I first came across the Time and ToDo planner years ago and liked it’s unique layout, but never bought it as getting anything shipped from the USA to Australia is always time consuming (I have to use special shipping companies) and expensive. However when they came out with a discbound version of the planner… I couldn’t resist and ended up buying it.
This is not a sponsored post. I purchase the planner myself and as always, all opinions are my own.
Quick facts
- Size: 8.5 x 11″
- Choose between discbound or wirebound
- Digital version of the planner available from the Time & ToDo planner website
- Vegan leather cover
- Rose gold discs
- 4 pages for
- Dates at a glance page (current year)
- Lined notes for each month (current year)
- Dates at a glance page (next year)
- Lined notes for each month (next year)
- 2 page annual overview calendar to flag birthdays or other special events
- 2 page Monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
- 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday) – one page weekly plus 1 page checklists & notes
- Tabs
- Neutral inside pages with a little bit of color
- Dated for 2020 to 2021 but a new version comes out each academic year
- Duration: 12 months
Price: Normal price was $63 USD less $12.60 discount as I purchased during a sale = $50.40 USD
Shipping to a US address was $4 USD. There was no option to ship internationally (or it must’ve been ridiculously expensive), as I shipped the planner to my sister’s US holding address she uses for some of her supplies for her store, Carefully Crafted. As the shipping to Australia was bundled with other items, I can’t tell you the exact shipping cost but it’s usually about $30 AUD / $22.50 USD per item.
This planner is large 8.5 x 11″ and I don’t have a big enough space with decent natural light to film a review video that has good lighting. Hence why this review is a year late! More people seem to read my blog posts than watch the planner review videos (even when they’re included in the blog post), so I’m curious if people would care if I didn’t include a video with my reviews going forward?
The Cover
I hate brown covers like this. Hate them more than plain black covers. But it was the only cover version left. I had been wanting a copy of this planner for more than a year but the full price cost + international shipping was too expensive and the really pretty aqua cover was always sold out.
It’s a vegan leather cover that feels the same as the ARC’s leather cover.
Image credit: Time & ToDo website
There’s a very nice bright rainbow stripe cover, but it’s only available in the wire bound version.
Image credit: Time & ToDo website
There is a flap on the inside of the font cover to put envelopes and loose pieces of paper.
Approx. 1″ / 2.5cm thick. The discs are 1.25″ diameter
Annual Planner
At the front of the planner are annual overview pages
- Dates at a glance
- Lined writing space for each month
- 2 page annual overview spread for jotting down birthdays, exams, holidays or anything else important
I like that the weekends are shaded and the color coordination between the months and their tab colors is continued throughout the entire planner.
Monthly Calendar
Each month has a different quote.
USA holidays are pre-printed on the monthly calendar (and again on the weekly spread too).
The monthly calendar starts on Sunday which is consistent with the dates at a glance calendar at the front of the planner.
The line spacing is 7mm which is a standard size that most planning have.
The boxes for each day are 4.9cm wide x 5.2cm high – plenty of space if you want to plan work and personal in the same planner.
There are 4 unlabelled checklists for planning whatever you like!
Unfortunately there are split boxes, but at least they are split in half horizontally not diagonally.
Monthly Planning
A very functional page to write lots of lists and notes! This would be a great section for:
- Monthly review
- Project planning
- Cleaning tasks
- Life admin
- Seasonal to do lists
- Appointments
Related post: 52 Life admin tasks to add to your planner this year
Weekly Planning
The weekly spread in this planner is very unique!
With lined, unlined, checklist, and scheduling space – there are so many options to customise the spread to suit your needs.
The line spacing is consistent throughout the entire planner at 7mm / 0.7cm, except for the weekly schedule where the line spacing reduces to only 4mm / 0.4cm.
Monday to Friday have a box at the top for priorities, reminders or anything else you want to flag. Then there’s 4 lines for each hour so you can plan down to 15 min intervals if you wanted to.
The schedule runs from 7am to 7pm on weekdays.
Saturday and Sunday are combined into one column and it’s just blank writing space. I’d have preferred lined writing space but at least there is a whole other page with checklist, lined notes and priorities.
