5 Lists to Keep in Your Planner (That You’re Probably Not Using Yet)

How many times have you reached for your planner and had to mute that feeling deep inside you that you aren’t using it to its full potential?

Planners are made to get you organised, to track projects, note down appointments, important dates, plan holidays and more. And when I say “more,” I mean so much more.

But the one thing I see a lot of people struggle with… is lists.

Lists are made to live in your planner.

But what type of lists?

Where do those lists stay? If you like to turn the next page of your planner and forget the previous 10 pages exist… how do you make it work?

In this post, I will show you 5 different types of lists I keep in my own planner, how I track them, and how often I use them. You might copy a few ideas and implement them into your planner routine, too.

Also, if these lists below aren’t enough, I have another 160 lists to make to organise your life right here.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you sign up or make a purchase I might get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my business. See full disclosure.

Life Admin Lists to Keep In Your Planner

These are the lists I usually forget to make, but they are crucial for living a peaceful life. Wherever I can, I will share how I use these lists, why I keep them in the planner, and how I track them or keep them tidy.

Things to chase up

We moved into our new home last year and we’ve had more than few issues already, so we constantly need to chase up something with the builders. They need to work on a few projects, and each project has a different company responsible for it. Things like that require “chasing up” all the time. Keeping a track of all that in my mind is exhausting, to say the least, so I am keeping a running list of “things to chase up”.

Can you think of a few examples of things that need “chasing up” in your life?

Passwords & Password Hints

I keep all my passwords in a separate notebook. It’s bigger than A5 and smaller than A4. It’s red. It’s easy to see, and when I have trouble remembering a password, that’s the first place I look for it before panicking.

But sometimes I’ll create a password when I’m out and about. That password goes on the planner for a while and then gets transferred to the real password journal. I keep these lists at the back of the planner, so the passwords don’t get lost between the everyday tasks and appointments.

Subscriptions & Courses

As a blogger, a mother, and an easy target for every ad that offers a free course or presentation on subjects I love, subscriptions and courses are something I sign up for way too easily. They could be yearly subscriptions, monthly, weekly, one-time courses, and more.

For the subscriptions: I write down the date I’m usually charged and the amount. Once in a while, when I’m bored, I go through that list and audit it, then cancel any subscription that doesn’t give me more than what I pay for it.

For the courses: I like to have a list of what types of courses I’ve signed up for, and whether I’ve managed to go through 100% of them.

Important Contacts

Listen, I know we have our phones and we cannot imagine our lives without them, but… what if…

What if they get stolen, the battery’s down, or you break them and cannot turn them back on? You can probably find a good person to give you their phone to make a call, but who would you call? Do you know their phone number?

Keeping just a few of your closest people’s contact details on the front page of your planner could be life-saving one day… or at least very convenient and an “adult decision” you will never regret.

Money lists

Planners aren’t the most popular option for budgeting, but I am not talking about budgeting at all. Your life planner isn’t the place to create a money planner within, unless you’re good with going back and forth all the time.

That said, there are a few lists you might be updating more often, even on the go, so having them in your usual planner just makes sense.

Gifts Tracker

This is the type of list I only make once or twice a year when I need to buy gifts for more than one person (Christmas, visiting family abroad, special events).

Each list consists of the names of the people I need to buy gifts for, the items I’ve decided to buy, and how much they cost.

This list has two goals: to track what gifts (and how many) I need to get, and to track how much I’ve spent on that event. I never throw away these lists, for the same reasons – it’s good to know what I already got for the person in the past, and it’s good to know how much I’ve spent in total.

Running list of things to buy next month

Sometimes, I want to buy things that I haven’t planned to buy. These are bigger purchases, and for me, a bigger purchase is everything above £50 (for you, this number could be £100 or more). If I decide to make the purchase next month, it will go on the running list of things to buy next month.

It’s located right after my next month’s monthly overview page so once I get there, it will just appear at the right time, in the right place.

