Start Your Year With BDJ | Planner & Desktop Calender Review

New Year … New Stationery

Happy Wednesday! A very happy one when it involves stationery and a blogger sure does love their stationery and of course myself included. Since it is that time of year when everyone gets stationery crazy and goes out to buy new diaries for the new year I thought I would show you mine and a few things that help me stay organized. These are a few of the things I bought but I’m sure I’m bound to buy more and I kind of made it my goal to use it more but first I wanted to give a sneak peek before I start planning and decorating.

I went to the BDJ Fair which was like the launch party of the stationery. This year they didn’t only bring out the planners but added new stationery bits which for me makes my heart flutter. At the fair and you can see in the loot bag haul I mentioned I picked up the desktop calendar and I ordered my custom planner. I said I would do an in depth look at it so here it is. I got the planner in just before Chrsitmas and my mom thought it was a gift so she ended up wrapping it and putting it under the tree so it was like a mini present to myself even though technically I knew what it was I just hadn’t seen it yet so it made it a little surprise. I guess I should stop rambling and give you a look inside and a review of the power planner and desktop calendar. 

| planner | washi tape | bookmark | desktop calendar |

Customized Belle de Jour Power Planner 2016

| planner – 698php | washi tape – 75php | bookmark – 100php |

Firstly is the planner. BDJ started doing their planners 10 years ago making this the 10th anniversary edition. They are known for this and they have other planner options for example the traveler or the business minded. I like there is a variety but I choose the power planner which I think is the main one. I am so excited to show you mine now and what I think of it.  

I’ve had a BDJ Power Planner since the 2014 edition and I bought that in the middle of the year, my next is the 2015 edition which you might have saw here which is also customized to have my name on it. With this being my third and my second customized planner I can say I am really happy with it and love the little touch of having my name on it. This year I got the cover B option and like last years I get the one without the girl. I think it is just preference but to be honest I love this years so much better because who doesn’t love a little glitter and sparkle in their lives. The cover is hardbound and is not spiral which I prefer.

Now a look inside. It is a lot lighter this year and not as vibrant which I think I like. It has the opening month and then it breaks it down into the weeks. It has all kinds of sections to fill out your schedule and it has a vertical layout which I now have gotten used to. I think I prefer it now. There are just a lot of components in it. I think it is similar to the Erin Condren one. I never owned one but from the pictures it kind of has that format. Maybe a lot of planners have similar formats though. This has a pocket in the back with a sheet of stickers and mine came with a magnetic bookmark but I’m not sure if they all come with one. Also it has two pink ribbons to mark where you need to be which I like but make sure you hot glue the ends because my last one unraveled so this time I am sealing it to last longer. That is everything in it and I can’t wait to decorate it with stickers and washi tape and just plan out my days.

Besides the important bits of the actual planner it has a lot of bonus pages and sections inside. I love that the brand try to encourage empowerment and help inspire with different articles and quotes within the pages to get you through the day. I like that little extra touch they put into it. I only showed one section above so it is the dream board for 2016 and here you can add photos to motivate you and add a collage of anything you dream to do this year. I find that quite nice and who wouldn’t want a mini visual board in their planer to strive for success. There are so many other things to explore and if I would take a picture and show it all to you then this would be an even longer post but if you really want to see one maybe I can do a separate detailed look through.

The last thing I will mention and why a lot of people get this planner is the coupon book it comes with. Before it was inside the planner and you tear it out when you need one. I think starting last year they made a book and again this year. It is way more convenient and is going to be in my bag so in case I pass by one of their partner brands I can have a quick browse and use a coupon to get a pretty good discount. Not only do you spend your money on this planner but you can also save a little by having a coupon book.

Live Life to the Fullest Desktop Calendar

| desktop calendar – 350php |

Next I bought the desktop calendar and I knew this would be handy for just about anything I am doing. I can use it for so many things including when and what time I am posting blog posts or videos for my Youtube. I plug in all the information in and write it all down to see the visual of what my month and weeks will look like.

Let’s begin with the inside and start with the top section. I like that it doesn’t come with the months and days already filled in. It is your job to do it so you can control it. I guess sometimes it is not so convenient and if you are lazy than it can be a little frustrating but I have a separate one for that to just see what day it is. This can be give me access to use as little as much of that page as possible. On the side it has a column for morning, afternoon or evening which I use for what needs to be done for what part of day I want the blog post or video to come out and scheduling the social medias along with it. Above that it has Monday – Sunday and this is when I will plug in when and what to see it all laid out and know if I want posts to be too close or too far apart. If I ever need space I could just draw extra lines or boxes.

On the bottom section there’s a to do list column where it has little boxes so you can easily check it off and also I can’t be the only one who finds it so satisfying to check something off a list so this is going to motivate me to mark that little box. So beside that is a notepad section so this is where you can write anything. I might use it to write blog post or video ideas or just random thoughts I have to do or find inspiring. The last column is a graph paper column and I know in school this would have been great but now I don’t know what to do with it but to be honest I might just doodle in it or use it as extra space to write more things down.

It stands up on my desk to be displayed so I can just skim through it when I need to or I can collapse it down so it is easy to write on like a notebook. The only down side I find with this it is quite big and bulky and I don’t think you want to take it with you everywhere. I think it is supposed to be used either at home or at the office and not to be transferred back and forth. I can double up my writing and write it in my planner as well because that is more mobile. I mean if you need to take it with you it can be done and it isn’t impossible but just inconvenient especially the size. It’s probably the size of a binder I use to have in school. I do like that it is durable and can take a beating due to the hardback cover and it is pretty solid. Also did I mention the pretty color of it. I do love my pink but for the brand they go perfectly together and it is still a girly color as I like.

I don’t know what I will do without this and currently it is my lifeline for all the things I have going on. This is where everything is written down but I also have a schedule on my calendar on my iPad & iPhone because I like having backups as well. This pretty much will become my best friend and to keep my whole life organized. I don’t know what I would do without it now and it was a definitely a worthwhile purchase.

Well that is all my recent stationery buys. I hope I did a more in depth review than showing you like I did last time. I’d also love if anyone could recommend some sticker shops and more places to buy accessories. I want to design it even more and make it all pretty.  At the time I took these pictures it wasn’t filled in but if you are curious how it looks maybe I can do another post or even a how I blog. I don’t think I actually have one yet so if you’d like to see that I maybe can arrange one for a future post. Let me know what you think of this and what you use to keep your life in order. I wish you happy planning like I will be doing.

What kind of stationery do you own to keep organized?