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The Mudra Life Planner is specifically made for those of us with ADHD but will it really work?

Amazon Associate Link – I may receive a commission if you purchase

The Amazon About this Item states:

• Designed with ADHD brains in mind. Our planner features with the ticker cover with the same smooth feel, perforated corners, to easily find your way, professional wire-O binding
• Each weekday has a separate space to record what is important, your schedule, task lists of 6 and any additional notes
• A planner with the structure to help you set priorities and the space you need to note everything that goes through your mind
• Set goals for different aspects of your life, family, friends, romance, fun, recreation, finances, career, environment, physical health and mental health, then every first Monday of the month, you will be reminded to write down your monthly goals, it will allow you to witness your evolution, month by month
• Your entire year laid out over 2 pages, this tool helps you to plan your vacation, days off, special activities and workdays, the yearly perspective is included for 2022 and 2023, each month is designed with different color, which brings a vibrant energy to your day and helps you realize when a new month is about to begin

I ordered the Mudra Planner to review so you won’t have to spend money on yet another planner that will not work for your ADHD brain. We will start with the front cover and work through the book. I’ll give my pros and cons and my final verdict. 

First, the planner is 11 x 8.5 inches. It is a landscape, which is different from most planners. When fully open it is almost two feet across (22 inches). It’s not necessarily a bad thing but something to keep in mind if you like to keep your planners open to see the full week. It will take up a lot of real estate on your desk.

The cover is coated plastic (I think?). It is very smooth and feels kind of like a vinyl figurine. It feels like it would hold up for the year and not tear easily. It has a wire-o binding in silver. Opening up the planner, we have the standard nameplate page and a letter from the founder. Each page has a foldable/tearable triangle on the bottom edge. You can easily mark a place you want to refer back to by folding it and once you complete the tasks on the page you can tear it off. 

Then we get into the actual planning pages. 

First, you get one page for your yearly goals. There are nine goal categories: family & friends, romance, fun & recreation, finances, career, environment, physical health, mental health, and other. This is very similar to many other goal-planning systems. The next two-page spread is for your yearly goals. You get a space for each month. 

After the goal pages, we have a two-page future log style calendar. There is a column for each month and a space for every day. The weekends are shaded in the monthly color. After the monthly calendars, we get into the week. Note: the future log style calendar is your only calendar for the months.

The first page in the weekly spreads is also the only one like it. The page has January in the corner, a large box that says “Things to inspire my year” then a box for Sunday, January 1 splits the page with a box for notes. 

On the full-week spreads, we have columns for Monday through Friday and one column for Saturday, Sunday, and Notes. The weekdays have three lines for important info for the day, a schedule section, a to do list with six check boxes, and a spot for notes. 

Saturday and Sunday have three lines each while the note space is a blank box.

The schedule for each weekday has two columns. The first has your morning hours listed as 7h, 8h, and so on until 12h. The other column has 1h through 6h. Underneath you get two lines for the evening. 

The weekly spreads continue for the rest of the year. They do change colors each month, making it easy to see the monthly change within the week. 

At the end of the planner, you have a two-page spread for 2024 important notes followed by a two-page future log spread like the one at the beginning but for 2024 so you can start adding ideas, notes, and events for 2024 as they come up. 

The paper is very smooth. It doesn’t feel like it has much tooth to it. It does hold up well to a variety of pens. In my pen test, the Zebra Sarasa and mildliners were the best! No ghosting, bleed through, or ridging. An Erin Condren gel pen smeared and had a bit of ridging while the Erin Condren ballpoint had ridges on the other side. The metallic Ohuhu dot pen smeared but did not have any ghosting or bleed through. The regular Ohuhu dot pen did not smear but did have some ghosting. You could use a variety of pens and markers in this planner without much issue.

Pros

• The covers have a nice feel to them and will most likely hold up
• The best part of this planner was the future log style monthly calendars
• The paper held up well to many pens, markers, and highlighters
• There is room on the weekdays for your top 3 (important), appointments, and to do lists
• The color change from month to month is a helpful visual aid
• Plenty of room for planning 2024 at the end

Cons

• Wire-o binding. The absolute worst.
• The landscape size takes up a lot of space on your desk if you leave it fully open
• There is no direction for the annual goals or monthly goals
• There is no dedicated monthly calendar in the weekly spreads
• The circles for the checklist are in the middle of a line, do you write above or below??
• The weekends are virtually zero room to plan
• There is no weekly, monthly, or even quarterly check-in for your goals

Verdict

Personally, this planner would not work for me and my ADHD. I struggle with breaking down my annual goals into monthly goals. I would have liked to have seen the “envision” page split with some info about setting annual and monthly goals. 

