Homemaker’s Friend Weekly Planner Review (Pros, Cons & Video Walkthrough)
The Homemaker’s friend is a planner oriented towards mom’s but with a different weekly layout to the normal multiple sections per day / each person gets a section layout.
Quick facts
- Size: 5.75″ wide x 8.5″ high
- Coil binding
- Softcover
- Dates at a glance
- Neutral inside pages
- 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
- 2 Page monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
- Numerous extra pages including, lists, shopping lists, clothing sizes, project planning etc.
- Tabs
Let’s take a closer look!
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The Cover
The cover is soft thin cardstock with a glossy finish. Even though it has rounded corners I don’t think it would hold up well after a year of use – there’s no laminate or clear frost / plastic cover to protect it.
Monthly Calendar
Week starts on Sunday (not consistent with the weekly spread).
The planner is from the USA and has US holidays printed.
Unfortunately the planner splits boxes in 2 in some instances, rather than re-starting the numbering on top row.
As there are tabs for month, week, tasks etc. there aren’t tabs for each month. Instead there is a dotted line you can cut to create tabs. Seems odd that these don’t already come pre-cut for you…
There are only 2 notes pages in the month section (1 at the front before the monthly calendars and one at the back)
Weekly Planner
Week starts Monday (not consistent with the monthly calendar).
Saturday and Sunday share the same amount of space as a weekday. I like the tasks list but not so much a fan of the space underneath with the dates at a glance calendar. If you’re not religious you could cover this section up with washi tape, habit stickers, bill due, reminders etc.
Related: How to make planner stickers for free using Silhouette Studio (Introduction – Video Tutorial)
Dates at a glance
Extra Pages
The shopping lists are perforated which is a great idea… but the pages are printed double sided.
There are lots of other extra pages…
Lots of open-ended list making space.
The pocket folder is very flimsy – feels only slightly thicker than standard printer paper.
Tabs
The tabs don’t stick out very far from the pages plus the rounded edge makes them harder to grab / find than most planners. They’re cardstock only (no laminate) and were scuffed in transit so likely would not hold up well after a year of use.
Pen Testing
Overall, the paper quality is not the best. It feels flimsy and most of the pens had bad ghosting.
If I were to use this planner I’d use the Paper Mate pens as they had the least amount of ghosting.
Pros of the Planner
- Portable size
- Plenty of extra pages
- Functional weekly spread
- Lost of list pages
Cons of the Planner
- Flimsy tabs
- Shadow design on the back of all the pages rather than just plain white paper is annoying
- Contacts pages are unnecessary (well they are if you store contacts on your phone)
- Paper quality isn’t very good
- The pocket folder just feels like thick paper – it’s not even cardstock
- Softcover front and back covers as well as the tabs feel flimsy and likely won’t hold up well after a year of use
Would I use this planner?
No. I like the weekly layouts and the fact that there’s lots of extra list pages but the shadow design on the back of the pages, the tabs and thin paper quality mean this planner is a no for me.
The 2019 version is similar to 2018 but with different background images instead of the lemons.
More planner reviews:
Planning Tips:
- Daily versus weekly planners: which is right for you?
- Color coding your planner: how to choose which colors to use
- After trying more than 20 pen brands, these are my top 5
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I used this one for several months this year. I liked how unique the design was and the tear off grocery pages. I only used ballpoint pens because like you said lots of ghosting.