Day Designer planner is the first planner I have bought in years. I’m totally the person that has tried a bunch of planners in the past, only to stick with them for a few weeks and slowly (but surely) drift away from the planner and never speak of it (or the $70 dollars I spent on it) again. Have you had a similar experience? A lot of planners aren’t cheap these days so it’s a huge bummer when you commit and it doesn’t work out. The DayDesigner planner has been a completely different experience for me. I’m sticking with using it and getting a lot out of the daily experience.
Day Designer planner review — all the things I’m loving
If you’re looking for the details, here are all the things I love about the Day Designer planner and a few things that are just ok in the next section:)
Day Designer daily planner is just the right amount of space
I think the biggest reason I love this planner is that the Day Designer planners are designed for each day to have their own page and dedicated space. Apparently, your girl needs space to sprawl in her planner and can’t be confined to the typical small square within a month’s view or thin vertical strip in a weekly view. I love that the Day Designer planner has an entire page for each day.
Today’s top three section has helped my intentionality each day
Whether it’s in this planner or not, you have to try writing out your top three most important things for each day, preferably at the beginning of the day. I had heard about this method for a while, but never actually tried it out and it’s by far my favorite section of the planner. It’s at the top left of the daily sheet, as the MVP should be, and it’s really helped me in two ways. First, prioritizing. Calling your top three things out loud makes you really think about what things are real deadlines and what is just made up in your head. Second, intentional present time. I have used the Today’s Top Three section to call out the moments that I’m going to be 100% locked in and present with my girls or my husband. Being a full-time working mom, my brain has a tendency to be caught on the next thing, but calling out that “After work is all about the girls” on my Top Three really helps create and honor present time with my loved ones.
Side-by-side timeline and to-dos is magic
The Day Designer agenda for the day in timeline format and the long list of to-dos is one of my favorite parts and I’m glad I feel that way because it’s really the meat and potatoes of the planner! If they didn’t nail this, I probably wouldn’t love it. The reason I like it is because there is a lot of space and the structure is easy to fit within or break the rules. I often use arrows to point from the Day Designer agenda / calendar view over to the to-dos and vice versa. Love!
The Notes section always comes in handy
I treat the notes section as my miscellaneous space. Anything that doesn’t fit above, heads over to the notes area. To me, it makes sense that it’s at the bottom and a larger open space for whatever you need to capture.
It never hurts to reiterate what’s for dinner
You know I love to plan out my dinners for the week using my Let’s Eat, Let’s Plan notepad and I have a pretty good system down so that I’m looking at the meal for the next day the night before in case I need to thaw something, but the Dinner section on the top right has helped to jog my memory about something I need to do food-related more than once. I don’t necessarily fill it out, but it’s a great reminder. Well played!
Extra space at the top for doodling and whatever else!
I like that there is some breathing room at the top of the daily view above the quote of the day. More often than not, I end up doodling or writing something on top bar.
The Today bookmark is a timesaver for when you close the Day Designer planner
The Day Designer comes with a plastic bookmark that you can move from page to page to mark what day it is. This has been more helpful than I expected for getting back to today’s page after I have closed the planner. I love this add from DayDesigner!
Day Designer review — a few things that are just ok
I don’t have anything that I absolutely hate, but I do think there are a couple of things that are just ok. That’s how you know it’s a good planner!
Daily gratitude section doesn’t have the best real estate
I’m a huge believer in the power of gratitude and especially a daily gratitude practice so I was really excited when I saw the Daily Gratitude section in the Day Designer, but the placement of the Daily Gratitude section makes it really hard to write on it and make it a joy-filled part of the process. To be honest, I totally get why it’s designed with this at the bottom, it is a planner, not a self-care notebook, but I just wish it was at the top.
If you’re looking for a supplemental self care specific notepad, check out the Good Day notepad. I use it daily alongside the Day Designer planer and they are a great morning routine team.
The top section doesn’t all apply to me, but I shifted its purpose
The Due and Dollars sections at the top of the planner don’t really apply to me, but here’s the thing, it’s consistent space that I can totally use for something that does work for me so while it’s not my favorite section, I’ve still gotten use out of it. I use the Dollars section to rate how I feel in the morning from 1-10 and make notes about the state of my headaches that particular day. And I use the Due section to track my cycle. It has actually worked out quite well!
This planner is a bit bulky
Since I haven’t used a planner in years, the weight and thickness of this planner is a lot for me and it’s a tight fit in my backpack, but again I see why! It’s a daily planner so there are a lot of sheets of paper. Plus, you get used to the size of it rather quickly.
The Day Designer planner helps me start the day on track
The Day Designer planner with without a doubt be on my Christmas list again next year. I really love the look and functionality of this planner and I’m so happy I finally found a planner that I’m sticking with!