I don’t mind that there is no monthly calendar between the months but I would like to see a dashboard with a monthly check-in and goal-planning section. For me, with this planner set up how it is currently, I know I would forget to go back and check those annual and monthly goals since there is nothing there to remind me.

Yes, it changes colors from one month to the next but that’s not enough to trigger my memory.

This is why I love MakseLife. It walks you through setting annual goals, and monthly goals, then each week you reflect and set your weekly actions. The reflection and weekly actions are between the weeks and it forces me to flip back to the monthly goals. 

I rarely remember on my own to flip back in a planner. I need a trigger, like a review. I try using bookmarks or page clips and it sometimes helps. 

ETA: after re-reading the Amazon about this product, it does indicate that your first task on the first Monday of every month is “write down your monthly goals”. So you kind of have a reminder. It’s very vague and the first Monday of the month isn’t when I would be doing my goal planning. I usually do my goal planning the weekend before the next month. I also completely missed that on the video flip-through, my own flip-through, and when setting up photos. Clearly, it was not that obvious. See? This is where some setup guides would be useful!

I also HATE the weekend setup on the weeks. I would never be able to use this planner for this alone. I need way more than three lines for each day! I try not to use planners that split the weekends because that is where I do the bulk of my tasks. I need just as much room for Saturday as I do for Tuesday. At the very least, I would consider using this planner if Saturday and Sunday split the entire last column. Get rid of the blank note box. You don’t really need that as you have notes space on each weekday! 

Please, planner designers, consider those of us that use a separate work planner. In our personal lives, we need much more space for Saturday and Sunday! This is the planner hill I will die on!

The size is also a deal breaker for me. I need to have a weekly planner open so I can see the entire week at once. When this is open it is basically two feet wide! It takes up a lot of space on your desk or table. I could fold it in half but then you only see half the week. And I’d get tired of flipping it over to see what I may have coming up.

The Mudra Life Planner is not the worst planner I’ve seen. It has potential but other than saying it’s made for people with ADHD I don’t feel it really is. The letter from the founder speaks about reflecting to help give you direction but there is no place to reflect in this planner. 

I think with a few tweaks and changes it could work for someone with ADHD. Add some directions before the goals, throw in a monthly dashboard with room for real reflection and goal check-in, and make the weekends larger. Those three items alone would vastly improve the Mudra Life Planner.

What do you think about the Mudra Life Planner? Would it work for you? What are your pros and cons? Drop ‘em in the comments!

Interested in winning this Mudra planner? Head over to Youtube and let me know your favorite thing about the Mudra Life planner and for a bonus entry, publicly subscribe to my channel. Then head over to my Instagram and find the post for this planner and let me know why you want the Mudra Life Planner. You can get up to three bonus entries on Instagram by following me, liking the Mudra post, sharing the mudra post to your stories, and tagging me! 

All instructions are also in the YouTube description and Instagram post so you don’t have to remember all this!

Find Your Why.

Last month (kind of), we worked on reflection and visualizing what we want. This month, we are going to work on our passion and find our why. Why do you want your life, business, finances, whatever to get where you visualized last month?

Most people think of business and entrepreneurship when finding their why. But you can apply it to your personal dreams too. 

Finding a sense of purpose, something you can look at when times get tough, can help keep you on track and pursue your dreams. It might seem easy to pursue your dreams for a month, a quarter, or maybe even a year. But what about in five years? Ten years? How will you stay on task?

By finding your why.

Let’s say you want to get out of debt. You have some credit card debt and are tired of living paycheck to paycheck. Paying down debt can be satisfying but there are times you’ll struggle and get distracted by something shiny and new. When these things pop up, refer to your why. 

But what is your why?

Your why should be something that will really help you move the needle, especially when times are tough or you come to a really boring task. Thinking about our getting out of debt example, your why could be to stop living paycheck to paycheck but will that really help you when you are struggling to stay the course?

