I had been wanting one of those fancy planners for years now. YEARS. I never bought one because I couldn’t justify the cost to myself. It’s a planner, for fuck’s sake. A place to write things down. But then I fell victim to all the pretty pictures on Instagram and Kathy’s posts about her planners and Kristen’s post about hers and I thought, you know what? Treat. Yo. Self. So I did. And I bought a Plum Paper planner.
I don’t ordinarily do product reviews because, let’s face it, no one cares how I use my planner but Kathy asked for one and so here we go. If you’re bored, send her all the hate mail.
Ordering
The ordering process could not have been easier. The website is functional and simple to use and there are a ridiculous amount of choices. SO MANY CHOICES. You can customize your planner however you want and the company is upfront about the pricing (it can get quite pricey if you’re not careful). There’s also coupon codes all over the internets if you’re inclined to look for one (I was). I hated paying for shipping but what can you do?
What I got
Anyone else singing that Sublime song now?
I wound up ordering a 14 month planner with extra notes pages not only in each month but a whole bunch at the end, too. One of the biggest reasons I opted to buy this kind of planner was for simplicity. I’m tired of having 8 billion notebooks and never being able to find what I need in them or on the dozens of sticky notes littering my desk. I figured condensing it all into one place would help keep me more organized and less lost, particularly when it comes to blog post topics or work related information.
In a moment of ambition, I also added a 12 month fitness tracker. I have to consciously remember to use it on a regular basis and I feel like this is going to be the only part of the planner I regret adding.
What came standard in the planner was not only some pockets to hold paperwork (like my daughter’s competition schedule because god knows I have to keep that thing in 9 different places and in as many forms), contacts and passwords pages, and, at the beginning of the month, a highlights page to write down goals, important dates/events, and things to remember. I feel like it’s a bit repetitious for how I already use my planners, and I’m awful at writing down goals, but it’s a nice thing to have in the event I want to start doing it. I do love the tabs separating each month so no worrying about pesky binder clips or paper clips or dogearing pages to know where I am.
I ordered the larger, 8 x 11 planner instead of the smaller one. It doesn’t fit in my purse but I have a shit ton of room to write my notes and to-do lists and appointments and all the other things I need to remember, and that’s more important to me than portability. I also opted for both the monthly and weekly (horizontal. None of that vertical, column shit) views as I like to be able to look at the month on the whole and then break it down.
The pros
I absolutely adore all the notes pages! It’s working exactly as I’d anticipated and while I love a good notebook, this works better for the way I function. Having the monthly and weekly views is something I had with my previous planner and I can’t see ever going back to just monthly or just weekly. I love all the room to write my to-do lists or phone numbers I need to call (if they’re not already in my phone) and the space at the top gives me a place to write post topic ideas for the week or reminders for the week or whatever else comes to mind that isn’t tied to a specific day.
It is also helpful to have a place to write down contact info and passwords, especially passwords, since I forget them pretty easily. I know you’re not supposed to write them down but my planner isn’t leaving my house so I’m not worried about anyone stealing them. Plus, if someone wants my information, they’re going to be insanely disappointed. I’m quite boring.
I also like that, should I ever figure out a way to use the stickers I’ve bought in a way that makes sense, there’s plenty of space to do that without interfering with what I need to write down. I don’t like when information gets all smushed on top of itself. Sort of defeats the purpose.
The cons
It weighs a fucking ton. And due to the size, it’s cumbersome to move around and flip pages and all that, unless it’s laid out completely flat rather than folded in half which is annoying, especially when I’m writing my daily to-do lists in advance. I need to know what I’ve planned for Monday when I’m planning on Thursday and if it’s laid out flat, the binding gets in the way but flipping it is like a fucking workout so finding a middle ground is taking some effort. I think it’s because I definitely went overboard with adding on pages and underestimated just how big it was going to be. That’s my fault, though, not the fault of the company. Next time, I’ll leave out the fitness tracker pages, probably back off a bit on the notes pages, and only do a 12 month planner. I might also move down to the smaller sized one but at this point, I doubt it.
Besides that, the main complaint, and it’s petty, is that I prefer gel ink pens and they can get smudgy on the pages. It might be the paperstock, it might be my pens. I don’t know. It’s a bit annoying to have to switch pens when I’m writing in the planner but it’s such a first world problem and I’ll deal.
What does it all mean?
Well, right now, it means that I have a very large, very heavy planner that I’m very happy with. I think I might try some bullet journaling (should I remember but let’s face it, that’s highly unlikely) with some of the extra notes pages. I paid for them; I want to use them. Same with the fitness tracker. I’m thinking I might wait until January to start using it because why not wait? Starting now would be ridiculous. I might also try to use some stickers that I’ve bought (damn you, Michael’s and your sales and coupons and my impulse purchases) and make the planner functional AND pretty.
We’ll see how it all goes.
Do you guys have any tips or suggestions for me for using the planner or prettying it up?
