In 2018, pregnant with my son (and 2nd baby) on the heels of losing my dad to ALS, I sketched out the planner I desperately wanted and needed in the prior 2 years. 

Walking through the depth of becoming a new mom and my dad’s diagnosis was crushing. Not to mention the life that just kept going on: a full-time corporate job and looking for a house to buy (and moving). 

No, I cannot track my water. I didn’t have the capacity to write down daily gratitudes (though I had plenty). Find my passion? LOL. Habits? Umm…crying, sleeping, breastfeeding, surviving.

What I needed in a planner during this time: super simple, intentional, and reflective. 

In the limited time I had, I needed to be intentional with how I spent it and who I spent it with. 

So much was changing during this time that I needed to reflect on a monthly basis so I could remember it all. Afterall, these were the first years of my daughter’s life, and the last years of my dad’s. 

My dad and daughter | he was having symptoms but we wouldn't know it was ALS for another 3 months.

And simple because I could not handle anything extra on the page. Do not force me to look at anything that I cannot muster right now. 

What I sketched out from this season is what the Weekly Sprouted Planner still is today: A place for my schedule, a place for my to-dos, spots for intention and reflection, and open space for notes. Everything (except the schedule) is unlabeled. 

There have been slight tweaks to the weekly layout but not much. Its bones have largely remained the same. My faithful Weekly Planner users have told me, “don’t change a thing. The layout is perfect.” So I really haven’t. Don’t fix what isn’t broken. 

Who is the Weekly Planner for?

The Weekly Sprouted Planner is perfect for the minds that plan in weeks.If you are someone who starts the week thinking about what you want to get done or need to do during the week as a whole, this is a great option for you. 

If you don’t want to plan your everyday, or have to choose what day you do your tasks, this is definitely your gal. 

As you read at the beginning, this is also a great planner for someone going through the hard seasons because it’s low maintenance. Sadly, even when we’re going through the wringer, the to-dos and appointments don’t stop. This layout allows you to still capture those without the “expectations” of an hourly or daily schedule. 

Two other seasons I think this layout is great for: stay at home moms of littles, and retirees. I loved this planner when I was primarily staying at home with my littles after my son was born. It was the perfect combination of organized and planned, yet flexible. 

Let’s dive into what makes this such a grace filled planner and layout. 

The Weekly Details

Let’s see what this planner is made of! Literally.

• Hard cover (this makes it super sturdy and easy to write on)

• Spiral wire bound (strong, quality gold wire)

• Rounded outer corners (no risk of soft tissue injury 😅)

• Mylar, colorful tabs running January - December

• Size (without the coil): 7.06 x 8.8 x 1 inches; 

• Weight: 1.10 lbs

• 3 inside pockets: one attached to the inside cover, and one double-sided page in the very back

I love seeing the reviews by people who are surprised by how quality these planners are. No sub bar here! 

The spiral wire makes it easy to grab off your desk or out of your bag without risk of it bending or unraveling. Believe me and others: she’s sturdy!

Pockets

New this year is the additional pocket! We have always had the pocket on the inside cover, and that hasn’t changed. I also added a double-sided pocket page in the back! It’s a solid color, thick cardstock page that matches the color of your ends pages (that’s the paper that’s glued to the inside of your front and back covers). 

This gives you so much more room for activities! (Step Brothers reference). Let’s list all the things you can store in a pocket, shall we?

What can you store in your planner pocket?

• Stickers

• Receipts

• Invitations

• Perpetual Calendar

• Photos

• School and/or sports calendars

• Information pages (flyers?)

• Post-its

• Small accessories (like a pen or highlighter)

• Paper clips or binder clips

• Cards

• Memorabilia (like concert tickets)

Let’s now talk paper. 

Sprouted Planner Paper

Let’s just put it this way: I RARELY receive complaints about this paper. It’s a good, solid paper that people thoroughly enjoy. 

The paper is 120gsm, which equates to 80lb paper. In case you don’t speak paper, these are ways to measure the thickness of the paper. Technically, it’s actually a weight measurement (gsm stands for grams per square meter). The larger the number, the more dense and quality the paper. In the planner world, 80 lb paper is typically the gold standard*. That means you get thick, quality paper that will hold a pen very well, while also not making the planner too huge and bulky. 

*I should caveat that and say there’s many popular lines of planners that use a paper that’s like paper in a bible. The appeal to this paper is how thin it makes your planner overall. 

Sprouted Planner paper also has the goldilocks of tooth. It’s not super slick or slippery, but it’s not “sand papery” to the touch. It provides the perfect amount of resistance to write out your day. 

