Planner Review #5: Back to Basics Planner
Hello and welcome back!
Today’s planner is from C&S Designs, a brand that has been selling their trademark Design Your Life Planner (which I will also review!). C&S has a great organic promotion system — I first came across their planners on Mercari, then on TikTok, and finally through some planner-focused Instagrams. The three physical planners they offer — Design Your Life, Back to Basics, and Limitless — regularly sell out, which also adds to the hype.
The Back to Basics planner is undated and very formatted. At the front of the planner are trackers, lists, and spreads focused on: goals, wellness, travel, events, gift lists, and cash flow. It also has a password tracker and a space to keep track of your last times — noting the date of the last time you did something that isn’t regularly done, like going to the dentist or getting your oil changed — and monthlies to keep track of your monthly to-do’s.
Each month starts with a two-page set up spread containing: an expense tracker, a sleep tracker, a highlights section, a space to paste in a picture, a monthly to-do list, and a spot to claim your power word. Followed by that spread is your typical two-page monthly layout. There is nothing too unique about this section, other than the small space at the top designated to track your monthly milestones (something you would have set up on the earlier goal pages).
After each monthly spread is, of course, the weekly spreads. Because this planner is undated, it provides six weekly spreads per month to ensure you never lose a day or two due to a month starting on a Friday or Saturday. Each weekly spread contains an inspirational quote, a habit tracker, a daily water tracker, and sections to keep notes. It is a vertical layout, similar to what we’ve seen in previous planners, with each day being loosely split into three sections.
This could be my recency bias, as this is the current planner I’m using, but this is my top planner that I have reviewed thus far. There are beautiful and clean layouts for basically any topic AND it’s all undated — making my OCD brain very happy.
Given all the extra space and trackers, the vertical tracker feels like enough space for me, which is often not the case for vertical layouts. Currently, I’ve been using the weekly layout to loosely schedule out my day, kind of like a to-do list of everything I need/want to do that day, from waking up to going to bed. The expense tracker is also the first and only expense tracker I’ve ever actually stuck with — being able to assign each purchase to another credit card is helpful in me realizing that I am absolutely out of control as far as spending goes. Lol.
Anyway… absolutely love this planner and appreciate the care and work that went into it to hit literally any box I could ask for. Now, I’ll just be patiently waiting for the day they release a daily version.
Who I think this planner would be good for:
The planners who want it all
People who are always looking to get their life back on track…
But also can’t commit to a dated planner
~ Planner Vibes ~
virgos
daily note takers
Excel lovers
habit trackers + daily challenge people
Purchase below:
C&S Designs — currently on sale for $9.17!
Any questions or notes? Feel free to email me at info@emmyfromminny.com! I’d love to hear from you!