Hi! 👋 I’m Amanda. I’m a teacher, turned stay-at-home mom, turned RU-vidr, and I review planners and journals so you can make educated decisions with your purchases.
I'm a Mom to 2 boys (20 & 15 yrs old) and I've been married to Steve for 25 years. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon), and I love Jesus! I'm hustling every day, and no matter how many planners I own, I do not have it all together-but really, who does?
I post a new video every Tuesday at noon (CT) and sometimes on Saturdays at the same time.
If you love my content and want to support me and join my exclusive monthly Zoom calls, hop on over to my Patreon page: www.patreon.com/amandasfavorites
I'm so glad you stopped by! Follow me on Instagram @amandasfavorites for daily content. - Amanda
P.S. My Amazon store has all of my favorite filming equipment: amzn.to/2PA2ab3
Hi, Amanda! Love, love, LOVE this video!!! Currently, I have the new EC Daily Duo and also the On-The-Go folio daily bound (4 quarterly for the year). They are the only ones I seem to stick with for very long. Taking the folio daily on my next trip which should prove handy for keeping trip plans and memories.
I actually grabbed my planner and used the measuring ruler app on my phone. It’s definitely the medium size and it’s gold, not rose gold like I previously thought hahahaha
I think the Passion Planner that I have is the mid-size one bigger than an A5 for sure. It has a rose gold cover. I need to get it out. You’ve inspired me to use it again.
That Laurel Denise planner is interesting because of the unusual size. Super romantic and feminine and lately I’ve been more intentional about making everything practical beautiful too including planners.
I don't use daily planners with dates since I have a corporate job and we use Google Calendars, but I use Planner Perfect for personal daily plans. I use it to record my morning and evening routines. However, I am planning to try MäksēLife's new design for note-taking and to-do lists. I LOVE MäksēLife goal planners, but I am surprised they don't have any colors in the daily planner. They are so good with beautiful color coordination in their goal planners.
I am so sorry! LOL! I forgot! I need to make notes when I do this to remind me:) My fave right now is the EC daily duo because of the changes they just made. I am actually using it today!
They don't have a monthly A5. They do have A5 notebooks...I don't think they come in dot grid- can't remember off the top of my head:) Those would be great options to add for sure:)
I am using the EC DD as my daily and I love it. I have also used the Cultivate What Matters daily which I liked. But I am a sucker for a pretty aesthetic so the EC wins out. 😂 I am really interested in checking out both the H & O and the Cousin as faith planners for next year. I am currently using a daily Prayerful Planner for faith planing but want to try something new for 2025.
I am a sucker for EC too:) So much beauty in that planner! Both of those would be great faith Planners...it really depends on which paper you would enjoy more;) Love hearing what you are in now;)
There are other dailies with the half hour....Sprouted, Cultivate what matters, Passion planner, hemlock, plum paper, monk manual- those are just a few off the top of my head;)
I’m not using a daily planner now, but my two favorites are the a5 Daily Duo and Simplified. I love different things about both of them, so it would be hard for me to say which one is my favorite.
Did you say in the beginning of the video you would tell us what your pick is out of the 11 planners at the end of the video (see 42 seconds in haha!)?? I have tried literally every single one of these planners and for me it comes down to the EC DD in A5 and the H & O daily. I am bouncing between the two. EC has the great paper, colors, covers, and the Sunday start I prefer. H & O is elegant, has great paper and the entire year is in one book. H & O is offering a daily duo option for 2025 and new flex covers so their chunky daily will be slimmer and lighter. Thanks for the terrific comparsions!
I am sorry if I didn't share my personal fave at the end! LOL! I would say right now it's the Daily Duo in 7x9 with the changes they made this year;) I hear ya on why you love both of those;) And I think the new option for H&O in 2025 will be amazing!