Someday/Maybe List

And then there are items, services, and other purchases I’d like to make one day. Not this month, maybe not next month either, but at some point in the future. Of course, they get a separate list – Someday/Maybe.

This means, they go on a list with other purchases I’d like to make later on. That list basically never ends, I just add items to it and cross them off once I’ve bought them. I keep it in a random place in the planner and I’ve dedicated 3 pages to it. Once those pages get filled, I will start another similar list in whatever place of the planner I’m at.

Home Lists

These are the few home lists that just make sense to keep in the planner, because I always refer to them when planning the week or the month.

Deep cleaning list

This is the list with absolutely every area of the house that needs to be deep cleaned every few weeks/months. The areas are written for the whole house, not separated by room, because that’s what makes sense to me.

For example, I have “baseboards” and that means that if I start cleaning the baseboards, I will just crawl through the whole house and clean all baseboards in one go. The same goes for washing curtains (I pick a day and wash every curtain we have in the house), wiping dust off sockets, and so on.

This deep cleaning list is something I’ve written once only, and I keep it at the back of my planner. I’ve also laminated it and use a wipeable marker to cross things off as I clean them.

Also Read: 120 2-Minute Tasks Around Your Home and Work

Professional Networking Contacts

This is a list of a few people I can reach out to when I need different jobs done. For example, I have the window cleaner’s details, the bin cleaning guy’s details, the guy I call to clean our gutters every spring, and so on. That list also lives at the back of the planner because it isn’t something I use on a weekly or even monthly basis.

Personal Growth Lists

This is my fun list section. All of these lists stay at the back of the planner, and if you read that more than a few times already in this post, you might be thinking I only use the back of the planner. The truth is, that I keep all reference-style lists there, meaning I only need a glance at them once in a while.

Books to read

I have a reading journal (and actually use — link in my shop if you’re curious), I have a note on my phone, screenshots in my photo folder, but I have also created a list in the planner, as well. Don’t ask me if I’ve read most of the books, but at least I have them all written down and that’s the point.

Yearly bucket list

At the beginning of every year, I jot down a few bucket list ideas, nothing special or too challenging, just a few ideas I’d like to keep handy in case I wonder what to do on a random Thursday morning. And yes, this list lives in the planner.

Ideas list

Any idea that crosses my mind has one job only – to be written down before it takes off (slipping away). It could be baby-related, work-related, house-related, you get the point. I always need to write it down, or I will forget it. The most logical thing is to open the planner and jot it down, so that’s exactly what I do.

Reset Lists

I love a good reset moment. It’s like following a manual on how to unplug and plug a system back in, like a reboot. And because I am a blogger who writes posts, I’ve created a few reset posts. I loved the ideas I came up with there, so naturally, they live in my planner, too. Here are the reset lists I keep.

Weekly reset list

I’ve got 40 reset questions in my original weekly reset post, but I’ve only chosen 10 of them for my planner, because those feel most relevant to me.

Monthly reset list

There are 7 areas of my life that need a reset every month. It takes me less than half an hour to go through those areas, so I rarely skip them. The areas are: mental and physical health; work; home; personal goals; planning; relationships and family. Each area has a point or two to pay attention to, plan for, or change something about. You can find it all in my monthly reset post (link here), but it is a list I also keep in my planner.

Brain Dump

I don’t often do a brain dump, but I should. The result of a few minutes of mindlessly writing down every task, appointment, and idea that crosses my mind is an stress-relief technique that calms me down. I feel like things are under control once I’ve written them all down, because at least I know I will get to them, someday.

For the purpose of proper brain dumping, I created myself a trigger list – words that would help me remember something I’ve forgotten, like: laundry, holiday, playdates, deadlines, date nights, and so on.

Before You Go

The one thing I love about planners is that they can (and should) hold your whole life together. Treat yours as a trusted friend, an assistant that never forgets anything because you wrote it down. This way, you can start trusting yourself a bit more, as well, plan better, and achieve just as much as you set out to achieve.