I am a total Type A personality. This is both a strength and a weakness in my personality.
I make lists, I write things down, I like to keep track of things. When I broke my wrist last year, I tried the electronic-diary thing. I hated it. It didn't work for me. I'm a visual person yes, but I'm also a tactile person and I like having something physical in front of me to browse through.
I have kept a day diary ever since I received my first one in year three, at the ripe old age of 7 years old. That's 15 years. I've been through primary school, high school, university and now full-time work, and each time I've had to adjust what I use my diary (or "planner" as they're called nowadays) for, and how I use it. When I was at uni, I kept track of assignments, which days I was working, what uni work I had to get done, social appointments.
Now that I'm in full-time work, my hours between 7am-7pm Monday through to Friday are accounted for (including travel time) and I obviously don't have to remind myself to go to work each day. That's just routine. But I did struggle with organising other areas of my life; housework, social events, blogging, to-do lists.
I can't even remember where I first came across the Erin Condren planner - probably on Youtube somewhere. I saw it, and thought "this looks perfect for me". I love that the layout is vertical (although they now have horizontal options too if that's what floats your boat) - this totally appeals to my list-making needs.
I love that the days are split into three categories. The categories "morning - day - night" are not always that applicable to me, but that's where Etsy comes in; I can buy custom headers to utilise each space in a way that best suits me.
There are so many planner addicts facebook groups, and youtube channels, and instagram pages around these days and so many of them are filled with photos of planners covered in stickers and decorated. I much prefer a simplistic look - I hate clutter, and can't concentrate with unnecessary images. There are still plenty of functional stickers available on etsy though, which make the weeks that little bit cuter.
I love that the Erin Condren planner is spiral bound - I can look at half a week at a glance, and the spine won't get bent all out of shape. I love that the covers are customisable (and you can change them out throughout the year if that tickles your fancy) - how cute that I can have a seahorse and my name on mine! I love the big monthly page spreads - these allow plenty of room for writing everything down. I also really like that each month is a different colour scheme. The ECLP comes with a plastic zipper pocket at the back, which is perfect for storing my stickers, and plenty of plain, lined, and decorated notes pages. I like the see-through snap-in ruler/page marker it comes with.
I love a lot of things about the ECLP.
What I don't like:
I don't like the text that divides the lines at the bottom of each day with the 3 square boxes. I'm not a huge fan of all the inspirational quotes and some of the colour schemes and images are a bit garish. I also don't like that the monthly calendar spreads have the week starting on a Sunday - this really confuses me.
These are all small complaints though.
Do you have an Erin Condren life planner? Do you even use a paper planner anymore?
Would you be interested in more posts about my planning sessions and how I keep myself organised?
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