Erin Condren Daily Planner Review – The Best Portable Daily Planner

Does Erin Condren have a daily planner? Why YES, they finally do! In my latest planner review, I give you the detailed and honest Erin Condren Daily Planner Review so you can see why it’s the best portable daily planner.

 

 

Note: I received some of these items from Erin Condren in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. 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.

 

I have been a fan of Erin Condren planners since 2015 when I got my first weekly Erin Condren life planner. It was the first time I got a pretty planner and I loved it and couldn’t wait to write in it. It made even writing and checking off mundane mommy tasks like laundry and cleaning bathrooms more fun somehow. And I used it diligently every day.

 

But as my blog and kids grew and demanded more of my time shuttling them in ten different directions, I craved more space everyday than a weekly allowed. Sadly, that meant leaving Erin Condren to try out other brands and I became hooked on daily planners. 

 

So when Erin Condren came out with these Daily Petite Planners and On the Go Folios, I seriously could not wait to try them out! I purchased a set in 2019 and maybe Erin Condren’s team saw on Instagram how hooked I am on these little Petite Planners because they surprised me with a sneak peek of these 2020 Daily Petite Planners and September’s new releases to review for you now! 

 

This is a long post (I have a lot to say and show you), so here’s a summary of what you will find in this Erin Condren Daily Planner Review:

• Pictures of the Erin Condren 2020 Daily Petite Planners and On the Go Folio so you can see the page layouts
• Setup ideas so you can see how I use the Erin Condren Petite Planners and On the Go Folio
• My favorite Erin Condren accessories to use with the Daily Petite Planners
• Pros and cons of the Erin Condren Daily Petite Planners
• The bottom line Erin Condren Daily Planner Review and who it’s right for
• Other September new releases from Erin Condren, and….
• the Erin Condren Friends and Family sale info going on now!

 

Let me just say this real quick, I use the terms Daily Planner and Daily Petite Planners interchangeably in this post. They mean the same planner, Erin Condren only offers the daily in the petite/on the go size right now. Don’t get confused! Alright, here we go!!! 

 

 

Pictures Inside the Erin Condren 2020 Daily Petite Planner and On the Go Folio

 

The Erin Condren Daily Petite Planners are book bound sewn journals similar to Traveler’s Notebooks that you can use on their own or put a combination of journals into an “On the Go” folio cover with an elastic band to keep them together and easily portable. I’ll be showing you the 2020 Daily Petite Planners and the On the Go Folio in mustard that Erin Condren’s team sent me.

 

Erin Condren Daily Planners Come in Quarterly Volumes

 

 

The Erin Condren Daily Petite Planners come in 4 volumes, one for each quarter of the year so each volume contains 3 months worth of planning pages. You can buy each planner individually or buy the entire year’s set at a discount. This makes it great for starting it when you need it! 

 

The covers and the color scheme are different in each volume but the format of the pages is relatively the same. I say, relatively, because I noticed when flipping through that volumes 1 and 2 each have 2 lined notes pages at the end while volumes 3 and 4 do not. Not sure why that is or if maybe I got a printing error. At any rate, the planning pages are the same in all volumes: each weekday has a full day and Saturday and Sunday share a page.

 

I don’t usually plan far in advance since I store future appointments and school holidays in my google calendar for easy access. I only write appointments in my planner that morning when I’m reasonably sure it’s going to happen. So I love that each volume holds only a quarter’s worth. That means, I can then carry other journals (like my budget,  menu and the dot journal for my GTD capture) in my On the Go folio too and have everything I need at my fingertips! But more on how I use the Daily Petite Planner and On the Go folio  specifically later. 

 

Erin Condren Daily Petite Planner Features

 

Here is what Erin Condren Daily Petite Planners have in them according to the Erin Condren website: 

 

True beauty lies in seeing the same thing just a little bit differently. Our interpretation of the Kaleidoscope is about crystallizing your vision to transform plans into reality. No matter what you see in this design, the stunning neutral & colorful dimensions represent never-ending possibilities.

Daily PetitePlanners are the perfect portable planning companions for day-to-day planning! Make to-do lists, set your schedule and say yes to a more organized 2020.

• Daily Planner PetitePlanner Volume 1: Jan – Mar 2020
• Daily Planner PetitePlannerVolume 2: Apr – June 2020
• Daily Planner PetitePlannerVolume 3: July – Sept 2020
• Daily Planner PetitePlanner Volume 4: Oct – Dec 2020

 

Each Daily Planner PetitePlanner has: 

Dimensions: 5.7″ x 8.25″
Page Count: 88 pages
Sheet Count: 1 sticker sheet (111 stickers)
Built In Pocket

• Colorful, Vertical Layout
• 3 Months of Daily Planning
• 3 Monthly Spreads
• Daily Mini Months and Check Lists
• Notes Pages
• Inspirational Quotes
• Functional Metallic Sticker Sheet

 

Erin Condren Daily Petite Planner Size

Each Daily Petite Planner is 5.7″ x 8.25″ (A5) and about a quarter of an inch thick. I think it’s a great size to be large enough for me to be able to write in it (pocket and personal size planners tend to be too small for me and my bad hands from Rheumatoid Arthritis) and still carry it in my purse or planner tote when needed (more on those later in the post). 

