Ultimate FiloHack! DIY Dollar Planner Refills!

Hi, again!

Well y'all know I recently got some Happy Mail from my Mommy Dearest containing oodles of lovely stationery for my planner. Included in said mail package were a plethora of planners. Now, if you know anything about me, you'll know I'm all for pinching pennies AND I love a chance to do so as well as come out with something shiny and new.

So when I studied these planners more, I noted that two of them were outdated, and the other 2 were 2013-2014. Although they weren't as current as most people intend, I was not discouraged. The 2013 did have 2014 for dates all the way to December!  Well, by golly, that's good enough for me! So there I went!

Firstely I removed the book from the cover. The 2013 planners were sew and glue bound so the next thing I had to do was find the very middle of the book and snip the threads. It is bound this way in severely sections so I had to do it repeatedly from the middle to the end of the planner (remember, I only need April to December so I didn't do the whole book). I guess you could just tear the pages, but I'm not good at the delicacy thing so I took my time. The other books are wire bound so I imagine they're easier.

Next, I carefully pulled each section away from the glue. I was left with several smaller book sections. Be sure to keep them in order. I then cut each section down the middle. Luckily these pages, though not 3.75" x 6.75", fit nicely in my planner so I just punched them using an insert as a guide. I recommend finding one that can be closed into your planner before attempting this. Else you'll have some cutting to do and you might lose valuable writing space.

And there you go! I am sure you can find planners just like these at Dollar Tree. Staples sells better ones but they're waaaay too pricey for the quality. I've worked at both stores. Trust me, I know. So if you're going to butcher a little planner, better do than it with a cheap one. I did end up with some frayed edges becausey cutter is old and cheap and the paper is super thin, but that's nothing a bit of washi tape can't fix.

You can do the same with spiral bound books, just use players to carefully remove the pages, trim the holes off the page, or washi tape them, and re-punch. The older books I'm keeping because they are printed lovely colors and can be redated using correction tape. I'd just keep the days and change the month and dates.

I've got plenty of pages to last me the year, but if I decide to go with a different look, I'll be looking to my little bargain planners first! So stay inspired friends!

Aggy