As I mentioned in a recent post life has been quite hectic the last few months do I decided it was a perfect excuse to buy a planner. I’ve always loved stationary and makings lists and so when I started following FiloAlly on instagram and saw her planner posts I found a new way to enjoy my obsession.

I think one of the reasons the world of planning appeals to me so much is because it reminds me of those FunFax folders you could buy when I was a kid.

Do you remember them? I had the original and the spy version, both bought at the school book fate. They had all these stickers and fun sections for a calendar, friendship files and a diary. I remember you could buy extra inserts about all different hobbies and interests. I had completly forgotten about my much loved FunFax until I started looking into planners.<br /

How to choose a planner

Planners come in all sorts of different sizes, colours and bindings. The most popular planners seam to be the Filofax range, Erin Condran and Kikki-K. They seam to all have dividers for different sections such as monthly pages, weekly pages and notes. You can buy different page inserts or print your own. Lots of Etsy sellers have printable inserts they have designed to fit your planner perfectly.

Filofax and Kikki-K have 6 ring binders similar to A4 folders but instead of two clips there are six. It’s really easy to use a single hole punch to punch holes into your custom made inserts to make them fit. The Erin Condran range are spiral bound, like a note book. You can still add your own insets by punching holes to line up with the rings and then cutting the holes so you can slot them in.

I found a great post and video showing how to make inserts for spiral bound planners here.

Planners also come in two main sizes, personal and A5. The Kikki-K large size is the equivalent of the Filofax A5 size. The size you use is completely personal preference. You may want a smaller planner so you can carry it in your handbag more easily. One thing I didn’t consider before my planner arrived was the weight, my large or A5 planner is quite heavy but I still love it! Before I ordered I checked the sizes using this blog post.

Before you buy a planner you need to think about the following five things:

1. What is your budget?
Not all planners are created equally, some cost very little some run well over £100. If you want a really cheap option you can always make your own really cheaply. Heymugi has a great tutorial here.

2. What size will works for you?
Do you want to keep the planner at home or carry it with you? Is your handbag big enough for a large planner? The larger planners are also much heavier.

3. What are you trying to keep track of?
The more you want to track the more space you are going to need. Maybe you have lovely near hand writing and you can use a smaller planner, maybe like me you like to have the extra space. If you already know you are going to have a super stuffed planner maybe choose one with an elastic closure so you can really stretch your planner.

4. What do you want to carry in your planner?
Is your planner going to be stuffed with pens, washi tape and post it’s or will you be carrying a pencil case or planner supply case? From what I have seen even those with stuffed planners also end up with a supply case, a bit like a pencil case but with clips, page flags and post it’s as we’ll as pens.

The Kikki-k & Filofax types have lots of pockets for storage, the Erin Condran doesn’t have as many but you can make custom pockets for any planner.

5. What extras do you want?
Double check when ordering what inserts come with your planner so you an order extras you may need. I would also suggest ordering some cute clips, coloured pens, washi tape, maybe some planner stamps, planner stickers and post it’s.

Other advise
I’d strongly suggest trawling Pintrest, YouTube & Instagram for inspiration for your planner. There are ao many great planner girls out there all ready and eager to share their ideas.

So what did I do….
Personally I decided I wanted to buy a larger planner with ring binder clips, I wanted lots of space to add in supplies and I had some savings to treat myself so I ended up with the Large Dark Mint Kikki-K planner.
I live in the UK I also had to pay import tax before the post office would release my planner, this was about £30 but I imagine it varies depending on the value of your shipment.

I would advise it to make sure you order any inserts you may want or if you are printing your own be sure to stock up on paper and ink so you can get going as soon as the planner arrives!

I will try to post my unboxing video this weekend and get started on my customisation so I can share it with you!