Why My Planner System Fails
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- Опубликовано: 3 дек 2024
- #plannercommunity #planner
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Have you tried a traveler’s notebook system before? That’s what really helped me combine the flexibility I liked about disc planners and the aesthetic appeal of a yearly bound book. What’s been working for me is having an 12 month insert solely for functional planning, one for task lists (almost exactly like your 1$ book), one for commonplace notes, one for memory keeping, and one for journaling. Although it is bulky, I like that it’s all in one “book” yet I can take out notebooks as I fill them, and I have inserts that are intended to not be pretty. This year has been all about embracing what I *actually* need and will use! Thanks for sharing, we’ve all been there!
This sounds perfect for me! Thanks for sharing!😊
Oh thanks!
I saw someone using a hobonichi a6 on one side of the a6 cover with a field notes on the other side for their “messy” planning. Perhaps that would work for you?
I totally understand, I have bought so many planners this past year, trying different size ring binders, bounded books, purchasing inserts, creating my own etc... I feel as if I was just wasting time and money and being distracted from what I really needed to focus on. Me wondering in the planner world actually increased my procrastination... I have considered taking a break and going back to making notes on a notepad.. Good luck in your journey dear..
You can do it! That’s what I did and it freed me up to remember why I needed to write things down. I slowly started to integrate things I loved back in instead of things I felt like I had to do. Keep on your journey and try not to get discouraged.
Thank you for sharing your planner struggles with us. Many people are dealing with the same thing. I’m starting out with 1 planner and 1 journal for 2024. Trying to resist FOMO. This year I have 3 planners. I barely use any of them. Instead I’ve been going back to simple bullet journaling. No layouts, just list days of month, weekly overview to record appointments/events and 1 page per day where I rapid log my day. Got the idea from RUclipsr Nicole Makes Plans.
Thanks for the idea!
Me too with the FOMO.
Also you could do tip-ins on those days when you run out of space. Pre-cut them and carry your washi tape and you can use them easily on the go.
5:25 rings are for writing down everything, weeks for memory keeping. Solution: write down everything in your rings, transfer what do you want to keep in your weeks. Problem solved!
That’s the plan!
I have struggled with this since I got my first planner 38 years ago. It was not as bad then because there were so few choices. I had a half size notebook for information, a steno pad for my daily list and a wire bound week at a glance for appointments and deadlines. That worked reasonably well. Then I had a baby and started staying home full-time. I kept using that system with good success until I had a second baby and my kids started getting older. Then it didn't work anymore because the schedule got more complicated and unpredictable. I got a Franklin Covey compact 2 pages per day and used that (mostly) for 20 years. However, when I look back, I see that my planner use was pretty inconsistent. However, that's all there was back then. So I tried a few different ideas that I made up but ended up going back to FC. Thirteen years ago when my first granddaughter was born, I abandoned FC and jumped into the black hole of planner printables. As much as I love planner printables, it was actually a disaster for me. I haven't been consistently in a planner since then. I love everything about all the planners. I can't decide! And when I'm more stressed, I set up new planners constantly, always hoping that this will be the one that works - that this will be the one that helps me get it together. But it never is. And sometimes when I'm in the process of setting up the new planner I know it's not going to work so I quit before I finish. I have planners and inserts everywhere in my tiny little home office. Every time I think about selling some of the planners, I just can't. Looking at them and thinking about selling them renews my love for that particular planner. And I might need it or want it.
I've made pros and cons lists. I've done spreadsheets showing different systems I like and the good and bad things in each. I've written each planner system on a piece of paper and put them in a bucket and pulled out the one that I'm going to "make work". Only I ended up going for the best 2 out of 3. And then I decided it was stupid and abandoned it. I've tried to get other people to choose for me.
I was in counseling for a while - not for my planner issue but I did talk about that a lot. I was dealing with depression and some family issues and feeling a lack of control of my life among other things. I was trying to develop a system but I couldn't. My life is so unpredictable that I can't follow a system. And my adhd fights me on that anyway.
I'm well aware that the problem isn't my planner or my lack of a system, but me. I'm the problem. I have ADHD and OCPD (not OCD) and the two work against each other. I feel like I don't have a chance to fix this because these two conditions make it impossible. And my current life circumstances. But I refuse to give up because I NEED a planner desperately. So I keep trying and I'm determined I will succeed.
I watched your video hoping that your discoveries and struggle would help me. I could have done that video myself because I feel all those things you talked about. A while back I watched a video by Ihearttoplan and was struck by the fact that she really enjoys her planner. She doesn't overthink it or try to make it perfect. She just has fun with it. If she wants to switch sizes, she does. And if she wants to switch again, she does. I know that's some of my problem. I'm taking this too seriously and trying to make it perfect. I need to try to make it fun again.
