We're almost at the time of year when planners and calendars flood the shops, so today I'm bringing you a review of my custom-made Agendio planner.

Despite the many obvious advantages of an electronic calendar, I can't quite shake the thrill of planning my life on paper. But I've been frustrated in the past by planners that insist on starting the week on a Sunday (don't these people ever take weekend trips?!) or that lack pages for goal setting and habit tracking.

Enter the good people at Agendio and their astonishing options. If you're a fan of paper, like me, make sure you have an hour or so to spare before you land on their site: you may find yourself in planner designing heaven.

This post, by the way, is not sponsored: I paid for my planner myself. But I am using an affiliate link in case you choose to treat yourself.

Benefits

With Agendio, you get a myriad of options, and being able to set up your planner exactly as you want it has to be the biggest plus. Options include:

• Planner start date. Mine was October 1st, as I consider autumn to be almost a new year.

• Which day your weeks start on.

• Size of planner: mine is, I think, the smallest they offer, but so far I'm squeezing everything in OK.

• Cover type & color, also interior colors and fonts. I went for a lovely turquoise synthetic leather.

• Daily/Weekly/Monthly layouts, with or without notes pages in between.

• The layout you want for your schedule.

• Headings for your personal sections. On my weekly pages, I have spaces for fiction writing, my Serenity Project, general to-dos and inspiration/gratitude. On my monthly pages: goals, fun and things to buy.

• Extra pages with special headings. I added goals, habit tracking and future might-dos here.

• Special dates to include. I picked a mixture of US & UK holidays, plus family occasions.

• Whether you want tear off corners, pockets, and dividers.

• ...And probably other cool things I've forgotten.

Quality

I was extremely impressed by the quality of the planner:

• The cover feels pleasant and looks like real leather.

• The paper is suitably thick.

• The planner lies flat when open, which is a must for me.

• Delivery was as promised (do allow some lead time if you need your planner for a specific date).

Drawbacks

What don't I like about it? The main drawbacks apply to any paper method: the risk of losing it, spilling tea on it, and/or the space it takes up in my bag. The price tag is a little high (around the cost of a pair of shoes) but considering this is a completely customized product, printed only for you, I think it's fair. And for something in daily use which really does make me feel more serene, for me the investment was worthwhile.

How Agendio can help your productivity

• One of my biggest “serenity” breakthroughs when planning my day is that I need to consider both appointments and to-dos together, so this is now a must-have for me in any planning system. With the size of Agendio I chose, I couldn't find an option I liked to show appointments and to-dos in their own spaces, so I'm simply writing both in the area allocated to each day. This is working fine for me so far, and it's worth noting at bigger sizes there are lots of beautiful layouts to allow for this.

• Being able to add goal setting and notes pages was a big advantage for me. I set goals monthly, and the Agendio process was able to insert my goals pages at the start of each month in the planner.

• Likewise, you can choose exactly what you want on pages to track your habits. I placed my habit tracking at the very end of the planner, to make it easy to flip to on a daily basis.

Verdict

If paper planners are your preference, I highly recommend Agendio. I'll probably make some tweaks for next year but I'd say there's an 85% likelihood I'll order again.

Meanwhile, I'd love to know: do you plan your schedule and tasks on paper, or electronically? If paper, what are must-have features for you?