A few weeks ago I posted a review of the Ashley Shelly Planner which I was keen to try for the 52 planners in 52 weeks challenge. I used it for week 31 – here’s how it turned out!
Disclaimer: I was going to buy the planner and reached out to Ashley to see if she wanted to collaborate. She was nice enough to send me the planner for free (I paid for shipping). All opinions are my own.
Related: Ashley Shelly Planner Review – Weekly Planner (pros, cons and a walkthrough)
Setting up the Week
The Ashley Shelly Planner features a horizontal layout with checklists for each day, as well as a due dates section, dinner and a space that can be used for appointments / hourly planning.
Because I don’t have many appointments or things that need to be done at a set time, I opted to use the time section for priority tasks. I listed the tasks, then allocated a number / order to do them in on the left and drew a checkbox on the right. I put tasks that don’t change from week to week e.g. ‘backup the blog’ in the checklist column on the right of each daily planning space.
I would have preferred a larger ‘due today’ section. The space is big enough for noting when bills are due or if you’re a student and had an exam – but it’s only large enough for 1 due date. I tend to use this type of space in planners for writing that day’s blog posts so a bit of extra room would have been ideal.
This planner would be ideal for a student, or someone that likes to compartmentalise their planner. The planner space on the left could be used for work appointments with personal tasks on the right.
Overall, I’d reduce the amount of appointment / hourly style space on the left side of each day and add blank space underneath that could be used for anything – but that’s just my personal preference!
One of my favorite features of the planner are the corners that can be torn off each week to keep track of where you’re up to without worry about a bookmark falling out of the planner!
Pros of the Ashley Shelly Planner
- Just the right amount of space to plan your day without feeling like you’re leaving too much white space and have the tendency to over plan
- The planner itself is a good size – not too big and not too small
- The perforated corners on the page to keep your place in the planner – much easier than using a bookmark – this is the only planner I’ve come across that does this
- Love the colors and how they follow through the entire planner – from the cover, to the tabs to the planning spread – I love when things are co-ordinated 🙂
Cons of the Ashley Shelly Planner
- The coil is too fat – I’m right handed – the large size of the coil made it hard to write on the left page
- The space between the lines for writing is quite small – if you have big hand-writing this planner may not be a good fit for you
- The width of the lines in the writing space is a bit too small – an extra half an inch for each line would have been ideal – I had to use abbreviations such as ‘tom’ instead of tomorrow to make the task fit
- No space for habit tracking unless you use the notes space (although you could add a printable habit tracking planner sticker)
Pens Used
Since Ashley sells the Marvy Le Pen pens on her site, I opted to use that pen brand as well. The pen is ok but it is a bit inky. The colors of these pens are really nice, especially the green (which can be a bit of a hit and miss color when it comes to pens). Note that I don’t recommend the neon Le pens – they’re on my list of planner pens I don’t recommend (way too bright).
These pens make me write slow which helps keep my planner neat – it feels like there’s some resistance when writing rather than a ballpoint pen which are smoother to write with.
I decided not to color code this week. I thought with all of the colors already on the page that the spread might end up being a bit too busy. It worked out find – I was actually surprised I didn’t really miss color coding.
Related: Ultimate list of the best planner pen brands and how to choose colors for color coding
Would I use this planner again?
I really liked this planner. It has a simple layout that is very functional. If I used it again I’d add habit tracking stickers to the notes section (similar to what I did in week 8 when I used the Plum Paper Memory Keeper’s Book).
Related: Week 8: Weekly Planning using the Plum Paper Memory Keeper Book
I’d move the recurring / day to day tasks such as ‘backup blog’ to the left column and used the right for blog post workflow. I only ended up tracking the main things such as ‘upload video’ and ‘finalise blog post’ rather than the entire workflow:
- Outline
- Draft
- Rename & upload images
- Pinterest optomised image
- Etc.
This planner would be ideal for a student, or someone that likes to compartmentalise their planner. The planner space on the left could be used for work appointments with personal tasks on the right.
Related Posts:
- 5 Planner supplies you should never skimp on
- 7 Planner supplies I don’t regret splurging on
- Arcing my Plum Paper Planner – everything you need to know if you’d like to try it yourself!
- How to store planner pens (5 ways – and my favorite method!)
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