But what if your why was providing a better future for your child(ren)? Or being able to retire at 60 instead of 70 and having the money to buy an RV and travel the country? Those are whys that will resonate with you during the harder tasks. 

Your why may change over the years. That is ok. We are always reviewing, updating, and changing course.

Let’s say your why to get out of debt was to give your child(ren) a financial headstart. You paid off your debt and started a 529 for them. Your why helped power you through those years. Now they are grown, on their own, and not buried in student loan debt. It’s time to re-evaluate your goals and your why. Now your why might be to retire in five years and be able to travel to visit all those grandbabies. 

Now is the time to grab a notebook or piece of paper and start thinking about your why for whatever you visualized in January. Write out everything you can think of. Circle things. Star them. Cross them off. Find what makes your heart sing about your dreams. 

Then make it pretty. 

Write it out. Draw it. Clip out images or photos. Whichever way works for you. Then put it somewhere you will see it when working on your dreams. Sticking with our debt-free example, if you use a budget book put your why in the book, If you work on your budget at your desk/computer, hang it above your desk. 

Look at it. Often.

What is your why? Share in the comments if you feel comfortable!

Looking for a fun group where you can share your dreams, your why, and other planning-related stuff? Head over to Runs on Planning and hit that join button!

You see all those pretty planners on social media and start thinking maybe you should start planning. Maybe you tried a planner in the past and thought it wasn’t for you. Or maybe that particular planner wasn’t right for you and you stopped searching. Maybe you finished college and stopped planning because at work you use Outlook. What if you’ve never been a planner?

But you keep seeing those planner spreads and wonder, could I do that?

You want to pick up a planner again (or for the first time). You start looking around but quickly become overwhelmed. There are so many planners and so much lingo you just don’t understand! How will you ever be able to figure out how to plan when you can’t even figure out what planner to get?!

How will you ever find the right planner for you? 

Well, to be honest, you will probably kiss a lot of frogs along the way. Despite what the planner community says about finding planner peace it is not quick or easy. Finding that unicorn of a planner can be an elusive goal. One that many of us have undertaken and failed at several times. Sometimes I wonder if planner peace can ever truly be achieved. Can one super planner solve all our problems?

I don’t want to discourage you. Those are thoughts for another blog. 

But you need to be prepared for the search. You should know that the first planner you buy may not be what you need or want. And what works for you now may not work in a few years. You may need more than one planner. We don’t use just a pan or spatula in the kitchen. We don’t only use a hammer. Sometimes we need a drill. There are multiple tools to fix various problems, why wouldn’t planning be similar?

In this ongoing series, we are going to look at all kinds of planning tools and help you figure out what your planner peace might be or at least determine what may or may not work for you. You can figure out what you like. What you don’t like. You can decide what are must-haves and what you don’t really care about. 

Before we start, something to think about is when do you need your planner to start. Most dated planners are either calendar year (January to December) or academic year (usually a July or August start). Some planner companies will allow you to pick what month you start. 

Pro tip: when dated planners go on sale can be a great time to buy and test! You may not use the few months that have passed but you will learn if it works for you or not at a lower price point. 

And with some whiteout and stickers, you can always redate or repurpose those unused months!

Let’s break down what you need. Answer the following questions and be honest with yourself. Really think about what you need a planner for and how you think you might use it. I know I use mine as a second brain. If I don’t write it down (and sometimes write it down three or four times) I will forget. Thanks, ADHD. It’s ok to take some time to think about what you want/need and how you will use a planner. The last thing you want is to rush into a planner and realized after a few weeks you spent $60+ on something you won’t use. 

If you currently use a planner start a list of what you like and dislike about it. Write down why and how you use it. If you have used planners in the past, think back and try to remember what you liked and didn’t like. Why did you stop using it? Write it all down. 

