Organizing Your Life in 2015: The Perfect Planner

There are two kinds of people in the world: those who use paper planners and those that do not.

I’m a “totally-all-in-yes-I-do” paper planner lover.

For the past several years I’ve been using Target’s Greenroom planner. It’s fairly thin, durable, cute cover, lots of margin space, grid paper, and not too much structure. Perfect for my organizing all the to-dos, playdates, field trips, projects, errands, etc. BUT, when my happy little organized self went to Target to get my 2015 planner (oh the joy!) I didn’t find it.

I got that sinking feeling, but decided not to panic. This is just a planner. I’m sure it’s online.

It wasn’t online. Greenroom has apparently decided not to make them anymore (this is probably their worst business decision ever. Someone needs to get fired).

I gave a call out to my Facebook friends with my dilemma and they came through (they always do!) and shared with me some of their favorites. While I didn’t end up going with their suggestions, I thought I’d share them with those of you wandering souls who haven’t decided on a planner yet :). Okay, and I had to think of some way to justify that my 6-10 hours of online planner researching was useful (sometimes I exaggerate, but this is not one of those times. Ask my husband). Plus, I’ll reveal the one I did go with at the end.

1. Erin Condren
The first totally obvious choice (that I had NEVER heard of before a few days ago) is Erin Condren. I will admit that this planner is the one I really wanted, but no matter how I sliced it, I just couldn’t justify the $50 (+shipping) price tag. Next year I will probably ask for it from my momma for my holiday gift :). Anyway, it’s gorgeous and they have thought of every thing you could want. I love how the days are split up into “morning”, “afternoon” and “evening”. Watch this video at your own risk.

In case you do order, feel free to use my referral link (ha!). You get $10 off and I get a $10 credit :).

2. Passion Planner
This one was a big kickstarter campaign, and it’s a great concept- it combines planner with goal-setting, gratitude journal, and she throws in some inspiring quotes for the ride. I think I would have went with this one had she not used the hourly planner. For the life of me, I cannot be scheduled down to the hour. My life is too unpredictable for that, and I’ve found that the overall well-being of my entire family rests on the flexibility of our day. My Type A self has had to take a backseat ride for the past 7 years, and I must admit it’s more relaxing this way :).

Anyway, if this is your thing, go on over to the Passion Planner site– order yours OR if you’re just not sure, you can download a pdf version for free, to give it a whirl. Love that!

3. Plum Paper Designs
Plum Paper Designs reminds me a lot of Erin Condren, just cheaper. The covers are really cute, the details are there, the morning/afternoon/evening thing is the same. The one bonus about this version, besides the cheaper price, is that if you choose the “Family Planner”, you can customize the 7 boxes in each day’s column (see pic below). Just think- you could put your kids’ names there, or have boxes for exercise, Bible reading, gratitude, blogging, dinner plan, whatever!

If you choose this one, I’ll add a coupon code for 10% off very soon (stay tuned!). Thanks to Plum Paper Designs for their generosity!

4. Moleskine
I didn’t even think about Moleskine as a place to get a planner. A notebook, sure, but even then, I’m not a moleskine kind of girl. At least I didn’t think I was.

You all, I bought a purple moleskine planner and I. love. it. It’s smooth, it’s simple, it’s clean, it’s so open. there’s so much room. Oh the possibilities.

In case you want to educated on planners, take a look at their whole page dedicated to all things planner. They have EIGHTY-TWO different kinds of planners (after reading this, I had this sudden urge to to their employment page and get a job there- ha!). There is something here for everyone.   Big, small, monthly, weekly, daily, so many colors, there is even ones that you can link to Evernote (paper meets digital- someone had to do it!).