Relatable! It took me half of this year to find my stride, and I find it’s ever evolving. What helped me was changing my frame of mind from “plan” to “explore”. Once I was able to shift, which took me half a year, I was able to go back to basics and use my different planners to explore and have fun again. Part of my Cousin looks like a sticker shop threw up on it, part of it has more drawings, part of it has barely any words, but when I do flip through, it’s more about seeing the ways I explored in it more than perfection.
I did exactly what you did where I went back to the basics of a small blank notebook and let go of my expectations of what planning “should be” and worked on my own perfection paralysis. The biggest thing for me was information and how I compartmentalize. The way my personal ADHD works is feeling like if I don’t write it all down, I will forget everything because of my object permanence.
It’s an every day process where I have to choose to work on my perfectionism, and I have to let go. So for me, it was more psychological than the actual planner itself. Like you said at the end of your video, it’s finding the system that works for your brain.
I too have recently decided to go back to rings!! All the planners I've purchased that are bound and none brought me happiness like my rings! I'm not sure why I ever strayed! But I'm sticking with my rings going forward! Hope they continue to bring you peace!! (:
I totally understand this. My first thought was "stop whinging" BUT then realised that all you are doing is expressing verbally what I internalise about my planners...so Thank You for shining a light on our shared problem ❤
Well I certainly don’t run around the house saying these things out loud, but I have to verbalize these things to make a video. 😅
You sharing your planner struggles makes me want to share my own realizations. I went back to Hobonichi this year after sitting down and taking a long hard look at my past planner systems since 2018. I realized that being in that system, for all its quirks and eccentricities, was the only time I felt content. I looked back on years of planning and journaling and found so much joy and creativity in there that was all my own. I realized the times I swapped systems were when I started comparing myself to others. I made a lot of FOMO purchases! But Hobonichi is the only planner system I buy out of true joy. I can commiserate a lot with you and your planner journey and I hope you find planner contentment in whatever system you choose!
I find that the better the notebook, the less likely I am to use it so that I don't mess it up. But once I switch to a 99 cent flip notepad, I didn't really care as much about making it pretty. I didn't care as much about messing it up.
The struggle is real. Thank you for filming this and sharing.
16:08 I just got my first ever A6 ring planner and am loving it. I just love how it feels in my hand ❤ glad you found which you prefer.
Have you seen the compact Stirling ink. Layouts the same but without the quotes at the bottom. It might give you the room you need. I have the B6 undated full year and its working out really well x
Currently in a personal rings that I made myself. It basically contains 12 monthly overviews and then just a wide variety of papers (lined, to-dos, colour, blank, etc). This gives me the structure I need to plan out my months but also the flexibility in scribbling and writing and just enjoying a planner. I've also started scrapbooking in my planner and making fun little collages based on seasons. Its honestly has become my favourite book to flip through and given me that elusive "planner peace". Staying off of social media has also been super helpful :)
Good luck Sam!
Sounds great!
G’day Sam,
Have you tried to add a second book in the hobinichi cover that acts as your note pages for scribbles, on the go, appointments, (in place of your mini spiral notebook)? That way you carry one cover with two planners/ books.
Keep the hobo weeks for your pretty planning and memory keeping.
I’m a rings girl. I went through all of this same as you - my planner peace was found in personal rings, with multiple sections - work and play are in one planner now. Work at the front and party at the back of the planner.
My work sections are: calendar, (dated) planner pages, meeting notes - then for personal planning, the sections are: after a few dashboards/ deco, year at a glance, I have undated planner inserts, gratitude, lists and right at the back secret squirrel for passwords (work only though).
Love this system and I only keep 2 months at a time. The current month and the following month. Separated by thin dividers.
I remove any used pages and store them in a second personal planner and flip through often for memory keeping and fun.
I toss out my work pages because I don’t need to be reminded of that ❤
I go into the office 2-3 days a week and I find the personal size is perfect to carry between work and home and not too bulky. I use the Louis Vuitton MM agendas.
I love your ostrich planner cover, who wouldn’t want to use it.
Love your videos lady ❤🎉thank you
I’m definitely the type to overthink things and for some reason planners are one of the few things I don’t do that with. Lol! The Hobonichi weeks works very well for me. I like to customize pages here and there but nothing crazy. I use the journal area for important things on my mind. And I use a family planner at my desk, the kitchen counter. You seem focused on other important aspects of your life and I’m proud of your progress in those areas. Try not to stress about your planning hobby. Don’t beat yourself up if you change your mind. It’s okay. If you change your planners out often and that keeps it interesting, so be it. I love your videos. And I’m here for every new one. Have a blessed day! 🩷
You could re-conceptualize the ring bound planner and use it as reference (home stuff, book lists, journaling and even health tracking. and keep the Hobo Weeks as your happy place. I have two planners - Weeks as Everyday carry and A5 Rings as a Desk Planner (reference, project planning, certain lists, large brain dumps).I need a planner to manage my schedule because I am a busy retiree, and dislike always checking my phone; so the Weeks suits that well. It is just enough room to plan out my week. To manage daily tasks and notes to myself, I carry an INDEX CARD and small pencil and use it throughout the day, eventually migrating anything necessary. And I journal elsewhere. I have separate notebooks for different areas of my life - music practice or course notes, so this variety does not bother me.
