Let's talk about the planner community!

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[mandydreams]

What has your experience been like in the planner community? Please share in the comments! My Instagram DMs are always open for private conversation as well. xx

[WithLovefromLaurenxo]

Not new to the community - but I'll share my experience! I joined in 2014. For years, kind of watched from afar, didn't really have many friends, just some casual acquaintances. But I was afraid to put myself out there in a big way. I remember watching Youtube videos and thinking some of the YTers (like you!) were so cool and talented. I remember watching your videos and commenting every once in awhile, and you'd always comment back and be sweet, but I never really knew if you were just being sweet and the connection was one way or if we were actually becoming friends. I remember watching groups of YTers talk about each other and be friends and not quite understand how people could actually build those connections online.

A few years in after getting on a big PR team and making some slightly deeper friendships, I decided to start a Youtube channel and start really putting myself out there on Youtube and Instagram stories. It wasn't just posting pretty pictures anymore, but really actually putting my life experience & personality out on social media.

THAT'S when it finally clicked for me. I wasn't making friends before because how could I? Sharing a pic of a pretty spread isn't really letting anyone in to get to know me. Commenting on someone's Youtube channel or photos was kind of a one way thing. I wasn't going to planner meet ups and actually meeting people in person. It wasn't until I actually consistently put my life and personality out there on video that I felt people connecting BACK with me.

Now, I don't find it a coincidence that the people I connect with most in the community are ones who channels I watch or that I've met in person. There's a barrier that just commenting or DMing has. I don't find it breaks until you really talk to someone and listen to them talk about themselves.

Just my perspective - from someone who felt those barriers for years but now finds themselves with lots of fulfilling friendships! Sorry for the novel :)

[madalynreilly]

I've always loved planning and stationery products, but I didn't find the whole planner community + stickers until last summer. I was a broke senior in college so I really couldn't create the types of spreads I wanted to on my budget. Now, I have a full time job that allows me to purchase the products I want to in order to truly enjoy my planning experience! Something I've found really difficult to grapple with within this community is the consumerism. Limited releases, FOMO, the rampant sharing of hauls, etc make it really hard to stay within a budget and I find myself just buying things to buy them in case I'd ever want to use them. Cindy Guentert-Baldo's videos on this topic are great and I love watching them. For the most part I love the people in it, and I'm happy that a large portion of the community is taking steps to actively anti-racist and sharing knowledge.

[TheFoxyMisfitPlans]

So glad you and Viv are asking about this and opening a space for people to share. I’ll share my experience here.

I started in the planner community around the same time as you. I got my first EC in 2014 because I was looking for a way to track all the things between work and taking care of my natural hair without having notifications cluttering up my phone. I was using scrapbook paper and a small xyron thing to make my stickers. I was too broke for a cutting machine and sticker paper. My spreads weren’t pretty but the sense of control and efficiency with being responsible with my life was addicting. Before stickers I thought color coding with the only way to plan for me. When I saw the planner community, which was super small at the time, the creativity was just so inspiring.

So I created a planner Instagram and began posting, following and commenting. I remembering talking to Crafts by Thaowie my first day on and later sharing my first kit from Scribble Prints Co. I thought omg this is so cool. Time went on and I bought so many stickers and washi tape (because bottom washi washi wasn’t in most kits back then), and eventually I discovered printable stickers and got a silhouette. I was in grad school and I had one planner friend. Like we actually talked on the phone. I wanted to have more than just one planner friend, so I thought “well I have an iPad Pro. Maybe I can make some videos and share more things that way.” This is after watching you, the Planner Sophisticate, Paper Princess Plans, SPC, and others. Your planning styles and planner setups gave me so much inspiration. I wanted to do and same and hopefully make a friend or 2 along the way.

I found another planner friend a few years ago after posting a video on how to print and cut kits from printable shops. Not my most popular video but I wanted to help anyone who needed some guidance because getting blackout files, pdf, png and a studio file could be confusing. I kept posting and watching the community grow and evolve. I always envied those who could go to Planner meetups because my job at the time never allowed. It was either too expensive or always during our busiest time in the year. I was a residential staff member on a college campus which kept me busy. There were months I worked over 180 hours while finishing my masters program. So interacting in the planning community was nearly impossible during those times.

