Best Laid Plans

Latest Episodes:

Where Planning Meets Etiquette with Lizzie Post of the Emily Post Institute EP 254 Jun 09, 2025

Show notes

Lizzie Post is the great-great-grandaughter of famed etiquette expert Emily Post and serves as co-president at the Emily Post Institute along with her cousin Daniel Post Senning. In today's episode Sarah interviews her on all things planning AND etiquette adjacent! First, Sarah inquires about Lizzie's current favorite planning tools and rituals, and then she asks questions that get at some of the stickier parts of planning: how to manage making plans in a group, how to handle planner fatigue, how to deal with managing forms of communication, and how to get past barriers to planning social things.

Lizzie and Dan's new book is the the newly-updated Emily Post’s Business Etiquette - find out more at https://emilypost.com! She and Dan also cohost Awesome Etiquette, a podcast where they discuss all things modern day etiquette and answer listener questions.

EPISODE SPONSORS

IXL: Make an impact on your child’s learning, get IXL now. BLP listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ⁠ixl.com/plans⁠.

Green Chef: Make this summer your healthiest yet with Green Chef. Visit ⁠greenchef.com/50BESTLAID⁠ and use code 50BESTLAID to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping.

Mint Mobile: Save this summer with a Mint Mobile Wireless plan! Get your summer savings and shop premium wireless plans at ⁠mintmobile.com/BLP⁠

PrepDish: Delicious and healthy plans to take the mental load out of planning dinner! Visit ⁠prepdish.com/plans⁠ for two weeks free!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Quirky Planning Habits that Might Work for You! EP 253 Jun 02, 2025

Show notes

In today's episode, Sarah welcomes listeners into summer (and southern hemisphere listeners into winter!). Then, she shares 10 less common (possibly quirky!) planning habits that work for her, from her tracking methods to her use of "defaults" and strategic use of break times, and more. She also shares a listener follow up to the new mom wondering how to deal with tasks that come to mind when she isn't with her planner!

EPISODE SPONSORS

IXL: Make an impact on your child’s learning, get IXL now. BLP listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixl.com/plans.

Green Chef: Make this summer your healthiest yet with Green Chef. Visit greenchef.com/50BESTLAID and use code 50BESTLAID to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping.

Mint Mobile: Save this summer with a Mint Mobile Wireless plan! Get your summer savings and shop premium wireless plans at mintmobile.com/BLP

PrepDish: Delicious and healthy plans to take the mental load out of planning dinner! Visit prepdish.com/plans for two weeks free!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Monthly Planning Rhythms + Completist Mini-Review EP 252 May 26, 2025

Show notes

Today's episode is dedicated to monthly planning rhythms! Sarah discusses why the monthly planning level can be a challenging one, but then provides reasons to try giving it some attention!

Elements Discussed:

- Ways to add to the "fresh start" energy - screen backgrounds + monthly tracking
- Monthly work plan (new element for Sarah!)
- Monthly goal setting (middle piece of the Nested Goals method - great way to break up big seasonal projects), including a look back / forward / within, and a calendar landscape review
- Monthly "extras" - might include budget, household supply maintenance, fitness ideas, library holds, adding in fun, and more!

Prior episodes mentioning Monthly Planning:
#17 - https://theshubox.com/2024/09/episode-218-your-new-month-guide.html
#218 - https://theshubox.com/2020/11/blp-ep-17-monthly-review.html

Completist Products Mentioned (no affiliation):
Weekly Planning Pad: https://www.the-completist.com/collections/planner-pads/products/andalucia-weekly-planner-pad
Daily Planner: https://www.the-completist.com/collections/daily-planners
Monthly Planner: https://www.the-completist.com/collections/month-planners
Newsletter signup: theshubox.com/newsletter
BLP Live in Nov (ONE slot as of posting this!): theshubox.com/blplive

Episode Sponsors:

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit ⁠⁠⁠prepdish.com/plans⁠⁠⁠ for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠mintmobile.com/BLP⁠⁠⁠

IXL: Tailored and effective online learning (my kids have used this for years as part of their school curriculum)! Best Laid Plans listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at⁠⁠⁠ IXL.com/PLANS⁠⁠⁠.