What notebooks do you like for course notes or what do you use
It sounds like you would like the bullet journal system - the simple one, not the artfully decorated, full spreads type. I've not even tried the Hobonichi weeks - it's too narrow. Size matters in planners.
Ahh, “planner contentment for the season you are in” YES!!! I pulled all the planners I have been in this year and had a good chat w/myself to find the one that best suited me for the season I am in. It wasn’t the one I had used faithfully the past few years, the Jibun Teco, it was the personal rings! I’m okay to revisit my pile o planners later💕
I am nodding my head yes to all the things you said! I want to magically combine memory planning and functional planning but want different planners for each. So I go back and forth and then lose information and time! I think I am going to try one planner for each and accept it 😂 thank you for sharing your thoughts! ❤
I feel like every time I watch a planner video I see people struggling with their systems, and… I just want to say, thank you for sharing. Being honest is very important when trying to find out what doesn’t work.
This said, I also always say: try a bullet journal! It’s so customisable, and you can add journaling, more or less planning, change layouts as frequently you want, and you don’t need to fill in all the pages!
I know this is an older video, but I just wanted to share this because I feel like a lot of people don’t realise that it’s an option. Love your videos❤
Thank you so much!! I’ve got a lot of issues in my head with the BUJO method, but it’s one I keep on the table. And I do have a stay setup I can run back to this year!
From a fast glance over all your video thumnails, I'm thinking you are more in love with the various covers than you are the contents. It isn't just the size you are struggling with but also the format. In the meantime, absolutely nothing wrong with just a piece of paper (spiral, composition, loose leaf) and a pen during your indecisive times. Keep at it but stop pressuring yourself to have to make a decision. At your own pace, you will eventually land on a system that works for you. If I could afford it, I would totally try all the sizes, the whole variety of binding, and all the formats. Happy planning!:) Or not!:) That is what a hobby is all about. Your enjoyment, your way, at your pace.
I do struggle with finding a gorgeous cover in the wrong size and trying to make it work. It isn’t my only struggle, but it’s one of them for sure.
Weeks MEGA ❤ use 1 for layflat access use 1 for schedule. I am very much the same… not a failure- reflection and change is ok. Ps i love covers x
How do you use the back pages of the Weeks? It’s numbered-if you need more space to write on a particular day, just put a page number to redirect your future self to. Or use the back pages as the space for memories and use the weekly pages for planning.
I used to do that, but this year I’ve been so back and forth with planners that I’ve barely touched the back pages.
The struggle is real, and that’s okay. If you can identify a goal, at least you’ll know what you’re working for. My goal for years has been to consolidate. I started in high school with a planner, a memory keeping journal, and a brain-dump notebook. In college, I consolidated the journal and brain dumping into one bound journal. I tried to consolidate the whole thing, but I write WAY too much to keep it all in one book or binder. My current system is a Leuchtturm planner notebook for planning and recording writing prompts. I expand on the writing prompts in a Leuchtturm notebook. I don’t write every day, but I do write about every day. The planner also works as an index for that year’s set of notebooks. I’ve considered the Hobonichi Cousin, but then I’d have to flip back and forth from the writing prompts to the writing, and that would drive me nuts. Writing less isn’t an option. Writing keeps thing from coming out of my mouth that probably shouldn’t.
I’ve gotten to the point where as long as I’m writing down what needs to be written down, I’m good. I gave up on trying to use one planner. I use what I want when I want. Lol
My big problem this year was that I started with the same lineup as 2022, because it worked so well… without considering that my life would have changed completely and I knew it… so I found myself in the middle of a planner chaos 😵💫 I spent so much money in things I’m not using… for next year I wanna spend less and make things work. Thank you for sharing ❤
I hope you find the right fit for you!
I have never approached planning as a hobby. I have a very busy career with lots of travel and also ADD, so planning has always been a tool or instrument for me to effectively look ahead, prepare, and track what I need to get done. It's not enough fun for me to be a hobby!
I moved into a grid Standard TN size and happy with it. A lot of space and freedom and I don't need to make pages as for the rings.
I hate personal size. It's too small. The Standard TN size feels big because it's almost A5 size, but not as wide, so it's not as overwhelming and more portable.
I think standard is a great size, I just can’t seem to make friends with TNs.
This is what I'm trying for next year. Standard TN using a Sterling Commonplace book. The a small booklet for journaling.
