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I like to go into Michael’s craft store more than I care to admit. It’s become my “happy place”, especially during the Fall and Holiday seasons since there’s so many festive objects around. It has this mysterious ability to instantly lift my mood when I walk in. So earlier in the week, I was moseying around the store when I spotted the new planner line up! It caught me by surprise and I was so impressed when I first saw the gold coil that I literally gasped. Yes, gasping over planners. Ha! The newest edition of the Happy 365 Planner was out and looking beautiful as ever (that’s one for another post), but my eye was caught on the brand new planners by Recollections.

There were so many beautiful things to look at at once, I could barely take it in! First off, like I said, the gold coil on all of the planners could make any girls heart flutter. Then there were the wide variety of designs and layouts. Not only did they have the classic vertical layout that Erin Condren planner people know so well, but they had the horizontal layout and two different size options. I picked them up and having just looked at an Erin Condren the day before, the quality could easily compare. I was incredibly impressed, I must say! Knowing that Erin Condren planners range around $50 (and higher), I was afraid to look at the price of these beautiful planners. But they’re only $29.99! And the best part? Michael’s always has a 40% off coupon you can easily access on your phone. For one planner that can easily be compared to the layout and quality of an Erin Condren, you can get out of there under $20. In the planner world, that’s a steal! And the best deal I’ve ever seen, quite frankly.

These two are the same size as an Erin Condren planner. I picked my favorite cover to show you examples of both the vertical and horizontal planners (I was pretty excited to share, what can I say?). Just like the Erin Condren, the front and back covers can be switched out. If you’re into using stickers in your planner and doing the “no white space” look, the stickers might be just a little off. You can watch this video to see how the stickers fit.

I love the flags on each day on the month-at-a-glance page. So lovely! I also love how each holiday is marked in a gorgeous script.

At the back of each planner are stickers, a pocket, and clear zip pouch, just like an Erin Condren.

This is the larger of the sizes and the one I’ll be keeping and trying next year (my categories will be Home, Blog, and Personal). It’s large, so this will live on my desk while I’ll have another planner in my bag at all times. If you feel like you want to try the larger size, it also comes in both the vertical and horizontal option.

Not only did I want to give the larger vertical option a try, but you really can’t beat that quote! I love the gold lettering and the whole image around it. The colors really drew me in here as well.

The flags on this one for the month-at-a-glace are designed a bit differently, but same idea. There’s plenty of space on the side to write monthly reminders or to-do’s.

Here you can see how different the box size is between the smaller (Erin Condren size) and larger vertical planner.

Overall, I feel like this is such a great planner to check out, especially if you haven’t been able to get your hands on an Erin Condren planner or can’t justify the price.

Happy Planning, friends!