- Whether you like monthly, weekly, or daily calendar options, a paper planner is an essential tool for keeping your life organized.
- Our pick for the best 2020-2021 planner for most people is the Panda Planner with its simple layout and motivational structure that helps you achieve your goals.
- If you’d like to make your planning and organization a bit more high-tech, check out our guide to the best smart notebooks.
Self-improvement is big business. Who doesn’t want to get fitter, richer, more successful – or just happier? But to achieve all these things, you’ve got to be organized. Despite the fact that most of us have some form of electronic calendar on our phones or computers, many still rely on a paper planning agenda to keep their lives running smoothly.
I’m one of those people. And while I do switch up the brand sometimes, I’m committed to using a planner that breaks down the calendar by the week. Seeing one day at a time – or the whole month – just doesn’t work for me.
Some people choose to start fresh with a new planner in January. Others – particularly college students, teachers, and parents – often opt for a 16-month calendar that starts in August or September.
These days, planners usually come with much more than just calendars. In fact, many of the best-selling planners come with features that help you set goals, get inspired, make plans, and keep track of your progress. We’ve picked out the best planners for everyone, from students and teachers to parents and professionals.
Here are the best 2020-2021 planners:
- Best overall: Panda Planner
- Best for teachers: Blue Sky Planner
- Best for students: Mead Planner
- Best for setting goals: Passion Planner
- Best for your desk: Hashi Weekly Planners Pad
- Best design-forward planner: Erin Condren LifePlanner
Updated on 7/14/2020 to edit the purchasing options to the latest planners available for 2020 to 2021 and remove references and ratings from third-party sites, because we’ve found them to be unreliable in the past.
The best overall
The Panda Planner promises to keep you on track to achieve all your goals and comes with free inspirational ebooks.
Michael Leip founded the Panda Planner system to try to get his life back on track when he found himself mired in anxiety and depression after suffering from Lyme Disease, cancer, and traumatic brain injury. The system, which he says is based on scientific strategies for achieving productivity and happiness, worked for him. He is so sure that it will work for you, too, that he offers a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.
This planner comes with monthly, weekly, and daily sections where you may organize your life in writing and also record the things you are grateful for. There is an area to focus on daily affirmations, exercises, and priorities. In addition, you receive free access to six different ebooks and a video series to help you quickly hit your goals.
This 5.25-by-8.25-inch book, made of natural materials, has an undated calendar that is intended to be used for three to six months. You fill the dates in, so you can choose if the week starts on Sunday or Monday.
Pros: Unique system, light and portable, six free ebooks, high-quality paper, money-back guarantee
Cons: It is only good for up to six months
The best for teachers
An affordable and sturdy Blue Sky planner can help you stay organized in school - and in life.
The popular Blue Sky planner comes in several sizes and styles. Two of the most common sizes are 5-by-8-inches and 8.5-by-11-inches. The resilient cover is built to last for continued use throughout the year.
The entire planner is printed with soy-based ink on 50% post-consumer waste recycled paper and is sturdy. Durable coated tabbed dividers are also long-lasting and make accessing information a breeze.
The Planner features full monthly view pages, as well as separate pages with full weekly views for more detailed planning. There are also previous and next month reference calendars. Handy note pages allow you to jot down last-minute thoughts or details.
There are also dozens of designs, whether you want something classic and solid-colored, a floral print, or a fun geometric pattern.
Pros: Attractive design, sturdy cover and construction, affordable, great format
Cons: Some users note that the lines on the pages are too close together to write easily
The best for students
The Mead Planner will help you remember all your homework assignments.
Mead Planners are great for students because they are affordable and available in many options that can look simple and grown-up, or young and fun. They're also split up into weeks and have handy academic charts in the back for reference.
The company makes academic and regular planners that span either calendar years or academic years. Choose between spiral and bound planner styles, and most have both weekly and monthly views of the calendar. As for the covers, they come plain or with graphics.
Reference pages are tucked into the front and back of the planners for easy access. Some of Mead's planners are spiral bound but the wires are covered with sturdy cloth to ensure that the wire doesn't snag on anything. The planners come in small and large sizes to suit your needs.
Pros: Simple design, academic charts, good layout
Cons: Certain designs are spiral-bound which may snag
The best for setting goals
The Passion Planner offers lots of motivational extras that will have you feeling passionate about your to-do list and your life.
The Passion Planner started in late 2013 as a Kickstarter project when Founder Angelia Trinidad was suffering from "feelings of emptiness" after graduating from college. Her answer was to create a tool that would allow herself, and ultimately others, the ability to define their goals and dreams and then break them down into actionable steps.
The 210-page, 8.5-by-11-inch faux-leather black book includes a Passion RoadMap, which kicks off with an exercise that helps you define and create actions for your goals in three months, one year, three years, and throughout your life. Weekly layouts, as well as annual and monthly overview calendars, keep you organized, while monthly reflection questions and inspirational quotes keep you focused on your progress.
There is also a "Space of Infinite Possibility" where you can take notes, draw, create, write, or brainstorm. Smooth, extra-thick paper makes it fun to write in this planner.
Pros: Motivational, unique concept, high-quality paper, lightweight
Cons: It doesn't come with tabs to easily open to pages
The best for your desk
The Hashi Weekly Planners Pad is about the size of a keyboard, so it's perfect to use at your desk.
If you want a planner for your desk, look no further than the Hashi Weekly Planners Pad. This cute weekly planner is about the same size as a keyboard and is meant to sit at your desk where you work. You can take it with you, but it is a long slim rectangle that's not ideal for shoving in a bag.
It contains enough pages for 60 weeks of planning and it's undated so it will last until you run out of paper. Instead of dates, you see a Monday through Sunday view.
Hashi uses 12 fun patterns for the paper, so as the weeks go by, you'll see roses, airplanes, geometric prints, florals, and even pineapples on the predominantly pastel-colored pages.
There's no monthly view, so if you need that, you'll have to look elsewhere. This is ideal for using at your desk in combination with another planner or digital calendar on your computer screen.
I use mine next to my desk to plan out articles for the week, but I imagine it'd work just as well for homework assignments.
Pros: Weekly view, cute designs, lots of space, undated so it lasts, many pages
Cons: Might not be ideal for carrying around, no monthly view
The best design-forward planner
Erin Condren's super-stylish LifePlanner series will keep your life in beautiful balance.
Erin Condren's beautiful LifePlanner comes in several different gorgeous colors and patterns and a variety of layouts to suit your needs.
The planner includes quote pages, mini-month spreads, goal setting pages, weekly spreads, lined pages, dot grid paper, and blank pages for note-taking. Each month is tabbed, so you can easily flip through to look back at all the things you've accomplished or ahead to upcoming events.
Condren also added a folder and a pouch to the planner to hold important documents inside. But perhaps the biggest appeal of Erin Condren's planners is the design, which is feminine, colorful, inspirational, and super Instagrammable.
Pros: Beautiful and stylish, hardbound, high-quality paper
Cons: Expensive
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