Review of the 2020-2021 Erin Condren LifePlanner Binder

For the first time in weeks I woke up before 6AM this morning. It was 5:41 to be exact. And you know what?! It wasn’t as painful as I thought it would be. In fact, I feel pretty good as I sit here in the quiet, listening to my beloved coffee brew in the kitchen. I used to get up super early before the kids on a regular basis, but ever since this quarantine hit I’ve been sleeping in like a lazy bum. I mean, why get up early when you have no where to go?! Seems silly to me. But I have to admit, it is nice to have these few minutes of alone time before the whole house is awake. I really need to get back in the habit of doing this…

Anyway, enough rambling on! Today I have a fun review of the brand new 2020-2021 Erin Condren LifePlanner binder. All of their new planners just launched yesterday and I was lucky enough to get my hands on one early. So I thought it might be helpful for my fellow planner nerds if I shared a few photos of the new planner and my thoughts on the binder design.

Review of the 2020-2021 Erin Condren LifePlanner Binder

This binder option is totally new for Erin Condren. I’ve been using (and loving!) her LifePlanners for eight years now and this is the first time they’ve ever offered a binder format. There are several fun cover options and you can customize them with your name or initials. This is the Kaleidoscope design.

As always there are three layout options to choose from–you can get a horizontal, vertical, or hourly layout. I have always loved the horizontal layout.

There are also two interior color options with this binder: you can choose Layers (Colorful or Neutral) or Flower Power. I chose the colorful layers.

In between each month there are a few blank pages–which I LOVE. And I was so happy to see that they didn’t put any labels on the boxes like they did last year, so you can use those for whatever you want! This is the perfect spot for goal planning or writing any important notes fo the month ahead.

This is the 18month planner–it begins in July 2020 and goes through December 2021. However, you can purchase just the 2021 planner with inserts for the specific months in 2020 if you’d like:

Final Thoughts on the Erin Condren Binder Design

Overall I do like the new Erin Condren binder design, but there are some pros and cons with it. First, I like that it gives a really flexible format–you can rearrange the monthly and weekly calendar spreads to suit your schedule and there are also extra inserts you can purchase with blank pages. But to be honest, it’s a bit bulky for my liking. I tend to carry my LifePlanner around with me everywhere, so this new binder option makes that a lot harder because it is so big. The pages are actually the same size as the coil planner, but the binder is much larger. I’m currently using the coiled planner and I feel like the size on that one is perfect. Plus, I find it harder to turn the pages. The do tend to catch on the binder rings.

Well I hope this helps if you’re interested in the new 2020-2021 Erin Condren planners! Or maybe if you’re trying to decide between the binder design and the standard coil. They also have a new Daily LifePlanner Duo option this year too! Let me know if you have any questions–I’m happy to chat!