Green Chef: The best meal kit for eating well. Visit ⁠⁠⁠greenchef.com/bestlaidfree⁠⁠⁠ and use code bestlaidfree to get started with FREE salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mini-Review of Kendra Adachi's Playbooks + Planner Peace from A Completist Listener EP 251 May 19, 2025

Show notes

In today's episode, Sarah shares a detailed Planner Peace submission (from a listener who listened to all 250 episodes of the BLP back catalog!) and provides a mini-review of Kendra Adachi's The Playbook, designed to be planner companions for each season, rather than planners themselves!

Find The Playbook here: https://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/merch/p/the-playbooks-bundle or here for a page by page overview: https://otterpine.com/the-playbooks/

Next, a listener with a new baby wonders whether it makes sense to carry her paper planner up and down the stairs vs make the switch to digital.

Finally, this is Sarah's birthday week! If you'd like to celebrate, leave a review on your favorite podcast app, or preorder Best Laid Plans: A Simple System for Living a Life That You Love (available at major retailers - just search for Sarah Hart-Unger!).

BLP Live is almost full - last chance if you'd like to plan 2026 with Sarah and Laura Vanderkam in person this November! Visit theshubox.com/blplive for details

Episode Sponsors:

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit ⁠⁠prepdish.com/plans⁠⁠ for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at ⁠⁠mintmobile.com/BLP⁠⁠

Green Chef: The best meal kit for eating well. Visit ⁠⁠greenchef.com/bestlaidfree⁠⁠ and use code bestlaidfree to get started with FREE salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Out of the Weeds + Listener Q&A: Processing Paper, Ideas for Digital/Paper Hybrid Systems, Planner Peace from NZ, and Visualizing Summer EP 250 May 12, 2025

Show notes

In today's episode, Sarah share the strategies that got her feeling much less "in the weeds", including airtight task capture and inbox cleaning, plus monthly work planning!

Then, she shares a Planner Peace segment from Ross in NZ, who uses mostly digital tools plus a paper daily and has an incredibly well-thought-out and organized overall ecosystem!

Topics for the Q&A:

- Finding planners with affordable shipping to AUS and NZ
- Handling incoming papers without letting them overcrowd your desk
- Planner suggestions for a daily with decent-sized hour markings that go from 5a - 9p
- Suggestions for getting back into planning for someone with more limited use of her writing hand
- Ideas for visualizing the summer as a whole

Episode Sponsors:

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit ⁠prepdish.com/plans⁠ for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at ⁠mintmobile.com/BLP⁠

Green Chef: The best meal kit for eating well. Visit ⁠greenchef.com/bestlaidfree⁠ and use code bestlaidfree to get started with FREE salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Weeds: Thoughts on Climbing Out from Overwhelm + Overload EP 249 May 05, 2025

Show notes

In today's episode, Sarah gets real: she shares her current feelings of being "in the weeds", how she got there, and the strategies she hopes to employ to climb out.

Additional Notes:
Best Laid Plans LIVE in Florida: Planning 2026 has very few remaining slots - grab yours now at theshubox.com/blplive

Share your own tactics for getting out of the weeks - send Sarah an email or text at sarah.hart.unger at gmail or (305) 697-7189

Episode Sponsors:

Mint Mobile: Save money on your wireless plan! Visit mintmobile.com/BLP

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit ⁠prepdish.com/plans⁠ for your first 2 weeks, FREE Green Chef: Make this spring your most delicious yet with Green Chef! Visit greenchef.com/50BESTLAID and use code 50BESTLAID to get 50% off your first month, then 20% off for two months with free shipping!

IXL: Make an impact on your child’s learning with IXL! For 20% off IXL membership, visit IXL.com/PLANS

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Planning Meals and the Rest of Life with Allison Schaaf, Business Owner and Mother of 4 EP 248 Apr 28, 2025

Show notes

Allison Schaaf is the creator and owner of PrepDish (longtime BLP sponsor!) and her business is based on planning, specifically around meals! But she also has plenty of wisdom to share around planning the rest of life, from long term goals to handling emails and managing a team. She is also highly interested in streamlining tasks as she is a mother of 4 (including a baby!).

