How to Choose the Right One: A Digital vs Physical Planner

Picture this: You’re sitting at your kitchen table, surrounded by sticky notes with blog ideas, while your phone keeps pinging with calendar reminders. Sound familiar? As mom bloggers, we’re constantly torn between the appeal of a beautiful paper planner and the convenience of digital tools.

The Planning Dilemma

I love my Legend paper planner, so I know how it feels when that gorgeous planner calls your name from the store shelf, promising perfect organization and picture-worthy spreads. Meanwhile, your phone reminds you how easy it is to reschedule posts when your little one comes down with a fever.

The choice between a digital vs physical planner isn’t just about preference – it’s about finding a system that bends and flexes with your unpredictable mom life while keeping your blog content flowing. And sometimes, that perfect system might be one you create yourself.

Did you run out of time to read the blog post right now?
No worries, pin it to your favorite Pinterest board to read later!

Digital Planning Solutions: Modern Tools for the Mom Blogger

Remember that phone notification from earlier? That’s just the tip of the digital planning iceberg. Modern tools have transformed how we can manage our blog content while juggling family life. From the simplicity of Google Calendar to sophisticated task management platforms, there’s a digital solution for every need.

Popular Digital Content Calendar Platforms

The Foundation: Google Calendar. Before diving into specialized tools, let’s talk about the powerhouse that’s probably already on your phone: Google Calendar. This free task management solution is often overlooked, but it’s perfect for:

• Creating separate calendars for blog content, family commitments, and important tasks
• Color-coding different types of content to instantly visualize your workload
• Setting reminders for deadlines and publishing dates
• Sharing specific calendars with your VA while keeping family schedules private
• Integrating with other digital planners and tools you might use later

Many successful mompreneurs start with Google Calendar as their foundation, then add other tools as their business grows.

Think of these platforms as your virtual command center. Each offers unique features that can adapt to your mom life. While Google Calendar handles your basic scheduling, these digital planners add extra layers of functionality:

Notion shines as an all-in-one solution where you can plan content, store ideas, and even track your kids’ activities in connected databases. Create templates for blog posts and reuse them whenever inspiration strikes – even during those precious naptime moments.

My blogging friends, E Beecroft and Lindsay Kelly have lots of information around Notion. E has a blog post around a Notion Weekly Planner and Lyndsay has a blog post all on how to set up your Notion account. 

Asana helps you break down big projects into manageable steps. Planning a holiday content series? Map it out alongside your family’s seasonal activities, so you never double-book yourself.

I use Asana for all my projects, like my annual plan, my quarterly goals, and my pinning schedule, as well as my household tasks and personal appointments. Because everything is color-coded, I can quickly see how my load is divided between work and life on any given day.

Affiliate Disclosure: This article includes affiliate links. This means that I might earn a small commission without any extra cost to you when you buy something through these links. It helps me continue creating helpful blog posts for you. Thank you!

Airtable works like a supercharged spreadsheet, perfect for organizing blog categories and post ideas. In this powerful database, you can even color-code content types to match your children’s school schedules, although that’s one of the paid options. You can, however, color-code the single select bubbles in the free version of Airtable. 

I use Airtable as my blog posts hub to keep an overview of all the pins I have made and to keep track of the members of my Facebook group who have signed up for my newsletter. 

Trello‘s visual boards feel like digital sticky notes, making it easy to drag and drop ideas when plans change – because we know they will.

The Kanban view makes it very easy to see where a certain task in your project is. I have my blogging checklist in there, and each blog post is its own card, which I can easily drag from the research list to the draft list and onto the images and WordPress uploading list. It has a calendar view as a power-up feature, but I don’t use that feature a lot since I only have my blog posts in there. 

While Google Calendar serves as an excellent foundation for any digital planning system, integrating it with these specialized tools can create a powerful task management hub for your blog and business.

Benefits for Family Life Management

The real magic happens when these tools sync with your family routine. Need to reschedule a post because of a surprise parent-teacher conference? Two clicks, and it’s done. Working with a virtual assistant? They can access your content calendar without seeing your personal family schedule.

The best part? These digital solutions work in those small pockets of time – while waiting at soccer practice or during breakfast cleanup. Your blog planning can happen wherever life takes you, no heavy planner required.

