Category: Planning

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!

Fall is my favorite time of year and I have a hard time resisting fall merchandise! When I saw Archer & Olive’s fall reset AND the bring back the favorites launch I knew I had to make quite the order! Budget be damned! 

The hardest part was choosing my must-haves and sizes!

I am fairly new to Archer & Olive, I knew I’d want to pick up some of the older notebooks I missed before I knew about them. They were kind enough to release the designs and I made sure to decide on my top three. I knew the favs were only available in A5 so the size was easy, it was picking which designs I had to have.

It was difficult but I knew I had to have the Grayter Good Galaxy. I kept seeing ads for this Archer and Olive company with this beautiful black notebook online. Eventually, I clicked on the ads but I couldn’t find the notebook! Turns out that is the Galaxy notebook and now I finally have it in my hands! The A5 Galaxy notebook has a black vegan leather cover with silver edge pages, 160 pages, and is $37. It is currently still available!

Of course, I had to get the Grayter Good Coffee Cup notebook because, well, duh, I love coffee and everything coffee-related. It’s like a signature or something. Could I keep calling myself Runs on Espresso if I didn’t get this notebook?! The coffee cup has a beautiful brown pebbled vegan leather cover and is still available for $37.

Lastly, I wanted a notebook from the Halloween collection because I love Halloween and these notebooks are gorgeous! All of the Halloween notebooks come with a black vegan leather cover, a holographic design, and silver-edged paper. I got the raven, which ended up being even more unique! The Halloween raven somehow got mixed up with the visitor so you get a Halloween The Visitor notebook! It’s still available and costs $37.

For the fall notebooks, I knew I would get sizes other than A5 since all the favs only came in A5. I reviewed the designs and decided I would get the book stack and camera. Deciding on sizes? That was a little harder. I knew I wanted one 8×8 notebook and decided to do the camera for that one since I am a photographer. I thought it was appropriate. Although, I want to use square notebooks for my book journals so the book stack probably would have been more appropriate. Oh well. You can still get the camera design in most sizes. The camera is a beautiful orange color and the 8×8 is $39.

I debated on the B6 or A6 for the book stack and ultimately went with the B6 over the traveler. I like both sizes but B6 seems more useful. It’s also not too small that you can’t get creative with it. I feel the pocket size is too small. I am currently using a personal size and always wish it was larger. The book stack has a gorgeous green cover and is unfortunately sold out in EVERY size! Seriously, not surprised because it is a beautiful color! I hope they re-stock these so you can grab it! OH WAIT! The traveler’s size ($35) is still available. I’d go grab it now if you want it because I bet it sells out too!

Both the Favs and Fall collections have several other options if these aren’t your jam.

I also grabbed both sets of the fall stickers ($11 each) because I am a huge fan of both decorative and functional. The stickers are a nice way to incorporate all the designs for fall without shelling out for notebooks. There are also two washi sets ($15 each) but I decided to pass on those. I have so much washi as it is and I really only wanted one roll from each set. Look at me being all responsible!

I have not yet used my June sub box wax and seal but I needed that book stack seal and wax! I grabbed the book stack seal and wax because the wax color is gorgeous! I really want to start working with the seal and wax more so this was like my pre-reward! If you are sad you can’t get a book stack notebook, you can still grab the seal for $25. 

Lastly, after much back and forth and seeing the travel pouch in action, I had to grab it. Then, of course, I needed the matching tote. They are both brown vegan leather. The pouch is currently sold out but I bet they bring these back! The travel pouch is $65 and the tote is $75.

When you first open the pouch and tote, there is almost a real leather smell. The vegan leather is super soft and feels very close to real leather. They both seem like very high-quality items! The travel pouch can hold up to an A5 notebook and has a snap-in pouch for pens, stickers, and other small items. You could even use this for toiletries. The zipper seemed to stick at first but the more I have open and closed it the smoother it runs. 

The tote is quite large! I am impressed with the size. There are three pockets inside, two small ones on one side and a large one on the other side. You could definitely carry a lot in here! My only dislike is that there is no closure. I know, I know, totes don’t usually have those! I love ones that have a little magnet at the center. It makes me feel like everything is more secure!

What did you grab? Share your haul in the comments! If you didn’t get anything yet, what are you going to get?

