My biggest suggestion for beginners is there’s a lot of hype and it’s easy to get swept up in the marketing/the fallacy that if you buy this or that planner, then your whole life is going to be fixed and perfectly productive. This is a load of bullshit. A planner is a tool to help facilitate your life and goals, but it won’t work if you jump around from planner to planner hoping that buying a new one that apparently works for someone else will fix all your problems. Give yourself time and space to create/find a system that works for you, and then make small tweaks as necessary, instead of changing new planners every few weeks when something isn’t absolutely perfect.
Hobonichi cousin was my first choice this year and first time using it, but the squares/grid was way too small for me to write in. For that reason I quit the cousin, reluctantly, and moved into a Karma Planner then a “She’s In Her Apron” daily/weekly planner. I’m much happier now, especially with the daily pages the the “Apron” planner. Really an excellent planner and good for anyone doing routines, cleaning zones, freezer inventory, to-do lists, and general ADD. A little spendy but I’m loving it. “She’s In Her Apron” here on UA-cam, Kimmy Hughes, you won’t be sorry!
One thing I would warn about the Moleskine - if you are a fountain pen user, the paper is *terrible* for fountain pen ink. In my experience there's pretty heavy cross-over between the fountain pen and planner communities, so it's definitely something to note!
Cannot recommend drawing your own spreads to start off with enough. It was super helpful for me to know what worked for me and what didn't, and cost very little money! Yes, there was a time element to it, but a lot of that was finding ideas online. I've also found that spreads don't tend to work for me long-term, so drawing them by hand makes it super easy to switch it up when you need to!
@@juliewiser8460 It means to physically draw your own layout & planner structure on the page. Many use bullet journals to do that instead of lined journals. Let's say you're a weekly planner. You would sit down on Saturday, "draw your spread" for the week, meaning you draw 7 boxes, label the dates on them starting with Sunday, draw another wide rectangle under those for added notes etc. You can make your "spread" HOWEVER you want to structure/draw it for your week/month/whenever.
As someone who also works in academia, I would love to see maybe a deeper dive into how you use your planners each quarter/semester to help stay organized! But I know that's pretty niche 😅
I would love to see a deeper dive too, work in Academia myself and been using cousin and weeks but I am dreading the day I might have to buy one of those massive wall calendars 😅is there a way too see bigger picture in cousin or weeks 😂😂 I am allowed to dream 😊
As someone who uses a spiral bound dot notebook for a bujo, there is a benefit to using the ring/disc/ etc because you can move your permanent collections from book to book without having to recreate them. And you can remove pages when you want as well. Time and energy is definitely up, but money doesn't have to be expensive.
@@ccpippin307 That is a good point, then you can just move the tip-in. My pages that I move from book to book tend to be addresses, swatch pages and birthday spreads Although I am going to have to re-do some of them as my cat pissed on my 2023 bujo. :)
Great video! My tip, which I thought of in the last few days, is you really do need to think of how you will store them when finished if you plan to keep them. Layout , style , and size can matter if you don't have the space for it.
Well I knew I had a planner problem, buying so many each year after having the same one for 5 years before my life got busier with a family and school. This video was so perfect explaining all the differences of weird things that matter to me like laying flat, or customizability for creativity, vertical layouts, etc. Glad im not the only one that lol. Thank you for sharing this! Really loved it and helped me get a plan for my next one.
Thanks, Rachelle - took your advice to try different layouts to see what worked, and (of course) arrived at a layout that doesn't actually exist anywhere (horizontal week, but with M-F on the left and S-S on the right, along with a lot of note space) ... so I've ended up staying in my discbound planner (with the cover that's still holding up after several years) and creating/printing the layout myself. I also like that I can carry as much past history and future planning space as I think I need, without toting the whole year with me all the time. I'm also continuing the experiment with quarterly spreads and some 12-week-year goal planning and trying your bi-weekly ideal schedule planning. Someday I may find exactly what works, and a company that makes exactly that, but until then, I'm on the completely customizable bandwagon.
Thank you for this Rachelle! I am a discbound user and you are so right about the level of customization. I love that but you are right, if you're trying to cut costs, you definitely want to know what layout works for you beforehand because most discbound systems are based on a 12-month layout. Of course it can be changed out but it can get costly if you're trying to figure out what layout works for you.
I wish that more people were aware of / mentioned Agendio, which is super customizable and I think it's fairly beginner friendly IF you're willing to spend time making it. Playing around in the system lets you see all sorts of different layout types that you can tweak on the screen, which means you're able to visualize how you might use a spread you've maybe never tried before. If you're just looking to pick something off the shelf it's not a good choice because it does take time to craft what you want.
Thanks to your videos I learned about and ultimately purchased a Hobonichi Weeks for 2024!! It also gives me that refreshing feeling whenever I turn to a new page, and it’s easy for my brain to follow my tasks and jot down notes.
