Blog

Today we are reviewing The ADHD Planner in green ($34.99),  also available in black. The green is hard linen cover and definitely has a rougher texture, which may be an issue for some with ADHD and sensory issues. It looks like the black may be the same material. The planner is 6×9, a good size for portability and not too small for those of us with large handwriting! There are three (3) ribbon bookmarks that hang out about an inch at the bottom of the book. The paper is very smooth. There is no tooth or texture but it does seem thicker than average paper. 

It is undated, which means you can start it anytime and if you don’t use it for a while you can pick it back up at any time.

The Amazon copy mentions that it is made by people with ADHD and was made for those with ADHD. The cover and spine are imprinted with The ADHD Planner in gold. I think it is quite noticeable so some people may not be comfortable using this planner at work. I am open about my ADHD but I know others do not like to share or don’t want their employers to know. On the back epic self is imprinted in gold along the bottom edge. I kinda wish this was on the cover and spine instead! 

I was actually quite excited to test this one out. I did an initial flip through and it seemed like it would be really helpful! 

So what all is in here that got me excited? 

The first page is titled Intention Clarification and has seven areas of life/goals and asks where you are now, where you want to be, and why for each area. Next to that is a goals page with room for six goals. I guess you have to drop one of the areas. The next six pages are for really breaking down each goal (and it looks like the family was dropped. Guess it got lumped in with relationships). 

Next up is a routines and rituals page where you can fill in a morning, get in the zone, and evening routine. Followed by a brain strategy place to jot down things like what motivates you. There are two pages for listing Master Projects with space for two personal and two business project lists. Lastly, before the actual planning pages are two pages for to-do, each to-do page has a spot for daily, weekly, and monthly personal and business to-dos. 

Moving into the planning pages, we have a weekly overview, review, and preparation. The overview is more planner focused while the review and preparation feel more like a journal to me. Next is a brain dump and a weekly schedule. Each day of the week gets two pages. The first has tasks, chores, and checklists to make sure you did your routines and drank water. There is also a space to do time blocking. The second page is more journal-like with affirmations, notes, and accomplishments. 

This pattern continues to the end of the book. The Q&A on amazon says there are 13 weeks. I did not count to confirm this. (I’ve got ADHD, do you really think I’d sit and count that?!)

In the end, you get two lined note pages and nine ways to get out of an ADHD rut. 

I really like how the planner is set up and feels like a cross between a planner and a journal. On the surface, it feels like it would be helpful. But would I keep up with it? Would I stick with it?? I used it in September for the month before making my verdict. 

The first thing I did was start at the beginning. The intention clarification and my goals pages were a little difficult with no directions. I had to sit and try to think about how to set the pages and how I would fill them in. Some of the spaces were small and awkward to write anything of substance in. I did like the individual goal pages. There was logic to working through the page. I wish the obstacles and solutions boxes were bigger or instead of being vertical were horizontal. I liked the three-month habit tracker as well. 

I only partially filled out the routines and rituals. I am not a fan of the time because depending on the day it can vary. I also still don’t know what a “get in the zone” routine is. I also skipped the stuck and unstuck part of my brain strategy. 

I ended up not filling out the master project and to do pages. 

I started using it the week of 8/29. And I realized that it’s not a planner I can keep up with. I thought I would really like this one but it’s… ok. Even using a ribbon to mark the goals pages? I never go backward. I never check in on those pages and I never used the habit trackers back there.

It also became very redundant within itself. I did like the big 3 for the week on the weekly overview but the rest was worthless. I would write in the important events, dates, and deadlines there then re-write them on the weekly schedule AND the daily pages. It quickly became too much. 

The weekly review and prep page was great and I enjoyed the weekly reflections. The habit tracker? I was always scrambling to fill it in at the end of the week, which isn’t really the point. I used the brain dump for one week. I liked the weekly schedule and preferred that to the review. I can see the week at a quick glance. 

This brings us to the daily pages. I wish the big 3 and other tasks had check-off circles like the daily chores. I ended up using a highlighter or dot pens to make my own checklist. I need to check things off and I don’t like drawing a line through the task in case I want to look back and see what I did. I used the vitamin space to check off when I take my medication. 

The daily affirmation got old after six days. Maybe a weekly affirmation would be useful. 

The notes and accomplishment sections were helpful. It made me sit down each night (or the next morning) and really think about my day. I also jotted things in the note section I didn’t want to forget or wanted to schedule out 

The ADHD Planner had some great things about it but other not-so-great things. Am I going to continue using this? Probably not. I mean I have it, so I might. But I’m no longer excited about it. My EC daily duo and Makselife goal pages work so much better for me. Would I recommend this one? No. I think it has potential but there is too much redundancy and it expects you to remember to go back and look at what you did previously. 

