My Favorite Planner Accessories (And How I Use Them)

This might be an unpopular opinion, buuuuut…

I don’t believe in decorating your planner just to decorate your planner.

If you’re spending all your time DECORATING your planner instead of DOING what’s written in it, you’re doing it WRONG.

When it comes to planner accessories, I believe in…

Keeping things super simple and intentional!!

But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in USING planner accessories to ENHANCE your planning practice!! In fact, I really hope you DO use them (and have fun with them). 🙃

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BEST, FAVORITE, AND NECESSARY SIMPLIFIED PLANNER ACCESSORIES

I’m a girl who LOVES office supplies and planner accessories.

When I was a kid, back-to-school shopping was my favorite time of year. Going to Staples to pick out all of my new color-coded binders, notebooks, and highlighters was better than Christmas to me!!

These days, office supply and planner accessory shopping from the comfort of my couch is my favorite thing ever!! I often tell people (somewhat jokingly) that office supplies are my love language and planner accessories are my middle name. 😍

Which is why I wanted to share my best, favorite, and necessary planner accessories to help you accessorize and use your planner in a pretty, practical, and productive way!!

In today’s post, I’m doing a deep-dive into the EXACT planner accessories I use in my Simplified Planner and HOW I keep things super simple, including how I color-code minimally, use stickers sparingly, and actually USE my planner to do EXACTLY what I bought it to do: keep my life and business organized, focused, and on track!!

PENS

I am incredibly picky about what pens I use in my Simplified Planner. (As the girl who was once the Goldilocks of Planners, what did you expect?!)

First and foremost, I only ever write in black ink. It’s a weird personal preference, I know, but I really think black ink looks cleaner than blue 🤷🏼‍♀️.

I do, however, use PINK PEN to check off my to-dos!! (This is so I can EASILY see what’s been done, and it looks like a CELEBRATION!! 🎉)

I also only use pens that I know won’t bleed through the page. Over the years, I’ve tried and loved Le Pens, Pilot G2 pens, Pilot Precise V5 pens, Simplified twist pens, Simplified gel pens, and my new favorite Simplified click pens!!

Side Note: I know many people use different color pens (like in the Gingham Gel Pen Set) to color-code their tasks and to-dos in their planner, but that makes my eyes and brain go crazy 🤪!! I actually prefer stickers to color-code my tasks, but I DO love to use different color pens, and highlighters when I’m brainstorming or outlining things on paper.

PEN CLIPS

After years of asking for pen loops on the planners, Simplified finally released something even better: pen clips!! These beautiful leatherette and shiny brass pen clips currently come in 3 solid colors and 2 new patterns: Blush, Navy, Evergreen, Misty Meadow, and Blue Pinstripe.

And they clip onto your favorite Simplified or Dapperdesk planners (both the Daily and Weekly versions) so you can keep your favorite pen with your favorite planner at all times!! 🤗

PAGE MARKERS

Simplified’s magnetic page markers are one of my all-time favorite planner accessories. For years, I used a “best day ever” page marker and loved attaching it to each daily page in turn so I could see the best day ever reminder every time I looked at my planner.

A few years ago, I decided to change things up and bought patterned page markers that either matched my planner or complemented my planner, and LOVED it!!

PAPER & BINDER CLIPS

I love using fancy gold paper clips in my Simplified Planner to mark pages I need to refer back to, and will occasionally use them to clip important papers (like coupons, letters, or notes) to certain days or even the monthly page spread.

My favorites are the Simplified hearts, stars, and pineapples. Gold paper clips, in general, make me pretty happy, though!!

THIS JUST IN: Simplified released NEW gold bow paper clips that are pretty much the CUTEST thing I’ve ever seen AND patterned binder clips with gold clips that make me want to put a binder clip on EVERYTHING!! 😍

STICKERS

Stickers are a GREAT way to personalize and have fun with your planner and planning process.

But the thing I want you to remember about stickers is that they’re BEST when used in a way that works for you but doesn’t distract you. Use them to attract or draw attention to something (like certain tasks or specific dates), but don’t use so many that you can’t see what you wrote down for tasks and to-dos each day.

I don’t use a lot of stickers in my planner, but what I do use, I use very intentionally.