 

When you combine 4 of the Erin Condren Petite Planners and Journals in the On the Go Folio, you have a nice chunky little customized planner about 1.25″ thick altogether. Still I think it’s a great planner for portability and still have daily pages!! 

 

Erin Condren Daily Planner Covers

 

Erin Condren has a signature theme for their covers every year. For 2019, the theme was Woven Wonder and for 2020 the theme is Kaleidoscope and it’s so beautiful! I definitely like this design better than woven wonder. I love the pastel colors of the pinks, greens, blues and purples in the covers.

(Volume 1 Jan-Mar 2020):

Each cover has a beautifully designed and inspiring quote in metallic fonts. The cover is made of a harder cardstock material. My 2019 planner covers have held up well with continued use in and out of the folio and in and out of drawers and my table where I keep them. It’s well made and well bound with stitching. 

 

Volume 2 April-June 2020

 

The planner covers match the Colorful scheme that Erin Condren offers for her weekly life planners too. 

 

Volume 3: July-September 2020

Volume 4 October-December 2020

 

 

For the following sections, we’ll be seeing the layout of Volume 1. The colors in the other volumes are different than what’s shown below and coordinate with the front cover and the Colorful color scheme of the weekly lifeplanners.

 

Inside Cover and Title Page

The inside cover has a slick, glossy feel to it and in a solid coordinating cover. The title page is simple for you to write your name and personal info. 

 

 

 

Erin Condren Daily Planner Planning Pages

Now let’s flip through the planning pages! 

 

Monthly Calendar

First, we come to the monthly calendar. The week starts with Sunday and ends with Saturday with a colored column to the right for notes. There are full 6 weeks worth of days on the monthly calendar and each box is dated. This helps you see the few days before the current month starts as well as the first week of the next month to know what’s coming.

 

 

I like being able to see the week ahead but it does make the boxes smaller than if they just showed the current month. I don’t typically use the monthly calendar for much since my appointments are in my Google calendar until the day I need to write it down. As I mentioned in my Erin Condren Life Planner Binder Review, I like to use my monthly calendar for other things, 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 you could certainly do that here if you write small! I think using the calendar for something other than appointments really helps to increase productivity and track progress on some big goals. 

 

Erin Condren Daily Planner Weekday Pages

The Erin Condren daily Petite planner weekday pages have a to do list space and 4 sections to customize as you like (3 lined and 1 blank). The left weekday page (Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays) also has a mini monthly calendar view in the blank section. Personally, I’m not a fan of that mini calendar in there, I’d rather have that full blank space to doodle or write or put a pretty sticker. The journal isn’t large and it’s easy to flip back to the monthly calendar if you need it. 

 

 

The top of the page has a lovely hexagon Kaleidoscope, their signature symbol for 2020. Some planners don’t like it and cover it up. I think it’s lovely and a perfect spot to highlight a birthday or important event, or write in a daily gratitude, small victory, or focus for the day. 

You can divide the three lined sections up into: 

• hours of the day
• morning/afternoon/evening
• by task category (home, family, self care, work, etc)

I like that the section headings are blank so you can customize it however you need it for that day. I think this really helps with flexibility, so many times we switch planners because there is something else we need it for. Since you can customize the section headings how you need it, it can change with your season of life without having to switch planners! 

 

Erin Condren Daily Planner Weekend Pages

The Daily Petite Planner weekend pages have Saturday and Sunday sharing a page. There is no hexagon and instead a blank space, a to do list checklist space and a blank space. It drives me a little nuts when weekends share a page, they are often busier for me than a regular weekday.

 

 

Considering the Erin Condren daily planners are broken up into quarterly volumes, I would think it would be easier to add another 5 pages for Saturdays and Sundays to have their own page without increasing the bulk, size or price too much. 

 

There are some cute mini quotes on some of the Sundays! 

 

 

 

Notes Pages in the Back of the Planner

Ok, like I said above, the Erin Condren website says each Daily Petite Planner has notes pages. I found 2 lined notes pages to write on in volumes 1 and 2 but NOT in 3 and 4. Again, I don’t know if it was a printing error or what. 

 

 

I like having notes pages in the back of my planners but since I use a whole dot grid journal in my folio, the missing notes pages was not a deal breaker for me. I track everything and use my planner for my Getting Things Done (GTD) system so need more than 2 notes pages, that’s for sure! 

