Following on from when I used Excel, for the remainder of week 41 I wanted to use day to a page planners for Saturday and Sunday.
Limelife planners offer free downloads of their planner layouts so you can give them a go before purchasing. I really liked the layout C I used back in week 23 so opted to try their day to a page layout.
Related: Planner companies that will let you download, print and try their planner layout for free
Setting up the week
There’s no way I’d be awake at 7am on a Saturday so I covered the earlier hours with whiteout to start the planner at a more reasonable time of 9am (I am definitely not a morning person!)
The schedule section of the page is in 30 minute increments which can be hard to find in day to a page planners.
Continuing on with the time accountability theme I used with Excel, I opted to have goal versus actual hours so I can see which stuff I’m spending too much time on and where. Definitely something I want to keep doing in the future.
My colors for today were:
- Pink = blogging
- Blue = Etsy shop
- Purple = personal
- Green / Mint = health
- Orange = working on a new product for my shop!
Related: Favorite color coding planner supplies for less than $5
Stationery Used
I used the Arc discbound notebook. I really love this notebook for printables as you can add, remove and rearrange pages as often as you need. I’ve been using the same Arc notebook for a few years now and it’s still in great condition, the discs haven’t broken – it’s held up really well. I bought the leather cover which was a bit pricey but has been well worth it!
Related: Planner Organization: Why I use the Arc Planner instead of binders
Pens Used
This week I opted to use some cheap ($3 for a pack of 10) glitter gel pens from Target. I was going to using my favorite Paper Mate Inkjoy Gel 0.7mm and the colors would’ve matched the rainbow on the planner page really well… but I have so many pens I’m trying to mix it up and use different ones. The pens wrote smoothly and surprisingly didn’t smudge – not bad for only $0.30 per pen!
Related: Cheap versus expensive pens: is there actually a difference in quality?
Pros of the Limelife Daily Planner
- Colorful – I love anything that has rainbow colors!
- Plenty of timeslot to plan the day & 30 minute increments
- Large checklist dots – plenty of space inside the circles if you wanted to number the tasks in order of priority, or keep track of where you’re up to (e.g. half shaded circle = task in progress) – empty large circles make it easy to see what didn’t get done / what needs to be rescheduled for a later date
Related: Using a planner key and symbols to code your planner (efficient planning methods)
Cons of the Limelife Daily Planner
- The ‘quote of the day’ is dead space to me. I used white out correction tape to cover this heading up and put ‘don’t forget’ instead
Would I use the Limelife Daily Planner again?
It was an ok planner, but to be honest, it’s not very different to every other day to a page planner. I keep finding that day to a page planners are all too similar. Most of them seem to be very open-ended with large notes section, to do list, a meal planning space / empty box to choose as you wish and not much else – all the layouts seem to be very ‘one size fits all.’
Catch up on past week’s of the planner challenge
- Week 17 (Part 2): Daily planning using to do lists categorised by time
- Week 29: Plum Paper Me Planner
- Week 31: Using the Ashley Shelly Planner for weekly planning
- Week 37 (part 2): Planning using the daily plan bar method (bullet journal inspired)
Calli says
Love your website, printables and your detailed information! Thanks so much for your hard work!
Rachael says
Thanks Calli! Glad you’ve found it helpful 🙂
renee says
I love the trying out of layouts. I’ve gotten free samples of those you’ve mentioned for testing and it’s been a fun journey. You’re right about the one-layout-fits-all types. Most of them have lots of areas I’ll never use.
I’m starting over in December. I picked up A5-sized spiral notebooks to punch and put in my planner and will be writing out every thing to figure out what works best. Months can change without notice and it’s boring to buy a whole year of one layout and be stuck with it.
Rachael says
Hi Renee, sounds like a good idea! Are you intending to use a different notebook for different planning categories?