Look what came in the mail today? I'm so excited. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh
Hi it's Seo from tbhstudying and today we are here to
review the amandarachlee doodle planners for 2020
Someone is literally mowing their lawn outside right now into this pouring rain
Who mows their lawn when it's pouring rain?
sir, SIR, why are you mowing your lawn on a day like this?
just when I decide to film the next day so that I don't get weird ambient noise, this happens
Hello there, Seo again for round two, no lawn mower, no hailstorms, no nothing, hopefully
Anyways time to finish up this review of the doodle planner. I want to clarify that Amanda gifted this to me
I will entirely admit that my review could have some inherent bias because of this but my opinions will remain
100% honest and 100% me. the cover is sort of like this smooth texture because it's made of faux leather
It's also a pretty hefty planner. Like, I don't think you guys understand like how thick this big boy is
It has 222 pages and is made of 160 gsm paper
For comparison, my bullet journal is the same a5 size
But it has 100 gsm paper and around 176 pages which explains why it's so much lighter, but that's just a heads up
This one's just a big thicc boi
I like that it's 168 gsm paper because then
it means that the chance of bleedthrough and ghosting will be dramatically reduced
Almost virtually none at all, probably
I wouldn't go dumping a whole bunch of watercolour on the pages
because then the pages might pill or something like that
but you could probably get away with a lot of markers and fountain pen inks
in addition to the usual gel pen and
ballpoint pen that people are likely to use. the planner itself is gorgeous,
filled with black and white designs that were all hand drawn and hand lettered by Amanda herself.
I like that they're black and white rather than pre-colored, so that offers you a space for you to pick your own colors
it's sort of like a
coloring book like an adult coloring book but a planner version, something like that
If you look at the cover, the foil embossments correspond to the monthly themes.
So there's January, February, March
April, May, June, July
August, September, October
November and then December right over here. I really like the thought behind that and I think it's very cute
The designs themselves are all very classically Amanda if you know what I mean
If you've watched her video, then you know what I mean, especially the bubble tea theme on
June, I believe, yeah right here
This is just very classically Amanda and the best way possible
It's very obvious that she spent a lot of time and hard work and effort on this
the designs are all beautiful and the way that they're laid out and placed is very thoughtful in my opinion and
sort of related to the design aspect,
something that I like about this is that there are no holidays pre-added in
and the fact that the latter months are not really holiday themed
For example, if we look over here to December, she totally could have gone with the Christmas theme
But she didn't and instead chose for a more neutral theme which I prefer because some people don't necessarily
celebrate every holiday. So that is something that I do appreciate about the design
There are 12 months in this planner for the year 2020
There are the monthly spreads, habit and mood trackers, and
a space for you to set your goals and list off favorites for the month
There's also a blank dotted page for you to use however you wish
whether that be including a tracker that isn't here or journaling or whatever else
There are more dotted pages in the front and back as well as yearly
reflections and other things like that in the front and back too and
there are the weekly spreads. all the spreads start with Monday whether that be on the monthly or weekly spreads.
I personally am nota big fan of that because I prefer my weeks to start with Sunday
But that's my own personal preference and not necessarily everyone else's
I like that the weekly spreads are in these more vertical boxes rather than being in a strictly horizontal layout
Again, this is more of a personal preference, but I prefer more vertical layouts and horizontal layouts
The fact that the boxes are blank rather than having little checkboxes or bullet points is also nice
because you still have the space to do other things other than write down tasks inside such as
doodling or journaling within the boxes themselves
I also like that there is
just a stitched spine and not spiral bound because then your hand won't run into the spiral
and you write so whether you're a righty or a lefty
your hand won't hit the spiral in the center and the planner lies down flat if you just
press it down and run your hand in the center just like that, really nice and convenient and
There are two ribbon bookmarks right here
You can use one for maybe a weekly spread and then you could use another one
for the month that you're on, if I could get the ribbon bookmark out,
So it's nice that there are two ribbon bookmarks, especially considering how thick this planner is
So overall, it's a pretty nice high quality planner
But I do have a few criticisms
most of them boil down to personal preference
some people may disagree but these are just my opinions and here they are
I personally don't use trackers, soI likely won't use them at all. I already mentioned the Monday thing
I just prefer my weeks to start on Sunday, but that's another point too.
I also feel like the weekly spreads are a bit repetitive because it's the same design per weekly spread and
for very busy people, these weekly boxes may not be big enough for you, and the grand scheme of things
these are pretty minor criticisms.
now for the pricing: this planner costs $45.90 in USD
which doesn't include tax or shipping
shipping within the United States costs $6, shipping to Canada costs $10 and
international shipping to any country that is not the US or Canada is
$12. if your order is above $100 you do get free shipping
But then that would mean you have to purchase at least
3 planners in order to get that free shipping since that's the only thing in the store so far
two planners together would only cost $91.80
which doesn't hit that $100 minimum
I'm not sure if that minimum includes tax, but my point is that this is a rather expensive planner.
