How 3 Buckets Changed My Life

If you've been around here long, then you might already know how my 3 Bucket System has truly saved my days.  I realized I needed to seriously overhaul my planning system when we had a SUPER embarrassing moment years ago.  Once I switched to the 3 Bucket System, I never looked back, and I'm SO MUCH more successful with planning.  Watch the video here to find out more…and to hear about my planning fail that led to my embarrassing moment, LOL!

My Planning Fail/Embarrassing Moment

First I'll tell you about my huge planner fail.  It was right after we moved across the country a few years ago.  My daughter was one, and my son was a newborn.  We were in a completely new town, new state, had to find new doctors, grocery stores– you know, everything that goes with a major move.  My husband had started a new job, and I was just getting my business off the ground.  All of this led to some major overwhelm!

I was still trying to plan my days (after all, my business was/is about organizing!), but I was still using the basic method of making myself a to-do list for the day.  But I had so much going on that if I were lucky, I would get maybe 20% of that list done.  I was planning my day as if nothing would go wrong, I'd be functioning at max energy, and there would be no interruptions or surprises.  Ahem, when was the last time you had a day like that with an infant and a toddler?!?  I was just not being realistic.  Then I'd go to bed feeling like a failure.

Not long after we had moved in, we got back to our new home to find a brightly colored paper stuck on the front door.  We went and checked it out.  It was a notice from the water company of non-payment.  This may seem like “not a big deal.”  You just pay it, pay maybe a small late fee, and move on with your day.

However, we lived in a tiny town that we affectionately named “Mayberry.”  Mayberry can be great– you know everyone.  That's also what's bad.  We lived literally on “Main St.!!!”  Multiple people saw that notice, and we even got a text asking if we were okay– ugh.

I had plenty of money in our account to pay the bill.  It had just slipped through the cracks on my to-do list and I kept pushing it to another day.  It was only a 3-5 minute task!  This was the moment realized something had to change, and I came up with my three bucket system!

The Three Buckets

It's still a pretty simple system (as most good systems are!).  You have three buckets into which you divide your tasks for the day.  The greatest strength of the three bucket system is that it helps me be realistic with what I can actually get done that day, and it prioritizes the most important things.  Here are the three buckets:

Bucket 1

This is where your top 1-3 priorities for the day go.  If you go to bed at night, what are the 1-3 things you absolutely MUST do?  These things go in bucket 1.  If you have trouble deciding what to put here, you can also “HOP to it.”  The letters in this acronym help you figure out your priorities.

• HABITS– What habits are you trying to establish?  This can be anything from exercising, to washing your dishes every night.  Going to bed at a certain time so you're well rested might be one.  It's best to choose just one (or maybe two related) habit at once so you can really focus in and be successful.
• OBJECTIVES– These are your goals for the day.  I try to choose only 1-3 of the most important tasks for my day.  If I go to bed and only get these things done, will I be happy with what I chose to do?  What is so important that it absolutely has to be done that day?
• PASSIONS–  What are you going to do today that will fill your bucket, feed your soul, and care for yourself?  This could be exercise, reading a book to your kids, a date night.  It could be a nap or watching a Hallmark movie, taking a bath…or just doing whatever you enjoy!  Find something that isn't work and that may be completely unproductive.  We all need rest and rejuvenation every day to function at our best!

Bucket 2

Bucket 2 is probably the “easiest” of all the buckets.  It's your appointments.  When do you need to physically have your body somewhere specific?  All your other goals will have to fit in around these appointments.  While there's no specific limit on appointments, just be sure you're not overbooking yourself. 

Do you have time to travel between appointments without the stress of running late and rushing?  Can you space the appointments out over the week rather than cram them into one day?  Do your best to be kind to yourself and reasonable when you make your appointments.

Bucket 3

This is your wishlist!  This wishlist might be REALLY long, and sometimes mine is!  But here's the thing:  if you don't get even one thing crossed off this wishlist, but you do buckets 1 and 2, then your day was still a huge success!

Bucket 3 is where all the things go that you'd like to do or that you may need to do soon, but they aren't urgent.  They can wait until another day if you run out of time.  That water bill might go in this list until it starts coming due, and then it gets moved to bucket 1 so I actually get it paid in time!  Sometimes things stay on my bucket 3 list for a very long time, and then sometimes I decide I don't actually want to do them at all, so I cross them off before ever getting to them.

Bucket 3 helps you not forget about things you need to do, but it takes the pressure off, and you are still a success even if you don't do any bucket 3 for the day.  Bucket 3 is all about taking away the guilt!  When we have less guilt, we're more productive.

Sometimes I get none of bucket 3 done.  Sometimes I'm really on it, and I get so much done that I wipe out bucket 3 for my day entirely!  Either way is okay.

Our 2025 Planners

Once i knew the 3 bucket system was working so well for me, I developed our planner around this system.  It has places for writing things in all 3 buckets, and it's a super effective way to plan your day.

But you totally do NOT need our planner to start using this system!  You can use a dollar store notebook or a piece of scrap paper, or even the Notes app in your phone!  This concept will work for you no matter what you use to keep track.  The most important part is to just DO it.  Even if you're reading this at 3 pm, you can still plan the rest of your day. 

Sometimes the hardest part is just starting, but if I can do it, you can too, and I promise you'll be in a much better place than if you hadn't planned at all.

Sample Plan

Sometimes it's easier to see an example, so here's how I'm planning my day for tomorrow:

First, I choose the objectives that I absolutely MUST do.  For me it's filming prep for sure.  We're also seriously running out of food, so I need to do some meal prep.  Two things are enough, but I think I can handle one more thing.  But it needs to be small, and nothing else is super urgent for me right now.  I think I'll add a weights workout at the Y.  And that's it– if I get nothing else done tomorrow, I'll still be happy!

Next I'm going to write in my appointments:

• 3 pm, pick up the kids
• 4 pm, kid's doctor appointment
• 5:30 pm, drop my son off at gymnastics

Finally, I get to choose my “Passion” for the day.  What do I want to do for fun or to take care of myself?  I have a new bath bomb, and I haven't taken a bath in a while.  I'll do that at the end of the day, right before bed.  I think that will be really relaxing.

Sometimes I'll write in the appointments when I want to do my objectives, and sometimes I won't– it really just depends.  However, this is a realistic plan for my day tomorrow, and I love how it includes something (the bath) that I'm really looking forward to!  Having a realistic plan and taking time for myself REALLY helps keep me from getting overwhelmed.  I'm more productive in the long run because I don't burn out!

You can use this planning method with ANY planner or notebook, but if it's in your budget, and you want to give ours a try, here is the link for the wait list to the all-new 2025 planners for the coming year!  You will also want to check out our Look-book for the planner, which you can find here!  We have three types:  a physical planner, a printable version, and a tablet version.  They all work similarly, but you probably already know which version would work best for you.  Let me know in the comments which type you prefer!

Organization that actually sticks for busy, happy lives.