For years, I was devoted to a paper planner… throughout college, my high school teaching years, and in grad school. I would write everything diligently on those pages and my life felt (mostly) organized.
And then I had my first baby, which coincided with my last term of classes for grad school. I bought a fancy new planner  for the following year and found myself failing to fill it out. I had an infant. I was home most of the time. I only worked one day a week. I didn’t have any assignments, just a big dissertation to write, and suddenly the pages of my planner were empty even though my life was full and busy.
For the past few years, I’ve tried a number of planning methods: desk calendar, bullet journal, iPhone calendar. All of them were fine, mainly because I didn’t have much to keep track of, other than two children and moving houses a zillion times, neither of which are easily scheduled.
But now that I am working full-time, directing a writing center, and have childcare other than my mom living down the road, I’ve been feeling the need to move back to a paper planner. I schedule most things in my iPhone calendar with multiple alerts and keep goals and to-lists scattered in notebooks, but I always feel like I’m on the brink of forgetting something (or everything!).
So 2017 is the year I’m moving back to a paper planner. I will share the one I chose (and why) along with a few other favorites that might meet your exact needs.
THE WINNER: Inkwell Press Flex Layout Horizontal Planner ($54)
This is the planner I splurged on this year. My days are full, but no two days look the same, so I wanted to move away from the vertical planner layout where the days are listed out by hour. I really just want a place to keep track of sporadic appointments and place to write my top three tasks of the day (along with space to write monthly goals IN my planner). The Inkwell Press planner is perfect for this. Each day of the week has a horizontal space for appointments AND three boxes per day to write down priority tasks or meals, etc. It comes in a pretty, subtle color scheme, but doesn’t have annoying pictures and quotes all over it like some planners do. Winner, winner! I’ll report back in a few months. These planners are pricey, but you can use this link for $10 off.
RUNNERS UP:
Get to Work Book ($55)
I have been following creator Elise’s blog and business for years, and I have been thoroughly impressed with her Get to Work Book products. Her book combines planning with goal-setting and features lots of pages to plan out long-term projects. The book is entirely black and white and boasts a very clean design, which are both pros in my opinion. If I decide to switch back to a vertical layout planner in the future, I will choose the Get to Work Book for sure.
Anchored Press Weekly Planner ($49)
This is a new-to-me planner that includes a Bible devotional each week. I constantly have women asking me how to make time in the Word a daily part of life, and this planner might be the perfect solution. Each week has a Bible reading, a short devotional, and then a reflection question for each day of the week. The weekly pages have a great layout as well. And the owner lives in our old neighborhood. I wish I had met her before we moved to the beach!
Life Simply Planned ($30)
One of the reasons I had strayed from a paper planner in recent years is because they are so HUGE and I wasn’t carrying a book bag anymore to warrant toting a giant calendar around with me. Now that I carry a bag to work again, the size of my Inkwell Press isn’t really an issue, but this Life Simply Planned planner was tempting, because it’s small enough to fit in a purse, but still has most of the features of a bigger planner. The layout includes a small square for each day of the week, with a big t0-d0 list that runs down the center of the page. The only thing that kept me from purchasing this one was the cutesy font they use for the interior pages. If they change to cleaner typeset and move their logo to the back cover, I would consider buying this planner in the future.
Day Designer for Target ($10)
Sometimes nothing beats an affordable planner from Target. This Day Designer planner is a great option if you don’t want to break the bank keeping track of your schedule. The weekly layout is great (space for appointments and t0-dos) and there is also a smaller version available if you are looking for something purse-sized.
All of these are great options if you’re in the market for a paper planner.
If you want to try the Inkwell Press planner with me, here is a link for $10 off!
