Day Designer 2019 | Frixion Clicker Erasable Pens
The new year is here. I hope you had a wonderful holiday and a nice new year’s celebration. I just picked a winner for my 2019 Sugar Paper Concealed Planner giveaway. Congrats to Evelyn from South Carolina. I do plan on doing more giveaways in the future, so stay connected to me through social media, so you don’t miss out on those!
Sugar paper planner
I picked the Sugar Paper planner for the giveaway, because I used the same style of planner for 2018 and really liked it all year long. But I decided to try a different brand of planner for 2019. This one from Day Designer does not have a hard cover wrapped in fabric, so it’s a little less fancy than the Sugar Paper one, but what I like about it is that it’s quite a bit larger, so I am curious to see if I take advantage of the extra page room this year.
I’m going to give you a little peek at this Day Designer planner and then show you a couple stickers and writing tools I plan to use this year. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas for using your own planner. Let me know in the comments section below what kind of planner you like to use. I also did a video on this planner, if you want to see everything in action, watch the video below.
// DAY DESIGNER PLANNER
This planner is from the Day Designer brand. The goal of this planner is to find balance through focus and productivity. Whether you work in an office, are a full-time mom, a teacher or a student, I feel this would be a great planner for anyone. It has a nice guided framework to help you figure out a focus. It has tools for setting goals, creating a plan and taking action each and every day.
Day designer planner
It has a simple blue and white stripe pattern on the flexible cover. There is a stiff clear plastic cover on top to prevent damage and pink is the main color on all the interior pages. It is 8x10 inches and about 1 inch in height. The paper feels nice and thick, so it won’t have bleed through.
In the very front is an area to put your personal information, if you wish. There are reference calendars from 2019 to 2022. There is a little bit about the company and recommendations on how to use the planner. Then, we have a couple pages to help you set your goals for the year. I love how they walk you through starting with the big picture, setting your goals, designing your day and then staying on course.
I was finishing up with my Sugar Paper planner for 2018, but it was nice that this Day Designer came with 6 bonus monthly pages for July 2018 through December 2018.From there, it goes from January 2019 to December 2019, featuring 12 months of monthly and daily pages.
The daily view page has the hourly schedule in 30-minute increments from 6am to 8pm. There is a section for top 3 priority items, a to-do list and notes sections. Also, an area at the bottom for to-dos tonight and a gratitude section. I love the idea of a gratitude section because, like I mentioned in my How to be Crazy Successful post, writing in a journal can help you see nuances that can help you towards your goals. Just the act of writing down what you are thankful for every day can help you identify patterns of what makes you happiest. Another nice part of these daily pages are the inspirational quotes, which could even inspire a journal entry.
There is one page dedicated to weekends and I like that they have the hourly schedule for each day here too. There is also a “weekly gratitude” section and a “take time out” section to make sure you build some fun into your weekend. Then at the bottom is a small area to start prepping for the next week and a “don’t forget” section for the extras you want to make note of for the weekend or week ahead.
The separate monthly calendar view is on a two-page spread. Since this is such a large planner, there is plenty of room on each day and also room for a small version of last month’s calendar and the next month’s calendar. A notes or to-do list section is also handy on the left side of the spread.
In the very back are full notes pages and a list of holidays going all the way through 2022.
// STICKERS
planner stickers
2 of each sheet. Lots of options here!
I have not used stickers in my planners before this year because I usually like to keep things simple and my planner had a smaller footprint last year. But I thought it might be fun to try some stickers out this year. I found these on amazon.com and love how they aren’t too bright or big so I can just add a few here or there to quietly cheer up my planner pages. I will probably start by putting the holiday stickers on for the whole year. There are 2 of each themed sheet. They have positive goal setting message sheets along with organization, health, social, seasonal and travel stickers. There is a really nice variety of stickers here and I look forward to using them.
// ERASABLE PENS
pilot erasable pens
Frixion ColorSticks
I love using colored pens for my planner, because I can color code the items. What I do is create a key in the front, so I have it set from the beginning of the year. I remember seeing erasable pens come out in the 90s and they were just really bad quality and smeared and the erasers were just no good. I thought they had been a failure and gone off the market. So, when I heard about these Pilot Erasable Frixion Pens, I was hoping the formula and erasers have improved over the years and I am happy to say, they are so much better than they used to be! There are pen and marker options and I am looking forward to not using white out in my planner this year!
Post-it flags
I use a little Post-It flags to easily mark what day I am on. I reuse the same flag over and over until it loses its stickiness and then I put a new one on.
I hope this gave you a good idea of what the Day Designer planner is all about. They have lots of different styles and patterns for the covers, but the basic idea and workspaces are about the same. They also have smaller sizes and hard cover versions. You can check out their website here to see all the variations of planners.