Blue Sky Noteworthy Planner Review (Pros, Cons & Video Walkthrough)

Blue Sky planners are an American brand that always have affordable and functional layouts. One of my recent finds was the Noteworthy planner!

Quick facts

  • Size: 5.5″ x 8.5″ high (the inside pages are smaller than the cover)
  • Wire binding
  • Softcover
  • Double sided pocket folder
  • Dates at a glance
  • Contacts pages
  • Neutral inside pages
  • 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
  • 2 Page monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
  • Lined notes pages (about 1/3 of the planner i.e. heaps!)
  • Tabs
  • 12 month durations
  • Academic or calendar start year

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).

YouTube video

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The Cover

bluesky weekly planner noteworthy pros and cons video review horizontal monday start simple minimalist

The cover extends beyond the monthly tabs on the side and the notes tab at the top. The cover feels like thin plastic and is quite bendy. It doesn’t have any laminate or frosted cover to protect from wear and tear.

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bluesky weekly planner review pros and cons simple minimalist a5 size monday start horizontal academic year student work personal video

There’s a double sided pocket folder however it’s cardstock and the space is quite small. Combined with the coil which doesn’t have much room for expansion, you’d probably only be able to fit a few sticker sheets.

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Monthly Calendar

Week starts on a Sunday (not consistent with the weekly spread).

The line spacing is really close together in the notes sidebar – 2 lines share the amount of space that is typically 1 line in other planners.

blueksy weekly planner review noteworthy academic year a5 size functional minimalist gold black horizontal monday start 2 page monthly calendar

bluesky weekly planner review work personal monthly calendar horizontal weekly spread

Unfortunately the calendar splits the boxes rather than re-starting dates on the top row.

A fair bit of space is taken up with USA national holidays and other random things like religious events, first day of autumn etc.

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Weekly Planner

The weekly spread is one of my favorite layouts: horizontal days of the week on the left and checklist space on the right.

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There is a fair bit of blank space at the top of the page which could be used for meal planning, reminders, weekly top 3 etc.

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Extras pages

The noteworthy planner lives up to it’s name with an entire section just for lined notes pages (about 1/3 of the whole planner)

blueksy weekly planner review noteworthy academic year a5 size functional minimalist gold black horizontal monday start note paper

blueksy weekly planner review noteworthy academic year a5 size functional minimalist gold black horizontal monday start usa holidays list affordable

blueksy weekly planner review noteworthy academic year a5 size functional minimalist gold black horizontal monday start

Tabs

Including a tab for the notes pages to find them easily.

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Pen Testing

Based on the other BlueSky planners I’ve reviewed and the affordable price point, I was expecting the paper quality to be average which turned out to be the case.

I tried various ballpoint, gel, fine tip and marker tip pens – there was some ghosting on the back side of the page. I also did some highlighter and stamp swatches. The highlighters also had some ghosting and, as always, the MAMBI stamps bled through the page ?

bluesky planner review pen testing noteworthy a5 size horizontal checklist lined functional cheap affordable academic year notebook

bluesky planner review pen testing noteworthy a5 size horizontal checklist lined functional cheap affordable academic year notebook ghosting bleed through gel pen test

Pros of the Planner

  • Portable size
  • Thin & lightweight
  • Functional weekly layout
  • More notes pages than most planners include
  • Tabs protected by the cover
  • Double sided pocket folder
  • Equal amount of space to plan each day
  • Affordable

Cons of the Planner

  • Monthly calendar splits the days in 2 rather than re-starting the numbering on the top row
  • The monthly calendar starts on Sunday but the weekly spread starts on Monday
  • Bad pen ghosting and bleed through
  • The softcover may not hold up well over time
  • No monthly divider pages, monthly planning, monthly review or notes pages for each month
  • The monthly calendar has a lot of random events pre-printed which waste planning space
  • The line spacing in the monthly calendar sidebar is too close together

Would I use this planner?

Yes. My preferred layout is horizontal with days of the week on 1 side of the spread and list making space on the right page so this planner fits my requirements. A slightly bigger page size and line spacing would make it even better. Plus better quality paper.

This planner would be ideal for a student or someone that wants to track multiple things in the one place (e.g. work and personal, family and personal) rather than using 2 planners.

Update: See how I used the planner in this post.

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