Dapperdesk Planner Review 2023 – Best Daily Planner for Working Moms

The Dapperdesk planner is one of the best daily planners for working moms). I show you why and the pros and cons in this Dapperdesk planner review. Check out more planner reviews here so you find the perfect tool to manage your busy life.

Note: This post may contain affiliate links as indicated by an asterisk. Purchases from these links may provide a small commission to me at no extra cost to you. Refer to my Full Privacy Policy and Disclaimers here.

{GIVEAWAY ALERT: Be sure to read all the way to the bottom of the post to enter to win a 2023 Dapperdesk for a few days only!}

I used to work outside the home for the first 12 years I was a mom. It was a chaotic and stressful time with three small boys, and a stressful job that caused my health to worsen.

We felt like we were completely in survival mode and in the blink of an eye, our oldest son was a teenager. It was hard enjoying just being present we were so busy juggling home, work, kids school and activities and any semblance of family life.

So I finally chose to stay home with my boys in 2013, I have since then been pursuing my work from home dreams with this blog. And starting a business from scratch in the stiff competition of online entrepreneurs is no easy feat.

I’ve been a working outside the home mom, a stay at home mom and a working from home mom so I can empathize with the different stages of life and how that impacts our need to plan and manage our chaotic lives!

Keeping track of everything we need to do is hard and in this Dapperdesk 2023 planner review will show you why I think this is the best planner for working moms (and dads) who like simple, minimalist design to keep track of your busy schedule and to dos every day and especially weekends when life is even busier getting ready for the week ahead.

 

Dapperdesk Planner Photos

First, I thought I’d show you inside the Dapperdesk Planner in pictures. The planner is classic with clean lines and no frills so it won’t take long to show you the beauty of it’s simplicity. I bought the Dapperdesk Planner 2023 in the Lilac cover. Isn’t she gorgeous?

Please note that I took the Dapperdesk straight out of the box to photograph so it does not lie flat yet. As with most bookbound planner, after some continued use and leaving it open/stretching it to break the binding in, the planner should lie flat. The Dapperdesk also comes in a cognac brown color too with gold accents on the front and a navy dot interior for a more neutral look.

Dapperdesk Planner Features

Here are the Dapperdesk Planner features as described on the Emily Ley Website on the date of this post (please check their site for latest info): 

Our Dapperdesk Planner is designed minimally on purpose and comes in two solid-color cover options for the ultimate polished look. Its open pages serve as a fresh start every day. This Dapperdesk edition covers 12 months from January to December 2023 (with one day per page) and features a leatherette bookbound cover, mylar tabs with gold foil details, 27 lined notes pages in the back, a ribbon page marker, and luxurious new paper. With your Dapperdesk Planner purchase, you’ll also get access to our Simplified Planner Coaching Video Library with 12 encouraging videos from Emily (accessible with your EmilyLey.com account login)!

emilyley.com

• Product: 5.8″ x 9.1″ (1.25″ thick); weighs 1.8 lbs.
• Pages: 5.6″ x 9″
• Leatherette (vegan leather)
• Thick 80 lb., pure white paper
• White Mylar monthly tabs with gold foil details
• Navy inside liner with a beautiful, hand-painted floral design
• Navy grosgrain ribbon page marker
• One day per page
• Hourly lines from 6am to 9pm
• To-Do List section on each page
• Notes section on each page
• List of  January – December 2023 holidays in the front
• January – December 2023 monthly calendar view in the front
• Monthly spreads throughout
• 27 lined notes pages in the back
• Keepsake box

Dapperdesk Planner Packaging, Cover and Binding

2023 Daily, Dapperdesk Planner, Lilac

The Dapperdesk Planner comes packaged in a white keepsake box stamped with gold font. The Dapperdesk planner cover is made of a “leatherette (vegan leather)” with a suede-like feel. It feels soft, smooth and looks very professional so you can carry it into meetings. It has a simple gold embossed logo and year.

The inside of the Lilac Dapperdesk is a hand painted floral. Just stunning!

On the back cover it has “Dapperdesk by Emily Ley” embossed in gold. I like the simplicity of the front and that the brand identification is on the back.