I think it could be streamlined and the goals incorporated into the weekly overview. If it were me, I’d remove the important events & deadlines section and replace it with weekly goals. And maybe change the daily affirmations into some daily goal work. 

Also, the price point for this is a little steep for a 13-week planner. For a year you would need four of these at $35 each. That’s $140 for the year. 

What do you think about the ADHD Planner? Would you try it? What is your favorite or least favorite thing about the ADHD Planner?

Want to see the walk-through and how it worked out? Head over to YouTube for the video review!

Halloween. Thanksgiving. Whatever December holiday you may celebrate.

All of these are right around the corner and will be here before you know it. Have you thought about how you will budget for all of these upcoming events? In reality, we should have started in January, or even July, but it’s never too late to plan and budget!

Why should you budget for the holidays?

The main reason is to avoid going into credit card debt, or more debt for some of us. The second reason is to know what you can spend on gifts, food, and new decorations. You can make a plan of everything you need to buy for the holidays and look for the best deals. You know, instead of running out at the last minute to grab whatever you can find. Lastly, so you can enjoy the season with less stress!

How will you create a holiday budget?

First, think about where you want to be at the end of the year financially. Do you want to be in more or less debt? Are you saving for anything? Working on an emergency fund? What financial goals do you have for next year? What major expenses might you have come up? What are your priorities for the year? Why are you thinking about these? Because you don’t want to put yourself behind on these goals just to fund your holidays!

How to set up your budget:

1. Sit down and figure out your current financial situation.
   • Grab a planner or calendar with September through December and mark all of your paydays. Estimate how much money you will have for each check
   • Next fill in all of your upcoming bills and expenses. If you don’t know how much your electric bill will be, make an estimate. You can probably look at how much you paid last year and add a little more to be safe. 
   • Add up all your income and bills and then subtract your bills from your pay
   • How much do you have leftover? There is your holiday budget starting point!
2. Create a plan for each holiday. If the holidays listed here aren’t ones you celebrate, swap them out for the ones you do. These are the ones we budget for in our house but I know not everyone celebrates Halloween or Thanksgiving.
   • Write down everything you need for each holiday, including gifts, food, and decor
   • Start collecting coupons, discount codes, and redeeming any points you could use towards items on your lists. 
   • Halloween
     • Costumes – how many costumes do you need? What can you reuse from previous years or things you already own? What do you need to grab?
     • Candy – Do you know how much candy you gave out last year? Are you going to grab it early and save it or do you need to wait until closer to Halloween? If you can get it early, you can grab regular candy on sale and not the “special” Halloween branded candy.
     • Decor – Take inventory, what do you already own? Do you need to replace anything? Do you want to get anything new?
     • Other – Is there anything missing you want to budget for? Do you do school cards or host a party every year? Write that down!
   • Thanksgiving and December Holidays
     • Food – make a meal plan if you’re hosting. Write down what you’ll make and what you’ll ask others to bring. Take inventory of your kitchen. Write down what you need to pick up from the store. Also, shop early. Don’t wait until the day before. You will have more options and less stress! And don’t forget to get those coupons! You can find some online and add to your loyalty card and others you can print off. 
     • Decor – Like Halloween, check what you have and determine if you want to update or replace anything. You might want to check any tree lights and make sure they work!
     • Other – Do you do a cookie exchange? Or donations to your favorite charities? Write all of it down! Do you need to travel? Wrapping paper? Cards?
   • Gifts
     • Write down everyone you would like to buy gifts for.
     • Determine how much you want to and are able to spend on each person
     • Look for coupons, sales, and online discount codes. 
     • If you know you’ll be out on Black Friday, you will already have your list and know exactly what you want to grab. But you may also see that toy your kid wants randomly on sale now and can grab it early!

Top Five Holiday Budgeting Tips

1. Keep it simple and sustainable. For example, you can gift children something they want, need, wear, and read. We always gift our nephews a toy, a shirt, and a book. 
2. Avoid using credit cards unless you know you’ll pay off the balance in full every month. We use our credit cards and pay off monthly to get travel miles and cash back. 
3. Keep your gift lists and other inventory lists with you when you are out. You never know when you will find a good deal!
4. Use a tracker to keep track of your budget and how much you have spent.
5. Set yourself up for next year. Add up what you spent this year and add 10%. Figure out when you need to start saving (January, July) and how much you’ll need to set aside. Make a bucket in your savings for Holidays (or a new account or a cash envelope – however you save). 

Have you started your holiday budgeting plan yet? What does your budget look like?

Looking for holiday budget trackers? Grab them .

Do planners recommended for people with ADHD actually help more than other planners for someone with ADHD? 

Let’s find out!

