Horizontal timed weekly planners are rare – even moreso ones that are undated and allow you to choose the times (i.e. not pre-filled to start at 9am). The Win planner has a horizontal layout with space to allocate tasks, reminders, appointments etc. to whatever time of the day you need.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this planner for free in exchange for this review. As always, all opinions are my own.

Quick facts

• Size: 5.75″ wide x 8.5″ high
• Hardcover
• Sewn binding
• Dates at a glance page
• 2 page Monthly calendar (starts on Sunday)
• 2 page weekly spread (starts on Monday)
• Neutral inside pages
• Goal summary pages
• Dot grid pages
• Ships from the USA
• Undated
• 12 Month duration

Price $33.75 USD from Macy’s (not available on Amazon or Win Planner’s own website) + shipping

Let’s take a closer look!

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The Cover

There’s 4 cover colors to choose from: navy, black, brown and white.

Since I don’t have have any white sewn bound planners I chose the white one. I worried it would get dirty (which it might) but it does come in a box for convenient storage:

just over 2cm thick (between 0.75 and 1″ thick)

Dates at a glance

At the front is a dates at a glance page – the only dated pages in the planner:

Important Dates

I like having an important dates page (for allocating projects and reminders like seasonal cleaning tasks to each month) but this spread has a major design flaw – the date section is huge but the occasion section is tiny. The line spacing is too wide – I don’t like the proportions of this page. It’d be better if this page was re-arranged to spread over 4 pages with just 1 date & occasion column per month.

Goal Pages

There are a few goal pages at the front of the planner but they’re very brief. Some more lined (or dot grid) pages to actually map out the goals in detail would be useful.

Monthly Calendar

The monthly calendar is my favorite part of this planner. I like the top section with the top 3 goals and the dot grid notes section and there’s no split boxes on the monthly calendar.  However, I don’t like the sidebar at all:

• The books to read section is too narrow to fit more than 1 or 2 words
• I doubt many people would use the lectures to watch section (and it’s too small)
• I would never be bothered to record the daily routine stats (and doubt I’d refer back to it during the month)
• There’s something wrong with the lines in the daily routine sidebar – 2 of them have a bit of excess with smaller line spacing that looks like a print error
• I think the text ‘take your time and plan your days in detail…’ is a pointless waste of space

I think everything in the sidebar could be deleted and replaced with a mini habit tracker, a notes sidebar, or increase the size of Saturday and Sunday’s columns.

The calendar starts on Monday but since the planner is undated you could use some days of the week stickers and switch it to Sunday week start if you prefer.

All pages are numbered!

Weekly Planning

Each weekly spread has 5 weeks with 7 days on each of the 2 page spreads except the last one which adds a monthly review section.

Since it doesn’t start on a specific day and the planner is undated, you can choose how to start the month (e.g. 1st weekly spread start with the 1st day of the month OR with whatever date the first Monday or Sunday of the month falls on). There are enough daily planning sections for up to 31 days so you can use the pages / start the planner in any month.

Each week has a different prompter and quote at the top of the page. The quotes are ok but the others are pointless in my opinion (e.g. wear something red, laugh, do your morning routine etc.)

On the last weekly spread is a short monthly review section. I like the list sections of the monthly review, but not the excessively large text / reminder section (the text  / reminders change each month). I think it’d be better to remove all that text and put it into a booklet that accompanies the planner. I don’t need that stuff printed within the actual planner – I’d rather more notes space.

Since I don’t plan hourly if I was to use this planner, I’d ignore the gap between the time and task section and just use it for extra task space.

The line spacing is 8mm (about 0.3″). Most planner have 6 or 7mm line spacing. The line spacing seems to have a mis-print on the last weekly spread, it’s different line spacing for 1 to 4 in the ‘major accomplishments’ and ‘challenges’ sections.

Extras pages

At the back are 5 double sided dot grid pages (plus 1 single sided one). Different to most planners & notebooks, the dot grid is rectangular (4mm wide x 5mm high), not square.

At the back are the notecards mentioned at the front of the planner (5 pages of them), that you can cut out and use as a page marker, place on a whiteboard, your fridge etc.

As well as a review of the year

I find it weird that the line spacing changes again, this time it’s giant (the biggest I’ve seen in a planner at 0.5″) – I could fit 2 lines of text in this line spacing.

Pocket Folder

There’s a pocket folder adhered to the back cover. You might need to add some glue to stick it down as it’s already peeling off the back cover.

I like that the bookmarks have labels printed on them (rarely see this!) one more ribbon bookmark with ‘MONTH’ on it would be good.

Pen Testing

I decided not to keep this planner so didn’t do a pen test. I could see a little bot of ghosting of the printed design on the backside of the pages so I’d stick with ballpoint, gel or fine tip pens for this planner.

Pros of the Win Planner

• Bright white paper
• Summary review pages
• 2 Ribbon bookmarks (with ‘week’ and ‘important’ printed on them)
• Pocket folder
• Sturdy hardcover
• Functional 2 page monthly calendar
• Weekly review sections on the weekly spread
• Numbered pages
• Undated – start planning anytime
• Comes in a sturdy storage box
• All pages are numbered

Cons of the Win Planner

• The line spacing is too big on the summary / review pages (and different line spacing throughout the planner)
• The dot grid notes pages at the back are a rectangular grid not a square grid
• Sewn bound – the pages want to close on their own no matter how many times I broke the spine
• Doesn’t ship to all countries internationally (can only purchase via Macy’s and they don’t ship to Australia – where I live)
• There are a few design elements (refer to my comments earlier in this post) which I think are a waste of space
• The notes / tips at the end of each month take up too much space, it would be better if these were in a booklet that comes with the planner so there’s more note space
• Not enough room o n the goal pages at the front of the planner
• No tabs

One last thing I want to point out, was that there a coupon code page at the back of the planner which says ‘use the coupon below on any platform to get a discount’. However, when I tried it on Macy’s website (the only shop that links from the Win Planner website / has the planner), it told me the coupon code was invalid (I’ve blocked the coupon code out in the screenshot in case it does work on other platforms they’re going to sell the planner on in the future). I don’t know if this is the reason why it might not have worked, but Macy’s appeared to already be having a sale on a planner.

Would I use this planner?

No. Good concept that was poorly executed. There aren’t many horizontal weekly spreads with a timed layout so I was disappointed by this planner.

I like the layout of the monthly calendar page (except for the sidebar), but the rest of the planner has some functionality issues. The line spacing differs throughout the planner, the monthly advice / tips section takes up far too much room, there’s no monthly planning space etc.

I think the writing space on the weekly spread doesn’t quite work (smaller line spacing so can fit more tasks or a wider page size would be good).

The info at the end of each month should be in a booklet that comes with the planner and that space converted into a bigger notes section.

More planner reviews:

• Ashley Shelly Planner Review – Weekly Planner 
• Curation Weekly Planner Review 
• Plum Paper Horizontal Priorities

Planning Tips:

• 50 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Planner
• 15 Productive Things You Can Do In 15 Minutes or Less 
• My 10 biggest planner pet peeves

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