• Do you need a dated planner?
  • Some planners come undated. You will need to enter all months and dates.
  • Most will even require you to write the days of the week as well.
  • Imagine writing out 365 dates. 52 Weeks. 12 months. Can you handle it?
  • This is great if you don’t use your planner consistently. You can pick it up at any time, date it, and go!
• How much structure do you need?
  • Planners can range from very specific to zero structure.
  • Some will have headings on the dashboards and the sidebars. 
  • Some will have hours, to-do list, and other things.
  • Some will have nothing other than the day and date.
  • Are you able to ignore a pre-printed title and use it for what you need?
  • Or can you cover it with a sticker? White it out?
  • For me, I can’t ignore the times on an hourly planner but find it easier on a daily to ignore/cover the hour section. 
• Do you want to track EVERYTHING in one planner?
  • Really think about your life. Do you need one planner for everything?
  • Does your job require some confidentiality? You may want a separate work and personal planner.
  • Do you run your own business? Do you want to mix business and personal?
  • Focusing on fitness? Are you going to keep it in one planner or have a specific health and fitness planner?
• What and how much do you want to track?
  • Think about fixed and recurring dates. Schedules. Appointments
  • Maybe you want to track finances or vacations.
  • Are there things you want to track like routines, house projects, workouts, or purchases?
  • Do you have kids with busy schedules and you need to track all their activities?
  • How is your handwriting? Do you write small or need lots of space?
• Do you need a monthly, weekly, or daily?
  • Monthly is usually just a monthly calendar and maybe some note pages. Weekly has the monthly view and each week. While daily is the monthly view followed by a page for each day. Sometimes with the weekends sharing a day.
  • There are a few unicorn planners that incorporate all three!
• Do you need an hourly breakdown?
  • Do you have a lot of appointments? 
  • Maybe you love time-blocking. (This DOES NOT work for me and my ADHD. I need to do what feels right for the moment but others thrive using time blocks).
• When and where will you use your planner?
  • Does your planner need to come with you or will it have a home on your desk?
  • Will you check in on your planner daily? Weekly?
  • Do you like a small planner you can toss in your purse? Is there such a thing as too big?

Stay tuned. We didn’t even touch the idea of a bullet journal! We are going to take a deep dive into planners and all thighs planning to help you find your planner peace and planning style!

I’ve created a printable pdf with these six questions for you to jot down your answers. Grab it and start filling it in. 

Let me know in the comments what you are looking for in a planner! What do you need? What do you want? What would your dream planner look like?? What planning or planner topics do you want to see covered in this series? Be sure to let me know in the comments!

We are all a work in progress.

No truer words have been spoken and the Erin Condren (EC) Spring Seasonal Surprise Box (SSB) is full of products ready to help you in your spring cleaning, organization, and renewal. Stuffed with functional products that will bring you joy while doing some of those not-so-fun tasks. 

I was excited to dig into this box because it speaks to everything I am working on this year! My word of the year is renew. And I am doing a big house decluttering, organizing, and spring cleaning. It’s almost like they made this box just for me. 

As an EC Affiliate, I was selected to receive this box for free but it does not influence my opinion. I look at each item on its own and the box as a whole and will give you my honest opinion.

If you grab the SSB ($40, valued at $80) you will also receive 10% off anything else you order at the same time! Remember the SSB ships free by itself. If you add items to your box you will need to reach the free shipping level ($80+) for those items to ship free. 

The included information card states all items are exclusive. We will not see these exact colors or designs in the store but they may pop up in a different color, design, or slightly different item. And for a few of these, I really hope they are available in different colors or designs!

What’s included in the box?

Interchangeable Cover

$8.50 | Box total: $8.50

Features:

• Choice of size
  • A5 or 7×9
• Choice of design
  • Rainbow stripes (light pink with intersecting rainbow colored stripes)
  • Spring Tulips (light blue with pink, orange, and yellow flowers)
• Wet erase markers can be used on the inside of the covers
  • 7×9 covers have the new inside layout, which is more productivity based
• Designs are carried throughout the items in the box and work well together

Con: The A5 has the old inside layout, lines in the front, and blank in the back. I’d love to see the new 7×9 in the A5 as well.

Neither of the designs jump out to me as one I would pick. I would probably go with the floral design as it looks very much like spring and feels fresh. I also prefer the blue background to pink. To me, these choices are hard in I don’t really care for either whereas the winter and fall boxes were hard because I loved both covers.

Since I am not in love with either cover, I may give these away. 

