Whitney English Day Designer vs. Erin Condren Life Planner

Day Designer and Erin Condren Life Planner. These are pricey planners, ladies. So I completely understand the need to endlessly research before pulling the trigger! Here are my honest thoughts and review on the Erin Condren Life Planner vs. the Whitney English Day Designer.

Erin Condren Life Planner

What I Love about the Erin Condren Life Planner

If you love to customize, you’ll be really into the Erin Condren Life Planner.

You can choose from tons of pretty covers, make personalized stickers, gift tags and much more.

The colors are bright and cheery; each weekly layout includes a sidebar with goals and notes for the week and space along the bottom for extra to-dos, meal plans, lists, whatever you choose. The paper itself is good quality and the tabs are nicely laminated so I’m never really worried about accidentally tearing a page out. Also, the size is great. It’s slightly smaller than the Day Designer but still big enough to lay nicely on your desk.

My favorite thing about the Erin Condren Life Planner are the accessories. I love the little ruler I can snap in and out to mark a page, I love the pocket in the back and I love, love, love the zippered pouch to contain loose items. The back also has a 2023 and 2024 yearly view which I like, even though I don’t use it.

{via Erin Condren}

Erin Condren Life Planner Cons

Despite the fun accessories, I never used this planner. I tried a few times but the space to write in is split between morning/day/night and it’s just too small. I could easily fill the box with one “to-do” and overall whenever I write anything, it just feels kind of crammed for space.

I do realize, however, that many people love and prefer this layout! It is extremely popular and also seen for the Big Happy Planner.

You can also get cute stickers on Etsy that fit the Erin Condren planner that may allow you to write more things in the weekly spread.

But, overall, it comes down to personal preference as far as your perfect planner layout goes.

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RELATED: My All-Time Favorite Planners + How I Use Them

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Whitney English Day Designer

Day Designer Pros

My favorite part about the Day Designer is the long to-do list + hourly planning all on one page.

I don’t always plan my days out by the hour so instead I can just create a long-running to-do list.

When I first bought a Day Designer, the planner also came with “Finding Your Core” worksheets, which was excellent for creative entrepreneurs. I believe they’re now sold separately but a wonderful, complementary piece to the planner so you can dive deep into goal setting and break it all down into planning your months, weeks and days.

There are daily motivational quotes and boxes to plan your top three must-dos for the day, dinner, notes and a space for daily gratitude.

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Day Designer Cons

There really isn’t much to dislike about the Day Designer. The format just works for me. But I do wish the weekends were a to-do list instead of the hourly breakdown.

I also miss the accessories that come with the Erin Condren Life Planner as well as the nicely laminated tabs. But there are loads of after-market accessories to spruce yours up!

Faycreates on Etsy has some really cute stickers made especially for the Day Designer and the new versions now come with an inside pocket. I purchased these giant gold paperclips and these pocket dividers from Staples. Plus, there are tons of gorgeous cover options. I mean, isn’t she lovely?

{pics via Day Designer}

The Emily Ley Simplified Planner also looks really similar but I haven’t had a chance to check it out in person yet.

Now, I exclusively use the Today & To Do, a smaller version of the Day Designer with just the to-do list. This year, Whitney English also came out with a Day Designer Mini which has the same layout and monthly tabs, just on a smaller scale.

Have you used any of these popular paper planners before? Which one is your favorite?

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