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Review: House of Doolittle Wirebound Weekly Business Planner

I did a review of a very similar House of Doolittle planner here.  This planner is almost the same, but with a few variations.

This product was sent to me for review by the kind people at House of Doolittle and Shoplet.com.

Cover:  The cover is made from “embossed simulated leather” composed of 50% recycled material.  To be honest, it feels more like a flexible plastic, and one can see texture added.  The cover color of mine is black, although I do not know if it comes in other colors.

Size: It’s quite large for a planner, 8.5 x 11″ to be exact.  While I normally don’t use planners this large, it’s size actually has a more executive attitude.

Layout: This is a weekly format and each week has a section to keep track of your business expenses.  I’m sure this format works for many people, but I personally prefer a little more space to write in each hour slot.  I just picked a random week to photograph so you can see the format.

Paper: The paper is made from 100% Post-Consumer Paper and printed with soy ink.  Let’s be clear, this is not Clairefontaine paper.  For recycled paper, it is fairly smooth.  It is a nice bright white, and printed with blue text and grey lines.  The paper is on the thinner side, but sturdy.  There is definite show-through, both from the page printing and from fountain pen ink.  I have not experienced bleed-through, although Private Reserve’s DC Supershow Blue did have more significant show-through.  Most fountain pen inks do feather slightly on this paper, but it’s not glaringly obvious – you have to look more closely to really see the feathering (although more saturated inks like DCSSB do have slightly more pronounced feathering).

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Improvements:  Tear-off tabs like the Exaclair-distributed planners would be helpful to easily find the current week within the current month.  I would also like it if there was no feathering and less show-through.  The planner is also non-refillable, which may be a bother to some people.

Other notes: I really like that this planner is made from 100% recycled products, 100% post-consumer paper, 100% made in the USA, 50% recycled cover  material, 90% recycled wire, and printed with soy ink.  I am actually surprised at the high quality of this planner due to it’s mostly recycled content.  It makes me feel more responsible to be using something environmentally friendly, and I like that the company is supporting the US economy by making products at home.  Another cool thing is that the company has been making dated products since 1919 and all of their products are made from recycled materials.

Purchase:   If you would like to purchase this planner from Shoplet.com for $13.22 + shipping, click here for the product page.

 (Shoplet asked me to include the following links to products/services provided by Shoplet, so here they are:  Office Supplies, Business Planner, 2014 Calendar, Promotional Products, Promotional Shirts, Office Stationery)