Lilly Pulitzer vs. Day Designer Planners

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you know I'm obsessed with my new Day Designer from Target. I seriously am OBSESSED. I have SO much room for each day to plan EXACTLY what I want my day to look like (hence the "day designer"). I have gotten many comments and questions about it so I thought I would do a kind of comparison between my old Lilly Pulitzer planner and my Day Designer.

You seriously can't go wrong with either planner. I used a Lilly for two years and I loved it. It worked PERFECTLY for me in high school, and last year it worked well for my freshman year, but I definitely had time management issues. I'm going to give you a COMPLETE guide to how I organized my Lilly planner and my Day Designer planner as well as pros and cons of each planner so you can either get ideas for whatever agenda or planner you're using OR try to make a decision on which to buy! 

For both planners I had a key on the back of the front cover with my class schedule in the color that I will be color coding the class in. I included teacher names and where the class is for reference. This year I also included a color for blog things and also "extras" like dates, exercising, football games etc. 

Lilly Pulitzer (Large Size):

So last year I had this Lilly Pulitzer Agenda: 

The year prior I had a small version and I definitely have to say that the large version is MUCH better in terms of organizing and being able to fit everything I need to do on that day. It was $28.

The picture above is of the month view of my Lilly planner. I honestly didn't really use it that much considering I had a pretty good view of upcoming things because of the weekly view. I just used the month to sort of plan out my posts for the month. 

This is what my weekly views tended to look like last semester. I color coded each class, and I put a label (Graphics:) in whatever pen color the class was and then wrote the tasks, assignments or tests in pencil incase anything changed. 

Honestly, using a Lilly planner is self explanatory. I didn't really have a good system as far as planning my days (like in the day planner). I basically just wrote the times when things were happening (workout class 8pm) at the very bottom of the day. 

Pros: 

• You can see what is ahead of you for the week
• Very colorful and fun to look at
• Cover is VERY durable
• Has a pocket in the front (really came in handy for me)

Cons:

• Not a lot of space to write notes
• No adequate space to plan your day other than writing tasks

Day Designer (Daily -  8x10 Version):

And this is my baby this year! 

Just a warning, this thing is massive. It's a little smaller that a piece of paper and it's really thick due to it having a page for every single day. But I'm seriously in love it! It is $25. 

This is what a normal day looks like. There is a spot for each time of the day (it goes from 6AM until 8 PM). It goes in 30 minute increments so there is plenty of time each day to plan exactly what you're doing. At the top of the page there is a place for "Today's Top Three" which is designed to help you prioritize what you definitely need to complete each day.

There is a to-do section  right beside the planning section with a notes section next to that. As you can see, I am drawing little arrows to be able to efficiently plan each think in my day and make little notes. On the top right is a little quote for each day! On the bottom there is a "Tonight" spot where you can put anything that is after 8pm and a gratitude spot to give thanks for your day! 

This is what the weekend looks like. The top left corner is a "To-do" section. To the right of that is a quote and a "weekly gratitude" spot to reflect on the week. Below is a section for planning on Saturday and Sunday (6pm - 8pm in hour increments). With spots below for "Next Week" and "Don't Forget"

YES. There is A LOT to the Day Designer but I've been using it for about a week and honestly, it's AMAZING. I have never ever been this productive in my life. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the daily set up. I love being able to plan out my day, write a to-do list and also make notes ALL in ONE page!

Like the Lilly planner, I keep with the color coding so I can easily glance down to see what I'm doing that day. 

This is what I can imagine that my day is going to look like when I go back to school. Things that won't change (like class times) are written in the color coded pen and things like studying, reviewing, eating and working out is written in pencil so I can easily change things if need be. Since I will most likely be doing my homework and studying after 8pm I will be using the "to-do" and "notes" sections to help plan and organize those assignments and tasks!

This is just a quick look at what it looks like fully open!

And this is the month view! I'm going to try to utilize this more that way I can have a clearer picture of what is going on the weeks coming up!

Pros:

• You will be very organized
• There are PLENTY of spaces and categories to organize your planning needs
• Daily quotes and gratitude
• Hourly planning, to-do and notes all in one page

Cons:

• Can be overwhelming
• It's quite large
• Notes section in back (not a fan of that for some reason) 
• No folder

This is a TON of information and I kind of just threw it at you. If you have any more questions just leave them below!

Which planner are you using?