If you’d rather spend less on your planner so you can splurge on the accessories, or you want to try out a second planner without spending a lot of money, here are 7 of (I think) the best planners that cost around $20 USD or less.

Here they are in no particular order…

Prices current as of the time of writing this post in June 2020.

1. Happy Planner

My current obsession from the Happy Planner is the skinny classic size planner or Happy Notes with refills (see how I used it in this post). This page size is just right without wasting space and is one of my favorite planners / notebooks for lists. Their stuff is always colorful and discbound is a must have!

Price: Mini Happy Planner is usually $22 but they have such frequent sales you can easily get it for less than that.

MAMBI Mini Happy Planner Review (pros, cons, should you buy it?) 

2. Blue Sky

One of my all time favorite planner brands, especially their collaborations with Day Designer.

Price: Expect to pay $15 USD for 5″ wide x 8″ high and $20 for US letter size

Blue Sky Planner Reviews:

• Day Designer for Blue Sky Horizontal Weekly Planner Review 
• Day Designer for Blue Sky Today and To Do Notebook
• Blue Sky Horizontal Weekly Planner
• Blue Sky Noteworthy Planner

3. Recollections

Michael’s Recollections range have nice planners with a mix of coil bound, sewn bound and plenty of sizes to choose from.

Recollections Mini Weekly Planner

Price: If you want a planner under $20 you’ll need to choose one of their smaller page sizes (around half US letter size) but they’re often on clearance so you might get lucky with a larger page size for under $20.

Recollections Planner Reviews:

• Recollections Creative Year Journals: an alternative to a traditional weekly planner
• Recollections Planner Review (Vertical Weekly Layout) Pros & Cons
• Recollections Budget Planner
• Recollections Vertical Hourly Weekly Planner
• Recollections Horizontal (2019)

4. SV Digital Planners

SV Digital are the creators of these affordable and functional planners:

• Legend Planner
• Clever Fox
• Go Girl Planner
• Puffin Planner (review coming soon)

Price: Each are around $15 USD

Read more: Legend Weekly Planner Review

5. Kmart

If you’re a fellow Aussie you’ve probably already discovered Kmart’s stationery section. It can be a bit hit and miss but most of the stuff is usually nice and cheap. Some of my favorite date dot stickers (their anko) brand are from Kmart too.

I like their to do list book and their weekly planner (both were only $2.50 each!)

Related: Using a Kmart lists book to plan your week (planning by task, rather than by day) 

Read more: $2.50 Kmart Planner: Too good to be true?

I recently found a weekly planner there for $4 with a four page weekly spread (review coming soon)

Price: Expect to pay no more than $10 AUD for a planner

6. Global Printed Products

Global Printed Products planners are a simple horizontal planner with a colorful cover and enough color on the inside pages to look pretty without distracting.

Global Printed Products Planner

Price: Varies depending on page size. Around $16 USD

7. Pretty Simple Planners

As the name suggests, this planner has a simple and functional layout with a pretty cover and a large page size (8.5 x 11″). I’m not a fan of the binding as the pages don’t lay completely flat, but it does mean the planner is cheap.

Pretty Simple Planners Review (Horizontal Lined Weekly Planner)

Price: $8 USD on Amazon (affiliate link) – very cheap for a large page size!

Other Options

if you’re in Australia, another option is the Otto range of planners from Officeworks like the goals, budget, business and wellbeing planner. They’re around $25 – $30 when they’re first released but you can usually find them on clearance 3 – 6 months later to $20 or less and then just use with some date dot stickers.

Read more: Officeworks Otto Goals Planner

They have sewn bound planners too which are usually around $20, but the insides are basic black and white – not pretty and colourful like the coil bound planners range.

Read more: Otto A5 Horizontal Planner Review

Planning tips

• 5 Planner supplies that have lasted more than 5 years
• Best highlighters for bullet journaling
• 50 Category Ideas for Color Coding Your Planner

Past weekly spreads

• Gold themed weekly spread in the Erin Condren Focused Planner
• Whistle and Birch Rainbow Weekly Spread using the Zebra Mildliners
• Decorating a $2 weekly planner

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