Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored review.

This 2017, I’m going all out to using an affordable planner I purchased from National Bookstore.

As a fan of planners, I go for utility rather than design – a poor excuse for me being monochromatic and boring – so I’d go for less expensive ones than those that cost about 3000 Php *coughs* Starbucks *coughs* 

Don’t get me wrong. I do love Starbucks and there was a time I completed the sticker-requirement to get myself a planner which I completely used.

And I have a thing for 2017 CBTL’s and Scribbles for their amazing designs. 

The thing is … I’m not sure I’d be able to write on all of their pages. So utility it is–yep, I’m boring. 

I got this grey NBS 2017 planner for Php 299.75 which means I will be spending only 0.82 cents everyday I use it–talk about being a cheapskate. It is a thick Daily planner bound by faux leather, kept secured by a darker grey elastic. If you’d ask me, I’d rather have a flat band to keep the pages together than a rounded one because it damages the cover. As regards the front cover, you can see 2017 lightly engraved at the bottom right. 

This planner by the way comes in other colors like red, cyan and lime green.

For this year’s name, my friends Tanya and Zen picked Katsudon Fatale for me — a combination of words they got from Yuri on Ice — with the hopes of giving me a year of laughter and food.

The first page shows contact information that I by no means would want to fill in. Also, I don’t see the need to do so since it’s going to reside on my office table for the whole year anyway. 

For the next page we have the mandatory yearly calendar featuring 2016-2017. I use this page mainly to track my period. Yep, I know there’s an app for that and most probably it is more reliable than this one but at least I can use this page for something other than checking my birthday in different years.

The next page gives a table of months with boxes large enough for quick notes and appointments. I read from some online magazines that it’ll be better to use a Washi tape for this part in case I need to reschedule appointments.

Let’s go to my favorite part. As this is a daily journal, each day has an allotted page with by-hour markers from 8 am to 8pm. As I am asleep from 3 am to 12 noon, I guess it hardly matters but I just love the idea that I don’t have to write the time as opposed to my previous weekly planners.

Also, since the page is spacious enough, I could change the time, add boxes here and there for more schedule and I can also use it as a diary–in case my private one has run out of pages.

At the other end of the planner is an inner pocket I usually keep my pay slips in.

One amazing thing to note is that the paper used for the planner is acid free which means it can last for a long period of time. Since I tend to collect my planners and journals, this is a huge plus. And oh, have I mentioned that the paper is incredibly smooth that my Pilot G Tech C3 0.3 glides on it quite well.

As for the incredible designs that this planner obviously lacks, there are about a gazillion of DIY in Youtube and Pinterest that I can use as my inspiration.

What planner did you get yourself this year?