@@mkyred yes, she seems to fill the gap in terms of planners that hobonichi was ignoring for so long. Good for her, her customers, and it will teach hobonichi a lesson to hear the customers. I once wrote a letter to Hobonichi that I would buy a Cousin in the Standard TN size. They wrote an answer that "we don't do this". It was just like "we are not gonna do it anyway". I l'm going to watch those Standard size Sterling Ink planners here, on RUclips, for sure. If you have any videos, let me know, I will subscribe. I'm also thinking about cutting up the W222 notebook to this size, or my outdated Kinbor or Hobonichi and have something like it too. They are not used anyway.
Maybe you need two planners but for two diffrent reasons? I had a Jibun Techo but I got that feeling that I wanted something else and I bough the wonderland 222 and thought it was amazing so I began to use it with a lot of stickers and more like a memorykeeper. I thought it was really creative and fun so I decided to continue doing it. But I had to buy a new planner, so I bought a Hobonichi weeks instead. I actually turned out to be a really good idea in the end. Use your Weeks for memorykeeping and your ringplanner as a planner.
You are not alone. 2024 is still a major mystery for me. I’m still learning what I need by trying something different in 2023. (I’m in a Passion Planner vertical to see if this will help my chaotic schedule. A Weeks for pre-planning, a A6 Stalogy for a memory keeper/journal and a Commit 30 for health and fitness.) 😮🤦🏾♀️ Meanwhile, I love your ghost mug. It’s adorable. ❤
Those are all good planners! I love that mug!
One bound book to deco/take the extra time for memories and archive. And then “one thing/combo” (i.e. rings OR rings/insert/Pen&Gear) to scribble, future plan etc. and that content “feeds” the bound book as necessary, is otherwise tossed 🤷🏼♀️
I use a Stalogy. I draw out my monthlies all at once. From there I love a blank page to do what I want with. I may draw out a weekly so I have my schedule at a glance and then I have blank pages to make daily to do lists,etc. but I like the freedom to do what I want each week or even each day.
I’m using a B6 Stalogy(inconsistently) as my fitness journal and I’ve been toying with the idea of it being an alternative to the Weeks. It’s just a lot of work, but I love the paper.
My work planner is a separate planner. It stays at work and can’t be commingled and I can’t carry it around due to 1) size and 2) confidentiality. And I do keep a separate social media planner but that’s more of a hobby. I like it separate and to decorate it more and just play in it. But my everything planner is really everything. It has my plans and random thoughts and memories. I do have a few different planners I play in as an attempt at memory keeping but I’m never consistent because I don’t need them they are just for fun. If I’m watching tv and just want to play with markers and stickers. But my EDC has everything combined in it. And that’s how I’ve planned really for years. About 2 years in a bujo stalogy. And then in W222 last year and now this year in the common planner/night owl. For me planning is a non negotiable. My actual planner isn’t a hobby - the covers and stickers yes that’s a fun hobby but they are an add on. The planner itself is my life. I rely on it so much and have been using a planner for decades. The planning isn’t a hobby it’s a necessity for my personal and work. But my social media planner and my on again, off again memory planners those are hobbies. Just for fun.
I love your new planner insert setup. I want so much to use my A6 rings but I would miss so much my memory keeping within my Bujo. I definitely do not believe we would ever be at planner peace if planners are considered a hobby. I was perfectly happy in my A6 Hobonichi for years but being on YT and IG it is so challenging to not want to play with systems that others make look so good. It seems our hobby is getting more confusing with all of the new things coming out from our very own planner friends. Lauren Phelps, Sterling Ink, Paper Tess....etc.. I felt like your friend one day and just thought I should just give up planning....My mind actually felt less burdened at that moment..lol. The good news is that I have stuck with my bujo for 2 years and I absolutely love looking back in them. But, I still keep playing with other planners as an idea and that is where I get into trouble. I write things down and forget to put it in my bujo and unfortunately it messes up important dates. I will have to lay some law down on myself because I am about to start classes again and just cannot afford to planner hop.
Me too! I’m a Bujo and know all notes can be found in one place and once I start tryin out my other systems I lose information. Sterling Ink has me soooo intrigued but my goodness that’s a slippery slope 😂
I went through this struggle also.
What I learned is I needed it all in one planner so I went with A5 size in a Stalogy.
Inexpensive on Amazon the best paper ever !!
I can create whatever I need in it.
Being in the smaller size turned out to be my problem.🙂
Yeah this is me, the smaller sizes. My first year in a weeks but I also write big . But also don't want to mess around too much !
Also not tried a staolgy yet! I also love all the covers rather than the actual planners😂
Can’t wait to see how you figure this out ❤ we have a lot of the same planner struggles!
