Day 1 With My Erin Condren Life Planner

I received many things for my planner from my family for my birthday.

My New Planning Supplies

You can see in this picture, that there are a lot of planning supplies that I was given.  There are two "Crown" pens, one is holding the washi tapes.  I don't know where most of this stuff came from but I love it all!

The coil clips from Erin Condren were also knew to my planning supplies.

I plan to also make DIY ones later but I wanted the official ones first.

These Are the Planning Supplies I Already Had

Smash Book scissors.  I've had these for a few years and I love them so much!  I have been carrying them in the diaper bag to have something safer than a pocket knife to cut things.  I might have to get another pair so I can keep one in the diaper bag and one with all my planner things.

Yoobi 8 Color Pen from Target.  I discovered this by accident.  I was just looking around the office supplies in Target, like I always do (huh, maybe not so accident), and I saw this pen.  Usually pens that have this many colors are a little pricy but this one wasn't!  

I already have some washi tape but it is all in storage so I am not able show it let alone use it.  :(

After putting on the new cover to my planner, 

I went to work!  Since it's only been one day, not much had really been done.

I moved my fancy  paper clips to my dashboard...

and made the legend for my color coding.

I use the, aforementioned, Yoobi multi colored pen in my planner to easily find who's doing what.

Black-everyday and me

Blue-birthday parties and anniversaries

Red-birthdays and marking my period days

Orange-church related actives

Green-Tom's stuff (green is his favorite color)

Purple-Evelyn's stuff

Pink-Raven's stuff

I used one of the three sample comment cards and the sample coil clip to make it.  That way I can move it from one month to the next.  This will be the second year I use this system and it's worked out nicely.

You see that little tab at the top of the page?

It says "This Month."  I use it to quickly go to the current month.

I put short versions of our plans on the month at a glance pages.

I usually use another tab for "This Week" but this planner comes with a clear book marker that can be changed around.  That is what I will use as my "This Week" marker.

I also used my little dot stickers to mark pay days.  You can also see here that I marked my 6th marriage anniversary!

I filled out my first Goal at the beginning of the planner.

This is the back cover.  I didn't get a close up before.

I marked out all the days that have past...

in the month...

and the weeks.

I did this weeks planning and once we get Evelyn's school schedule (holidays and special school days) I'll be able to fill out more planned days.

This is day one with my Life Planner!

Stay tuned for my post on 90 days of using my Life Planner!

(That should be on November 18, 2015, near a week before Thanksgiving!)

Don't worry, I'll have more between now and then.

Harry Potter Subway Art Erin Condren Life Planner Cover

So, I just got my Erin Condren Life Planner and the first thing I did to it, after documenting its arrival, was put on its new cover!

Harry Potter Subway Art Erin Condren Life Planner Cover and Dashboard set!

In my post about why I chose an Erin Condren Life Planner, I forgot to mention the name of the Etsy shop I got my covers and dashboard from; Small Box of Treasures.  She has such cute and awesome looking covers for your Erin Condren Life Planner.  You need to check them out!

I have been worried that this cover wouldn't match up to the official Erin Condren covers.  I am happy to say that it turned out perfectly at first use!

This is what it arrived in.  Two folders protecting it.

First look.

I love getting little cards like these in packages.  A little extra love sent!

Before I put on the new cover, I compared the cover the planner came with with the Small Box of Treasures cover.  The original cover's holes are slightly bigger and more boxy.  There wasn't enough difference to even have me worried that it wouldn't work well. 

When I started putting on the cover, my fingers started to get "snagged."  That's the best way I can describe it.  In the picture above you can see that I got myself a little tool to help me.  I looked around me for a pen and didn't see one, so I grabbed this toy spear off a McDonald's toy.  It did the job just fine!

The ultimate test!  I jiggled and shook it and this is the result.

Perfectly intact and still looking spiffy!

The covers, both on, with the planner on its "belly."

The new look of the inside.

I received the cover and dashboard set, from my mother in law, so I had more to attach.  I didn't know where to put it at first.  Did I want it to stay in one place or was I going to move it around?  I decided that I would move it from month to month.  Now, I thought the best place was at the front of each month to not cover so much of the planning.

