It’s planner launch season! Of course, I ordered from the recent Erin Condren Life Planner launch. In this post, I will share what I ordered and my thoughts and compare the current Daily Duo with the newest version!
I am an Erin Condren affiliate and will earn a commission if you purchase from the link in this post. I ordered and paid for everything in this post myself; Erin Condren did not send any of these items to me.
Up first, the accessories!
I always order the sticky notes, sticker books, and washi in all the patterns. Everything is so versatile and can be used creatively and functionally! I missed the canvas sticky notes because I was looking for them in the A5 rings version, but they are only available as a snap-in option. That’s a little disappointing.
I also grabbed the two petite notebooks, one in evolve and one in bold blooms. The evolve has the new productivity layout, which is really great for making notes and to-do lists. The bold blooms is a plain line notebook, perfect for journaling or jotting down notes and reminders.
Lastly, I grabbed the new snap-in pocket dashboards. I have the clear ones from last year, but I couldn’t resist these colors! I use these in my 7×9 notebooks to hold sticker sheets or important papers.
We will look closer at the new A5 Daily Duo in the ring agenda and I will compare it to last year’s version.
First up, the new Agenda. I love the smaller size. It feels much more portable and takes up less space on the desk. Plus it’s black, and that’s my favorite color. My only issue with the new agenda is the rings. I feel like they are cheaper than previous versions. The gold finish isn’t the bright gold of last year, and the rings don’t always close right. The pages will catch because they don’t fully close/line up correctly. You have to kind of finagle them.
If I get brave, I may replace them with higher-quality silver hardware.
I do wish they would offer silver hardware. I love that planners and notebooks have a silver coil by default. Why can’t the agenda be silver by default with a gold upgrade like everything else?
The new agenda also has a different pocket layout in front with larger pockets to slide accessories into, like a sticker book. The back no longer has a space to slide anything into the pack of the agenda, but it still has the slit to put a medium-sized Erin Condren notepad in.
The A5 only comes in evolve or bold blooms. Sadly, canvas is not an option this year. This is probably my biggest gripe. I have the canvas now. Why can’t they offer all three in both A5 and 7×9? I went with evolve because I don’t like the full-page bold blooms on the dashboard or the font in the bold blooms.
The monthly page hasn’t changed, but when you turn to the dashboard, it is now on the left-hand side. I really like this change. They tried it last year in the monthly, which made sense since it was a monthly view, lined page, dashboard, and more lined pages. I think it works in all the planners because you have the dashboard on the left, and then you can use the lined page on the right to expand on the things you put on the dashboard.
We also get an updated ruler. It is now also a stencil, so you can easily draw boxes, flags, and habit trackers!
The biggest change is that there is now a lined page (front/back) and a weekly overview between each week in the Daily Duo. I don’t think I will use the weekly overview. I have gotten used to using a separate weekly and don’t want to flip back and forth in the daily.
The weekly overview could be used for many things, such as meal planning and shopping lists, cleaning schedules, bills, workouts, projects, or assignments. You could also use it for work and the daily pages for personal (or vice versa).
I will probably also pull out all the lined pages and put them at the start or end of the month for goal planning. I don’t think I will use them between the weeks.
We always have Monday on the left side when we flip to the daily pages.
BUT the BIGGEST AND BEST change is NO MORE MINI CALENDAR!!!!!!
I might be a tad excited about this change. I HATED that mini calendar and always tried to find ways to cover it up and make the space useful.
With the removal of the mini calendar, the to-do list has shifted up, and we have a larger blank space at the bottom. I wish the to-do list had been lengthened to fill half the page. There are some days when I have a lot of little things to do and have to go into the blank space. There is no change to the hourly section.
Overall, I’m happy with the new version of the Erin Condren A5 ring agenda. I’d love to see a few changes, like higher-quality rings. And I really wish they’d offer all three designs in all sizes. I much prefer a very neutral inside.
What are your thoughts on the changes to the daily duo? Are you ecstatic the mini calendar is gone? Do you hate the dashboard on the left-hand side? How will you use the weekly overview?
Watch my review here:
