Some of you may recall earlier this year when I received my first filofax style planner, an A5 mint beauty from Kikki K that I wrote a rather extensive blog post about! I love my A5 Mint Time Planner, but after acquainting myself to the filofax and planner community, I began to realize that an A5 planner was just too large for my needs. Yes, it holds a lot of information and yes, the pages are much larger so you can really capture all the details of day-to-day life, but for me, it wasn’t perfect. When I moved onto my personal sized Kate Spade Wellesley Planner, I began feeling a little more at home in a 6 ring planner. It was more compact, easy to carry and write in while I was on the go and it fit nicely into more of my handbags. But still, it just didn’t feel 100% right to me. For a lot of us in the planner community, the search for that perfect planner is something that seems to elude us. Many of us have collections of planners that may seem frivolous to some, but those who understand know that our planners are like our babies. Okay, not literally, but like children or pets, our planners each seem beautiful and unique in their own way, and again, like children or pets, sometimes they just aren’t perfect and we try to work through issues to come to some state of balance. I have to say though, this last week I received a beautiful gift from one of my favorite stationery companies, Kikki K, and it has really been making me question my loyalty to my other planners. I was sent a Medium 2015 Lilac Time Planner (with a matching adorable pen!) and although it wasn’t something I was ever expecting to like, I have fallen head over heels in love with it!
There is something about the Kikki K planners that I just like. They are made from soft leather, have a nice rounded feel in the hands and the color, oh the color, it’s breathtaking! I’ve never thought of myself as a purple person, but this lilac is sophisticated and feminine, and surprisingly neutral! I also just love the dimensions of this planner. When I compare it to my Kate Spade planner, it’s slight wider and slightly shorter, but more of a square shape overall than the obvious rectangular shape of the Wellesley. To me, the proportions feel anatomically correct. Of course, there is also the elastic closure band, which I am a major fan of and was one of the reasons I purchased the mint A5 earlier this year. I think the elastic band is secure, but forgiving! You can stuff it with more inserts, stickers, notepads, and washi samples than a traditional planner with a button or zipper closure and it all holds together!
Another thing Kikki K gets right with this planner is the pockets! The inner cover has an array of pockets, from a large secretarial pocket, perfect for loose papers, cards, mail and more! Then, it has a selection of pockets, some deep, some small, but all have a variety of uses and can fit a plethora of planner goodies and decor! One thing I am very pleased about, in comparison to my mint planner, are the dividers! They are a lovely shade of peachy pink that work nicely with the lilac planner. They are so lovely, in fact, that I didn’t bother making my own personalized dividers, because I loved the stock dividers so much!
Now, on to the inserts and the various sections of this planner! The planner came with a variety of inserts: month on two pages spread, week on two pages calendar, address book inserts, birthday and anniversary pages, shops and restaurant tracker, to-do lists, and expense sheets. I love the Kikki K calendar inserts, however, the dates began with 2015 so they weren’t much use to me. So, I used some free printables from Philofaxy to hold me over until the new year! I also put aside the address book, birthday/anniversary, shops/restaurants, and expense sheets because they aren’t any use to me. Instead, I broke my planner down into the following sections: Monthly View, Weekly View, Yearly, Strange & Charmed, Life, and To-Dos!
My monthly view is my editorial calendar for my blog and YouTube channel, helping me keep track of posts and regularly scheduled content!
In my weekly view, I opted for a week per page layout paired with a custom Task List that I designed myself! These two together help me manage my tasks and important items throughout my week.
My yearly section is geared towards helping me organize big picture life goals and tasks. I use a variety of pages in this section to help keep my focused, breaking down my year by month and seasonally.
The Strange & Charmed section is devoted to my blog and YouTube channel. Here I keep track of blog posts and YouTube video ideas with custom trackers I designed for myself. I also keep a variety of loose notepaper here for taking notes or brainstorming.
The life section encompasses everything else in my life that I need to keep track of. This is my place for storing inspiration, my wish list, and taking extraneous notes.
Finally, the meager to-do section is where I keep a running list of to-do items that need my attention.
Overall, I am loving this little planner! I think the size is perfect for me as the planner fits everything I need, all in one place! I am obsessed with the color, which is such a random thing for me, but I just think its such a great shade! I am so excited and thankful that Kikki K was kind enough to send this planner to me, and if you have been thinking about this planner, I definitely think you should pick it up sooner rather than later, as these tend to go out of stock as we get closer to year’s end. Of course, if you want to see an even more in-depth look at my planner set up, make sure to check out my YouTube video below, which basically walks you through the entire planner! If you are interested in any of my custom planner inserts, feel free to visit my shop!
I hope you have enjoyed this peek into my new planner! Make sure to let me know if you have this planner and what you think about it by sending me a tweet or leaving me a message on my Facebook page!
How were the rings? I’ve seen so many reviews that the rings were mis-aligned that it turned me off from trying this one.
As you should be able to tell from most of my pictures and the video, the rings on this planner are fine, no misalignment or anything, but two of the upper rings have a very small gap, that is barely perceptible. Now, when I first received my A5 Mint planner, I had a similar gap in those rings that self corrected in time (I was told that this is normal with a new binder, and through use the rings actually begin to tighten) so I am not too worried about it and currently, they aren’t causing me any issues. I will say, I have heard only a few stories about people having issues with the rings with this brand and I believe the company provided a replacement. I have full confidence in Kikki K as they truly are a customer driven company and if you are interested in their planners, I wouldn’t let the possibility of a slight flaw hold you back!
