You are moving along great writing in your planner, making your plans for the day or the week and suddenly you make a spelling mistake. Or maybe you smeared your writing and it just doesn’t look right anymore.
It’s easy to make mistakes from time to time when writing with a pen in a planner. This post will provide 11 great tips for fixing common planner mistakes while still keeping your planner looking beautiful.
1. Fix With White Out (Either the Tape or Liquid)
White out (brand name: Wite-Out) is the most common option for removing mistakes from a planner. There are both tape and liquid options. A liquid pen allows you to remove smaller more detailed mistakes but could leave your page a bit wrinkled. The tape leaves a bigger mark but is often easier to write over and lays flatter.
White out isn’t for everyone though. It is a very bright white and often planner paper is more ivory-toned, so it is easy to see where the whiteout tape is.
So below I have provided 10 more ideas for how to fix pen mistakes without having to use white out.
2. Cover Up With Planner Stickers
Planner stickers are beautiful and functional at the same time. For smaller mistakes you could use either a decorative planner sticker, an event label, or if you have a bill due that day, put a bill due sticker over top.
For bigger mistakes consider using flags, decorative stickers, or cutting a section from the month header sticker (fits full width of page) to cover the mistake.
Often sticker kits come with many extra stickers that may never get used, but mistakes are a great opportunity to make use of these extra stickers.
3. Draw Basic Shapes Over the Mistake
Even if you are not the most artistic person, everyone can draw a basic heart, star, circle, square, etc. These shapes can easily be put on top of the mistake and then colored in.
If you use the same pen as you made the mistake in, it will blend better than anything else.
However, using dark markers or Sharpies would work as well and will give a nice finished look.
4. Cover With Washi Tape
Washi tape is another sticker that is frequently used in planners as decoration but can also be used in many other projects.
Washi tape can be purchased as either a sheet, which will contain other types of planner stickers as well. Or in a large strip that is on a tape dispenser or roll.
They come in different widths to cover both small and big mistakes and can also easily be cut to whatever size you need.
5. Put Scrapbook Paper Over It
Cut out a small strip from a piece of scrapbook paper (usually 12″x12″ sheet) that will fit over the mistake and use two-sided tape to secure it to the planner sheet. This could be a plain white sheet so that you can write on top of it, or you could use one with a pretty design so that it becomes a design aspect in your planner.
You could also just use printer paper and cut a strip to cover the mistake.
6. Cover the Mistake With a Picture
If you have a large area that you have made a mistake in, cover it with a picture of your family or your pets.
Many planner lovers use their planner as a journal and memory book. So if you enjoy keeping your planners after the year is over to look back on, this would be a great opportunity to start attaching some pictures to your planner pages.
7. Use a Pen That Can Be Erased
There are pens available that can be erased to easily remove any mistakes that you make. Not all of these pens erase well though. The Pilot Frixion Ball Erasable Gel Pens are the best on the market for this purpose.
They are highly recommended by most planner lovers as they write really nice and have the added bonus of being able to erase any mistakes.
8. Fill in With a Sharpie Marker
Use a dark-colored Sharpie marker (blue or black works well) to create a strip over the mistake that looks like a ribbon. This will just look like a design aspect in your planner and will completely cover the pen mistake.
If you are using a planner with thick paper, you don’t have to worry about the marker going through the paper.
9. Turn the Mistake Into a Fancy Letter
If it is a letter that you have made a mistake on, it may be possible to keep the mistake and create additional styling to make the letter work. Do this by outlining or you could choose a fancy letter to replicate.
Often when writing in calligraphy (called faux calligraphy when using a pen), your letters can have a little bump and a curl which allows you to incorporate small mistakes into the added details of the letters.
Another option is making the whole word in bubble letters which can easily hide smaller mistakes and give your planner a different look than just standard printing or writing.
10. Use a White Ink Gel Pen to Trace Over Mistakes
White ink gel pens are typically used on dark paper so that the writing shows up nicely. But did you know that they can also work for tracing over mistakes?
The pen is easy to use and will hide the error allowing you to write over it with your regular pen. Unlike whiteout, the pen will not leave a thick area on your page. It will have the same effect as just writing normally.
11. Photocopy the Page and Start Fresh
If you have a printer that also has the option to scan. It will be quick to just take a photocopy of the page that you want to correct.
Once copied, cut the page to fit on top of the existing planner page and then use double-sided tape to attach the page.
You may want to print on thicker paper so that you can’t see through the printed page onto the existing page. Otherwise, attach two pages together to get that thickness. Or attach a darker sheet behind to completely cover it.
Are you looking for more planner content? Read more like this:
What to Track in a Paper Planner
Pros and Cons of Using a Paper Planner
Why Are Planners So Expensive?
Erin Condren LifePlanner Review (the planner used in the pictures above)
In Summary
You don’t have to fret over making mistakes and ruining an expensive planner. There are many ways to go about fixing common planner mistakes and still end up with a beautiful planner that you can keep as a memory to look back on.
I hope you have found these tips useful and can use them going forward. Happy planning!