Looking to grab a few of these? Head over to A&O and be sure to use my code Runsonespresso to save 10%! Affiliate link and code – I will receive a small commission if you buy. 

How do you set goals and actually achieve them?

For some of us, goal setting is the easy part but actually determining how to break down a goal into smaller goals and actionable steps can be a challenge. There are many systems and items out there to help you reach your goals but do they really work?

In 2021, I ordered the MakseLife companion notebooks and started using them. They kinda worked. Then I fell off the wagon. I picked them back up in 2022 and have been using them most weeks. They are helpful. Of course, they can’t tell me how to break down a goal or what my action steps should be but they give me a structure to follow. 

Since I moved to the A5 daily duo in the agenda, I decided to separate the companion notebooks, punch them, and keep them in rings. I think that also helped me to keep using them because they are with my daily planner.

Recently, MakseLife had a warehouse sale and I browsed through it thinking I’d grab more companion notebooks for 2023. Instead, I kept going back to the A5 undated daily planner. I don’t need a daily planner but I thought the inserts offered a few things the notebooks were missing that might fill the void I didn’t realize I was missing with the notebooks.

I ordered one quarter in the sale and am going to compare them for you!

Each product comes with a how-to use this, compass assessment, and setting goals. For the notebooks, this all comes in a separate little book while the inserts are part of the inserts. After all of that, they each have a blank calendar, a spot for your monthly goals, and then weekly actions pages for each week of the month.

The companion notebooks have only the weekly actions in the month. The inserts have the weekly actions followed by a weekly overview page. This is what I really wanted. I plan to use the weekly overview page to assign days to my weekly actions. 

After the weekly overview is seven daily pages. I don’t need all of these, as I use the daily duo for my regular planner. I like the layout of the daily pages and plan to use the one page to help plan out my goals even more. The daily pages I removed, I figured I will use somehow. I can use for other projects or for super busy workdays when I want to get all the days to dos outta my head!

After the five weeks both the companion notebooks and inserts, both have a monthly reflection page. This pattern continues for the other two months of the quarter. After three months, there is another quarterly assessment. 

The companion notebooks then have some blank dot grid pages and the back inside cover is a folder. The inserts include an extras section with nine months of future plans then the blank dot grid pages and folder. The inserts also have month stickers for the tabs and came with a sticker sheet. The companion notebooks did not have stickers. I ordered the sticker book to go with my companion notebooks (and never ended up using them)

The differences are small and I could probably recreate the weekly overview page with the companion notebooks. Especially when you look at the price. The A5 inserts are $44 each. For a quarter. That’s $176 for a year! Not sure I can justify that price point. The companion notebooks are $56 for all four. I figured the sale price was a good time to try out the inserts. If they work, I may do the companion notebooks and create my own weekly overview page since I can put them in rings.

Do you use a goal-setting system? If so, which one? Maybe I will look at a new way for 2023!

Interested in the companion notebooks? Head over to my YouTube and watch the video comparing the notebooks to the inserts. There may be a giveaway hidden in the video for my final quarter of the notebooks!

Do you tremble in fear when you hear the word “budget”? Does thinking about your money and finances make you want to crawl under the covers and ignore it all? When your spouse starts talking about cash do you want to stick your fingers in your ears and go “I’m not listening!”. 

Finances don’t have to be scary!

And once you start figuring it out and taking control the anxiety starts to lessen. But what exactly is a budget? A budget is just an outline of expenditures over time. That’s it. It’s not that scary! Let’s break that down a bit. An outline of expenditure is what you’re making versus what you’re spending and saving. Time can be by paycheck, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually. 

But why should you create a budget? To give yourself independence and freedom and achieve your goals. To make sure you don’t spend more than you make. To prepare for emergencies and fund your retirement. To really confront your spending. 

Why do budgets always seem to fail?

All too often when we decide to start a budget we go all-in and think we need to cut all spending. We can’t have any fun! We can’t have any debt! We have to do it all and we have to do it all RIGHT NOW! But the number one reason budgets fail? They are too restrictive. Being excited and wanting to get on track with your spending is great! But you don’t have to do it all at once. 

Budgets are not one size fits all. Maybe you watched a youtube video or read a book and want to be like Dave Ramsey or The Budget Mom or whoever. That’s great! But you aren’t them. You don’t have the same hopes, dreams, or goals as them. Learn as much as you can from all the people and then take what works for you and leave what doesn’t. Your budget didn’t fail because you suck. It failed because you aren’t Dave Ramsey or Suzie Orman. You are you and your budget should reflect that.