Physical Planning Systems: Tangible Organization for Mom Life

Do you ever feel more focused when you write things down by hand? There’s something almost magical about putting pen to paper that helps cement ideas in our minds. 

For many mom bloggers, trying out a new planner can feel like a fresh start. Whether you’re drawn to paper planners for their tactile nature or their ability to help you focus on important tasks without digital distractions, the key is finding one that matches your planning style. Besides, a physical planner can offer that perfect blend of creativity and organization.

However, when choosing a new planner, consider how you’ll use it alongside your digital tools.

Traditional Blog Planner Options

The Legend Planner Pro understands that mom life happens between 6 AM (hello, early risers) and 9 PM (finally, bedtime). Its hourly layout lets you block time realistically – like scheduling your writing sessions during preschool hours or brainstorming while supervising homework.

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

I have used the Legend Planner Pro for a couple of years now, and I love it. It’s right there by my side, and I have an overview of my whole week. By using different color pens for different tasks, be it personal or professional, I know exactly what to do and when because I can create time blocks in my days.

Day Designer takes a different approach with its priority-focused system. Instead of cramming your day full, it asks you to identify your top three tasks. Maybe today, it’s writing that sponsored post, photographing your DIY project, and making it to the school play on time.

Amy Knapp’s Family Organizer might be your perfect match if you’re tired of juggling separate planners for blog and family life. Picture this: your content calendar right next to your meal plan and your kids’ activity schedule. No more double-booking yourself for a blog photoshoot during swim lessons.

Although I can see this working for busy moms, I like to keep things rather separate. My kids are adults now and run their own schedules. I don’t have to keep track of their plans, university projects, and work hours. Whenever we have a family event or something family-related, I put it in my own planner. But even back in the day, when my kids were younger, I had a family planner separate from my work planner. 

Hybrid Planning Solutions

What if you could have the best of both worlds? That’s where hybrid planning comes in.

The momAgenda Desktop system cleverly combines space for up to four kids’ schedules alongside your blog planning. Use the paper planner for big-picture planning and family coordination, then let your phone handle the reminders and quick changes.

Clever Fox takes a goal-setting approach, helping you track both blog metrics and family habits. Want to publish three posts a week while maintaining family dinner times? This planner helps you see how it all fits together.

The beauty of physical planning lies in its boundaries – when you close that planner, you’re truly done for the day. No more midnight notification checks or “just one more edit” moments when you should be resting.

Create Your Own Perfect Planner

Sometimes the perfect planner doesn’t exist – yet. My friend Samantha from Make Digital Planners shows that creating your own digital planner isn’t as complicated as it might sound. She guides you through the process of designing a planner that fits your exact needs, whether you want specialized blog post trackers or unique goal-setting pages.

For digital planning enthusiasts, you can create professional-looking planners with all the features you’ve wished for but never found in one place. Want a social media tracker next to your content calendar? Need a special section for affiliate income? You can design it exactly how you want it.

If you prefer paper, you might start with a simple bullet journal approach and develop your own planning system. Many mom bloggers find that combining elements from their favorite planners into a custom solution works best for their unique situation.

Making the Right Choice for Your Mom Blog

Now that we’ve explored ready-made digital tools, physical planners, and even creating your own planner, you might be wondering which planning system will work best for you. Let’s break this down into manageable pieces, just like we do with those overwhelming laundry piles.

Lifestyle Assessment

Ask yourself these simple questions:

• When do you actually write? If you’re grabbing 15-minute chunks between carpool and soccer practice, a digital system might be your best friend. But if you prefer to batch-create content during dedicated weekend hours, a physical planner could help you stay focused.
  
• Where do you do most of your planning? If you love spreading out at the kitchen table with your morning coffee, a physical planner might be perfect for mapping out your content while keeping an eye on breakfast time. But if you’re always on your phone and find yourself brainstorming blog ideas during school pick-up, a digital system could be your ideal match.
  
• How do you handle changes? Be honest – does rescheduling in a paper planner make you cringe? Or does the constant ping of digital notifications drive you crazy?

Implementation Strategy

Once you’ve made a choice to try out one or the other, start small and really give it a chance to see if it works for you. Here’s how you can implement your chosen calendar:

Step 1: Set up your basic framework. Whether it’s setting up your Google Calendar notifications, creating task management systems, or filling in your paper planner, just get the foundation ready.

