​While on my seemingly never-ending hunt for horizontal planners with lined writing space and checkboxes in the weekly spread, I stumbled across this one from Pretty Simple Planners!

I purchased the planner myself and was not compensated for this post. As always, all opinions are my own. 

Features of the Pretty Simple Planner

• Cover that is like thin cardstock but has a kind of velvet like texture
• 8″ wide x 10″ high
• Dated for 2018 – January to December
• No tabs
• No extras pages such as notes pages
• Book bound
• Minimalist black and white inside layout
• 2 Page monthly calendar (starts on a Sunday)
• 2 page horizontal weekly spread – lined + checkboxes (starts on a Monday)
• A few different cover options to choose from
• Affordable price point: only $8 USD from Amazon
• USA holidays printed on the monthly and weekly spread

Let’s a closer look!

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The Cover

Very thin spine in book bound / sewn bound style. The cover feels like velvet!

This belongs to Page

In case you lose your planner

Monthly Calendar

Monthly calendar starts on Sundays which is not consistent with the weekly spread :/

This planner does my pet peeve – rather than re-starting the numbering on the top row of the monthly calendar, it splits one of the boxes into 2 i.e. not useable space. When planners do this I white out that diagonal line and re-start the numbering from the first row using pen or date dot stickers.

Weekly Planner

The days of the week aren’t printed on the weekly spread – only the dates – minor thing but seems a bit odd and could be frustrating when you use it.

Saturday and Sunday share the same amount of planning space as one weekday.

I wish the cute flags beside each day had the letters of the days of the week in them e.g. M for Monday etc.

Pen Testing

I tried a variety of gel pens, ballpoint pens, marker style pens as well as some stamps and highlighters. All of them had obvious ghosting on the back (worse than most planners).

Pros of the Pretty Simple Planner

• Affordable price point: only $8USD from Amazon
• Good size – not too small and not to big – just right!
• Very light – weighs about the same as my Kindle (which is rare for a medium size planner)
• Holidays are printed on the monthly calendar and the weekly spread
• Lined & checklist planning space for each day which most horizontal planners don’t have
• Great line spacing – not too close together but not spaced too far apart either

Cons of the Pretty Simple Planner

• Glue / book bound so it doesn’t lay flat unless you really push down hard on the page or use a paperweight
• The cover is thin – I can see this getting damaged with regular use
• No tabs
• No monthly planning pages
• No notes pages or extras pages
• The paper is thin so you can see what’s been printed on the back before you even write in the planner
• The days of the week aren’t printed on the weekly spread – only the dates – minor thing but seems a bit odd and could be frustrating when you use it
• Rather than re-starting the numbering on the top row of the monthly calendar, it splits one of the boxes into 2 i.e. not useable space
• The monthly calendar and weekly spread do not start on the same day

Who this planner is best suited for

The weekly spread is very similar to the Emily Ley Simplified Planner. If you want something that’s a bit bigger with more room to write and at a much more affordable price point, the Pretty Simple Planner would be a good option.

Would I use this planner?

Yes, I’m intending to trial using this planner as a blog content planner.

More planner reviews:

• Using the Emily Ley Weekly Plannner (Week 43 of the 52 Planners in 52 Weeks Challenge) 
• Agendio Review (custom, personalised weekly planner) 
• Plum Paper Planners Haul & Review (better than the Erin Condren?)

More planning posts:

• Favorite places to buy planner pens (online)
• How to make printable graph paper in Photoshop (perfect for habit tracking and bullet journalling!) 
• Arcing my Plum Paper Planner – everything you need to know if you’d like to try it yourself!