STARTplanner Hustle Daily Planner: An Organizational Gem

We all have different needs when it comes to a planner. Some need more, some need less, and some need even more than more. For those people, it can be hard to find a planner capable of handling everything. Luckily for them, there’s daily planners — specifically, the STARTplanner Hustle Daily Planner.

This little gem is so unbelievably comprehensive it’ll blow you away. It contains absolutely everything you could need or want, including budgeting (yearly and monthly), yearly goal setting, monthly planning and goal setting, daily health tracking, gift lists, book lists, movie lists, etc. The list just goes on and on.

You can tell STARTplanner is a special high-quality planner just by holding it in your hands. It’s solidly made with a hard cover, wire binding, protected corners, and an attached elastic band. It’s kind of like a chubby baby; it’s heavy but in the best way.

Now before you start to think it’s too comprehensive for your tastes or that it might be a little overwhelming, let me assure you there are plenty directions and bits of advice throughout the pages. There aren’t any obscure sections or confusing pages, so even a planner rookie will be able to use the STARTplanner Hustle Daily Planner and reap the benefits of its organization.

OK, let’s talk details.

That First Impression

From the outside, the STARTplanner Hustle Daily Planner is impressive. It comes in a beautiful brush stroke design also with the year embossed in gold. In addition, the Hustle also comes with two folders (one of the inside of each cover), and laminated tabs for each goal setting section and month. The pages are A5 and made of high-quality 70lb paper, and the planner weighs a total of 1lb and 15 oz. All of that is to say, this planner is no lightweight in the literal or figurative sense.

The Heart and Soul

Before the monthly sections begin, there are three sections titled “Goals,” “Plans,” and “2019.”

The Goals Section

In the goals section there are pages for you to write down your lifetime goals, create a vision board, and breakdown your goals for year into all the various life categories (home life, relationships, spiritual, physical, financial, professional, education/continuing education, travel). Once you’ve done that, there are three pages for you to choose the top six goals you want to achieve in 2019. You’ll write down your action steps, deadlines, and who else will be involved in the goals.

Then the goal section also has space dedicated to setting your financial goals. Because this is something most people really struggle with (myself included) and typically avoid at all costs, this section is complete gold. You write down your estimated expenses, income, and savings, and then your actual income, expenses, and savings as they occur. The following pages break this down even further by month, and it even includes vacation expenses. Is this slightly uncomfortable and stressful to do? Yes, but it’s entirely necessary in order for you to gain full adult control of your finances.

The Plan Section

This is actually my favorite section, but that’s because planning is a beloved hobby. This section is entirely about planning out how you’ll give back to the community, your cleaning routine (by day, month, season, and year), projects you want to complete and the steps involved (these can be professional or personal projects), medical expenses, books, movies, concerts, and events.

Oh, and there’s vacation planning. And this is vacation planning on preworkout — packing lists, attractions, restaurants, things to do and buy, and all other possible arrangements you’ll need. After vacation planning there’s holiday planning, and this includes gifts you’re going to give, activities you want to do, meal planning. And general holiday tasks.

When I said the STARTplanner was comprehensive, I really did mean it.

The 2019 Section

After all of that, this is the section that starts off the daily planning. Before the first month tab, there’s a page for you passwords and some guidelines to help you use the STARTplanner to its full potential.

The Monthly Planning, Budgeting and Goal Setting Stuff

After the monthly calendar (which does not have a vertical to-do list column like most other planners), there are full-blown planning pages. It’s essentially a trimmed down, more focused goal setting section for each month. There’s space for you to set three “mini” goals for the month, which totally rocks because setting monthly goals is the only way to really make things happen, and write down their action steps. There’s a health check space for your weight, measurements, and healthy “mini” goal. There’s a monthly grocery list, list for the cards and gifts you need to buy, and then a detailed, full-page budget.

In the budget you write down your estimated and actual income, and then breaks down your expenses by every possible category (plus some blank lines for your own unique categories). You can write down how much you’ll spend on housing, transportation, insurance, utilities, TV, internet, food, phone, health, and entertainment. And if you also need to write down how much you’ll spend on your pets and kids you can do that with the blank lines.

Following this page, you also have a blank notes page. So if you need to do a little scratch math to help you out with your budgeting, or want to use it for something else, you can. And all of this is before you even get to the daily and weekend pages.

Your Daily Plan for Success

At first glance the daily page might not seem like it’s much different from others, but once you’ve looked at it for a minute you notice all of the great, useful details. There’s a daily schedule from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., a box for your top three things, a to-do list, a notes section, and lines for ideas or loose thoughts you have.

There’s also a box for you to write down your dinner plans and even how much you spend on dinner if you eat out, and on the outside edge of each page you have all of the possible health tracking you could want. There’s a check box for your daily workout, medication, water tracking, and also space to write how many calories you took in and how many you burned.

All of this is placed vertically along the edge of the page, and that’s why you don’t notice it immediately. However, this is an incredibly efficient and clever use of space that you don’t find in most planners. If health is a vital part of your day and you’ve been looking for a planner that truly allows you to build that in and track your progress, then the Hustle does that.

The Weekend Pages

Like most weekend pages, Saturday and Sunday split the page vertically in the Hustle Planner, but the bottom of the page has a weekly grocery list. Because most people do their grocery shopping on the weekend, this is brilliant. You can also budget the grocery list. Back to the weekend days though.

At the top of the page there’s a box for your weekend top three. The weekends are supposed to be a time for family, friends, and personal recharging, so this allows a perfect balance of that and productivity. Each Saturday and Sunday has a schedule from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., as well as a space for you to write where you’re eating dinner and how much it costs (if you eat out). Like the daily pages, you also have the same health tracking along the edge of each day’s space.

And that’s that! Just kidding. All the way at the back of the planner there’s also a contacts page, and there are even more notes pages spread throughout the months. And that really is that.

The STARTplanner Hustle Daily Planner is a wonderful tool for just about anyone—mothers, young adults in school, young adults out of school, career-focused professionals, and honestly even men (if they would be willing to get over the feminine cover).

The Hustle is available for $60, and it’s worth every penny. If you love the STARTplanner Hustle Daily Planner but are looking for something a little more business-minded, check out STARTplanner’s Hustle Daily Business Planner.

Follow Terra on Instagram: @terrabrown3

Updated November 12, 2018.