I would say the A5 Common Planner is more similar to the Cousin than the A5 Dated Daily. While the Common Planner doesn’t give dated dailies (you can buy stickers if you want) there are plenty of pages to have a page per day, and you can adjust what your “page per day” length/style is. I really like how the colors are much less intense, no changes, hate the quote. I like that it gives a lot of structure up front, and a lot of freedom in the back. (She also sells weekly booklets in a variety of sizes if you like her dated daily, or she sells stickers, or you could write it in yourself.) The A6 is absolutely beautiful and the paper is great…no bleed through problems, minimal shadowing, even with pens that are ‘problematic’ with the Hobonichi. I absolutely love that it’s got page numbers!!!!! I also loved getting the surprise pencil board with a design of hers, and enjoy the unboxings seeing all the different ones. I got the statue for the A6 and I have fingers crossed for the storefront for the A5…but they’re all beautiful.
Thank you for this description! I remember watching the one Sterling Ink video and thinking I didn't want all of the structure at the front making me feel like I needed to create goals and things, and I did want my days pre-dated to give me a limit. (I do have another journal for when I just need to vent for pages and pages!) So this one is perfect for me, but if I were needing a planner, I would go with the Common Planner! I am excited to use this one this year! I need to go watch some other unboxings!
@@gingerpeachy I’m not a “goals page” person either, and I think it’s only 2 or 4 pages and the print is very small. I was thinking of just covering up the “Goals” and use it to break down something else, maybe creative projects or events through the year to see when things are super busy vs more free time (we have “birthday season” in our family with 7 little kids (and one grown up) who’s birthdays start early Feb and end early May. It’s busy!!! Really, those pages could be used for just about anything…a giant habit tracker/health tracker where data from each month could be put together as time goes by to see trends, etc, was another thing I was thinking of.
I'm so glad you shared this because I was thinking about using this exact planner as my journal next year! I have used a cousin before, but I do not use the weeklies, quotes, etc. But then I saw this planner and its perfect as it doesn't have any of those! Excited for you!
Wonderful! Yes, someone else pointed out that it doesn't have weeklies, which I didn't even think about. But I don't need them for my journal, so this is perfect! I hope it works out well for you, too. I am excited for 2025!
I do, too! It's really very pretty. It's silly to complain - most people are going to put their planner in a cover or cover it in stickers. This looks much nicer than the plain beige Hobonichi cover, I think!
I personally like the white edges on the tweed planners rather than the gold gilded edges. I think silver would be a good choice if any gilding but I don’t think gold really matches the grey, imo.
Silver would look good! I do like the casual look of the plain white. I wonder if I had the gold, would it make me feel like I had to be more precious with it? Which is not what I want.
I used the Hobonichi Weeks for one year, and tried the HON last year. I learned a lot. Notably, i am not a daily journal kind of gal, so the HON was wasted on me, and the Weeks showed me that im just fine planning in a smaller space. All of the "fluff" pages in the back amd quotes at the bottom only served to remind me that i paid for that space, and dont even get to use it. lol For 2025 I'm going with a Wonderland222 A6 weekly planner. I like the layout a bit better than the Sterling Ink, I think.
I hadn’t heard of Wonderland222 - I’ll have to check it out! I ended up picking up a HON this year to use for work - I’ve been using a day-free, but I love some of the HON covers, so I’m hoping it will work for me the same way the Day-Free does.
@@gingerpeachy It's simpler than a lot of planners. I almost went with a Sterling, but they have the goal tracker pages that I simply would not use. W222 is also a business local to me, so I wanted to show my support.
I was sooo close to ordering the same Sterling Ink but there are no weeklies (which I always use), so I’m back in the Cousin 🙈 But I definitely prefer the cleaner, minimal look of Sterling Ink.
Sterling Ink does make an A5 with goal planning, month, week, day/blank pages just like the Cousin. I purchased the new horizontal weekly version for 2025. She also makes all sizes including weeks and standard TN.
I got the A5 Sterling Ink Common Planner because it had everything but the dated dailies…which I prefer because I can size those depending on the day! It has the weeklies in vertical (like Hobonichi) or horizontal for almost all sizes. I have the A6 and am awaiting the A5 in the mail. I also prefer the much cleaner look of the Sterling Ink (and I don’t think they’re having any kind of “bad batch paper” iykyk. 😬
Honestly I think I thought this one had weeklies, but as you can see, I didn't miss them or even think about it when I flipped through, lol. I used to make use of the pages in my Cousin, but in recent months I just skip over them, so I'm glad this one just has monthlies and dailies. I think if I were using it as a planner and not a journal, I would want them, too!