I think this weekly spread would suit:
- Students
- Teachers
- Self employed
- Anyone running a services business e.g. hairdresser
- Someone who needs a detailed schedule (down to 15 / 30 min intervals) to stay on track
- If you’re planning multiple things in your planner e.g. your own schedule and each family member
- A work planner, especially if you’re managing multiple people and / or projects
Extras pages
At the back are 11 double sided lined notes pages. I love the rainbow detail at the bottom of all the pages in this planner.
Because it’s disc bound, the pages lay completely flat on their own.
Tabs
There are no monthly divider cover pages, the tabs are adhered directly to the page. They feel like durable cardstock and have a clear film over the top to secure them to the pages. I prefer a full monthly divider tab for durability. However, at least these are protected by the planner’s cover which extends beyond the pages to cover the tabs.
I love the rainbow color scheme in this planner! I’m not sure the photos do the colors justice – they’re nice and bold (not neon or pastel colors).
Pen Testing
The paper feels a bit thicker than most planners and is very smooth to write on.
I tried all the usual gel, fine tip and ballpoint pens plus highlighters.
There was some minor ghosting for the thicker pens (Uni Pi’s and the Schneider Topliner). The rest of the pens just had light ghosting. The MAMBI stamps bled through the page. So overall, a good result.
Pros of the Planner
- Rainbow colors but not overpowering full color – minimalist so you can still use whatever colored pens and highlighters you want
- Can buy extra lined pages if you need them
- Aluminium discs (more durable than plastic discs other companies use)
- Pocket on the inside of the front cover
- Unique weekly spread
- Planner would suit multiple people
- Very large boxes to write in on the monthly calendar (and they’re lined)
- Monthly planning page
- Multiple covers to choose from
- 2 binding styles to choose from
- Digital version of the planner is available on their website
- Compatible with the ARC punch if you want to add your own printables
Cons of the Planner
- Vague release dates on their website. When I was looking to purchase the planner a date was stated, but it kept getting pushed back
- Large page size means it’s probably too bulky and heavy for most people to carry around with them. I think this is a planner that would stay at home on your desk
- Only comes in 8.5 x 11″ page size unless you buy the digital copy and resize when printing. If you wanted to know how to do that, I have instructions for resizing printables in this post
- No international shipping (I had to ship to a USA address and arrange special freight so it was expensive to get it to Australia)
- No divider pages, the monthly tabs are stuck to the page
- Split boxes on the monthly calendar
Would I use this planner?
Yes, but probably in a modified way. I don’t use hourly / scheduling layouts so would probably just use the left side of the weekly spread. I prefer a horizontal weekly section and this one has vertical.
If it was horizontal and in a slightly smaller page size (my preferred is about 7″ wide x 9″ high) it would be almost perfect for my needs. I might still use the scheduling page and just ignore the hour labels for each day.
It’s hard to find discbound planners that aren’t the Happy Planner, so the Time & ToDo is definitely one to consider if you’d like a different aesthetic.
Compatibility with other discbound systems
The discbound punching has the same mushroom hole and stem length as the ARC so you could use them interchangeably. You can also use the ARC punch if you want to add printables to the Time and ToDo Planner.
This means the Time and ToDo planner won’t be compatible with the MAMBI Happy Planner US letter size (“Big”) version, as the Happy Planner has longer stems.
Read more: Discbound planners & notebooks: brands that are compatible
More discbound planner reviews:
- Musboeken Feeling Plantastic Discbound Planner
- Eagle Discbound notebook (and comparison with other brands)
- Maggie Holmes Day to Day Planner
Planning Tips:
- Making your own planner stickers: the tools and resources you need
- 7 tips for storing planner supplies
- 50 Expenses to track in your planner (and different ways to track them)
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I really appreciate your reviews – this is exactly the sort of planner I need, due to its size and hourly breakdowns.
Shame about the vague availability dates – hopefully they’ll iron that out, along with the shipping situation. Ouch!
Yes, the blog posts are fine, no video needed. Partially because I live in a rural area with poor internet service, so videos run slow. Actually love the look of this one better than any in a while. Thank you for doing what you do!!!!!!!!
I usually am checking my email during work hours on a coffee break. I only read your posts.
i love the reviews and read them all. I love your blog template that you use for the reviews and i’m learning about planners without needing to buy them myself.
Thank you.
the post has everything needed. don’t need the video version.