For the past few years, planners have been having a moment. It doesn’t look like their moment is ending anytime soon. I’m one of the reasons why, because I can imagine being as productive as I am at work without one. Although I love planners, it wasn’t until this year when I started paying attention to what I want and need in a planner. Since there are numerous ways to plan out and journal your day, there are many types of planners.

Recently, I was able customize my own planner from PurpleTrail and it was very interesting. Keep reading to see just how personal I got with my planner and how you can customize your planner for the new year.

PurpleTrail is an online store that specializes in custom paper goods, including invitations, stationary, and other gifts. However, I stopped by for a new planner and boy do they have planners. The have an amazing selection of specialty planners for teachers, students, and even planners for moms and content creators. I was tempted to get a content planner, but I decided to be practical and get a daily planner.

Once I decided that I wanted a daily planner, the first thing I had to choose was cover. The selection of styles and covers are vast and impressive. You can choose from different styles, including modern, sparkles, and watercolor. However, you can also decided to upload your own images, but I decided to choose a one of their designs. I’m still into marble and they had a black marble design that was perfect.

Another thing you can customize with the cover is the type of cover. You can choose hard cover, laminate, and synthetic, but I went with the latter. The synthetic cover made it more flexible and durable, include making it water proof and tear proof.

Once I selected my cover, it was on to the details, such as size. Each planner is available in 2 sizes; 6 x 8″ and 8.5 x 11″. Most of the planners I buy are 6 x 8″, but I decided to go for the latter size. Next, I decided to go with the 6 month planner versus the 3 month planner. The difference between the 2, other than more days, is that the the 3 month version has one page for each day, whereas the 6 month as one page per day. I do have days when I have multiple stuff to do, but not worthy of taking 2 pages. So, one page a day is more than enough, plus the format works better with the way I bullet journal my day.

The next thing I had to do was select the month and year I wanted my planner to begin. At first, I thought this was being a little “too extra”, but now I really appreciate it. The planner I was using before, contained blank sections for the days. I would have to manual write in the date for the week, which I rarely remembered until I needed to know the exact date for something. So, removing the need to write the dates for each day was a nice touch.

Now, it’s on to the fun customization such as die cut sticker packs and folder sheets. I opted to keep it simple, because I didn’t have a need for either. However, it was hard to turn down adding any additional stickers to my life, because I love stickers!

Although, I selected one of the stock designs, I was able to customize it some. Probably the hardest decision I had to make during this process was picking a design. Even though I loved the clean simplicity of the original design, I couldn’t help to add a little personality. I decided to add “Day Loading…” in a bright pink cursive font and made the year at the bottom the same color and font. In hindsight, I would probably select a more traditional, box font. I’ll save that for the next one. 😉

Finally, the most important thing when you order something online; the arrival. One of the main things I was concerned with when I placed my order was when should expect. We sort of programmed to think that when we get anything customized, it’s going to take insane length of time to get. That was not the case with this custom daily planner. My planner was created and shipped within 3 days and I got within a week from ordering it. Mind-blown!

In person, the planner was better than I imagined! The quality of the paper was amazing and the overall feel and presentation was top notch.

Since the turn around is so fast, you still have enough time to order one as a Christmas gift for someone and/or yourself. I noticed that PurpleTrail currently has 15% off everything, including gift cards. So, you might want to hop on that deal. Remember, they also have custom stationary, which makes a great gift, too.

Would you customize your planner for the new year? Share below!

by