Organizing Your Life With the Erin Condren Life Planner

Physically writing things down makes you remember them better.

The Erin Condren Planner is the most versatile planner I have found!

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 I am a paper planner person. While I use my calendar on my phone for birthdays and anniversaries I prefer a paper planner to easily see everything. I typically bought my planners from target or staples or another big box store but they were never completely what I wanted. I started researching planners and came across the Erin Condren Life Planner.

I am a total nerd and got so excited when I saw the different options with Erin Condren. I needed a monthly view as well as a weekly view along with other goodies throughout my planner. I needed to be able to mark my kid’s appointments, work responsibilities, blog plans and personal appointments. With the Erin Condren planner, I was able to do all of that. It was a little higher price point than I had paid for my other planners but for the difference and what I was receiving it’s well worth it!

Here are all the reasons why I love this planner and have purchased it for the second year in a row:

1. You can customize your cover! Erin Condren offers multiple covers or you can upload your own. You can also add text to any of their covers. I picked a cover that was shown in purple and changed the colors to match my blog colors and added my name to it.
2. There are fantastic quotes throughout the planner which I feel like you need to navigate life.
3. There is a 2-page spread for the yearly calendar you can quickly reference.
4. There are 2 pages for you to write your goals down. I use the first page for my goals for the first 6 months and then in May I re-evaluate and use the second page for my goals for the second half of the year.
5. Each Month has a 2-page spread as an overview for you to write down events or appointments. There is a sidebar for big-picture goals and to do’s.
6. The monthly spread is followed by the weekly pages. Each week has 2 pages designated to it. One thing I love is you get to choose what type of weekly spread you purchase. You can do an hourly weekly spread, a horizontal weekly spread, and a vertical weekly spread. I chose the vertical spread. I love how it is split up into 3 sections with a fourth notes section at the bottom. I can split this up by personal to do’s, work obligations and blog to do’s.
7. At the end of the weekly pages, there is 1 page for notes to make for that month.
8. After the 12 months, there is a notes section followed by the next year’s calendar overview.
9. After that is lots of fun stickers- pre-printed and blank for you to fill in appointments and tasks. 
10. At the end is a 2 pocket folder for you to keep notes, additional stickers you buy etc.
11. The final thing that I love is the inside front and back covers are wet erase. You can purchase the wet erase markers from Erin Condren and use a baby wipe to remove it. It is fantastic for quick notes!

Additional Extras I Purchased That I Loved

1. Snap-in Sticky Notes- I love the sticky notes because they are removable! You can make tentative appointments or to do’s and then move them as things don’t work out. The best thing is they come on a page that snaps into your life planner.
2. Wet Erase Markers – if you want to use the insides of the planner cover you will need these
3. Elastic Band Trio- I have a lot of things paper clipped into my life planner so it gets a little thick. The band wraps around the life planner and keeps everything together.
4. Large Clutch – these are neoprene pouches that look like laptop cases to transport your planner. I bought the larger one so I could also put a notebook in there and love this because it keeps my planner dry and clean and I can throw all kinds of things in it to take with me.

 

 

Things I Bought That Didn’t Work For Me

1. Snap-In To Do List’s and Menu Planners – I bought these planning to pre-plan my meals but I didn’t utilize them.
2. Coil Clips – I ordered extra coil clips thinking I would need to snap things into my planner. So far I haven’t needed to use them but I may in the future!
3. Plan for It Pouch – I ordered this and planned to snap it into my planner but it made my planner way too thick. I have washi tape, pens, pencils, markers, highlighters etc in here so I could have used any pouch from the store. I do throw this entire pouch into my clutch to keep everything together.
4. Pen Holder- I didn’t like how the pen holder stuck out. It was very awkward and to top it off the holder was too thin to hold some of my favorite pens.
5. Flag Stickers & Designer Dots – these didn’t fit in with what I wanted my planner to look like. I found stickers I could print on Pinterest and made my own look.

 

Things I Want To Buy In My Next Purchase

1. Magnetic Page Marker – Right now I’m using really cute paperclips but want one of these magnets too.
2. Large Luxe Clutch – Love the look of this clutch. It looks elegant and put together and I can’t wait to own it.
3. Hard Bound Notebooks – these are the perfect size to throw in your purse and the colors are fantastic! I want a black one, a raspberry one, and a turquoise or sea foam one! I’m going to add my initials to them.

If you are new to Erin Condren then click on any of my links throughout this post to receive $10 off your order!