Need a Planner
For the last four years, I’ve been using a Poppin planner, and it has completely changed how I organize myself and set up my to-do list. I love it. It changed my life for the better, and I really can’t live without it.
Except I will have to live without it because Poppin is not making a 2024 – 2025 planner.
I’ve spent countless hours online and visited a few stores to look at planners, but I haven’t been able to find one that fits my needs. So I turn now to the brilliance of the Internet—can hundreds of minds all thinking about this problem turn up the perfect solution? Do YOU have a planner you love that fits this criteria?
1. It needs to be small but not too small. My current planner is 6 inches by 8.5 inches, and I’d like to keep it at that size.
2. It needs to have a full calendar page like this:
3. It needs to have weekly pages, preferably one big empty (no lines) space for each day. I prefer Monday through Thursday on the left side and Friday through Sunday (+ a space for notes) on the right side, but I’m flexible. The big thing is that the space is blank and not broken up with lines.
4. Finally, it needs to have a spiral binding.
Does anyone know a planner that fits this criteria?
9 comments
I would ask Sarah Hart-Unger at theshubox.com. She is a planner expert! (I listen to her podcast with Laura Vanderkam and read her blog)
What you are looking for is a horizontal weekly spread.
I’m surprised you’ve been having trouble finding one like this that meets your specifications! One of my students just got one of these I think at Target, though maybe it had lines. Maybe it’s the not wanting the lines + wanting the spiral. If you were willing to let go of the spiral, you could get any number of expensive options at Jetpens.com. Cheaper versions with spirals I guess tend to have lines. Even Kate Spade, which is not cheap at all.
I guess you could do one of the make your own options at jetpens from Canvas or Mark, but you’d probably only want to do that in an emergency. (They have the spirals and you can buy separate inserts.)
My sympathies. I like big Vertical Weekly planners myself, and I get the Passion Planner even though I don’t use any of the Passion planning stuff because I like the weekly layouts (I was going to switch to Marks this year, but PP had such beautiful cover options I changed my mind). I do wish it put all the months together in one section, but so far I’ve been making that tradeoff.
Looks like Campus only does vertical weekly and the Marks inserts have lines. so not that I guess! And Jetpens doesn’t have as much in stock as they do in January, so some brands like Leuchtturm are missing. That is a conundrum. Good luck!
Full disclosure, I work for Staples. This looks like it fits the bill.
I use the same one, but in the full size format.
https://www.staples.com/2024-2025-cambridge-workstyle-classic-5-5-x-8-5-academic-weekly-monthly-planner-plastic-cover-mellow-frost/product_24580407
There are several different color options from Staples. Just type “Cambridge planner” into the search.
This one might actually be better since it is not an academic calendar that starts in the middle of the year. It also has M-Th on one side,and F-Su on the other, and no lines like you wanted. https://www.staples.com/2025-cambridge-ombre-5-5-x-8-5-weekly-monthly-planner-poly-cover-multicolor-1731-200-25/product_24582804
I’ve used Filofax organizer refills for the past 30+ years! 🙂 (Personal size, week on two pages, Monday to Sunday.) I’m glad you brought up the subject, because it reminded me I needed to order my 2025 insert! I think they have a larger (and smaller) size too. I’m tempted by the extra room to write in, but I already have a lovely black leather organizer, and the personal size is very portable.
I’m just commenting (FOMO!) to say that I, like you, liked all the same features. Back when I used/needed a planner. I also required lots of blank pages at the end for notes etc. I kind of miss needing one!
I understand this “I kind of miss needing one!” I’m retired, live my myself and do not have a busy schedule anymore by any stretch of the imagination… But I looked at every single luck here, and pooped down a few rabbit holes therefrom.
Everything’s on my phone, and has been since my first Blackberry about 24 years ago.
I do use a wall calendar for major things for an overview , but one of my brilliant ADHD-supporting hacks is to add boring things like LAUNDRY INTO DRYER into my phone 😆
Good luck in your hunt!
💙💙