Erin Condren Life Planner Review

I finally got my planner!  So far I love it, I'm still trying to figure out exactly how I want to use it.  What I love about this planner:

• Size, fits perfectly in my purse
• Lots of room to write (at least for me)
• You have a monthly calendar view followed by the weekly spreads
• Each day of the weekly spread is broken up into morning, day, and evening
• Lots of stickers included! Doctor's appts, game day, mani/pedi, day off, birthday, etc and a bunch of blank ones to put whatever you want. 
• Clear zippered pocket in the back to hold things.
• Tabs are laminated!  I can see how in years past this was an issue when they weren't laminated.  They're very sturdy as they are now.  

This is the perpetual calendar.  I've put in some birthdays but I've seen others who have used it as a workout log, a financial log, etc.  They just use washi tape over the birthdays and anniversaries, I don't see this being a huge use to me.

This is the 2013/2014 at a glance.  This is super useful if you just want to see where a particular date falls in the year without having to flip to the actual month.  All the months have the same color schemes so once you figure out what they are you can easily dart your eyes to that month.  All of the color combos rock.

This is what a monthly spread looks like.  The blue washi tape shows when my kids are with their dad and the black washi is the weekend my fiance has his Army Reserve duty.  I also put when my car payment and my car insurance payments are due on this calendar.  My paydays are also written in so I know what to expect and when.  Nothing is on auto pay so it's my visual reminder. 

This is the weekly spread.  The week runs from Monday-Sunday during the weekly spreads.  Also, if a month changes during the week it will change to the corresponding colors for that month.  As you can see here, this is an Army weekend!  I chose not to put when the kids are with their dad here just because the monthly thing is a reminder, especially if something comes up and I need to know where they're going to be so I can schedule appropriately.  I also use these spaces to write down the run numbers of any ventilator transport I have as those are extra money.

 These are the notes pages.  There are a bunch of lined pages and a handful of blank ones.  The lined ones just have her little asterisk in the lower corner opposite the binding and LOTS of room to write!

These are the blank pages.  These have some of her designs on the top, this one is the fleur feliz pattern.  Others are gingham, candy lace, plaid, and zig zag.

This is the contact section, lots of places to write lots of numbers.  I use Postable for all my permanent addresses I keep track of, this I'm using for school contacts for my kids and such.  I don't see myself using this too much but it's nice to have to jot down an address in a pinch.

 This is the keep it together folder, it's double sided and fairly deep.  I have a couple things stashed in here now and I can definitely see getting some use out of this!

 The other side of the keep it together folder and the plastic zippered pouch.  I keep all the stickers that came with the planner in here.  I tore them out and cut them into their colored sections with my paper trimmer.

This is the inside of the back cover.  It's the years 2015 and 2016 at a glance.  I like knowing what days of the week birthdays fall on, or holidays so I have an idea of what we might be doing.  No, I don't plan that far in advance but it's nice to know if something falls during the week or weekend.







The coiling on the planner is super sturdy.  It's very hard to pinch two of them together so I can imagine this is going to take lots of abuse and still look darn good!  There are a couple things I'm not thrilled about already, one of my notes pages came scuffed, not a big deal but it's the tabbed page, otherwise I'd just pull it out and use it for something else.  There's a small tear in the bottom of the folder on the pink side, it's from where the ruler/bookmark was tucked into the pocket, maybe to avoid this they can snap the bookmark inside the front cover or put it with the info they put in the box.  Also, the cover scratches super easy.  The back of my planner already has some rough spots where it's been scratched up already.  They did offer for me to send my planner back but I opted not to because I've already started using it.  I just let them know because the quality of the laminate is not worthy of a $50 planner.

They also include a boat load of free labels.  You get 23 of them with your planner, which, if you were to purchase on her site is a $25 value.  I also got 2 codes worth $10 each as well.

Over all, I'm happy, I love my planner, not sure if I'll be buying another one next year but we'll see, $50 is a LOT of money for us right now.  If you want to check out a video I did head over here to you tube!



Disclaimer--I was not compensated in any way for this review, this is just such a hot item that I figured I'd write up my own opinions on this product.