Spring Cleaning Productivity Sticker Sheet

$4.50 | Box total: $13

Features:

• Variety of stickers
• Has both the spring tulip and rainbow stripe designs
• Large checklist sticker (14 checkboxes)
• To Do list with six checkboxes in rainbow stripes
• Seven lines with signature EC asterisk with rainbow stripes design
• Four habit tracker stickers
  • Two each spring tulip and rainbow stripe designs
  • Each tracker has room for three habits for seven days of the week
• Icon stickers in the colors of the rainbow
  • Laundry, ironing, trash, vacuum, dishes, and spray bottle
  • Asterisk icon
• Header stickers in the colors of the rainbows
  • Take a moment, progress, intention, and productive

Cons:

• Only one sheet (we used to get two until the previous winter box)
• The habit tracker stickers do not have enough room to write the habit on it, would need to be next to the stickers (or use the icons but the may be too big)

With only one sheet, you may get a weekly spread out of the stickers. The stickers would also work well in a bullet journal spread for a spring cleaning project to make sure you get as much spring cleaning done as possible!

Functional Calendar Washi Tape Set (3 rolls)

$7.50 | Box total: $20.50

Features:

• Two functional rolls
  • 8mm each
  • One blue with headers: delegate, low priority , medium priority, and high priority in white lettering 
  • One checklist with tasks: sweep, mop, organize, vacuum, wash, clean, and declutter 
  • Letting in different colors of the rainbow. 
• Decorative in Rainbow Stripe
  • 15mm

Con: The checklist would be hard to use if you wanted a specific task. For example, if you wanted vacuum, it’s the fourth one in. What do you do with the first three if you don’t need them that week?

I would probably grab the rainbow stripe decorative washi but not sure about the other two rolls. They look nice, but I’m not sure if and how I would use them. Pre-printed washi checklists never made much sense to me. I will most likely give these rolls away.

Next, we have one of the sneak peeks, which I was excited about because I can never get enough!

Sticky Note Booklet

$10.50 | Box total: $31

Features:

• Portable (3” x 4”)
• Versatile
• Seven bullet points
• Blank box titled Take a Moment
• Light pink accents
• Box quote and Rainbow stripe on the cover

Uses:

• Spring cleaning lists
• Errands list
• Daily or weekly cleaning checklist
• Meal planning
• Weekly workouts

There feel like endless ways to use it! I love items that could be used in many ways without any sort of whiteout or sticker coverup.

Con: No place to tuck the cover in to keep it closed

Weekly Priorities Deskpad

$12 | Box total: $43

Features:

• 25 sheets
• 4” x 11”
• Four boxes
  • One each high, medium, and low Priority
  • One blank
• Checklist with 13 spots
• Light pink with rainbow stripes

Uses:

• Prioritize your weekly to-do list
• Write notes and reminders while working

Acrylic Pencil Cup

$10 | Box total: $53

Features:

• 3”H x 2”L x 1”W
• Clear with blue/green bottom
• Looks like it will hold plenty of pens and highlighters

Con: Acrylic can scratch easily

I have been slowly replacing my desk accessories with clear acrylic because I think it looks nice. This pencil cup will find a place on my desk.

But what will you put in the pencil cup? 

Wet and Dry Erase Marker Duo

$8 | Box total: $61

Features:

• Mid-Century Cricle design on both
• Wet erase is a fine tip with blue ink
• Dry erase is black ink and retractable

Note: Wet erase requires shaking before using it for the first time. I also find if you don’t use it regularly, you need to shake it a bit to get the ink flowing again.

Why would we get a wet and dry-erase marker duo in the box? So far, nothing has been something requiring a wet or dry-erase marker which brings us to the final item…

Acrylic Board with Stand 

$20 | Box total: $81

Features:

• 6” x 7 clear acrylic
• Blue/Green stand – feels firmly attached
• Spring Tulip design in pink

Uses:

• Daily or weekly to-do list
• Tasks that may not fit in your weekly or daily planner
• Jot down ideas as you work
• Inspirational or motivational quote
• Reminders

I like the idea of the stand. And I’d probably get one with a different pattern. I would LOVE a Star Wars version of this stand. This isn’t one I will use and most likely will give it away and hope they release different versions.

Con: Can scratch easily

Overall, I think this box is great and I can use most of the items. There are a few that I’m not 100% into only because of the pattern or I don’t see how I would use them but I get how they may be helpful for others. I think $40 is a great price for the box, even if you don’t use everything in it. It seems like the theme was well-thought out and items were chosen to fit the theme and help you organize. This has not always been the case with a few of the boxes in 2021/early 2022. It also leans heavily on the functional planning side, which seems to have been a complaint for some of those boxes. 