I think that there is a certain irony in the fact that someone living in Canada would have to pay more than idea for a product
branded under a Canadian youtuber, but that's probably more to do with where this journal is being printed and produced and shipped
In regards to shipping. I can't accurately give you a good estimate for reference
Amanda contacted me towards the end of November and I received it in January
I think it took longer because she had to restock her planners and it takes time to produce these and ship these out and
then she didn't ship it from the factory directly to me and
instead, took the time to add a card to mine and ship it out
So either way, I don't know how long shipping takes so I don't have any insight to offer on that
But anyways back to the price discussion. For comparison,
My bullet journal is an essentials grid journal which costs $11
Granted, this is a completely blank journal that I filled out myself and it does have thinner paper compared to the 160 gsm paper
that is in the doodle planner so that probably contributes to its lesser cost
my Mossery planner costs $28.50 and that goes for an undated planner or a
customizable dated planner or one of their sketchbooks, all which come with
customizable covers and in my experience all of them have come with stickers
my PersonalPlanner in the a5 size is
$39.95 but everything from the cover to the contents and the trackers
and the layout and the colors and everything else is
Customizable and the price already includes tax and its free shipping and it came with stickers
it also has like a number of gridded pages in the back, things like that
Whereas the doodle planner, it has tax and shipping added on to it later on
PersonalPlanner also has an assortment of sizes with the cheapest one being $29.95
I could go on with the comparisons, but these are just the three that I have handy with me and near me right now
So those are just the ones that I chose to compare them to
Now I didn't watch Amanda's video about her planner nor did I watch any other videos related to her planner
because I wanted this to be a genuine first impressions video
She might have explained the reason for the higher cost but here are my guesses
I don't know the production cost nor do I know the profit margin of this planner
But here are some guesses as to why her planner may be more expensive than her competitors
First, all the designs and calligraphy in this planner were hand drawn by Amanda herself
that requires time and energy and effort and dedication
Second, she is not a big company that has a history of selling planners and new books
so the startup cost of producing and selling these planners may have been more expensive
the fact that these have 100 60 gsm paper and
this kind of softcover with the foil embellishments
and all the hand-drawn designs, things like that would also
probably increase production cost
and also, in a sense you are paying for the name associated with this planner and
this is mildly related to my previous criticism
I just don't like dated planners as much as undated planners
dated planners have sort of this expiration date to them
you can only use them as a planner within the year that they're dated for and as a person who has
many planners and notebooks as evidenced right here,
I like jumping around from planner to planner, system to system
Again, this is completely my own personal opinion but
the fact that this is so expensive and yet has a time limit is a little
ehhhhhhhh for me?
I would be so Incredibly excited to see Amanda make an undated planner
maybe sometime in the future and I would probably be the first to line up for it
But that is just one point that I would like to point out. So to sum up my thoughts. This is a high quality
hefty planner with thick pages that can hold up to brush pens, probably some watercolor and the like
However, this is a planner made for a very specific audience, which is Amanda's audience
This isn't necessarily a bad thing at all
In fact, I'd say this planner probably fills in a niche in the planner market for people who want to have an aesthetic
Instagram-esque bullet journal like Amanda does
but either feel like they don't have the time or artistic skill to replicate her style
this planner seems very appropriate for
Amanda to release and to create and
it just makes sense for her and the kind of videos and the kind of planning that she
does but there are some things that I would advise you to do before you invest in this planner
First off, watch Amanda's videos. Actually, just do that
even if you don't buy this planner, but anyways
Watch her videos and try out her own style of bullet journaling for yourself to see if you like it
if you do and find yourself gravitating towards it and you like the different themes
then go ahead, buy the planner
I would just hate for you to spend over $50 on this planner, tax and shipping included
just for you to realize you don't like the system
Also, if you want to order the 2020 planner that by golly, order it soon
Like I said, this is a dated planner with a time limitation on it
if you're spending this much on a planner
I want you to maximize your use out of it and get your money's worth
Maybe in the future. Amanda will come out with slimmer six months planners or
undated planners and you can get those later in the year
but if it's this 2020 planner in particular
then get it soon and maximize your use out of it because it has a time limitation, it is dated.
I personally don't see myself using this planner full-time
I prefer to make my own spreads and just dry my own doodles and I just don't use trackers.
I can honestly see myself journaling in this planner more than regular planning
But in the end, this planner can and will meet a need for some people and it won't for others
That's just how it is for pretty much everything in life
I think I've already started journaling in this planner a little bit just to test out the paper a little bit and
Yeah, I honestly see myself
using this as a journal much more than actual planning
But it is up to your own preference
I feel like artists could probably use this maybe as like a practice sketchbook per day and
then, of course people who want to journal things like that
But thank you so much to Amanda for gifting me this planner
it is so incredible and it's evident that she poured her blood, sweat,
and tears into this and that it's lovingly made. Again, I can't say this enough
It feels like it's very high quality and the pages do hold up to ink very well
So thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to watch this video
I hope this video was helpful, and I will see you in the next video
Let me know what your thoughts on the doodle planner are in the comments, and I will see you later. Bye!