Starbucks 2015 Planner Unboxing & Review

Update: Here’s how I set up my Starbucks 2015 Planner.

I finally got my Starbucks 2015 Planner with a little help from my dear sis!

Before I got my planner, I was always looking online for pictures or reviews and couldn’t find any with the information I wanted. Yes, I know there are sample planners at any Starbucks, but sometimes you just want to look at pictures, especially of the inner pages, and start planning your calendaring strategy for next year.

So for anyone who is curious, or who still has not received their planner, here’s an unboxing, err… unwrapping, in pictures.
The planner came in a foil pouch with a foldable sealer – if someone can tell me what they’re really called, I would be grateful 🙂 It’s a white strip of plastic that can be folded, similar to a folder/ paper fastener.

It says the Starbucks 2015 Planner is printed on Forest Stewardship Council Certified Paper, and is sized at 6″ x 7.5″ x 8″ (that’s in inches). The foil bag can also be reused. I think the Best Before 01/01/2016 thing was a nice touch.

There’s a note to let us know that the cover of the planner is water-resistant but the pages are not.

The pouch contains the planner wrapped in tissue, and a box with the Starbucks marker pen and the pin bookmark.

Here’s a close up of the pin bookmark:

You have to pinch the pin before you can put it on your planner. I mean, you have to make the V shape into a very narrow U shape so it can clip on to your planner.

The marker is two-sided. One end has the chalkboard marker, the other end has a brown highlighter. Brown for coffee! Update: I forgot to mention that the brown highlighter smells a bit like coffee!

As you can see, the chalkboard marker was a bit dry out of the box, but that’s an easy fix!

How to revive your dried out Starbucks Chalkboard Marker:

• Dip the dried tip in alcohol! Yes, just plain old rubbing alcohol worked on my chalkboard marker. It’s now as good as new!

How to erase Starbucks Chalkboard Marker:

• As long as you wrote it on a non-porous surface (like laminated paper, plastic, etc), you can just erase it with a wet rag or a wet tissue. If it’s stubborn, you can use a Magic Eraser. I love those things. They can erase anything!

Here are the inside pages of the planner (you can click on the pics to show a bigger image):

The thing I like about this calendar, is that the Year Calendar, Month Calendar and the Weekly Calendar match. All three have Saturdays and Sundays TOGETHER. I know technically the week starts on a Sunday. But for all practical purposes, it starts on a Monday! It’s just easier to plan things out for the weekend with Saturday and Sunday together on the calendar instead of split between two weeks! Events usually happen Fri-Sun or Sat-Sun (like 3-Day Sales). It’s annoying to have to split them up on your calendar into 2 different week lines. This is the reason why I went with the Starbucks Planner. I wasn’t originally planning on getting one, but I had a difficult time looking for a planner with the Sat-Sun configuration that I need. Sometimes other planners have the weekly set up correctly, but still have the monthly page with a split Sat-Sun. This makes it a bit harder especially when you refer to your monthly calendar a lot.

This Connect With Memories page is nice. Like a quick year in review thing or a birthday / anniversary reminder. Kinda wish they included some stickers we can stick on the circles 🙂 I have no clue what May 10 is supposed to be. I googled “May 10 holiday” and came up with nada related to the Philippines. It looks like a Rastafarian GMA to me 😛

The vouchers have the usual – free upsize, free beverage, etc… It’s been years since my last Starbucks planner, so the vouchers that include discounts for the sandwiches are a welcome surprise.

There’s a pocket at the back where you can insert small pieces of paper like receipts and what not.

I don’t know what to make of this piece of paper. Is it just for protection? Should I remove it and throw it out? Should I cut the bottom part out and write on the blank space inside the nameplate? If you know, please share in the comments!

I think this planner can become very useful. It has a lot going for it. It’s well made and feels sturdy. The size is just right. Not too big. Not too small. Easy to carry around and fit inside a bag.

As the usual with weekly planners, I find the space for each day too small. I like writing to-do’s, checklists and notes on my planner, and for that I need space that only a 1-page-a-day planner can provide. BUT, I think this Starbucks 2015 Planner will be good to use as an actual planner. As in – for planned activities / actual planning. I think it’s just enough space. I will use another daily planner to list my daily to-do’s.

So –

Starbucks planner – for actual planning and writing out planned activities;

Other planner – for daily notes/ to-do’s/ scratch paper.

If you are OC and want your Saturdays and Sundays together – this might be the planner for you, too!

The pages are bound with thread, not glue. This means pages will not start falling off after a few weeks of use. The paper is good quality, and thick. I think they can withstand gel pens and fineliners without bleeding.

The chalkboard marker, nameplate and pin bookmark are a nice addition! Although I don’t see myself using the chalkboard marker all that much, but it’s nice and thoughtful.

The pocket at the back is also useful to keep your random pieces of paper from falling out of your planner.

CLOTH COVER

I’m a bit worried about the cloth cover. It’s cloth. It’s going to get dirty and I just can’t handwash it in the sink! Or wipe clean with a wet cloth. Or clean with Wipe Out.  I think maybe I should vacuum it once in a while? But that sounds kind of loco. But Manila is a very, very dusty place! And sometimes you just have oily, chocolate or butter-stained hands. Can planners be dry-cleaned? Yeah. That’s my only problem with this planner – how to clean the cloth cover.

All in all, it’s a good planner and I’m excited to start using it next year! How about you? Are you able to use your planner for the entire year? Or does your calendaring fizzle out after a few weeks?