2021 Simplified Daily Planner Review & Over 30 Tips for Using the Blank Spaces

The planner launches continue, and I’m excited to be getting my new calendars for 2021. Some of the most highly anticipated planners of the year have to be the Simplified planners by Emily Ley.

I have been using this planner for two years, so I’m excited to be on my third one. I love everything about these planners, from the simple layouts to the fun cover designs.

Last year I went with the Mint Tile, which had lovely gold foil accents on a pretty repeating pattern. The year before, I had the Mint Pineapple cover. After a year of having an abstract pattern, I’m back to the pineapple theme.

The cover I chose for my 2021 daily planner is the Pineapple Crest, which has a navy background and repeating patters of pineapples (with little gold foiled details) cast within a floral pattern. It’s really pretty and feels almost tropical.

Simplified Planners

These planners are very high quality (and a little pricey), but I have yet to find their equal. The Simplified planner company makes signature planners but has also partnered with At-A-Glance to make more affordable versions of planners that are sold at retail stores like Target and Office Depot.

I really like the covers that I have seen available at the retail stores. They have so many varieties, including the student planner I purchased for my daughter this year that I reviewed here.

My only issue with the At-A-Glance version is that they do not have a coil-bound daily layout available. I have only been able to find the daily pages in a bulky binder system. The coil-bound planners are all weekly planners.

Three Most Popular Simplified Planners

The signature or flagship line are their high-end planners, and they come in three main formats. (They also make a Teacher Planner, and Wedding Planner, but this article will focus on those for personal planning). Here are the three most popular:

1. Coil-bound daily planners. In this planner, the book is bound by a gold, twin, wire-o binding. There are 12 monthly spreads marked by laminated, colorful cardstock tabs and between the months are daily planning pages. This planner comes with stickers and has colors that alternate throughout the planner. Each weekday gets a full page while the weekend days share a page. I reviewed this planner last year, so you can see the stats on it here.
2. Hard-cover, book-bound weekly. This is a great planner for folks who want a simple and minimalist weekly daily layout. Like the coil-bound daily, this is a colorful planner with the alternating Simplified signature colors throughout. The months are laid out between the weekly spreads and marked with laminated stair-step tabs. Each weekly layout has the days of the week laid out horizontally, with a lined section on the left that can be used for marking down appointments and a lined, bulleted section on the right for list-making. It comes with a ribbon to hold your page. The only days that do not have this format are Saturday and Sunday, which share a horizontal space.
3. Dapper Desk Daily. This is their other daily planner, which is a soft-cover, book-bound version. There are a lot of folks out there who are switching from the coil-bound daily to the Dapper Desk daily planner. This is a very professional-looking daily planner. The binding allows the book to open and lie flat the more you use it. Because there are no tabs marking the month, the monthly layouts are all located at the front of the planner with all of the daily pages in the back. Ribbons are bound into the book to help keep your place. One big benefit to this planner is that Saturday and Sunday each get a full page.

Each planner, as you can see, has its benefits. They all have beautiful, thick Mohawk paper, and they are each designed with simplicity in mind.

If you are looking to buy your first Emily Ley planner, use this link for $10 off of your order.

Planner Review: 2021 Coil-Bound Simplified Daily Planner

This year’s coil-bound Simplified Daily is very similar to the one from last year. Here are some of the features they kept from changes made last year:

• The days and months marked yellow continue to have a nice, bright, and readable yellow ink.
• There are still 4 pages at the beginning for notes– that was a nice addition last year.
• The paper quality and binding have not changed.

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That said, there are some differences I noticed from last year’s planner:

• The colors used to write out the months and days appear to be slightly muted– like there’s less pigment on the page. I’m not sure if that was just my planner, but figured it was worth pointing out. It is a very slight difference and not one that worries me.
• The sticker sheet changed. First, they are no longer bound into the planner. Last year they were the first page you would see in the planner when opening it. This year, the stickers are on a separate sheet of paper tucked into the pocket located behind the front cover. Second, the stickers are now mostly functional planning stickers. There are now 6 rows of flags with a small icon sticker below it. Each row is a different signature color. Next to that are a column of 6 rainbow stickers and 9 “Hooray” stickers with each letter of the word in a different color.
• The prep section has colorful details. The first few pages of any Simplified Daily or Weekly Planner (not Dapperdesk) has several pages of introductory information and worksheets to help you set up your planner. There are small images above each section that used to be black and white. They have now been colored in. While it’s not a huge change, this is a nice little detail to add to those introductory pages.

I am still thrilled with my Simplified Daily and cannot wait to get started using it this January. For those who are curious about the difference between the academic and calendar year planners, the only difference is the time span, which runs from August to July.