I just want to say Thank You. I’ve been watching your videos for a while, but have never commented. I wholeheartedly believe that because of your inputs, teachings and pep talks (I feel like the way you make videos feels more of a pep talk to me & I like it 😆😆) I have been able to just be more mindful of my habits when it comes to planning and buying planners. I appreciate your Channel and thank you for all of your hard work 😊❤
Having A5 rings in Europe is actually amazing. It's the standard paper here and this way customizing is super easy. When I started 6 months ago, I created simple templates for weekly and monthly spreads. In the beginning I tweaked them every 2 weeks a bit before printing again, now I'm stable for about 2 months and now check out how I can integrate some quaterly goal planning like HB90 to become more effective.
Will you be doing a follow up on how your 2023 goals went in your common planner this year and a video for your 2024 goals? Very interested in seeing your 2024 set up in the CP and hearing about what you learned your first year in it.
I do a modified bullet journal system primarily because I want a Monday through Sunday monthly layout which is ridiculously hard to find in the US. I'm personally a big fan of the Alistair method of weekly planning because of how my life works (SAHM + WFH where i set my schedule). I tried a TN system one year and loved the ability to group my sections, but struggled to find inserts I loved.
For me personally the best planners have been the Bullet Journal (original) and Franklin Covey. For 2024 I will be using the FC two-page daily. I used it in 2021 and it helped me immensely in my personal and work life. I can't wait to get started using it again!
I feel like there are a bunch of disc options out there that aren’t time/money expensive. You can get a dated or undated fully formed planner like happy planner or levenger circa 😊
Great information!! I used a bullet journal for years. But found that planners that were not customizable were the ones I used the most. Teetering between the Hobonichi cousin and Aura Estelle complete weekly for 2024. But I’m leaning towards the Hobonichi because of the daily pages. I too abhor the red Sundays. 😂
The gray Saturdays and red Sundays were a no go for me, so I switched to The Common Planner. The English Hobonichi Techo doesn't have colored weekends so not sure why the English Cousin does. Also founnd that I like the undated notes pages more than I thought I would in The Common Planner.
Well I make my own Inserts for the travelers notebook, so I do print them myself 😅 but you are right. most people don't print them on their own but many buy blank Inserts; they are less expensive
I love the brand Wonderland 222. It is similar to hobonichi but it has some extra spreads like monthly planning and reflections and a habit tracker for each month. In the middle of the year they sell their planners for half-price.
i started using a planner after years of google calendar, so i got a vertical weekly planner because that's how i set up my online calendar. i like that i can block out time in my planner and add my lessons knowing how much free time i have each day
Very well put together and explained. Unfortunately I've found that I have very expensive taste.. Plotter and William Hannah are my favorite types of systems. Flexibility of movable pages and leather covers :)
Good video. Personally I might've swapped the TN and bujo in the customizability track, because TN's are usually certain specific size. So once you pick a cover to hold them all, you're "locked" in that already. Cost, size, having inserts on hand if one runs out... And of course because TN does have printed inserts along with blank (and dupes) also with a dated and undated options and that just... snowballed. That's just my thoughts when I looked into it year ago and decided it was too many decisions to make for me. I'm a Cousin/TakeANote user after testing out bujo's and collections.
I used a customized daily planner and found that I don't need that since I'm a full-time traveler. I've bought 4 planners since February with the most recent one being a student planner that I got at the beginning of July. I decided to ditch it on Saturday and came up with a customized weekly. The problem with store bought planners is that the don't give you a full day on the weekends!
Thank you another insightful video on planner selection. What type of planner is that says "Take a Note 2024 mint"? (Timestamp 25:06)? Im unable to find it on the description. Thanks
This year I bullet journaled for half the year, testing different layouts, and ended up buying a hobonichi cousin for 2024 (my first time trying hobonichi). I’ve discovered that I like weekly layouts, but hate horizontal formats. I need a vertical weekly format! Still haven’t decided on how I want to use the daily pages though 😅
I love my hibonichi but they dont have a sunday start weekly and i live in ameeics where sunday is the start of the work week. I hate seeing my week planned out and decorsted with sunday standing lonely and blank because i dont know if its a free day or a workday. I cant do a daily though because i dont have enough plans / discipline to use it and it becomes harder to open it the more blank spaces spreads
Ugh… I’m a quarterly brain, but MY quarter isn’t the same as everyone else’s. In my brain: Dec-Feb (Winter) Mar-May (Spring) June-Aug (Summer) Sept-Nov (Fall) Why oh why is this not THE way? Anyone know of a planner that is quarterly-centric and undated?
