REVIEW || Ban.do Planners -- 2017 Medium & 2016 Small

Hey guys! It's about that time of year where planner freaks buy their planners, since many start around August or September. Because of that, I wanted to share my thoughts on the Ban.do planners, which I have for 2016, as well as the new one for 2017! I also have two different sizes which I will compare for you, as I had the smaller one last year, and opted for the new Medium size this year!

I'm sure this post won't be for everyone—lots of people are happy just keeping a calendar and lists on their phones—but I have loved keeping a paper planner this past year, and look forward to continuing through next year, because it makes me personally feel far more organized with everything laid out in one place, like videos, blog posts, appointments, tasks & to-do's, and events. If you ever feel scattered, or like you have too many apps trying to hold all your stuff to do and remember, i would consider even an inexpensive or simple planner, if not one of the fun Ban.do planners I'm about to show you!

That said, let's look at the cover I picked for my planner this year! Bando has several styles for each size available on their own site (best for American buyers, most likely) or on Indigo (best for Canadian buyers!). Indigo even has some exclusive covers not sold on Ban.do's site, including the same polka-dot cover I have for 2016, if you like that one!

I picked this pretty, pastel sunset gradient cover with a gold ring binding and elastic, and a shiny 2017 embossed on the cover. I'm in love, though it wasn't my first pick. I originally wanted the green marble cover, but that is an exclusive to the ban.do website (sad face!). As I said above, this is the medium size, and there is also a large and small; the large has the same ring binding, while the small is more of a traditional book-binding.

Here's a comparison of the small vs. the new medium.

As you can see, there isn't a huge difference, which is great for me, because I loved the compactness of the small size, but really wanted the ring binding this year! The medium just has a little extra width, for the most part, which means slightly more room for planning!.

I'm not super sure what I should show you about these planners, but I took tons of pictures of my 2017 one, so I'll show some of the interior, which I think explains why I bought this brand over others! So yeah, I guess here are some features of the 2017 ban.do planners:

A pocket! This is actually a double-sided pocket page just inside the cover, which is great! The small last year had a single pocket on the inside of the back cover, which was still great, but having a second pocket is just convenient! I like to use the pocket for important papers I need to deal with, stickers, and I've also kept concert tickets in there until the date so I couldn't lose them!

Stickers! Last year's planner came with a page of stickers as well, but the 2017 actually comes with two pages of stickers! Stickers are so not necessary for planning, and I rarely use any, but it is fun to decorate a square for a special day like birthdays or events, or to use stickers to mark things like appointments, nail days, or date nights. So these are a really fun extra to get you started. Or, if you're like me: to last you all year!

Inside the planner, aside from a page full of important holidays (like National Coffee Day), there's a page for you to fill out with all the important dates in your life! I've used mine to catalog friends and family birthdays, as well as my favourite holidays and milestones for my blog and YT channel!

A big reason that I chose this planner is that this brand is adorable, fun, and quirky, which is so much more "me" than many other planner brands that like to use black and white, minimalism and inspirational quotes. I love the bright, playful approach that these planners take, and one great place to see that is on the art on the month dividers! Below are the dividers for August 2016 (in the 2017 planner) and October 2016:

Behind that divider, every month has a full-month calendar for you to lay out your most important stuff (or use however you want), as well as two full note pages!

(Interesting, but not super important, is that the 2016 put the note pages before the month layout, and the 2017 has switched that order.) There are also even more note pages, though, at the back of the planner this year, should you need more room to write or doodle.

Finally, and most practically important, is the weekly spreads. The ban.do planners all have a horizontal layout (unlike the verticle pillar options in brands like Erin Condren), which is my personal preference. The vertical can look cool, especially decorated, but the horizontal like this makes so much more sense to me!

They're empty boxes without lines, which is great because it means you can fill that box with writing as big or small as you want, without constraint. They have also put important holidays and such in light pink in the bottom of the box on those days. This is really easy to write over, too, for a day that isn't important to you, and you need that space for yourself!

And, every now and then in the weekly spreads, you'll run across something cute and cheesy like this:

Who doesn't want occasional compliments from their planner?! I love it. Just like I love these planners! Aside from everything I've already said, I think they're also really good quality, with a nice sturdy cover, thick paper that doesn't show through easily, and now little laminated tabs for each month, for added durability! Yes, these are a more expensive planner. Yes, you could pay less and get something with similar week layouts for less money... But would it be as cute? No. No it would not.

For me, the cuteness of this planner is part of what makes it useable for me. I had planners before I was inconsistent using because it wasn't fun for me; it felt like a chore, and I didn't think it helped me. But now that I've found a planner I'm willing to use every day to keep track of tasks and appointments (and also my water intake!), I've found that I feel more productive and less disorganized, which is so nice!

If you're interested, as I said above, you can find Ban.Do planners as Bando.com and Chapters.Indigo.ca. I definitely recommend Indigo to Canadians, because they have free shipping over $25, which all these planners are. The prices, by the way, on Indigo: Large = $35, Medium = $32, and Small = $26.

So those are my thoughts on the Ban.do planners! Let me know if you've used these or another brand before, which one, and how you liked it!

Also let me know if you have any questions I might be able to answer for you!

Thanks for watching!