Carpe Diem have put out some really nice planners in the past couple of years including their budgeting planner which is simple, colorful and very functional!

Quick facts

• Size: Approx 7″ wide x 8.75″ high (the inside pages are 6.25″ wide x 8.25″ high)
• Hardcover
• Wire binding
• 2 sheets of functional budgeting planner stickers
• Variety of annual budgeting pages at the front of the planner
• Each month has – 2 page monthly calendar (undated),  Monthly goals, Monthly divider with a tab (different designs for each month), Expense tracker (4 pages), Monthly bills checklist and lined notes page
• Pocket folder
• Tabs
• 12 month duration
• Colorful inside pages

Let’s take a closer look!

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Carpe Diem A5 weekly planner review

The Cover

The cover is a sturdy hardcover with gold foil corners and gold foil on the piggy bank too!

The planner is slightly bigger than 0.75″ thick (but less than 1″ thick). About 2.3cm.

At the front of the planner is a pocket folder adhered directly to the inside of the front cover and 2 sheets of rainbow budgeting planner stickers. Carpe Diem stickers are the perfect mix of cute, colorful, functional & affordable stickers. I always use their sticker booklets and they also have a coordinating budget sticker book.

If you don’t want to flick back and forth to the stickers you could tear them out and keep in the pocket folder instead. One con of this planner: the pocket folder is thin – you won’t be able to fit much in it.

Budgeting Pages

There is a separate budgeting section at the front before the months of the year.

In this section is:

• Budget overview
• Savings goal
• Savings tracker (3 pages)
• Donations tracker
• Bill payment checklist
• Debt payoff goal
• Debt tracker (3 pages)
• Account tracker (4 pages)
• Credit card information
• Bank information
• Lined notes (2 pages)

The paper quality in this planner is really good. That giant green dollar sign has no ghosting or bleed through on the back side of the page. Plus the paper is bright white and feels really smooth.

Not sure how secure it is to be writing your pin in your planner…

Monthly Budgeting

Each month has

• Monthly goals
• Monthly divider with a tab (different designs for each month)
• 2 page monthly calendar (starts Sunday)
• Expense tracker (4 pages)

The monthly calendar is undated so you can start planning anytime of the year. If you don’t want to write in the dates, the Carpe Diem brand have a number sticker book (love that sticker book – I use it all the time for my weekly spreads).

It starts Sunday but since the planner is undated you could use some days of the week stickers (or whiteout) to change the start day to Monday.

There are different quotes for each month

The monthly budget includes sections for income, fixed expenses and varied expenses.

There are budgeted and actual cost columns but unfortunately there is no difference column for each expense. You total everything and then just enter the overall difference at the bottom.

There’s a column for category / description on the expense tracker but you could color code instead.

At the back of each month is a monthly bills checklist and 1 lined notes pages before the next month starts.

After December there is 1 lined notes page and then the planner ends.

Tabs

The tabs are big, sturdy laminated cardstock and have an easy to read font. The colors of the tabs match the colors for that month too <3

There are different dividers for each month.

Pros of the Planner

• Hardcover
• Portable page size
• Undated – start planning anytime
• Coordinating functional planner stickers
• Functional pages throughout
• Plenty of room to write on each page type
• Different colors for each month
• Different dividers with sturdy tabs
• Good variety of budgeting pages
• Line spacing is just right – not too big and not too small

Cons of the Planner

• The planner being undated may be a con for some people
• The pocket folder doesn’t have much room – you can only fit a few piece of paper in it

Would I use this planner?

I budget digitally using these Excel spreadsheets I made. However if I was still using pen and paper I’d definitely try this planner. As you can see from the very short cons list, I loved basically everything about it. Functional, colorful and affordable.

If you like this planner, my sister stocks it in her planner supplies shop.

If you don’t like this budget planner, try the Happy Planner Budget Planner or Recollections Budget Planner.

Planning Tips:

• How to choose a binding system for your planner (comparison and which one I like the most) 
• Buying a planner versus DIYing and making your own (pros and cons) 
• Overwhelmed by the planner community? Read this post 

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