Erin Condren Review and Choosing a 2023 Planner
2022 Planner Failure
I’ve always wanted to be a planner person, but lack the creativity and the motivation/drive to continue a planner or even a notebook for a long time. I tried to use a planner to keep me organized last year, but that didn’t go too well. Perhaps it was the style? Probably it was just me, but it’s something I’d like to try again, but the planner had to be perfect. I received a lot of planner ads and spent hours looking up various ones, and I’m going to try Hemlock & Oak’s planner for 2023. More about this later… let’s get to my Erin Condren review.
Erin Condren Exposure
I heard about Erin Condren from a coworker that used a planner from the company and said it was pretty good. Funny how afterwards FabFitFun had some Erin Condren cards in their box and I thought they were rather interesting. The smell wasn’t the most pleasant, but the simplicity of it was nice. I then started getting ads re their Warehouse Sale so I checked that out and looked at their planner offerings.
Overwhelmed of Options
There were so many types of planners from Erin Condren! The most popular one (or the one I keep seeing) was the Life Planner, which I’m still not quite sure what it was. The photos showed some stuff, but it was also similar to the other planners. There were so many options for covers and it was pretty cool how they had characters that are well-liked from Sanrio and Star Wars, etc. Anyways, I was not able to choose a planner, so I decided to sample some stuff from their warehouse sale where items were much cheaper so I can get a feel for the quality.
What I Ended Up Getting
A variety of journals/notebooks to see the paper quality, stickers, and various things I can pass along.
Cover Quality and Type
Initial thoughts was that it looked pretty neat, but then realized the concept was a bit simple. Imagine designing your own cover and printing it out and then laminating it for that layer of production and binding it with pages. The cover seemed waterproof, and you could probably write on with those whiteboard markers and wipe off which is neat, but otherwise, I did not understand how expensive these can be at full price.
Paper Quality
Not quite for me… the website said the paper is high quality or seemingly so, but there was an odd smell to these notebooks. The print on the paper wasn’t the best either. Was this why these products were so cheap? These will most likely end up being scratch paper for my work notes/when I’m taking notes over the phone or something.
Connecting with the Inner-self
I’m not quite there yet! These journals/notebooks I got were more of daily writing exercises re what you’re thankful for, what you connected on today, something great that happened, etc. Perhaps I can do a few days, so kudos to those that can do whole months or a full year on these. It’s a bit repetitive for me, but perhaps I need to work on that.
More Than Planners/Journals/Notebooks
Erin Condren has stickers and other accessories that will beautify your journal or notebook. There are so many themes, so Erin Condren will have you covered if you’re into this stuff. I think the stickers are pretty neat, but I wasn’t too pleased with the quality. Some were great, and others seemed a bit faded. Erin Condren can be a one shop stop for your organizational lifestyle in regards to planners, journals, notebooks, and such. They just have too much. I’m a total beginner so all this stuff just overwhelms me at the moment.
Why I Decided Against Erin Condren for my 2023 Planner
Again, too many options, and if the planners’ paper is similar to the journal paper, then it isn’t for me. Some other planners’ sites contain samples that you can download and flip through to see the planner as a whole so I know what I’m expecting. I didn’t get a sense of that with Erin Condren, as it’s such a mystery of which planner contains what. If they have such feature, I wasn’t able to find it. I’d like to be able to go to a store and check out these planners to see how they feel and get one there. I actually did check out Barnes and Noble, but there was always something missing from each planner I touched – whether it’s the Sunday/Monday start date, the start month, the font, binding, etc.
Going with Hemlock & Oak
H&O has a weekly, a minimal weekly, and daily planner options. They have PDFs and flipthroughs of each one so you see how the pages are. The minimal is similar to the weekly, but with fewer pages (i.e. lack of intro, etc.), but is the same price as the weekly. I went with the weekly because the daily seemed a bit too much for me and perhaps some intro pages would help get me started. I’m a beginner so all that customization from Erin Condren or Happy Planner is too much for me at the moment.
What’s Next?
I preordered my Hemlock & Oak planner, and will write a review on that when I receive it. In regards to my Erin Condren review, it isn’t bad, as it just isn’t quite for me just yet. I just love the feel for paper products and designs of some planners, so depending on how things go in 2023, it’ll determine if I want to switch it up to another one in 2024 or continue with H&O. Anyways, I’m glad for this Erin Condren exposure. Perhaps I’ll come back for another sale?
