Planner Pages: My College Planner

It's no secret that I've become a total planner junkie over the past year. Planning has been such a good tool for organizing my life and I really don't know if I could have gotten through the past year of college without it. Not only is it beneficial for my crazy lifestyle, but it also is theraputic to me (I know that I'm crazy) to sit down with a cup of coffee and think about exactly how things should happen for the next few days. I personally, like I'll say forever, am crazy, and have three planners (not a typo): an Erin Condren, which serves as memory keeping / a giant to-do list, a personal binder with inserts that I take on the go, and my Happy Planner, which is all pen and perfect for school.

Mostly out of curiousity, I ordered my first MAMBI Happy Planner in January to use as my school planner. I had previously been cramming my homework assignments into my Erin Condren, which was just not working--there just wasn't enough space to write everything properly. Obviously having an entirely seperate space worked, because I ordered the new, larger Happy Planner for the upcoming school year. 

The layout is very similar to what I am used to: a monthly view followed by the individiual week laid out in three vertical boxes: a morning section, an afternoon, and an evening. I decided to pick up the new big version of this planner, which is significantly larger than the older format, just to have more space. I typically set up my schedule to have either two or three classes a day, so each class gets its own box. The notes section on the sidebar typically houses larger assignments that are due that week. This system works for me: I have a small glance of my due dates on the side with the focus being on smaller tasks and reading assignments. Since, for this semester at least, I only have class Monday through Thursday, I use the weekend section to list out what exactly I want to accomplish when I sit down at my desk. That way my specific assignments and my to-do list are all in one place.

Comparing the Happy Planner to the Erin Condren, the obvious thing is the price: Happy Planners are roughly $30 (the one that I haev was $35 because it is the jumbo size) and can be purchased at Michael's. This, of course, means that those beloved 40% off a single item coupons are applicable. With Erin Condrens costing $50 plus shipping at minimum, the Happy Planner is most definitely the more cost effective choice. The Happy Planner doesn't have a tradition coil--instead it is held together with plastic rings that hold everything together. The upside? You can add in and remove pages easily.

All in all, I love this system and will continue to use it until something better comes along (if ever). If you're a student, I highly recommend a planner to be your brain dump for assignments and due dates. Clearly you don't have to be as crazy as I am (okay, three might be a little much) but just a spot to jot down things is my number one organization tip.

The MAMBI Happy Planners sell for $30 and can be purchased on Amazon, Michael's, or at the brand's website which I will link here. All of the retailers sell the product for roughly the same price (sometimes you can catch a good deal on Amazon), so if you are interested in this planner, my recommendation is to just use a Michael's coupon and pick it up in-store to avoid any shipping costs.