The Unbound Planner is a sewn bound planner with 4 very functional pages to plan each week – a rare find in a planner! I previously did a review of their 2018 dated edition (which you can find in this post). They’ve since added an undated version and made a few tweaks to the planner so let’s see what’s new!
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of the planner in exchange for this review. As always, all opinions are my own! If you like this planner and decide to purchase using my affiliate link I’ll receive a small commission as a thank you for referring you.
Undated Unbound Planner Review
- Size: Approx 6.25″ wide x 8.75″ high x 0.9″ thick
- Book / sewn binding
- Hardcover
- Undated
- Neutral color scheme inside pages
- Weekly overview + notes page before each weekly spread
- 2 page vertical weekly spread (starts on Monday)
- 2 Page monthly calendar (starts whatever day you choose)
- 12 month planner
- Goal setting pages
- Project planning pages
- Self reflection
- End of year reflection
- Lined pages
- Dot grid pages
Price: $40 USD + free shipping to the USA
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).
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Mentioned in the video: How (and why) I pre-plan the week using the Plum Paper horizontal lined with notes layout
A bit less than1″ thick (about the same thickness as the 2018 version)
There’s also some new cover colors to choose from – I opted for the purple <3
Summary of Unbound planner improvements
- Removed ‘focus’ from the weekly vertical spread and changed to 3 dot points (which I would use for top 3 but you could use for meal planning, cleaning etc.)
- More detailed end of year reflection
- More dot grid pages at the back of the planner
- New lined notes pages at the back of the planner
- More cover colour options
- Monthly calendar gift section updated
- Monthly calendars at the front of the planner (as there are no tabs and the planner is undated it makes it easier to find)
- Upgraded paper quality
Detailed Look Inside the Planner
Self Reflection
This page is new in the undated version and contains a questionnaire to get the ball rolling on what you should prioritise.
Yearly Planning
I really like this yearly goals overview page. I use a similar system (based on 2 week chunks rather than an entire month). It’s compact, you can see everything on the one page and use different colors to separate goals for different areas of your life (work, personal etc.).
Monthly Calendar
As the planner is undated, you get to choose if you want the week on the monthly spread to start on Monday or Sunday. The weekly spreads start on Monday.
Love this sidebar. It’s wider than most so you don’t have to do ant size writing.
One of the major pros of an undated planner? You choose what day of the week it starts. You can also restart the numbering on the top row (when needed) instead of splitting date boxes into 2 and running out of writing space. The dated version splits boxes in 2 instead of restarting numbering on the top row.
Weekly Overview
This page is my favorite page of the entire planner! With the exception of the morning routine section this page is basically how I pre-plan my week.
Lots of to do list space, a habit tracker, lined and unlined notes space. This weekly spread = <3
Weekly Planner
While I tend to avoid vertical planners this one has a layout that I could adapt to suit my needs. Not too open ended with just a blank column for each day, but also not so structured that it couldn’t be used in a number of ways.
The 2018 version had ‘focus’ boxes up the top which have been replaced with 3 dot points in the updated version.
See how I used this layout in this post.
Project Planner
Love these project planning pages. So simple – not too much structure but also not too little structure (anyone else get annoyed when planners just include a blank page with a title like ‘project’ or ‘vision’ instead of an actual worksheet?)
Each project gets 2 pages to plan with.
This updated version includes a larger key milestones space and a new ‘complete by’ section
The ‘notes’ box is dot grid.
End of Year reflection
I forgot to take a photo (refer to the video if you’d like to see what this page looks like). It has simple and to the point questions including a rating for the various areas of your life (like the self-reflection page). The questions are:
- What are your favorite moments from the year?
- What were your biggest achievements this year?
- What goals did you not achieve? why?
- What especially challenged you this year? Lessons learned
- Looking back on the year, what are you most grateful for?
- What are your key takeaways for next year?
Extras pages
There are dot grid pages at the back of the planner which are numbered to help find things easier.
The dots are space approx 0.5cm apart.
New in the undated version are some lined notes pages too!
Tabs
There are no tabs in this planner although there are 2 ribbon bookmarks.
Pen Test
The paper is thicker than the 2018 dated edition (see pen test for the 2018 version below) but the same bright white.
Unbound have advised that with the thicker paperweight, only marker type pens like Uni Pis and The Pure Color F in the image below have minor ghosting.
Pros of the Planner
- Portable size
- Minimalist color scheme
- Numbered notes pages
- Love the functional layouts throughout
- Project planning pages
- 4 pages to plan each week
- 2 page monthly calendar
- End of year reflection
- Bright white paper
- Lay flat sewn binding
- Lined and dot grid notes pages
- Bright white paper
Cons of the Planner
- Pens had ghosting / bleed through
Undated versus dated – which is better?
I prefer the undated version. You can stop and start using the planner anytime. The months are clustered at the front to find them easier, there are more notes pages at the back and more detailed end of year reflection section.
Want some ideas on how to use the planner? See how I used the 2018 version in this post.
If you’d like to purchase this planner, click here (my affiliate link).
Planning tips
- Minimalist Planner Decorating: Title Ideas for your Bullet Journal
- Why I plan my day using planner stickers (and why you should too!)
- Favorite color tools for making planner sticker kits (all are free tools!)
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Hi, I am looking to ship to canada. How much would you charge in total.
Hi Karthik, here’s the link to Unbound Planner’s contact page: https://unboundplanner.com/pages/contact-us
Dear Rachael,
Thank you for your helpful work throughout the year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Wishing you health, happiness, peace and prosperity.
Milt
Chicago IL
USA