**Check out my 2015-2016 Erin Condren Life Planner Unboxing + Overview!**
Has it already been 6 months since the scary time of constantly checking my order status and subsequent plunge into obsession with the Erin Condren Life Planner happened? Goodness, time flies! Since I tried (and failed) to do monthly updates on my planner I thought I’d provide a review after having used the Life Planner now for 6 months. Although we’ve had our ups and downs, overall the Erin Condren Life Planner has been pretty awesome. To make it easy, I’ll be doing Pros/Cons/Recommendations on the planner (because what planner-obsessed person doesn’t love a good pro/con list?). Hopefully this will help with any indecision you might have with purchasing one, or your own! Read on or click to listen/watch for more info!
PROS
1. Holy cuteness, Batman. If you’ve been frustrated with the simplicity of Moleskine or other planners, EC has you covered. I’ve not grown tired of the colors and patterns and if I wanted a different cover it was no problem to switch for a different one or you can order one online.
2. Space!!! I love my Moleskines, always have and always will, but there is something to be said for the massive amount of space that ECLP offers you. Like I can list an entire to do list in one square almost!
3. Notes on notes on notes. So not only is there crazy space in the weekly sections, there is also about 25 pages after the planning section with blank and lined pages for any notes you’d need!
4. Stickers. I HAVE A REASON TO BUY STICKERS AGAIN!
5. Durable. This thing has help up so well! I haven’t taken it around with me every single day but I’ve used it at home consistently and it’s still just gorgeous.
CONS
1. Price. Yeah, for a planner this size and the quality of products used to make it, it’s not that bad of a price. However considering the fact that in order to purchase a single cover you’d pay almost the same amount in shipping as you would for the cover, I’m not all that into purchasing extras. And while their notebooks are just darling, there is no way I’ll be dropping $42 on a spiral bound notebook.
2. Quality control(ish) issues. I had a great experience with Erin Condren’s customer service team, but it was also because what possibly should have been caught in production wasn’t. However, it enabled me to do a giveaway back in July so it wasn’t ALL bad!
3. Size. The downside of having SO much space is having to make a larger planner. True it’s not terribly large (7″x9″) and I don’t usually need it if I’m using my running errands crossbody (a small Michael Kors Margo in Cinnabar, which doesn’t seem to exist on the internet anymore!), but it would be nice to have the option to bring it with. I’ve been trying to use both the ECLP and Moleskine since 2015 started but…it’s hard at best.
4. WTF do I do with it? If you don’t need to separate your day into Morning/Day/Night, chances are you might have some problems figuring out exactly how to use the weekly and monthly layouts. I’d love to say I figured it out right away, but 6 months in I’m still trying to figure out what to put in here/how to organize this thing. And believe me, that is very frustrating for someone with OCD/planner issues.
Recommendations
We made it through pros & cons! Now let’s look at some recommendations after working with this cutie for 6 months.
1. Do NOT buy everything you think you’ll need at once. I’m so ashamed – y’all have seen part of the huge stash of goodies I bought when I ordered my Life Planner because according to the FB groups, I “needed” them. Oh my. If only I could turn back time. I bought so many pens (don’t regret), post-its (kind of regret), stickers (ok, don’t regret that either even if I haven’t used many of them yet), and washi tape (oh do I ever regret this) that I could have started a small Hobby Lobby.
2. Don’t use the Erin Condren stickers. Yes, they’re removable this year. No, that doesn’t make them good. Do yourself a favor and purchase the Avery Removable stickers (this is similar
3. Get yourself some nice pens. I personally love the Staedtler Triplus Fineliner
and the Pilot G2 0.7
4. Do not buy “all of the washi”. Just please, save yourself the heartache of the cuteness that you may rarely use. And the space.
5. Give yourself the excuse to buy stickers. Because come on, we all love stickers.
6. Get the 18 month. I ordered the 18 month planner (only an additional $5) and instead of leaving the bulk of the weeks in there since I’d just be ordering another in June, I ripped out the weeks and glued the months together. This allows me to still plan ahead (which we often need to do towards the end of a planner) and not have too much wasted space.