Shared by Allison:

- Clever Fox planner

- Superhuman email

- Traction

- Die with Zero

PrepDish trial mentioned: prepdish.com/plans (two weeks free - and now with Instacart shopping links!)

Episode Sponsors:

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

Green Chef: The best meal kit for eating well. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree to get started with FREE salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Routines (general thoughts + personal revamp!) + Planning Your Weekends EP 247 Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

In today's episode, Sarah reflects on routines, noting that her recent episode on morning routines is already obsolete (as it applies to her own morning routine, anyway!). She shares thoughts about being flexible as you set your routines, and the need to continually re-evaluate, as well as her new morning routine.

Then, she pivots to all things weekend planning, as inspired by her friend noting that weekends were feeling . . . unsatisfying at times (Kae blogs at gratefulkae.com).

Sarah shares her rationale for why you should dedicate time to plan your weekends (at least as much as the week!) and shares some ideas to keep in mind as you think about those hours. Below, her suggestions:

TAKE THE TIME TO THINK THROUGH THESE DAYS!

BE REALISTIC

don’t forget transition time, drive time, etc

IF YOU DO HAVE TO WORK, BE VERY SPECIFIC ABOUT WHAT YOUR END GOALS ARE and TIME FRAME

SLOT IN RELAXATION AND GET ENOUGH REST

CONSIDER WEEKENDS TIME TO DO INSTALLMENTS OF A BIGGER PROJECT

TALK TO OTHERS BEFORE SETTING YOUR SCHEDULE - GET THEIR INPUT/BUY-IN

TRY TO BALANCE ACTIVE/MORE SOCIAL PERIODS WITH SOME DOWN TIME

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOMETHING FUN FOR YOU!

FIGURE OUT THE TIME YOU’RE WILLING TO SPEND ON CHORES (figure out what is really a priority for those times)

Episode Sponsors:

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

Prose: Truly custom skincare and haircare. Visit prose.com/plans for 50% off your first haircare subscription order!

Green Chef: The best meal kit for eating well. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree to get started with FREE salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Spring Planner Releases + Thinking About Summer EP 246 Apr 14, 2025

Show notes

In today's episode, Sarah reflects on where we are in the year and offers encouragement and ideas to help you start thinking through summer.

She also provides an overview of some fun planner releases for spring, including new editions from Erin Condren, Simplified, and Laurel Denise.

Episode of Amanda's Favorites where she describes designing a planner with Laurel Denise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZnWjf0qdWM

Episode Sponsors:

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

Prose: Truly custom skincare and haircare. Visit prose.com/plans for 50% off your first haircare subscription order!

Green Chef: The best meal kit for eating well. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree to get started with FREE salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Gap Between Planning and Doing EP 245 Apr 07, 2025

Show notes

Sometimes there is vast space (and struggle) between planning and executing on our plans. In this episode, Sarah delves into why that might be an offers some solutions.

She also mentions Lisa Woodruff's Medical Binder and Carolyn Cohen's Wellness While Walking podcast.

Episode where Carolyn was a guest: https://theshubox.com/2025/01/blp-ep-232-planning-and-goal-setting-for-health-with-carolyn-cohen.html

Episode Sponsors:

PrepDish: Convenient meal plans, recipes, and shopping lists to reduce your weekly mental load! Visit prepdish.com/plans for your first 2 weeks, FREE

Mint Mobile: Low-cost wireless phone service – a great way to save every single month! Learn more at mintmobile.com/BLP

Prose: Truly custom skincare and haircare. Visit prose.com/plans for 50% off your first haircare subscription order!

Green Chef: The best meal kit for eating well. Visit greenchef.com/bestlaidfree and use code bestlaidfree to get started with FREE salads for 2 months plus 50% off your first box.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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