 

 

Erin Condren Daily Petite Planner Stickers

 

I am not a huge sticker person, mostly just pretty pens but I love Erin Condren’s stickers and the sheet of metallic stickers that comes in the Daily Petite Planner are so adorable! In fact, in all the Petite Planners I have, the stickers in the pockets are my favorites. Simple and gorgeous without being too overwhelming on the page. 

You can see the goal setting journal sticker sheet on the top left and the meal planner sticker sheet on the bottom right and available in 2 sheet packs. Aren’t they great? 

 

Each sticker sheet in the Erin Condren Daily Planner has metallic stickers that match the metallic font on the cover (so volume 1 has metallic purple font stickers, volume 2 has metallic pink, volume 3 has metallic gold, and volume 4 has metallic blue). I thought that was kinda neat, the stickers in the 2019’s were all metallic silver which I love too but the metallic colors in the 2020 daily petite planner stickers will really make the planning pages pop!

 

 

 

Erin Condren On the Go Folio 

Ok, let’s talk about the On the Go folio for a minute. This is what can hold up to 4 Petite Planners or Petite Journals so you can transport it and keep your planners together.

Here’s what Erin Condren has on her website to describe the On the Go Folio: 

Transport up to 4 PetitePlanners or Journals in this stylish folio for an ultra-portable planning system on the go!

Dimensions: 13.375 x 8.25” (unfolded)

Vegan Leather cover with one elastic closure and 4 elastic bands inside to fit up to 4 PetitePlanners or Journals

They have a bunch of new colors that released in September including: 

• wine
• pink sketched blooms
• mauve
• starry sky on the go
• sapphire
• charcoal and 
• mustard

to join the lineup of colors they already had, which were: 

• turquoise
• black, and 
• champagne

 

Honestly, the mustard folio that they sent me would have been my last choice. I’m more of a neutrals, pastels, silver and navy kind of person. And I’ll probably buy that starry sky because it’s gorgeous (and I won’t be able to help myself)… and it would coordinate so well with the champagne and mustard I already have)!  But the more I look at the mustard and use it, the more it grows on me. Still there are a huge assortment of colors to choose from, so you’re sure to find a color you love.

 

You also have the option to personalize the folio which is awesome! You can get it with blind imprint (no color), rose gold font, platinum font or gold font. 

 

I love that the On the Go Folios are made of vegan leather and they are easy to keep clean with a wipe down with a damp cloth. The elastics have held up well and I think if they get too loose, you can tighten and retie them. Sometimes I wish there was one more elastic but most of these types of folio systems have 4 elastics to fit 4 journals.

 

It’s really easy to slip the petite planners or petite journals into the elastics. So it makes it easy to take out the one you need when you want to. I typically take the planner or journal out in order to write in it. Just my personal preference. 

 

I worried that the elastic closure would damage the leather on the front over time. But it hasn’t really, there’s a small indention on my champagne one but it serves the purpose of keeping all the journals in so that’s the priority. This petite planner and folio system is my entire brain and life on paper, I don’t need anything falling out!!! 

 

 

Ideas for How to Use the Erin Condren Petite Planners and On the Go Folio

 

I’ve got a lot of the Erin Condren Petite Planners and Petite Journals. Including the 2020 Daily Planners they just sent me, I’m up to 16 and now 2 On the Go folios! I told you I’m obsessed with them and it does get my ENTIRE planning system out of my head and onto paper for complete stress-free productivity (or at least as close as I will get to stress free).

I really love them because each one serves a specific purpose and I pull out what I need when I need it since I don’t need every planner every day. It helps me stay focused on the task at hand (the budget or meal planning especially) instead of getting distracted by some other to do I see when everything is in one notebook (I am easily, easily, easily distracted)! 

So here’s a quick run down of each one and what goes in it:

 

• I use my Champagne Folio for Daily Planning Needs. So this one includes:
  • the current quarter of the Daily Planner

 

 

• • a Kaleidscope Dot Grid Journal which is my GTD capture notebook (aka my bullet journal collections and master tasks lists/brain dump)

 

• • the Erin Condren Petite Budget Planner for daily expense tracking 

•  
  • and my Erin Condren Checklist Petite Journal with my daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual checklist and some fun ones like reading challenges, and chapters read. Oh my word, I’m totally motivated by checking off things so this is one of my favorite journals. It’s so nice to see everything checked off. You can see lots more images of my checklist crazy self on my Instagram, it was one of my most popular posts! 

 

 

• I’m going to use my Mustard folio for Monthly and Future Planning needs. So this one contains:
  • Erin Condren Petite Meal Planner (my goal is to get down to monthly menu planning instead of weekly)

• • my Erin Condren Petite Goal Setting Journal

•  
  • the next quarter of the Daily Planner, and
  • my blank Petite journal for reference info

That leaves my Erin Condren Petite Gratitude Journal to go on my nightstand so I remember to write in it before bed and the other two quarter’s of daily planners in my desk drawer dedicated to my Erin Condren supplies. 