It feels like an Erin Condren box.

But we aren’t done yet! The last two SSB boxes have offered a deluxe add-on and the spring box is no exception!

A5 Daily Priority Planner (undated)

$20

Includes:

• Check In – how you feel versus how you want to feel
• Blank two page spread to write out everything you need to do for the week
• Seven daily pages with six sections
  • Most important
  • Time-Sensitive plans and to-dos
  • Make some progress
  • Delegate
  • Tomorrow
• A weekly review/reflection
  • How it went
  • What I’m proud of
  • What I learned
  • What I let go of
• After all weeks, a two-page spread with things I’ve learned with six questions to journal about (What works for me…)
• Celebrating you section with six additional statements to finish (I’m grateful for..)

Pros

• Undated means you can use it anytime.
• A5 size is portable
• Daily sections are a decent size and the headings make sense
• Places to reflect and brainstorm
• Daily pages are plain (no design)
• Daily pages are colorful and vary each week

Cons

• The cover isn’t my fav, a mix of spring tulips and rainbow stripes (easy to change out but would rather pick my covers)
• Not a full year- Only 14 weeks worth
• Undated – I have to fill in each date, can get tedious

I love that EC is coming out with more planning books. We all have seasons of our lives where we may need more than a life planner or petite. The undated options with different focuses are great and offer different setups that can be very flexible. The Daily Priority would be great for content planning or if your work requires a lot of to-dos or ongoing projects. The only drawback is the length. If you wanted to use this as your daily planner, you’d need to buy four books. 

What did you think about the box? What was your favorite item? Least favorite? Will you grab the add-on Priority Planner? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Want to grab the box (if still available) or something else from Erin Condren? Shop now https://shrsl.com/38mu5 Affiliate link – I will receive a commission.

I cannot tell you the number of times I have looked at the Live Rich Planner (LRP) over the past few years. I like the monthly finance pages and the weekly dashboard but I feared the hourly planner. I have never been good with hourly planning. I don’t have a lot of meetings or appointments. I usually make a task list for the week and/or day and do what feels right at the time.

I suck at time-blocking.

But everywhere I look time-blocking is recommended for ADHD. Then last month, I saw someone mention the Live Rich Planner in an ADHD group and once again found myself on The Budget Mom website, reviewing the photos and flip-through. I decided I would give it a try.

And it came at a perfect time to start using the Live Rich Planner for March.

This means the Clever Fox Premium is being set aside. I did like using it but the days were too small and I started being annoyed with the horizontal. I still think it is a great little planner and I made some good spreads but it was time to set it aside.

But what is in the Live Rich Planner you ask?

You get 12 months, each starting with a monthly calendar. The best part? You get six rows for your month so you aren’t cramming the last couple of days into another square. Every single day gets its own box! Sometimes with only five rows, you have to make a decision. The monthly spread also includes a side column with space for goals this month, people to see, and monthly wins. 

Along the top, you can fill in your personal and work focus. The bottom has a space for this month’s projects and lastly, a lined space titled let’s get creative. I am excited to try the focus space and the projects. I have a lot of projects in my head and struggle to get them out. Hopefully, this will help.

Next, you get a two-page spread for personal finance. You start by filling in your why, goals, savings challenges, and areas to cut spending. I think these will be helpful in keeping me on track and checking in. Next, there is a section for monthly income, expenses, and overview. I track these in my EC Budget Book and won’t use them in the LRP.

On the next page, there is a spot to track daily spending. I am most looking forward to this. I would like to see if there are any patterns to when I spend, especially if it is more impulsive. Do I spend more on Wednesdays because I’m struggling to get through the week? Do I spend more on office days or work-from-home days? I think it is important to see if there are any patterns of behavior you are actively working to change.

The next section is for debt progress. I track this in my EC Budget Book so won’t use this section either. Unless I can come up with a way to repurpose it. Next is a section for savings goal progress. I do plan to use this because I like how it is in the month and has more info than the EC Budget Book (it’s at the back of the book and I forget about it). Lastly, there is a how can I improve next month? I love having these little spots to reflect and think about what I can do to be better. 

