After posting this weekly spread I received a few emails from readers requesting a full review of the planner… so here it is!
Quick facts
- Size: 8″ high x 10.5″ long
- Wire binding
- Softcover (no personalisation optional)
- This belongs to page in case your planner is lost
- Dates at a glance
- Inside pages that match the color scheme of the cover
- 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
- 1 Page monthly calendar (starts on Sunday) – landscape page orientation + lists page for each month
- Extras pages – medical contacts, travel checklist, grocery list etc.
- Lined notes pages
- Tabs
Let’s take a closer look!
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The Cover
Rather than laminate or a hardcover, the planner has a cover that is glossy but very thin, with this frosted cover to protect it.
Very thin – just over 1cm thick.
If you like planning using stickers and washi tape you may have to rip out pages as you use them as the coil is quite small.
Important Dates
With lined writing space! Because of the page orientation you could divide each month into 2 vertical columns to create even more space (and you’d still have a decent width to write in)
Monthly Calendar
Week starts on a Sunday (not consistent with the weekly spread that starts on Monday)
USA holidays are pre-printed in tiny font so they don’t take up planning space.
All of the boxes have lined writing space!
This planner does my #1 peeve – combining 2 boxes into the space of 1, rather than re-starting the numbering on the top row of the monthly calendar.
On the right page are 3 big, wide checklists with checkboxes <3
Weekly Planner
Because this planner is landscape page orientation, the columns are wider than normal vertical style planners (which I normally avoid as they columns are far too narrow).
Each column is about 2.25″ wide. Saturday and Sunday get a full size planning space and there’s a huge notes sidebar.
Extras pages
In the ‘essential info’ tab at the back of the planner are plenty of extra pages – most of them are oriented towards a mum.
- Medical contacts
- Household contacts
- On-the-go essentials (baby, school, in the car)
- Party planner
- Travel checklist
- Grocery checklist
- Contacts
- Lined notes
Tabs
Tabs for each month as well as a bit tab ‘essential info’ for the add on pages at the back
Pen Testing
I didn’t do a pen testing as the paper feels the same as a similar planner from Blue Sky, also in landscape page orientation, the Day Designer for Blue Sky Horizontal Weekly Planner Review
The paper feels quite thin so I was surprised when there was hardly any pen bleed through – even the Stabilo Pen 68 (marker pen) which normally bleeds through or has really bad ghosting in other planners.
Back side of the pen test page.. hardly any ghosting! For a cheap planner this is better than I expected.
Pros of the Planner
- Saturday and Sunday have the same amount of space as a weekday
- Landscape page orientation gives you wider columns to write in for each day
- Reasonably priced
- Lined monthly calendar
- USA holidays pre-printed on the monthly calendar
- Doesn’t feel like it weighs much
- Frosted cover to protect the pattern cover. Not sure what the material is but it feels like thin super smooth cardstock
- Tabs for each month and a big easy to find and grip essentials info tab at the back
- Lined weekly spread
- Plenty of notes pages at the back of the planner
- Laminated tabs
Cons of the Planner
- Need a lot of space to lay out the planner
- Not enough of the extras pages e.g. only 2 grocery lists is definitely not going to last the entire year – I really love the layout of the grocery list though so if the company made a tear off notepad I’d buy it
- When you use the planner you’ll need to fold the pages back on themselves unless you have a large desk (i.e. you won’t be able to see the entire week at one glance)
- The calendar combines 2 days into the one box rather than re-starting the date at the top of the next line
- Can only buy from Amazon. Blue Sky doesn’t ship to Australia (I really love the style of their planners and literally emailed them to make sure it wasn’t an error on their website ☹
- Too many contacts pages – medical contacts, household contacts and general contacts – bit of a waste of paper in my opinion since all of that is kept on my phone – would have liked to see more list pages similar to the 3 lists beside the monthly calendar
- The coil snugly fits the planner so if you like to decorate using planner stickers & washi you might need to tear out weeks as you use them for everything to fit
Would I use this planner?
Yes, see how I tried it in this post!
More planner reviews:
- Similar and Cheaper Alternatives to the Erin Condren Life Planner
- Using the Do It All Weekly Planner by Orange Circle Studio
- Using a Kikki K Weekly Planner
Planning Tips:
- Planning 101: Planner lingo (what does it all mean?)
- Finding planner peace: how to choose the right planner page size for you
- 10 ways to save money when buying planner supplies
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Cori says
I love the idea of this planner, but it’s too wide for me. Thanks for the review.
Susan says
Thanks for that good review Rach. I still love this planner & will be giving it serious consideration for 2019 as I don’t know of any other company doing the same layout.
My Plum Paper Horizontal week to an opening just hasn’t got enough lines for each day so I have to go vertical for 2019 & this ticks a lot of boxes. Pity you don’t get any kickback for it.
Thanks again 🙂
Susan