Notion, Excel, or a piece of paper?

The best tool depends on the job. You don't have to move your whole life into one app to get organised.

Paper for deciding

Use a single page when you want to choose priorities, sketch the week or empty your head. It has very little setup and makes a useful starting point.

A spreadsheet for numbers

Use Excel or a similar app when you need to record amounts, compare categories or calculate totals. Keep the structure understandable enough that you can check how a total was produced.

Notion for connected information

A planning workspace can keep tasks, recipe notes and projects together. The useful part is finding what you need again, not creating the largest possible dashboard.

Let them complement each other

Write your priorities on paper, keep spending in a spreadsheet, and store recurring plans in Notion if that suits you. Be clear about what you copy manually between tools. A simple weekly review can be enough.