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October 11, 2018

Recollections Planner Review (Horizontal Weekly Layout) – Pros & Cons

After seeing the Recollections Planner all over the internet I really wanted the horizontal version!

Quick facts

  • Size: 7.5″ x 9.25″ high
  • Coil binding
  • Laminated cardstock cover (multiple designs to choose from)
  • Dates at a glance
  • Important dates
  • Contacts
  • Different pattern designs on the dividers for each month
  • Colorful inside pages
  • 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
  • 2 Page monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
  • Notes pages
  • Tabs

Price: $30 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).

For more planner related videos, subscribe to my YouTube channel 

The Cover

There are plenty of cute covers to choose from including this pretty rose gold one:

recollections planner gold foil cover horizontal weekly layout 2 pages lined monday start week simple functional colorful

The cover is cardstock with thick laminate. It didn’t hold up well in transit from the USA to Australia. The laminate corners are bent and splitting (the other Recollections planners I purchased in the same order were fine).

The planner is quite thick, bulky and heavy. The coil is large for the size of the planner, however it does mean there’s room for the planner to expand if you like to use planner stickers.

michaels recollections weekly planner notes page divider cute colorful rose gold floral bright colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren similar thickness

Overall, the laminate doesn’t feel as thick as some other planners such as Erin Condren.

michaels recollections weekly planner notes page divider cute colorful rose gold floral bright colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren similar laminate cover damage wear and tear quality

Important Dates

Lined writing space open ended so you can use for whatever you like! (birthdays, project planning, holidays, school due dates etc.)

recollections planner horizontal review pros and cons gold foil academic year cheaper alternative to erin condren comparison

Dates at a glance

michaels recollections weekly planner notes page divider cute colorful rose gold floral bright colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren similar dates at a glance 2018

recollections planner review horizontal layout annual dates at a glance week start monday colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren pros and cons video honest opinion

Important Contacts Page

I’m not sure why some planner companies still include these pages since most people just record this on their phone but the page is there if you need it. You could also re-purpose it into a password tracker by whiting out the existing text.

Monthly Calendar

Week starts on a Sunday (not consistent with the weekly spread that starts on Monday)

I’m not normally someone that likes pastel colors but I actually like them in this planner. Simple, clean design and the colors aren’t as ‘in your face’ as the Erin Condren (going to be making a lot of comparisons in this post because they are quite similar planners).

recollections planner horizontal review pros and cons gold foil academic year cheaper alternative to erin condren comparison 2 page monthly calendar

recollections planner horizontal review pros and cons gold foil academic year cheaper alternative to erin condren comparison colorful cute

recollections planner horizontal review pros and cons gold foil academic year cheaper alternative to erin condren comparison colorful cute size planner stickers

One thing I don’t like about the monthly calendar though, is that they’ve split the boxes in 2 rather than re-starting numbering on the top row. If I use this calendar I’ll be whiting out the diagonal lines and dates and writing the dates on the top row (or using a date dot sticker).

recollections weekly planner review horizontal pros cons video better than erin condren monthly calendar

Weekly Planner

The title sections are blank so you can use them for whatever you like. If you get tired of writing out your subjects (or other headings), see this post for a tutorial on how to make header stickers.

The week starts on a Monday (not consistent with the weekly spread that starts on Sunday).

The colors used throughout this planner are pink, orange and green. The pink is my fav!

recollections weekly planner horizontal monday start cheaper alternative to erin condren similar michaels pros and cons colorful minimalist lined

When the start of a new month begins at the start /  end of a month, the weekly spread has both colors – similar to Erin Condren with the 2 colors.

recollections planner review 2018 organizer monday week start video colorful cute cheaper alternative to erin condren and plum paper

Love the font and the lined writing space and maximises the full width of the page.

recollections weekly planner horizontal review pros and cons video honest better than erin condren monday week start minimalist

michaels recollections planner weekly horizontal review pros and cons video honest better than erin condren monday week start minimalist

Extras pages

Unlined, lined and graph notes pages

michaels recollections weekly planner notes page divider cute colorful rose gold floral bright colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren similar floral notes page

michaels recollections weekly planner notes page divider cute colorful rose gold floral bright colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren similar floral lined notes

Tabs & Dividers

The tabs are large, easy to grip and laminated. The laminate cover extends beyond the tabs i.e. they’re protected from tab.

Different covers for each month:

michaels recollections weekly planner notes page divider cute colorful rose gold floral bright colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren similar divider

michaels recollections weekly planner notes page divider cute colorful rose gold floral bright colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren similar pocket folder

Planner Stickers

Colors match the colors of the pages in the planner

recollections functional planner stickers vacation appointment reminder colorful cheaper alternative to erin condren

recollections weekly planner horizontal gold icon dot emoji pros and cons video review cheaper alternative to erin condren plum paper

recollections weekly planner stickers cute colorful decorative review pros and cons cheaper alternative to erin condren list stiker floral gold

recollections weekly planner stickers cute colorful decorative review pros and cons cheaper alternative to erin condren

Pen Testing

The paper feels the same as the vertical Recollections Planner, so here is the pen test results from that review (which you can find here).

I tried various ballpoint, gel, fine tip and marker tip pens. The 3 marker pens (Uni Pis, Pure Color-F and Muji Hexa Pen) had some light ghosting but there was no ghosting for any of the other pens. And no bleed through for any! ?

I also did some highlighter and stamp swatches – no ghosting either.

However, as always, the MAMBI stamps bled through the page ?

Overall, one of the best pen test results of the 50+ planners I’ve reviewed! ?

recollections planner pen testing bleeding ghosting marker pen tip fine gel papermate comparison to erin condren pros and cons video

Pros of the Recollections Planner

  • Affordable
  • Nice color scheme
  • Variety of patterns on the tabs
  • Includes stickers
  • Built in pencil case
  • Lined writing space in the weekly spread
  • Functional weekly spread

Cons of the Recollections Planner

  • Could be more durable e.g. tabs and the laminate cover
  • I prefer the notes page style of the vertical Recollections not the dark paper that this version has
  • Can only buy it from Michael’s in the USA
  • The monthly calendar splits the last boxes into triangles rather than restarting numbering
  • The start days aren’t consistent between the weekly spread and the monthly calendar

Would I use this planner?

I like horizontal planners so the fact that this planner has lined writing space too, means it makes it to my top 10 favorite horizontal weekly planners.

I love the colors of the weekly and monthly spread but I’m not a fan of the brown paper for the notes pages, nor the divider designs throughout. However, there are a lot of styles to choose from in the Recollections range (this one was the only one I was able to get at the time – I wish I’d waited for a prettier design – never mind).

  • Arcing my Plum Paper Planner – everything you need to know if you’d like to try it yourself! 
  • Creating a custom, personalised planner with Agendio
  • Get to Work Book Planner Review 

Planning Tips:

  • How to make planner stickers – creating perfectly proportioned shapes in Silhouette Studio (video tutorial) 
  • 50 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Planner
  • 12 Different ways to plan blog posts using pen and paper

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recollections horizontal weekly planner review pros and cons video flipthrough

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