MEET MY 2016 GOLD AND WHITE PLANNER FROM BAN.DO

I miss blogging! It's been 2 weeks or so but here I am coming with a bang! It's planner shopping season again! One of the most exciting times of the year! Okay, you know how faithful I was with Belle de Jour planners, but this time - I am certain that a change is necessary. PS: If you're not convinced how "into-it" I was with BDJ planners, check out my post HERE, HERE and HERE.

I was obsessing over getting the best planner for my taste and the search has been going on for months! No kidding! The saga started when I went back to Manila for a short vacation (that was July-ish), and the search ended only a couple of weeks ago! Thank GOD, I found this gold and white planner from an American shop called Ban.do. Let me give you a mini-planner tour, if you will.

QUIRKY MEETS FUNCTION

Nobody's too old for a planner. And no matter how digital our age is, there will always be this sure-fire way to get your schedule organised: PEN AND PAPER. I don't know about you but putting my schedule this way is fun and therapeutic. I like that each month has this cute illustration and notice the paper separator for each month.

It's also a 17-month planner. This means it starts with August 2015 and ends on December 2016. How clever is that?! This is just what I need since I don't use my BDJ 2015 planner as much due to this one thing (see below)...

2-PAGE MONTHLY VIEW

Honestly, this is the sole reason why I bought this planner (albeit the price, more on that later). I mean, I've searched every book shop in London (WH Smith, Waterstone, Paperchase, name it!) and even online, only to find out that it's either they have ruled notes (which I hate) or one page monthly view.

When BDJ released their 2016 planner, I saw that they stick with the same one month page view, and that made me decide to finally say good riddance to the brand. I hope they'll bring back this 2-page monthly view, it's really helpful.

UNRULED NOTES

This is another deal breaker for me and I'm so elated when I saw this! Free space galore! Pages without ruled lines work for me. I can draw, write diagonally or even put pictures without any rules #pun intended! Seriously, I am loving that simple and clean vibe overeall.

THE TRADE OFF

You know what they say, there's no such thing as free lunch :) Some wishful thoughts for this planner is its size (which is a teeny weeny thinner in terms of width than most planners) and its cost. I got it shipped from the US to the UK and that massively bloated the price! Hold your breath, the tag is about £43.00 (about Php 2,800) and I got it from Amazon. Ridiculous, I know. I don't like to justify this but I don't have any regret purely because of the fact that this is exactly what I want for my planner.

Guess who's ever updating her planner with coloured pens? *wink! -CMK