So far what has worked the best for me is a standard TN with a monthly insert for planification and add what wasn’t planned but happened, a weekly insert where I add appointments as well as to do list and a dot grid insert that I use as a daily/journal/catch-all insert. I fill this last insert in a month so every month I start with a fresh insert and yet I can go back to the weekly and monthly to keep a trace of what happened, it works great for me plus I can splurge on Traveler’s notebook company accessories 😊
I very much relate; my need to make it look a certain way means I never finish one, or get what I need to out of my planner. So for 2024 I’m using the Sterling Ink weeks size with a full years worth of pages in back to solve this exact issue. The weekly will be my dashboard with bare bones appointments/events for functionality while I’m in that week; the blank pages in back will be where have my collections and then I daily rapid log & make notes (like your little spiral notebook) that doesn’t matter how it looks - then I will fill in my weekly with what is missing by way of notes and important information that I actually want on the there. It’s the only way I will get the actual use of the planner along with the final product on the weeks pages that I love. I want to go week by week for a whole year and see what really mattered, with the rest in the back in case I ever need it. And seriously, no one is ever going to look at these but me, so the only person I’m shortchanging is myself! Thanks for sharing, love your videos! 😊
I think… you need a weeks and NOT a Cousin. Don’t do ittttt. You won’t like it. Get a weeks, and only a weeks. Keep the rings and weeks duo!
I didn’t get a Hobonichi this last year and have not regretted it, so I’m not getting one this year either. ❤
If I understand you correctly, you would like to have only one planner to rule them all, but the flexibility of rings works better for you in your day to day life, whereas the Weeks works better for you as a “pretty” planner to look back on. You wish you could avoid the additional daily or weekly (or biweekly) chore to cross-update from your rings to your Weeks, but the way you sound, you seem to be aware that this is what you’re leaning towards at the moment.
TBH, it‘s also what I’m leaning towards for 2024 at the moment: I want to use the Weeks or the PaperTess Designs weekly notebook or the PTD inserts in the same style (still undecided, but I’ve still got time to pick one option) as my “messy” work planner and the Cousin (Tomitaro Makino HON) as a memory keeper/record of my weeks (weeklies), as a diary and as a place to put stickers and photos printed on regular printer paper (dailies). Don’t really have a use for the monthlies, but I’m good with that. It’s just a small part of the Cousin. Ring planners don’t work for me at all, sadly (I tried a few times and always failed). I’m actually fine with separating my work planning from my journalling/memory keeping because the thought of carrying my private journal to work (or just carrying it around too much altogether) makes me uncomfortable. I’m usually fairly consistent with dated planners, but journalling in an undated notebook hasn’t worked for me long-term in the past. I need to put a bit of pressure on myself to journal daily in order to actually do it. (Yes, I’m fully aware dated journals have the opposite effect on many people, but for me, it’s the bit of challenge and pressure I need to stay as consistent as I’m able to be.)
You are correct in what my thoughts and plans are. And I feel you about the dated vs undated. I know if I lag behind *too* much that I’ll be wasting my chance to write in it. And aside from rings, we seem to have similar plans.
Thank you for sharing your struggles. I felt like I was the only one who can’t decide. Added to the issue, is that life changes and sometime I need a daily structured schedule and others, I can get by with the weekly (just bought my first Hobonichi Weeks on super clearance sale for 2023 to give it a few months of a trial.
I’ve tried to imagine what I want and what I use it for… then find a product to fit my needs…which, of course, does not exist!!😂
Thank you for this honest video. This year had been a learning process for me. I have used a Hobonichi weeks and a6. I have decided to stay with Hobonichi in 2024. This time a weeks and a larger A5 for art, poetry, memory keeping. I’m looking forward to all I will learn next year. There’s enough judgment in the world without me adding more on myself.
I love your modifications to the peanuts planner co insert. That weekly in the freebies is still one of my favorites.
1. Put two Hobo weeks on the same cover and use the other weeks for pre-planning. 2. Put Notebook memory planner in the back cover of that Malden (B6 should fit) 3. Try Aura Estelle's hybrid planner (rings&strings on one cover)
I totally understand. I think I have the most contentment in the Wonderland222 (A6) because I can use it for planning and a little memory keeping too. I love the paper as well. I haven’t done much for the month of August because I’ve been away from home taking care of my mother while she was in the hospital for kidney failure and after she came home (getting her back on her feet). I am hoping to go back home in the next week or so. I have been adding some memories as I have time - but there never seems to be time!
I have preordered my 2024 Wonderland222. I am not going to buy anything else next year. I have also started to wonder if I need to plan or if this is a hobby that has kind of run it’s course for me… 🤷♀️
I do hope you can find what works for you!
I got a Wanderings small binder (personal) and I am using peanutsplannerco monthly and Filofax horizontal weekly. (Nice thin paper can fit the whole year in binder.) Then printed (PPC) lined pages to bullet journal my day if I need more space. Like you are using the spiral book. Today I tried to move to my Malden and “I like the feel in my hands” of this wanderings binder so much I couldn’t change. I have gotten a small WM composition notebook for lists (I write down everything, and couldn’t find it). So the binder is just my planner and the composition book is my “common/catch all/lists” planner.
