Clever Fox Budget Planner: In-Depth Review

In this article, I’ve tried to do an impartial review of the Budget Planner from Clever Fox and compare it with four other similar products. I will not gain anything from this review. My goal is to make you aware of its pros and cons, and I want your decision to buy or not buy it to be as informed as possible.

One of the most important details that stand out when we talk about the Clever Fox budget planner in comparison with the other budget planners on the market, is the total number of reviews it has. If the total number of reviews varies between 1,500 and 2,500 for a popular budget planner, for Clever Fox we have a number 10 times higher than the average, namely about 25,000 reviews posted on Amazon. And not only that, but from budget planners that have 2,000 – 3,000 reviews, there’s a total pause up to 25,000, which truly makes it an outlier. A lot of people have given their opinion about it. That can be a very good thing, but it can also be a very bad one, depending on the perspective.

Why does the Clever Fox budget planner have so many reviews?

In general, I tend to believe that the more reviews a product has, the better it is for the average buyer. And not necessarily because they’ll check all of them, but because more dedicated people (like me) can thoroughly scrutinize and reveal patterns and systemic product problems, which wouldn’t have come to light otherwise. That’s why I’ve spent several days going through thousands of reviews, starting from one-star ones and going up, until I felt like they were starting to repeat the same things over and over again, and I wasn’t getting any new information.

Just the sole fact that it has many reviews can give it pros or cons:

Pros:

• The more reviews there are, the harder it is to manipulate and influence the general opinion with fake reviews
• If many more people have reviewed it, that means that many more people have also bought it

Cons:

• The information on the product sales page could be misleading, and there could be hundreds of people complaining about it or some other specific thing, but these reviews can be easily overlooked because there are so many reviews overall
• People tend to look at the positive reviews to make a purchase, and the more there are, the easier and faster it is to reach a buying decision. But a large number of positive reviews doesn’t necessarily mean that the product is better.

But let’s go over the information found in thousands of reviews combined with my personal experience. What should you know?

Size – > it is by far the most important feature people who have bought the Clever Fox budget planner are complaining about. The number of people complaining about the size being too small is so large that I initially thought we were dealing with false advertising. So I went to the product page and checked carefully. Luckily, the exact size is clearly mentioned in the product title and is not hidden. It says “A5 Size” in the product title. Moreover, one of the first things mentioned in the description is the exact size in inches: A5 (5.8” x 8.3”). But apparently, that’s still not enough, so I tried to find a few explanations:

• One of my guesses is that most people are probably more familiar with the A4 page size because it is the standard letter size. And from here I see two directions:
  • 1) People see A5 and register it in their heads as A4, they order, and they only then realize just how small it is.
  • 2) People assume A5 is just a little smaller than A4, when in fact A5 is basically half the size of A4. Take a look at this image to visualize the actual difference.
• My second explanation is that most people cannot actually visualize sizes. They see the numbers 5.8” x 8.3′ and quickly glance over them, without taking out a ruler or measuring tape to understand exactly how big that is.
• The third explanation is that all the preview pictures have the same size. Whatever budget planner you browse on Amazon, the preview picture is about the same, for smaller products the zoom is higher. That’s why people don’t even think that the size is different in real life. They order the product, see it is too small, and send it back.

Despite all these complaints, I still think it’s not fake advertising. The dimensions are visible in the places where it matters most. On the other hand, I can’t say the advertising is done in the interest of the average person. The manufacturers could clearly state in the beginning: “Attention: the size is a lot smaller than most people assume.” Furthermore, they could add product photos in which the budget planner is compared to a regular A4 notebook. But this would probably cut down on the number of sales. It would cut down the number of returns as well, but the manufacturer probably prefers it that way, because not everyone who orders it and realizes it is too small will send it back (out of convenience).

And that brings us to the second largest problem. A lot of users have complained that they’ve received the budget planner with notes written in it. That probably happened because a lot of planners were returned due to the size problem, even after people had already written in them, the manufacturers didn’t properly check and sent them to other customers. That wasn’t my case, and I’ve noticed that people who had this problem generally had older reviews, so this might have been handled. However, I haven’t seen it confirmed anywhere, so I can’t comment. If you receive one with things jotted down, send it back as well…

I would like to end the size topic here, but there is another very important perspective that needs to be explored, and it stems directly from this problem. Namely the fact that the space you have at your disposal to write down the information is very small. This is more of an effect of the Clever Fox budget planner being physically small itself. A lot of users complain that the budget planner doesn’t have enough space to manage their finances. But what does the size mean for real-life use cases?

The Clever Fox Budget Planner is not for you:

• If you have too much debt
• If you have too many expenses
• If you want to manage the finances of several people, for example, the whole family
• If you want to manage business-related stuff. Example: wedding planner, renovations, events
• If you have vision problems, due to the small writing

The Clever Fox Budget Planner is ideal for you:

• If you are single, young, or just starting out
• If you don’t have a lot of info to jot down yet
• If you want to carry it with you at all times

Another thing worth mentioning regarding the size: it doesn’t cost less just because it’s smaller. And for that reason, a lot of people complain it is expensive, which in a way is not surprising, because it costs as much as one that is twice its size.