Maybe your income and/or expenses are variable every month. If you’re a freelancer, own your own business, or work on commissions you may never know exactly what your income will be from month to month. And you have those random expenses that pop up. You feel like you never know what is coming in or going out and you give up trying to budget. 

For some of us, we have conditions, such as ADHD, that may make budgeting more difficult. We may struggle with complicated budgeting systems. Or impulse spending (hello credit card debt!). And setting goals and thinking about the future can be difficult to focus on.

Budgets fail for many reasons. But we won’t let that stop us!

Do you budget? What has been your biggest pain point? Why have your attempts at budgeting failed?

Want to learn how to budget with visuals? Be sure to subscribe over on YouTube to not miss out! 

I was recently diagnosed with ADHD and it explains a lot about how my brain actually works and why I feel the need to be hyper-organized and depend on about six-ish planners to keep everything in my life straight and on track. Of course, that is how my ADHD works and I get not everyone has the same symptoms, degree of symptoms, or “hacks” to remember everything.

I have a system that mostly works for me (no system is fail-proof).

One day last week, I impulsively searched “best planners for ADHD” and started looking through the lists. I then had the brilliant idea that I would buy ALL THE planners, review them, use them, and let you know if I thought they were useful for my ADHD brain. Maybe I’d find something that works great with my system and maybe I’d help someone else find their unicorn planner.

A little about me and my ADHD. I am combined type, hyperactive. Most of my hyperactivity is in my brain per the psychologist I saw. My brain never stops. Although I also have problems sitting still and getting restless easily. As a kid, I did tend to be quite active and was called hyper or too much often. I interrupted adults all the time because if I didn’t say what came into my head I would forget it. 

Without medication, my brain has about 32847 tabs open at once. 

I have a hard time completing goals. I can set goals like everyone else. I can start them but then I fizzle out unless there is some consequence (like getting in trouble at work). Over the years I’ve tried setting personal SMART goals and various systems and I always start out strong but never finish. I struggle to break down the big goals into smaller tasks. I recently picked up my MakseLife Companion notebooks and have been working to stick with them. It’s a challenge but I’ve made it part of my Sunday planning routine. 

I have trouble focusing on one task. I am that person that will start washing dishes, remember the towels need to go in the dryer, move the towels, then be like oh yah, I need to clean the bathroom and head to the bathroom and start on that, and when I go to grab the glass cleaner from the kitchen remember that I was washing dishes. 

If I’m watching TV I’m probably reading, scrolling social media, or writing. I can’t just watch TV. I like having things in piles on my desk or tables because if I put them in drawers I forget to use whatever it is. Clear or open storage containers work best.

And yes, I thought this was how everyone was. I never realized my brain was so different!

After years of being yelled at for interrupting, I eventually learned to keep quiet. Mostly. I learned to not be so loud. I often would sit on my hands and bounce my legs to prevent my mouth from blurting things out. I created a lot of masks and workarounds. I really thought everyone else did the same thing. 

While researching ADHD, I realized I am more impulsive than I thought. I have ruined friendships because I would blurt something out without thinking about it. I buy things (hello ADHD planners) because I get a wild idea! After my dad died, I bought a lot of things without really thinking and created a lot of credit card debt. I have shame around that but I am working hard to pay it all off and not create new debt. Everything I buy now gets paid for immediately. 

So that is a bit about me and my ADHD. I could probably write a lot more. Somewhere I have a notebook where I wrote down every symptom I identified with while researching ADHD in women. I wanted to have all my ducks in a row when I talked to my doctor. Turns out I gave her the assessment I took, she reviewed it, asked a couple of follow-up questions, and was like yup, you have ADHD. 

Now back to the planners for ADHD. I plan to do a review for planners recommended for those with ADHD doing first impressions and thoughts. Then I may use them for a while and weigh back in with if my opinion changed if the planner helped or not etc. I will also discuss important points like stickers and what pens work best in the planners.

I have about half a dozen planners now and a bunch saved on my Amazon list wish to do this later. All but one are undated so I can use them any time. I may also give some away after testing. So stay tuned for that if you are interested (because I don’t really need MORE planners so I’d like them to go to a good home). 