 

The Erin Condren On the Go folio system with Petite Planners is small enough to stick in my purse or if I need to take along my laptop and pen collection, I put them all in this amazing navy canvas Erin Condren Planner Tote*.

 

My Favorite Erin Condren Daily Planner Accessories

Like I said the stickers that the Erin Condren Daily Planner comes with are my favorites to use in the Petite Planners. But here are just a few of my favorite other Erin Condren Daily Planner Accessories: 

• Planner Charms to link on the folio cover
• Dual Tip Markers or gel pens – I really can’t decide which I like better. The Dual tip markers come in an wide variety of colorful, vibrant and pastel colors to suit my mood but the gel pens write smoothly
• Mini Magnetic Page Marker – one to keep on the current day and one to keep on the monthly calendar.
• 6 inch Gold Metal Ruler – i always need a ruler to keep my highlighting and writing straight. Love this small metal ruler so it won’t bend or break.
• Petite Planner stickers – even if you don’t buy the petite budget planner, menu planner or goal setting journal, you can still buy their individual sticker sheets to incorporate into your Daily Planner. I love the smaller and simpler size of these stickers so they aren’t overwhelming and still add some flair to your pages. 

 

Pros and Cons of the Erin Condren Daily Petite Planners

Ok I’ve given you a lot so here’s the quick list of pros and cons of the Erin Condren Daily Planners.

Pros

• they are small and easily carried with you when you need it
• I like having only one quarter of planning pages at a time since I don’t do much future planning in this planner (I save that for my GTD capture dot grid journal)
• the 3 lined sections on the weekday pages are easily customizable
• I LOVE the stickers that come with it. 
• beautiful design and colors will inspire your productivity and creativity
• you can combine Petite Planners and Petite Journals to create your ideal planning and productivity system (like budget, meal planning, gratitude, wellness, medical, baby, travel, dot grid journals, lined journals, blank journals)
• high quality paper and well made construction. Erin Condren products always hold up well to my daily use and I really USE my planners! They are more for function and less for decoration.

Cons

• Saturdays and Sundays share a page – I so wish they each had their own page
• The monthly calendar starts on a Sunday (as most calendars do in the US) but I still want my weekend days together! 

Yep that’s all i can think of for the cons, I do really love them especially for a daily portable planner. 

 

The Bottom Line Erin Condren Daily Planner Review and Who It is Right For

 

I love Erin Condren’s newest addition to the PetitePlanner and Folio System. The Erin Condren 2020 daily planners are beautiful, well made and have inspiring and thoughtful details throughout that make you want to use them and get a handle on your chaotic day. I love that you can combine these daily planners and carry only as many quarterly volumes as you need at once. They are easy to switch out and you can add other Petite Planners and Journals from the line to customize a true Getting Things Done/productivity system. I use mine for my stress-free GTD system so that I always know what’s happening now, what needs to be done so I can choose the next best thing to work on at any point in time.

 

The Erin Condren Daily Planners are perfect for planners who crave a portable daily planner that don’t need to see the entire year at once. It’s great for people who want to customize their productivity system and keep with them those journals and notes that will truly make an impact in their day and lives. 

 

 

Other September New Releases from Erin Condren

I thought I’d talk about some of the new releases that Erin Condren sent me. 

 

Accordion Zipper Pouch

The accordion zipper pouch is cute and colorful. I could put part of my pen collection in here and this sweet little gold ruler. I was hoping I could use it for stickers but not sure that i want to cut them down to make them fit. I love the colors with the gold on this pouch! 

 

Gemstones Desk Accessories Set

The desk accessories set is an ok for me.  I like the colors but there are entirely too many push pins for my taste. I’m going to need a cork board and still I probably need only 10 push pins total, not this many! I love some paper clips and binder clips though and I tend to run out of those quickly! 

 

Gold Ruler

I like the snazzy little gold metal ruler that won’t bend or break. 

 

Erin Condren Friends and Family 25% off Sale! 

In addition to all the great new releases, there is also a fabulous Friends and Family sale for 25% off the entire site for a limited time! So you can grab these daily planners or anything else at a great discount. I think that’s on top of their FREE shipping on U.S. orders of $75 and up! So it’s a great time to get the planners and accessories you want so you’ll have them in plenty of time for 2020! 

 

Well, I have given you a lot of info about the Erin Condren Daily Petite Planners. I think they are fantastic for their flexibility both in planning your day and customizing a productivity system to keep track and on top of everything going on in your busy life. What do you think? Drop me a comment or email me at tanya{at}momssmallvictories.com if you need further info and I’ll do my best to help you!