Today, Sarah has a really fun and conversational chat with Azizi Williams and Malika Amandi, otherwise known as the Happier Ladies! These sister started a podcast inspired by the work of Gretchen Rubin and Elizabeth Craft, and share a love for planning, experiments, goal setting, and accountability (to each other, as well as their listeners). Azizi and Malika share their favorite tools, planning rituals, and more.

Their podcast can be found here; https://happierladies.wixsite.com/mysite

Episode 60 + 61 (Festival of Planning!) is here: https://happierladies.wixsite.com/mysite/episodes/episode/6b09e00f/festival-of-planning-60 and https://happierladies.wixsite.com/mysite/episodes/episode/20b7dee1/festival-of-planning-part-2-61

Episode Sponsors:

Green Chef: Thrive all year with clean, easy meals from Green Chef. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree for free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

IXL: Tailored and effective online learning (my kids have used this for years as part of their school curriculum)! Best Laid Plans listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at IXL.com/PLANS.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode, Sarah answers questions accumulated in the month of February! Topics include:

- How do you deal with planning events for family members (ie camp, bday parties, etc!)

- How do I integrate goals lists into my planning when I feel like I have endless detailed lists dedicated to complicated projects?

(Nested Goals ep: https://theshubox.com/2024/01/episode-182-nested-goals-explained.html)

- Advice for planning in pregnancy + the postpartum period?

- How does Sarah use the calendar pages in the Hobonichi Weeks?

- How do you organize things "to be read" later that aren't books? (Magazine articles, journal articles, browser tabs, etc)?

- Where can I fit in my morning planning routine (working mom with a baby!)

- Notion Template mentioned by Malika: https://shop.muchelleb.com.au/collections/notion-templates

SPONSORS:

Prose: Custom skin and haircare that works! For an exclusive trial offer of 50% off your first haircare subscription order, visit prose.com/plans.

Green Chef: Thrive all year with clean, easy meals from Green Chef. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree for free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

IXL: Tailored and effective online learning (my kids have used this for years as part of their school curriculum)! Best Laid Plans listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at IXL.com/PLANS.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode, Sarah shares her top 10 (plus maybe a bonus!) Planning + Planning Adjacent Tools! For specific links, visit https://theshubox.com/organize!

1) Kokuyo Campus Notebooks

2) Uniball Jetstream Pens (0.5 and 0.38 size)

3) Zebra Mildliners in pastel colors - especially used to create little squares for checkboxes!

4) Apple's Screen Time App + Widget

5) Stalogy Short Sticky Notes (plus bonus mention: Midori Sticky Notes Monthly Block)

6) The Essential Calendar (Sarah is an affiliate, so you can use code BESTLAIDPLANS or visit https://www.theessentialcalendar.com/BESTLAIDPLANS for 10% off)

7) Apple Notes, especially for tracking travel docs and kid-related frequent reference

8) Strava to track running

9) Feedly for blog reading

10) Creating podcast playlists

11) Erin Condren Whiteboard (Custom Color Weekly Schedule Wall Organization Center)

SPONSORS:

Prose: Custom skin and haircare that works! For an exclusive trial offer of 50% off your first haircare subscription order, visit prose.com/plans.

Green Chef: Thrive all year with clean, easy meals from Green Chef. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree for free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

IXL: Tailored and effective online learning (my kids have used this for years as part of their school curriculum)! Best Laid Plans listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at IXL.com/PLANS.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today's episode is dedicated to all things morning routine! Sarah shares her own (in detail) and discusses all of the questions to ask yourself if you're looking to add a bit more to your mornings (or not!).

And, she shares some exciting book news -- Best Laid Plans: A Simple Planning System for Living a Live That You Love will be out in January 2026!!

Episode Sponsors:

Prose: Custom skin and haircare that works! For an exclusive trial offer of 50% off your first haircare subscription order, visit prose.com/plans.

Green Chef: Thrive all year with clean, easy meals from Green Chef. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree for free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service - a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We all have to get dressed, right? This is just one more area rife for planning an organizing strategies, and stylist Gab Saper (aka The Wardrobe Editor) is here to deliver! She chats with Sarah about all things wardrobe curation and organization, and Sarah also gives a brief update on recent organizing wins in her closet!

Ways to find and connect with Gab:

Website: https://wardrobeeditor.com

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/wardrobeeditor/

Free guide: https://wardrobeeditor.myflodesk.com/hotagain

Episode Sponsors:

Prose: Custom skin and haircare that works! For an exclusive trial offer of 50% off your first haircare subscription order, visit prose.com/plans.

Green Chef: Thrive all year with clean, easy meals from Green Chef. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree for free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service - a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's monthly Q&A ep, Sarah shares a Planner Peace vignette, 2 stationery shop recs, and answers 4 listener questions:

Planner Peace comes from a healthcare provider who has cut her documentation time in half after reflecting and listening to Sarah's Efficiency Tips ep. She uses Google products for almost everything, plus a daily paper planner (filled out fresh each day, referring to her digital lists!) for her schedule and tasks.

Stationery shop recs: Both in Chicago: Atlas Stationers and Paper and Pencil.