For each week you get a personal planning spread and an hourly spread. Each month has five weekly spreads.

The personal planning is a two-page spread with the first having space for meal prep, a shopping list, important reminders, and a habit tracker. The second page has room for your main goal, this week’s focus, and this week’s wins across the top. There is a nice spot for housework you can list out by day. There is also a work and personal to-do list and along the bottom, make it work, and for next week.

I am most looking forward to the personal planning dashboard. I plan to use the meal plan section to track what I eat, not actually plan it out. And I loosely follow the clean mama routine so the housework area will help me plan out when I want to do everything. Plus the work and personal to-do lists will be very much utilized! I plan to put my top three for the week there. 

Finally, we move to the hourly view. First, you have a side column with a spot to list out workouts and weekly notes. The daily columns start at 4:30 in the morning and end at 10:30. I LOVE that it has such a wide range. Most hourly planners only go from 6 am to 7 or 9 pm, depending. I also really appreciate that the half hours are included. It seems a lot of the ones I’ve reviewed lately only have a line for the hour.

There is also a darker green line at 12 pm and 6 pm to mark morning, afternoon, and evening.

I appreciate the 4:30 am start because I start my day at 4:30 or 5, depending. Although I am usually not awake until 10:30! Or if I am, I am not doing anything I need to plan. I want to figure out how to best utilize my time and how to mark it in the planner. I see people do beautiful hourly markings on Instagram but every time I try something similar it looks bad. Practice, I suppose.

Pros

• Six rows for the monthly calendar, guaranteeing each day has its own square
• You can plan personal, business, goals, finances, meals, and more in one space
• Plenty of room on hourly columns
• You can start your monthly calendar or weekly calendar on any day of the week
• Comes with monthly stickers for tab dividers

Cons

• Completely undated – You need to fill in the months, days of the week, and dates for ALL the spreads
• A lot of spaces won’t be used (or won’t be used for their intended purposes)
• Cover/Interior designs and stickers may not be everyone’s taste

Are you a master time-blocker? If so, give me alllllll your secrets! Or your top tips and tricks to become better at following time blocking.

Interested in seeing the Live Rich Planner? Head over to Youtube and watch my review! While you are there, be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss any upcoming planner reviews!

What is the WORST thing about bullet journals? 

Having to move certain things from journal to journal or digging out an old notebook to find something you don’t need on a daily or weekly basis. 

Instead of keeping those items in your current bullet journal why not create a reference journal?

Wait, what is a reference journal?

A reference journal (sometimes called a collection notebook) is a form of bullet journal but instead of using it to schedule tasks from month/week/day, you use it to hold collections or other trackers that don’t really go in your bullet journal. Or maybe lists you don’t want to keep transferring from one bujo to another.

For example, let’s say you want a place to track documentaries people have recommended but you haven’t had time to watch yet. And you keep adding to the list. More adding than subtracting! You also are tired of moving it every year or six months when you swap out bullet journals. What can you do? Start a reference journal!

Another thing you can put in a reference notebook would be your cleaning schedule. You have daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc tasks you want to track for cleaning but you don’t always remember those quarterly or twice-a-year items. You can list them out in your reference notebook and even add when did I last to help keep track!

You can also use it to track home projects, home improvement plans, budgets for larger home renovations, and more! You can track what colors you painted in different rooms in case you need to run out and buy touch-up paint. You could make a list of furniture or home decor you’d like to look for. 

If you’re like me and want to upgrade your wardrobe, you can use a reference journal to note colors, patterns, and styles you like/prefer. You can then add items that you want to look for. And you could also put in notes, photos, links, etc to style inspiration. You could also make notes of items you already own so as not to buy multiple or too similar items.

Are you a meal planner or maybe you’d like to start? You can use your reference notebook to write out basic meals your family loves. You can do a page of easy, go-to meals and consult it when you do your weekly meal plans and grocery shopping. You can list restaurants you want to try. Keep a list of your pantry staples to compare to when making your grocery list. 

You can keep track of books you want to read. You can also track movies or TV shows you want to watch (and which streaming service they’re on). You can use it to create a bucket list of local attractions you want to check out. You can also write down places you’d like to visit and categorize them as day trips, weekend getaways, or vacations.

And if you use a smaller notebook, you can carry it with you to consult when you are out and about!

