Planner Pads Planner Review | How I Finally Got Organized

I am beyond a mess when it comes to planning and all things organization. So when I discovered the Planner Pads Planner last year, it was like the clouds parted and the light came beaming in.

Well, that’s probably a tad dramatic but seriously, once this Planner arrived on my doorstep, I knew change was afoot. I decided I’d give it a year and see how it goes before I write a Planner Pads Planner review.

I guess I really chose a year didn’t I? I mean, who knew 2020 was going to be the total dumpster fire it turned out to be, this Planner really was put to the test.

No time to read now? Pin it for later.

I’ve tried any number of planners in the past, mainly paper but one or two digital and never really liked any of them.

I am not an expert on planners and haven’t tried 100 but I believe I have found the right planner for the way my brain works so I’m sticking with it.

One tip, you do have to actually use a planner if you expect it to help increase your productivity. This is the week after the world went into lockdown 2020 – you can see it’s practically blank and well, only the bare minimum got done that week.

This is why you need to read through my Planner Pads Planner review because I’ve got a few tips for using it.

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What I Need in a Planner

Like I said, I’m a disorganized mess. I’ve got sticky notes, lists, scrap paper, random sheets of paper, etc all over the place. I make lists of lists, you too?

Ever since I started blogging in addition to my direct sales business, I never felt like I had a plan or was making any progress because I kept getting sidetracked.

I bought a planner every year but sadly, it rarely got used. I was pretty great at getting distracted by the quotes and colors and designs in the planner but not actually filling in any of the space with tasks to do.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a week here or there that was productive but nothing consistent.

Which is why at the end of 2019, I spent an afternoon just googling and YouTubing away learning about ALL THE PLANNERS. Talk about information overload.

What is a Planner Pads Planner

It is the funnel down planning system that got me organized.

Somehow I stumbled upon the Planner Pads Planner and decided it was THE planner for me. They have a video on their website that walks you through the methodology behind how it is designed and that’s what made everything click for my brain.

How Does it Work

You basically do a brain dump of all the things you need to do for the week and then break those down by day and then even by the hour.

If you follow any sort of time-blocking method for your day, this is perfect for you.

First you categorize, then you prioritize and finally you schedule. This is why they call it a funnel down planning system.

How Much Does it Cost

As of the writing of this review (12/2020), the Planner I purchased cost $32.49 for the Executive Spiral Bound plus $5.99 for the Month Tab Dividers. I bought the Dividers last year and didn’t use them a whole lot but have figured out how I’m going to this year so I purchased them again (see below under What I Like for details).

There are a few size options, the Executive is regular paper size, 8.5″x11′. There is also a smaller option but I need space to write.

You can also choose to have the Planner dated or undated. I like someone else to do the hard work so I choose dated.

They also have a few accessories that you can add but nothing I need so just the planner and the dividers for me.

How Is a Planner Pads Planner Different from other Planners

I’m not sure why I ever tried digital planners, I am a paper and pen kinda gal.

Don’t get me wrong, I do use my phone for daily reminders and for sharing appointments with my husband on our shared calendar but aside from that, nope, I want to write things down.

Probably so I can cross them off later…so satisfying.

The Planner Pads Planner is like the old school planner everyone had before planners got super colorful and motivational and all that jazz. It’s totally back to basics in my opinion, but laid out in a strategic and productive format.

There aren’t any coloring pages or motivational quotes or stickers. You can add all those things if you like but all that does is distract me.

I’ve seen many people color code the Categories or Priorities on their pages but honestly, it just distracts me more. That’s what I love about it though, it is simple and basic but you can jazz it up to suit your needs.

Why I Love My Planner Pads Planner

This Planner Pads Planner review would be no good without what I love the most.

There are many things to love but what I love most is:

• works the way my brain works
• space for continual brain dumps
• organized flow from idea to action – big idea to actionable steps
• space for big goals down to minute details
• basic – not much to distract me
• size is perfect, not heavy or bulky

It took me a year but I figured out how I’m going to use the Monthly view pages. I will use it to plan out my social media for my blog and direct sales businesses.

You could also use it for plans that span longer than a week, so you can see everything in one spot. That’s one reason I don’t care for digital planners, I can look at the calendar, seeing a dot that tells me I have something to do but I can’t see what it is until I click on it. Not my style.

So if you’re going on a multi-week vacation and you plan out activities or locations for the day, you can jot those in the monthly view. Or timely to the writing of this review, if you are an ‘Elf on the Shelf’ family and you need to plan out your Elf’s shenanigans, you can do that in the Monthly view.

Who is This Planner For?

I think anyone who is a list maker will love this Planner.

Anyone who wants a basic planner without all the stickers, colors, accessories and all the pretty stuff will appreciate the simplicity of it

Am I More Productive Now?

Ultimately, that’s the goal, right? The answer is yes, when I do the pre-work and get the pages filled.

I was much better at the beginning of the year and one thing I’ve discovered about myself, I am most productive when I time-block and actually assign specific tasks to those time-blocks.

I like to use the left-hand side to list out all the things I want to do for the week and use the right-hand side for writing down ideas I come up with during the week. It’s sort of where I do my brain dump list making.

If nothing else, I no longer have lists floating around everywhere, I have everything contained in this one book.

At the end of the week, if you’ve finished all the tasks you wrote down, fold over the little corner on the top right-hand side so you know everything was completed.

In the video on the Planner Pads website, they say you don’t have to transfer anything from one week to the next because you’ll know there are still tasks to be completed but I like to either cross them off because I don’t need to do them or write them down for the next week.

Planner Pads offers a full refund (new customers only) for up to 3 months if you use it and don’t feel like it hasn’t given you an extra hour in your day. Say what!?!

Typically, I sit down on Sunday evening for about 30 minutes and carry over tasks from the week before, do my brain dump and then Prioritize and Schedule. The best part is striking through the tasks as I do them. So stinkin’ statisfying.

Buy your Planner Pads Planner today and get stuff done!

Planner Pads Planner Review