I looked into several planners for 2018 to see whether I wanted to make the switch to a different planner. I didn’t realize how difficult this decision would turn out to be! Options for gorgeous, functional planners are plentiful, and at various times I wanted each of the planners I list below.
Before I share which planner I chose for the new year, I’ll start with my 2017 pick: The Erin Condren vertical Life Planner. In the beginning of the year I would simply use different color pens to mark to-dos and events, without any other decoration. By summer I was purchasing planner sticker kits on Etsy to mark things, but I didn’t go overboard. I like a lot of white space in my planner because I find it to be calming. I discovered through the course of the year that I don’t enjoy having lines that go unfilled — is that weird? Maybe, but that’s just how my brain works. If I have lined pages, it’s my instinct to want to fill them, which can cause anxiety in me. Now, I organize my life in my planner using mini kits I buy on Etsy. I find that having a pleasant-looking planner made me more motivated to use it. I was also more organized in my planning. I typically make a mini kit last three to four weeks, so I don’t feel like it’s expensive or wasteful. You might be able to guess based on this what planner I picked for next year, but many other options appealed to me.
Planners I considered for 2018:
Plum Paper: I liked that you had several layouts to choose from. The layout I liked best is M-A-E (Morning, Afternoon, Evening) which is how I set up my planner now. I didn’t like that all the sections had lines, though. I liked the cover prints but not as much as the Erin Condren options I saw online. Plum Paper lets you customize headers inside the planner and add home and business sections, both of which I liked. If you don’t add on much the planner is more affordable than EC.
The Content Planner: I considered this for almost a month and still may get it. It would be great to have a planner strictly for blog work, but I am not sure if I need two planners (one for personal and one for blog). I liked that you can use social media icons to plan when to post on social media (though you can do that in other planners, too). I also liked that it comes with a list of holidays (from what I can see) and marketing ideas for content generation. I don’t like having to fill in dates and months, though. I liked that the monthly spread had a tracker space for social media growth; I already do that in my current planner but I write it in myself. I also liked having space to write and track goals throughout the year. I also liked the space for filling out hashtags and potential collaboration ideas. The cover isn’t customizable from what I can see but it’s still really nice.
Day Designer: I used the Day Designer in 2016 and I liked it. The covers are lovely, but the options are a bit more limited than other planners. I liked that I had so much space for each day’s schedule and to-dos. I also liked writing down a daily gratitude and seeing a quote. I often tracked dinner plans and bills that were due. I didn’t get much use out of the day’s top three, though. I feel like it’s redundant because I would fill that out but also have the items in my to-do list. I almost tried this again but then I realized that the lines filling every page make me feel like I need to FILL all those lines. It also didn’t inspire much creativity for me regarding making the planner look pretty when filled out. I realize this isn’t important to everyone, though.
Purposeful Planner: This reminds me a lot of the Day Designer but with more helpful pages and sections, such as a daily water tracker. I also like the monthly pages for goals, budget and menu ideas, too. I didn’t like the section on every page titled “Retail therapy” because it encourages me to want to buy things and view purchases as therapy, which they aren’t (for me). I liked the brain dump section, but I realized I wanted pages with fewer lines. The covers were limited but lovely.
Simplified Planner: I liked that each page has white space at the bottom for meals and notes. I didn’t like that Saturday and Sunday share pages, because weekends are often busy for me. I found the cover options to be limited, though also adorable.
LiveWell Planner: I really liked that sections separate immediate vs. insignificant tasks for the day. I also liked the space for the day’s accomplishment. The goals pages have a nicely designed layout. I also like the mission board page. I think this is a lovely planner!
Planner I chose:
Erin Condren Vertical (Neutral): I kept the same planner in 2018 as I had in 2017. This may seem like a boring choice, but I like being able to customize the space how I want. I use either colored pens or stickers to mark things to do, and I separate each section into morning, afternoon and evening. I sometimes also experiment with using a section each for to-dos, schedule and fitness/life. I like being able to have a cover with my name on it and I enjoy the quotes throughout the planner. I also like the redesigned monthly notes pages, which I am excited to experiment with for goal setting and tracking.
I know there are many other options out there, but these are the planners I considered purchasing for the new year. I am excited to switch to my new Erin Condren planner and can’t wait to see what the new year brings!
Which planner did you pick for 2018?