I had the blush pink Dapperdesk in 2019 and the sky blue for 2020. The light covers do show some smudges but so far it wipes off easily with a lightly damp cloth. I do not typically carry my planners outside the house since I don’t trust myself not to lose it (and my planners are my brain on paper).

If you do carry this planner out, I recommend keeping it in it’s own section of your bag or purse or get a planner pouch if you’re really concerned about smudge marks on the cover.

The Cognac cover on the Dapperdesk is a dark brown so that’s an option as well if you’re concerned about your planner showing smudges or oil from your hands. The inside front cover is a navy background with white dots.

2023 Daily, Dapperdesk Planner, Cognac

 

Dapperdesk Planner Size – Chunky but Portable

The Dapperdesk Planner is 6″ x 9.25″ and 1.25″ thick so it is a nice chunky book for those of you who like chunky books like me (“I like big books and I cannot lie..”). If you add stickers, you’ll increase some thickness to it. There is no pocket in this planner to hold extra papers. But you could get a sticky pocket to put on the inside.

Dapperdesk’s Minimalist Style 

The entire interior of the Dapperdesk is in a classic, crisp, elegant black (or really dark gray) font. This makes it more professional also and less distracting if you like simple design. The font is small, I can read it with my reading glasses but not without. If you have vision impairment issues, the font may be too small for you.

You can always add color when you want to with stickers and highlighters for color coding. I like that it’s a blank canvas so you can customize it for your need and mood.

The key to this planner is minimalism and simplicity and we can see how every decision in the design is to make this more simple so you can focus more on what’s important

Dapperdesk Planner Paper Quality

In 2023, Emily Ley upgraded the paper to a 80 lb pure white paper. You can see the black printing shadows through the pages slightly. I did not want to write in the planner since I am giving it away (see below).

The planner already weighs 1.8 pounds so if the paper was any thicker, it would be pretty heavy to carry around! You sacrifice/risk some shadowing for the convenience of portability and a full day per page in one book.

Dapper Desk Planner Title Page, Holidays Page and Year at a Glance Calendar

Unlike it’s Daily Simplified Planner counterpart, there are no other prep work, goal setting or routines pages in he Dapperdesk. The Dapperdesk is strictly a schedule and task manager.

Dapperdesk Monthly Calendars and Tabs

I’m so glad for this change in 2023! The Dapperdesk monthly calendars are now in the same section with it’s corresponding daily planning pages and a cut in tab for the month (they used to have all the monthly calendars in the front with no tabs).

The Dapperdesk monthly calendar has weeks with a Sunday start and shows only the days in the month.

To keep it simple, it does not show the last days in the previous month or the next few days in the next month ahead to fill in all the boxes. It also does not have a mini calendar of the next or previous month you see on a lot of other monthly calendars. Each box is approximately 1.25 inches wide by 1.5 inches tall.

There is a sidebar where you can write notes and goals.

I always want monthly calendars to start on a Monday so that the weekend is together and the work week for many starts on a Monday. So I wish this monthly calendar view started on Mondays but there’s an easy fix for that…

How to Make Your Monthly Calendar a Monday Start

If you prefer a monthly calendar with a Monday start, the easiest way to make your monthly calendar a monday start is to cover the days of the week with flag labels and then write the day on top or:

1. cover the printed days of the week with white correction tape or thin washi tape that is at least 0.25 inches wide, and
2. cover with days of the week stickers or write over it (a regular pen should work fine over the correction tape but you’ll need a fine tip Sharpie marker to write on the washi tape).

Ideas on How to Use Your Monthly Calendar

As I’ve mentioned in many of my planner reviews – I keep all my appointments and day specific tasks in my Google Calendar online. A lot of the time, I don’t copy them into my monthly calendar over again- I just put appointments directly onto the daily planning page in the morning when I’m planning my day so I’m not copying info over and over again.

