While on the quest for a planner in the non-typical vertical, hourly and horizontal format, I came across the Live Whale Planner!

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of the planner in exchange for this review. I was going to purchase the planner anyway. As always, all opinions are my own.

The Live Whale planner comes in weekly and daily editions. In this post I’ll go through the daily edition. I did a review of the weekly edition in this post.

Quick facts

• Size 5.75″ wide x 8.25″ high
• Book binding
• Leather cover with elastic band
• Undated
• This belongs to page in case your planner is lost
• Dates at a glance
• Goal setting pages
• Neutral color scheme
• 26 x 1 page per week planning pages
• Daily planner pages – 2 pages per day (120 days – should last 4 – 6 months)
• 2 Page monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
• 6 monthly budgeting pages
• Lined notes pages
• No Tabs but 3 built in ribbon bookmarks
• Pocket Folder

Price: $23 USD

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!

The Cover

Leather with gold corners to prevent wear and tear.

The cover is a bit too plain for my liking. There’s nothing printed on the cover or the spine – it just looks like an ordinary notebook.

Because the planner has 2 pages per day it does make it quite bulky (approx 3/4″ thick)

Dates at a glance

4 years worth of dates at a glance on 2 pages – very space efficient!

Goal Setting

The first thing I noticed when I opened this planner is that the font size and line spacing is quite small. However, it also means the planner fits a lot on each page.

I really like this goal setting page structured into the main areas of your life: personal, family, career & financial, social, fitness. spiritual – and there’s an other section where you can add your own (a good space for craft projects).

Then there’s space to map out the what, why and how behind your goals. Ideally this space would be a bit bigger, however there are plenty of open-ended pages following this where you can map things out in detail.

It’s a bookbound planner (which I normally avoid). However, the pages actually lay flat without you having to hold them open with one hand 🙂

Budgeting

Always handy – monthly budgeting pages!

There are 6 of these pages (the planner is intended to last for 4 – 6 months).

Monthly Divider

Each month has a brain dump page and a divider page with a different quote.

Monthly Calendar

Week starts on a Sunday.

The layout of the calendar is very functional with a lined sidebar  and open-ended space below the calendar boxes.

This planner is undated – my favorite type of planner as you can start using it anytime!

Weekly Planner

While this is predominantly a daily planner, the planner also includes 26 x 1 page per week planning pages.

I really like this weekly planning page (more than I like the actual Live Whale weekly planner!) Very few planners have 1 page per week planners – I wish more did.

The page size and habit tracker sections to write in are quite small so when I use this planner I’m intending to put numbers in the habit section, then write out the habit the number corresponds to on a sticky note. E.g. 1 = file backups, 2 = yoga, 3 = vitamins etc.

Daily Planner

It’s not very often that a planner includes 2 pages for each day so this was a welcome discovery!

Overall a very functional daily planning page. from 6am to 9pm with with two lines for each hour (i.e. you can plan by half hour). Plus the large checklist space and the meal planning section even includes space for snacks. I also really like the countdown to goal due date section. If I don’t have a deadline (date) then nothing really gets done. I wish more planners included goal accountability sections like this!

Extras pages

Plenty of lined notes pages at the back of the planner:

Tabs

There are no tabs in this planner (probably since it’s undated). Instead there’s 3 built in pen loops (in different colors).

Pen Loop

And it’s fat enough to fit the Frixion pen!

Pocket Folder & Elastic Band

Pen Testing

I tried various ballpoint, gel, fine tip and marker tip pens – there was some ghosting on the back side of the page. I also did some highlighter and stamp swatches. The highlighters also had some ghosting and, as always, the MAMBI stamps and cheap highlighter bled through the page ?

Pros of the Planner

• Portable size
• Minimalist color scheme
• Daily and weekly planning pages
• 2 pages for each day giving you lots of room to write
• Goal setting pages
• Bright white paper that feels super smooth to write on
• Pocket folder
• Elastic band
• It’s a bookbound planner, however, the pages actually lay flat without you having to hold them open with one hand 🙂

Cons of the Planner

• Cover is very plain and no personalisation option
• The line spacing changes throughout the planner – on the goal setting, weekly and daily planning pages they’re closer together than the lined notes pages
• Small font size (just a bit too small)
• No tabs (although there are 3 built in ribbon bookmarks)

Would I use this planner?

Yes. This planner is really well thought out. I like the 1 page weekly spread and the 2 page daily spread (which I’m going to convert into a weekly planner since I don’t tend to use day to a page planners).

More planner reviews:

• Get to Work Book Planner Review (Pros, Cons and a Video Walkthrough)
• Mi Goals ‘Goal Digger’ Weekly Planner 2018 Review
• Amelia Lane Weekly Planner Review (Pros, Cons & a video walkthrough) 

Planning Tips:

• Bored with your planner? 25 ways to mix it up
• How to make planner stickers for free using Silhouette Studio (Introduction – Video Tutorial)
• How to color code your planner for school using pens

Browse all posts

Found this post helpful? Pin it!