Are you a paper planner looking for the elusive planner peace? If you’re tired of looking check out my 5 Reasons to Choose The Happy Planner over other planners! I give you the good, the bad and the ugly on this disc-bound planner system.
One day in April 2016 I walked into the local craft store and I come upon the Happy Planner display. It was the first time I had ever heard of the Happy Planner which is a customizable disc-bound planning system.
In today’s post I want to share with you my love of the Happy Planner brand and why I chose this disc-bound planner system for my daily organization and productivity needs. But, first let me give you a little background on exactly who the Happy Planner is and what they are about.
Happy Planner History
In 1998, Terri Gick (mother) and Stephanie Fleming (daughter) teamed up with Kay McConnaughey (artist) to create something BIG. It started with stickers designed for scrapbookers and quickly grew into planners and planner accessories. Specifically, The Happy Planner by Me and My Big Ideas (MAMBI).
Happy Planner Specifications
- Brand: MAMBI (Me And My Big Ideas) best known as The Happy Planner.
- Price: I won’t detail any pricing simply because as time marches on it will logically increase in price.
- Sizes: The Happy Planner comes in 3 sizes – Big (8.5″ x 11″) takes 11 discs; Classic (7″ x 9.25″) takes 9 discs and; Mini (4.625″ x 7″) takes 7 discs.
- Paper: The Happy Planner has an excellent paper weight of 120gsm, which equals to about 32 lbs. This means the paper is thicker and smoother with almost zero bleed through.
- Binding: This is a disc-bound planner system which makes it super flexible for busy lives.
Happy Planner Walkthrough
The first thing you will notice about Happy Planners are the beautifully designed covers. My first Happy Planner was this Classic 9-disc black and white striped cover with the quote “Make Everyday Count”.
Happy Planner Hello Page
When you first open the Happy Planner you get what is called a ‘hello page’. As the page states, “This Happy Planner Belongs To…” and it’s where you would add your name using hand-lettering, stickers or a label.
The hello page in its’ creative and personalized way tells a visual story about you.
On the inside cover of my planner I chose to add a small Heidi Swapp sticky pocket to hold notes.
Planning 101 Tips
Use the inside cover of your Happy Planner as a dashboard for post-it notes and sticky notes.
Happy Planner Month Layout
Each planner comes as either 12-month or 18-months along with the weekly pages. You get a 2-page month layout with a Sunday start. The weekend days, Saturday and Sunday, are lightly colored in for ease of finding them.
Although I had already lightly decorated the August 2016 month pages, I really didn’t need to. The Happy Planner is designed so well that all you need to get started is to simply open the planner up.
Happy Planner Weekly Layout
The weekly layout is where all the fun begins. Shown below is the vertical weekly pages that came in this planner. The vertical layout is the original layout for this brand. It’s the most functional too because you get three boxes within each vertical day.
You could use those boxes for morning, afternoon and evening; or use them by category of life (personal, work, school, etc). Each weekly layout also comes with a dot-lined left-sidebar for adding notes or using as a brain dump area.
To decorate this vertical weekly spread I used a combination of Happy Planner stickers with elements from a sticker kit, washi tape and even an arrow sticky note from the Happy Planner.
Happy Planner Accessories
Below are some of the very first accessories I purchased when I started back into planning using the Happy Planner. These are just some of the accessories available to pair with your planner of choice.
If you imagine it, they probably have it in their accessories line! Some of those extras include sticker books, elastic bands, folders, page protectors, filler paper, dashboards, pen holders, plastic tabs, expander discs and even washi tape in coordinating colors and patterns.
Let’s take a closer look at some of those accessories.
Happy Planner Page Protectors
The page protectors quickly became the favorite accessory within the planner community. In the pack you get 12 page protectors, 4 sheets of each design. The multiple layouts on the page protector sheet offers a endless possibilities to use them in your planner.
Some of the ways you can use the Happy Planner Page Protectors:
- Personalizing with photographs
- Adding inspiring journal cards and quotes
- Create a vision board for your year
- Scrapbook collages
These are just some of the ways to personalize and customize your Happy Planner disc-bound system.
Happy Planner Stickers
The #1 decor accessory for Happy Planner is their line of stickers. There is typically a sticker book designed for each planner and/or theme. There is also seasonal stickers, functional stickers and more to choose from.
Some stickers even come in the form of washi stickers. So instead of the heavier (and often bulkier) decorative stickers, you could opt for a thinner washi sticker. An added benefit is these washi stickers were designed to be able to pop them right onto your discs!
Happy Planner Tabbed Dashboards
The easiest way to organize your disc-bound Happy Planner is to use their tabbed plastic dashboards. They typically come in a set of three and allow you to label them. You might label them for monthly, weekly, daily; or weekly, goals and notes. The ideas are endless!
Shown above is how I customized one of the clear dashboards using the “today” sticker from the packet and adding in some rhinestone stickers I picked up at Michaels. Again, the possibilities for customizing and personalizing are endless.
Happy Planner Pros
- Flexible system that will ebb and flow with your busy, daily life.
- Easy organization of sections and pages that can be easily added, removed and rearranged without damaging the binding.
- As long as you are using the same size each year, the covers are interchangeable.
- Easy to customize with post-it flags, extra pages, planner decor and more.
- Perfect for left-handers because the pages pull out easily and you don’t lose that writing space along the left margin.
- You don’t have to be a “creative” person to use the Happy Planner. They provide all the planner accessories you need.
Happy Planner Cons
- It can get bulky and heavy to carry around.
- There aren’t many protective cover options (yet).
- You will need to buy their disc punch if you want your pages to lay like the Happy Planner pages that come in the planner.
- Some feel this planner system doesn’t visually translate well into corporate, professional environments (the planners are quite colorful and fun!).
The Happy Planner is perfect for just about anyone because of its’ flexible and customizable features. So what’s my verdict on this discbound planner system?
5 Reasons to Get A Happy Planner
You won’t regret it!
- The Happy Planner is perfectly priced for the market (and my budget!).
- There is an abundance of options to choose from to customize the planner to your liking including covers, discs, weekly layouts, stickers, dashboard, folders, washi and more.
- Looking for a daily dose of joy or motivation?! The Happy Planners’ inspiring cover messages and throughout the pages of the entire planner will do just that.
- Their whole disc-bound planner system allows for the planner to lie flat. I lost count of the number of planners I’ve tried over the years and it’s very annoying they don’t lie flat.
- The Happy Planner community is so welcoming, helpful and inspiring!
So you can see why it was easy choosing the Happy Planner. I give this disc-bound planner system 5 stars!
Whether you are a Happy Planner newbie or looking for inspiration be sure to check out my 5 Tips for Creating the Perfect Happy Planner and get my tips for How To Make Your Planner Work For You.
I’d love for you to join the Creative Planning Expressions Community and be inspired by all the planner pages, tips and productivity hacks. Also be sure to share your own planner pages and experiences -we’d love to learn from you too!
It’s not easy to narrow down what I’d like to try next from the Happy Planner but below you will find my short wish list.
My Happy Planner Wish List
- The Happy Planner Big 12 Month Box Kit -Be Happy (would love to try out the big Happy Planner).
- Classic Happy Planner Student Edition (Here’s To A Brilliant Year)…I’d love to get this for my 10 year old daughter. I’ve started her with an ARC planner but would love to get her into The Happy Planner.
- The Happy Planner Recipe Organizer
- Everything new from the Black, White and Gold line (loving this color combo right now!)
- Elastic Bands -Neon
- Planner Basics Stickers -Bright
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xo, Stephanie
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