It fits in your purse. I’ve spoken a lot about the negative aspects of its size, so now I would like to talk more about some of its positives as well. “This is very small, only 1 inch bigger than my hand.”, said someone in a review. Its small size can be its main feature in many situations. One of the main aspects of a budget planner is its regular use, which is a problem that discourages many people, specifically because they don’t always have it on them. The fact that it’s small and can fit in your purse can be an essential feature for many women. Out of the five budget planners I’ve reviewed, there were only another two of a similar small size: the GoGirl Budget Book and the Legend Budget Planner Deluxe. If the other features of the Clever Fox budget planner are not exactly to your liking, you can check out the other two, they might be more suitable for you.

The writing size and legibility are other key decision-making factors when you have to think about purchasing the Clever Fox budget planner. In addition to it being small, there is another compounding problem that makes things even worse. The lightness of the ink makes the text look faded, which, summed up with the fact that the text is very small, makes things even harder to read. If the manufacturer made the text a lot darker that problem would be easily solved. In addition, the instructions that come with the budget planner are printed in a tiny font, and you might need a magnifying glass to be able to read them. But what does this mean in practice? If you’re older, or if you have vision problems, this project planner is probably not the best for you. If you want a small budget planner, but one where not as many people complain about the faded color, you could take a look over the Legend Budget Planner Deluxe Financial Planner, I’ve written a more detailed review about it here. It also has its pros and cons, but at least it is similarly sized and you will be able to read the text easier, although it will still be small.

It’s flimsy, and it breaks down easily. Compared to the other four budget planners that I’ve tested in parallel, it is quite lacking in terms of quality and durability. It’s not the worst quality, I had a budget planner that even more people complained about easily tearing, namely the Mead Organizer Expense Tracker. The one we’re reviewing now, the Clever Fox budget planner, is a little bit more sturdy, but the other 3 are much better viewed in terms of sturdiness, so it’s quite low in quality rankings. If quality is a key decision-making factor when you want to buy a budget planner, the Legend Budget Planner Deluxe Financial Planner will be better suited to your needs, as it’s close to the Clever Fox in size, but of much better quality. And if you want even better quality, and you don’t care about the size, the Boxclever Press Budget Planner is the best choice for you. Take a look over the table below to get an overview of the quality of the five budget planners I’ve analyzed:

Users’ Perception of Sturdiness

It’s not easy to use. I’ve put aside my personal opinion when it comes to its ease of use, and instead checked thousands of reviews to see what the average person thinks about this planner’s complexity of use. The opinion of the majority has much greater value here. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound too good, and there are many reviews like:

• There are no tabs on any section or pages, and I can’t figure out how the sections are even divided or organized.
• I don’t see any structure that would lend itself to helping me be more organized in my spending or saving.
• I finally opened my budget planner and I am totally confused on how to use this.
• It’s so difficult to use, some of the stuff makes no sense about your goals.
• If you don’t need waste removal, bus, train, taxi categories, etc. you’re out of luck because they are prefilled in.

So there are many usability issues that people are complaining about, which makes it less intuitive. But this is also a pretty specific problem, so it depends a lot on what’s important for you. For me, this wouldn’t be an issue, but apparently, it’s an acute problem for many. If you are under the impression that this would be a major problem for you as well, I suggest you try the GoGirl  Budget Book. Not only did it not have significant negative reviews regarding its intuitiveness, but it was praised many times for its ease of use, so it would probably be a much better starting point for you. Take a look over the table below if you want an intuitiveness overview as perceived in hundreds of reviews for the most popular five budget planners I’ve analyzed:

Users’ Perception of Intuitiveness

It’s beautiful. Let’s call things as they are. And I’m not talking just about my personal opinion here, but that of the majority, which is more valuable in this case. The Clever Fox budget planner is among the most positively reviewed when it comes to overall look and design. And not only does it look good, but it comes in a variety of 24 different colors you can choose from. And this far surpasses the competition. For example, out of the five budget planners I’ve reviewed in parallel, the Legend Budget Planner Deluxe was in second place, with only 12 color variations. The other ones have even less, some even just one color.

Clever Fox Budget Planner Features:

This planner has a bungee cord to keep it closed tight, a pen holder, a built-in bookmark, two pages of stickers…and a lot of pages and interesting details. I won’t go over each type of page you can find inside the budget planner because it’s boring and it would be way better if you can see it with your own eyes. That is why I searched for videos on Youtube that show the product up close and personal. I selected one in which all the features are presented one by one, clearly and in detail. Take a look at the video below. It won’t have comparisons, pros and cons, and other information that can help with your buying decision, but at least you’ll see exactly what you’re buying. And after all, that’s what our article and website are here for, to help you make an informed decision based on comparisons.

 

It’s important to note that the video is made at the request of Clever Fox, so it is not an impartial review, but rather a presentation made by Ryan on his channel  “A Man with The Plans”. However, he did a great job, with great attention to detail and quality filming. If you are interested in planning, you should consider subscribing to his channel, as he has a lot of interesting videos on the topic.

It needs more debt tracker pages! A lot of people complain about the space allotted to debt tracking. There are only two pages. “It’s so unrealistic” – a user complained. And it’s close to the truth. Most people have a lot of debt. If you are one of them, you will have to find workarounds or turn to another planner that has more space allotted to this category. For example, the Mead Organizer Expense Tracker is actually praised for this, and it is a good fit for a more complex budget.

Conclusion:

This Journal is undoubtedly not built for a professional, an adult, or a working person. It’s more for someone younger who is just learning how to manage their finances since there are minimal pages/types of pages to fill out and most of them are the same repeated within the month. Overall, I think this is the perfect planner for someone young, single, and just starting out. It’s small and easy to carry around, and above all, very good looking!