Hey y’all! At the end of last year, I was faced with the daunting task of choosing a new planner for 2018. If y’all have been following the blog for a while, you know this is a HUGE deal because I am very particular about my planner. It has to have both weekly and monthly spreads, it must be really sturdy, and it must have lots of extra space to write notes to myself.
For the past two years, I’ve used a standard Erin Condren coil-bound planner (my review and how I organize it), which I’ve mostly loved. The only thing I don’t love is the price tag – $50 is a lot of money!! So when I saw that Erin Condren released a new, hardbound, less-expensive(!!) planner, I jumped right on it. I’m happy to report that this planner has everything I need in a planner, and looks great too!
Erin Condren Hardcover Planner: The Outside
Okay, so the first thing I’ll say about the Erin Condren Hardcover Planner is that I love the color scheme. With the coil planners, I purchased a few brightly-colored interchangeable covers, which I loved. However, I really like the simple black and gold.
This planner is a lot bigger surface area-wise than the coil-bound planner, BUT that means it’s thinner and more like the size of a children’s book. I don’t know if that’s a good reference?? I always thought the coil was a little bulky, so I’m happy that this planner fits more like a notebook in my backpack.
My ONLY complaint with this planner is how gross-looking the cover is! Just from carrying it around in my backpack, you can see all the scratches and fingerprints it’s accumulated. Any suggestions on how to clean this?? It doesn’t bother me too much but doesn’t exactly look great for blog photos LOL.
The pattern on the front is carried through to the back as well as all of the inside pages! I love how shiny the gold is on the inside cover.
Probably my favorite part of the planner is the gold-lined pages! Something about it just feels so luxurious.
Erin Condren Hardcover Planner: The Inside
The first few inside pages have two quotes, as well as a yearly spread and pages where you can write down your goals and dreams for the year!
Before each month’s weekly spreads is a monthly spread. I usually write down any big exams or events here, so that I can see my busy weeks (and plan for them!) ahead of time.
I chose the weekly spreads with the vertical layout, because that’s how my other two Erin Condren planners have been. The past two years, I’ve organized the three sections into “Morning”, “Afternoon”, and “Evening”, because that’s what made sense for my schedule. However, this semester I have a lot less work (#SecondSemesterSenior), so I’ve organized it into “School”, “Life”, and “Blog” sections instead.
I wish my spreads were cute and full of washi tape and colored pens, but this year I’ve just been writing bullet points in boring old pencil! That’s why I have no photographs of what I actually write down 🙂 You can see how I used to decorate my Erin Condren though! I always had fun on Sunday nights planning out my week.
At the end of the planner are a bunch of lined, blank, and dot pages for random note-taking and doodling! There’s also a 2019 calendar in case you want to plan waaaaayy far in advance!
So that’s the new Erin Condren hardcover planner! I’ve really enjoyed using it so far, and I can see myself buying one next year as well! Besides the weird dirty cover, this planner really has it all.
What kind of planner do y’all use? Are you a Day Designer or May Designs fan? A die-hard Lily Pulitzer girl? Let me know in the comments! This is the first year that I’ve combined my school and blog planner into one – usually, I purchase two planners and then never end up using the second one – whoops! Stay tuned this week for another What’s the Roast from Gabby! Stay warm, y’all!
