Which planner is best

The Passion Planner was unpopular in testing because of the inside page design, the cramped writing space, and a cover that showed greasy thumbprints. One staffer liked the visual design of the layouts, but we preferred the Panda Planner and Planner Pad for goal tracking. Our testers thought that the cover of the Rhodia Goalbook bullet journal was too fragile it was already dented at one corner from shipping and that the dots on the pages were too dark. On top of that, it contains only grid dot paper, with no instructions or tips, and our testers found that design to be too freeform.

The Full Focus Planner is another option similar to the Panda Planner and the Planner Pad, with prompts to help keep you accountable and productive. It also lacks simple calendar layouts to track appointments or to plan ahead for projects and goals. Our former pick for simple scheduling, the Muji Recycled Kraft Paper Monthly Schedule was continuously plagued with stock problems and surprise redesigns for three years before it became completely unavailable in Our interviewed experts recommended several intriguing planners for us to test, but most of them were produced by particularly small niche companies or imported from overseas, which made their availability even tougher than for Kikki.

K and Hobonichi. For example, Sarah McNally raved about the Treuleben and Bindewerk planners, but they were hard to find in the US or had limited stock when we were working on this guide. Shu Yao recommended several planners from JetPens that would work for simple scheduling—the discontinued Maruman Mnemosyne N Memo Notepad, the Raymay Notebook Refill , and the Kokuyo Campus Diary Free Schedule —but either they were out of stock at the time of our research or we thought they were too simplified.

We passed on a range of memory-keeping planners. All of these companies are smaller, so we were worried about stock. For our update, we took into account reader comments and researched other planners that were new or new to us.

Erin Condren, founder of Erin Condren , email interview, September 18, Kristin Damian, founder of Krissyanne Designs , email interview, September 20, Shu Yao, co-founder of JetPens , email interview, October 6, Jackie Reeve is a senior staff writer covering bedding, organization, and home goods at Wirecutter since Her quilt patterns and her other written work have appeared in various publications.

How to choose the right planner for yourself How we picked and tested The competition Sources. Why you should trust us. Our pick. Blue Sky Academic Student Planner An academic-year planner With an affordable price, space for seven classes a day plus extracurriculars and to-do lists, and a project tracker in the back, this is our favorite student planner.

Best used for: simple scheduling, goal planning. The lined monthly pages keep appointments and deadlines tidy and easy to read. Photo: Michael Hession. Sizes: 8. Colors: one print. Sizes: regular, 4. MochiThings Medium Ardium Planner The planner that multitasks This design is a better choice if you want a slimmer planner that also works for drawing, bullet journaling, or making lists.

Best used for: goal planning, artistic planning, bullet journaling. The blank grid paper opposite the weekly calendars offers space for note-taking or drawing. We did find, however, that ink from a fountain pen bled through the pages. Colors: pink, navy, purple, red, brown.

A stripped-down calendar: Jstory Large Weekly Planner. Jstory Large Weekly Planner Best for simple scheduling A barebones planner and our most inexpensive pick, this slim, cardboard-covered booklet has undated pages for each week in a year—and nothing else.

Best used for: simple scheduling. Colors: varies by retailer. Best ring-bound: Filofax The Original Organizer. Filofax The Original Organizer A5 size A larger refillable planner This bigger, A5-size Filofax is just as good as the smaller Personal version but has more writing space.

Best used for: goal planning. We tested the Filofax Original Organizer in the Personal size, which is small but has a good amount of writing room.

For memory keeping: Erin Condren LifePlanner. Erin Condren LifePlanner The best planner for memory keeping This pick is a hybrid planner, journal, and album, with a big online community to help you find decorating inspiration and ideas. Best used for: memory keeping, goal planning. The vertical layout we tested is great for bulleted lists.

Colors: plus prints for coil-bound. An inspirational goal planner: Panda Planner Classic. Panda Planner The best planner for personal accountability This is a good planner for helping you stick to your tasks and goals, particularly if you respond well to prompts. Weekly pages let you reflect on what went wrong or right last week and offer prompts to organize the days ahead.

Colors: black, orange, cyan, purple. This undated planner by Clever Fox categorizes your day into five key areas: productivity, passion, motivation, happiness, and focus. Every planner lover knows the power of a pen loop. Combine it with a back pocket and assortment of color-coded stickers , and you have a winner. Just like the name implies, this is the ideal planner for tweens, teens, and any Emma Chamberlain fans aiming to balance fun with functionality. Along with the undated planner pages, it's full of puzzles, mood boards, games, and guided journal prompts.

Just carrying this planner in your bag will make you more productive, right? This format, based off the Ivy Lee Method , breaks your day into three sections: most important, secondary, and additional tasks. Once your work — er, day — is done, rate your productivity level on a scale from one to Get two planners for the price of one: Instead of lugging around a heavy month planner, opt for this six-month planner duo. Personalize one of the covers with your name, initials, or motivational phrase , and then switch it out when the time comes.

Sophisticated in design, but simple to use: In addition to weekly and monthly planning pages, this 8" x 10" planner comes with goal-setting worksheets and monthly reflection prompts. Product Reviews. One thing to note about this and all the quarterly planners on our list: Because they only cover three months at a time, you need to buy four to get through an entire calendar year. The upside of this system is that it offers a bit more flexibility because you can start using one at any point in the year.

The cool-looking Poketo is the quarterly planner that Mueller herself uses. It works for everything. Folks can personalize it even further by noting dates for their own special events or activities, she adds. The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change. Every editorial product is independently selected.

If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission. Account Profile. Sign Out. Photo: Courtesy Retailer. Rhodia Large Weekly Desk Planner. Each page of the Simplified planner features one day with an hourly timeline from 6 a. It's perfect for anyone who has several meetings or appointments each day since the design makes it easy to schedule engagements down to the hour.

It gives me enough space to keep track of my personal to-do lists, reminders, appointments, and even has a daily spot for dinners. If you like minimalist white design with a sprinkle of cheerful colors, this planner is for you! It also comes with space to check off weekly tasks like meal planning and tidying up for the week ahead. Another bonus: Each sheet of paper is thick, which means my weeks don't blend together. If you have a small workspace or if you tend to have a lot of things on your desk at all times, a weekly planner pad might be more helpful than a large planner.

This planner pad is easy to keep by your keyboard for jotting down notes or small tasks that don't necessarily need to go in a planner. I also love that it doesn't get in the way like a large fold-out planner can, which means my to-do list is always in sight. I like being able to keep a running list of daily tasks on my weekly planner pad right at my desk. This planner pad includes 50 sheets without dates so you can start it any day and you won't waste unused weeks!

This fashionable Lilly Pulitzer planner holds weekly and monthly calendar pages, with each week laid out on a two-page spread.