@@MarcellHobbs the problem is I wanted the pre-dated planner and only the undated common planner has the weeklies. I just know that I’ll start getting frustrated with having to date things. I live in South Africa and we don’t really have a lot of journal supplies so I would need to separately order dates stickers from somewhere (and deal with customs/duties) to try avoid the work of adding the dates myself.
It was such a cute one! I usually get kids meals just because they’re cheaper and I don’t get too full, and sometimes I still squirrel away the bags when they’re cute, just for things like this!
I bought the undated daily planner in August with the intent to use it for all of 2025 until August. However when I found the kinbor I decided to use that as my journal for 2025
I haven't looked at the Kinbor - I think when I saw this and knew it would meet my needs, I stopped looking! I need to look at a few of the others people have recommended for future journals.
I used the A6 Common Planner with the vertical weeklies this year - and really liked it! For 2025 I’m debating between their compact version of the same book OR Hobonichi’s Day Free A6. I use my Hobonichi covers regardless ✨ TFS Sarah ☺️
Thanks Michelle! I'm glad to know you enjoyed your Sterling Ink planner. It sounds like the A6 Common Planner is similar to a Day-Free, but with the extra goal planning and weeklies added? I currently use a Day-Free for work, but I don't need all the extra stuff - just the calendar and the notebook. So I think the CP would be too much for me for that purpose. I'm excited to try this one for my journal this year. If I used more A6 planners I think I'd get a Sterling Ink one, but I prefer the Weeks, and I lovvve the cutie Weeks covers.
Ah, that makes sense. I hadn't considered the paper's weight. And obviously when I made this video, it didn't occur to me that the Sterling Ink planner doesn't have the weekly pages. I obviously wasn't even worried about them. 🤦♀️
I would say the A5 Common Planner is more similar to the Cousin than the A5 Dated Daily. While the Common Planner doesn’t give dated dailies (you can buy stickers if you want) there are plenty of pages to have a page per day, and you can adjust what your “page per day” length/style is. I really like how the colors are much less intense, no changes, hate the quote. I like that it gives a lot of structure up front, and a lot of freedom in the back. (She also sells weekly booklets in a variety of sizes if you like her dated daily, or she sells stickers, or you could write it in yourself.) The A6 is absolutely beautiful and the paper is great…no bleed through problems, minimal shadowing, even with pens that are ‘problematic’ with the Hobonichi. I absolutely love that it’s got page numbers!!!!! I also loved getting the surprise pencil board with a design of hers, and enjoy the unboxings seeing all the different ones. I got the statue for the A6 and I have fingers crossed for the storefront for the A5…but they’re all beautiful.
Thank you for this description! I remember watching the one Sterling Ink video and thinking I didn't want all of the structure at the front making me feel like I needed to create goals and things, and I did want my days pre-dated to give me a limit. (I do have another journal for when I just need to vent for pages and pages!) So this one is perfect for me, but if I were needing a planner, I would go with the Common Planner! I am excited to use this one this year! I need to go watch some other unboxings!
@@gingerpeachy I’m not a “goals page” person either, and I think it’s only 2 or 4 pages and the print is very small. I was thinking of just covering up the “Goals” and use it to break down something else, maybe creative projects or events through the year to see when things are super busy vs more free time (we have “birthday season” in our family with 7 little kids (and one grown up) who’s birthdays start early Feb and end early May. It’s busy!!! Really, those pages could be used for just about anything…a giant habit tracker/health tracker where data from each month could be put together as time goes by to see trends, etc, was another thing I was thinking of.
That's a great idea!
I switched from my Hobonichi A5 to a Sterling Ink common planner for 2025, too. Love your Hobonichi cover.
Let's hope we made good decisions in switching! I am feeling good about it!
I like the paper cover you had on the 2023 Hobonichi Cousin. Such a good idea! Reminds me of school. :)
Thanks! It gave me a bit of a nostalgic feeling when I was covering it!
I'm so glad you put the planner in a hobo cover. I purchased a CP this year for my budget and was anxious about that.
Yesss! If it hadn't fit, I don't know what I would do. But A5 should be the same always, so I wasn't too concerned!
I'm so glad you shared this because I was thinking about using this exact planner as my journal next year! I have used a cousin before, but I do not use the weeklies, quotes, etc. But then I saw this planner and its perfect as it doesn't have any of those! Excited for you!
Wonderful! Yes, someone else pointed out that it doesn't have weeklies, which I didn't even think about. But I don't need them for my journal, so this is perfect! I hope it works out well for you, too. I am excited for 2025!
Ok I think the tweed cover is so nice despite all the complaining people did about the colourways
I do, too! It's really very pretty. It's silly to complain - most people are going to put their planner in a cover or cover it in stickers. This looks much nicer than the plain beige Hobonichi cover, I think!
