Calendar View Types for Planners

avaiPlanners come in all shapes and sizes. One of the big differences between planners is the calendar view. Here are some of the advantages of the different calendar views.

Month at a Glance Calendar

If you manage your task list electronically on your phone or computer, this might be the planner for you. Although, I’m not really sure you can even call this a planner. It is really only a calendar. A month at a glance planner shows each month, usually on a two-page spread. This type of planner doesn’t give you anywhere to manager your task list or journal.

Week at a Glance Calendar

This planner is great for people who have lots of appointments and fewer tasks to manage. It also works great for people who have very few appointments but like to use time blocking for accomplishing their tasks.

Most week at a glance planners are spiral or perfect bound but there are a few out there that are ring bound. The planner comes with a monthly overview page and then a two-page spread per week. There are two basic layouts: horizontal and vertical.

The horizontal layout has the days of the week listed across the top and a column for each day. This type usually has times printed down the column for scheduling and most have a small task section at the bottom of each day. Some have a column at the beginning or end of the days that is for a weekly task or reminder list.

The vertical layout usually has boxes for three days on one page and four days on the opposite page. To accomplish this, Saturday and Sunday usually share a box either at the top of the first page or the bottom of the second page. The vertical layout doesn’t usually have times for appointments or a special area for tasks, you put everything in the same daily box in a format you prefer. This layout is good for people who don’t like the structure of times and lists.

One-Page per Day Calendar

Planners that fall into this category work for people who want to track both appointments and tasks for each day but don’t keep notes or journals in their daily planner section. This type of planner also works well if you use time blocking, especially if your “blocks” have multiple tasks in them.

These planners usually split the page vertically giving one-half for the calendar/appointments and one-half for your task/to-do list. Many times they have other areas on the page for tracking expenses, water consumption, exercise, medications, etc. If these things are important to you, make sure the section is included or there is an area you can easily use for it. Many of these planners have a combined page for Saturday and Sunday, so if you have very busy weekends, make sure you get a full page for each day.

Two-Page per Day Calendar

This type of planner opens to show two pages for each day of the week. The biggest advantage to this layout is the amount of space you have for each day. If you also use your planner as your journal, this is probably the best planner for you. This is also a good layout for people who have lots of appointments and need to have additional information easily available for them. Like the one-page per day planner, these usually times have other areas on the page for tracking expenses, water consumption, exercise, medications, etc. With the extra real estate for each day it’s easier to find a location for these types of items if they aren’t already included. Although not common, some two-page per day planners have only a page-per-day layout for the weekends.

I hope this review of the major calendar types has helped you determine will work best for you at this stage in your life.

Click here to return to How to Choose the Best Planner for You or Binding Types: Which is Best for You.

For my recommendations for each calendar type, check out Planner Recommendations.