Hi friend, Elizabeth here from @thejoyfulsojourn on Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok! Today we're going to talk about horizontal planning and getting more functional with our journals.

In case you didn't know, Archer and Olive has a stunning planner in a vertical layout. I am a big fan! It is great for people that like to list things out vertically every day. But there might be times when you want to try something different, or you might want a horizontal view. That's what we're going to make today in our notebooks- 3 different basic horizontal planner layouts that can be tweaked into even more functional spread ideas to meet your planning needs.

Supplies

Use discount code "JOYFUL10" to save 10%  at Archer and Olive!

• Any sized journal (my printable has tips for sizes B5, A5, TN, and B6)
• Kit Club – the one-stop-shop for decorative planning! Everyday kits are available (linked), along with a monthly subscription that auto-ships you fresh designs every month at a discounted rate!
• Pens – I used both sides of the Calliographs today
• Stamps – a great functional and decorative element to any planner spread
• Tools – my personal fav is the stencil!

Horizontal Layout 1

One Page Weekly w/ Dashboard

The first horizontal layout is going to have our weekly blocks all on one page and a dashboard on the opposite page. In an A5 size notebook, you're going to count down three dots from the top, and then every 5 squares, draw a line. This will give us 7 equal sections per day, and margin up at the top for our month and deco.

Moving over to the opposite page, draw a line connecting all the last-line dots. No matter what layout or sections I have within this dashboard page, I always frame it out. I’ve found that when I convert a notebook or journal into a planner, more structure is better than less (though you do you boo)!

Things get really fun at this point, especially if you're a decorative planner like me. I'm using a kit club to add a little bit of panache, a little bit of style into my planning pages. That's another fun thing about having all of your weekly days on one side and then this open dashboard on the right side - you have so much more room for activities and for creative play! Here I ripped up a piece of the scrap paper to add a little bit of an anchor and a statement piece on the right side.

I consider myself a functional planner in that it's important that whatever planning pages I'm using, and they serve a purpose. But that can’t be at the expense of an opportunity to do something creative either! It is so important for my mental and emotional health to slow down for a few minutes every day and do something creative. Do you find peace when you slow down and create too?!

This dashboard has both the form and the function – just what I like! And there you have horizontal option one, with a one-page weekly and bonus brain dump dashboard.

Horizontal Layout 2

One Page Weekly + Dailies

This next layout is a slight modification of the first one, if you need additional daily planning pages and are willing to cut some paper! For a weekly and daily view, grab three additional pages after your weekly layout, and cut them down to size - whatever width for a daily that feels right to you.

{Pro tip, keep the scraps you cut off! They’re helpful for sampling pens and inks on A&O paper.}

To help separate the daily pages and cover up those raw edges, run kit club washi tape down the page, making sure half of the washi falls on one side, and you have enough to fold over onto the back of the page. Waterfall pages are really popular, and you could certainly do that if you'd like more tabbed pages (though your dailies will be different widths).

If you opt for the weekly overview with daily pages, think about how you want your weekly overview page to be used before setting up the daily pages. 

If I want my weekly overview page to be for journaling, I'm going to create more of a functional layout on my daily pages. That means more bullet lists, more task lists, maybe even an hourly time block. But if I'm going to be using the weekly for functional things like appointments and tasks, then with my daily pages I'll leave more free form for journaling and gratitude (ie NOT incorporating bullet lists). 

Now to wrap up this layout with the final right page, I drew a vertical line flush with the daily pages to create Sunday, and that left me with a weekly dashboard column viewable no matter the day! In this example, I created a few habit trackers using the Archer and Olive stencil. If you don't have this thing, y'all really need to consider picking it up! I use it almost every day.

Wrapping up this second example, I just added some extra kit club stickers to bring the whole design together, and we’re good to go!

Horizontal Layout 3

Two Page Weeklies + Infinite Possibilities!

Let's talk about two-page horizontal layouts. Again, we are still in that A5 size, but what we're going to do is count three dots down from the top, and draw a line. From the bottom of the page, draw a line on the last row of dots. And then draw lines every 9 squares. This will give us 4 even sections plus room at the top for our month header and decor.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday go on the left page, while Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and a note section go on the right page.

Since we used a lot of stickers and washi in the first two examples, I just used Calliograph pens here – the wide tipped side is great for jumbo numbers, and the smaller tipped side for days of the week.

After drawing your lines and dating the blocks, this is where things get interesting! How you set up this layout is going to vary based on what your needs are each day or each week, and that's what is so great about using an Archer and Olive notebook as your planner! You can change the layout every single week according to what you think your needs will be.

Don't be afraid to try different organization methods within the horizontal layout, either by week or by day! You could create one section for the day’s priorities, or a subject-style layout with buckets or columns by type of work or member of your family.

If you think your categories are going to be the same for the whole week, just write them up at the top and plan them down vertically.

I hope these ideas were helpful for you to see how an archer and olive notebook could be your next perfect planner! If you’d like to see these spreads come together in video format, head over to the Archer & Olive YouTube channel for my latest video on horizontal planning!

And if you’d like to try any of these layouts in your own notebook, check out the printable below! It is a “cheat” guide for creating these layouts in all of Archer & Olive’s standard notebook sizes.

Looking for more tips and inspo? Be sure to follow me over at @thejoyfulsojourn on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok, and if you have additional ideas for how to customize your notebooks into planners, we’d love to see them! Tag me and archer & olive using: @archerandolive @thejoyfulsojourn @archerandolive.community #AOShare #archerandolive