to cut pages out, which provide better cut quality, but they require some special tools. All these methods are overviewed below:

1. With scissors
2. With a paper knife
3. With a paper trimmer
4. With a cutting machine

With the first three methods you will get rectangle shape pages for the planner size you have. But you still have to make holes with a punch for your planner binding system. If you are the lucky owner of a cutting machine you can cut your planner page with needed holes directly, without using extra tools.

Note: If you use The Happy Planner Big, you don’t have to do any cutting, as Big pages are already Letter size. Just print the right page on US Letter paper size and make holes.

With scissors

Cutting your free printables with scissors adds a personal touch to your own DIY planner. This is also the most affordable way to cut your pages out, as probably every household has scissors or it’s very easy to buy it in a next-door store. But be ready that the cut quality will be not the best, because it totally depends on your hands’ movements. The cut line can turn to the wrong direction or jagged edges can occur.

How to cut with scissors

• Simply cut out the printable planner pages with your favorite scissors along the grey dotted line

The safest scissors which never rust – Slice Ceramic Scissors

With a paper knife

For more precise cuts in your own printable planner, a paper knife is a great tool. Learn the techniques for clean, straight cuts, especially useful for single pages or intricate planner designs.

This is another tool you probably have at home. It’s also a very affordable device and can be bought in any supermarket. Additionally you have to use a ruler for the best result. The cut line turns out very straight and does not have any snags.

You can accidentally cut a surface where your planner page is placed. To avoid this, it’s good to use a Self Healing Cutting Mat while cutting planner pages by a paper knife.

How to cut with a paper knife

• Place your printable planner page on a cutting mat
• Align a ruler with the grey dotted line
• Simply cut out the pages with your favorite paper knife along the ruler edge

The safest paper knife which never rust – Slice Ceramic Paper Knife

With a paper trimmer

A more professional way to cut printable planner pages it’s to cut them with a paper trimmer. You can cut several pages at once with one movement, which can save your time, if you cut paper often. The cut quality is very high. You will get the perfect edges and exactly the same page sizes for all pages.

There can be only one problem – you might not have a paper trimmer at home. If it’s like this, have a look at affordable and easy in use Fiskars Craft Paper Trimmer.

How to cut with a paper trimmer

• Align a paper sheet with your trimmer’s rulers
• Simply cut out the pages with your favorite paper trimmer along the grey dotted line

HOW TO MAKE HOLES

Punch holes

Apart from printing and cutting you have to make holes on your printable planner pages. The hole shape depends on you planner binding system and can be:

• Mushroom shape for disc bound planners
• Round shape for ring bound planners

Mushroom holes

The best option to make mushroom shape holes for your The Happy Planner is to use The Happy Planner Paper Punch. This punch made especially for The Happy Planners. The holes are in a proper size and on proper distance from each other. The punch has marks on it, which helps you to place your planner page on the right position relatively to the cutters.

If you use planner inserts quite often, you really need this punch. You can buy it here The Happy Planner Big Paper Punch.

Alternatively, you can use a single hole punch like Aibecy KW-Trio. With this punch you still be able to make mushroom holes on planner pages, but you need to put marks on those places where the holes should be made.

Round holes

For this type of holes you can use any standard hole punch. But I believe that a single hole punch is more handy in use.

Cut holes with a cutting machine

If you don’t have The Happy Planner Punch but you have a cutting machine, you still can cut mushroom shape holes on printable planner pages. But you have to create cutting lines accordingly to your machine’s instructions.

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