Erin Condren Life Planner Tab Fix

If you have an Erin Condren Life Planner, I'm sure you know exactly what this title means by "tab fix". The tabs in the Life Planner are brand new this year, but are made from cardstock and stick out of the side of the planner. When thrown in a bag, the tabs tend to bend and get ruined. I got creative today and fixed mine.

But before we get to the fix, I want to show you my Life Planner.

A few months ago I posted about my BusyBodyBook planner. I purchased an Erin Condren gift certificate from a daily deal website at half off a few months ago and ordered the teacher's lesson plan book (which unfortunately I can't use yet -- luckily it's undated, so I can always use it next year). I love by BBB, but everyone was raging about the LP, so I decided to take a leap when another daily deal came up for half off (plus other discounts with codes). I'm honestly torn between what exactly I want/need in a planner. The Erin Condren Life Planner is $50. That price k-i-l-l-s me. My frugal self is not happy with me for this purchase. But I did have the discount and what-not, so it was my one splurge. Perhaps I'll make my own planner for 2013 now that I have the binding tools and design capabilities.

Anyways...here's my Life Planner...

I love the bright, beautiful cover.

The front of the planner has a section for special dates.

Here's what doesn't work so nicely for me that the BusyBodyBook actually did better -- the Life Planner is divided by day and then by morning/day/night. I really like how the BBB allows me to categorize my day and section out everything from my bills/menu/appointments/etc. rather than cramming it all in one section.

I love the tabs. It makes it so much easier for me to jump ahead a month or two to record bill due dates and such. Plus, each tab has that month's full month calendar on the front (what a mouth full).

There are tons of stickers in the back, which I also love.

A two sided pocket in the back holds my personalized note pad (which costs extra to order, but you do get two).

The plastic zip pouch is also a fave. It keeps important things like tickets and such close at hand. The Life Planner came with some cute (some are personalized) gift labels.

And now for the tabs...

I appreciate the thought that went into the tabs. They're easy to access and colorfully fun. But as I stated in the beginning, they're not very durable. I've been playing with ways of trying to "save" them for the last week and finally decided to try something myself.

The picture below shows my solution -- it's so good you can't even see it. Ha!

I took clear plastic filing tabs (that you'd use for filing folders) and cut them to the right size and ModPodged those babies to the tabs. (I had a lot of extras...and still have a bunch left over.) Because Mod Podge is so awesome, it dries clear. Being the ridiculous perfectionist that I strive to be, I cut them down to fit perfectly. I didn't want them to be too wide on either side and I didn't want them to be too long that they'd overlap any of my writing space on my calendar. I used a q-tip to apply the ModPodge to the tab, but if you have a small paint brush, that would work too. If you're really rough with your planner, this may not work permanently for you. ModPodge is not as strong as say, super glue. It may crack right off with enough force -- not ruining anything, but just taking the plastic tab off. I didn't put enough ModPodge on one of them and it came off. It went back on easily, but I just wanted to warn you. If they don't stay on, I think I'll staple them with my colored staples -- give it a more decorative look I suppose if I have to go that route.

I also used my Zutter Round-It-All Edge Rounding Tool to make the plastic tab edges round like the planner tabs. They tend to be a little sharp after cutting down with scissors. You could round them off yourself with scissors though, I'm sure.

where i'm linking up my project