The Best Planner for a Productive and Happy Year

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Are you a to-do list and planner junkie like me? Check out my honest review of the Happy Planner and how it stacks up against other planner systems I’ve used.

I tried so many different planners over the years, trying to find the perfect system to keep me organized in all areas of my life. I’ve tried everything from a regular old notebook, to bullet journaling, to the Panda Planner. Heading into 2020, I was looking for one planner to track my work schedule, to do list, health and fitness and my personal life. A tall order for one little planner.

Until my friend Brittany, introduced me to The Happy Planner.

What intrigued me about The Happy Planner was not only the beautiful designs, but the ability to customize. But admittedly, their website could do a better job of explaining the different offerings. So, off to Michael’s we went to see for ourselves, coupons in tow! Because it was New Year season, there was a whole glorious aisle of planning goodness. We spent more than an hour in the aisle perusing the different sizes, layouts, stickers and embellishments. As a total newbie to Happy Planner, I wish I had found a post like this that broke it down. So without further ado, here’s my review of the Happy Planner after using it for a full year.

Happy Planner Sizes

First, Happy Planner has four different planner sizes to choose from – The Classic, The Classic Skinny, The Mini and the Skinny Mini and The Big.

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I chose the classic because it was would fit easily in my purse for work, but it also seemed large enough to manage my workload. Pro Tip: Take your work bag when you go shopping for your planner to make sure it fits!

Happy Planner Layouts

Once you select a size, you can choose your layout. This was perhaps the most overwhelming and daunting part of the process. Happy Planner has both dated and undated versions of their planners with three main layout styles – vertical, horizontal and dashboard. There are also some special edition layouts that you can check out in person. For now, we will cover the basics.

Vertical Layout

The vertical layout has a two-page spread for each week of the year. As the name suggests, each day has it’s own vertical column. The standard vertical layout divides the vertical columns into three rows, some planners are lined and others are not.

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I liked the vertical layout but didn’t need the three sections. So the version I have has a small section at the top, which I used for my daily gratitude, and a lined column below for my daily to-do list.

Horizontal Layout

The horizontal layout is – you guessed it, horizontal! The weekly spread includes a horizontal box for each day of the week. This is really a personal preference.

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Dashboard Layout

Finally, you have the dashboard layout, which condenses your week onto one page and includes additional space on the left to track and plan.

What I don’t particularly like about this layout is that the left hand side is labelled, most commonly with space for errands, things to buy, calls/emails and bills to pay. These categories seem totally random to me, and the right-hand side barely has space for 3 tasks.

However, the cool thing about the dashboard layout is that it comes in many different formats. If you’re patient enough to sift through them all online or spend hours at Michael’s looking for the one. I found this version below that has “tasks” on the left, which I like a lot. I usually create a master weekly to-do list which I spread out over the week. But this layout still has that list for things “to buy” which seems so odd to me. I keep most of my shopping lists in my phone. You could cover this up, but that’s a lot of effort for every week of the year.

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The frustrating thing is, you may fall in love with a particular cover, only to find the layout doesn’t work for you. Or vice versa. I flipped through dozens of choices at Michaels before finding the layout that would work best for me. But I wasn’t crazy about the interior design of the one I chose. The quotes in the Hello Gorgeous version are a bit juvenile, with graphics of shoes, makeup and other “girly” things. In the end, I chose function over form. I bought stickers to cover up the things I didn’t like (more on those later). Of course, Happy Planner wins – because I bought more stuff to cover up what I didn’t like about their product. Salty, much?

Add-Ons and Embellishments

I’ve found the vertical layout works really well for me, with a few additional add-ons. My favorite add-on is the to-do list insert – a classic size sheet folded in half, marked “This Week’s goals.” When opened up, the full spread includes space for notes.

Happy Planner includes one page for notes at the back of their planners, which is essentially useless. However, you can buy note paper inserts to add more. In my opinion, note pages are critical for a functional planner system. I’ve tried OneNote and other digital systems, but I always come back to paper notes.

Another way you can customize is by purchasing two planners and combining them to meet all your needs. When I first started, I wanted to keep a food diary. So, I used another Happy Planner focused on Health and Fitness and added it into the back of my planner.

If you do choose to have multiple sections in your planner, Dashboards can help you navigate to different areas quickly. Dashboards are plastic, tabbed dividers – they come in all different styles and colors and some are even dry erase!

A Happy Planner review would not be complete without talking about stickers! Happy Planner has SO many different sticker packages it’s almost overwhelming. From quotes and motivation to to do lists, dates and reminders – there is a sticker for literally everything. When I bought my planner in January 2020, I stocked up on all the cute stickers. I used stickers to cover up the graphics throughout the book that I didn’t care for. I also used a few reminder stickers here are there. But if you flip through my planner today, you’ll see I haven’t added a sticker since March. Overall, it’s a nice feature, but in my opinion it’s not worth the time.

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Happy Planner Review: The Verdict

For me, the Happy Planner is more about function that form. I love that it’s customizable and has inserts to match your needs. My one major gripe is that I think the covers and planner inserts should be sold separately. That way you could choose a cover that you love and a layout that meets your needs, without sacrificing. Overall, I would recommend Happy Planner to anyone who expects a little more out of their planner. But I highly suggest you wait for a sale to scoop up all the extras you may need. I hope you found this happy planner review helpful as you start “planning” for your planner needs in 2021.

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