Hi y’all! I’m so pumped for my blog post today because it’s all about Erin Condren!!
Also, full warning: once you get started using these products, you’re never going back. Ever. You will be an Erin Condren fan for life and you’ll LIVE for Jan 1 when you get to pick out a fresh new planner. Ha! Get ready.
I’ll definitely answer the most common question I hear about these products ($…haha..), but this blog post is really just a full Erin Condren review. I feel like my beloved LifePlanner is one of the key things that makes waking up early fun for me. It’s what makes running a blog and creating content and writing copy and editing photos a total joy instead of a chore.
I’ve used Erin Condren planners for years! I keep one at my desk and use it to organize my daily tasks. Even in the early days when my blog and simply a hobby (literally no one read it at the beginning except my family…), I would use a planner to help keep me on track of content creation goals. I’ve always been someone who thinks that hobbies are most fun when approached with a certain amount of discipline and order. OF COURSE they don’t have to be done that way, and certain hobbies are better off not approached that way, but typically it’s what personally feels fun to me.Â
I actually remember having a life planner way back in college around 2009. I loved using the Erin Condren stickers and colorful pens and creating a way to manage my busy schedule. I was a classic type-A college student…I definitely bit of way more than I could chew and honestly should have learned to say no much earlier in life. (That skill came about a decade later.)
Fast forward to 2017 when Erin Condren opened a store at Domain NORTHSIDE, right here in Austin Texas. I was pumped! I immediately went into that bright, colorful store and bought a handful of goodies. It’s since been one of my favorite places to go when I need a jolt of creativity.Â
So, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite Erin Condren products with you today!Â
Table of Contents
About Erin Condren
Erin Condren is a lifestyle brand of organizational products like planners, notebooks, stationary, pens, and more. They sell products that are “intentionally crafted to help customers achieve goals, reduce stress, and lead more joyful, meaningful lives through organization. Straight from their website.Â
Basically, if you love organization (or you aspire to be an organized person!) and you lean more toward paper products rather than digital, Erin Condren is a company you need to check out.Â
Why is Erin Condren so expensive?
Friends, I’m going to get right to it…these aren’t cheap products! I remember getting out of college and wanting to get another LifePlanner (the one I used in college had been a graduation gift.) And I clearly remember thinking that the cost of a planner was roughly the same cost as my weekly grocery budget. Haha. Thank god we don’t have to stay in our early twenties forever!
Now that I’m in my thirties and I understand the energies and frequencies of life a bit better, I know why they cost what they do. These are luxury planning products. They’re made from high-quality materials, all made in the USA. They’re the Erin Condren brand, made with her signature colors and styles. It’s kind of the same reason why Lululemon costs more than workout clothes from Walmart.Â
Here’s why I buy them, even though they’re more expensive than planners from Target:Â
Back to the workout clothes analogy, I firmly believe in the energy of a product. A beautifully crafted, well-made piece of clothing puts me in a positive, excited place to stay motivated to workout. And while I could technically train for a marathon in Walmart tshirt and shorts, the way that I feel when I get a perfectly constructed pair of running shoes from a small, local retailer or a beautiful yoga set from an Austin-based apparel brand puts me in a different energy. I feel more excited, poised, ready, motivated, energized…and that feeling lasts.Â
Same same for EC products. The feeling I get when I open a package that holds a fresh life planner, a set of markers, and a sticker book is totally different from the feeling of picking up a discount, imported planner from a Target shelf. Sure, both could accomplish the same thing, but the energies inside of them are different, thus my feelings about them are different.Â
Is this making any sense? I’m revealing the side of me that loves all the woo-woo things.
When I wake up at 5:30 in the morning, brew my coffee, and sit down at my desk, the first thing I see is my Erin Condren planner. I have my week all laid out for me, with color-coded markers and stickers drawing my eyes to the most important priorities. Even though it’s 5:30 am on a Monday morning, I feel excited and absolutely on fire for my week.
I’ve found that the difference between dreading a Monday morning and feeling excited for it is a series of small choices. It might sound silly, but choosing a planner that makes me feel excited has been one of the keys to productivity in my past few years of life.
It’s well worth the extra $20 per year for getting a beautifully branded product, rather than a cheaply made one.
What are the best Erin Condren products?
For sure the LifePlanner! If you’re just going to get one Erin Condren product, I’d go with either the Weekly LifePlanner or the Daily LifePlanner Duo (it’s called a duo because it will be delivered to you in two separate books with 6 months in each one.)
The Weekly Planner is great is you want more of a glance-view to your week.
The Daily Planner (my favorite!) is good if you want to have something at your desk helping you plan through each hour of the day.
They’re all completely customizable. You can choose a horizontal, vertical, or hourly layout. You can get custom-made covers using their artwork or your own photos. You can even pick the color of the spiral rings – rose gold, black, platinum, or gold.
I think that, as someone who has to be self-motivated to create content, this is one of the most helpful tools for me. I write out what I’ll accomplish during each hour of the day, and then I just stick to the schedule.
Anyway, if you love options (you can snap in/out various pages and inserts like sticker sheets, folders, and a snap-in ruler), you want something that lies flat on your desk (it’s a coil), and you probably need the LifePlanner in your office.
^ For 2022, I decided to try out a softbound planner. These are the same LifePlanner layout, but a bit more portable.Â
It’s fine, but I’ll probably go back to a regular Daily LifePlanner with the spiral coils for next year (I like how those lay flat.) This softbound one is perfect if you like to have a sleek, flat notebook that easily fits into a small tote bag. Great if you often work on-the-go!