As a result, I have used the monthly calendar pages for other tracking purposes such as:

• Small victories and happy memories
• Gratitude 
• Items decluttered tracker
• Health tracker (water, what I ate, exercise/steps)
• Top 3 priorities per day
• Bills and expenses
• Goal tracker 

And for work specific uses:

• My blog’s profit plan/12 week year plan
• social media and content planning
• Work deadlines, projects goals and action plans
• Expense tracker including mileage and meals

Dapperdesk Planner’s Daily Planning Pages – A Full Page for Everyday! 

Ok, here is what I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE about the Dapperdesk..a full page for every day including weekends. I don’t know about you but weekends are typically busier than weekdays between kids’ sports and family activities, having 3 meals a day somewhat prepared/figured out and catching up on cleaning, laundry, meal planning and grocery shopping to make the week ahead easier, especially when you’re a working parent.

I also like to track the happy memories I want to remember in my daily pages and do a bit of journaling everyday..so yes, I need a full planning page for Saturdays and Sundays. 

And the Dapperdesk Planner delivers and gives us the same simple daily planning pages everyday including Saturdays and Sundays. The format isn’t any different than the weekdays so you can keep your planning and productivity groove going all week long. 

Each Dapperdesk daily planning page has two columns. The left side for today’s schedule from 6am to 9pm. And the right side is for checklist space in the to do column to write in up to 16 tasks. There is a large notes section on each day as well so you can write in anything you need for that day whether it’s personal or work related. I like that the space is large enough for journaling and you can customize it however you like for your needs as they change. 

Notes Pages in the Back of the Dapperdesk Planner

There are 27 lined pages in the back of the Dapperdesk planner. I need a lot of notes pages in my planner so this is fantastic! I use them for all kinds of lists and trackers to help me get ideas out of my head and onto paper for stress-free productivity. 

• Home – Decluttering, repairs and renovations by room
• Home – Family & Friends – Gift Ideas, budget and list
• Home finances – monthly budget and expenses
• Home finances – bills due tracker
• Home finances – savings tracker
• Home finances – debt payoff tracker
• Family & Friends – Vacation Ideas and Planning
• Family & Friends – Best of the month memories
• Spouse – Date Night Ideas
• Self Care – Self Care Ideas for bad RA days
• Self Care – Planning Routine (I consider planning self care because it helps my sanity and mental health)
• Self Care – Health tracking graphs to monitor my pain and fatigue
• Self Care – gratitude or health journaling
• Self care – Bible reading tracker
• Self care –journaling prompts and affirmation prompts
• Fun – monthly or seasonal bucket lists
• Fun – reading challenge ideas, books to read and tracker
• Fun – books read and mini reviews

Here are some ways to use the notes pages for work and blogging: 

• Work – meeting notes and project action plans
• Work – Goals and job expectations
• Work – Achievements to remember for performance evaluations
• Work – inspirational quotes to help you stay on track for your professional goals
• Blog – resources and courses to complete and progress
• Blog – Google analytics, social media stats and email subscriber trackers
• Blog – small victories and achievements to remember

Why is the Dapperdesk Planner the Best Planner for Working Moms (and Dads)?

Here’s the quick recap of why I think the Dapperdesk Planner is the best planner for working moms and dads:

• the cover is more professional looking with a solid color and minimal gold accents, the cover is understated, classic and elegant. The cognac cover with gold accents is great neutral option.
• the inside daily planning pages similarly are all black font and no colors or vibrant designs. Minimal and elegant with enough space for all your meetings, to dos and notes you need to keep track of during your day (like your accomplishments and wins for your next status meeting or performance evaluation with your boss)
• you can use it as a daily record of your business and professional growth, with enough space for journaling, visualization or affirmation exercises to record in the notes section
• a full daily planning page for Saturdays and Sundays are essential for working moms when you’re trying to keep track of kids’ activities, sports schedules and all the cleaning, laundry and errands you have to catch up on and be ready for the week ahead.
• lots of notes pages to keep track of meetings, goals, and project plans. 
• can easily be used on it’s own to keep track of everything going on in your personal and professional life or use it just for work in order to stay focused on work while at work. 

