I love a good planner. And I've had a good planner for years. I've reviewed Erin Condren's Horizontal and Vertical planners, Plum Paper's Planners, and Erin Condren's Teacher's Manuals (which are perfect for homeschool, by the way!). But I saw a picture of Corie Clark's Purposeful Planner, and it spoke to me. For real. Because my goal is to be intentional and purposeful – with my prayer life, with my devotions, with my kids, with our homeschooling, with work…with everything. So a Purposeful Planner just sounded good. And then when I saw it, I – well, honestly, remember in 2 Samuel when the prophet Nathan tells King David the parable about the lamb? I kind of feel like King David. I have several planners, but I REALLY wanted this one. Fortunately, I didn't have to steal it…I wouldn't steal a planner or anything else, promise! I mainly mention that story because I feel really greedy in my quest to find the perfect planner (and you'll definitely want to see the inside of The Purposeful Planner, so keep reading!).
I contacted Corie Clark and begged politely requested the opportunity to review this planner, and she very kindly and graciously sent one for me to review. So I'm sharing it with you, and comparing it to the new Erin Condren vertical hourly Life Planner, because it was the closest thing I could find. This is a little bit like comparing apples to oranges, because Corie Clark does have a Weekly Planner, not just a Daily Planner, and the Erin Condren planner reviewed here is weekly. But I really wanted you to see these gorgeous planners, so I'm just going for it anyway. 🙂 If you are a big weekly overview kind of person, you may want to buy a Corie Clark Purposeful Weekly Planner, with one of these notepads to use everyday….it's just an idea! This is The Purposeful Planner Review vs. The Erin Condren Hourly Planner Review…and personally, The Purposeful Planner is the winner for me as a homeschool mom, but both of these planners have great options for everyone and I can wholeheartedly recommend both.
As always, I did a very detailed review with LOTS of pictures (which are not all uniformly sized, because I am not a uniform kind of person. And because I couldn't figure out how to make the pictures all exactly the same size). My planner reviews are always too wordy, so I apologize in advance for the length of this post. I have notes below each photo, then pros and cons of both at the very bottom.
NOTE: In this review, I jump back and forth a bit between the two planners. It's easy to tell which is which because The Purposeful Planner is black and white, and the Erin Condren Life Planner is in color. But just in case, please note that my notes are BELOW each photo and explain which planner I'm looking at and the details you'll find inside. Let's get started:
The Purposeful Planner (above) arrives in this gorgeous box! This is really fun. It's not the same as the flowery Erin Condren mail box, which is also super fun, because this one is reusable and sturdy. My organizing heart is aflutter at the thoughts of the possibilities of this box.
The Purposeful Planner Daily (above) in Holly Floral – this is SO PRETTY!
The first page of The Purposeful Planner (above), with a sturdy pocket in the front.
The Purposeful Planner on the left, Erin Condren Life Planner (with ready-to-ship cover) on the right (above). Erin Condren Life Planners (right) are definitely more portable. I've moved away from carrying my planner with me everywhere because (full disclosure here) I spill food on it. Or the baby pukes on it. Or I drop it in puddles. I've learned to keep my planner at home. Since The Purposeful Planner is more hefty, with one day per page and a solid cover, I keep it on my desk or out on our kitchen bar where I pay bills and stuff like that. That way I can easily reference it throughout the day. The ECLP ready-to-ship pictured in the photo just has a temporary cover. It comes with a coupon code for a customizable cover, which is nice. Now, I keep my planner open all of the time, so I never see my pretty custom covers, but it is pretty fun to get one. The covers of these two planners are VERY different. The Purposeful Planner cover (left) is hard and sturdy, while the ECLP (right) is flexible and (somewhat) water-resistant because it's laminated.
The first pages of The Purposeful Planner (left) and the EC Life Planner (right)- the ECLP has a nice vellum sheet in the front. The Purposeful Planner has sturdy paper (although, you can see that my baby grabbed the paper and creased it. Sorry about that!
Yearly Calendars (above) – Here's where you start to see the biggest differences between The Purposeful Planner (left) and the ECLP (right). The ECLP is bright and colorful, and The Purposeful Planner is black and white. Colors make the ECLP more fun, and remind me that the ECLP puts form over function. But I really like decorating my planner pages with stickers and washi tape, which means that the black and white canvas of The Purposeful Planner is preferable to me.
Planning space for the year (above) – EC's is super cute (bottom), but The Purposeful Planner's (top) is super purposeful! EC's is a bank canvas, and The Purposeful Planner has some questions to direct you to figuring out your goals and completing a bucket list.
PP Budget & Menu with EC Planning Pages (above) – this is one of my favorite features of The Purposeful Planner (top). See the Budget and Meal Planning Sheets? I NEED THOSE! Erin Condren's (bottom), as always, are super cute, and you can fill them in any way you want to. I think this is a new design from Erin Condren, and specific to these Hourly ECLPs.
The Purposeful Planner and the Life Planner's monthly views (above)- the EC hourly layout planner has LINED months, which is awesome (bottom). Both layouts have sidebar columns for notes.
The Purposeful Planner and Life Planner's daily layouts (above) – as you can see, The Purposeful Planner has one day per sheet in this Daily Planner (top), but a pretty awesome weekly layout in their Weekly Planner (which I did not review, but you can look at it on their website). The Daily Layout is SO awesome (see photos below) that I'm just planning to reference my wall calendar for a way to see the week's appointments at a glance. The new hourly ECLP (bottom) has time slots to fill in (see below) with Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday on the left page and Thursday through Sunday on the right page.