^ I thought I’d share a sample page. (This is just a fake page – I didn’t want to share my actual schedule!) But I typically use stickers to mark out my “power hours.” I make sure to schedule in 5 X 2 hour chunks of power hour time when I shut off my phone and truly focus.
Whether it’s a day when I have childcare, or I’m watching both of my babies and trying to squeeze in little bits of work here and there, I like to have my day written out for me.Â
Again, I put external commitments on my iPhone cal, especially things that Nate needs to be able to see on our shared calendar. Things like Milo’s 2 year wellness appointment, my dental cleaning, a ladies wine night I’m going to attend, or the days of the week the nanny is coming over…those are all on my digital calendar.Â
But on this fun paper cal, I put my goals, my to-do list, my workday. It’s all right there for me to see at my desk. I LOVE IT.Â
I like that the day is broken into little pieces.
I always use the top sliver to tell myself what I’ll do to get into “alignment” for the day. Rather than waking up and thinking “I should drink lemon water…and I also want to meditate…but maybe I can squeeze in a workout! Oh and I haven’t done gratitude journaling in forever…AHH” I write it all out ahead of time. That way I can be sure that I’m hitting all the bases each week, but I’m not trying to do too much.Â
I also love using the three lines at the bottom of each day to write in what I’ll do with my evenings. As anyone with young children can attest, those sacred hours after the babies go to sleep are gold!! I literally write in my relaxation time each week (“tv time with Nate” or “read a book on the couch” or “take a bubble bath”) so that I don’t try to squeeze in a few more hours of work. My body and my soul need to relax each week, and if it’s written down, I actually do it!
^ I’ve also recently tried out the Erin Condren A5 Ring Agenda. This one is great if you’re someone who’s on the run and you like to take your planner with you.
^ It has tons of pockets, tabs, and places for pens and stickers and notes.
The Ring Agenda is a really handy to keep everything in one place at all times!
It’s mostly the same layout as the other LifePlanners, but there are additional pockets and folders.Â
There are also extra sheets you can add in, like productivity notes, budget planning, or a packet of lined notes.Â
And the pockets in the back are big enough that you can put entire sheets of the Erin Condren stickers back there for easy access on-the-go.
^ Here’s an example of the horizontal layout, versus the vertical layout that I showed you earlier.Â
Anyway, it’s all an absolute #vibe and this stuff makes me so happy!Â
If you want a fun add-on, get the fine-tip markers. It’s a 7 pack of bright shades, and they write so beautifully, don’t bleed, and give a fun assortment of colors so you can persaonlize your schedule even better.Â
They just make me so happy!!Â
^ I also love the stickers. The LifePlanners all come with a few sheets of stickers, but if you get the Softbound Planner or the PocketBook planner, you might want to get the extra stickers to put in it.
The Erin Condren stickers are made specifically to fit these planners perfectly. So the circles or squares or tabs fit into the hourly layout in the planners just so. It feels and looks calming and organized.
Again…it’s just energies. Spending an annual $10 on something that makes me feel excited and energized every single Monday morning is a good use of my money.Â
I love these monthly themed stickers! Each month is a different theme, and they’re all so cute. (They’re currently out of stock as I’m typing this in March, but they tend to restock throughout the year and they’ll definitely be back for the kickoff of a new calendar year, and probably a new school year.)Â
Erin Condren LifePlanner Review
Ok, here are some true facts: The paper is thick (so pens won’t bleed through), the covers are made from vegan leather, the tabs are strong…these things are sturdy. They last for the entire year. Â
I also love the layout of these. The Erin Condren LifePlanners have been finely tweaked in the past few decades. It’s literally the dream team company of professional time/space organizers, so the page layouts are tried and true.Â
I will say this: if you’re a 100% digital organizer person, you have no place for these in your life. If you love paper products and picking up colorful pens each day, Erin Condren is for you. And if you’re a hybrid (like me) and you love to have your schedule and commitments on your iPhone cal, but you also enjoy the creative process of writing in notebooks, I feel like you’ll probably enjoy having a LifePlanner on your desk.
Pros and Cons of Erin Condren
PROS:
– Super sturdy.Â
– Made in the US of A.Â
– Vegan leather binder covers.Â
– Bright, colorful, happy!Â
– A female-owned, female-run company (yay!)
– The cutest store front right here in ATX
CONS
– PriceyÂ
Ummm,…and that’s it. No, really! Ha. I’m trying to think of other constructive things I could say about these products, but I’m not really coming up with any. Like I mentioned before: if your goal is to find the cheapest notebooks and pens that will get the job done, don’t get Erin Condren stuff. If you want something that will elevate you to the next level and make you feel giddy and excited when you walk into your office each morning, try these.Â
Who could use Erin Condren planners?
I think these are especially great for influencers, content creators, or independent creative people who need to be self-starters. I have one big planning session each week (usually an hour on Sunday morning or evening) when I fill in my week with everything I’m going to do. I use the stickers, I color-code my content, and I make it all really fun and happy.Â
And then when I sit down at my desk on Monday morning, I just follow the script. I do what I said I would do.Â
Erin Conren also has en entire line of Teacher Lesson Planners, Academic Planners (fun gift for a high school senior!) a wedding planning book, Spanish planners, a kid collection, guided journals for wellness and budgeting and fitness, and all sorts of other goodies.Â
By the way – planners are 40% off right now! Since we made it past the start of the year and a lot of people aren’t buying planners right now, they’re all discounted. If you snooze…you win. 😉 Haha.Â
Hope it was helpful and fun to read a bit more about Erin Condren!