Unlike some planner companies that will launch different cover options for the academic and calendar year planners, Simplified has the same cover options for both launches. New cover designs are released when the academic planners are launched, so if you’re a calendar- year daily planner, like I am, you can take your time deciding on your new cover, as the calendar year planners don’t launch until the fall.

Tips on Using the Blank Space in Your Simplified Daily Planner

One of the reasons I love the Simplified Daily Planner is that it is truly simple. As I noted in last year’s article, each day’s layout has an hourly section for appointments on the left; a lined, bullet-point list on the right; and a blank notes section at the bottom.

While other planners may try to fill up the space for you with an area for goals, priorities, meal plans, or habit trackers, the Simplified layout is a blank canvas. This means, if you don’t want all those bells and whistles, you don’t have to worry about planner sections that were built in but don’t work with your planning style.

It also means that if you do wish to track certain things or set up your planner a certain way, there is plenty of space for you to do it. And, I have been playing with a few ways of using this blank space.

Here are some ways you can use the space available in the daily planners:

The Header

After the day and date on the left of each daily page, here is about 1 inch (2.5cm) of blank space between the top of the page and line above the hourly and checklist sections. This leaves about 3.25 inches (8.5 cm) x 1 inch of space free for writing. Here are some ideas for how to put it to use:

1. Word of the day– choose a word to inspire and motivate you for the day and write it at the top of your planner page to help keep you focused each time you check your planner.
2. Top 3 Priorities– What are the three most essential things you need to do during your day? Write them in the header space to keep them at the forefront of your mind.
3. Most Important Event(s)– This is how I first started using this small section. I would list something up there when there were birthdays, anniversaries, or other notable things that happened that day.
4. Appointments and Meetings– And, this is how I use this section now. I use my hourly section for time-blocking, so my appointments (places I need to go, or meetings I need to attend) can get lost in the writing. At the top of my daily planner, I list out just my appointments and meetings to remind myself of things I don’t want to miss.
5. Scripture Verse– Obviously, you won’t be able to write out huge verses in this section, but a line or two will fit and can be a wonderful daily faith practice. You can even write out the same verse each day for a week or more if you’re trying to memorize scripture
6. Inspirational Quote– These planners used to have inspirational quotes, but to further simplify the layout (pun sort of intended), the quotes were removed. This does not mean you can’t add your own. Write out a short bit of inspiration or a mantra to give yourself a positive message each day.
7. Weather Forecast– Many people track the weather in their planners. It helps with planning out travel times and clothing for the day. You can include a simple temperature and forecasted weather event.
8. Fitness Tracking– Whether you track your activity levels or have changed your diet, this section is a great place to jot down your steps for the day, calorie intake, or workout plans.
9. Mood Tracking– This can be a really helpful practice, particularly if you have been going through stressful or troubling times. The tracker can be as simple as noting whether it was a good, bad, or okay day.
10. Daily Gratitude– While I recommend listing out a few things during the day, the top of the daily page is a great place to write down the big stand-out item for which you are grateful that day. You actually have a enough space to list out your top 3-5 depending on how much space your handwriting takes up.

The Hourly Section

While it may seem obvious how this section was intended to be used, you don’t have to stick to just marking down appointments. Here are some other ideas:

11. Time Blocking: In addition to appointments, determine how you will spend the time in between and assign a block of it to a particular type of task such as working on a project, checking email, and time for yourself.
12. Daily Diary: You can track how you’re spending your time by writing down what you did during each time period in the day. This may not be something you might want to do long-term, but it can help you see how you are spending your time and reveal pitfalls that make you less productive.
13. Scripting: This is a little like time-blocking except you will write out how you envision your day playing out in a way that focuses on your intentions and goals. Be sure to include self-care and fitness tasks as well as any other items that will help you fee like you’re living your best life.
14. Half-hour marks: I tend to use a slash to mark the half hours on my appointment lines. You can also write them out. Having even an extra half hour can be helpful in identifying down time, so be sure to cut off tasks that won’t take too long at the half-hour so you make sure not to waste that extra time.

The Checklist Section

This seems like another section that has an obvious purpose- to do’s. I definitely use this section for writing down my to do list for the day, but I structure it certain way to maximize my productivity. It can also have other uses:

15. Categorized To Dos– I use this section for my to-do list, but I no longer write it out as a brainstormed jumble. Instead, I brainstorm my day in my morning journal (see here for more on my morning routine), and then place my to dos in categories that are color-coded. I also make sure I prioritize the mini list for each category. It only takes a few minutes to do this, and it has made me much more productive. I also recommend that if you use your planner working outside the home as well as personal tasks, that you keep the work tasks together (mine are at the top) and separate from the personal to dos (mine are near the bottom).
16. Routines– You can also use this section to write out your morning and evening routines. This is particularly important when you make changes to your daily routines.
17. Journaling– I have found that the checklist sections in my planners make a great place to do a little journaling. While I plan to write more about how I’m currently using a planner for journaling later, I think the checklist section of the daily layout is perfect for doing just this. You can dedicate it as a gratitude journal or just journal about a particular goal per day.