Step 2: Add your content ideas and regular posting schedule, along with your family commitments. Think about your natural rhythm – maybe you’re more creative in the morning before the kids wake up, or perhaps evening planning sessions work better.

Step 3:  Put your system to the test. This is where you’ll start seeing how your chosen system handles real life. Can it flex when your toddler gets sick or when school schedules change?

Step 4: Fine-tune your approach. Maybe you’ll discover that a hybrid system works best – using a physical planner for monthly overviews and a digital calendar for daily details.

Whatever you choose, make sure it’s a system you’ll actually use. Your content calendar should work for you, not add to your mental load.

I use a combination of my Legend planner, Asana, and Airtable. For the moment, this set of three tools works best for me and my brain. 

Time Management Tips for Mom Bloggers

Want to know the secret sauce of successful mom bloggers? It’s not about finding more time – it’s about making the most of the time you have.

Let’s be real, none of us can add more hours to the day, if only that were possible, right? The most successful mom bloggers aren’t working around the clock, they’ve just figured out how to make the most of those small pockets of time we all have.

Practical Planning Strategies

Think of your content creation like meal prep. Just as you might batch cook on Sundays, try batching your blog work. Set aside one morning to take all your photos for the month while the kids are at school. Use another quiet block to write several post drafts at once. Your brain will thank you for the focused work time.

Create an emergency content bank. Suddenly, life happens – whether it’s an unexpected snow day or a last-minute science fair project help. Having three to five ready-to-publish posts in your back pocket can save your posting schedule when chaos strikes.

It’s not difficult to create, either. Here’s what to keep ready:

1. Three evergreen posts that are 90% complete – just needing final edits and images
2. A collection of quick “life update” post templates that can be filled in during those rare quiet moments
3. A folder of pre-edited photos or stock images ready to use. 

When life throws you a curveball, you can:

• Pull out one of your nearly-finished posts
• Update it quickly during naptime or after bedtime
• Use your pre-saved images instead of trying to take new ones
• Schedule it within 30 minutes

The key is preparing these backup materials during your normal content batching sessions, so they’re ready when you need them. Think of it as meal prepping, but for your blog – having those emergency freezer meals ready when you can’t cook a fresh dinner.

What also helps is mastering the art of time blocking. Instead of trying to write a complete post in one sitting, break it down:

• Outline during breakfast cleanup (you could use a voice app like VoicePal from Ali Abdaal)
• Write the introduction while waiting at a dance class your kid is attending
• Edit photos during quiet time
• Finish the conclusion after bedtime

Use your planner – digital or physical – to map out these smaller chunks of time. It’s much easier to find 15 minutes here and there than two uninterrupted hours.

Your Energy Levels

Consider your energy levels, too. Are you sharper in the morning? Use that time for writing. More creative at night? That’s your ideal planning time. Save low-energy tasks like social media scheduling for those moments when you’re supervising homework or watching soccer practice.

Also, consistency beats perfection every time. A simple post published on schedule is better than a perfect post that never sees the light of day because you ran out of time to finish it.

Did you like this post?
Pin it on your favorite Pinterest board and share it with others!

My Final Thoughts

Whether you choose to go digital, stick with paper, create your own custom planner, or develop a hybrid system, keep in mind that your content calendar should make your life easier, not harder. As mom bloggers, we’re already juggling enough – your planning system should be the steady hand that helps you keep those balls in the air and those plates spinning.

The best content calendar isn’t the one with the prettiest layout or the most advanced features. It’s the one that helps you show up consistently for your readers while still being present for soccer games, family dinners, and bedtime stories.

Start with what feels natural to you. Maybe that’s a beautiful paper planner on your desk, or perhaps it’s a digital system that travels in your pocket. Give yourself permission to experiment, adjust, and even change your mind completely. It’s all ok!

Other mom bloggers have walked this path before you, and many are figuring it out right alongside you. Your perfect planning system might look different from mine, and that’s exactly how it should be.

Ready to take the next step? Pick one system and give it an honest try for the next 30 days. Your future self – and your blog – will thank you for making the decision to get organized today.

What planning system are you leaning toward? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

If you are interested in more tips to improve your productivity, fill in your name and email below. You will get a list of my most helpful tips to tackle time management. Little secret? Tip #4 is my favorite, but I couldn’t do without tip #7!

Sharing with others!