Today we are reviewing the Essential Daily Planner. This planner comes in three sizes, 5×8 ($15.95), 7×9 ($17.95), and 8.5×11 ($19.95). I am reviewing the 5×8 version. They all are cream paper with wire-o binding and come with a snap-in ruler with sticky notes.

Links are Amazon Associate links. I may earn a small commission if you purchase through my link.

I used the planner for three weeks and here are my thoughts. First, for me, the 5×8 is too small. Or my handwriting is too big. I made an attempt to write smaller and a few different ways to make a to-do list in the top section. I also moved items around to see how they would work in different spots. I think my week two and three worked much better than week one. 

I do like how simple and clean the layout is. There’s nothing to really distract you. The monthly overview is simple and has enough room to fit a few items. As with most planners, there is a notes sidebar on the month. There is no dashboard. It goes right into the weeks. The weekdays are split in two, the top half being a blank to-do section and the bottom is times from 7 am to 8 pm.

One thing I did not like is the time section. I thought I would but when I had things on the half hour, there wasn’t really a spot for it. The hour has a line and the half-hour gets dots. It was a struggle when I had something at 8 and 8:30. The 8:30 item got squeezed on the dots.

The other thing that really bothered me and would probably stop me from using this planner is each week has a mini month for the current month and next month. I don’t need both and it takes up precious space on the Saturday/Sunday column. I’d rather have the space for additional weekend space. I hate planners that don’t give room for weekends because that’s when I do ALL the things! I peeped the larger sizes and they have the mini calendars next to each other and a weird space below them. I don’t know why they wouldn’t put them on the bottom of the page and make Saturday/Sunday bigger?

Overall, it’s not a BAD planner. The 5×8 is a good size if you need to carry it with you. The best part is the simple layout and it’s not too distracting. Although I think the weird mini planners in the larger size would annoy me with that extra space below them. 

The limited space, especially in the 5×8, means you gotta make choices. What do you really NEED to do? This is helpful for someone like me who thinks they can do EVERYTHING and it all only takes 15 minutes! I’m never late but I have other difficulties with time. I think things won’t take as long as they do. 

It would also be good if you do time blocking. I used the time section to mark off my work hours but you could also do that with tasks. I do not do time blocking. I have tried in the past and I usually end up doing whatever I feel like for however long instead of following the blocks.

Each of us with ADHD is different. While this was not the planner for me, maybe it will be perfect for you! What are your thoughts on this planner? Do you think it would be a good one for you?

If you want the Essential Daily Planner, head over to my YouTube and watch my video on it because it will tell you how you can win it!

This fall Erin Condren wants you to reclaim your space with new productivity tools and home/desk organizers.

As an affiliate, I received this box from Erin Condren with some of the new goodies. I spent some time with the products to make sure I could give you my thoughts. If you want to grab any of the items featured, you can get them here. This is my affiliate link and I appreciate it when you use it! I get a small commission and can keep the blog and youtube content fresh for you!

First up, we have a laptop stand in blush with the mid-century circle pattern. It is also available in black pinstripes, which would be my preferred option! Pink isn’t really my thing. 

The stand is adjustable and you can vary the height of your laptop, depending on where you want to set it up. What is really nice is it folds flat for easy storage when not in use. When flat it is 10.5”W x 10”L x 2.5”H. The stand seems well made. I stood it up and folded it flat several times to test it out. It sets up easily and feels very sturdy. I believe it will hold up well over time. The wood is very smooth and has non-slide feet to make sure it doesn’t move when holding your laptop. That’s pretty important! 

I use a Microsoft Surface which is like a hybrid laptop/tablet. The surface is its own laptop stand. I can use the EC laptop stand with it, it just doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when I have the keyboard attached. The laptop stand would be a great way to use the tablet as a TV when I’m at my workstation or the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, you could also use the laptop stand in there for recipe books! Or even your laptop or tablet if you use online recipes. How else can you use the stand? It will hold a weekly schedule plan, your planner, AND I even put my EC A5 Agenda on it! Check out my reel of it in action. 

Would I purchase this? Due to using a Surface instead of a laptop, I probably would have skipped buying this myself. 

Next up is the weekly desktop whiteboard with storage. This is the same blush color and wood as the laptop stand. It is lightweight so you can move it around your home if needed. It seems well constructed. I opened and closed it about a million times to test. 

The top is a whiteboard weekly schedule with room to hold two EC wet erase markers. The top opens to an open space for an A5 notebook, petite planner or notebook, sticky notes, washi, white out, pens, a ruler, and other small office supplies you may need! EC website states it fits an A5 softbound, not a coil, but I was able to fit a coiled notebook in there. A planner would be too thick. 

You could use this many ways. It would be a great mobile workstation. You can put your schedule, meetings, and to-do’s on the whiteboard and stash your notebook, pens, and sticky notes in it. Then you can work from your desk or take your mobile station to the living room or kitchen!

