This post has been in the works for a very long time, I get questions all the time on my blogs, on Twitter, on Instagram, about my Erin Condren Life Planner, and so many people have asked me to do a full post on how I use it! I've been putting off writing this post for literally months, because I was never quite happy with how I was using it, but now I think I'm pretty much set with how I like to use it!
So first things first, these planners are pricey, particularly if you're UK based. For me it was worth the investment because I use this thing EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. In fact, there's an ongoing joke that if anything happened to this thing I'd probably implode. This thing essentially is what keeps me functioning. Also, mine is an 18 month planner, which for me justifies the price that bit more!
I'm not going to go into a ton of detail about what the planner is like because there are a thousand and one posts, YouTube videos and sites where you can see what the planner is made up of! I do want to touch on a few things though!
This planner is BIG, particularly if you order the 18 month. Unless you have a giant handbag, this is kind of a desk planner really! The size personally doesn't bother me, I prefer a larger planner because it has more room in it, but I know some people like to carry there's everywhere, and it can be a bit cumbersome. For me, I just take mine to school and meetings, where I tend to carry a bigger bag anyway.
The planner ended up being around £50 including shipping, which is A LOT. The shipping is really high, in part because it's heavy, and in part because the shipping rate covers your taxes, which is a blessing since the taxes would have been around £20 themselves. I decided to order the 18 month since it was only $5, and that kinda justified the price more for me. You can use
this referral link to create an account and get $10, which is definitely worth doing!
I picked the 'Island Fleur' cover and had my name on the front. I've seen people have their blog or business name on the front which is a great idea, but for me I use this for my general life stuff, not blog stuff! The covers are interchangeable but I've never felt the need for a different one!
The big draw for me with this planner was a) the amount of space for each day, and b) the fact it has a week to view and a month to view. Now, I haven't included any pictures of my week to view spread because it's really boring, it's just the page I go to to glance at quickly, that tells me any important dates in the month.
So you can see from these pictures what the blank week spread looks like, and what it looks like when I'm done with it! I like to stick to the pages colour scheme as much as possible, and keep it quite visual!
Each day is split into three sections, Morning, Day and Night. For the most part, I use the sections for their intended use, but sometimes not. What I fill each day with genuinely depends on the kind of day I'm having. I'll either have an out and about day, where I just fill in where I'm going and what I'm doing, or I'll have what I call 'get shit done days', where I'm pretty much at my desk all day. On those days, I pretty much just use the days as a giant to do list, I find that I'm much more likely to get stuff done if it's written into my planner! Most of the time it's a mixture of both, and I'll use one section to write in my daily to dos, and the rest to fill out what I'm doing.
I tried working a food diary section into this, but I'm literally rubbish at keeping food diarys! So I scrapped that, but I do still use this to track how much water I drink (I'm a bit of a water fanatic!) with either hydration stickers or stamps!
There's a section for the left hand side for goals & notes. I always use the top part of this section to list anything that I need to achieve that week, whether that's a work goal or a general to do that doesn't have a specific date tied to it. At the bottom I'll usually have a mini shopping list of things I need to pick up!
The bottom section is what I've had the most trouble deciding how to use. Right now I use it as kind of an 'exercise planner' I use it to write in how far I've walked/run each day, and I usually write in what Yoga I've done, although I haven't been so good at writing that in the last few weeks!
I don't tend to use the weekly sections to plan in advance much, I generally sit down on a Sunday and fill out my plans for the week ahead then, and the rest of it I add in as I go along. Certain things do get popped in though, things that I'll probably forget about like birthdays, when my student loan comes in, bills that need to be paid, and things like going to vote! I also use cute paperclips to hold any important documents in, like my Polling card, event tickets and also things like my gym timetable.
The back of the planner has some built in stickers, and a nifty little wallet that I use to keep some of my most used stickers in. Most of the stickers you can see are from
ScribblePrintsCo and
Oh Hello Stationery on Etsy, and Paperchase. I also keep a few Project Life cards in the back, in case I need to add in any notes or lists, a spare birthday card in case I forget one, and some Washi strips that are cut to the same width as the daily planner sections! I have a slightly obscene amount of washi tape, but these ones are my favourites that I keep at my desk (
the rest are in a giant box hidden in a cupboard so the boy doesn't realise how much I have!). My absolute favourite is the donut one, which came from
HeyCharlieShop.
I hope that answers most of your questions! If you have any more, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll reply asap!
