Innovative Paper Planners (and more) from WeekDate

For any number of reasons, some people prefer paper to electrons for keeping track of their schedules, to-do lists, and other organizational needs. If you’re one of those people, you simply have to check out the products available from WeekDate.

WeekDate makes one of the most innovative paper planners on the market, their namesake WeekDate Weekly Planner. The WeekDate is available in a number of attractive, stylish covers, but what really sets it apart from other paper planners is it’s accommodation for recurring events. The three-panel design allows you to list recurring monthly events on the top panel, recurring weekly events in the bottom panel, and one-off daily events in the middle – which means you don’t have to re-enter that monthly doctor’s appointment or that weekly status meeting every time you flip a page in your planner. The efficient design and clear layout make it easy to see everything at a glance, so you can quickly find available times for new meetings or see what’s up next on your agenda. ($34.95)

The WeekDate system is also available as a wall calendar, which would make an excellent addition to a would-be organized family’s kitchen wall. ($34.95)

WeekDate has just announced a new product that appeals to the lifehackista in me, the I Need From Pad (or “INF” for short). The INF is a tabbed shopping list, so you can easily create and add to separate lists for, say, the grocery store, the home improvement store, the kid’s school clothes, and the pet store – or wherever else you find yourself needing to shop on a semi-regular basis.  Pages are glue-bound, like a memo pad, so they can be removed easily to take just the pages you need when you’re headed to a particular store – leaving the rest intact. ($9.95)

I’m less impressed by WeekDate’s What Did I Wear When? Pad, which allows you to record your clothing choices for various events so you can avoid showing up next time in the same outfit. It looks incredibly functional for the task it’s designed to do, but I’m not sure I see the need for it. Then again, anyone who knows me knows I’m not exactly a fashion maven – I do my best to wear clothes that more-or-less match, but being seen in the same outfit more than once isn’t really on my “to-worry-about” list. More fashion-minded people may disagree – perhaps the What Did I Wear When? Pad finally scratches an itch you’ve lived with all your life. ($13.95)

(For a different take on the What Did I Wear When? Pad from someone who did find it useful, check out the review from Right Brain Organizing.)

In the interest of fair disclosure, I should mention that WeekDate has been a sponsor of one of Lifehack’s contests, the Spread the Love contest we held last February. But I’m not promoting them here because they’ve been a sponsor – they became a sponsor because we love them! Lifehack has been singing the praises of the WeekDate system since well before last Valentine’s Day; Lorie Marrero write them up almost a year earlier, saying “WeekDate is one of the most creative things I have seen in a while.”

So give WeekDate a look. It’s not too late to pick up a calendar for 2009, and it’s never too late to get your shopping organized.