I also have a couple of specialized journals on pre-order. So once those arrive I will do the same with those. I ordered The Hero’s Journal and The Anti-Planner, which were both recommendations on How to ADHD.

Here are the articles I used to choose the planners. I picked the ones most applicable to me (I’m not a student) and that I felt were more like planners. There was one that seemed to be a workbook from the Amazon read first and not what I was looking for in this project.

https://www.unconventionalorganisation.com/post/five-of-the-best-adhd-planners-to-use-in-2021

9 Paper Planners & Journals That May Change Your Life

https://www.conch-house.com/best-planner-for-adhd/

https://www.drjohannab.com/planners-and-accessories

What planners have you seen recommended for ADHD that you’d like to see reviewed? Let me know in the comments and if it’s not one I already have on my list I will add it!

Want to see the actual planner reviews? Head over and subscribe to my YouTube channel!

These are the supplies you’re looking for.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, Erin Condren joined forces with Star Wars to bring a new hope to all planners and young padawans. This collection has it all, light. Darkness. A balance. The Force, it’s calling to you. Just let it in and get some of these amazing back to school supplies!

I’m a Planner. School Supplies are part of my religion.

_{(Ok, that is enough Star Wars quotes… for now. I can’t make any promises that more won’t pop up.)} 

Note: I received this collab box from Erin Condren as part of their affiliate program. I was gifted these items but all opinions are my own.

This collection has something for everyone whether you are heading back to school or just going into the office. Because who says our day jobs need to be boring?! Toss those bic pens aside and make room for the new Star Wars rectangle pens. The set of nine pens come in a plastic container you could use to store them on your desk. Each pen is a different color and has a Star Wars icon and saying on it. For example, the black barrel has Darth Vader and Fulfill Your Destiny on it. In true EC fashion, these are all black ball point pens. They are also extremely lightweight and a little awkward to hold at first. They are super cute though and will look great on your desk or when you pull them out of your planny pack or pencil case.

You read that right! There is a Star Wars planny pack! The Alliance planny pack features the rebel symbol as the zipper pull, which looks amazing, too bad they did not add it to the pencil case too! The planny pack font is reminiscent of the 70’s, like a nod to when the original movies came out. This is the new ultimate planny pack and unzips on two sides, has an outside pocket on the front, and two interior pockets. Nothing bad to say about the planny pack! They are so versatile and with the elastic band can go on several different notebooks or planners. 

The pencil pouch has the same Alliance pattern as the planny pack but with the regular EC zipper pull. These are usually customizable to add your name in the lower right hand corner. It looks like there is a small spot for your name. Inside is the same as all the other pencil pouches, a flap with five pen loops on each side and a large, open lower compartment for everything else you need to carry. You can put smaller sticky notes, scissors, small iphones, and other items in there! 

You can’t go wrong carrying your work or school pens in either the planny pack or pencil pouch. The planny pouch can be used when you only want to carry your notebook or planner since it can be attached to the cover. The pencil pouch is perfect to tote your supplies in your backpack or work tote!

No, no, the red one. Show me the red stickers.

Oh yes, there are more stickers in this release! Who doesn’t need (want) more stickers?! And this time we even get washi! The sticker book is already out but it is still amazing. Any Star Wars planner should have this book. We get a four pack of washi that will be perfect to decorate all your Star Wars notebooks and planners. The four patterns are Grogu/Mandalorian on teal, holographic rebel symbol on burgundy, Millennium Falcon/X Wing Fighters/Tie Fighters on peach, and gold character outlines on black. I would have liked to see a deep blue instead of peach but overall these washis are gorgeous and will be a great edition to your washi lineup!

There’s two more EC standard sticker sheets, one in the Rebel Alliance print and the other featuring Boba Fett. These sheets are perfect for a weekly planner but can also be used in a daily duo. It takes a little work but you can cover two to four days with one sheet. The alliance sheet came in black and a light tan. At the time of publishing, I don’t know if the colors can be personalized. The Boba Fett sheet has a cool ombre effect with green, orange and red. This sticker sheet is gorgeous.

And it goes well with Bobba Fett list pad! The listpad continues the ombre effect and has Boba in the corner. You will receive two packs of 25 each with the signature EC 80lb paper. The only drawback is making sure you have a pen that will show up well on this pad. A black gel pen or dual tip marker will probably show up well. A white gel pen may also work, especially on the darker red at the top. It comes in dot grid, lined, or blank. It should also be available in the notepad size.