I had five planners going for 2023. The one I kept up the most is my weeks. So going try to use just one for 2024 along with an assortment of journals. See how it goes. Journals tend to be all over the map for me hoping to figure out what I like the most in 2024.
Yes, I so get it, this year so many planner systems have come and gone. I finally settled on the hobnonichi weeks and I started that in July. I also dusted off my Travelers Notebooks and am using that along side the Weeks Will I get a new Weeks for 2024 nope is the answer I found a dupe on Amazon and I'm going to use that. I do enjoy all the pretty different systems but I need a planner to work for me and it was just so confusing with the many choices out there. So I chose what has always made sense to me and makes my planning life easier. Too much money has gone out because of the ooh how pretty and different and Fomo factor. Lesson Learned! Thanks for sharing you journey.
Ooh what's the amazon weeks dupe?
Dot grid planner you can set up any way you like. Add and take away anything you like. Good luck with your journey
The struggle is real. Thanks for sharing. I've been reviewing my system for a few months now, and I think I've finally decided I'm just going back to basics next year with a very minimalist bullet journal set up, using notebooks I already have from previous years. I like the idea of backfilling a Weeks though so I have an overview of the year in one book, sort of like a memory keeper. I did that some this year when I was in a different planner for part of the year and I absolutely love those back-filled pages best. I will have to keep that in mind.
I do love flipping through the Weeks best!
I’m really thankful I stumbled upon this video. I just purchased a brand new Gillio because I thought it would make me feel complete in my planner setup.. and I’m STILL struggling. I’ll find my way and so will you ❤️
Good luck! I’m in a funk again. 🙈
Hi Sam, I always enjoy your videos and congratulations on your fitness achievements! ...I think I am the problem when it comes to planner failure. The better I understand myself and my process, the more fastidious I get about small things that shouldn't impact the performance of the planner. Plus, When I see someone using something beautiful, I always consider throwing my current system out of the window 🤦♀ so my personal failure, and why 2023 was the year of planner hopping for me, is giving in to every whim. Confusing the joy this hobby brings me, with the thrill of the next new thing. In 2024 there will be a weeks, but the sterling ink version, as my ride or die. There will be an A5 journal/common place (Cousin or sterling ink) and I am exploring rings to allow for flexibility in my homeschool planner/record keeper. And a little random brain dump booklet as always. I am craving consistency. I have barely looked at the hobonichi relelase, I am not into it this year. I am so excited about the sterling ink cover colours and how it eliminated the scenario in which I had to pick the cover I hated the least!
Planners I have always been pretty good sticking with one, it is journals that I find myself hopping in one and on to the other.
But in the last couple of weeks I have found happiness in the simplicity of my 2017 Olive Travelers Company notebook, and I want to extend that to my planning. I have used the Weeks for 8 years now, and for 2024 I am going to try my passport TN.
I need peace to extend to my stationary 😅
It's so cool to find someone who has used the weeks for as long as I have 😄. 2024 will be my 9th year!
That’s quite a switch from the Weeks!
I love a ring bound for writing messy. A book bound for pretty planning. I find A5 is too much room, so it’s always a toss up between b6 and a6. I think that a6 hon hobonichi will be my pretty planning in 2024. My Filofax personal will be my everyday carry for appointments, lists and meal planning. I don’t have to plan too much but I love stickers.
I could not get into the Hobonichi Weeks (or any other Hobonichi planner) for some reason. But, I do understand why people like them. I decided not to feel bad about using multiple books because I use them all differently: Standard TN with monthly and weekly inserts for planning and one insert for reference/multi-year lists; A6 Hobonichi notebook for ink swatching; Field Notes as a "purse planner" (monthly only + notes/lists on the go); A5 blank notebooks for journaling and memory-keeping; old disc set-ups for projects (sewing, quilts to make, home improvement plans); B6 blank notebook for drafting BUJO spreads if I decide to try a B6 in 2025. I use my fountain pens in the journals and gel, brush, and frixion pens in my planners. I have the books in a giant totebag next to my desk, with stickers, washi, and pen pouches in a separate totebag I can move from room-to-room, depending on which notebook I am working in. I change out notebook covers seasonally, so my "collection" is rotated through all year long, in every size. I feel like I am getting my money's worth after buying "all the things"! And I'm certainly never bored! I think printables or undated formats are a great way to experiment without committing for a full year.
You do have a system in place that works for you but sometimes you feel like switching things up and trying something new. It's natural, I think I understand how that feels. I use a Hobonichi cousin and I keep switching my journaling style too, it feels a bit more restrictive in a structured planner but your Rings system is really great for that.
Maybe doing more decoration and tip-ins in your memory planner will make you want to use it more often. Don't care about the beauty aspect much, just enjoy and have fun. Love listening to you, I think you have experience and good analysis to work it out.
Thank you for your thoughts. 🧡
Hi there, very interesting, sometimes it does not always work. I do use the A5 with a smaller planner. The smaller planner is really my notes and the A5 is the calendar. It always depend on the projects, sometimes a project is detailed and requires a number of steps. The smaller plan works mostly with that/ post it’s. I find the smaller planner helps the A5 work better, especially when I have ideas that need to be expanded. Planners work better with other hobbies like book reviews, undated pages like spring cleaning and journals. The month on two pages in the A5 is the best, the smaller planner works for the weekly, but I find I don’t use every day the weekly. A task can be three days, so Monday will go to Wednesday, so my weekly will be Monday to Wednesday, under one heading. Blank pages are good.
Or like what about an a6 undated hobonichi, Then you wouldn't have to worry about how much room you're using or not using. And you would still have the data aspect with the calendars. You could like write the highlight of your day in the calendars or whatever your entries are about in the back...
I completely relate to you. I have been in one planner since April but not because I don’t want to change but I’m literally forcing myself to stay with it. For me sometimes I don’t give one system long enough to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Also because I enjoy 3 different systems it is so hard to commit.
Love your honesty and enjoy all your videos.
What about a three year or one year journal with a small area to write for dailies to replace your weeks?
Thank you for sharing, I have had so many similar struggles (and still do). I’m currently in a Discbound system which I love for the same reasons you like rings. When I switched from my Unbound planner to discs last year, I settled on this solution for the problem of a long-term bound book for memory keeping - I’m going to bind my loose Discbound pages into a bound book at the end of the year. I’ve yet to do it, so there’s that. But I still want to, and it feels like a solution to the problem. I also have been noticing that my available time really affects how much I plan and how much joy I take from it. It’s a delicate balance between creative outlet and function. I try to remind myself it’s just part of my ongoing journey. Thanks for your honesty and sharing 💞
How do you plan to bind loose sheets from your discbound notebook into a bound book?
@@the-gadgeteer I’m thinking just this simple perfect binding method with a cover I make that has the year on the spine. Since I don’t plan to open or use it much, just merely hold the pages together for long-term storage, this seems like it should suffice. ruclips.net/video/GFbgW0r7uXw/видео.htmlsi=WEroxh5MGLTZ-zPD
I’m in a wonderland 222 b6 size but I have this pull to go in a personal rings. I ordered 2 planners for next year, a5 non dated from sterling ink and a b6 2024 from Nisha Fernando Designs. If all else fails, I’ll go back to a staalogy😆
I saw a lady who purchased one cover for each year and stored them away, the cover and everything, she had about 5 years of planners on her shelves for memories and showed them all in a video. One colour for each year. When you think about it, you could use your rings that way. All the pages in your Hobonichi-like planner, your memories, can be in the ring planner., you might have to modify some of your print outs to have it how you like it. Use the Brown Malden Personal for 6 months, or a year, and then store it completely away in the cover. That might seem expensive but really it's not when you consider how much you've spent looking around and buying other covers. I know you've purchased more than one planner cover per year for the last few years. This method would simplify. Everything in total would go into one ring planner, and then when it's chunky, too chunky to carry or use properly, you just store it nicely on your shelf, labelled and you get another cover, and go again. If you loved one particular cover you could recycle from a previous timeframe, just switch it out.
OMG! I bought 3 planners. Then I realize my FP ring binder is to bulky. A smaller planner does not have enough space since I supervise others. Then I want to try something less bulky and miss the decorated planner. I’m getting tired of re-writing stuff in different planner :( I’m now wondering maybe just getting a monthly planner and a notebook for things to do… huhhhh so stressful!
Maybe consider Sterling Ink blank notebooks for long form journals? Theyre good quality, with white grid paper. It isnt in any specific format. Just blank pages. I think Peanuts Planner Co sells tomoe river paper for rings so that might be an option.
I feel this right now do much. I love that i moved from a letter size disc planner to a half size (Levenger Junior) but…. I just spent 2 days organizing my folder of downloaded inserts looking for “something”. Couldn’t find whatever it was, so I scoured the internet for planner inserts. Downloaded a bunch more. I can’t find inserts I’m happy with. Try this one. No it’s not working. Find another. Try that one. Ugh! I realized I have so many different types of printables that i had to start organizing them. Lol
Traveler notebooks! One spot, different books. I have found planner peace with this ❤
One thing I've realized is that I work so hard to find my "forever planner" but then the problem becomes, this is a hobby, so the fun is diminished if I find that planner and never switch. 🤷
Less is more in '24. $$$
I certainly hope so!
It sounds like you would be happiest with 2 planners.
