The 2021 Erin Condren calendar year launch is here! Back in April, when the academic year planners launched, the Erin Condren team released the patterns and planner guts for both the academic and calendar year planners. As expected, there are no major changes to report here.. This calendar year launch brings us coil-bound and softbound and the newest addition to the group — pocket planners!

As a complement to this post, my YouTube video features a review of the coil planner and a handful of new accessories launching with this line. I’ll focus here on the softbound and pocket planners and answer a handful of the most frequently asked questions. I only have a sneak peek into some of the products at launch and encourage you to explore the complete list of products HERE on the site!

I want to thank Tori and the Erin Condren team for sending me these products for review. Some links may be affiliate links, and you can read more about my affiliate link disclosure here.

Softbound Planners

While Erin Condren is known for its signature coil planners, the softbound line is sleek and eminently versatile. This calendar year’s softbound planner comes in the classic softbound line and the focused collection. The planner is available in two sizes and all of the layouts — except the daily; A5 (5.8” x 8.3”) and 8 x 10 are the two available sizes.

The softbound planner is a life planner, known for its combination of organization and inspiration for improved time management and productivity. It includes the thick rich paper that we know and love in the Erin Condren planners. It’s a 12-month calendar view with two pages dedicated to setting goals. This weekly planning system will help you organize in style!

Product Specs: In the larger 8 x 10, you have the option for the hourly, vertical, or horizontal layout.

• For the 8 x 10 hourly layout, the available themes are layers colorful and shimmer rose gold. The vertical layout features the most options with layers colorful, layers neutral, shimmer ivory and shimmer rose gold. For the horizontal layout, peacock is available.
• In the A5 size, horizontal is the only layout. Shimmer ivory, shimmer rose gold, and layers colorful are the available themes.
• The A5 softbound planner starts at $30 and the 8 x 10 starts at $35.

Pocket Planner

This pocket planner is the perfect planner for portable, functional planning, list-making, and note-taking on the go. Stay organized anytime, anywhere. The pocket planner runs the calendar year with a new, modified layout. There’s a monthly dashboard overview before each week — in a horizontal layout — and at the end of the month, there’s a full lined notes spread. At the back of the planner, there are six full spreads for notes, too.

My take:

This is a neat planner, but it’s not for everyone. Pre-pandemic, working in the office and running errands, this would be the perfect planner if you’re always on the go. I like this better than the petite planners because you get a full year and not three months at a time.

The dashboard at the front of the month I actually prefer because it says – monthly goals, important dates, and to-dos with a notes page on the other side. I wish this would replace the actual monthly dashboard page layout.

Product Specs: The pocket planner starts at $18 and is available in layers colorful, layers neutral, and focused themes.

Questions

Any there any changes or updates to the Focused Collection softbound?

A: I don’t have the Focused softbound collection in my hands, but you’ll have the A5 and 8 x 10 option, available in a range of colors including camel, harbor, black, blush, navy, and slate blue. They have two different interior themes: minimal and soft color. The Focused Collection will be similar but be on the lookout for channels reviewing the actual Focused planners.

One of the cool things they’re doing this year with Focused is creating a hard coil-bound Focused planners and Focused notebooks. They’ll have a vegan leather hard cover.

Will they have a Daily Duo softbound option?

A: No, unfortunately, they won’t this year!

How many note pages are there for each month?

A: The layout is identical to the layout from the Academic Year launch. I have a blog post about the Daily Duo that goes in depth. To summarize, you get one blank page associated with the dashboard and one blank page at the end of the month. Both of these are lined. In the back of the softbound you’ll get two full spreads (four individual pages) of lined notes.

What hours are in the hourly layout?

A: From 6:00am – 7:00pm. This is a change from their 2020 calendar year line (6:00am – 9:00pm)

And that’s it!

Make sure to check out my YouTube video to see some of the additional accessories set to launch. If you aren’t already, subscribe to my Newsletter to stay up to date with all planner news, including pre-launch features and post-launch reviews.