WeekDate 2013-2014 Academic year planner!

This is a completely new format from WeekDate, and I am extremely excited about it!

You may have seen my WeekDate reviews before (click here and scroll down to see them all). This planner is a new design, similar to the original WeekDate design, made for people with recurring weekly events but not recurring monthly events.

These planners are excellent for students and for parents with kids in school. Finally a way to easily keep up on your and your family's entire schedule, with no re-writing!

The Academic year WeekDate planners are being run as a test product this year and are in very limited quantities. I'm so happy to get one!!

The 2013-2014 Academic WeekDate planners come in two cover designs: this soothing sage green called "Calm Down" or black and white "No App For That." (I LOVE that name!!!)

This planner measures a little more than 6 inches wide (including the spiral binding) and 8 1/2 inches tall. I haven't done it myself, but you can also remove the pages and cover from the spiral binding and punch them to fit an A5 Filofax, Classic size Franklin Covey or any other binder that holds 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch pages.

Below is the weekly layout. Click on the photo to see a bigger image so you can really see what is going on.

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The top part is a normal weekly planner where you write daily specifics. Below the shortened pages is the inside of the covers where you write your weekly recurring events. This is always visible, even when you turn the weekly pages. So you write your class schedule, kids' sports practices, weekly staff meetings, cleaning schedule, and anything else that happens each week, only once. No more re-writing!  Further below I'll show you some examples of ways to use this planner. But first I want to show you more features!

Below is a closeup of the left page with the planner pages at the top, and the recurring events space below. US holidays are printed on the day spaces.

In addition to the weekly layout, there is a fold-out area of the back cover that would be perfect as a dashboard, long-term goals, bills due monthly, and anything else you want to keep visible.

I was delighted to discover MONTHLY GRID CALENDARS! Hooray!!

These are perfect for overviews of due dates and projects. Holidays are printed on the day spaces so you can work around them.

There is also an annual reference calendar for all of 2013:

And for all of 2014:

And there are a few pages in the back for notes.

At the right of the weekly pages there is a lined space for tasks and notes.

Below are some examples of how to use this planner. These entries are all fictitious, but they will give you some ideas of use.

Write in pencil everything that happens every week in the bottom section. You can see I've written things like kids' after school activities, school things to prepare for each week like PE and library, my exercise schedule and weekly weigh-in.

In the fold-out dashboard area I have a sticky note with month goals.

Here is a closeup of the left page. You can see when I scheduled the parent-teacher conference, Monday was the only free evening to have it. The greatest thing about this planner is, even when you schedule things weeks in advance, you know exactly what is already scheduled each week without writing it on page after page!

Below is the right page. Weekend days each have a full column, which is wonderful for those of us with busy weekends! Also the weeks start on Monday, keeping the weekend days together for easy scheduling.

 Here is something I really like: I wrote my weekly and every two weeks cleaning schedules in the recurring section, so I don't have to rewrite my cleaning routine every week. I wrote 1-5 and A-C in my weekly page, for the satisfaction of checking them off. You can see that 1-5 are the same each week, and A-C tasks alternate according to even or odd weeks. Week numbers are printed right there on the page, so I always know if it's the week to wash the bathroom rugs or to clean out my car.

Here you can see my to-do list, and my goals for the month always visible. This flap folds in when the planner is closed and serves as a pagemarker.

Below I've shown how to use the monthly grid calendars as general overviews for deadlines, travel, and events to plan ahead for.

This planner is spectacular for anyone with a lot to keep up on. The unique design makes sure everything you have going on stays visible so nothing slips through the cracks.

Something to note: the cover material for this year's academic planners is a thin card. Next year's version will have a thicker material for the cover. Personally I like the thin cover because it is so lightweight, this book weighs next to nothing and could easily go with you everywhere.

Another thing that will be different next year: since these are a test run they got out a little late this year, they started in September 2013 and go through September 2014 to give you an extra month of planning. Next year's version will start in July or August.

WeekDate products are made and printed entirely in the US, which is not easy for a small company to be able to do these days. In fact they weren't sure if they would be able to print WeekDate planners for 2014, and I'm so happy they did! I think the whole WeekDate concept of Only Write It Once is brilliant and I'd hate to see it go away!

You can find out more about WeekDate products at www.WeekDate.com. WeekDate ships all over the world! You can also find them on Facebook and Twitter. Follow them for great time management tips!

WeekDate is running a fun Facebook activity: take a picture of yourself with your WeekDate Academic planner in front of your school sign or city landmarks and post it on their Facebook page. It will be cool to see where everyone is using their WeekDate Academic!

Huge enormous thanks to WeekDate for sending me this planner to review! It's fantastic! What a relief for people with recurring weekly events.