The Planner in Me: The Day Designer

I hope you had a WONDERFUL Christmas:) We’re about to head to Richmond for yet another Christmas lunch (yum!), but before we hit the road, I wanted to get this post up!

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I LOVE a good planner. I NEED a good planner in my life. I make lists for my lists & thrive on being organized & put together. Between my day job, DSE, my husband, church and just other “life” things – I’m busy & going all the time. I know I’m not the only one playing a “balancing act” with my schedule; and if you’re anything like me, your planner literally becomes a PART of you!

I started looking for a 2014 planner this fall. I wanted to find the PERFECT one because (a) I love planners and (b) life has gotten really busy and I needed to be able to store work, home, & business things all in one organized, pretty place.

During my planner search, I found 2 really amazing planners. Obviously, having 2 planner for the same year is completely unnecessary (and defeats the purposes of finding ONE good one!). So, today and tomorrow I’m bringing you a little planner review. 2 really amazing planners – with the pros & cons of each one. So, if you find yourself comparing these two planners, hopefully this post is helpful:)

THE DAY DESIGNER

Whitney English designed this planner for entrepreneurs. Specifically, small business owners… women who are working in a creative field – wedding planner, photography, graphic design, calligraphy, florists, etc. Women who find they have so much to do between work & family, & need one book to help keep it all together.

First off, I really love the look of this planner: there’s just something about black, white & hot pink. I love the modern yet simplistic look – thick black & white stripes with a hot pink inner cover. It’s the a great size, too – big enough for those of us with large handwriting, yet not too large for a larger purse or work bag.

The front of the Day Designer is full of worksheets – worksheets to help business owners define their vision, their goals (business & personal), and their brand. They are very detailed, and allow you to really harness your vision into something realistic for the year ahead. They’re actually similar to Lara Casey’s Powersheets.  They aren’t quite as detailed as hers, but having 8 pages in the front of your planner dedicated to developing your brand/vision is really convenient.

The page layout: a daily hour-by-hour, as well as a to-do list, and 4 little boxes for “due, dollar, dinner, don’t forget” as well as a “top three to do” section. That was one of my favorite details of the DD because it makes me prioritize all my to-dos and establish a realistic and doable list for that day – 3 things.  I also loved that the year over-view was big enough to write on.  It’s made for you to fill it in with important dates, weekends, birthdays, whatever. And, I like the size of the DD – it’s short & wide, and gives you same amount of space for your schedule and your to-do list on every page.  The downfall? The pages are thinner & cream colored, not white (totally a personal preference on my part!). And, there are no tabs or a front pocket. (The new ones you can pre-order DO have a front pocket, an elastic band & gold edges for added protection).

Here’s the short list:

DAY DESIGNER PRO’S 

-8 pages in the front full of worksheets/exercises to better define your brand, your vision & your life

 -an entire page dedicated to one day of the week (weekends share a page)

-a to-do section on every page

-has inspirational quotes throughout

-contains a yearly view, monthly view & daily view

-has a section for dinner & extras on every weekday (“due, dinner, dollar, don’t forget”)

-contain a “how to use” (effectively) section in the front

-stylish & durable

-yearly view on two pages, large enough to write on

-it’s short & wide; it fits perfect in my medium-large size purses

-contains a “top 3 to-do’s” on every page, along with “other to-do’s”

-contains an hour-by-hour layout on shared weekend pages

DAY DESIGNER CON’S:

-no monthly tabs

-no front pocket

-pages are thinner, need specific pens that won’t bleed through

-cream colored pages, not white pages

-no “to do” list on shared weekend pages

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Do you have the DD? Did I leave anything out? Are you debating on pre-ordering one??

And, don’t forget to check back tomorrow for the second planner I looked at for 2014… and which one I decided to use!

xo, kat

(( I was not contacted by Whitney English to promote or review the Day Designer. All thoughts & opinions are my own, and I was not compensated to give this review. ))