Speaking of the kitchen… you could put this in there as a meal planning and prep station! Your weekly menu can go on the whiteboard and you can store your meal prep plan and shopping list pads in the bottom, along with some pens and sticky notes for meal prep! Your family will always know where to look to see what’s for dinner and can add anything to the grocery list!

This could also be a bullet journal station, art station,  or budget station. You could use the weekly schedule for bill due dates and store your budget notebook, pens, and highlighters in the storage area.

There feels like endless possibilities. How would you use it?

I would definitely buy the weekly desktop whiteboard but I would get the black version. 

I was also sent the new organizer caddy in mid-century circles. It’s also available in the in bloom pattern. I was excited to see this in the box because it is exactly what I need! I keep a lot of my planner and journaling supplies in my office because I often use them and work on them there. But sometimes I like to work on things during the evening while we watch tv. I schlep out a bunch of stuff, seeing how much I can carry in my arms. I have things in pouches, things in acrylic holders, and move them back in forth, This caddy will be super helpful! Plus in the living room, I can keep the supplies in the caddy instead of spreading out over the couch, side table, and coffee table. 

And let me tell you, there is a WHOLE LOT of storage in this thing.

The caddy is 15”L x 10.5”W x 7.5”H. It is made of sturdy canvas and the handles seem well sewn (I am not an expert on sewing but I tugged and pulled and they seemed good). I also loaded it up with some notebooks, an acrylic caddy full of pens and a couple notebooks, and a pouch with stencils and it seemed to hold up well! 

The caddy comes with two velcro inserts to make the large, main space into three sections. The larger section is 7” x 10.5”, the middle size is 6” x 8”, and the small section is 4.5” x 8”. 

And it has pockets! So many pockets!

Each long side has two pockets, 7” long and about 4.5” deep. They aren’t wide so you can slip in thinner items. An EC softbound notebook will fit but you won’t want anything thicker than that (about .5”). You could fit a notepad, sticky note snap-ins, some sticker sheets (or slim sticker books), and stencils. 

One of the short ends has a similar type pocket but hidden inside is… PEN LOOPS! The pocket is approximately 9” long and 4.5” deep. AND seven pen loops on the inside of the outside pocket material. The other end includes a zipper pocket that is about 8” wide and 5.5” deep. It would be great for smaller items you don’t want to lose. I’d put a couple binder clips, an eraser, and probably some pens/highlighters that won’t fit in the pen loops.

This would be a great caddy for kids to carry art supplies, legos, or other toys. It would also work really well as a diaper caddy. Or a car caddy for your kid’s game days! You could have a little first aid kit, snacks, a change of clothes, and maybe some toys or books for the youngest that gets dragged along (can you tell I was the youngest LOL). It could be a car caddy for storing grocery bags or other items you want to keep organized. 

I could also see this as a great gift item for a wedding or baby shower! You could pack it with a bunch of smaller items from their gift list (for the wedding) or diapers and other baby supplies! 

How would you use the organizer caddy?

I also received the colorblends vision board desk pad. And it is so pretty! If you don’t know, I am obsessed with colorblends. I was excited to see this in the box but I’m not 100% sure how I will use it. It comes with 25 sheets and measures 11” x 17”. Each sheet has a large colorblend area (approximately 11” x 12”) on the left for brainstorming or planning and plotting your vision. On the right are three boxes (3” x 4”) labeled “What this vision means”, “How to bring this vision to life”, and “Next Steps”.

This will definitely be on my work table for when creativity strikes!

I had the desk pad on my wishlist so yes, I would buy this even though I don’t have a plan for it! How would you use it?

Lastly, they surprised me by adding two notebooks and a cover with the new fall designs! I received an A5 productivity notebook with the Spooktacular Spiders cover. I had noticed this design and was eyeballing it, although I was planning on getting stickers as I have a million covers. I LOVE the pink/purple ombre. It reminds me of colorblends. And the lil spiders are so cute.

I also received the metallic autumn breeze. I hadn’t looked at many of the fall covers and stickers because I was trying NOT to buy anything so I hadn’t seen this one before. It is beautiful! It’s a pretty purple/pink watercolor with foil leaves. It is so beautiful in person! The website does not do it justice. If I was going to buy one of the fall designs, this would be it!

And I got the flannel cover in white (background), olive (pattern), and turquoise (accent). At least I am pretty sure those are the colors! This is one I probably wouldn’t have picked for myself. I am not in love with it, even in other color combos. 

Now I am off to fill my caddy and get my desk all organized! Let me know what items you will grab to reclaim your space!

Be sure to subscribe on YouTube for a video walkthrough of all these products and more!