Simplified has a great set of color-coding dot stickers you can find here. (As of this post’s publication, the Simplified brand dot stickers were sold, out but I would keep trying since it’s a popular item and I am hoping they will restock it).

Here are the color-coding dot stickers I use in my checklist:

The Notes Section

Of course, this blank section of the daily layout, which takes up nearly a third of the page, has the most potential. It runs the width of the page and has a little over 2 1/4 inches (6cm) of space in which to write. I’ve used it in a ton of ways since I first started using a Simplified Daily. You can use a ruler and break it up into multiple sections or leave it as one large area. Here are some ideas that might make the most use of yours:

18. Gratitude– With this much space, you can really get into listing out your gratitudes for the day. You can keep morning gratitudes on the left and evening on the right. Or, you can write out your gratitude in a paragraph format and really hone in on the details of what you’re feeling grateful for.
19. Meal Planning– The original planners used to have a section dedicated to this. There’s space to write out what you’re eating for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. Again, it’s something that you can include so you can track what you’re eating and, sometimes more importantly, cooking on a given day.
20. Fitness Planning– There is plenty of space to include room for tracking your fitness to dos. You can add your own habit trackers, write down your steps for the day, plan out your workouts, list out the foods (and calories) you’ve eaten, and write down your weight.
21. Faith Planning– Because of the space, you have room to write more than a scripture verse (as suggested for the header section). Feel free to write out entire scripture passages. You can also write out prayers, devotions, or scripture analyses.
22. Encouragement– These include inspiring quotes or passages, mantras, and journaling about anything that will encourage you to do your best and have a good attitude. It can also include an empowering belief – what you know to be true about yourself that will inspire you to persevere (something I learned from Rachel Hollis).
23. Daily Reviews– This can be an “I’m Proud Of . . .” section or just a place to write out what went well each day. You can see what your wins are and also determine if there were things that could have gone better. Were there any distractions or issues that held you back that you can work on avoiding in the future? What worked and what did not?
24. Daily Intentions– What is the goal for the day? Do you a have a why behind what you are doing? Write it out to keep yourself focused and motivated.
25. More To Dos– There are some days when my work tasks are so voluminous, I’ve had to use the notes section to hold my personal to dos. Or, I may have mini-tasks that would take up too much space in the checklist section, so I create a mini to do list in the notes area based on a task in the main checklist section.
26. Project Planning– The notes section is a great place to write out the daily tasks and intentions that go with a long-term project. You can dedicate that section to just the project if it is something that should be kept on its own and has a lot of moving parts that don’t make sense to keep in the hourly or checklist sections.
27. Scripting– I wrote about this in a prior article on planner terms. This planning method uses journaling to write out our intentions, hopes, and dreams as though they have already taken place. While most who use this method do so in a traveler’s notebook (TN), some folks still write out lists and hourly sections in addition to have a scripted section in their TN. The notes section of the daily layout would be a great place to script out how you want your day to go.
28. Planning Ahead– I currently have a “For Tomorrow” list in my notes section that I keep each day, except for Friday, which has a “For Next Week” list. At the end of the day (or even during my day), if I think of something I am specifically leaving to the next day, this is where I will list it. The next morning, I place this item in the brainstorming section of my morning journal and will include it in my to do list.
29. Top Priorities– A lot of folks complain about daily planners that only have a “Top 3” list. Most of us have more than 3 important things that need to get done. For me, I find it helpful to have “Top 3 Work” and “Top 3 Personal” lists. If I get nothing done but these items, I count the day a win. With a blank notes section, you can add as many priorities as you want to this list and have more than one list, if you like.
30. Bonus Ideas– There are so many ideas for this space, and here are a few that I think are pretty self-explanatory: household tasks, budgeting to dos, self-care reminders, and reminders and tasks for health concerns.

Of course, the purpose of this planner is to simplify your life. These suggestions are just some ideas if you are looking to remind yourself about the things that currently matter to and work in your life. (I definitely do not recommend trying all of these- the planners have room, but not that much room.)

My main piece of advice for using any planner is to make sure to find those open time slots and keep as many of them for yourself as possible. We do more living if we’re living in those free spaces.

Do you use a daily planner? Which one? How do you use the blank space in your planners? Leave a comment below with your own tips!

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