The notepad is the alliance pattern in lined and was personalized with choose your destiny. You will be able to leave it blank or add your own. May I suggest I’d just as soon kiss a wookie? THe notepads also come in a two pack of 25 sheets of that gorgeous 80lb paper. You can choose from a medium (6×8.5”) or large (8.5×11”).

List pads are perfect for grocery shopping and errands and can easily fit in your purse. It’s also perfect when you’ve got a lot of extra work and need more room than your planner can handle. The notepads will look great on your desk and are perfect for project planning or writing out instructions for a co-worker.

The new universal snap-in dashboard will fit both A5 and 7×9. You can use wet or dry erase and use it over and over! It is shorter and wider than previous version, which is actually quite nice. The dashboard is a deep green with silver accent, which is awesome! Too often planner items are gold and not everyone likes gold. The front has priorities and to do while the back is the days of the week. It would be nice if the days of the week were on the front instead. It would be more helpful in the daily duo especially if the week was on the front side. 

Snap in dashboards are a great way to stay organized at school or work. You can put your assignment or project priorities and tasks on the front and due dates on the back. Or you can keep your personal appointments on the weekly side for an easy glance when planning out work or school projects!

We are finally getting to the main events! Up first, these gorgeous vegan leather notebooks. Notebooks have five interior options: lined (as seen here), dot grid, productivity, sketch, and graph. The notebooks all have the 80lb paper. The Star Wars vegan leather notebooks have a beautiful design on the cover and inside the front/back. You can choose from Darth Vader, his signature red lightsaber ready for battle, or white with the gold outline of all of our original rebel heroes. 

Notebooks are perfect for taking notes in class or when watching videos to increase your knowledge base. They are perfect for getting your thoughts out as a journal. Or maybe you’ve got a busy week and need to write down everything you need to do. Notebooks are also great for writing outlines or rough drafts of papers or blogs and videos. You can never have too many notebooks!

New this year is the three-subject notebook! EC offered an A5 three-subject notebook in the last warehouse sale but this one is better! One, it’s Star Wars and two, it’s perfect for work projects or school! This one is 7×9, and check out this fun cover! It is an interchangeable cover so you can swap out covers as you feel like it! And if you aren’t a fan of the cover it comes with you can grab a Boba Fett interchangeable cover! He gets the cool ombre again with some speckling. It feels very 90s-ish. 

The pages are Star Wars theme. We start with an R2D2 line page then a tabbed divider. On the other side of the divider is a dashboard! It’s quite similar to the lifeplanner dashboard. After the dashboard is a bunch of lined pages with R2 hanging in the corner. 

Next we have Yoda on a dot grid page, an orange divider, and another dashboard followed by several dot grid pages with Yoda. Lastly, we have a graph page with Wicket W Warrick, a seafoam green tab, dashboard, and a bunch of graph pages with Wicket. In the very back is a set of rebel alliance ombre stickers! These should also be the stickers in the back of all the Star Wars notebooks instead of the regular functional flags.

The next item is for all the young padawans out there. It is the first ever Star Wars Kid planner and it is super cute! It comes with ab adorable interchangeable cover. The first section is titled all about me and your child can fill in all the important stuff like name, favorite color, hobbies, and even spots to draw! There is also a reading log, goal tracker, allowance tracker (always important to know what droids you can afford), what I’m saving for, and books I want to read. 

Next up is 12 months so young padawans can keep track of their busy lives and training schedules! They are undated but don’t worry! EC has included all the stickers needed to label everything! 

Each month starts with a drawing prompt and dashboard followed by a calendar, monthly wrap up and activity. Each sticker page has the month for the calendar and tabs, date dots, functional flags (and holidays), and cute decorative characters that go with each section. They also included a sheet of mini months to help figure out the date dots! The only drawback is the plastic coil. Will it hold up to the wear and tear of young padawans? 

Lastly is the Star Wars academic planner. This was actually released earlier this year. It is different because it actually carries the Star Wars design through the planner! It is the theme! This one came with the alliance interchangeable cover, personalized with choose your destiny. 

When you open it up, you see the name page with a dot design that is carried throughout the planner. The mini month pages are a gorgeous ombre blue with the dot pattern. We have two pages of class schedule and a notes page. Notice the Death Star? The design is seen on all the notes pages and has a hand-stamped look. 

