I’m sure most (if not all!) of you have heard of Amanda Rach Lee. As someone who cannot hand draw anything (and quite frankly, has zero interest in learning how to), if there’s a planner that already has doodles drawn on the pages, then I’m interested.

Quick facts

• Size: 5.75″ wide x 8.25″ high
• Hardcover
• Sewn binding
• Dates at a glance page
• Reflections, goals, things to check out
• Dot grid pages dispersed throughout the planner
• Monthly cover pages
• Each month has – monthly habit tracker, mood tracker, goals & faves page, 1 dot grid page
• 2 page Monthly calendar (starts on Monday)
• 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday) – 4 days on left page + 3 days & notes box on the right page
• Pen loop
• 2 ribbon bookmarks
• Neutral inside pages
• Doodles on almost every page – can leave as is or color them in
• Ultra thick 160 GSM paper with almost no ghosting or bleed through
• Bright white paper
• Pocket folder
• 12 month duration
• Available in calendar year (Jan – Dec) or academic year (Jul – Jun)

Price: $18 USD + shipping (purchased during Black Friday sales, normal price is $50 USD). Note: I purchased the 2020 – 2021 version, so at the time of purchase in November almost half the planner had ‘expired’ so planner was discounted.

Shipping was only $12 USD for 2 notebooks and a planner to get it to Australia (one of the lowest international shipping rates I’ve come across when buying planners from overseas!)

Let’s take a closer look!

To enlarge the screen of the video, click the square icon in the bottom right hand corner of the video (it will say ‘full screen’ when you hover your mouse over the icon).

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See my review of Amanda Rach Lee’s dotted notebook in this post.

The Cover

I really like this cover! The images are the same ones that are used for each month of the year in the planner. The images are very clear and flecks of the silver foil haven’t fallen off either. The doodles are printed on the front and back cover.

Between 1 and 1.25″ thick (3cm)

Dates at a glance

Goal Pages

These pages are too brief for me. I would’ve liked to see more structured goal pages but at least there are 7 dot grid pages at the front (following the reflections and goals pages) that you can use however you like.

Monthly Planning

Each month has:

• Quote page
• Monthly cover page with decorative elements you can color in
• 2 page monthly calendar
• Habit tracker
• Mood tracker
• Goals / faves page
• 1 dot grid page

Each month is themed with the doodles appearing on all pages for that month – including the weekly spreads.

The 12 themes are:

1. January – Constellation / stars
2. February – Flowers
3. March – Palm leaves
4. April – Butterflies
5. May – Sunflowers
6. June – Bubble tea
7. July – Floral / wreaths
8. August – Fruit
9. September – Cactus
10. October – Jewels
11. November – Hot air balloons
12. December – Cityscape

If you want to see what each month looks like, watch the video (^above^) – I went through each of the themes in more detail

The monthly calendar starts Monday (consistent with the weekly spread). Each box is approx. 1.25″ wide x 1.25″ high (3.1cm wide x 3.1cm high)

On months where there are 6 rows, each box is 1.25″ wide x 1″ high (3.1cm wide x 2.6cm high). I’m not sure why she didn’t just re-start the numbering in the empty boxes on the top row and then the box sizes would’ve been consistent for all months.

Plenty of pages for each month – monthly calendar, habit tracker, mood tracker, goals and faves plus a dot grid page

Weekly Planning

The planner comes in one weekly layout. I like the layout – it’s simple, you can leave it as one big box, or split it into 2 to separate work and personal, AM and PM, the columns aren’t too narrow like in a vertical planner either.

Each box on the weekly spread is just under 2.25″ wide x just under 3.25″ wide (5.5cm wide x 8cm high).

Extras pages

At the back of the planner is a reflections page. I forgot to take a picture but it wasn’t much – the same format as the reflections page at the start of the planner with these questions:

• Highlights from this year
• Something I learned this year
• What I was grateful for this year
• What I want to leave behind

I would’ve liked to see some more structured end of year review pages but there are 9 dot grid pages so you could do a more detailed end of year review if you wanted to.

I’m not sure if I happened to get a version with a miss-print or if all of the first print run had this: but the dot grid pages are 4.5mm grid horizontally and 5mm grid vertically. It might not seem like much but the grid becomes a rectangle rather than a square.

Here’s a comparison with the Amanda Rach Lee dotted notebook where the grid is 5mm x 5mm (notebook is on the left, Doodle Planner is on the right).

Pen Testing

I decided not to keep the Doodle Planner so didn’t do a pen test. However, I did a pen test of the Amanda Rach Lee dotted notebook which I assume has the same paper as the Doodle Planner. Here are the results of that pen test:

Given that Amanda Rach Lee’s spreads usually involve brush markers which are notorious for the ink bleeding through the page, I was expecting very good paper…

… And was not disappointed! No ghosting or bleed through for highlighters and pens (even the thick maker pens). There is a tiny bit of ghosting from the Happy Planner stamp (not very obvious and wouldn’t stop me from using the back side of the page).

Pros of the Planner

• Ultra thick 160 GSM paper with almost no ghosting or bleed through
• Bright white paper
• Unique – can’t think of a similar planner to compare it to. This is part adult coloring book / part planner / part bullet journal
• Image printing of the doodles is high quality – no fuzzy images
• Plenty of pages for each month – monthly calendar, habit tracker, mood tracker, goals and faves plus a dot grid page (the most monthly planning pages I’ve seen in a planner)
• Variety of themes on the monthly spreads
• Month and week start day is consistent (both start on Monday)
• Very cheap international shipping (one of the lowest international shipping rates I’ve come across when purchasing a planner from overseas)
• Pocket folder

Cons of the Planner

• Very chunky and heavy
• Most pages don’t want to lay flat on their own
• Goals section at the front is too small
• Monthly calendar boxes switch between 5 and 6 rows. Would be more practical to keep it consistent with 5 rows and just restart the numbering on the top row
• No tabs
• The ribbon bookmarks are the same color
• Miss print on the dot grid (4.5mm x 5mm so not a perfect square grid) – although this could just be a miss-print on the version I received
• The elastic band indents onto the cover material, especially at the top and bottom of the cover

Would I use this planner?

Probably not. While I like seeing other planners with doodles on the spreads, I’m not someone that includes doodles in my spreads.

For a first print run, I think she did a great job – especially on the design. The main con for me is the uneven dot grid printing on those pages.

If you want a planner with decorated pages without actually having to do any of the decorating, this would be a great option. Also, I rarely see planners with this layout that’s a cross between vertical and horizontal with 4 days of the week on each page.

More planner reviews:

• Maggie Holmes versus the Happy Planner
• 7 Dot grid notebooks with smooth paper
• Erin Condren Softbound Dot Grid Notebook

Planning Tips:

• Favorite Rainbow Pens for Planning
• 7 tips for storing planner supplies
• Silhouette Studio Software versus Photoshop: Which is better for making planner stickers?

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