I have been a long-time Erin Condren user, aside from a brief foray into Happy Planners. I love my Erin Condrens (yes, I have more than one) but I have always been curious about a binder system of planning. While I love the functionality of the ECs, the idea of being able to add pages with ease was intriguing to me.
Recently I was able to pick up a Webster’s Pages Color Crush binder with inserts, and I have been using it almost exclusively for about the past month so I could really form an educated opinion on it. There are definitely pros and cons, so I am going to share some details on how I have been using it and what I think!
The Color Crush planner that I have is A5 sized, which is a standard European size, or about 5 3/4″ by 8 1/2″. The insert pages are slightly smaller the Erin Condren pages, and these particular inserts have a horizontal layout. There are countless different inserts that you can buy (or even make) to fit into these planners, but I decided to try out the ones that came with it before I purchased anything.
One of the cons is that the monthly page boxes are considerably smaller than those in an Erin Condren planner. I use this page to track my salon appointments and when my personal bills are do, so I appreciate the extra room to write. I compensated for this by using an extremely fine-point pen (Frixxion .5).
It took me a couple of weeks to really get the feel of the horizontal inserts, and I’m still not 100% happy with my layout, but it is at least functional. Of course I had to make myself some stickers to brighten my pages up.
I do really enjoy the sturdiness of the binder and the fact that I can throw it in my purse without worry about ripping pages, bending covers, etc. like I do with my Erin Condren. If I really wanted to dive in head first, I could almost ditch my wallet and keep all of my cards in this planner, but I’m not quite there yet.
The paper quality is fine – not quite as smooth as EC, but a tad thicker so I am able to use my InkJoy Gel pens with no shadowing or bleed through.
This planner definitely is not an “Erin Condren killer” for me, but I have enjoyed using it and will probably continue to use it in some function. I think this would be a great system to track my Etsy shop, or even as a blog planner because it is so easy to add pages. I would love to get some high-quality writing paper and add it so I could write letters, etc. on the go.
So to recap –
Pros:
- you can easily add pages
- sturdy binder
- thickness of paper
- endless variations of inserts
- two built-in pen loops
Cons:
- small monthly boxes
- the expense of buying additional inserts
- binder can be bulky
This planner is definitely an affordable way to get into a binder system, so if you have been wanting one I would encourage you to check them out. I will update as I change inserts and possibly functions, because I know this one is going to be in regular rotation for me for a long time!
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