For my fellow Australians looking for a local planner, Kaisercraft have some simple weekly planners (which are currently 50% off!) Let’s have a look at the horizontal layout.
This is not a sponsored post. I purchased the planner myself and as always, all opinions are my own.
Quick facts
- Size: 6″ wide x 8.5″ high (15.2cm wide x 21.5cm high) – there was an A6 version too
- Hardcover (fake leather)
- Sewn binding
- No cover personalisation
- Multiple cover designs to choose from
- Dates at a glance page
- 2 page Monthly calendar (starts on Monday)
- 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
- 2 page annual planner
- 2 page birthdays list
- Lined notes pages
- Neutral inside pages
- 12 months, dated for 2021 calendar year
Price: $15 AUD (however I purchased for 30% off in early January, they appear to still be on sale on the Kaisercraft website)
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).
Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more planner videos!
Looking for a dot grid notebook? Click here for my review of the Kaisercraft dot grid notebook (with glitter cover!)
The Cover
The cover is that fake leather material that most sewn bound planners have. There were a few different styles to choose from – a black cover with stars, some floral patterns and the one I choose:
Between 0.5″ and 0.,75″ thick (1.5cm)
Dates at a glance
At the front are 3 annual overview pages for 2020, 2021 and 2022.
There’s also an annual overview but the columns are so narrow (only 2.3cm wide / just under 1″ wide) that they’ll only fit 1 word for each day. You could use it to write names for birthday’s, or use dot markers to plan recurring tasks.
Monthly Calendar
All of the monthly calendars are clustered together at the front of the planner.
Starts Monday which is consistent with the weekly spread.
Each day’s box is 3.4cm wide x 3.2cm high.
There are no split boxes, the date numbering restarts on the top row and it also shows the past and next month’s dates in grey font.
At the end of the monthly calendar section is an annual birthdays page (but could easily be re-purposed for something else like a project planner)
Weekly Planning
The weekly spread starts on a Monday with the same format (horizontal boxes) for the weekdays which switches to a more vertical layout for the weekend.
The weekday boxes are 13.8cm wide x 4.2cm high (5.5″ wide x just under 1.75″ high).
The weekend boxes are just under 7cm wide x just under 8.5cm high (2.5″ wide x just over 3.25″ high)
The layout is very simple and plain so you could add highlighter borders, skinny washi tape, highlight the days of the week, add some stickers etc. basically you can customise it however you want.
Extras pages
At the back of the planner are 2 lined notes pages ( 0.9cm / 9mm) and one dot grid (5mm) page. There are also two 5mm dot grid pages at the front of the planner.
Pen Testing
I tried all of my usual ballpoint, gel, fine tip and marker tip pens – there was a lot of ghosting on the back side of the page for everything. MAMBI stamps and the highlighters bled through.
If you’re going to use this planner, the ballpoint and erasable pens had the least ghosting.
Pros of the Planner
- Portable size
- Cheap
- Doesn’t weigh much
- Bright white paper
- Australian holidays are pre-printed
- 2 Ribbon bookmarks (and different colors)
Cons of the Planner
- Paper has bad ghosting
- Annual calendar starts on Sunday but the monthly calendar and weekly planner start on Monday (not consistent)
- Not enough notes pages
- No tabs
- Can only find at Kaisercraft stores in Australia (or their online shop)
- No pocket folder
- Columns on the annual overview calendar are too narrow
- No goal planning pages
Would I use this planner?
Yes. I like the simple layout however a page size a bit bigger (7″ wide x 9″ high which is what I consider medium size) would be better.
More planner reviews:
- Day Designer for Blue Sky Horizontal Weekly Planner Review
- Frank Diary Planner Review – Horizontal Weekly Planner
- Plum Paper Horizontal Priorities
Planning Tips:
- DIY Tutorial: How to make planner stickers using Microsoft Word (includes video walkthrough)
- Using blank pages: 50 useful lists to add to your planner
- 10 Reasons why I plan using printables (and why you should too!)
Found this post helpful? Pin it!
Gudrin says
Hello, nice review. I found such a planner, dissected it delicately and punched and added discs. I also added some DIY inserts and a pouch and penloop. Made it a DIY A5 HP.
Rachael says
Hi Gudrin,
That sounds like a lot of effort! I’m curious – how long did it take to assemble?