My 2020-2021 Planner

Last week on my Instagram story I was explaining my planner dilemma for this school year. I start my classes on the 31st and I want to have one to organize all my assignments and any blog related stuff. For the past three years, I have used a daily planner from the brand Day Designer. For that particular model, there is a monthly spread and then every single day gets its own page. It was the perfect thing for me when I had a busy schedule between school, work, interning, and my blog. But once I moved home in March I was leaving loads of pages blank. It started to feel like such a waste and was no longer worth making that kind of investment. Day Designer also makes an undated and weekly planner. This way you can use the days you want and skip the days you don’t want without wasting any pages. For the weekly, there’s a smaller amount of space for each day. I asked you guys if you had a planner you recommended or if I should go with another Day Designer. Here are the top 5 recommendations thanks to you all!

Erin Condren

Price: $55-$78

Options: At least a dozen options and most of them are customizable

Thoughts: This website was honestly a little overwhelming! There are just so many options and the fact that you can customize most of them makes it even harder to choose. I narrowed it down to the LifePlanner which is their bestseller. This style alone comes with a coiled option, binder option, and the duo. The duo is two separate 6-month calendars so you don’t have a super thick planner. You can even upload your own image if you don’t like any of the cover options that they have! 

Plum Paper

Price: $40-$65

Options: Monthly, daily, weekly

Thoughts: These planners seem fantastic! You can choose from dozens of layouts, and then from there, you can choose what you want each day to say. For example, class schedule, today's workout, etc. My favorite thing might have been how you can choose what month it starts from! There’s nothing worse than buying a planner where a month has already gone by or it isn’t starting when you need it too. The cover options were also super cute and felt a little less cheesy than Erin Condren. When you’re done customizing you had the option to add stickers to your order as well. 

Lilly Pulitzer

Price: $24-$35

Options: 3 sizes for 17 month

Thoughts: I actually used these planners all through high school! They definitely did the trick for me back then but I need something a little more detailed these days. Back then I was mostly using it to keep track of when assignments were due. If you’re trying to juggle multiple things at once it might get a little cramped! 

Day Designer

Price: $20-$60

Options: Undated, daily, weekly, and monthly 

Thoughts: I was so surprised how many people told me I should just stick with the Day Designer! The original Day Designer planners are close to $60 but they collaborated with Blue Sky which is a less expensive line that you can get at stores like Target and Home Depot. If you’re looking for an aesthetically pleasing planner this is it! They’re honestly gorgeous and every time I pulled it out in class or in the office I had people asking me about it. 

Paper Source

Price: $15-$50

Options: Daily, weekly, monthly 

Thoughts: It took me so long to look at all of them on the website since there are so many options. I think that’s a pretty good problem to have! Paper Source is a go-to store for me when I’m looking for notebooks for something special. I had never considered getting a planner here before. They had a lot of creative layouts I liked and super cute covers. If you have the chance to look at these in the store I would!

I customized the most beautiful custom planner for myself from Plum Paper and just couldn’t get myself to press place order when I saw the $65 price tag. Later that day I was at Staples printing things when I came across the Blue Sky Day Designer planners. I ended up leaving the store with one… It was only $20 and I think it will get the job done for me. It has monthly and weekly spreads that came with stickers, and a ruler. I decided I should give this one a try and if it doesn’t work out then I’ll splurge on the one from Plum Paper. Since the Plum Paper planner one was completely custom you could choose which month it starts. 

I’m going to put up a blog post showing you guys how I set up a new planner in a couple days! If you have any questions or want me to talk about anything specific let me know.

Bathroom Update With The Home Depot

All this free time during quarantine has led to lots of time spent on Pinterest and Tik Tok. Which brings us to today’s post with The Home Depot! I’ve been looking for new white bath towels for my bathroom for quite some time now. I like them to be white so they look nice sitting out, and they need to be thick. You’d be surprised how hard it is to find great quality with a great price tag! These StyleWell towels from The Home Depot fit the bill. They’re sold as a pair for $17, and come in four other colors as well. I really liked the washed denim color as well, but since I knew I was going to have these folded on the bathroom counter I went with white. 

So how does Tik Tok have anything to do with this?? Let me tell you… The sweetest housekeeper, Vanesa, shared a video on how to fold your towels like they do at a spa. As soon as I saw it, I knew I needed to do the same. I’m not the only one either! There were people unfolding every single towel in their houses to refold like this. Folding the towels like this actually became decor in my space. I’d also recommend this technique if you want to stick them in your linen closet or cabinets. It’s actually super quick once you get the hang of it!

Prior to covid, I would have thought I’d be decorating a New York City apartment and getting ready for in person classes at this time. Instead I’ve been at home the past 6 months and I’m just trying to make the most of it! One positive is there’s definitely a lot more space to work with ;) But seriously, you would be shocked how little additions like this can change your space for the better.