7. Don’t use the same layout for every month right away. When you’re first testing out any planner don’t just put in the first layout you think is cute (i.e. putting your total miles ran in the monthly/daily section for every month when you don’t even know if you can/should run…Shantelle). Give yourself time to adjust to the planner and let your inner planning goddess open up to you. 😉
All that said, planners are like people and you either love ’em or want to love ’em. I do adore my Erin Condren Life Planner, and as of now I think I will get another once June rolls around with the 2015-2016 planners, but I’m still trying to work out the kinks 6 months in. Whereas with my 12 month Moleskine I just plop it all in and don’t (totally) worry about making it cutesy, with the amount of people that pour an extreme amount of creativity into theirs I’ve had issues of planner envy/inferiority. I tend to put my creativity into other venues but if you’ve got comparison issues they could pop up here! However, once you start getting inspiration from those people’s planners and stop feeling crappy about your own, your life will improve by leaps and bounds. And let’s be real, that goes for every aspect of life and not just planners 
What do you think? Do you have any favorite planners or tips?
Wishing you stickers and a little less washi,
Shantelle
PS – You can save $10 off your first order if you sign up for the site using my referral link! Yay savings!
I didn’t get the $10 off even though I clicked the referral link?
Sorry to hear the discount didn’t come up! Generally you receive the discount code if you haven’t already signed up for EC & it’s your first order. If that is the case for you then I might double check with EC support (https://www.erincondren.com/faq) to see what’s going on. If you’ve ordered from them previously then more than likely there won’t be a discount, at least from me! I’ll make that a little more clear though for future reference!
I just received my Erin Condren teacher planner. Its absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to use it. The only issue is that some of the pages are upside down!! I sent an email to customer service, hopefully they’ll have a solution. What sort of issue did you have?
Oh my goodness, I’m sorry! I mostly had an issue with the coil flaking and the lamination being spotty on the tabs – but it’s the cost we pay for having such cuteness handmade. They were pretty quick about getting everything handled though! I bet they’ll have you fixed up in no time, then you can start getting to making it pretty!
Where did you get your castle sticker?!
I bought mine (times three, just in case they stopped making them!) at Michael’s, but you can also find it on Amazon
When will the 2015-2016 planners be available?
Generally the planners are available for purchase in June. Hopefully they’ll be announcing the specific date soon!
Ok so this may be a silly question, but I recently just purchased and received the 2015 planner in the mail (taking advantage of the current sale they have going on). Which obviously only leaves me with about half of the year to use it. The 18 month planner comes out in June, I’m assuming it starts from June 2015 all the way up until December 2016? And also in your experience have they added all new prints or eliminated old designs? I love my planner and look of it but am thinking it might be best to return it since I will be getting so little use. In your experience have the new designs in the past been worth it? And is 18 months the way to go if you don’t plan on repurchasing every year as you did?
I really liked the updated designs that I’ve gotten, but it’s all a matter of preference! They do generally have a completely reworked planner, so it wouldn’t look very similar to what was already released. I know a lot of people have kept their shorter planner (like what you purchased) and used it as a fitness tracker or something else. You could also just get another 12 month planner when they come out in June and use your current one until then! You could even pull out the weeks that are gone so the planner isn’t as thick, like I did with my 18 month.
Let me know what you end up doing! I’m sure either way you’ll be happy with what you end up with
They also make stickers on etsy that would allow you to cover the dates so you could still use the planner longer if you want. I just bought the 12 month planner with the great deal they are running. I have debated getting the 12 month planner starting January or to just cover the dates so I can wait for this awesome deal again.
Link: https://www.etsy.com/listing/227518750/erin-condren-date-and-day-weekly-spread?ref=shop_home_active_3
That’s a great point! Etsy has so many helpful shops for the EC products it’s crazy!
