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The Purple Trail Planner is the ultimate in customization! With all the options available, you’re sure to find something to fit your lifestyle!
I received a Purple Trail Planner to review at no cost. All opinions are honest and my own.
You can learn more about Purple Trail Planners here.
It’s the time of year when we are all figuring out what planner (or planners) we will be using for 2020.
I’m soooo close to having it all figured out! And today I get to share one of those planners with you.
I chose the Purple Trail Content Planner to use for all things related to this blog, social media, and my Etsy shop (Hello Planners). This specific planner is specially designed for that purpose, but there are many other planner options on their site to fit anyone’s need.
And I have to say that after looking around their website, I’m amazed at the customization options that they offer for their planners!
Use discount code BEAUTIFUL for 15% off your order from Purple Trail.
Options
There are unlimited options for customizing your planner. Covers, inside layout, add-on sections, and accessories can all be personalized to fit what you need for your personal planner system.
To keep it simple, I’m just going to talk about the options for their main planner style covers.
But with a little digging around on the website, I was able to find additional planner options such as a leather A5 ring binder and a customizable 3 ring binder (in two different sizes) – plus the option to just buy the refills if you already have a binder you like.
Cover options are limitless
Just for starters, they have hundreds of designs to choose from. I counted 210 designs before stopping, and I wasn’t even close to the end of the list.
And if that that’s not enough choices for you, not only can you customize text on the cover (like adding your name or a favorite quote), but you can change the colors too. Or upload your own design.
Another option you have is the material of the cover: Synthetic, laminated, or hard covers. Some covers even come with the option of having a hard covered book with sewn binding instead of the coil.
I chose the laminated cover. I love having a flexible cover! And if you read my Powersheets Review post, then you know how much I dislike hard covers. 😂
Since this is going to be my blog/content planner for next year, I decided to get the “Blog like a Boss” cover. Doodle drawings get me every time and I love the subtle polka dots in the background.
Side note: Those stickers off to the side… they are also from Purple Trail and they are beautiful with the rose gold foiling!
Find a size that works for you
Purple Trail gives you the choice of three different sizes; 8.5×11 inches, 6×8 inches, and 4.5×6.25 inches. There is definitely something for everyone. I decided to get the 6×8. I wanted to have enough room to write, but also wanted it small enough that it didn’t take up my whole desk.
If the smallest size (4.5×6.25) is what you are looking for, it is found in a different section than the larger sizes, but you can see them here.
Layout
There are far too many layout options to go over all of them. Just for the planners themselves (not including other products like recipe books, meal planners, wedding planners, or basic notebooks), there are styles for moms, students, teachers, and content creators. Then with the standard planners, you still get to choose your layout from vertical, horizontal, hourly, and daily versions. Plus they also have both colorful and neutral versions.
Because I got the content planner, it comes with a set layout that is specific for content creators. I love the colorful pages, and I was so happy to see that it included a lined vertical layout (my favorite)! Something specific to the content planner is the bottom section with social media and content icons. I love having a dedicated space to write what I have planned to post each day.
Start Month
Planners can start during any month. You can choose one that goes from now until the end of next year, all of 2020, or up to 18 months.
Add-on Sections
This is probably my absolute favorite feature. You can choose up to four add-on sections to add into your planner.
When choosing an add-on, you decide if you want it as a tabbed section in the back, or an extra page in each of the monthly sections. If you choose to have the section in the back, they each have 24 of that page per section (12 sheets, double sided).
There are a lot of add-on options to choose from, but the ones I chose to add to mine are:
- An extra notes page within each monthly section. It’s double sided so I get two extra pages of notes per month.
- A Notes section in the back. Because I love notes pages and wanted room to write reference info that I would need all year.
- To Do List section in the back – Each page has four sections of to do lists. I plan to use these to keep track of my content ideas, and tasks that I want to work on during the year. You can see the picture of this page above.
- Account Tracker – I’m using this to track the purchases and income from my business. That way at the end of the year, all that info will be in one place and easy to reference.
Adding a pocket to the back is another option they give you. I love having a pocket in my planner to keep random notes and stickers safe.
I’m really impressed with the quality of the pocket. It is a thick, coated cardstock and seems really durable.
I absolutely love that the stickers they sell fit into the pocket perfectly!
Quality
Sometimes with smaller planner companies, the quality is something to be cautious off. But I was really happy to see the good quality that Purple Trail has in their planners (and stickers)!
The laminated cover is, at least, equal to my Erin Condren covers, if not even thicker. One thing I wish was that they had the option to purchase additional covers and made them interchangable. But the benefit to having it permanent is that there is less chance it will be damaged from the edge of the coil. (I can’t even count how many EC covers I have bent where they snap in because the end of the coil gets in the way).
The dividers are made from thick card stock and the tabs are professionally laminated. I’m sure they will last the whole year and beyond.
