Plum Paper Packages Tied up with String...wait, that's not how the songgoes

I use a paper planner. I need to be able to write it and see it all at once. It also helps me to remember and connect to something when I physically write it down. Some things are translated to Outlook for work, and some things I put onto MFD's Google calendar, but at heart I will always be a paper planner girl. If you are not, I'm happy for you, but also must tell you I'm not looking to be converted to electronic calendaring. I know how it works and what's out there, and it doesn't work for me.

Last year I used the much talked about Erin Condren planner. I wrote a post about it here. While I liked it a lot and it served me well, I wasn't so enthralled that I was set on it for life. This year I went with a Plum Paper Designs Planner. PP is the same size as EC. Here they are on top of each other:

I chose Plum Paper because it gave you options. I chose the weekly spread with the day broken down hourly, and for the planner to start in January 2015. I also chose to have three pages added to the end of each month for notes. I ran out of note pages in the EC by September. I added two sticker sheets too which I have yet to use.

Base cost: $31.00
Add notepages: $3.50
Add stickers: $3.00
Shipping: $10.00
My total cost was $47.50.

What the hell, that's a rip off, you might be saying. Even if I only use it 300 days out of the year - probably more likely to use it 345 - it only costs about 16 cents a day. For something that keeps me organized, it's worth it to me. It works how my brain works.

Monthly view:

And the weekly view, the biggest change from the EC since it's now broken down by hour for most of the day. I write my exercise for the day on the bottom of each day - if it's not on the planner, it's not getting done. I write meals for the week on the left side. Both of these are filled out the week prior. I blacked out my work stuff, but that takes up most of M-F days.

Other things: I write my blog schedule on the note page preceding the monthly spread, I do use the folders in the back, and I brought my page holder over from my Erin Condren because I can't do without that.

I still like the Erin Condren and think it's worth the money, but there's no going back from the day broken down hour by hour and the extra note pages after each month. I was concerned about the durability of the cover of the Plum Paper vs. the Erin Condren. So far it's held up well, albeit a mere two full months into the year. I am really annoyed that the front cover says 2014-2015 when it is only 2015.

I wanted to really use the hell out of this to give you my honest opinion of how it works. It's a little late for this year, but pin me for next year if you're interested!

Questions?

Happy birthday to the lovely Amanda of Voyage of the MeeMee! March babies rule.

 Linking up with Shanna for Random Wednesday