For those of you who know me, know that I love me a good planner for the year! I always get so excited for the new year because I get to pick out what planners I am going to use for that year. I have used a few different planners throughout the years and thought I would review my top ones to help you make a decision on what is best for you!

The last two years I invested in the “Day Designer“. The first few pages of the planner help you set weekly, monthly, and yearly goals and teaches you how to effectively use the planner. I always love having monthly tabs so it is easier to flip through. But what I love most is having the entire month at the front of each tab on cardstock paper.

Each day has its own huge page that has different categories to help you stay organized.

1. Today’s Top Three (you can write down what is most important for you to get done for the day)
2. Due/Dinner/Dollar/Don’t Forget
3. Today (Time slots from 5am-9pm)
4. To-Do (Multiple lines for to-do lists)
5. Notes Section
6. Daily Gratitude box

For the weekend (Saturday + Sunday), they only get one page for both days. However, at the bottom of the page there is a next week at a glance that I always used for meal prep. And finally, there are inspirational quotes at the top of each page 🙂

The reason that I switched to something different this year was that I found in 2018 I was using my phone more and more for putting in appointments, fun activities, my work schedule and photo sessions. One time almost missed a photo session which made me realize that I was juggling too many organization tools. I had my phone, my planner AND my white board calendar in my office. I was spending so much time writing in each place and then forgetting to transfer to one or the other. Then I realized this planner no matter how amazing and beautiful it was, was not for me this year.

THIS year I’ve decided to go a totally different route. I use my phone primarily for appointments, meetings, bill dates, work schedule etc. I was introduced to the “Productivity Planner” from blogger Lynzy & Co. I’m about to mention all of the ways this amazing planner can really make your day super productive. BUT before I go into everything I love, there is only one negative thing about it. It’s plain and just solid black. I love colour for my planners but maybe I can just use some coloured pens inside to brighten it up? haha!

The first 34 pages explain to you the concept behind the planner and how to most efficiently optimize the planner. Basically, there is a Weekly Review which allows you to contemplate what went well, what tasks weren’t completed last week, what you have learned and what you should focus on next week.

At the start of the week, you are able to plan your entire week. You do this by indicating your five most important tasks of the week, tasks of secondary importance and additional tasks. Then you have a page per day to help you stay on top of all your tasks.

The last thing I picked up for this year to stay organized was just a simple planner from Home Sense. To be honest, I am not sure if this will get much use but I do enjoy writing things down opposed to having them in my phone but we will just see how busy I get and I will let you know if I even use it.

**OTHER OPTION** – The Emily Ley Simplified Planner is also a great choice! It is very similar to the Day Designer but it is a bit smaller in size to the traditional Day Designer.

Please comment and let me know your top planners and organizers so that I can maybe try some out for next year! Love this post? Check out my blog.