Here’s comes the new year! 2020 was a bit of a doozy, so I’m welcoming 2021 with open arms and a new version of my favorite calendar and a brand new planner.
If you’ve been following me on social media or here on the blog for several years, then you’ll know that I LOVE planners! I used to spend hours each week designing stickers and printables and decorating my planner!
To me, planning is an incredibly soothing hobby but constantly buying stickers can get very, very expensive. Because of the high price tag, I slowly backed away from sticker planning in 2017 and moved more towards printables and working with my sticker stash in 2018.
These days, I enjoy adding stickers here and there to my wall calendar (which I hang on my fridge) and limiting myself to a juicy black gel pen in my work planner (with just a smattering of stickers). It’s not quite as exciting as my old sticker planning days, but it’s still pretty and can be soothing!
Favorite Calendar
For three years now, I’ve been using a wall calendar from Simplified by Emily Ley. I keep this calendar on my fridge (hung with magnetic hooks) and add birthdays, events, appointments, etc. with my favorite retractable gel pens, pretty highlighters, and a few leftover stickers here and there.
Fair warning, this calendar is a little heavy, so I use two hooks to hold it up. One hook on the top (secured through the built-in metal loop). For the second hook, I place it at the bottom of the calendar and the pages just sit in the hook. You can see what I’m talking about if you zoom in on this Instagram post.
Why Simplified by Emily Ley Wall Calendar?
- The colors! I love Emily’s bright and cheery color palette, which sometimes includes metallic gold.
- Accessibility — this line by Emily Ley is actually produced by At-A-Glance and items from the line are available at Staples, Office Depot, Target, and Walmart.
- Price — at $14.99, I think this calendar is a great price!
P.S. Staples has free delivery! I got my calendar in a matter of days, so there’s still time for you to get one too!
2021 Planner
For three years, I’ve also used Emily Ley’s Daily Simplified Planner. Similar to the wall calendar above, her planners are gorgeous too! However, they do have a slightly higher price point, but in my opinion, they are worth the price! If you want to try the original Simplified Planner, here is $10 off your order.
This year, I opted to try a new planner because my workload has changed a bit these last few months. I no longer need as much space as the Daily Simplified Planner provides, so I’ve opted to try a planner from Rifle Paper Co. instead.
This year, I’ll be using Rifle Paper Co.’s 2021 17-Month Large Planner in the pattern Strawberry Fields.
Why Rifle Paper Co. 2021 17-Month Large Planner?
- The pattern! As you probably already know, colors and patterns are important to me! I fall in love with them pretty easily. And Rifle patterns? They are among my favorites! I love this Strawberry Fields pattern so much, I also got it in an AirPods case for Christmas this year!
- Layout — the planner I chose is a week on two pages and has 16 checkboxes/lines (in two columns) for each weekday and 8 checkboxes/lines each for Saturday and Sunday. When it comes to work, my planning style is less traditional planning and more to-do lists with items that need to be checked. So a planner that is designed to fit that need, is the one for me!
- Price — this planner is about half the price of the Simplified Planners that I used to use. Because my workload has changed and 2020 has been a weird year, I figured it was worth trying a less expensive (while still beautiful and extremely functional) planner option.
So there you have it, my favorite calendar and the new planner I’ll be using in 2021!
For reference, I’ve also used the Erin Condren LifePlanner before (and loved it while I was sticker planning) and the Day Designer. Both are excellent options as well.
And if you’re prefer something FREE and printable, check out my calendar printables. I have monthly, daily, and weekly options that you may like!
Affiliate links are in use in this post, but I stand-by each and every one of these planners and products!
One thought on “Favorite Calendar & Planner | 2021”