Michelle Hotchkiss's video: Review: 2019 Christian Daily Planner: The Planner Designed for Christian Living

Today I am doing an in-depth, not-so-short review of the Christian Daily Planner. I tried to make this short, but it’s so packed with features, and I didn’t want to leave any out. This planner was given to me free in exchange for my honest review. This planner has all the basic planner functions, as well some nice functional additional lists and trackers on perforated pages, plus many excellent additional features to include Christ in our daily lives. For example: Weekly church service notes Sketch or Prayer Journal pages Weekly Spiritual Goals Gratitude & Reflection Bible Reading Log Grocery Shopping Lists Weekly Meal Planning Food & Exercise Trackers Travel Checklist Holiday Gift Holiday Meal Planner Garden Planner This is a substantial planner. The size is 7x10. The pages are not numbered nor listed on the packaging, so I am unsure of how many pages there are but it’s a LOT! This is a thick book. The binding is excellent, it lays nice and flat and feels very secure. The con of this is that’s it’s, well, a substantial Planner. It’s heavy and oversized for me to comfortably carry out and about. This hardbacked Planner has an excellent elastic on the spine to hold a pen. It’s a great idea and it doesn’t interfere with opening the Planner even with a pen in it. That being said, the elastic that holds the Planner closed might be a bit on the weak side, I am concerned it will stretch out and lose elasticity with use. I’d like to see a beefier elastic closure. The included pen is nice, but I feel it’s unnecessary. As an artist and someone who greatly enjoys putting pen and inks on paper, I take my pens very seriously and personally. I most likely will not use the pen. It’s a gel ink, and like most gel inks it requires some drying time or it will smear. The paper is a bright white and the print is a nice, even black. The packaging doesn’t tell what the weight of the paper is. The font is easy to read. The gel inks will bleed through a bit if used heavily, but a wonderful surprise is that the paper is FOUNTAIN PEN FRIENDLY for the pens and inks I used in the ink tests, even my my very wet writing Wing Sung pen. No bleeding!! This makes a nerd girl like me very happy! (Wing Sung with Pilot medium italic nib, J. Herbin Rose scented ink. TWSBI MINI with stub nib and Pilot Iroshizuku Kon Peki ink.) The back cover has an expandable pocket to hold those important loose papers and ephemera. The 2 ribbons are nice and secure. One is black, the other is white. Now to packaging. The label band has absolutely zero specifications on it. Specifications are important, especially when looking to purchase a planner. I need to know the size, the number of pages, the paper weight, if it had a back pocket, the cover material, and the type of binding. Page features are also nice to know on the packaging, especially when a planner is sealed and you can’t open it to see the inside. It was mailed in a bubble envelope, no box. It was damaged on both the top and bottom binding corners, like it had been dropped and landed on those corners. At this price point, and due to its weight and size, it requires more protection for mailing. Lastly is the price. It is available right now in Amazon for 19.99 at 50% off. I will be honest...I just would not pay $19.99 for a dated planner with half of it being unusable as we are in July 2019 already. Also, $39.98 for the 2020 planner basically makes my brain shut off. That’s not just for this planner, $40 for any planner will do that unless there is something magical about it, like genuine leather, refillable, beyond basic black, etc, but even, I’d probably pass on it. Planners are very personal, and $40 is a pretty hefty price. As a small business, I understand why it’s high with production costs and all, but I also work hard for my $ and need to be fiscally responsible. Overall, I believe this is a very thoughtfully created planner with some excellent features and strengths, yet a few areas for improvement. I do look forward to using it. I want to sincerely thank Ron Miller of http://christiandailyplanner.com for sending me this for review and wish them success and blessing with their planner. Please check out their website: http://christiandailyplanner.com Join their mailing list for instructions on how to preorder the 2020 Christian Daily Planner through their upcoming Kickstarter campaign. The 2019 planner is available on Amazon for $19.99 (50%) off with free shipping (I have NO affiliation with nor compensation from Amazon) https://amzn.to/2XHj9cS