I’ve ordered a weeks as I know that works for me. Memory keeping is in a cousin which was a spring start so that will go through to March. But….I find dated daily pages are too much pressure as I hate a blank page! So I’ve ordered the Hobonichi A5 botanical notebook as I can just date the page when I do an entry. I’ve also got a passport notebook that I use in the same way for personal journaling. I did get a B6 notebook as I’m debating if that is better than the A5 size, but I think I’ll move to the A5 notebook in April when the cousin ends. But….that is a long way off haha. I’ll never sell my ring planners as I know I’ll likely go back to them at some point. Sometimes I think using my Google calendar on my phone and a passport size notebook like you use your spiral one could be the way to go. Trying to ignore the Papertess designs weeks size book and the take a note B6 too ahaha. It’s planner silly season and I was confused before then even! Interested to know what you think of the weeks covers this year. Still a meh set tbh. I went for bow tie cats but tempted by the grey. Couldn’t cope with the botanical design ending halfway on the back cover which is silly, as I always use a cover, but can’t get past it. 🤔🙈 There’s my ramble lol x
I think this year’s offerings are better than last year, but I haven’t decided which weeks I’ll get. I don’t love the botanical print as much as previous ones.
I also feel the less planning videos I watch, the better off I am. I fall on love with people’s printables and binders and TNs and then I want to change over again.
I have one pocket ring
Three personal ring
And too many TN covers in various sizes. I need to sell the ones I am not using but then think…. What if I want to ho back to that size.
I think something many of us grapple with is the illusion that there can be ONE book that will do all we need. I have chased that rainbow many a time. I think it comes from things we read, movies we have seen... (the one that comes to mind is Indiana's father's grail notebook.) This magical book with drawings and charts and references and notes from his travels. Filled with gravitas and import. When in fact, the things we keep track of are of a much more mundane nature. It's a REAL problem. And it is made worse by the dozens of choices we have, AND the price tags on some of them are .... well.... obscene. FOMO is real too! Right now, I am writing in, and using, 5 different systems. Meal planning and recipes in a Happy Planner recipe notebook, a traveler's notebook in a precious custom made leather cover made by a dear friend from school, morning pages in a B5 Stalogy, a weekly Happy Planner for my schedule, and my 'formal', sort of 'for posterity' journal from Archer and Olive. I have come to accept that each one of these notebooks has a special purpose. And there is no WAY one book could encompass all those subjects without being a chaotic mess! It's an ever changing sea of adjusting to what's going on in our lives at any given week, month, or year that throws us off balance. It's no wonder that we have to make course corrections all the time. 💗💗💗💗
So much truth here!
I have the same problem with wanting one to be pretty to flip through with all the memories and another for messy notes etc. I also dont care for multiple planners, but have mostly been in my weeks and my stalogy. I dont really need a planner per say, but i need a monthly for the year to keep all the appointment and tasks straight. Other than that im all to do lists, brain dump and memory keeping. Still trying to figure out 2024, but i did pre order a couple things and im trying to not get a cousin because vertical and i just dont mess, but im drawn to the beauty of it... sigh... i move in and out of TNs too because they do offer a lot of flexibility, but also have the book bound feel. I do know i want to spend less on trying everyday than i have been doing. Hopefully we can all find some contentment.
I think you should just add a tip in on days you need more space! Then you could maybe stick with one planner??!!
CATHERINE from GA here... Thanks for pondering aloud. I am currently using a HOBO A-5 AVEC off and on with whatever and whenever I want to make notes. I also like to play in a simple composition notebook with junk journal and daily mess. Never Hopeless by Elizabeth on YT has a great simple style you might like to check out. GoodLuck!
Unpopular opinion: I dont think there is a perfect system. Our needs change as our life changes. I need something modular for my type of thinking. Im waiting for my personal rings to come in the mail. I feel forcing myself to use what is popular is not good for my mental health. I dont traditional journaling/memory keeping. Im hoping rings will help with they my thoughts/tasks. I look at all the pretty hoboninichis and i know i will never have one that looks nice. If you need more than one notebook thats ok.
How do you print out post it notes? I love all the different printables out there but not sure how to print them.
I too do not want to spend money on planner and other aspect in my life. I bought filofax dailies.
Usually places that sell post it printable have a page that shows you where to stick them down to print on them.
@@samplans where do you like to get your post it printables from?
Congrats on your fitness wins! You and I are the same in some aspects with our planning. I want the book planning for memories, but I want it to look neat! So my every day to do's were making it look the opposite, in my opinion. So I decided to use several books! Only takes me a few moments every morning with my coffee. One for fitness, one for memory keeping and one for my daily to do's/main planner. Maybe cut your self some slack and use both and enjoy using both! Just a thought!
Is the weeks cover a Muppets Fozzie
It is
When all else fails, go back to the basics. Start back with Ryder Carroll basic simple system.