I’ve never been the most organized, and if you ask my parents they’ll tell you that’s the biggest understatement in the world. My room usually looks like a windstorm swept through it. Sometimes you can’t see the floor of my closet because I just chuck everything into it.Throughout school, planners got discarded, or I just carried them around to make it look like I was trying to keep my life together. Meanwhile, I was really just forgetting deadlines and scrambling to get things done last minute.

This year I stumbled upon what someone once described to me as “glam planning” or “pretty planning” on Pinterest. After watching countless “Plan With Me” Youtube videos where women were organizing and decorating their weekly spreads with beautiful color coordinated washi tapes and stickers, I felt like I needed to do this too. The planners were so bright and colorful, it was like nothing I had seen before. It looked like a planner that I would actually want to use

I came to the conclusion that a planner can be more of a memory keeper than just a list of day to day tasks. I can jot down things I want to remember about the day and hold onto it for years to come. And as soon as that reality hit me, I rushed out and bought a planner, about a dozen rolls of washi tape and a few packs of stickers to get started, only to come home and show my dad and proudly proclaim “Dad, I’m finally getting my shit together.”

Most planners on Youtube swear by the Erin Condren vertical LifePlanner. It has a nice layout, there are boxes to divide your day and enough space to easily decorate between your plans and thoughts. The only problem with the Erin Condren is the price. The basic Erin Condren LifePlanner starts around $55, which isn’t exactly budget friendly to a college student.

There is a much more affordable comparable planner sold at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby called the MAMBI Happy Planner. This planner runs you about $30, but the good news is Michael’s and Hobby Lobby run constant coupons and deals so you can usually use a 40% or 50% off coupon and get the Happy Planner for much less. Another perk to the Happy Planner is that it is 100% customizable, it uses a disc binding so pages can be removed and replaced, you can buy replacement covers and change them out whenever you would like.

These aren’t the only two options, of course, you can find planners at just about any store. I do recommend the Sugar Paper LA planners sold through Target. They’re smaller but still have ample space to write and decorate. Plus they seem to last forever. The goal is to pick out a planner that you like, one that you’ll know you’ll continue to use.

One thing they don’t tell you about during these videos is that “pretty planning” is more expensive than you thought it would be. Many of the women who post these “Plan With Me” videos have shops on Etsy and they’re trying to sell you the stickers they made so you can duplicate their planner spreads for yourself. The stickers can range anywhere from $2 to a sheet to $30 for a full monthly “kit” which includes stickers for four weeks and the monthly calendar as well.

You can hit up the Target Dollar Spot for washi tape, some stickers, sticky notes and page flags, provided they haven’t been picked over and there’s actually some left still. Target is also a good spot to grab some colorful pens if you’re into color coding or prefer using a colorful pen to a black or blue one. Your local craft store is also a good place to find scrapbook stickers and washi tape as well. If you have a Michael’s or Hobby Lobby nearby, both of these stores carry sticker books specific to the Happy Planner that are much more affordable than the Etsy stickers. These stickers are designed to fit into the Happy Planner boxes, but you can obviously use them in any planner. They fit in the boxes of the Erin Condren LifePlanner as well. Plus you can usually find them on sale or a coupon to use with them.

“Pretty Planning” and filling the week with decorated stickers might not be for everyone, but if you’re struggling to use your planner, picking up a few stickers might be enough to get you motivated to start.