I did The Ultimate Test again, and the results were also satisfying.

I am very pleased with this cover!  Just the right amount of Potter fandom and so well made!  Time will tell just how well made though.  Watch for future posts!

To take a look inside the Erin Condren Life Planner, check out this post.

A Look Inside the Erin Condren Planner

So Monday rolled by, August 17th, and I waited for my planner.  Nothing.  Turns out the date they gave me meant that's when it would leave the warehouse.  Today, August 19th, it came!
I ordered the ready ship with the rest of the year and also one set of coil clips.  It took ten days, from the day I ordered, to the time it shipped.  Then just two days for actual shipping.  I have been waiting for this day for a long time!

This year, my birthday presents were all about new beginnings.  My sister in law and Tom, my hubby, bought me things for my planner, my mother in law bought me my new covers and my brother paid for most of my planner.  He told me, "Okay, I'm going to buy you something but it can't be more than $50."  We were shopping around when he told me this.  Looked at HomeGoods.  Nothin'.  Looked at Hobby Lobby.  Nothin'.  World Market.  Nothin'.  So I told him that he could just give me the fifty bucks and I would put that towards my planner.  At first he said no, then he couldn't think of anything to get me, so he agreed.  My parents didn't get me planner stuff, but they gave me a gift card to Cato.  I bought three tops for myself and two for Evelyn.  Then my mom went and bought a shirt I had on hold that I was going to have to wait until payday for.  Also, within the past two months, my mom bought me three new pairs of pants.  NEW WARDROBE!!!  I love it!

Back to the Erin Condren Life Planner!
I am so excited about this!  If you are thinking about getting an Erin Condren Life Planner, use this link to get $10 off your first purchase!  (psst!this covers shipping to most places! yay free shipping!)

Let's take a look!

I will tell my story through...pictures!
(You're lucky I didn't say song!)

Evelyn came in yelling, "Guess what came Mama?!"

The Erin Condren Life Planner Box (with my Whataburger cup in the back.  So Texas!).

My first look inside.

Stickers, a postcard and my cover voucher.
(I already know which I'll get)

It's wrapped!  I'm getting excited!

Ah!  There it is with my coil clips!

COIL CLIPS!!!

First look inside my new Life Planner!

(I put hearts around our marriage anniversary!)

First pages before the months start.

It started in July, but since we are in August, I started with that.  This is the cover to August.  Each month is different.

What the vertical format looks like.
(Update: I'm on day 2 of using the planner and I checked it this morning, like I always do, and I noticed something.  The week starts on Monday.  I don't see why you would do that when your month starts the week on Sunday.  Be aware of this when you first start planning.  I had to scratch out my plans and put them a day over.  Luckily I caught it before I showed up to something a day late.)

This planner goes all the way to December 2016!

Different kinds of note pages in the back.

A glance at 2017!  Whoa, 2017.  I remember writing 1998 on my papers at school.

Birthday stickers with one "vote" sticker.  Ready for new presidential elections!

Everyday stickers.

Two pages of blank stickers in such pretty colors!

The back pocket with the perpetual calendar.

This little book is to keep all important dates and a few contacts and a few passwords in the very back of it.

The clear pouch for stickers and such.  I wish this was removable, like the covers, so that I could move it around the planner.  It's soft and pliable and opens and closes easily.

Back cover.

That's everything, front to back!

Super awesome things and my planner!


As you can see, nothing has been done.  I hadn't even written my name in the front yet.
In this post, I show just about every page of the Life Planner.  I, of course, didn't take a picture of every month or every week.  They are all the same in a rainbow of colors.  When I looked around the internet about the Erin Condren planner, I didn't find any posts that showed everything and if it did, it didn't tell me that it did.  So here!  I am trying to show you everything about this planner so that you can make a better informed decision.  If there is something I missed that you want to see, leave a comment and I will help as quick as I can!


To see how my Harry Potter Subway Art cover turned out, check out this post.  For posts about the things I have for my planner, and the first things I did with my Erin Condren Life Planner, stay tuned!