Is the Erin Condren Hourly Planner Right for You?

In this Erin Condren hourly planner review, learn about the best features, pros and cons, whether it is worth the money and alternatives. Find more Erin Condren planner reviews here.

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Erin Condren is known for producing high quality planners for women. I have been used an Erin Condren since 2015 and they have never disappointed me. In this review, I will be showing you inside the weekly Erin Condren Hourly LifePlanner (In Blooms layout). There are 4 layouts/color themes to choose from, you can see what I think of each color scheme here.

The planner shown is the Weekly Coiled LifePlanner for 2022-2023 in the hourly interior layout with the vegan in blooms leahter cover and a platinum coil. I believe the interior will look the same for the calendar year 2023 planners when they release.

In this Erin Condren hourly planner review, I’ll walk you through the following to help you decide if this Erin Condren planner layout is right for your life and style:

• the best features that make the Erin Condren hourly planner unique
• pictures inside my Erin Condren hourly planner
• pros and cons of the Erin Condren hourly planner
• if the Erin Condren hourly planner is worth the money
• and Erin Condren hourly planner alternatives

For detailed specifications about the Erin Condren hourly planner, please visit the Erin Condren website.

Best Features of the Erin Condren Hourly Planner

Here are my favorite features of the weekly Erin Condren hourly planner that makes it stand out in the planner market.

Erin Condren Hourly Planner Coil

You might not realize how important the coil on a planner is until it bends out of shape or breaks, and then it’s really frustrating. In general, the Erin Condren planners have my favorite coil of any of the coil bound planners I’ve tried. It’s plated aluminum coil is strong, sturdy and it’s never bent out of shape on me (for context, I am a stay at home mom so my planners tend to stay home and occasionally travel for meetings, doctors appointments, errands).

Other planner coils, especially those with the wire-o binding or plastic coils can bend easily and then it makes the planner pages harder to turn and that drives me nuts. Worse yet, the wire-O binding can come apart from the planner cover and then your pages fall out. Yep, happened to me…a few times.

As an added bonus, you can choose your coil color: the standard platinum or rose gold or gold for an additional charge.

Erin Condren customizable options

There are several elements you can customize in the Erin Condren hourly planner to make it truly work for how you need it. You can choose (some options are an additional charge):

• Coil color
• Your cover (and personalize it) – there are sooo many choices!
• Interior design/color scheme (harmony neutral, harmony colorful, in blooms or colorblend)
• Length of time (calendar year 12 months, academic year 12 months September to August and 16 month September 2022-December 2023

Erin Condren Interchangeable Covers

I received the Erin Condren Hourly planner with the vegan (synthetic) leather cover as shown below (the planner on the coil). It is lovely and if you are using this planner for work or a professional environment, then the vegan leather cover looks nicer and more elegant than the standard laminate covers. The vegan leather covers are not interchangeable.

On the other hand, the laminate covers are interchangeable, in the picture above the 2 watercolor stripe interchangeable covers shown on the bottom left and the 2 blue floral interchangeable covers shown on the top right. I LOVE Erin Condren’s interchangeable covers.

There are so many gorgeous designs to choose from and they are easy to snap in and snap out. Changing out the cover is a simple way to breathe new life into your planner, and help you stay motivated to want to use it. You can change it with your mood or the season. The covers are inexpensive (especially when they go on a buy one get one free sale) and don’t take up too much space so easy to store.

You can customize the laminate covers by changing the colorway, adding your name or a quote or even add pictures. You can make it one of a kind.

Erin Condren paper weight

The Erin Condren hourly planner has their signature, high quality Mohawk 80# paper and it’s some of my favorite planner paper. It’s got some texture and heaviness to it as you can see in the photo above. It’s not buttery smooth like the Plum Paper planner paper. but it holds gel pens and highlighters well without bleeding through or needing much drying time. I haven’t had a problem with smearing gel pens when the ink is wet.

The paper isn’t super thick or heavy so you may have some ghosting/shadowing on the other side of the page depending on how heavy handed you are when you write or which pens you’re using (my favorites are below).

