Silk + Sonder is a monthly planner subscription that makes planning, reflecting, and achieving easy and fun by delivering a new pen-to-paper experience every month. Each planner features new layouts that are "inspired by positive psychology, bullet journaling, and self-help books." For an annual plan, the cost is $15.75/month. There are also quarterly and monthly plans available.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
Silk + Sonder January 2024
Life is hard sometimes. As a busy mom of two elementary-aged boys, I can hardly keep up! Pair that with some generalized anxiety, a stressful job, and basketball schedules, and sometimes I feel a bit like I am going crazy. This is exactly why I need Silk + Sonder in my life.
While Silk + Sonder is a journal, it is also a planner, stress reliever, focus improver, mood booster, and productivity increaser! Centering around a new theme each month, this book has it all, and aligns with my needs perfectly. With 60 pages of amazingness, I look forward to opening this journal each day, and have found it to help keep my anxiety under control.
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January is here, and with it is a new year! This month's theme of "Ambition" is really what I need as the holiday's have left me feeling a little wiped out. Working on staying focused, motivated, and inspired in 2024 may seem overwhelming, but not with Silk + Sonder here to assist! With this, I find myself being lot more intentional with how I'm spending my time, and appreciate the shift it has helped create.
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One of my favorite parts of Silk + Sonder is receiving a new planner each month. Starting "fresh" has been really helpful, as yearly planners make me feel overwhelmed. While this does feature an entire year calendar, it is too small to start filling, but big enough to reference for the future. To start my month, I fill in my calendar with dates I already know, and watch the month fly by! (Thank you, basketball!) Staying organized is a huge help in managing my anxiety, and being able to quickly pull this calendar at the front of this planner is exactly what I need.
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On page 6, we are greeted with a "Future Log." This includes two small calendars for the upcoming months. With just enough space to write small notes, my calendar generally stays pretty open. February is pretty low key, but March is filled with birthdays! On the opposite side, you find scratch paper, which is a great inclusion! It gives me space to write random lists, reminders, and other things I just can't lose or forget.
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The next page offers a space to reflect on your last month, with a spot to set your intentions for the upcoming one. There's even one to even reflect on your challenges. This page is one of my favorites, as it shows all of the month's accomplishments. Going through the wins, challenges, and favorite moments is a great way to be intentional regarding time and opportunities. Looking back helps me realize just how much one can accomplish in 4-ish weeks! Going forward, I would like to smile more, stop being so short with people, and continue exercising and my low-carb diet. What did you list in this section?
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Setting intentions for January was a really helpful activity because of how overwhelmed I was feeling all through December. This isn't making a to-do list, but a list that asks something of yourself, and then gives you the strength to do it. With 6 boxes available to meditate on yourself in specific categories, it truly is helpful to write these down. Life is so much more than waking up and going to work, and being intentional really proves that.
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Like I mentioned above, this is more than just a planner, and these trackers are proof of that. Page 10 and 11 offer a mood tracker and habit tracker. We are given space to fill in what our typical moods are, and fill it out throughout the month. This is great for tracking patterns especially for me and my anxiety. If you don't like to do a ton of writing, these pages are definitely geared toward you. When I first started this planner, I felt the need to complete every page perfectly, but in finding myself, have realized I can do whatever I feel on each given day. This is YOUR planner, and you can fill it out as completely, or not completely, as you feel necessary. This same response goes for the habit tracker. Wonderful when you are starting a new habit, I write mine down and sometimes forget to fill them in. Is that okay? Yes! Do what works for you.
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Page 12 offers another tracker, this one being for sleep. Because I typically go to bed and wake up at the same times I don't generally fill this out, but it's here if you need it. The opposing page, however, is another one of my favorites in the entire book! Page 13 offers a Gratitude Log to list 31 items I am grateful for. This is always easy to fill in, and is a great reminder of all of the blessings we are offered every single day.
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Because this month's theme was ambition, we received three prompts regarding the topic about our authentic selves. These prompts were very thoughtful and had us write down what ambition means and what our current ambitions are. Page 15 offered a reflecting style prompt, and had us jot down what our ambitions make possible for other aspects of our life, as well as ideas for balancing our health, personal life, and other areas of our life in these pursuits. Given space to write freely, this is a great way to organize one's thoughts and plan for the future.
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The next activity was a spot for a vision board. This board is meant to imagine your future self with all your ambitions realized. Here you can draw, write, or use images of what you want your life to look and feel like. In this spot I added a few little drawings to remind me how I want my life to look in a very simplified way. I plan on adding to this as I see fit throughout the month. On the opposing side, we were given a famous poem by Robert Frost. One of my favorites of all time, "The Road Not Taken" is a beaut!
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Page 18 and 19 offer two more fun activities: an adult coloring page, and a "Dream Life" page where you fill in who you want to be, what you want to do, and what you would like to have. At 35 years old, I'm pretty much living my dream life upon reflection. Would more money be nice? Sure, but as we all know, money can't buy happiness!
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Each month we are gifted a recipe, and this month's recipe was for "Chana Masala". I showed it to my husband, who is a very meat and potatoes kind of guy, and he wrinkled up his nose, so I think we might be skipping this one. On the opposing page however, we received an Ikigai. This is a Japanese concept that means "a reason for being." I haven't yet gotten to fill this one out, but like the organization of it and the meaning.
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Onto some more fun stuff, page 24 debuts an "Ambition" word search activity along with the monthly riddle. For once, I think I got the answer! Am I right?!
Another nice feature is the Monthly Expense Tracker on page 25. I don't typically fill this out because I have my tracker on a google doc, but could see how this might be useful to others.
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The most helpful part is the weekly planner. This area shows a calendar, weekly to-dos, habit and activity trackers, goals, and meal plans. Adding notes to each day, this is where I spend most of my time. I love that it condenses some of the other pages into a summary here, and it really helps me stay organized. I especially like being reminded how I want to feel, and what I am loving, because sometimes looking at everything going on gets me a little anxious!
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Tidying up with one last quote, the dictionary definition of "Sonder", and the back cover, that's all there is to it. I have come to find that a key part of my day is when I sit and fill out my planner with my cup of coffee. This quiet time happens before the kids are awake, and I can snuggle Scout and Buxton all to myself! Now that we are in the 2nd quarter of our school routine and things have settled down a teeny tiny bit, I am able to carve out time to stay intentional with this journal. With that, my mindset has shifted, and I am leading a more positive life.
The Verdict
With a new year in session, our schedule has managed to stay just as busy. But I feel a lot more organized with the help of this journal. Silk + Sonder is a lifesaver, and without it, I'd definitely be lost. This month's planner was especially beautiful, and the theme of "ambition" was perfectly chosen. I continue to be impressed with this subscription, and can't wait to see what's in store for February!
I tend to allocate about 15-20 minutes a day to this journal and flip from front to back reflecting, adding to, and processing what I have previously written. By the end of the month, my brain feels much more organized and stable. The beauty of this planner is remarkable, and the packable size means I can tote it around in my purse. Being extremely impressed with all aspects, I am really looking forward to discovering more about myself, all while staying organized and offering myself a little daily quiet time and important self-care.
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? Your subscription will start with February as your first month but there is an option to add on January for 50% off at $10.99. A note from Silk + Sonder on shipping:
You can expect your SILK + SONDER issue to arrive 2-5 days before the 1st of every month.
Check out our list of the best women's subscription boxes for 2023 to see which boxes were recommended by MSA readers like you!
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