The Otto Goals Planner reminds me a lot of a cross between the Recollections Planner and the Erin Condren Life Planner. I hadn’t used a vertical planner in a while since they tend to not have enough writing space, so on a less busy week I opted to give it a go!

Review of the planner: Officeworks Otto Goals Planner for 2018 (Review & Video Walkthrough)

Before the Pen

This planner’s layout is somewhat confusing – there’s the priorities for today, daily goals, reminders and weekly reminders – I wasn’t sure what to put where! The priorities and daily goals section are an overlap to me – I would’ve preferred just an empty box with no checklists for the priority section as the line spacing and column widths are so small.

After the Pen

I didn’t have much planned for this week and I wanted to keep it simple. I’ve realised that just because I have a sticker doesn’t mean I have to use it in every weekly spread. I have travel icon stickers, travel depart and arrive stickers,  travel reminder stickers etc. but instead I opted to just keep it simple and use the stickers that come with the planner.

I like how the spread ended up in terms of the colors with the blue and pink all coordinating.

I ended up using most of the stickers that came on the sheets within the planner – there aren’t enough to do another weekly spread like this and you can’t buy sticker books with just these stickers.

The sections of this planner are a bit repetitive – goals, reminders, priorities for each day plus reminders in the sidebar. It would be better to have bigger line spacing and drop the ‘daily goals’ section for each day as this is a duplicate with the priorities for today section.

Supplies Used:

• Stickers that come with the planner
• PaperMate Flair pens ultra fine (Candy Pop)

Related: Ultimate list of the best planner pen brands and how to choose colors for color coding 

PROS OF THE OTTO GOALS PLANNER

• Lots of goal setting pages within the planner itself – much more than most planners
• Durable laminated cover
• Laminated tabs and the month is printed on the front and back of the tab
• Affordable – only $30AUD
• Love, love, love the different colors chemes for each month
• Boxes of the months aren’t split in 2 – every day of the month has the same amount of planning space
• Plenty of checklists
• The weeks on the monthly and weekly spreads both start on Monday (some calendars don’t do this)
• Cover can be removed (interchangeable like the Erin Condren)

Related: How to make a DIY Erin Condren Planner Cover for less than $2 (plus free printable cover) 

CONS OF THE OTTO GOALS PLANNER

• Pens show slightly through the other side of the page (light ghosting)
• The writing (and writing spaces) are small. if you have large hand-writing you may find yourself running out of room
• There aren’t enough stickers that come with the planner and you can’t buy them separately
• Only available in store – rather inconvenient that you can’t buy it online. If you live outside of Australia you won’t be able to buy this planner unless someone lists them on eBay

Would I use this planner again?

No, the writing space is too small. Plus it’s a vertical layout which I don’t like as there’s not enough room to write. The sections felt repetitive – goals, reminders, priorities for each day plus reminders in the sidebar. It would be better to have a bigger line spacing and drop the ‘daily goals’ section for each day as this is a duplicate with the priorities for today section.

More planner reviews

• Kikki K Weekly Planner Review
• Weekly Planner from Unique Planners by Pirongs Review (including video walkthrough)
• Typo Weekly Planner Review (including video flipthrough) 

Planning tips

• Quick and easy weekly meal planning using sticky notes 
• Review of the DYMO Letratag label maker (is it worth buying?) 
• How to make a DIY Erin Condren Planner Cover for less than $2 (plus free printable cover)