Erin Condren monthly dashboard

I like that the monthly pages include two lined notes pages per month (one at the beginning of the month and one at the end of the month) and one monthly dashboard page with boxes without headers so you can write in what you want. Ideas to include on the Erin Condren monthly dashboard include:

• important events
• goals
• habit tracker
• reading list
• to buy list
• to go to list
• family bucket list
• big bills
• savings goals
• quotes

Erin Condren Hourly Planner Layout

I love that the Erin Condren hourly planner has a lined weekly layout. I need the lines to guide me or I end up writing all crooked.

The weekly layout runs from 6am to 7pm with a dotted line for the half hour and an extra blank box with no time. This works well for my schedule, nothing productive happens for me before 6 or after 8, that’s downtime for this mom!

If those times don’t work with your schedule, you can try using the hourly and checklist washi tape with the hours printed on it. It is designed to fit the hourly planner spacing but have not tried it myself.

Erin Condren Stickers and Perpetual Calendar Included

When you purchase the Erin Condren hourly planner , it includes 4 pages of beautiful coordinating stickers, a sturdy pocket, and a small perpetual calendar notebook that you can move year to year. Many planners give you just 1 or 2 sheets of stickers and pockets/extra notebooks can be added for an additional charge.

Erin Condren accessories

There are a few different planner sizes in the Erin Condren line (the hourly planner is only available in the coiled weekly lifeplanner) and the accessories are designed (and some even snap in) to fit all 3 sizes: a5, 7”x9” and 8.5”x11”.

My favorite Erin Condren accessories

• the snap in sticky notes. They don’t peel up on the edges and coordinate so beautifully with their planners!
• these ballpoint pens write smoothly. I do wish they were refillable!
• dual tip dual ink pen and highlighter set. I love the colors and they don’t bleed through whether on Erin Condren paper (like in my Erin Condren finance bullet journal or super thin Japanese paper like in the Wonderland 222 planner)
• dual tip markers….so many bold and pastel colors to choose from
• Petite Planner stickers – I don’t buy extra stickers because the Erin Condren hourly planner comes with plenty. If I did, I like small, functional stickers and the ones in the petite planners and journals are my favorites and the dot stickers are great for color coding and tiny, happy pops of color!

Erin Condren Hourly Planner pros and cons

Erin Condren Hourly Planner pros:

• Laminate covers are customizable and interchangeable
• Choice of 4 color schemes/styles for interior planning pages (harmony neutral, harmony colorful, in blooms or colorblends)
• strong, sturdy coil
• high quality 80# Mohawk paper will resist bleed through
• excellent for planning or memory keeping to document your life
• their cultural/cause awareness covers are by artists of that group who share their stories and proceeds are given back to charitable organizations supporting that culture/cause.
• a large fan base and supportive community on Facebook and Instagram

Erin Condren Hourly Planner cons:

• Price? – starting at $55 and some customizations can increase price
• Vegan leather covers look more professional but not interchangeable
• not really a con but I’m not crazy about the cultural and heritage days and contacts pages, I’d rather the planner have notes pages.

Is the Erin Condren Hourly Planner worth it?

My general thought is any planner is worth it if you commit to using it and giving it a good run.

The Erin Condren hourly planner is worth it if you:

• value high quality and durable materials used to construct the planner
• have a lot of appointments or different tasks to juggle in your day
• want a nice weekly overview
• want to time block or track how you spend your time
• plan to keep the planner to document your life and/or reference it
• are inspired, encouraged and motivated by pretty designs and quotes
• want to give a beautiful gift (for teachers especially) because they have coordinating notepads, stationery and cards.
• use it!

Erin Condren hourly planner alternatives

These planners are like the weekly Erin Condren hourly planner reviewed in this post.

• Erin Condren daily duo – if you want a daily hourly planner
• Clever Fox Pro hourly weekly
• Passion Planner weekly
• Plum paper hourly vertical layout
• Purple trail weekly (hourly vertical layout inside)

More Planner Resources

I’ve given you lots to think about but here are just a few more planner resources I’ve compiled to help you decide which planner is right for you.

• Planners like Erin Condren
• Ultimate Planner Comparison
• More Planner Reviews
• Which is the Best Erin Condren Planner for You
• Is the Erin Condren Planner worth the money?

I think the Erin Condren hourly planner is a great planner for people who want to be more productive, budget and track their time or just want a beautiful planner to keep valuable memories and document their lives.