The monthly dividers all have their own theme and quote. The theme is carried through the weeks in the upper corners. We get the monthly calendar, a dashboard with goals and events followed by a projects and exams page. The weeks are horizontal and each day is divided into three sections, two lined and one to do section. Saturday and Sunday share a horizontal space and each day gets two sections, one lined and one to do. Each month has five total note pages. In the back is a set of Star Wars themed functional stickers pre-printed with academic tasks. 

Although this is geared as an academic planner, it could be used for work, project planning, or home projects. It would also work as a regular life planner if you don’t need a lot of room for the weekends. The stickers will not be of much use for non-academic use except the Vacation and Read ones.

Erin Condren has knocked it out of the park with the latest Star Wars collection. It’s geared as back to school but really could be used at school, home, or work. There are always things we won’t like with products but overall this collection is amazing and I’d have bought most of it if I wasn’t sent this box. The only thing I would not have paid for is the kid’s planner because I have no kids. Although, I still want an adult version! I honestly tried to figure out a way I could repurpose for myself and had nothing! 

I was planning to order the academic planner because I love the Star Wars interior. Now I need to figure out what to use it for!

What is your favorite item from the Star Wars back to school collection? What are you going to grab on July 6th?

Ready to shop? The new Star Wars line drops on 7/6 so be sure to head over to Erin Condren (affiliate link) that day! I’d love if you used my affiliate link. I will receive a commission when you buy through my link and it won’t affect your experience at all!

Want to see everything in action? Head over to YouTube and watch my matching back to school video!

We are halfway through the year! That means it is time for a mid-year goal review.

If you haven’t been checking in with your goals now is the perfect time to do a mid-year goal review. Why should you take the time to pull out that goal list and see where you’re at? Why not wait until the end of the year and see what you accomplished? You know you’re on track. You’ve been writing out your action steps for every month! 

But have you been referring back to your original goals and planning based on those goals or are you looking at what you did last week, last month, and then determining what you need to get done?

It’s ok if you’ve been doing the latter. 

We all get busy and sometimes forget what our goals are or what needs to be done to achieve them. This is why a mid-year refresh is perfect! Besides making sure we are on track, we want to make sure your goals are still relevant. Life changes and sometimes goals need to change too. Maybe something just isn’t working for you right now and you need to adjust.

The first thing we need to do is pull out those goals we made way back in January. Got em? Great. Look at them and celebrate your progress, no matter how small! We always want to celebrate our wins!

Then, take a look at them and ask yourself, are all of these still relevant? Am I on track with where I’d like to be? What has been working for me? And what’s no longer working? It’s totally OK to drop, add, or change goals as our lives change. 

Do you need to set any new goals? 

There are lots of programs to help you set goals in all areas of your life. If you follow MakseLIfe or Level 10 Life, grab those sheets and compare where you are at to where you want to be in those categories. If you aren’t following a program, take some time to reflect on what else you’d like to achieve this year. If it helps, re-write the goals you want to carry forward and add any new goals. 

Once you have decided which goals you want to work on over the next six months, you gotta determine your action plan. What steps are you going to take to reach these goals? What adjustments do you need to make in your life? For each goal, create a general plan of how you will get from point A to point B. Then start figuring out the smaller steps you will need to do. 

Go grab your calendar or planner because it’s time to start putting in the work!

Pick a date at the end of September to check in with your goals. Do the same with December. Now you have two quarterly check-ins on your calendar! Next, plan a time at the start of each month to decide what you will be working on each month. It will make it easier when you plan your week if you have a list of things you want to accomplish during the month. A lot of goal programs have monthly and/or quarterly reviews. Make sure to make time for these reviews as well. They can help keep you on track!

When you are setting up your week, you can decide which days you want to do the action items you came up with. And don’t forget to review the previous week! Do you have tasks that need to migrate to this week? Make sure to add them! Does your goal program have a weekly review? Do that before you start your planning session!

You will want to make sure to review your planner at least once a day. If you check in the morning, review what you want to get done that day. If you review in the evening, look at the next day and note what you have on your calendar. Even better if you can check in a few times a day! 

Maybe you only work on your goals on your days off. Maybe you put in a little work every day, on your lunch hour, during your commute, after work, whenever. The point is, put it on your calendar so you are more likely to remember to do it. 

