Best Laid Plans

BLP Ep #105: Planner Chat with Bloom Cofounder Michelle Askin

August 1, 2022


Show Notes

I feel like August marks the start of planner season – when people (well, some people) start thinking about next year’s systems in earnest. It was perfect timing for my chat with Michelle, who cofounded Bloom at age 20 (!).

We talk about her brand, and particularly how she tries to offer a range of products to address all stages of life, and also about trends more generally in the planner world.

A few products mentioned:

  • Vision Planner – one of their flagship offerings that Michelle used for years
  • Work & Personal To Do List – so simple, yet super useful!
  • Baby Book! Love this pregnancy + mom’s first year planner. I would totally give this as a gift.
  • Softbound Planner – start at just $18.95 – very affordable compared to many brands, as I find true with Bloom in general!
pretty covers, functional content, easily available + reasonable price points = BLOOM

If you are looking for a fun but also highly functional planning product at a very reasonable price point, definitely check out Bloom. They are also very easy to shop for via Amazon, but you can find them in some local stores + college bookstores as well.

(none of the above are affiliate links)

Episode Sponsors

Green Chef: Healthy, delicious, and CCOF-certified meal kits! Go to greenchef.com/plans135 and use code plans135 to get $135 off across five boxes—and your first box ships free!

Yipes: Face & hand wipes for kids that come in handy in many situations. Go to yipes.com/PLANS for 20% off. Growing up is messy. Yipes! wipes to the rescue.


It’s AUGUST!

I’m excited about this month, which will contain multitudes. Goals are set, calendar is reviewed, and I feel ready.

1 more week of relaxed summer lifestyle, including G’s 3 last days of camp

1 week of family vac (Harry Potter @ Universal + Amelia Island)

2+ weeks of back to school, establishing those rhythms and finding out what preK / 3rd / 5th grade have in store (bittersweet year – last year before we enter middle school territory, wow).

I have decided I am going to attempt to track my time this month!!! I feel like it will be fun to capture these different kinds of days, and may prove useful. I will be using paper – will show my planned format tomorrow 🙂

7 Comments

  • Reply Arden August 1, 2022 at 7:12 am

    Ooh – I’m excited that you will be tracking time. I’ve been contemplating it so you might encourage me to do it…maybe Sept? LOL

  • Reply Lisa of Lisa's Yarns August 2, 2022 at 9:29 am

    I enjoyed this episode – very inspiring that she co-founded a company at 20! I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life at 20! I appreciated how she talked about how planning changed since becoming a mom. I think you could/should do an episode about planning as a parent and how it changes. I get the sense that your planning changed less than the average person maybe since you are super into planning? I think sometimes new moms who are type A/planner types are kind of looking for permission to plan less? Or maybe they would feel less guilty if they heard that other moms significantly stepped back from planning. I used a bullet journal from 2017-2021 and just started using W222 this year and I still don’t use it to the full extent as life is just so very different when you have very young kids! But it has been nice to hear from other moms that they planned less, but got back to more intentionally planning down the road.

  • Reply Michelle Askin August 2, 2022 at 11:28 am

    So great chatting with you, Sarah! You are such a warm and wonderful host. Thank you again for having me 🙂

  • Reply Elissa August 21, 2022 at 4:02 pm

    Agreed—I’m like why am I already thinking about what planner I’ll use next year in August. But here we are.

  • Reply Adrienne January 26, 2023 at 10:19 am

    This is late, but just wanted to say, I officially love this bloom planner. I’m taking a foray into print planning after being solely digital for many years and was loathe to invest a lot financially in something that might not work. This was a great option and the planner is awesome and high quality

    • Reply Sarah Hart-Unger January 26, 2023 at 11:39 am

      aww I’m so glad you found a good option! Bloom Planners are really amazing for the price!

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