If you are trying to stay true to a fashion style, you can pull it out to see if an item fits your aesthetic. You can check it at the grocery store to see what it was that your family really loved the other week. If you are doing a home project, you can compare prices when you stop in at Home Depot or Lowes. 

Do you use a reference or collection notebook? If so, what ideas would you add to the list? What is your favorite thing to track in it?

Be sure to follow me on Instagram for more planning tips and tricks!

Does the Clever Fox Premium Edition work for ADHD?

I have always been interested in the Clever Fox line so I was excited to try this one. 

The Amazon listing says it will increase your productivity and help you reach your goals! It comes in an A5 size and I choose the gorgeous aquamarine (one of 16 colors) in a vegan hardcover. It came in a nice keepsake box, an instruction booklet, and three ribbon bookmarks. The paper is listed as 120gsm. It also came with a set of six sticker sheets. The stickers are a mix of functional and decorative.  

I do appreciate when a planner comes with some instructions! 

The first part of the planner digs into your mission, passion, and goals. There is space for a vision board and then space to set and set goals in eight areas of your life. Each goal area has room for three goals. Then you decide on five goals to work on for the next quarter. There is a dot grid page for a mind map for your goal planning. 

After goal setting, you have your 12 monthly spreads and monthly review. 

The monthly spread starts on Monday and only has five rows so if the month starts on Saturday or Sunday you will have to double up a few dates into one square. Along the bottom, you have room for the month’s goals, wins, and how you’ll improve next month. Down the righthand side is an area to plan. It includes five squares listed as: habits to adopt, skills to learn, things to avoid, places to go, and people to see.

After your monthly view, there is a monthly review with questions and a wheel of life circle to measure how you are doing in eight areas of your life. The review questions are pretty standard. Then it goes into the next month. And after every three months, you get to change or update your 3-month goals with another five goal page and mind map. 

There are 54 weekly spreads after the 12 monthly spreads. 

Each weekly spread is two pages. The lefthand side is a horizontal weekly spread. The weekdays each go all the way across while Saturday and Sunday split but are taller than the weekdays. The date box is shaded gray and has the three-letter day next to it. On the right hand side is a weekly dashboard. At the top are this week’s main goals and priorities. Below that is a dot grid section followed by a to-do list, habit tracking, and this week’s wins and how to improve next week. 

In the back of the book is a handful of dot grid pages and a pocket. The sticker sheets do not quite fit in the pocket.

First Impressions:

I was excited to dig into this one. So much so I changed up the rules and am going to attempt to use this for the year! I want to see how it works as a planner and how it compares to a system such as MakseLife. I didn’t feel quite as excited for any of the other planners so far (except maybe the Planner Pad).

I started filling everything out at the beginning but lost momentum. I didn’t do some of the questions or the vision board but I did put in some goals! The categories were very similar to most of the other goal setting systems I have seen. I then picked five goals to focus on for the next three months. I didn’t do the mind map. 

The main thing that I do not like so far is the monthly spreads all being together then all the weekly spreads after. I used one of the bookmarks to mark the monthly calendar but have not really gone back to use it. I am also not a big horizontal weekly layout person but I think I can make it work. I split each day into three sections, one for work, one for appointments/meetings, and the other for miscellaneous items. 

I think the weekly dashboard is where this planner really shines!

I love putting my main goal for the week. I used one of the stickers, “No Spend Challenge” in that box. I also love the priorities and to do boxes. It is also nice to have the habit tracker there as well. Lastly, I think the dot grid section is genius! I can use it for whatever I need that week. 

I’m usually not a horizontal planner but this one is working for me! I think because it is all on one page but there’s also enough room to plan out your weekly overview. It probably helps to have the weekly dashboard, a great spot to list out tasks and other to dos to not clutter the weekly spread.

The stickers are nice but I wish there were more of some of them. For example, there were only five work stickers. I would love more of these for each week (so like 5×54). The stickers are cute and contain a variety. I would love to see an option to buy more (maybe there is and I just didn’t see it?). 

Have you used a Clever Fox planner before? Did you like it? Would you try the Clever Fox Pro? Do you think I will use it for all of 2023?!? Let me know in the comments.

And be sure to head over to YouTube to see the video going through the Cleve Fox Pro!