Daily Layouts Side by Side (above) – The Purposeful Planner is on the left, and Erin Condren's Vertical Hourly Life Planner is on the right.
A sample day from the Purposeful Planner (above)- I copied a day from last year's planner into The Purposeful Planner's January 1 (let's be honest, I won't really be doing any of this on the 1st). I did this to show you what it looks like and how I'll be utilizing it (and also because I couldn't wait to write in it). THIS is what ultimately sold me on this planner! First, at the top, you have THREE LINES for your priorities. If you make a giant to-do list that's impossible to finish, it's so easy to feel overwhelmed and not get ANYTHING done. Here, you can write your top 3 priorities for the day to make sure that you are focusing on what's most important (I do have a giant, master to-do list, but this enables me to write my top 3 every day). Then they have an hourly block (if planning your day by the hour is too much, you can just block out general time slots to keep a routine). On the right side are inspirational quotes and Bible verses, then sections for Health, Water, Prayer & Praise, a quick 15 minute task (these are great – I loved looking through the planner to see these tips throughout the year!), Brain Dump (perfect for us working at home moms!), Retail Therapy (for shopping lists), and a Menu. What I LOVE about these daily pages is that they include everything that I typically try to squish into my Erin Condren planner. Keep scrolling down for a closer look.
Close up of The Purposeful Planner (above)
EC Life Planner Hourly Planner Close-up (above) – this is a closer look at Erin Condren's new hourly vertical layout. There are two lines per hour, which means you can still easily block out sections of time to follow a routine instead of a schedule if schedules stress you out. I love planning, but “Schedules” always bother me. I'd rather follow a routine, which means I generally block out sections of time instead planning down to the hour.
Hourly Note Pages from the Erin Condren Life Planner (above) – These are SO CUTE! Little sections for notes in the pages at the back of the planner.
Stickers in the Erin Condren Life Planner (above)- always a fun feature of the ECLP's.
ECLP zip pouch in the back of the Erin Condren Life Planner (above)- perfect for stickers and little accessories.
Those are the photos, now here are the pros and cons of both:
The Purposeful Daily Planner
Pros:
Durable, very pretty cover (2 options available, plus a leather cover option)
Excellent year goal-setting questions and sections to write in
Meal Planning and Budget worksheets before the start of every month
AMAZING daily planning sheets with tons of room to write, top 3 tasks section, menu section, water intake, prayer and praise, etc.
Durable, quality paper
Excellent quality overall
Corie Clark is a mom, and she GETS IT. I feel like The Purposeful Planner is my planner wish list come to life. This is everything I need as a homeschool mom and business owner. I especially love that it includes everything that I normally write in to my Erin Condren Life Planners.
Cons:
A bit too heavy to carry in a purse
No color (although black and white pages might be a plus for people who like to decorate)
The colors are beautiful. I *could* be wrong, but I think this is what I had been hoping for, with the horizontal colors in a vertical layout!
The boxes are lined (another thing I always wished for in the vertical layouts).
There is a lined AND unlined decorative page before every month.
The hourly planning is perfect for people who rely heavily on schedules.
This Hourly planner has all of the same favorite features of the other Erin Condren Life Planners, including extras you can purchase like snap-in coil clips, rulers, dashboards, etc.
Cons:
There isn't much room to decorate, or to track extras.
While I love the colors, they don't match the seasons very well.
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Love the planner! Thanks for the review and for squaring it against the ECLP! I was going to buy a Corie Clark but the dailies are out of stock! Bummer!
What planner did you decide on keeping for long time use? I currently use homeschool planner online, I really like it but I think I am more of tangible book type person. It tracks time and grades but I don’t use it much and have a hard time really “Planning” with it. Thank you for the review and all your helpful information!
I use the Purposeful Planner every day, and I love it. It’s the longest I’ve gone without any desire to switch planners, and helps me organize my days so much better. I use an Erin Condren Teacher Planner for lessons, though, and that’s working really well for us. I did a review of the Teacher Planner here if you want to see what it looks like up close. https://thewellplannedkitchen.com/2015/07/10/homeschool-lesson-planner-review-erin-condren-teachers-lesson-planner
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Any codes for The Purposeful Planner?
I’m sorry, but they didn’t give me a code. I wish I had one to share! I’ll keep in touch and if they give me one I’ll make sure I pass it on to you!
Love the planner! Thanks for the review and for squaring it against the ECLP! I was going to buy a Corie Clark but the dailies are out of stock! Bummer!
What planner did you decide on keeping for long time use? I currently use homeschool planner online, I really like it but I think I am more of tangible book type person. It tracks time and grades but I don’t use it much and have a hard time really “Planning” with it. Thank you for the review and all your helpful information!
I use the Purposeful Planner every day, and I love it. It’s the longest I’ve gone without any desire to switch planners, and helps me organize my days so much better. I use an Erin Condren Teacher Planner for lessons, though, and that’s working really well for us. I did a review of the Teacher Planner here if you want to see what it looks like up close. https://thewellplannedkitchen.com/2015/07/10/homeschool-lesson-planner-review-erin-condren-teachers-lesson-planner
Thank you!