I love love love this planner!! I love that it’s a ring binder so it can be customize. Is the 2020 one available for purchase yet?
The planner on the first sight looks really nice, girly and luxurious, but when I watched your video I realize that the inserts looks too professional, business like, formal.. I don’t know how to explain it but on the first sight it looks funny but inside it looks too serious, I don’t like this kind of setting. But it still looks really nice 🙂
You have to keep in mind that these are not the inserts that come with the planner! This planner comes with 2015 inserts that are very pretty and girly, but I can’t use them yet, so I downloaded some free printable from the Philofaxy website to hold me over!
Do you happen to have the link to the “This is your Year” printable? I’ve searched on Pinterest, but sadly can’t find it 🙁
You can find it in my Pinterest board called Quotables! My user name is MissTrenchcoat… Be sure to follow me because I do pin a lot of the items I mention for easy reference!
I need to get stuff together for my planner in 2015! I’m ready to GO! Just gotta find a page layout that I like.
Like you I am in love with the kikkiK lilac. I got the large size because I have a fairly new Finsbury from Filofax that I carry around daily. But, I love the KikkiK so much I might have to buy a bugger purse so I can it too.
Such a pretty planner. I am jealous of people with pretty planners. I can’t quite achieve pretty.
http://giftieetcetera.blogspot.com
Ahh – total eye candy 🙂 I have never had one of these, but they are lovely!
Wanting to know where you found the dark haired sticker girl on this page that looks like you?
She is from the Bonnie Series sticker pack, here is a quick link to where I purchased mine off Etsy, http://goo.gl/4BPUxd
Hope this helps!
I love your blog and your Youtube channel! Thanks for sharing all your tips. Is your Task Tracker availble to download?
Thanks Kathleen! The task tracker is available, if you would like to purchase it, the file is $5, just send me an email at strangeandcharmedmag@gmail.com and I can send you a paypal invoice.
This is really helpful. Thanks! I was indecisive about which size planner would be a good fit for me and you helped me decide…I’m going for the medium.
Glad to help! I hope you enjoy your new planner!
How would you compare this to the MoleSkine large size?? I am try to find a cute fashionable planner to use as my bullet journal and am honestly torn between Kikki K and this gorgeous python print bound planner from Gigi New York. Please help!!
The Kikki K is wider and much thicker than a Large Moleskine. For exact details I suggest comparing the measurements from Kikki K and Moleskine and sketching out the dimensions onto a piece of paper. I do this sometimes to help me compare planners and such because it helps to see the difference even if its just on paper!
I was just hoping you could tell me where to purchase those adorable paper clips – specifically the gold bows? They are so damn cute and compliment the planner so well!
They are Kate Spade… http://bit.ly/1Io9Elk
Hi thanks for the wonderful video. I have a personal Kate Spade but am looking for an
A5 planner. This one is definitely on my top 5 list. If possible could I get a copy of your “THIS IS YOUR LIFE 2015′ page please. Thanks for the wonderful suggestions.
Kelly
Hey Kelly! You are very welcome! You can find the insert in this post, https://www.strangecharmed.com/diy/diy-bow-clips-for-your-planner-more/ Hope this helps!
Very pretty! I’ve got the medium lilac on order. Where did you get the cup cake page maker and I love you card?
Thanks! I’m not sure which page marker you’re referring to, could you be more specific? Thanks!
I just ordered this planner and am super excited! Where did you get the fold out year page?? I definitely need something like that for my goal area. And I love your project and goal planner pages. Planning to purchase those as soon as I get my planner set up!
Hi Olga! The fold out year at a glance is from philofaxy (http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/p/diary-inserts.html) unless you are talking about the Year at a glance goal and project tracker page which is actually part of my planning bundle on my shop (https://www.strangecharmed.com/shop/product/project-goal-planning-bundle-personal-sized/)! Hope you love your new planner once it arrives! Best wishes! xx
I bought it! I’m waiting for HER to arrive!
YAY! Congrats!
This is beautiful, it seems to have very different sizing to normal planners though, how did you go about finding the right printables for it?
Hi Olivia! The Kikki K medium planner is equivolent to Filofax personal size. So any filofax personal inserts will fit. It also does come with a full set of inserts when you purchase it from Kikki k! Hope this helps!
Is the size really medium or small cause I looked on their website and I only see a large or a small one.. Please let me know
The size is Medium!
Hi Miss Trenchcoat
Can you please tell me what the paper size is the kikki k planner you have??
i want to make my inserts on the computer but i don’t know what size to print,
because i printed it A5 and its to big!
Hope to hear from you soon
Denisha
I love your task tracker. Where can I get it? Thanks.
Your coloring is so much like my daughter’s. I sent her a picture of you!
Thanks for your help
Hi! I’m late to the party on this post, but I was wandering: what is the difference between the Kate Spade Wellesley and the Kikki K as far as ring size? Are they both about 1 inch or would you say one or the other can contain more inserts?
Please let me know what you think, thank you!!
Hi I want to buy this planner but I can’t find any cute daily planner inserts do you have any recommendations ?
Hi
I would like to know which size did you take?i have a medium kikki-k and i think of taking a large size.
Thanks !
<3