Nevertheless, I kept posting and sharing and I gained a very small following on YouTube and Instagram. Even still, very few if any were interacting with me. I get so excited to see a comment notification. Sometimes it would be spam but that feeling was one of me hoping to finally connect with more people in the planner community. I’ve posted, tagged, shopped, crafted, shared hauls, supported others, shared in stories, shared my life experiences and so much more of myself. I’ve tried to answer collab video questions to hopefully join a conversation. Still.... *crickets*. I keep seeing those with larger followings say “just keep putting yourself out I have. I am. So why do I still feel so lonely? I honestly don’t know why.

So last night, I shared on my Instagram that I’m considering giving up my channel and sharing my planner all together. Just embrace being a lone planner.

Sorry for the long post but I hope this helps anyone trying to understand or touches anyone who can relate.

[AlicequiniYT]

I'll be honest. I'm in the planning community since the end of 2014 and still feel like I don't really belong to it. From my experience it is a very exclusive community and I still haven't found any planning friends yet. Do you have to be a content creator to be really a part of the community? I'm really not sure. But fact is that after 6 years of actively planning and knowing of the community I still don't have anyone there. Not sure what I'm doing wrong 😅

[MrsOtylia]

So personally I find the planner community to have cliques. Like shop owners will be a clique of their own and then other planner babes will have a clique of their own as well. I think it’s hard to be part of those cliques because despite everyone being open minded and welcoming others to the community, I find that we always end up sticking to those we generally know. But I guess some people go out of their way to really engage with others and others tend to be a little more introverted and keep to themselves because they are either inexperienced or still new to the community. So I suppose it kinda depends on where you as an individual stand with planning but despite that being said those cliques still form regardlessly....

[poisonlady]

I tried planning several years back but just couldn't get into it but I wasn't into youtube at the time so I literally knew nothing about the community or the inspiration that so many give. I was always a lister and forgetter of memories and loved scrapbooking but once I got on YouTube I discovered all the creative inspiration from so many people out there that had similar interests. I love all the ideas I get from all of the people. I can gain inspiration from anywhere. I have discovered no matter the style or brand or things in common I can find something that is not only fulfilling to my creative mind but in fact does help me get all the things into my head out into the real world and I use several different methods of doing such (scrapbooking, art journals, travelers notebook, regular planners etc). I love trying knew things and continue the things I love. I have discovered my basic style and colors I love working with and brands that satisfy me and of course like perusing all the videos, Etsy, websites etc for supplies and said inspirations. The only thing that annoys mea is when I see the same people do the same thing over and over and over and over and over. I have never owned an EC nor a Happy Planner and have no desire for each.To me they are overpriced sticker books in which someone puts a whole lot of stickers and writes down three things they did that day and then also calls it memory keeping and my ideas of that are more down the line of scrapbooking as memory keeping isn't about doing the dishes or getting manicures (unless I take a pic of those being done I want to document for whatever reason).Mostly though I loved creative expression in all the formats though and have no "plans" to stop being creative for sure. My story in all of my formats are important as I know so little about the mother who raised me and have so few pictures of her and I don't want that for my kids. I try to cross things from scrapbooking into planning and vice versa while ensuring I am documenting all the things in life so that my kids aren't left wondering like I was...plus craft supplies spark joy for me and I love to use them

[BrenDitalovesyou]

I’ve been planner decorating since 2012 and watching videos since 2013. I have to say it took many years to finally meet some lovely ladies via Instagram. I’ve gone to a couple of planner meet ups but came out feeling pretty let down from ppl I thought I would click with instantly since we share the same quirky interest. I’m not gonna say what meet ups these were but I’ll say the organizers were off Standish, it was like pulling teeth at one point trying to make conversation with ppl. They seemed to only laugh and enjoy themselves with their crowd. I know most of the time you get what you put out there but I truly believe I walked in with the best intentions. Only time I got a smile was when I bought something. I’m still here because I really enjoy planning and crafting and I don’t expect anything to change. I’m content with the few ladies I communicate with and that’s just fine with me. 💕

[planasyouwish]

Very cute spread. I’ve been apart of the planner community around 3 years and I have to say for the most part there’s a lot of amazing planner girls and shops that are so kind

[ChelseaJaayeBudgetsLifestyle]

I have been in and out of the planner community for a few years. I find it a hard place to fit in. I often feel like you have to spend a lot of money to get recognition (hauls, PR Reps, etc). I also think it is hard for up and coming creators like myself because most people find creators who they enjoy watching and stick to them only. I just decided to make videos that bring me joy. I also find it hard because there is always something new and getting subscription boxes and kits to film every week can become very expensive. I still enjoy it though, I have just learned to not expect much and that I don't need to spend all my money to fit in!

