How to Do Time Blocking with a $5 Planner

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What is time blocking?

Time blocking is when you plan your day in chunks, or blocks of time instead of planning hour by hour, or planning only by tasks. When one block is over you stop doing the tasks for that block and move on to your next block. I really like the idea of time blocking because it can help you to be more present, and also more productive. If I know that my blogging block ends at 9:30 I’m not going to squander away my time by scrolling on social media. When the block is over, it’s over. Time to move on to what’s next.

how I do time blocking in my planner

My first step is to make an hourly daily schedule. I’ve been doing this since my son was a toddler. I use Canva to make my schedule, and I like to update it 2-3 times a year (depending on the season).

Once my schedule is made I use a pencil to draw boxes around each block, or chunk of time.

My blocks for time blocking:

Morning routine block
Work block
Evening Routine block
Unwind block

I kept things pretty basic with the names for each block, but let your creativity flow. You can get as clever as you’d like with the names for each block.

After you’ve defined the names and times for each block you can finally start planning the tasks that you’ll do for each of the blocks.

Here’s my super cheap $3.99 planner that I got from Ross. It’s 7 inches by 9.5 inches. Not too big, and not too small. I’d be really satisfied if the lines dividing each day went completely across the page, but for $3.99 will I complain? Nope!

I use washi tape going across the box for each day to create a very narrow space for my to-do tasks. I use a small ruler to draw three vertical lines coming down from the washi tape. This creates my four blocks for each day.

I make a header column at the top of each block to name the block and the times for each block. This leaves me with the perfect amount of space for planning. I’m an expert at over planning, and this set up helps me to focus on what’s most important.

The Weekends

I don’t do time blocking on the weekends because Saturday and Sunday are not quite as structured as the weekdays. Saturdays usually include catching up on chores around the house and spending time with family. Sundays are my days when I meal plan, go grocery shopping and prep for the week.

2021 is my first year using time blocking, as well as my first year of planning weekly instead of daily. It’s my goal to turn Sundays into my rest day, and get the meal planning and grocery shopping done by Saturday at the latest.

With all that being said, the spaces in my planner for for Saturday and Sunday will be used for to-do lists. Ideally Sundays lists will be filled with enjoyable self care activities that I can look forward to after a productive week of work. The limited space in this planner is perfect for time blocking because super moms can be infamous for being unrealistic about how many tasks can actually be accomplished in a given window of time.

Final Thoughts on Time Blocking in a Cheap Planner

The $3.99 planner isn’t my favorite planner in the world, but it gets the job done even though it wasn’t designed for time blocking.

If you have a history (like I do) of being flaky when it comes to using your planner, then then an inexpensive planner like mine may be a good option for you.

I spent over $50 last year on my beautiful Prayerful Planner (click here to see the unboxing and flip through video). Even before the things got crazy in March of 2020 I had lots of unused pages in that planner. I’m going to cultivate a habit of consistency with my planning this year. Then in 2022 I can jump back into a nicer planner once I’ve proven to myself that I regularly use my planner and it helps me to be more efficient and productive.

Here’s what I hope you’ve taken away from this article: It’s not so much which planner you use that matters. Actually planning in an efficient way (time blocking) with whatever you have is most important.

Have you tried time blocking before? How do you like it? I’d love to hear from you in the comments down below!