What were your goals for this year? Are you doing a mid-year goal review? How are they coming along? Are you making any changes? Let’s chat about our goals in the comments!

Head over to YouTube to watch my latest video where I go through my goals from January, decide what gets kicked to the curb (for now), and what I want to add. Plus, I’ll be sure to update my planner to help keep me on track!

Every planner has note pages somewhere and often we stare at that blank page and have no clue how we are going to use it. You may leave it blank. You may try something new every month. Or maybe you stick with what you’ve always done. But if you use an EC Daily Duo you now have a weekly note page. 

How the heck are you going to use that page?! 

Don’t worry… I got you! I’ve put together twenty, yes twenty, ways to use your new weekly note page! And if you don’t have a daily duo? You can still use these! You’ll just have to figure out where. Some would work well in your monthly notes pages, others in a separate notebook.

Many of these will have many ways you can set them up. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas to get started! The first 13 have mock spreads I made. Click through the gallery to view each one. 

1. Goals – There are several ways you can set up a goals page for each week. You can create eight blocks and each block can be a goal category (fitness, family, work, etc). You can have either eight goal categories or you can do four categories on the left-hand side of the page and use the right to list action steps for each goal. You can also use seven of the boxes for Monday through Sunday with tasks you want to do each day. The eighth box can be a weekly review, weekly win, setbacks, inspiring quotes, or items to move to next week.
2. Weekly overview – Many people miss having a weekly view in their daily planner. Now you can make your own! You can run your days of the week either across the top or down the left-hand side. Things you may want to include for each day: daily priority/top three, notes, shopping or errand list, dinner plans, and bills due. Making your own overview means you can customize each week (or day) as you need it!
3. Meal planning – You can split the page in half. On the left-hand side, fill in your meals for the week and on the right, you can list any items you need from the store and prep work you need to do. I like to note when I need to take the meat out to defrost. 
4. Budgeting – track your weekly spending and expenses. If you follow a budgeting method, like budget by paycheck, you can make the notes page your paycheck budget tracker. You can track your bills or business income and expenses. Or if you have a special occasion coming up, you can use the page to track your budget! Having a birthday party? Track what you’ve saved, what you’ve spent, and estimate what else you need to spend.
5. Content planning – You can do your weekly post schedule with the days of the week down the side and the platform across the top. If you’d rather plan out a specific blog post or video you can create a checklist, brainstorm, and note sections.
6. Habit trackers – You can easily make a checklist with your habits down the side and the seven days across the top or use stickers and stencils to keep track of all those daily habits in one spot!
7. Cleaning checklist – If you have a weekly cleaning system you follow, create a checklist on your notes page! Divide the page up into seven days and add a little checklist of tasks for each day.
8. Fitness tracker – Keep your weekly fitness goals and priorities in one spot. Compare your planned activities to your actual activity. Track your weekly water intake, mileage, and macros!
9. Vacation planning – Have a big trip coming up? Use a weekly note page to keep track of all the important details like flight and hotel, places you want to go, and a list of what you still need to do.
10. Project planning – Write out your work or school project with the due date, budget, objective, action plan, things to do, materials needed, notes, and key dates.
11. A Currently… spread – keep track of everything you are currently doing.
12. Home Improvement – Maybe you have a fixer-upper? Or you just have some things that need to get fixed around the house. This could also be used for a spring/fall deep cleaning. Make a spread with each area of your house and list out what needs to get done there.

The next set of ideas is fairly self-explanatory and I did not make sample spreads of these. You can use your imagination.

13. Weekly wrap-up or memory keeping – write down how your week went, your wins, or fun memories.
14. Brain dump – jot down what’s on your mind or things that don’t fit elsewhere in your planner.
15. Event/Milestone/Celebration – Have a big event? Reach a big goal? Recognize it in your planner! Make a fun spread celebrating you.
16. Master to-do list – write down all those tasks you need to do this week but don’t have a specific day it needs to be done. Think bujo style. You can mark them complete, in progress, or migrate to the next week.
17. Shopping or errand list – have a lot of errands this weekend? Start your shopping list with everything you know you need and add throughout the week as other items come up.
18.  Journaling – write one or two lines for each day.
19. Gratitude – list three things each day that you are grateful for. Challenge yourself to not repeat something during the week!
20. Order tracker – write down what you ordered, when, and from where then update with the date shipped and expected delivery date. You could also include what you paid and the tracking number.

