I never would have thought it but I love the Erin Condren Life Planner. I have seen so many reviews on this planner and did not understand the hype. I didn't really like the layout with those little boxes, the headings didn't work for my life and week on two pages didn't seem enough as I was currently a day on 1 page kinda girl. But most of all I love my ring planners (Filofax and Gillio) and didn't like the coil as it's not as simple to add and remove things.
However, I had the opportunity to purchase a friend's 2014 life planner for a very decent price and I decided to give it a whirl and find out what all the fuss was about. Thus began my love affair...
It's an A5 size without the bulk of a planner so is lightweight and compact. The craftsmanship is fabulous. The coil is solid and sturdy and the pages are thick and crisp.
I love all the pops of colour, the tabbed months and the pretty covers.
After 3 weeks I am very surprised to say that the layout is working perfectly for me. I have all the space I need and I love to be able to see everything at a glance.
The only thing I didn't like were the headings so I created sticker strips to place on top of the old ones replacing morning/schedule, day/to dos and night/notes. It works great and looks fantastic (if I do say so myself!)
Here is how I have been using my Life Planner
I am really enjoying customising the planner too. A few decorative stickers here and there but mostly everything has a purpose. I can't have my planner too 'busy' with decoration or my information gets 'lost' in the prettiness.
I'm loving using stamps and stickers to help me to organise.
The planner stamps I am using are:
StudioL2e - www.studiol2e.com
Tiny Stamps, Big Plans - https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/TinyStampsBigPlans
Here are some of the stickers I made:
I also tried my hand at making a cover. It's ok, but will do better next time! It's currently got a Kikki-K planner band around it. The band is great as it not only keeps everything together, but can store 2 pens in the stretchy loops.
Overall I am really enjoying this planner. I am using my Gillio still but now it functions as a wallet with notes, financials, social media and my tracker.
I will be placing an order for my new 2015 planner next week (with a few other goodies I will share soon!)
Click HERE to view my corresponding video to this blog post :-)
Have a great day,
Jen
