Another planner from my second USA stationery haul was the Workstyle Balance weekly planner by Cambridge. I’ve seen the Cambridge planners for years but the ones I saw had generic horizontal and vertical weekly spreads that I’ve seen far too many times now. But the planner we’re looking at today has a different layout with the days of the week on the top half of the page and separate sections for work and personal at the bottom of the pages. I’ve seen this layout in bullet journals but rarely in planners so let’s take a closer look!

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Quick facts

• Size: 15.2cm wide x 21.8cm high (approx. 6″ wide x 8.5″ high)
  • Inside pages are 14cm wide x 21.5cm high (approx. 5.5″ wide x 8.5″ high)
• Poly cover
• Gold twin wire binding
• Clear double sided pocket folder
• 1 sheet of functional gold foil planner stickers
• Dates at a glance page (for 2024, 2025 and 2026)
• Holidays list (for 2025, 2026, 2027 and 2028)
• 2 page monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
• 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
• 6 pages for planning goals / intentions / self care
• 5 lined notes pages
• Tabs
• Neutral inside pages
• 12 month calendar – calendar year, dated January 2025 to December 2025 (although this brand also releases academic year planners)

Price: $15 USD. The Staples website says the planner is available in store only.

I had a search online but this planner brand seems difficult to find outside of the USA. There are some versions of the Cambridge WorkStyle range on Amazon but not all of the weekly layouts and page sizes. If you’re in the USA, here is the link to the planner I purchased (affiliate link). Here is the link to the 8.5 x 11″ page size version.

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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Mentioned in the video:

• Amazon has the planner I purchased
• My 10 favorite goal planners 
• This planner is from my second USA stationery haul
• The best planners if you want to keep work and personal in the same planner
• A planner brand with similar planners is Blue Sky planners
• The Roterunner planner has a similar weekly spread

The Cover

The cover is the same poly material that some of the cheaper discbound notebooks have (like the ARC and TUL). These covers make the planner very lightweight, but if it’s a lighter color like the purple of this planner, it can show scuff marks easily. Despite being a flexible material, the corners of this material aren’t bent easily so it should otherwise hold up reasonably well if you’re carrying it in your bag every day.

Approx 0.5″ thick

At the front of the planner is a double sided clear pocket folder. The pages fill the coil already so you’ll only be able to store a few pieces of paper or sticker sheets in this pocket folder.

One sheet of functional white and gold foil planner stickers are included (I wish there were more!) The cut lines are accurate and the gold foil print quality is excellent (no black or white flecks in the gold foil parts and the icon images are crisp).

Dates at a glance

At the front of the planner are 3 annual overview calendars for 2024, 2025 and 2026. There’s also a holidays list with dates for the current year and next 3 years. Most planners only include the dates for the current year so this look ahead would be quite handy.

Monthly Calendar

Starts Sunday (not consistent with the weekly spread).

The boxes for each day are 3cm wide x 3.5cm high.

The line spacing in the my week section is 6mm.

Unfortunately there are split boxes. I’d use whiteout for the number and lines, then re-start the numbering in the top row (as those dates were already on the previous month’s calendar so are just dead space otherwise).

Related post: 10 Quick planner hacks you need to try (planning tips & inspiration)

Weekly Planning

The weekly spread was the reason I bought this planner. I’ve seen this layout in bullet journals, but it’s hard to find planners with this layout (Roterunner and Top Down planner come to mind but they have timed schedules in the daily sections).

The daily sections are unlined so you could go even further at dividing work and personal by ruling a line through the middle horizontally to create 2 boxes for each day.

The sections for work and personal at the bottom of the spread are very functional with plenty of space for tasks and notes.

The columns are 4cm wide x 9.3cm high.

The line spacing is 7cm.

This is the other weekly planner layout I was talking about in the video. It comes in 8.5 x 11″ (US letter page size). I wish it came in a medium size (around 7″ wide x 9″ high). The lined notes sections are unlabeled so you could add the work and personal labels (or any other labels you like).

This layout would probably be relatively easy to replicate in Agendio.

Workstyle Focus Planner (8.5″ wide x 11″ high)

Extras pages

There are 6 pages which aren’t specifically for goals. The planner has deliberately left it a bit open ended letting you decide if it’s a goal, intention or self-care. A unique approach that I haven’t seen another planner do before, but regardless of the use of the pages, I think there needs to be more space to plan.

Being marketed as a ‘life balance’ planner I was expecting some goal planning pages however the planner does not include any other than these 6 pages at the back of the planner. If you were to use this planner I think you’d need a separate notebook or goal planning system as there just isn’t enough space for thorough goal planning on any of the provided pages. There is also no extra notes pages or open ended annual overview with space to put notes against each month.

There are 5 lined notes pages at the back of the planner. The line spacing is 7cm.

Tabs

The tabs are an extension of the pages with just some clear laminate over them. They are however, protected by the poly cover that extends beyond the pages.

Pen Testing

The paper is very thin (you can see the ink printed on the back side of the pages), so I wasn’t expecting much from the pen review.

There was indenting for most of the pens, and the thicker pens (marker pens and some of the fineliners) almost bled through the page. The stamps and highlighters also had bad ghosting. The paper is smooth to write on. The frixion pens erased cleanly and easily.

If you use this planner, try gel pens as these had the least amount of ghosting.

Pros of the planner

• Annual holidays list has the dates for the current year and the following 3 years
• Bright white paper
• Very lightweight, you could easily take this with you on the go
• Smooth paper that’s easy to write on
• Black / minimalist inside pages – can color code and decorate without worrying about colors clashing with colors of the planner
• Affordable
• Unique weekly layout
• 1 sheet of gold foil planner stickers included

Cons of the planner

• Split boxes on the monthly calendar
• Paper it thin – there is ghosting of the layout printed on the back side of the page
• Paper is prone to ghosting for pens and bleed through for highlighters
• Cover is prone to scratches
• Only a few goal and notes pages
• No detailed goal planning pages
• No monthly planning or monthly review pages
• Difficult to find the planner outside of the USA

Would I use this planner?

Unsure. I really like the weekly spread and can see how it would work for people who are trying to balance a 9 – 5 job. The combined column for Saturday and Sunday wouldn’t work for me – I’d need a full column each for Saturday and Sunday as that is when I have time to work on my blog and Etsy shop. I could always use some days of the week planner stickers to switch out the order of the days, but I may end up just taking elements of this weekly layout and incorporating them into my future weekly spreads.

This planner would work if you want just the weekly spread in your main planner and prefer to use a separate notebook or another planner for more detailed goal planning, reference pages (e.g. cleaning routines) etc. The planner is thin and lightweight so you could take it with you to manage your day to day plans then keep everything else in a reference notebook.

Cambridge offers many weekly spread layouts so if you like the style of this planner but are looking for a different weekly spread, be sure to check the other options.

More planner reviews with a similar layout:

• Roterunner Purpose Planner
• Top Down Planner Review
• DotCross Planner by Scribbles That Matter
• Happy Planner Dashboard Layout
• Sprouted Planner
• Time and ToDo Planner

Planning Tips:

• 10 Useful Tips for Digital Planning using Goodnotes
• How to choose the right planner pens: what to look for when buying planner pens
• 7 Useful washi tapes for bullet journaling

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