2021 Printables for Mini Binders and Letter-Size Planners

2021 Printables for Mini and Regular Size Binders

Every year I like to change up our free planner pages. To see our new 2021 printables for mini and letter-sized planners, keep scrolling.

But if you are ready to print your pages now, scroll to the end of this post and click the pink button to access our resource library where you will find your free planner pages.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links that I have provided for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

In this post, you’ll also find:

• recommended materials and supplies to help you put your planner together
• tips for putting your planner together
• and best practices for your daily and weekly pages

Materials and Supplies

Before you print out your free planner pages, here is a list of recommended materials and supplies you may want to have on hand.

Those with an asterisk (*) by the name are optional but will make your planner durable, prettier, and easier to put together

• a mini binder like these that hold paper size 5½” x 8½”
• or regular-sized binder like this one
• adjustable hole puncher* (use for mini binder)
• or a handheld hole puncher
• cardstock* (for cover, calendar, and bookmarks)
• blank copier paper
• mini page protectors* (for cover and calendar)
• letter-size page protectors*(for cover and calendar)
• reinforcement labels*
• self-laminating pouches* (for cover, calendar, and bookmarks)
• colored pencils*
• mini index dividers/tabs*
• letter-size index dividers/tabs*
• color coding labels*
• highlighters*

A Peek into Your Free Planner Pages

Here are the pages you will find in our free resource library.

Cover Page

For this year, I chose a lady bug theme. With the year we had, I just wanted something cute and whimsical. 

Year-At-A-Glance Calendar

The year-at-a-glance months have headers that you can color if you like. You can also color-code boxed dates for special days like holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, etc.

Bookmarks/Dividers

The bookmarks/dividers come with three calendar months on each side topped with the year and a flower.

You will find two sets of bookmarks covering all 12 months.

To-Do Pages

This year I changed up the to-do pages as well. I went very minimalistic so that you can customize these pages as you like. 

For the mini binder size, your to-do page remains daily. Every page you print (front and back), you will get 4 days worth of planning pages.

For the letter-sized planners, your to-do list is weekly. With so much space on the page, I saw no reason to dedicate an entire page for one day. Printing the page on the front and back will give you two weeks’ worth of to-do’s.

If the page is not enough for the week, simply print out another page and add it to your planner.

Remember that these pages are un-dated so that you can keep it forever and print only the days/weeks you need.

Putting Your Planner Together

[Some of the photos below show our 2020 planner. Your 2021 printables will not look like these. I just left them for demonstration purposes.]

Printing Mini Binders Pages

To save paper, I have made these pages so that you can print them on the front and back giving you four daily pages per paper.

When you cut these pages in half, there will be space enough for hole punches without interfering with the layout.

Making Your Planner Durable

So that your planner cover and calendar last throughout the year, I suggest the following:

• you can laminate them
• place them in a page protector
• use reinforcement labels
• even better, use cardstock with reinforcement labels

How to Put Your Bookmarks/Dividers Together

For Mini Binders

For mini binder bookmarks, first cut the page in half. Then, fold each half.

I recommend laminating your bookmarks to make them durable.

Next, hole-punch them but make sure that you mark the holes so that your bookmark will stick above the pages.

Finally, cut a slit in each hole so that you can slip the bookmark in place without having to open the binder rings.

Next, you will want to cut the top left corners of your bookmarks so that they will get around the binder ring tab at the top.

For Letter-Size Binders

To put your bookmarks together, follow the above directions but omit the first step.

Oh, and before I forget, I like to use color-coding labels on my bookmarks to mark special days like birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, and holidays.

Best Practices for Using Your Daily To-Do Page (Mini Binders)

On the top portion of the page, there is a space for you to date your page and circle or highlight the day of the week’s initial.

The page is then divided by headers cells. You can use these to title your to-do’s. As you can see below, I highlighted the headers and broke the page into different categories like chores, school, menu, goal tasks, etc. 

Starting from the top, each header’s cells begin to decrease as you make your down the page. So the top headers have six cells, then next set of headers has five cells, etc. 

The above page is a fully loaded page example. And no, that is not what my day looks like. I just wanted you to see how much you can pack onto a page and all the different categories you can use.

As you complete tasks you can just check them off in the box next to it.

If you are curious, in the above example, I created a KEY category which is my preferred way to use this layout.

This key represents two-hour intervals that I then highlight with a different color. Next, I highlight those tasks with the color that represents the time of day I should take those to-dos. This helps me stay on task and on time.

Best Practices for Using Your Weekly To-Do Page (Letter Size Planner)

You can use the weekly pages in a couple of different ways. 

One way is to use the headers for categories just like the mini binder daily page.

Last Year’s Daily Layout

If you prefer last year’s daily layout in both sizes, not to worry. I will keep them in the resource library under 2020 version. 

And here is the way I like to use this layout: 

The top blank lines are mainly for appointments, errands, calls to make, and tasks.

Next, I list my top 3 goals in order of importance. Then, at the end of the day, I color-code each one as completed (green), partially completed (orange), and incomplete (in blue).

When I fill in the next day’s goals, I will carry over any orange or blue goals so, hopefully, I will complete them.

And finally, in the bill section, I like to enter the amount of the bill followed by the confirmation number (or check number) for my records once it is paid. 

Final Thoughts on Our 2021 Printables

So, remember:

• make sure you have all the supplies you need before printing
• then follow the directions for putting together your planner (especially if you choose to use the mini binder version)
• play around with the different ways to use your planner until you find the layout that works for you

How to Get Your Free 2021 Printables for Mini Binders or Letter-Size Planners

If you are ready to get your freebies, click the pink button below.

Click to Access Our Free Library

I hope you like these pages. If you have any questions or comments, be sure to enter them below or contact me at [email protected]

More Planners for You

Below are more planners that may interest you:

• Finance Planner (mini and letter sizes available)
• Goal Keeping Planner
• Home Management Binder
• Student Planners

Save This

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Free 2021 Printables for Mini Binders and Letter-Size Planners