My 2020 Doodle Planner

For those of you who don’t know, when I am not in quarantine I am VERY busy. I work as a restaurant bartender, mentor at my university, freelance bar tend, volunteer with two different organisations, study at university full-time and keep up a social life. So as you can imagine, I depend on my planner like a tree with sunlight.

It was after I graduated high school and at the start of 2019 that I discovered bullet journaling. I vigorously followed YouTubers likes AmandaRachLee. Within a few months I drew up my own bullet journal spreads. I’ll admit I am not creatively inclined but it was a fun way to pass time before my life after school started to pick up.

A month or two after the university semester started up, I couldn’t find the time to draw up these elaborate spreads and gave up. After that I fell into a misguided clump, event happening left and right and no idea how I was going to schedule it all. Of course I could’ve gotten one of those regular planners from the dollar store. But while I didn’t have the time or energy to put so much effort into a beautiful planner but didn’t want to give into the boring dollar store planners I wanted an alternative.

This is when AmandaRachLee became my saviour.

In late 2019 she announced she was releasing her very own series of planners. Inside the planner features her hand-drawn illustrations in black and white so that they can be personalised with colours. This was perfect for me as I needed a nice and chic planner but one where I could at least be somewhat creative.

Features

There Planner has many attractive features.

Inside:

160gsm paper
monthly and weekly planner spreads
monthly mood trackers, habit trackers, goal-setting and “favourites” pages
yearly reflections and goal setting pages
Dotted pages for your own creativity

Outside:

Vegan leather cover with foil embossments
back pocket to hold loose papers
Elastic closure
Two ribbon bookmarks
Pen holder

While this is all very attractive, the price was quite expensive $72. 50AUD ($45.90 USD) without shipping costs.

How I use the Planner

When I use a planner I write in my events the day I know what the day and time is. This can be months in advance or days in advance but I will only do this for events that are set in stone and have no chance of changing. Examples of this is volunteer events, work shifts and exams. After that I write in due dates, e.g PR posts, assignment due dates or application due dates. The week before I will then plan out my week. Within the 7 days I plan a “Block out day”. This is a day where I don’t plan to do anything. This is really important for me as I hate feeling swamped and blocking out that day means I can catch up university work, self-care or event my volunteer work. It is just a day for me. Then I plan my flexible events around my essential events and my “Block out day”.

For the creative side of my planner, I colour in when I study. This sounds counterproductive but hear me out. I use the pomodoro technique. This means I work for 25 minutes and have a 5 minute break, repeat 4 times and then work for 25 minutes and have a 15 to 30 minute break. Within my 5 minute break I put a song on from my Spotify and colour in my journal. Once the timer rings to signal the end of my break I start to study again. If I am not colouring when I study I do it before I go to bed.

Review after 4 months

I won’t lie to you, I have seen positive and negative reviews on this particular planner but wanted to judge for myself.

Those who weren’t a fan of the planner wrote that “it stifles personal creativity”, “The price is too much” or that they “can’t imagine carrying anything bigger than a B6 around”. While I find that these are all fair points, my personal need and use for it outweighed these negatives. By allowing my to colour in at my own discretion, I find that this journal hits the right balance of allowing me to be creative and not spend an obscene amount of time drawing. Even though I received this planner as a gift, I would probably still purchase it for myself and probably will if she releases a 2021 edition. This is because I feel as if I use it every day for scheduling and as a mini creative outlet which are both very important to me. I have to agree that the planner is a bit chunky and heavy but I carry a big bag most of the time I am out and I have no problem. I think it is important to understand that it’s big because of the quality that is provided in the planner. The 160gsm paper ensures that pens don’t bleed through and that you can use the strongest of pens and it won’t show on the other side. So it is a sacrifice I am willing to make.

Overall, I am very in favour of purchasing this Planner as it fundamentally does its job while providing a tiny creative outlet for me.

Here is the link if you’re keen on getting a 2020 Doodle Planner as well (halfway through the year…)

Link to 2020 Doodle Planner