[hoyyitsrochelle]

I’ve been a planner for years and years, and have loved seeing the community on Instagram and on Youtube, but haven’t yet jumped into the community - as an introverted person, it’s hard to know how to dive into a community, especially one so large and diverse! Seems like everyone already knows each other, but I have no doubt everyone is super friendly!

[EmmaFoxArt]

Loved the spread! 😍❤️ Honestly I find the planning community such a mixed bag of emotions. I've made some amazing friends through the community, but I've also felt incredibly isolated and lonely at times due to cliques and things and people moving so fast. I'm not entirely sure if those who don't own stores or are influencers feel this way too, but it's definitely not always sunshine and rainbows haha. 🙊

I also think (even as a shop owner) a lot of shops release too much too fast. It feels almost like fast fashion sometimes, especially now that I've shifted towards the art community as well as planning. Most artists do updates once a month, if that. But because almost everyone is doing it this way in the planner community it's kind of the norm and you feel like you'll get left behind if you aren't doing new things every single week. It's overwhelming as a seller and a buyer honestly.

[Flordelsoul]

I’ve been around for a couple of years but just made an Instagram and really started buying from shops. I’d say a lot of the more well known girls are really nice and don’t mind answering questions. I just wish I had more planner friends.

[Janaplans]

Soo cute 😍 I’ve been in the planning community since 2016 and I love it 🥰 everyone is soo lovely ❣️

[carriebirchler]

Thank you for the violinists recommendations!

[TheCaptainJade]

I still don’t consider myself fully in the planner community because I’m not great on keeping up with day to day planning and spreads (getting better!), but it can be a little intimidating when you see the skills that so many sticker shops and planning instagrams and youtubers have, lol!

On that topic, I really appreciate you talking freely about your experiences with anxiety. It really is refreshing to hear people being open about it in different communities, especially the planning community when so many people try to make their lives out to be so organized and perfect. :)

[notebooksandlife]

I enjoyed the video Mandy! I've been loving the frequent uploads and prefer journal/memory videos over planning ones :)

I discovered the planner community in 2013 while caring for my newborn...because I didn't have my hands free most of the day, I would watch YouTube on the tv and I found @mypurpleylife and @love4creativity somehow! haha I've found that I don't enjoy Facebook groups (or FB in general, really) but I like instagram a lot for finding planner friends/creators/shops. I still haven't been to a meetup, so that's on my list when it's possible.

I'm a nice person..if anyone wants to be planner friends, just let me know *shy face*

[littlestarplans]

Love the talk about planner community. I hope how open you are. I have fell in love with your plan with me videos for the longest time. Honesty, I've been in the planner community since 2015? It's been so long that I don't really remember anymore.

[angelagenx]

I’ve been a planner since college, (early 2000’s), color coding subjects, nothing fancy. I started the decorative planning, with stickers in an EC in 2014. I already had a Silhouette and bought some sticker paper and started making my own stickers. There weren’t a lot of tutorials back then, so I took what I found and ran with it, with a lot of trial and error. I never bought stickers, still haven’t. It’s not that I don’t want to, I really want to but it doesn’t fit in the budget. I think that’s one reason I never felt like part of the community, more like I’m planner community adjacent and I’m OK with that. Hopefully someday I can support sticker shops and do some buying. I do feel that consumerism runs rampant in the community. It seems that you always have to have what’s new and “it” at the moment to get noticed and it even trickles down to what’s put on stickers themselves. How many sticker kits have artwork of a Cloud planner or before that, a Pele Studio planner, for example. I also see a lot of trendy artwork with younger fashion girls, luxurious home decor, very IG stuff. It’s not that it isn’t beautiful to look at, but there is this sort of exclusivity feeling I get from it. I guess I’m to old to relate to it. I like that there is a variety and something for everyone, but as I watch hauls, it seems like the IG look is the trend of the moment.

I’m content watching the planner community from a distance. I’ll stick with supporting content creators through watching videos, maybe interacting through the comments section. The interactions help me feel like I’m more part of the community than anything else and everyone is usually very respectful and friendly there. I’ll stay away from the Facebook groups, been there done that and left. Facebooks groups added a lot of noise to my life. There was a lot of toxicity, drama, cliquiness and it was too easy to get sucked in. The YouTube area of the planner community is more zen and customizable.

[noeliaperez]

I've been into planning for a couple years now but I just recently started to really get in to the community I started joining Facebook groups and I started an Instagram but I'm too nervous to post anything 🤦‍♀️