Question topics:

1) Recommendations for Commonplace Books?

2) Where should I keep my annual goals (from a Full Focus user)?

3) Planner wall storage ideas for messy areas (kitchen!)?

(She ended up going with this one: https://www.containerstore.com/s/office/message-boards-accessories/perch-wally-wall-plate/12d?productId=11001724 )

4) Have you ever intentionally stepped away from planning for a time or season? (And if so - how does it work within the Nested Goals framework)?

Episode Sponsors:

Green Chef: The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well! Visit greenchef.com/plansfree and use code plansfree to get started with free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

IXL: Make an impact on your child's learning with IXL. Visit IXL.com/PLANS to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.

Mint Mobile: Amazingly affordable wireless service! Check out their new customer offer with 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 dollars a month by visiting mintmobile.com/blp

PrepDish: Convenient, healthy, and delicious meal plans sent directly to your inbox! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first two weeks FREE!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you have any kind of organizing or decluttering goals on your 2025 goals list, today's episode is for you. Sarah interviews Tyler Moore (known as Tidy Dad), a teacher and author with a passion for organizing and curating spaces to meet the needs of life as they ebb and flow through the seasons - and his current season is 3 young kids in a small NYC apartment!

This interview offers plenty of inspiration and great ideas from Tyler, including the idea of an annual decluttering calendar, thoughts on building household routines, and what to start with FIRST if you've struggle with decluttering in the past.

Tyler can be found at @tidydad on social media, thetidydad.com, and is the author of Tidy Up Your Life: Rethinking How to Organize, Declutter, and Make Space for What Matters Most, available wherever books are sold.

Episode Sponsors:

Green Chef: The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well! Visit greenchef.com/plansfree and use code plansfree to get started with free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

IXL: Make an impact on your child's learning with IXL. Visit IXL.com/PLANS to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.

Mint Mobile: Amazingly affordable wireless service! Check out their new customer offer with 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 dollars a month by visiting mintmobile.com/blp

PrepDish: Convenient, healthy, and delicious meal plans sent directly to your inbox! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first two weeks FREE!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode, Sarah checks in with a January energy report and provides some words of caution about this high-motivation time -- it's fun and you should enjoy it, but be prepared for it to be transient!

She shares her thoughts on 3 essential systems for life management: a comprehensive and accurate Master Calendar, Airtight Task Management, and her Nested Goals framework.

Resources/other episodes mentioned:

1) Seasonal Planning Example: https://theshubox.com/2024/03/blp-episode-189-diving-into-quintile-2.html

2) All About Nested Goals: https://theshubox.com/2024/01/episode-182-nested-goals-explained.html

3) Second Brain concept (credit to Tiago Forte): https://theshubox.com/2024/01/second-brain-ing-my-apple-notes.html

https://theshubox.com/2022/08/blp-episode-108-back-to-school-scrolling-habits-planner-matchups-apple-notes.html

Send in your questions, Planner Peace submissions, and favorite shop recs - comment on theshubox.com, text to 305-697-7189, or email sarah.hart.unger at gmail!

Episode Sponsors:

Green Chef: The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well! Visit greenchef.com/plansfree and use code plansfree to get started with free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

IXL: Make an impact on your child's learning with IXL. Visit IXL.com/PLANS to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.

Mint Mobile: Amazingly affordable wireless service! Check out their new customer offer with 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 dollars a month by visiting mintmobile.com/blp

PrepDish: Convenient, healthy, and delicious meal plans sent directly to your inbox! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first two weeks FREE!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Carolyn Cohen is a health coach passionate about helping others reach their wellness goals, and she chats with Sarah today about how planning and goal-setting intersect with health and wellness. She discusses the pros and cons of having a separate wellness planner, effective habit tracking, the benefits of data from wearables, and more. She also introduced the idea of a health planning retreat!

Find more from Carolyn at wellnesswhilewalking.com, or check out the Wellness While Walking podcast in your favorite player!

Sponsors:

Green Chef: The #1 Meal Kit for Eating Well! Visit greenchef.com/plansfree and use code plansfree to get started with free salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box!

IXL: Make an impact on your child's learning with IXL. Visit IXL.com/PLANS to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. 

Mint Mobile: Amazingly affordable wireless service! Check out their new customer offer with 3-month unlimited wireless plan for just 15 dollars a month by visiting mintmobile.com/blp

PrepDish: Convenient, healthy, and delicious meal plans sent directly to your inbox! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first two weeks FREE!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today's episode, Sarah shares her goals for 2025 in 4 domains: personal, work, relationships, and household! If you love listening to others share their plans and dreams for the year, this episode is for you :) Topics include fitness and health goals, goals related to kids, work goals, organizing aspirations, and more.

Thank you for listening this year, and wishing you a wonderful start to 2025!

Episode Sponsors:

Jenni Kayne: Check out their amazing gifts, from candles to their iconic sweaters . Visit jennikayne.com; listeners get 15% off your first order when you use code PLANS at checkout.

PrepDish: Visit PrepDish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE.

MasterClass: Give the gift of learning this season! Visit masterclass.com/bestlaidplans to learn more and find active discounts!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices