I've never used a weeks but the teeny little size is so appealing to me! unfortunately I just like all my plans in one planner (the only exception being work, which I do totally digitally so I can share my calendar and notes with my team). I've used an A5 bullet journal for several years now, and it just works so well for me. Other planners have caught my eye but they just don't have the flexibility I want. Those little weeks books are SO CUTE though!!!
I'm using a Hobinichi style for journal activity this upcoming year and decided to use the year at a glance for my energy levels. Not mood…but energy. Cognitive more than physical but really holistic.
I love how well hobo understands it's user base. I ran out of space in my 2023 regular weeks last week and am now happily in my 2024 mega. We order new weeks in September and excitedly wait to get it in use the whole quarter, finally breaking down the last week of November 😅
I use the year front spread as "income" abd "savings" on the top boxes, and the bottom boxes as "no spend days". I think the spread is also great for health and wellness
I used the yearly index for a variety of things! Steps, most recently, but also weight, workouts, habits, and just for important dates/future log. I hope you enjoy your Weeks!
I use 2 weeks, one for my own physical health journal that comes with me everywhere to keep track of meals/snacks/symptoms (though I have a larger, overarching 'wellness' journal as well that stays at home) and one as a pet tracker. With 4 cats (one especially elderly) and 4 snakes, I need to keep track of who's getting what when and why. Helps me keep track of when I've fed the slither babies, what symptoms/problems my elderly cat is facing at any given time, when to refill meds, vet appts, etc.
First time Hobo Weeks user. I got mine off of Amazon after watching your video about it (Jet Pens was sold out of the green) but I scored the sea green cover with cats on it! My plan, because it is small, is to track my health goals in it. My movement and my food ate to start, and then we can see. I can see taking it to a gym to track there as well. Using December as a test run to see how this works for me.
An excellent review. I'm familiar with the Sterling Ink planners, and I'm a Hobonichi devotee. I really enjoyed your comparison of each planner. Plus, as we say in Virginia, I think you are a hoot. Thanks for sharing your opinion and your life.
I’ve been using an undated Weeks knockoff hardcover ($10) for my work planner for about 15 months and it works well. I purchased. A custom leather portfolio from a Ukrainian Etsy artist. It has enough room to add a traveler’s journal style notebook for extra notes pages, but I rarely need to use it. The one thing I don’t like is all the months at the front, but it still works for me.
I love my weeks! I use those pages for fasting blood sugar and exercise tracking. I tape my med list in the back oages I don't use, so I have it with me.
I hum and ha about hobonichi and fauxbonichi planners every year and end up not getting one... Its been this way for like 3 years. I always decide my big ass writing needs an A5 size and that theres always enough time for me draw up my own in a stalogy. So... End up with a pre-drawn up planner before January... Index. A few goal related collections at the beginning, and all my months. I was SO torn about weekly spreads... But sometimes i need more space... Sometimes i need no space... So either im wasting pages or writing on pages dated incorrectly. So ive decided ill just use as needed. Either way. I dont plan on having much of a life next year since ill be a new teacher, so most of this will be work related. Most of my day to day planning will be online anyway- lesson/term/etc plans. At the very end of the planner i also have a 2025 future planning and also where ill have all my brain dump stuff. The only thing im considering is having some kind of collections near the back. If i do... Possibly a list of stuff for my classroom? The freedom to do what i want is great, except i can do almost anything i want and thats a lot to think about!
I love seeing comparisons between similar sizes planners. This is my year of trying various planners out as my trusty Moleskine no longer fits my needs. I bought both a Hobo Weeks Starry Skies and a Paper Tess Designs weeks. After having them both in my hands I gifted the Hobo and setting up the PTD for 2024.
I'm using the Hobonichi weeks mostly for my meal planning . On the week spread, I put my meals and the grid on the left is my grocery list, spread out by section of the grocery story. I'm putting health notes for my kids (doctor visits, bad colds, vaccinations, etc.) in the monthly spreads, but have not found a use for the year on two pages. In my cousin, I use that yearly index page to put the titles of each church service (fellow UU here) and the monthly worship theme in the notes below each month and menstruation and important health notes for me on the day they occur.
I use the hobonichi weeks for work and its perfect for me but I use gel pens and they always smear. So I switched to the kinbor and that's way cheaper with the same layout and no text at the bottom. As for the yearly index/tracker page (I don't know what to call it obviously lol) I track my paydays, days off, PTO, and my menstrual cycle. Since I get quite heavy symptoms and that sometimes affects my work. Sometimes I even take a day or two off.
Glad you have found what to use for your journaling! I loved the weeks but the yellow paper started to irritate me. I'm trying the Aura Estelle "weeks". It has a small weekly overview page with 7 pages per day. The months are all throughout with the dailies.
This is why I went with the compact SI weeks. Full year was too much, but more notes pages than the weeks. I don’t like any weeks mega covers so SI it is! Until I change my Mind again 🤣
I use a Weeks for work(tracking projects, dates, etc., and it's just easier to carry around since I don't like taking a lot with me daily) and a Cousin for more of a commonplace journal(I don't buy those every year, just repurpose them until I want an update).
Thanks so mich for sharing! ❤ I love the Weeks alternatives and have used/am still using a PaperTess Designs Weeks as my hobby tracker and microjournal. For 2024, I‘m also going with the actual Hobonichi Weeks in the Tomitaro Makino cover, but as my main planner. I “hacked” it a little bit because I drew a vertical dividing line on the left page and drew lines to its right side to make the layout a bit more similar to the PaperTess Weeks. Also added a work hour tracker that was inspired by this planner.
I am torn between the Hobonichi Weeks and the Sterling Ink weeks compact. The type size for the words in the SI is so tiny (the numbers are bigger), and the lines between the days in the monthly and weekly are so faint that the days seem to run together. I tried writing in some appointments and the faint lines really bothered me. So as much as I like not having quotes, and I like the trackers, I think I'm sticking with the Hobo Weeks.
I use a week's for my health journal. That yearly page is where i track what kind of workout/movement i do and i like being able to see the whole year and where three gaps are so i can figure out why.
I have wanted to try the "weeks" sized planners. I would select the Sterling Ink simply because of the number of pages. I would journal daily so that would make more sense for me. The Hobonichi pages are busy and I do not care for that. I have used a Hobonichi before - not my favorite because of all the extra stuff on the pages.
I love the weeks size and love having one planner book at the end of the year. That being said, I’m really considering getting the Sterling ink because of the notes pages
I use the hobinichi weeks mega for my carry around diary and general notes and todos for the week. Shopping lists and general info go in the notes pages.
I have 2 Hobo Weeks this year: one for health tracking and one for work. This next year I’m switching both of those to the Sterling Ink one. I was going to do habit tracking on the monthly page actually, just in the boxes with symbols. That might change, I don’t know.
Warning, looong post! For years I journaled in a blank notebook,the size varying over the years from roughly A5 to Composition notebook to letter-sized (US.) Since about 2016 I seem to have settled on A5. For a couple of years now I have been using the Hobonichi Day-Free A6 for my scheduler/ to-do/ planning notebook. It has (for 2023) monthly double-page spreads with margins for randomness covering December 2022 through March 2024. The remainder of the Day-Free consists mostly of 171 numbered grid pages. The Day-Free does have that vertical monthly spread, covering January 2023-March 2024. I believe all the Hobos have that spread, with slight variations depending on page size. Some of them have less space to label (and track) whatever you're using it for. The Day-Free had plenty of room even in A6 for my habit tracking. It also has lots of those pages at the back that would be entertaining if I read Japanese, plus the Favorites and 100 List pages The 171 blank pages have been ample for my daily notations, which are mostly appointments transferred from the monthly spreads, to-do lists, and occasional notes from doctor visits, small shopping lists, price and model notes for big-ticket stuff like refrigerators, etc. For 2024 I bought 2 A6 Hobos. I got another Day-Free as backup, but I also bought an English-language Hon, which is essentially a translated standard Original but has a binding more like the Weeks, which should help it survive with a bit more dignity as a EDC. The main reason I'm trying the Hon in 224 is that I want to do time blocking to help keep me from wasting time. I will have to plan when to do chores and when to entertain myself! It may also serve as an abbreviated journal, because about halfway through my current A5 notebook I stopped journaling. It has about 2 1/2 years of journaling and then about 6 months ago -- pfft. Or I may use the A6 Day-Free as more of a journal if the Hon works as well as I hope.
Disregard, I spoke too soon....sorry. But dang, they are now $14 and I think the Techo (Original A6) is only $21. (I swear I'm not an affiliate, just a shopper who waited on the Weeks because I thought it was a bit pricey and didn't want to buy just to buy.)
Weeks mega is big enough for me that I can use it for a bullet journal+ calendar etc , but it turned out to be a brain dump commonplace. This year reducing so going to try something else, not sure what.
I'm surprised you didnt mention how the paper feels or maybe I missed it. I cant remember what you said before. Didn't you compare it to used toilet paper or something once? lol I'm excited by your choice. I've been using one all year and it's finally the planner ive been able to be consistent with! I think theres only 3 weeks over the summer that I didnt use in it. The size helps me remember it I guess.
I don't like to think about the hobonichi weeks as the original weeks style planner, since brands like moleskine, Leuchtturm and travellers company have been doing the same layout for years before hobonichi.
I've never used a weeks but the teeny little size is so appealing to me! unfortunately I just like all my plans in one planner (the only exception being work, which I do totally digitally so I can share my calendar and notes with my team). I've used an A5 bullet journal for several years now, and it just works so well for me. Other planners have caught my eye but they just don't have the flexibility I want. Those little weeks books are SO CUTE though!!!
I'm using a Hobinichi style for journal activity this upcoming year and decided to use the year at a glance for my energy levels. Not mood…but energy. Cognitive more than physical but really holistic.
Add: I'm doing just a simple 10 scale. So 10/10 8/10 etc
Love this idea!
Wow - was not expecting that choice! I really love the look of the common planner...
Thank you for the in-depth comparisons :)
I love how well hobo understands it's user base. I ran out of space in my 2023 regular weeks last week and am now happily in my 2024 mega.
We order new weeks in September and excitedly wait to get it in use the whole quarter, finally breaking down the last week of November 😅
I use the year front spread as "income" abd "savings" on the top boxes, and the bottom boxes as "no spend days". I think the spread is also great for health and wellness
I used the yearly index for a variety of things! Steps, most recently, but also weight, workouts, habits, and just for important dates/future log. I hope you enjoy your Weeks!
I use 2 weeks, one for my own physical health journal that comes with me everywhere to keep track of meals/snacks/symptoms (though I have a larger, overarching 'wellness' journal as well that stays at home) and one as a pet tracker. With 4 cats (one especially elderly) and 4 snakes, I need to keep track of who's getting what when and why. Helps me keep track of when I've fed the slither babies, what symptoms/problems my elderly cat is facing at any given time, when to refill meds, vet appts, etc.
Slither babies is the cutest phrase I've heard this week ❤🐍
I am so excited you are doing the weeks!! I can’t wait for your set up video 🎉
I can't wait to see what you're gonna do with the Hobonichi!
What colors are on your nails? I can't stop staring at them! They are amazing!
I was stuck on them too. First I thought they were red, then they turned copper, gold and back to red 😂
One of us! One of us!
I use the year at a glance spread to track which writing project(s) I'm working on.
First time Hobo Weeks user. I got mine off of Amazon after watching your video about it (Jet Pens was sold out of the green) but I scored the sea green cover with cats on it!
My plan, because it is small, is to track my health goals in it. My movement and my food ate to start, and then we can see. I can see taking it to a gym to track there as well. Using December as a test run to see how this works for me.
An excellent review. I'm familiar with the Sterling Ink planners, and I'm a Hobonichi devotee. I really enjoyed your comparison of each planner. Plus, as we say in Virginia, I think you are a hoot. Thanks for sharing your opinion and your life.
I’ve been using an undated Weeks knockoff hardcover ($10) for my work planner for about 15 months and it works well. I purchased. A custom leather portfolio from a Ukrainian Etsy artist. It has enough room to add a traveler’s journal style notebook for extra notes pages, but I rarely need to use it. The one thing I don’t like is all the months at the front, but it still works for me.
I use a weeks mega for my book journal. The yearly pages with the blocks is where I track how many pages I read each day.
I love my weeks! I use those pages for fasting blood sugar and exercise tracking. I tape my med list in the back oages I don't use, so I have it with me.
I hum and ha about hobonichi and fauxbonichi planners every year and end up not getting one... Its been this way for like 3 years.
I always decide my big ass writing needs an A5 size and that theres always enough time for me draw up my own in a stalogy.
So... End up with a pre-drawn up planner before January... Index. A few goal related collections at the beginning, and all my months. I was SO torn about weekly spreads... But sometimes i need more space... Sometimes i need no space... So either im wasting pages or writing on pages dated incorrectly. So ive decided ill just use as needed.
Either way. I dont plan on having much of a life next year since ill be a new teacher, so most of this will be work related. Most of my day to day planning will be online anyway- lesson/term/etc plans.
At the very end of the planner i also have a 2025 future planning and also where ill have all my brain dump stuff.
The only thing im considering is having some kind of collections near the back. If i do... Possibly a list of stuff for my classroom?
The freedom to do what i want is great, except i can do almost anything i want and thats a lot to think about!
I have never used any of these. But they look fun and easier to use than many of the other brands.
I love seeing comparisons between similar sizes planners. This is my year of trying various planners out as my trusty Moleskine no longer fits my needs. I bought both a Hobo Weeks Starry Skies and a Paper Tess Designs weeks. After having them both in my hands I gifted the Hobo and setting up the PTD for 2024.
Is the PTD more white than the Hobo Weeks paper?
I'm using the Hobonichi weeks mostly for my meal planning . On the week spread, I put my meals and the grid on the left is my grocery list, spread out by section of the grocery story. I'm putting health notes for my kids (doctor visits, bad colds, vaccinations, etc.) in the monthly spreads, but have not found a use for the year on two pages. In my cousin, I use that yearly index page to put the titles of each church service (fellow UU here) and the monthly worship theme in the notes below each month and menstruation and important health notes for me on the day they occur.
I use the hobonichi weeks for work and its perfect for me but I use gel pens and they always smear. So I switched to the kinbor and that's way cheaper with the same layout and no text at the bottom. As for the yearly index/tracker page (I don't know what to call it obviously lol) I track my paydays, days off, PTO, and my menstrual cycle. Since I get quite heavy symptoms and that sometimes affects my work. Sometimes I even take a day or two off.
Glad you have found what to use for your journaling! I loved the weeks but the yellow paper started to irritate me. I'm trying the Aura Estelle "weeks". It has a small weekly overview page with 7 pages per day. The months are all throughout with the dailies.
This is why I went with the compact SI weeks. Full year was too much, but more notes pages than the weeks. I don’t like any weeks mega covers so SI it is! Until I change my
Mind again 🤣
I use a Weeks for work(tracking projects, dates, etc., and it's just easier to carry around since I don't like taking a lot with me daily) and a Cousin for more of a commonplace journal(I don't buy those every year, just repurpose them until I want an update).
Well thought out choice
Thanks so mich for sharing! ❤ I love the Weeks alternatives and have used/am still using a PaperTess Designs Weeks as my hobby tracker and microjournal. For 2024, I‘m also going with the actual Hobonichi Weeks in the Tomitaro Makino cover, but as my main planner. I “hacked” it a little bit because I drew a vertical dividing line on the left page and drew lines to its right side to make the layout a bit more similar to the PaperTess Weeks. Also added a work hour tracker that was inspired by this planner.
I am torn between the Hobonichi Weeks and the Sterling Ink weeks compact. The type size for the words in the SI is so tiny (the numbers are bigger), and the lines between the days in the monthly and weekly are so faint that the days seem to run together. I tried writing in some appointments and the faint lines really bothered me. So as much as I like not having quotes, and I like the trackers, I think I'm sticking with the Hobo Weeks.
I use a week's for my health journal. That yearly page is where i track what kind of workout/movement i do and i like being able to see the whole year and where three gaps are so i can figure out why.
I have wanted to try the "weeks" sized planners. I would select the Sterling Ink simply because of the number of pages. I would journal daily so that would make more sense for me. The Hobonichi pages are busy and I do not care for that. I have used a Hobonichi before - not my favorite because of all the extra stuff on the pages.
ooh, that LPD. THAT is what I need in my life (but in a b6)
I love the weeks size and love having one planner book at the end of the year. That being said, I’m really considering getting the Sterling ink because of the notes pages
I can't see the planners 🧐
Maybe cuz I can't stop looking at your nails!😂 So shiny! Love! 💅
I use the hobinichi weeks mega for my carry around diary and general notes and todos for the week. Shopping lists and general info go in the notes pages.
I have 2 Hobo Weeks this year: one for health tracking and one for work. This next year I’m switching both of those to the Sterling Ink one. I was going to do habit tracking on the monthly page actually, just in the boxes with symbols. That might change, I don’t know.
I loved my hobo weeks for the simplicity and size, though the extra quotes at the bottom seemed like a waste of space.
Warning, looong post!
For years I journaled in a blank notebook,the size varying over the years from roughly A5 to Composition notebook to letter-sized (US.) Since about 2016 I seem to have settled on A5.
For a couple of years now I have been using the Hobonichi Day-Free A6 for my scheduler/ to-do/ planning notebook. It has (for 2023) monthly double-page spreads with margins for randomness covering December 2022 through March 2024. The remainder of the Day-Free consists mostly of 171 numbered grid pages.
The Day-Free does have that vertical monthly spread, covering January 2023-March 2024. I believe all the Hobos have that spread, with slight variations depending on page size. Some of them have less space to label (and track) whatever you're using it for. The Day-Free had plenty of room even in A6 for my habit tracking. It also has lots of those pages at the back that would be entertaining if I read Japanese, plus the Favorites and 100 List pages
The 171 blank pages have been ample for my daily notations, which are mostly appointments transferred from the monthly spreads, to-do lists, and occasional notes from doctor visits, small shopping lists, price and model notes for big-ticket stuff like refrigerators, etc.
For 2024 I bought 2 A6 Hobos. I got another Day-Free as backup, but I also bought an English-language Hon, which is essentially a translated standard Original but has a binding more like the Weeks, which should help it survive with a bit more dignity as a EDC. The main reason I'm trying the Hon in 224 is that I want to do time blocking to help keep me from wasting time. I will have to plan when to do chores and when to entertain myself!
It may also serve as an abbreviated journal, because about halfway through my current A5 notebook I stopped journaling. It has about 2 1/2 years of journaling and then about 6 months ago -- pfft. Or I may use the A6 Day-Free as more of a journal if the Hon works as well as I hope.
Anderson pens has the weeks for $22 and the cousin for 48. Free shipping for over $50 I think.
Disregard, I spoke too soon....sorry. But dang, they are now $14 and I think the Techo (Original A6) is only $21. (I swear I'm not an affiliate, just a shopper who waited on the Weeks because I thought it was a bit pricey and didn't want to buy just to buy.)
Weeks mega is big enough for me that I can use it for a bullet journal+ calendar etc , but it turned out to be a brain dump commonplace. This year reducing so going to try something else, not sure what.
I'm surprised you didnt mention how the paper feels or maybe I missed it. I cant remember what you said before. Didn't you compare it to used toilet paper or something once? lol I'm excited by your choice. I've been using one all year and it's finally the planner ive been able to be consistent with! I think theres only 3 weeks over the summer that I didnt use in it. The size helps me remember it I guess.
Wow they are all so different! Thanks for sharing this!
I use mine for budget and spend tracking. I tried using it for health but that did not last long
I don't like to think about the hobonichi weeks as the original weeks style planner, since brands like moleskine, Leuchtturm and travellers company have been doing the same layout for years before hobonichi.
Agreed. The Hobo weeks size is unique and was new. But the layout was definitely not. It’s been around forever.
I started using it because I was using that style of weekly already and wanted to save myself the trouble of drawing it out every week.
It isn't the layout that's original to Hobonichi. Its the SIZE of the "weeks" that is original to Hobonichi.
@@JustScribble My thoughts exactly, they only popularized the size
The Sterling Ink really has too many blank pages for my preference. The lighter version I think I'd like better.
FYI: Weeks are now $14 at Anderson Pens (no affiliate, just passing on the goodness).