Simple Elephant Weekly Planner Review (Pros & Cons)

The Simple Elephant weekly planner has long been on my planner review to do list!

Quick Facts

• Page size: 5.75″ wide x 8.25″ high
• 2 page monthly calendar (starts Sunday)
• 2 page weekly spread (starts Monday)
• Goal planning pages
• 1 small sheet of icon planner stickers
• Pocket folder
• Pen holder
• 3 ribbon bookmarks
• Undated
• Lasts 12 months
• Plenty of notes pages (58)

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase this planner using my affiliate link I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. 

Let’s take a closer look!

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The Cover

The usual hardcover that all sewn bound notebooks have.

Just under 1″ thick

Goal Planning

There aren’t that many goal pages in this planner and there’s no monthly notes / monthly review / monthly planning either.

Monthly Spread

The monthly calendars are all clustered together at the start (which I wish more planners did!)

The Sunday month start is not consistent with week starting on Monday.

Weekly Spread

With this layout you loose the traditional notes section in favor of the goals / review boxes. However there are tons of notes pages at the back of this planner.

Saturday and Sunday share the same space as a weekday.

The planner is undated so start planning anytime!

Lined Notes Pages

There are heaps of notes pages in this planner (58) – much more than most. Plus the pages are numbered. For this reason it makes me think this would be a good student planner. You could keep your class notes at the back, draw up an index with your class list – then add the page numbers where you’ve taken notes for each class.

As it’s undated, you could start using it anytime. And if you don’t need a planner during term breaks then you’re not ‘wasting’ any pages.

Most planners are made in the USA – it can be difficult if you live in Australia (like I do) to find a student planner that starts at the start of the year (i.e. non-academic year) so this could be an option.

Pros of the Simple Elephant Planner

• Undated – start planning anytime
• Plenty of lined notes pages
• Lined writing space on weekly spread
• Gender neutral / minimalist colour scheme
• Sewn binding but the pages lay relatively flat on their own
• Pen holder
• No tabs but there are 3 ribbon bookmarks
• Affordable ($30 USD)
• Multiple cover colors to choose from

Cons of the Simple Elephant Planner

• Plain / boring cover & no cover personalisation
• Difficult to get outside of the USA
• Paper is ivory (not bright white)
• Not enough goal planning pages

Would I use this planner?

No. It’s layout is too simple for me and the page size too small. I do like the review question boxes on the weekly but I’d need these to be bigger and separate list space. I don’t think there’s many creative ways to use this layout.

If you like this notebook, it’s available on Amazon (affiliate link)

Reviews of Similar Planners

• Panda Planner Review
• Live Whale Daily Planner Review 
• Clever Fox Daily Planner Review

Planning Tips & Ideas

• Planners you’ve probably never heard of (but will want to know about!) 
• Planning on a budget: If I only had $50 to spend on planner supplies, this is what I’d buy
• How to make a DIY Erin Condren Planner Cover for less than $2 (plus free printable cover) 

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