Have you considered the lime life planner? I just came across them… Super cute but with like 6 different weekly layouts to choose from. I love the cuteness of the EC life planner but the layout makes no sense for how I organize which means it would be $60 wasted.
Someone else recommended the Lime Life to me as well! Honestly, very soon I’ll be buying a couple different brands (Lime Life, Plum Paper, and inkWell at least) to do a comparison. I didn’t realize that Lime Life had so many different options though!
I have to agree with you about the cost. As cute as EC planners are they’re pretty bulky & pricey, two big downers in my book. EC did release a sneak peek of the new planner showing that they’ve removed the M/D/N headers but we’ll see what other changes they’ve made soon. Maybe they’ll have a less expensive option this time
Bill pay question:
I ordered some custom bill due stickers, but am now unsure how to use them:)
If I put the sticker on the day it’s due I’m worried I’ll end up paying it that day so it’ll be late.
How do you folks utilize these? Should I just put them on the month at a glance? Should I put them a few days before it’s actually due? I wish I would’ve ordered Pay Water Bill etc. instead of Water Bill Due:(
Do you have any idea how fast the planner will get to you if you chose the priority processing option for an additional $35.00? I’m just curious because it’s a big fee and I want to know if it was worth going down that path.
Hi Lauren! It looks like it cuts production time down to 3 business days according to some info I found. I would double check with EC Customer Support if you can get ahold of them though just in case that’s changed since it’s a heavier volume time!
I noticed that my new 2016 planner has only 6 Notes pages at the back. My 2015 planner has 14 Notes pages. Why did it get reduced by so much?
Honestly, I’m not sure why it got reduced but I wish it hadn’t! I really enjoyed being able to use the back as a mini-notebook that always went with me. I’m assuming it probably had something to do with getting people to buy the EC notebooks instead.
I want your super cute monday stickers!!!
Aren’t they adorable? I actually just pieced them together from places around the internet! I know the We Love EC group on Facebook has a bunch of files for them as well!
I have major planner regret. It’s way too heavy & I find myself leaving it behind, even though I keep finding I don’t have it when I need it. (B/c I put lots of stuff in there I wanted round the clock access to.) I’m looking into paring it down (maybe 3 or 6 mo of weeklies w/ monthly pages & rebinding with plastic coil.) My advice: Don’t overbuy stickers either. I do love my photo collage cover. I won’t be repurchasing, even though I have a $25 credit (poor quality case rebate. Yup, I went all in.) I’ll put that toward a notebook & use my photo collage cover.
I know what you mean about the weight of it. I switched to an A5 filofax after I “defected” though and it’s really great! It is around the same weight with all the stuff I put in it but it’s also WAY easier to switch things out – and you don’t have to uncoil and recoil (a major PITA if you ask me). It’s also crazy easy to completely customize what’s included and I can even fit a pen pocket in there to hold my color coding pens. I don’t always carry it (size & weight) but I make sure to always have a To Do notebook with me and if I have to add anything in I just do it when I’m home.
I was quite unhappy with the customer service after spending $50 on a 12-month planner. The personalization was not what I expected and they were not willing to make it right unless I paid more money. For that type of $$ for a planner, I would have expected excellent customer service. They would have insured that they had a repeat customer. Now, I’m looking for other options.
I’m sorry you had to go experience that! I ended up switching back to Filofax, I had used a personal size before but it was too small so I defected. After “quitting” EC I decided to try Filofax again with the A5 size and I love it! You aren’t limited to a certain amount of space, you don’t have to uncoil the whole thing to adjust where things are, and it’s way more customizable. Plus all you need to do for the new year is buy refills, not a whole new planner!
On the site i only have the option for jan 16-jan 17….i camt order 18 mths or pick the month i want it to start?!!
I’m not sure how EC has structured the new planners/ordering them since I really haven’t ordered a planner from them due to the CS. It seems like a lot has been overhauled recently, though I’m not really sure if I like it!