Read This Review To Know All About Nirmala Franklin Planners,The Erin Condren For India

If you’ve read my last post on the Cupik Design planner, you’d know I have developed a fascination (read: obsession) with planners and such organizational things and Nirmala Franklin from Chennai is a brand whose planner amazed me in their style and layout and of course, I immediately jumped boats and have been faithfully using their planner since February and I have to say it has really helped get my life in order, and it is a great way to boost producitivy.

By the way, if you want a list of options on the current planner and planner supply options available in india, head on over to my article at PolkaCafe here.
If you want to read about a different type of planner, read about the CupikDesign Planner here

Brand Introduction:

According to the owner herself,

As a little young girl crying to have my own shelf and endlessly arranging things, this life long passion of mine have now blossomed in to creating these EVERYDAY planners .Most of you , like me , would be busy moms/students/house wives managing home/family/passion all at the same time  .We all tend to get overwhelmed at times , managing everything at once.I am here to share my experience which I believe , would help you too. These planners were  based on my learnings on how to manage things in a more organized way . I hope that this planner helps you to plan your life,studies,work,business,fitness,diet and the billion other things there is . Also these planners have been designed to be both functional and beautiful & comes with various accessories . I hope you enjoy the planner as much as I do. When I am not doing this, you can find me experimenting  new ways of organic cleaning , new color palettes, stitching ,crafting,creating my own little furniture from unused household furniture , spray painting and on & on.                       

Price: 2999 INR

Features:

• A5 size
• Spiral binding
• High quality thin paper
• Laminated Tabs
• Dated
• Monday to Sunday weekly format
• Follows a morning, day, night grid format as that of EC Horizontal planner
• Added extra section underneath each day for tracking things like meals, medicines, assignments and such
• Goals and To Dos present on the side for both weekly and monthly view.
• Extensive monthly view and added side area for setting monthly goals.
• Motivational quotes above each monthly view as well as at the beginning and end of planner
• Extra notes section at the end of the planner
• contacts  section
• Expenses tracker
• Three labelled and one unlabelled sticker sheet perfect
• A keep it together file folder
• A clear pouch attached.

You could watch the following video from the brand to see a quick flip through:

Experience:

The Nirmala Franklin planner came to me at the end of January. It came to me in a very pretty orange box with paisley prints and was wrapped in gorgeous pink tissue paper which itself had me absolutely in love with the brand. The planner itself is black with multicoloured paisley print and came with a set of gift tags and wish cards. I have been using this for the last two months and I have found it all kinds of useful.  I have experimented the various ways to modify the spread to best suit my needs and i am constantly tweaking and working my layout.

You can stay tuned to the various planner spreads I do on my instagram at @babblequeendiaries

I still colour code my daily items and keep a key for it in the inner page of my planner. I also use washi tapes to change the headers, post its as reminders and the provided stickers for noting important things like exams, birthdays, appointments and such. I have also started using post its on the side bar of the weekly layout to track weekly habits such as working out and cleaning schedule.

Pictures:

Pros:

• The layout is the most tried and tested layout in the market, which makes the planner efficient as well as versatile. The sections can be used to morning, day, night or into work,school,home or for mind,body,soul etc.
• Both the monthly and weekly layout comes with an additional sidebar for adding goals to strive to achieve in the given period.
• The paper is off good quality, but is not very thick so that even with the addition of stickers for doing layouts, the planner does not become too bulky.
• The addition of laminated tabs make it easier for flipping to the ongoing month and such
• The expenses,contacts and keep it together are all features that definitely makes life easier and helps simplify things
• It is extremely convenient to be carried around because of the size. 
• They offer a lot of informative videos and ebooks on the inside contents of the planner and how to use it properly on their website.

Cons:.

• The planner is spiral bound and not ring bound,so adding custom inserts is not possible
• The notes section would have been a lot better had they added 2-4 notes pages after each month, instead of altogether at the end
• The price is definitely too high. While most planners in India sell around 1500 or less, shelling out nearly 3000 for this might be a deal breaker for students and all who are the most interested in planners like this. If the covers were customizable, it'd have been a little more justifiable

Suggestions:

• Maybe do a cheaper version for students that are more affordable but still functional
• Start offering planner accessories to go along with these planners
• Offer more front pages, preferably those which are customizable.

Rating:

4.5/5

If you have any questions, suggestions or post recommendations, make sure to leave a comment here or mail me at thebabblequeen@gmail.com or reach out on any of my social media platforms.

Till Then