Occasionally, I get the question: what is your paper like compared to Erin Condren (EC)? EC’s paper is quite toothy, and a lot of people love that. Sprouted is definitely not as toothy as Erin Condren, but toothier than Plum Paper. If you read this paragraph and know exactly what I’m talking about, I salute you, fellow planner nerd. 

Our paper handles your gel pens very well and does not ghost. If you use mild highlighters, you cannot see them on the other side. I use Dot Markers a lot, and for some of the really dark colors, they will slightly ghost through. However, I tend to be heavy handed and make my dots like I’m stamping a passport (not that I’ve done that either, but you can imagine). 

In summary of the paper, you’re gonna like the way it feels. 

The Weekly Layout

All the signature Sprouted Planners have the same prep pages, monthly dashboard, and monthly spreads. Here’s some quick pictures of each of these: 

The Weekly Sprouted Planner is the first sketch I made for this entire company, and it’s beloved by many (I know I’m repeating myself here). 

When I designed the weekly spread, I wanted space for: 

• My weekly intention(s) - I wanted to answer this question with an intention: by the end of this week, I want…

• My schedule

• Daily top 3 things

• To-dos (and I wanted 2 columns of them, so I could categorize my list)

• Random notes and lists

• Weekly reflection

It is from these desires that the weekly spread was born. Here’s is the 2026 version of it: 

As you can see, except for the days of the week (schedule), nothing is labeled. You get to decide how everything is laid out so it works for your season, your brain, your life. Each week can even vary to meet your ever-changing needs. 

It’s a layout like this that allows for such a diverse group of users. Here’s a teeny list of women who I know use this planner: 

• Homeschooling moms of 4+ kids

• Professional worky-women (lawyers, real estate agents, teachers)

• Chronically ill, even one dear user who has Huntington’s Disease

• Retirees (who say, “my life is even busier now than when I was working!)

I absolutely love how this layout can serve such a diverse group of people at very different stages of their lives. That speaks to how flexible this layout is. 

Reflection Booklet

If there’s one thing I’m more passionate about than intentionally living, it’s about reflecting. While it’s true that I don’t always *want* to reflect, I’m always SO GLAD that I did. 

There is overwhelming scientific evidence making the case for reflecting. I won’t dive into that here, but here’s the 2 biggest things I love about reflecting: 

1. It’s honoring your lived life.
   
   In a world and society that moves so fast, we take for granted that each day is precious. Reflecting almost allows us to live that time again. Actually, there’s a great quote about this idea:
   
   “To remember your past is to live twice” - Derek Sivers
   
   Reflection is honoring the time we have lived…the life we have lived. It deems it worthy of remembering it.
   
   

2. It shapes our future.
   
   Taking the time to reflect on what happened, what worked, what didn’t work, where we struggled, where we triumphed, what we’re worried about, etc. can inform so much about how we proceed forward. We are not doomed to repeat our past mistakes…we get to choose how to do it differently moving forward. Or maybe do it the same if it was a favorable outcome. 

The Sprouted Planners have always had monthly reflection built into the planner at the end of each month. New this year, I took out the reflections and put them into their own booklet, which comes with your purchase of the planner. 

The booklet features 6 pages of reflection for each month, including some questions that stay the same each month, and some that change. 

It also features year-end reflection, which has questions that tie back to the monthly reflections, for a well-rounded reflection experience to end your year. 

The decision to move the reflection into its own booklet was 3-fold: 

1. More notes pages. It allowed more notes pages in the back of the planners (per many requests)
   
   
2. Keepsake. For those that don’t keep their planner, or don’t have the space for old planners, these little booklets allow you to keep your precious memories and reflections without having to keep your planner.
   
   
3. Versatility for User. Some people don’t do the reflection questions *gasp*. Others use their planner for work and don’t want their intimate thoughts at risk. Having the reflections outside the planner allows people either gift it or toss it (if they don’t want it), or keep it safely at home. 

I can’t wait to hear how people like this change. I’m always open to feedback, so if the majority of people actually hate it in practice, I’m very open to integrating it back into the planner. 

Thank you

Thank you to every single customer who has given this newer planner company a try. 

Thank you for honoring my story, and sharing your own. 

Thank you for loving this layout and showing me the way you use it. 

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and feedback every year so I can keep making this the best planner it can be. I appreciate each of you more than you’ll ever know. 

P.S. You can grab a 2026 weekly planner here. They are going fast, so I hope you can get one before they’re gone.