The Awesome Erin Condren Life Planner 2013-2014

As a self-proclaimed planner dork, I have been on a search for The Perfect Planner for ages. For several years, I used (and loved) the UnCalendar...while not at all fancy, it is extremely functional and got me through nursing school with  my sanity somewhat intact.

Well, now that I'm older and wiser (ha), I decided I want something beautiful AND functional...and that is where the Erin Condren Life Planner comes in. I think I was looking online for reviews on the MomAgenda and came across a ton (and I mean a TON) of videos and blog posts about the Erin Condren planner. I fell in love in the way that only a girl who has an obsession for paper products and girlie things can understand.

So, without further ado...here are some pics of my planner. YES, they are spendy. The planner starts at $50 and then the cute accessories add up. I don't even want to tell you how much I spent, because then you would all think I'm crazy, and right now you think I am a totally normal person ;-).

This is the cover in Mod Morocco with green and yellow.

Laminated tabs and planner "headband."

Each cover is super-duper laminated for durability, plus it has laminated tabs which keep your different sections nice and organized.  The little "headband" is available for a few extra dollars and helps keep your planner closed when you toss it in your bag. You can also see that the coil is serious...like totally dead-to-rights serious. No monkey business going on here! This planner is designed to be hauled around and I fully expect it to survive the next 17 months beautifully. 

The Mega Coil

Speaking of which, the planner comes in a 12-month version or an 18-month version. The 12-month versions can be ordered to cover any span of dates...so if you order in April, for instance, you can get an April-April calendar if that's what floats your boat. The 18-month, however, are from July to the end of the following year. I ordered my planner in July and received it August 7th...so I basically wasted a month, but adding on 6 months is only $5 extra, so it's a screaming good deal.

Close-up of the monthly view page...the little flower means my house cleaner is coming that day!

Here's the monthly view...I love washi tape! You can also see I've used the birthday stickers that come with the planner.

Here is a weekly view...you have a place to keep notes on the left, space for "morning, day, night" and then space at the bottom for meal planning, exercise, etc...I tend to use that space for things I know are happening that day, but I just don't have a specific time or the details yet. I am also fiddling around with writing my daily "TODO" list in the "morning" section, all my appointments and such in the "day" section, then a little recap/journal of the day in the "night" section. 

Notes section and cute squiggly lines. I love all the bright colors.

There is also a space for notes in the monthly view. Great for things that don't have a specific date yet or I haven't committed to yet (like the CCRN class...do I go?)

My birthday....my favorite national holiday :-)

The holidays are denoted with cute little graphics. Love all the little details!

Toward the back of the planner are some lined pages for notes. I think I will use these a lot.

And then we have blank pages for doodling and whatnot. Is anyone else crazy about chevrons? Love!

The planner comes standard with loads of "birthday" stickers, plus others for things like mani/pedi, doctor, dentist, party, etc... You also have the option to make your own custom stickers! I added more birthday stickers in red (I heart color coding), plus stickers for things like PTO, wax appointments, and anniversaries. I am currently keeping a list of other custom stickers I want and will get them with my next order. 

The "Keep It Together" folder in the back is double-sided for keeping all those random things tidy. These are my custom stickers :-) I want MORE!!!

I am in looooove with this handy zippered pouch. This is where I keep tiny things that would ordinarily get lost...labels, small stickers, business cards, post-its. 

I admit, I splurged on this item...customized notepads! Kind of a lot of dough, but really....can you put a price on adorable-ness? I think not. 

And lastly, a few extra freebies that Erin throws in with your planner...these are little labels to be used for gifts and whatnot. Love love love. What's not to love? 

OK, folks...that's the Erin Condren Life Planner in a nutshell...if you want to drool over it even more, you can visit her site at www.erincondren.com. There is also a fancy pants gold edition that looks SO PRETTY, but I really like the green and yellow design of my planner, so I'm totally happy with it.

Since these are custom planners made by hand, note that they do take a little bit. I think I waited 2-2.5 weeks for mine...not bad, but it seemed like an eternity, because I am pretty much a "want it now" kind of girl. Totally worth the wait! Just keep it in mind if ordering toward the end of your current planner, or if you are getting it for a gift. So far I have purchased two others as gifts...and will probably buy others (or give gift cards, since it's so much fun to design your own planner).

Anyway...hope you like it as much as I do...get one NOW!

Get yourself an Uncalendar!

For those of you who are trying to figure out how to organize yourselves for next semester...I present...the Uncalendar (http://uncalendar.com/). This awesome calendar may not be all cutesy like the time.mine calendars or the Franklin Covey planners or any of that stuff, but is is FUNCTIONAL and awesome and frankly...what else do you need? By the way, I use the Lifestyle Fullsize version which I recommend...there are so many tasks and due dates that I just don't think you can fit everything into one of those smaller planners unless you have really small handwriting and very keen eyesight.

The fantabulous thing about this calendar is that it's totally personalizable (is that even a word), and it has lots of space for lots of stuff! For instance, I would use one of the boxes to list "school to-do" items such as: buy scantrons, fill out the blue packet (whatever that was), print N-12 study questions...etc. Another box was a list of the gazillion quizzes we had to take (13 in one week). Another box was related to things to pack in my clinical bag and yet another was related to stuff I needed to do at home like pay bills and buy groceries. I could also plan out my week on the weekly calendar, which really helps me to determine how in the world I can get everything done. Making a list doesn't help me if the items on my list take 29 hours and there are only 24 hours in a day...filling out the weekly calendar helps me see that.

It also has a monthly calendar so you can look at The Big Picture, but I mainly used the weekly...let's be honest...in Nursing School you are rarely ever looking any farther forward than a few days, much less a whole month! But it's nice to see what big ticket items are coming up so you can incorporate study time.

Ok, that's my pitch for the best planner ever! And here is a picture of the inside weekly pages in case you are too busy to go to the website (if you click on it, it gets bigger so you can see the detail). There is also something called the Pro version, but that might be more for people with jobs? :-)