Saturday, January 25, 2014

Review: Shoplet Featuring House of Doolittle Calendars

Here's another review the awesome people of Shoplet Office Supplies allowed me to review. Yay! New calendars for the new year! Good timing!


This round came with:


I've done a review of this type of desk pad before but not this specific type of calendar. Click to see my 2013 Doolittle Calendar review.

For the most part, I found the 2014 Desk Pad Calendar pretty much the same as the one in 2013. Why mess with a perfectly good product? I enjoyed using mine in 2013 and didn't have any problems with it.



It's made from post-consumer paper and printed with soy ink so it's good to know they have been sticking with eco-friendly production methods. The paper is a slightly gray color which doesn't bother me but if you need white or ivory you're not getting it with this product.




This desk pad is typical but reliable and it's a good size for your desk. It has enough space for all your projects, events, and notes. My 2013 version lasted throughout the year without any problems for me. Do note that the paper does buckle if you accidentally get it wet but it's savable as long as you wipe up the liquid ASAP. Just so you know. lol


Here's the (7" x 10") 2014 Weekly Business Planner. I found I prefer the smaller size of a planner if I take it around with me. Since I used the House of Doolittle Wirebound Weekly/Monthly Planner last year, it was letter size but I found it a little too large for me to carry around on a daily basis. I carried my 2013 planner around and found that the cover is durable protecting my inner pages. I didn't have any problems with the cover even with using it on a near daily basis.

One of the things I wished these planners had is an enclosure, whether it be elastic or what not. Whenever I stuck something in my planner and picked it up the wrong way, all my papers would fall out. That's not fun when I'm in a rush or during a meeting.

Again, this planner is weekly based which is fine for me but I do wish that it extended beyond 5pm so that I can schedule personal appointments or events.


This little chart for expenses is a cute idea but since I don't really need to keep track of these type of things I ended up using it mostly as a notes section. Some of these categories would be really useful for just anyone such as meals/gas/misc.


I'm not sure if it's the paper or if it's the inks I used but there is show through and a little bit of bleed through. I used a fude nib with a Noodler's ink which is rather wet. Still it handled it fairly well. If you don't mind the show through and use fine nibs you'll probably be fine with this type of paper. I don't mind too much so it doesn't bother me.


One of the issues I did have with this planner is the lack of monthly views of the months. Well they had little ones in the top but not in the planner but nothing where I could write on that day. That was easily solved with printing out the monthly view and just clipped it to the side with binder clips.


Using the planner like this isn't ideal but if you're the type who would prefer monthly views then you'd probably want to pass on this planner or do what I did and add that part to the planner. It's not a huge hindrance and can actually hold the planner pages so it's a bit like a big bookmark in my planner.

Below are some extra pages in the planner. I probably won't use most of these. I didn't take pictures of all of  them.





Overall, I enjoy receiving calendars from Shoplet and House of Doolittle. It's good to know they keep making reliable and durable planet friendly products. I still would like to see refillable calendars but it's not a huge complaint. I still would recommend these products if you're looking for economical eco-friendly products.


**Disclaimer: These products were provided by Shoplet and in return for this review I was able to keep the product in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was paid. All Promotional ProductsPromotional shirtsOffice Supplies, and/or Office Stationary are courtesy of Shoplet.

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