As a busy college student, I need to carefully plan out my days. Juggling class, papers, tests, meetings, clubs and being the news editor of school’s newspaper is a lot of work. In the past, I’ve used smaller, simpler planners to plan out my day, but I never had enough room to write or the motivation to actually look at it. But because it’s my senior year, I decided to switch to an Erin Condren.
The Erin Condren is a popular planner in the planning community. Many people like it because it has two different layouts (vertical and horizontal,) it has colorful, customizable covers and an avid community for stickers. I thought that if the planner was large, colorful and filled with stickers, I might actually use it for than just writing down homework assignments.
I chose the horizontal layout since I write really large. I need more space than others to write what I need to get accomplished. I also don’t use that many decorative stickers compared to others, so the vertical layout was out of the question. I’ve always used a horizontal planner, so this layout is very familiar to me.
This is what a typical week in my planner looks like. Pretty crazy, huh? I use stickers to emphasize the most important meetings and tasks that day, as well as when tests are given and when papers are due. Towards the bottom in the notes section, I have a running to-do list as well as a place to track my workouts.
Here is a closeup on that week’s spread. I have plenty of space to write. What I like about the Erin Condren are the customizable covers. As you can see up top, I was able to put my name on the cover. The covers are even interchangeable, so I can change up the designs depending on the season. I also like that the pages are thick and of good quality. I have never had a rip at the coil or have ink bleed onto the next page.
However, there are things I don’t like. Even though the horizontal colors are more muted than the vertical colors, I find them too bright. I would never bring this planner into a business meeting or a professional setting. It’s just too flashy and bright, even if I didn’t use any stickers. I also don’t like how inconsistent their quality is. I’ve heard people complain of getting the wrong planner, getting customized items that weren’t theirs, pages that are missing and even waiting three months to get a ready-to-ship item. Thankfully I haven’t had any problems, but it happens too often for me to whole-heartily recommend this planner to others.
While I initially planned on using this planner for school only, I think I will continue to use this once I graduate in May. It’s too cute to just put on a shelf to collect dust! I’ve also noticed that I’m more motivated to get homework and tasks done if I write them on a cute sticker.
Do you use a planner? If so, which one? Let me know down below!
-Allie
Want an Erin Condren of your own? Use this link to sign up on the website and receive $10 off your first order! (Note: This is an affiliate link. I make $10 off of this link if you sign up and make your first purchase.)
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