Your videos are amazing 🤩, as always, this one included and timely too. I am currently using an A5 Bullet Journal, kinda sorta decorated myself and kinda sorta done on the days I felt like doing that. As you can by the tone of that sentence it isn’t exactly working for me? 😂 I am going to think about the Sprouted, I can get an uncoiled version for the 2nd half of 2024 at a great price and punch it myself! If I am still thinking about it tomorrow I will come back and use your link and grab it. It will be a great way to find out if I am really a daily planner, if I actually have enough going on in my life to feel the need for one? And if it doesn’t work out I can always use the paper to junk journal? And sorry….I kinda sorta fell asleep 3 times, I rewatched it several times, it isn’t you, it is for sure me, I didn’t sleep well last night. Your voice is soothing! 🤷🏼♀️ Thank you for another great video! 💕
Thanks for sharing where you are right now with daily planning;) I understand the falling asleep;) LOl:) Trying Sprouted unpunched sounds like a great option for you;)
I am using the new sprouted daily after having used the weekly plus daily post it’s for years. It’s honestly so perfect for my needs. Breaking the year down to 6 months allows me to have a fresh start and leave those undone projects and checkboxes behind to focus my energy for rest of year. I realized I only really care to reflect on my journal where it’s all in one place so this helps me not feel guilty over not saving it forever but allows me to save the reflections which is really what matters to me!
I needed this video! I’m turning towards weekly planning with starting up college again in the fall. I just ordered a passion planner mid year weekly and I’ll be starting EC academic planner in august
Great idea to compare the planners that way! Currently still doing ok with my rings. Contemplating all of the things for next Jan. of '25 though. Daily vs weekly and a journal is still a big decision for me.
I’m not a daily planner, but I love this video! It’s cool to see all these layouts. Actually I do use a semi daily planner for a journal: moon phase studios. It’s more of a guided journal though.
Great comparison. I think the best dailies right now are either erin condren or sprouted. I'm personally in a hobonichi a6 but maybe I'll try the sprouted next year.
Wonderful video Amanda! Great comparisons.. I’m a daily user and have jumped around a lot, I’m trying for 2025 daily Hemlock and Oak! I fell in love with the ethos and quality especially the paper.. and love the simplicity so I can do what I want with the layout and any deco etc I also do PP scripting for daily planning.. ❤ thanks again! 😊✨
Great video Amanda-thanks for putting it together for us . I’m sticking to what works for me-a weekly EC Horozontal calendar year planner. So my new planner will start Jan 1.
This was such a helpful video! I have the Sprouted at the moment, but ended up not using it much. I'm going to try using the second half for work when I change jobs soon.
Just recently ordered an older version B6 size hobonichi-like planner (aura estelle) to start playing around in. I want to see what the paper is like because I've never experienced it before. Do you have any videos comparing the Tomoe River Paper planners? I'm trying to get my bearings in that world because I love the thought of something so small with so many pages. I've always done spiral bound (EC/Agendio) and TMR is SO different.
I haven't tried Aura Estelle yet! I would love to review their planners- they have so many options:) The only Tomoe River Paper I've tried is Hobonichi...I've the 3 main Hobonichi planners...and I have a full playlist of them:) Have fun with your new purchase:)
I always want to get a daily planner, but the best thing I have found for me is a notebook to list out whatever for crossing out later. So I get pretty notebooks instead and drool over the daily planners from afar.
I really like the format of the 5 second journal by Mel. I seem to need the 2 page spread. But I think if it was letter size on one page it would be enough. I hope I can make my own version when I’m done with it. But I think it’s affordable enough to buy again. :)
What a great comparison. I'm a Colibri planner right now, love their paper and all the extras. But I keep dithering with going to a hobonichi, which is like the complete opposite. Ah the joys of being a planner fan.
I got the sprouted planner the 1 book for July-Dec and I’m really excited and hopeful to see how it works for me! I’m mainly a weekly planner I MUST have a horizontal weekly “dashboard” so this having that and the monthly/daily and her prompts- all of the intentionality is just so beautiful! Also happy to support a small woman owned business and her story is very close to my heart!