Color-coding dot stickers are my FAVORITE planner accessory to play with and the one I use the most. It took me a while, but I finally figured out a system that works for me:

Fuchsia Pink for business meetings and appointments
Medium Pink for my morning routine
Light Pink for business education and self-development
Yellow for tasks related to content creation
Green for client work, meetings, and related tasks
Light Blue for tasks related to The Systems Shop and product creation
Medium Blue for my evening routine
Teal for exercise and other self-care activities
Navy for personal events and appointments

This system (obviously) may change (especially now that there are new happy stripe colors), but for now, it works, and I’m really happy with it!!

My best tip is to make sure you stay consistent with your color coding so you don’t get confused or stressed out. I highly recommend you make a chart on a Post-it note or index card and keep it in the front of your planner for easy access. (That’s what I do!!)

If you prefer flags to dots, you could also use the new happy stripe flag stickers to color-code your tasks!! I love that these are tiny, fit perfectly between the lines, and can be used horizontally OR vertically!!

THIS JUST IN: Simplified released NEW happy stripe triangle stickers that fit PERFECTLY in the corners of the boxes on the monthly page spread!! I CAN’T wait to use them!!

MINI NOTEBOOKS

I love keeping a mini notebook in the front inside pocket of my planner for referencing my daily and weekly schedule blueprints, color-coding chart, and other important notes. I also like keeping a mini notebook handy during the day for brain dumps and those really random but really good ideas that hit me when I’m working on something else.

PLANNER & PENCIL POUCHES

Simplified Planner Pouches and Pencil Pouches are INCREDIBLE!! I’ve ordered pouches from other companies before and been really disappointed in the quality, but Simplified knocked it out of the ballpark!! They’re super soft and sturdy (not stiff or flimsy) and can hold A TON of stuff!!

The Planner Pouch can easily fit a daily or weekly planner with a bunch of accessories, OR a daily and weekly planner together (I checked)!! And the Pencil Pouch can hold quite a few pens, pencils, and highlighters in case you want to keep those things separate.

I mostly use my pouches to keep my planner safe and my planner accessories corralled at home or when I travel. They can also easily be used to organize and hold various odds and ends in diaper bags, gym bags, backpacks, etc. They’re even CUTE enough to be used as an everyday clutch!! (I mean, have you seen that gold pineapple zipper pull?! 😍)

OTHER ACCESSORIES YOU MIGHT FIND USEFUL

Grace, Not Perfection Jumbo Eraser – Nothing can prepare you for how GINORMOUS this eraser is in real life!! It’s basically a paper weight 😂 And I’ll be honest, I did not buy it for usability sake because I hardly ever write in pencil. I bought it purely for decoration, and it did not disappoint!! But if you DO use pencil in your planner or elsewhere, like the description on the site says, “This is the only eraser you’ll ever need!!”

Carolina Dot Tape Dispenser – I have not personally purchased this tape dispenser (yet) because I really don’t use tape all that much. (I’m not even sure there’s a roll of tape in my house at this moment!!) But if I did, I would for sure buy this!! I LOVE the Carolina blue and gold foil pin dot design, and I’m confident it’s just as well-made as everything else Simplified designs!!

Pineapple Pen Cup – I have the original Pineapple Pen Cup (which is very similar to the new design) and absolutely love it!! It’s my favorite thing on my desk and holds A TON of pens!!

Leatherette File Folder – You know how paper file folders can be a bit untrustworthy? At any given moment, they can turn on you, flop downward, and spill all over the floor. 😔 Simplified has SOLVED that problem with the Leatherette File Folder!! It’s so luxurious, yet sturdy, and currently comes in a beautiful French Blue. The legal pads fit perfectly inside, and you can also add a pen clip to it for a chic, put-together look for whatever is on your calendar!! It’s also the perfect accessory for your planner!!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: using a planner should never be complicated, overwhelming, or stressful. (And seeing someone else decorating their planner should NEVER make you feel bad about using your planner in a practical way!!)

You can use as many or as few planner accessories as you want. But I hope this post inspires you to keep things super simple AND intentional!!

P.S. You may or may not have noticed that all of my favorite planner accessories come from Simplified. That’s because everything is coordinated in the colors of Happy Stripe, which makes it easy to color-code consistently!! 😉🌈

Not sure if the Simplified Planner is right for you? Check out this detailed FAQ!!

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