I don’t review many day to a page planners as I don’t use them, however I thought the Primo Planner was worth a mention. The day to a page layout (including weekends, not just weekdays) is very functional and the schedule runs from 12am to 11pm so anyone, on any schedule, could use this planner. Plus there is a weekly overview in this planner… which costs only $7!
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Quick facts
- Size: Just over 5.75″ wide x 8.25″ high
- Hardcover
- Sewn binding
- Built in pen loop
- Undated
- Lasts 6 months
- 2 page monthly calendar (landscape orientation, starts Sunday)
- 1 page weekly overview (starts Sunday)
- 1 page per day (including weekends)
- 2 page monthly reflection
- 6 month / end of planner review
- Neutral inside pages
- 13 double sided dot grid pages at the back of the planner
- Bright white paper
- Pocket folder
- Quick reference page with multiplication table, common metric conversions and measurements for baking
Price: $7 USD on Amazon + shipping (so cheap!)
Let’s take a closer look!
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Mentioned in this video:
- Since I purchased there is now a pink cover version.
- Tutorial for resizing printables to any page size
- My weekly review questions
- My monthly review questions
Update: The planner is no longer available on Amazon. If you would like this planner, my copy is for sale in my sister’s store, Carefully Crafted.
The Cover
The cover is the usual faux leather material you’ve probably seen many times on all the sewn bound planners I’ve reviewed on this blog.
Approx. 2.5cm or 0.98″ thick
At the front of the planner are the only 2 dated pages – annual dates at a glance for 2019 and 2020. You could cover these up with a printable and some glue or washi tape.
Next is a quick guide to using the pages.
Initial Plan
Despite the title of these pages being ‘initial plan’ there isn’t actually much to do with actual planning. These 2 pages are more of a reflection of your previous year / where you’re currently at. I forgot to take a photo (sorry!) but there wasn’t much to take a photo of anyway. There isn’t much space to add your responses to the questions and there’s no free notes space to add your own, unless you use the dot grid pages at the back of the planner.
These are the questions in this section:
- Who do you want to be in 6 months? It could be changes in your personal or professional life, or a goal you want to attain. Whatever it is, describe it in detail
- Not sure how you’re going to describe it in detail on only 8 lines??
- What abilities do you have that will help you reach your goals? How can you build on these strengths to make them even more effective?
- What about you will get in the way? Maybe you can work to reduce these. At the very least, know what to look out for
- What are the best few steps that will get you started down this path?
- Identify someone you trust who will review your 6 month plan
- Schedule a time to meet with them and send them your plan
If you skip to 2:15 minutes in the video above you’ll be able to see the page layout.
Monthly Calendar
Starts Sunday (whcih is consistent with the weekly spread).
I haven’t seen a planner with a landscape orientation monthly calendar where you turn the page sideways to use it. I like the idea as it could give more room to write, but they’ve done 6 rows / weeks when it could’ve been 5 rows and then re-start the numbering on the top row (if required).
I like the other sections / categories but there isn’t much room to write in those boxes.
You could easily do different color themes by shading in the date circles and the borders.
Weekly Planning
There is a very functional one page weekly overview followed by 1 page for each day of the week.
Day to a page
Another functional layout with no wasted space.
The schedule runs from 12am to 11pm so anyone, on any schedule, could use this planner. If you don’t need some of the timeslots you could use whiteout and create more notes space.
Monthly reflection
After the monthly calendar, weekly overview and daily pages, there is a monthly reflection with these questions:
- What was your favorite memory from the past month?
- What are you most grateful for? This can be personal, professional etc.
- What did you learn this month?
- What has gone well this month? Why?
- What has not gone well? Why?
- Considering what did (and didn’t) go well last month, develop 3 goals to focus on for the next month
- New habit
The line spacing is 5mm.
Related: My monthly review questions
6 month reflection
This planner lasts for 6 months. At the back are some review and reflection questions for those past 6 months:
- Review your initial plan and see how things turned out. What stands out to you as you review your progress?
- What advice would you give your past self based on what you’ve learned?
- What could you accomplish in 6 more months?
At the back are a few pages I haven’t seen in other planners: conversions page and journaling prompts.
Some of the conversions on this page are handy, but I doubt many people need a quick reference for the distance to the sun!
There are 13 double sided and 1 single sided dot grid pages for notes, lists, making graphs to chart savings, weight loss or anything else you like.
The 6.5mm dot grid spacing is larger than the ‘standard’ 5mm most notebooks have. 1.5mm doesn’t sound like much but this grid is jumbo! There are 21 dots horizontally and 30 dots vertically.
Pages lay flat on their own and there are 2 different colored ribbon bookmarks.
Pen Test
I won’t be keeping this planner so didn’t do a pen test. However, I can see minor show through of text printed on the backside of the pages.
Pros of the Planner
- Equal planning space for each day of the week
- Daily & weekly spreads – most planners either have one or the other, rarely both
- Ridiculously cheap – only $7 USD at the time of writing this post!
- 2 page monthly reflection
- 2 ribbon bookmarks in different colors
- Large schedule for each day – starts at 12pm and runs through to 11pm so should work with anyone’s schedule
- Weekly and monthly start day of the week is consistent (both start on Sunday)
- Bright white paper
- Pocket folder
Cons of the Planner
- The double lines on the borders of all boxes is busy. It might not be so obvious if you color them in but it just seems unnecessary
- No annual planning page
- No tabs
- Dot grid is 0.25″ / 6.35mm (too big)
- The 2 goal planning pages at the front of the planner are too brief
- The planner is heavy
Would I use this planner?
No. I don’t use day to a page planners. I think this planner has potential and with a few tweaks would be much better:
- Single line border instead of double around all boxes
- More detailed goal planning pages (and more than just 2) at the start of the planner
- Monthly habit tracker instead of just the daily habits box on the monthly calendar
- Either turn all pages to landscape page orientation or switch the monthly calendar back to portrait so people don’t need to keep turning the page
Despite the cons and my notes above, this planner is among the cheapest I’ve ever seen at only $7! So if you’d like to try a day to a page layout, this planner is one to consider.
If you like this planner, I purchased it from Amazon.
More planner reviews:
- Blue Sky / Day Designer Day to a Page
- Lux Productivity Planner (day to a page with dot grid pages)
- Kit Life Daily planner
Planning Tips:
- Color coding your planner: how to choose which colors to use
- Overwhelmed by the planner community? Read this post
- My 7 favorite planner supplies for making lists
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Laurie Gallagher says
I like this planner but can’t find a valid link to it anywhere. Could you provide one? Thanks, Laurie
Rachael says
Hi Laurie,
I see what you mean – I’ve just searched all over Amazon and it appears to be sold out.
If you’d like my copy, I just put the one from this review in my sister’s shop: https://carefullycrafted.com.au/primo-planner-6-month-productivity-planner/?fbclid=IwAR0R9alwemlS30yIKLsLR-DjsmVDE-mbW_HcLU5jwU1vdW1G3tGnncBO5AY
Kind Regards,
Rachael