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I am so excited to start using my new planner! I love the Erin Condren Life Planners and always look forward to getting a new one and starting a new year. I ordered my 2017 Life Planner back in June and in just a few days (10 to be exact), I can start planning in it. If you are looking to buy your first Erin Condren Life Planner, create an account through my link for $10 off.
Why you should use a paper planner
I did a post last year about all of the reasons a paper planner is better than a digital planner. The main reasons I prefer a paper planner are because
- it allows me the freedom to customize and be creative, and also
- it helps me to achieve my goals because I physically write it out and see it everyday.
I also really love having a paper planner because I love to look back and see what I was doing in previous years or to see how much progress I’ve made towards a goal. It’s motivating and almost like a scrapbook of my life.
As I mentioned, I’ll be using my 2017 Erin Condren Life Planner and I’m so excited. I think this will be my 4th year using a LifePlanner and it’s really cool how Erin Condren has changed throughout the years.
I remember before I got my first Erin Condren Life Planner (ECLP) — I was searching the internet for a good planner. I was reading reviews and checking prices. I was obsessed — because I knew that having a planner again would help me to “get my life right”. I was feeling disorganized and looking to get control of everything again. I remembered having planners in high school and I just knew that getting back into planning my life was just what I needed.
That’s when I discovered Erin Condren! 🙂 I’m so happy I made that first purchase; I couldn’t imagine living without a planner again! For $10 off your first Erin Condren purchase, use my link here.
2017 Erin Condren Overview
What I like about it
Bright Colors
I love the Erin Condren Life Planner because it’s so bright and colorful! There is a “neutral” color option available as well, but I prefer the colorful. I like how the bright colors keep me motivated to plan. I would get bored of the same, repetitive pattern/colors each week or month. With the bright colors, my planner looks so fun and I just love to take it with me.
Size
The size of the ECLP is great. It’s large enough to have space to write and decorate while being small enough to take it wherever. I really love the super large and durable spiral coil because it can accommodate the pages once I’ve been decorating and adding pictures.
Horizontal Layout
I really enjoy the horizontal layout and that’s what I’ll be using again this year. It’s more like how other planners I’ve used in the past were and it’s what I’m used to. I like the horizontal layout because I can write out a lot in the space. And I can create little list boxes if I choose to have a vertical section. The horizontal option is my favorite, but the vertical layout may be better for you if you make a lot of lists or if you just enjoy seeing your day in a vertical format.
Customizable
Erin Condren offers a lot of different cover options that you can just add and remove to your planner. When you order, you can also select a coil color, add your name to the cover, or personalize basically any of the color options. I don’t do much in the way of customizing, but I do like to get my name on the cover. I do like to customize the inside of the planner with other accessories though.
Notes Section
I like how there are blank and lined pages in the back of each planner. I find that I like to just down quick ideas or map out a long term plan. It’s nice having the notes pages with your planner at all times.
2017 Recollections Spiral Planner Overview
Another new option that is very similar to the ECLP is the new Recollections Spiral Planner from Michael’s Craft Store. I haven’t used this planner at all, but I did a First Impressions post here. I plan on using it for my blog planning in 2017.
What I like about it
Inexpensive
I’m so impressed with all you get and the quality of this planner for the price. Each planner is listed at $30, but Michael’s always has a coupon going on — at least 40% off maybe even 50%. So, google for coupons and don’t buy anything there without a coupon. I bought this planner for $15 with my coupon which is an amazing deal. The ECLPs are $55+ (~$45 if you use my coupon code*).
Paper Quality
The paper quality seems good — on par with Erin Condren. I’m not in love with the color scheme they chose, but I do like the fonts. It’s like a fun script font that looks clean and cute at the same time.
Easily Accessible
These planners are at your local Michaels which is really cool because you can have one today instead of waiting for shipping. (*ECLP can be found at some Staples stores). When I got mine at Michaels, they had tons of options to choose from; it was really nice to not have to wait for shipping, but again, these aren’t customizable with your name or anything.
What pens I use
Once you have your planner, you’ll need pens. My favorites are the Papermate InkJoy Gel pens, or the Sharpie Fine point felt pens. The Sharpie pens are great because they won’t bleed through the page. The InkJoy pens will show through, but it depends on the color you use; I’ve fount that the finer 0.5 size is better.
How I decorate
I’m not really into decorating my whole planner with stickers. I like to have my planner shine through; especially when I really love all the bright colors it already has. So I just keep the decorating simple with washi tape, the Erin Condren Sticker Book, and a few deco stickers.
I make my planner more personal with photos that I print from my Polaroid Zip printer. I just love how easy it is to print out a photo from my phone and just pop in in my planner. My planner instantly becomes more like a memory book and I love to look back and see what was going on.
Extras
As I mentioned in my previous post, I always create our monthly budget and tape it in to my planner so I can track our finances. I usually just cover up the monthly quote because I don’t really like the quotes and prefer to cover it up anyway.
How I plan
I did an entire post on How I Set Up My Erin Condren Life Planner here. Basically I use the month at a glance pages to easily plan larger, more long-term projects. It’s nice to be able to see large things blocked off or upcoming events all in one place without having to switch to the weekly view.
I usually have a planning time designated on Sundays. I’ll plan out what I know is going on in the week, but then I’ll go back during the week and write out my Thankful Thought of the day and anything else exciting that happened. So I sort of do a combination of pre-planning and “plan as I go”- type planning.
Planning is personal, so try out different styles and see what works for you!