My Favorite Dapperdesk Accessories

You can really just use a pen and highlighter in my Dapperdesk planner. Here are my favorite accessories to use with the Dapperdesk and some of what you see pictured above:

• Dapperdesk 2023 in Lilac
• Magnetic Mini Page Markers
• Mini Notebook
• Simplified Sticky Flags
• Color Coding Dot Stickers
• Flag Stickers
• Emily Ley Pilot Precise v5 Pen Set
• Bees in Bloom Square Notepad
• Zebra Mildliner Highlighters or Erin Condren Highlighters (my current favorite)

FREE Simplified Planner Printables

I love that Simplified Planner gives you free printables* to test out their planner pages and other fun and simple printables to help you simplify your chaotic life. Here are some of my favorites available to download:

• Daily planner page
• brain dump checklist
• brain dump quads
• brain dump graph paper
• blog planner
• meeting notes
• packing checklist
• party planning
• family meeting notes
• baby chart
• class list
• spring cleaning checklist
• sunday checklist
• password tracker
• borrowed items
• go to meals
• gratitude list
• devotional
• holiday shopping list

There are a few more I didn’t name but there’s a lot to help you simplify various areas of your home, school, work and life!

Pros and Cons of the Dapperdesk Planner 

Here’s a quick recap of the pros and cons of the Dapperdesk Planner if you are still trying to decide if it’s right for you and your life/workstyle: 

Pros

• more professional appearance for work or meeting with clients
• minimalist design to the planning pages helps me focus on tasks at hand without distraction from stickers, quotes or embellishments (you can add color coding when you want and need it)
• one page per day layout for every day of the week, including very busy Saturdays and Sundays! 
• excellent number of notes pages for a daily planner
• would be great for a blog/business/work/profit planner
• book bound planner looks amazing on your bookshelf (I love big, chunky books!)
• easy to carry without worrying about damaging coil 

Cons

• the font is small. if you have vision impairment issues, it might be a dealbreaker. I’m late 40’s and I can read it only with my reading glasses on.
• corners of the cover get dingy and worn from daily use since it’s a soft cover and corners are not reinforced 
• monthly calendars are Sunday start (for me that’s a con, but I told you how to fix it above)
• I’m not a fan of the ribbon they chose for a bookmark but you could probably easily remove it and use Magnetic Mini Page Markers instead

Dapperdesk Coupon Codes and Sales

I love helping you save money on awesome planners so I try to keep track of launch dates, coupon codes and sales I hear about so you can get the best deal! Dapperdesks typically sell out so you’ve got to grab them while they are available because they don’t print more until the next calendar year launch! 

Grab the $10 off your first order coupon here!

The Bottom Line Dapperdesk Planner Review

I think the Dapperdesk planner is the best planner for working moms as an all-in-one planner to keep track of home and professional life or if you want to use only for your work/business/blog like I do. It’s very classic, understated, minimalist and elegant. It’s all form and function and no frills. The all black font and down to business format helps you stay focused on the tasks at hand without getting distracted by quotes, stickers and embellishments. 

The full planning page for Saturdays and Sundays may be my favorite feature of the Dapperdesk planner. Weekdays are busy but weekends are even busier and I know moms will appreciate that extra planning space on weekends too. I love books and book bound planners since they sit well on my bookshelf and desk without having to worry about the coil scratching my furniture’s surfaces or the coil getting damaged or snagged on things when I carry it in my purse or laptop bag. 

The Dapperdesk Planner is a classic and elegant planner with a simple, minimalist style to keep track of your busy personal and professional life and is really the best planner for working moms and dads.

Dapperdesk 2023 Planner giveaway

Included are:

• 2023 Dapperdesk Planner with the Lilac cover
• White Keepsake box
• Mini notebook in Gold Pineapple
• One pack of Pineapple Paper clips

I’m giving everything away in the photo above over on my Planner Giveaways page. So head there to get all the details and to enter to win!

I hope you my Dapperdesk planner review helped give you all the details you need so you can make an informed decision about whether the Dapperdesk planner will work for your life, style and budget. I enjoy bringing you planner reviews and helping you find the best tool to manage your busy life so you can get more done and have the most fun! Drop me a comment if you have a question or need more info and I’ll be glad to help however I can!