Bonus idea: When we get to the busy holiday season, use your weekly note page to track holiday planning, decorating, and gift tracking! 

How do you plan to use your weekly note page? Drop it in the comments so we can get a few more ideas percolating! 

Love to plan? Join the Runs on Planning group to share your spreads and ideas on how to use your planner!

How do you decide what planner is right for you? Picking your planner is a big deal because you are gonna be with it for a year!

The struggle is real. And with launch season upon us, it can be hard to figure out what you need. Or want. Which can be two very different things.

There are many planner brands and this guide will focus on Erin Condren’s Life Planner but the concept can be carried over to other planners. The sizes and layouts may be slightly different but you’ll know what to look at when launch time comes around. You’ll know what you want and not panic buy something you won’t use and love. 

Where do you start?

There are three main things to consider when picking your planner. 

1. Layout – are you a weekly or daily person?
2. Size – 7×9 or A5
   1. If you choose A5 do you want a coil or rings?

Let’s start with size because the size you want or need may change the layouts available. For example, Erin Condren does not offer a true vertical or hourly in an A5 but other companies do. 

Most 7×9 planners are on a coil and you can’t really add to your planner. The larger size is great if you need more room. It’s also perfect if you leave it on your desk or counter. It can get a little bulky to carry around. Although with the vegan leather folio, you almost want to show it off!

A5 can be on a coil or rings. With rings, you can add different inserts or get your own punch and add whatever you need. If you write large or have a lot to put in your planner, A5 may be too small for you. But if you want something to carry in your purse? The A5 coil would be perfect. A5 rings, depending on the folio you get, may also be a good size to carry around. Some rings folios can get quite bulky.

Ok, got your size figured out? Great!

Now, what do you need? Are you a weekly or daily planner? There are pros and cons to each. A weekly layout will allow you to see your entire week at a glance but you may not have room to fit everything you need in a day. A daily gives you plenty of space but you lack that weekly overview.

Weekly planners include vertical, horizontal, and hourly. With EC, the A5 does not come in hourly. New this year is the compact vertical. Other companies do have A5 hourly and vertical layouts. And if you get rings, you can grab all the different inserts to try!

Vertical

This is the EC flagship. Available in the 7×9 coil. Each day gets three boxes. You can organize them however you need. Examples would be morning, afternoon, evening or work, home, to do. If you have kids you could do kids, work, home. It’s very flexible and can be changed daily or weekly.

Compact Vertical 

The new kid on the block this year at EC for A5 fans. Each page is divided in fours and has what looks like 12 lines per section. Monday through Thursday is on one page and Friday through Sunday with a notes section on the other side. It looks a bit like a cross between vertical and horizontal. This would be great if you have a lot of tasks instead of meetings or appointments. It could also be a content planner. There are a lot of possibilities with this layout! You can also get to-do or hourly washi and personalize each day as you need!

Horizontal 

The traditional planner layout, at least in the US. Each day goes across the page. All horizontal layouts have lines across while some will include a blank box on one side of the day. Horizontal is great for memory keeping or tracking your fitness. 

Hourly

Another traditional layout. Perfect if you have a lot of appointments or meetings. It’s also great if you like blocking out your time. The biggest drawback is if your day doesn’t line up with the preset times. 

Daily

New this year in the EC daily duo is the note page after each Sunday. You wanted it and they listened! This page is great for weekly planning, list-making, brain dumping, or even memory keeping! Plus it keeps each day on the same side every week. Monday will always be on the left and Tuesday on the right. It does put Saturday and Sunday on different pages but you get a blank page next to Sunday every week.

If you are getting an EC this year, this handy chart will help you see what options are available in what size, layout, and design. It makes picking your planner a breeze!

What planner(s) are you getting come launch day (or later this year if you don’t need the July start)? Let me know in the comments! 

I plan to get the A5 Agenda Daily Duo for the July start. 

For a January start, I think the A5 coil compact vertical would be perfect for my work planner. And I’ll stick with the 7×9 vertical as my content planner. 

Using this guide you’ll have picked your planner before launch day. EC Insiders will have early access. Not an Insider? Sign up today with my referral link and you’ll receive $10 off your first purchase! I will receive Insider points if you order.

Photos from Erin Condren website.