This was so helpful, thank you!
Oh yay! I’m so glad it was helpful!
I personally like the white edges on the tweed planners rather than the gold gilded edges. I think silver would be a good choice if any gilding but I don’t think gold really matches the grey, imo.
Silver would look good! I do like the casual look of the plain white. I wonder if I had the gold, would it make me feel like I had to be more precious with it? Which is not what I want.
I used the Hobonichi Weeks for one year, and tried the HON last year. I learned a lot. Notably, i am not a daily journal kind of gal, so the HON was wasted on me, and the Weeks showed me that im just fine planning in a smaller space.
All of the "fluff" pages in the back amd quotes at the bottom only served to remind me that i paid for that space, and dont even get to use it. lol
For 2025 I'm going with a Wonderland222 A6 weekly planner. I like the layout a bit better than the Sterling Ink, I think.
I hadn’t heard of Wonderland222 - I’ll have to check it out! I ended up picking up a HON this year to use for work - I’ve been using a day-free, but I love some of the HON covers, so I’m hoping it will work for me the same way the Day-Free does.
@@gingerpeachywonderland still has the old tomoe river paper
@@gingerpeachy It's simpler than a lot of planners. I almost went with a Sterling, but they have the goal tracker pages that I simply would not use. W222 is also a business local to me, so I wanted to show my support.
I was sooo close to ordering the same Sterling Ink but there are no weeklies (which I always use), so I’m back in the Cousin 🙈 But I definitely prefer the cleaner, minimal look of Sterling Ink.
Sterling Ink does make an A5 with goal planning, month, week, day/blank pages just like the Cousin. I purchased the new horizontal weekly version for 2025. She also makes all sizes including weeks and standard TN.
Same, I would miss the weeklies so I ordered the Cousin again.
I got the A5 Sterling Ink Common Planner because it had everything but the dated dailies…which I prefer because I can size those depending on the day! It has the weeklies in vertical (like Hobonichi) or horizontal for almost all sizes. I have the A6 and am awaiting the A5 in the mail. I also prefer the much cleaner look of the Sterling Ink (and I don’t think they’re having any kind of “bad batch paper” iykyk. 😬
Honestly I think I thought this one had weeklies, but as you can see, I didn't miss them or even think about it when I flipped through, lol. I used to make use of the pages in my Cousin, but in recent months I just skip over them, so I'm glad this one just has monthlies and dailies. I think if I were using it as a planner and not a journal, I would want them, too!
@@MarcellHobbs the problem is I wanted the pre-dated planner and only the undated common planner has the weeklies. I just know that I’ll start getting frustrated with having to date things. I live in South Africa and we don’t really have a lot of journal supplies so I would need to separately order dates stickers from somewhere (and deal with customs/duties) to try avoid the work of adding the dates myself.
I love the chick fil a cover 💙💙💙
It was such a cute one! I usually get kids meals just because they’re cheaper and I don’t get too full, and sometimes I still squirrel away the bags when they’re cute, just for things like this!
I bought the undated daily planner in August with the intent to use it for all of 2025 until August. However when I found the kinbor I decided to use that as my journal for 2025
I haven't looked at the Kinbor - I think when I saw this and knew it would meet my needs, I stopped looking! I need to look at a few of the others people have recommended for future journals.
I used the A6 Common Planner with the vertical weeklies this year - and really liked it! For 2025 I’m debating between their compact version of the same book OR Hobonichi’s Day Free A6. I use my Hobonichi covers regardless ✨ TFS Sarah ☺️
Thanks Michelle! I'm glad to know you enjoyed your Sterling Ink planner. It sounds like the A6 Common Planner is similar to a Day-Free, but with the extra goal planning and weeklies added? I currently use a Day-Free for work, but I don't need all the extra stuff - just the calendar and the notebook. So I think the CP would be too much for me for that purpose.
I'm excited to try this one for my journal this year. If I used more A6 planners I think I'd get a Sterling Ink one, but I prefer the Weeks, and I lovvve the cutie Weeks covers.
chik fil a bag is so cute. I didn't know they had these. I only got the white bag. :(
It’s from a kid’s meal last Christmas! They still do cute kid’s meal bags with the cows and other animals on them.
❤
the Cousin has 544 pages. its just that the TRP Hobonichi uses is lighter weight than what SI uses
Ah, that makes sense. I hadn't considered the paper's weight. And obviously when I made this video, it didn't occur to me that the Sterling Ink planner doesn't have the weekly pages. I obviously wasn't even worried about them. 🤦♀️
I didn’t get the writing board.