I’m switching things up this year with a neutral version of the Erin Condren Life Planner. I’m excited to walk you through why I love my planner and what the new 2023 A5 Life Planner is like. This is going to be my second year using the A5 version, and I don’t think I’ll ever go back to the 7×9 size!
Why I Love My Life Planner
I love using my life planner to help me organize my tasks and goals each week. Writing things down and seeing everything laid out helps me figure out my plan each day. I love feeling accomplished when I can check something off my list or when I can finally resolve an outstanding issue.
Paper Quality
This will be my 10th year using an Erin Condren Life Planner and I’m still really happy with them. I love the paper quality — it’s thick enough for my pens to not bleed through and has a good grip to it so I can use a variety of pens/highlighters/inks without issue.
Layout
The layouts are always clean and simple which I really like. I don’t want my planner to have extra headings that try to dictate how you use it. I love the freedom to create the pages that work best for me.
Monthly Color Scheme
Each month has its own color scheme which gives the planner a little refresh. I like a little change each month to help keep the planner feeling new and exciting. It’s a visual reminder that we’re in a new month, but it also motivates me to keep using the planner. Your planner can’t work for you if you don’t use it.
Accessories
There are a ton of accessories available for the life planner. I have been using stickers, washi tape, highlighters, pens, post-its, and a planner cover with my planner this year. I’m really happy with my current planning style and how well everything is working together. Here’s a look at all my A5 Life Planner Accessories.
A5 vs 7×9
I am currently using an A5 Life Planner for 2022 and I am loving it. I had been using the standard 7×9 size for years and, just for a change, I decided I’d give the A5 a try. It’s so compact and convenient and I love how small and cute it is. I leave it out on my desk and it just makes it easy to see what I need to focus on for the week.
I drastically prefer the A5 to my original 7×9 planners. Here’s a whole comparison post if you’d like to see more pictures and differences between the two sizes: Erin Condren A5 vs 7×9″ Size Comparison.
Ordering the A5 Life Planner
When you buy an Erin Condren Life Planner, you have a lot of options for personalization and customization. From the planner’s cover and coil color to the interior design choice and layout option. Now is a perfect time to order your 2023 Life Planner too because their Friends and Family sale is going on through 9/21.
A5 Personalization
I started out choosing this beautiful and colorful cover. It’s super rainbow and bright, and I personalized it to say MuffinChanel. I also chose the gold coil again. I really like the gold color — it’s bright and clean, and I’ve never had an issue with it tarnishing or chipping.
For my 2023 A5 Life Planner, I chose the Harmony – Neutral interior in the Horizontal Layout. This is the first year I didn’t choose the Colorful version of the life planner. I was looking for a change and I love the softer colors and cleaner layout of this year’s Neutral version. This year, there is a new option for a Compact Vertical A5 Layout in addition to the Horizontal option.
2023 Erin Condren A5 Life Planner Review
The cover is really pretty in person. I love the colors, but the light font sort of gets lost at the bottom. Unfortunately you can’t adjust where the personalization is placed on the covers.
Inside the planner is a huge contrast to the rainbow cover. Like I mentioned, this is my first time getting the neutral interior. There is still a soft rainbow; it’s just subtle.
I am really happy that the fonts on the quote pages are all the same color. Although, I don’t really like the quote pages in general. I’d rather the text be removed completely and just have a colorful art break between sections.
The calendar view is very clean and minimal in the neutral version. This is a great section to just see what day of the week a certain date is or just get a quick glance at the year.
The “goals” page can really be used for whatever you want, but there’s a quote that maybe alludes to a broader goals section. I would remove the text here if I could make a design change. I do use this section for goals though — bigger goals for the year. Family, Finance, Health, etc. It’s great to have a spread to refer back to throughout the year to make sure you’re on track.
Each month has a calendar spread in the beginning, and I am loving how clean it looks in the neutral version.
There is a monthly dashboard which has a variety of boxes. I like to use the dot grid box to track how many miles I’ve been walking on the treadmill. There’s a lot you can do to customize your planner and track whatever is important to you.
The weekly view is crisp and clean. It’s kind of a dramatic difference from the colorful planner I’m currently using, but I think I’m going to like it.
The planner ends out with a Notes section, a 2024 calendar section, some foil stickers, a perpetual calendar insert, and a pocket divider. I never use the included stickers or the perpetual calendar, but the next year’s calendar and pocket divider are really helpful.
Final Thoughts
I’m really excited to get into my new 2023 A5 life planner and see how I like working with the neutral theme. I loved switching to the A5, so maybe I’ll love the more subtle color theme just as much.
Remember, the Friends and Family sale is going on now through the 21st so you can get 25% off everything at Erin Condren. The life planner can be expensive, but I like to think of it as an investment into myself because when I have a planner I enjoy using, I am more likely to use it consistently and therefore be successful in achieving my goals.
I hope this review was helpful for you if you’re making a decision to invest in a planner. Thanks so much for reading; Happy Planning!