The silver coil is metal, not plastic, and it’s pretty thick. It is a little more flexible than other coils, but that partially could be due to it being a larger size.
And the paper, while not the thickest ever, is still really good and I don’t expect to have any problems with it bleeding or shadowing excessively. Plus it is a smooth paper which is my favorite!
I did a basic pen test in the back. The only pen that bleed through even just a little tiny dot was the Erin Condren Dual Tip Marker on the thick end. All the gel pens I normally use were just fine and barely shadowed at all.
Looking at the planner overall, I can’t find any aspect of it where I’m questioning if it will last for the whole year. I’m confident that the quality is more than enough.
How does the size compare?
I mentioned earlier that I chose to get the 6×8 inch sized planner. I’ve learned that larger planners are usually too big to comfortably work with on my desk. And I’m always struggling to have enough room in smaller planners like the mini Happy Planners. Especially since this is going to be my blog and business planner, I need a lot of room to write notes, ideas, and to do lists.
After seeing the 6×8 version in person, I’m completely sold on this size and I think it is perfect. It is smaller than a standard Erin Condren Life Planner and classic sized Happy Planner. But it is also bigger than the mini Happy Planner.
Combined with the extra notes pages, I think there will be plenty of room to write all the things I need to keep track of.
When it comes to thickness, this is a chunky planner. I think this is partially because of all the add-ons. Compared to my Erin Condren planner, it is much thicker. This doesn’t bother me at all. I’d rather have the extra pages and note space.
Inside of the Content Planner
The beginning of the content planner has all the standard pages: a title page, two years at a glance, and a list of holidays.
Each monthly section starts with a divider with the month on it. The back of the divider is dot grid that can be used for notes, or anything else you wanted to use that space for.
The tab flips open to a dashboard page. In the content planner version, this page has space for monthly goals, a monthly theme, and stats.
There is a standard monthly calendar, with space on the side for notes. I love that there are six rows of dates, so they never have to split a box between multiple days.
Holidays are marked on the monthly calendar, but not on the weekly. They are small enough though, it would be easy to cover up anything that you don’t celebrate.
The monthly calendar has a Sunday start. And the weekly calendar starts on Monday. I prefer this way, so it is perfect for me.
The weekly pages come after the monthly calendar. I love the lined vertical layout, and I’m so glad that’s the version that comes with the content planner.
The quirky thing about Purple Trail planners that I don’t usually see in a planner is that they strictly keep each month within the month tab. Meaning, if the month starts on Wednesday, then the space for Monday and Tuesday will be undated. This also applies if the month ends on a Thursday, then the weekend days will be undated.
I actually really like this feature, because it gives me more notes space to write anything that I might need to remember or keep track of.
I talked about the add-ons that I chose earlier in this post. Each of the add-on sections at the back of the planner come with the same quality divider and tabs that the months have. I love that they are easy to find, and that they aren’t just added to the back in one group.
Stickers
I was also sent a few sheets of stickers from Purple Trail. Stickers are a really big deal in my planner world, and I am so excited to be able to try those out too.
- A set of two pages of foiled positive quotes and words. I loved that these were just uplifting. Not to mention beautiful. They are foiled in rose gold and look perfect.
- Succulent Headers – Succulent is just the color scheme. I plan to use these for the titles on my notes pages in the back.
- Kittens – They were cute and I couldn’t resist. I love the colors on these. They are darker than pastel colors, and came out so vibrant!
- Kitten Paw Headers – Again, they were just super cute. If you’ve ever watched the YouTube channel, Evan & Katelyn… it reminds me of the little kitty paw pointer glove that Katelyn has in some of the videos.
Final Thoughts on the Purple Trail Planner
I’m still so blown away at the endless options that Purple Trail offers. And they don’t just offer planners and planner type books… They also have customizable notepads and greeting cards/invites of every variety.
But just while choosing my planner, I had such a hard time deciding which cover to get… there were so many I loved. And I have a slight obsession with covers. I just want all of them.
Another point I want to mention is how is the content planner is different from the regular weekly planners. There are so many layout options for the regular weekly/daily planners. The content planner is just one set layout. Although if I hadn’t gotten the content planner, I would have chosen a very similar layout for my weekly planner (lined vertical).
The lined vertical in the standard weekly planner is the same as in the content planner with two exceptions:
1. The colors in the regular weekly planner are not multicolored each week like in the content planner. They have one color per month.
2. The bottom section of the content planner is just a blank box on the standard weekly layout. So if the social media icons are something you think you would benefit from, definitely get the content planner.
And last of all, don’t forget that you can get 15% off with code BEAUTIFUL at Purple Trail. I’m all for saving money whenever you can, so definitely use that when you order!
I can’t wait to show you how I’m going to use the Purple Trail Content Planner, along with the rest of my planner lineup for 2020!