I would find a dated brand/layout you like and then check online - sometimes brands have undated versions of planners available! If you like the sterling ink quarterly pages they do have undated versions where you can add in your own months to quarterly/monthly spreads
I used to use Day-Timers which seems to only be online now. They have different sizes, different layouts, different start dates. The style I preferred was a pocket size , about 3x6" closed. And I selected each month was one little spiral bound booklet. The cover I had could easily hold 2 or 3 if these months at a time. This kept it small, lightweight, portable. And I wasn't carrying around the whole year at once. So in Feb 5th I'd have February in there. And January because I would still be referring back to that. And maybe March to jit dit future items. All sorts of accessories were available. I liked one accordion folder paper that was the entire year. I've been trying to see if I could get a printed catalog because their printed catalog used to have samples of each design in actual size. You could get a month at a time, a week at a time. Two months to an insert, one page per day. Two pages per day. It would probably be closest to the travelers notebook style shown here. It was designed for professionals person so it had area for financial information like to keep track of expenses from business trips to get reimbursed. Meals, lodging. Etc. Now that I'm older I would probably get a larger one because my eyesight isn't perfect anymore and I don't write as small But I'm just using a cheap composition book now. Because cost
Omg.. this can't be serious. Ok.. i plan like this and yes i am new to planners thing. But still at the back of my mind. I have this Dec- Feb winter.. etc. thing. And i plan like this. I believe Winters(Dec to Feb) are for learning, spring to start a fresh i.e. implementation part, Summers to hustle and fall to slow down, enjoy and analyse again. I can't work with usual calendar and therefore its hard to maintain planners and bujos. And btw... i also used digital planners and yes notion too.. but nope... i like it handwritten. So started with a simple lined notebook for now. I know the struggle right. Maybe i will buy an undate planner next year. But your comment made my day. I thought i was plain crazy.😅
I’m also a seasonal brained person. But I’m in the southern hemisphere so all the seasons are the opposite! Same months as dividing between seasons tho.
Great video! I applaud your discussion about just starting with a blank notebook and trying different things. I did that for a couple of years. Now I use a Hobinechi Weeks Mega and a Cousin. For the most part, they work for me. But my perfect planner would be a Hobinechi Cousin but with monthly, weekly and daily pages for a specific month all together. I get tired of flipping back and forth. And of course it would be great if the daily pages were 2 pages per day. I run a consulting business and have to keep detailed notes of client business, so even with the Cousin I run out of room and have to insert another page.
I am so curious about how thick the paper is on the Moleskin! I’ve got it in my cart but I really want it to be a tad bit thicker. I’ve got a Hobinichi Weeks, but the paper is just so thin and the pages really are just tiny. But I love the layout.
I appericate this post. Very valuable information regarding bound books. However, IMHO there was a miss on the disc/rings systems where there are the same variety of customizing from inserts to covers. The Happy Planner has the market on discboundd planner. If you can review that style and/or brand I am hoping this would provide greater insight to the planner options overall.
The expensive speciality planners that aren't available in US stores, or have to be pre ordered need to have a sample booklet that you can order that is on the planner paper and provides full size examples of layouts.
A long time ago, I found a planner that had a monthly layout with a 3/4 horizontal dutch door for weeklies across the top of the month. So you could flip through the weeks while viewing the month below it. Has anyone seen this? I haven't been able to find it again and forgot the manufacturer. 😢
I really wanted to buy a Moleskine but they just flat out erased Taiwan from their planners and call it "Province of China". Absolute deal-breaker for me.
Question!! I’m going to order 3 planners for 2024, and I want to branch out a bit. I’m a previous Full Focus Planner user but I want to try some new options and break out into three planners this year: work, personal development/journaling, spirituality. Would you recommend I try a.) three different sizes of Hobonichi or b.) three different sizes but one of each Hobonichi, Sterling/Common and W222? I have never used any of these three brands. I use digital for scheduling both personal and work, which works for me, so all three would be more reflective than for planning. Thanks!
You may have found what you needed by now, so ignore if you have. I have a Leuchtturm1917 Monthly B5 planner. Here are the features: 3 year calendar in the front (no space for writing, each year is one one page) Two-year overview. Each two-page spread contains half a year with each month in a vertical column. Project tracker for two years (some people use this as a habit tracker). 16 months of monthly spreads. Each month is on two pages. It contains November and December from the previous year and January and February from the next year. An index. 138 dot grid pages. If you wanted to do your own weekly spreads or don't need a weekly spread, this would work. I have the B5 because I don't use this as a planner. I use the year overview to write down special events I want to remember, the project planner for tracking my knitting projects and books read, and the monthly spreads for short-form memory keeping. The rest of it is for common placing. I also use a B6 dot grid in the same color to accompany the B5. This is just a notebook for memory keeping when I want to do lengthier journaling about an event or I want to add photos. I just purchased a Leuchtturm1917 Week Planner (it's the one with the vertical layout) in the A5 size. I love the times on a vertical weekly spread so I can do time blocking for work and appointments. It still has space at the bottom for a daily to-do list. There are only a few extra pages in the back for notes. This is going to be my daily carry for the remainder of the year and I wish I had bought it for January.
Help! Been watching so many planner videos i forget which is which. There is one that has the page split in two and a day on each side, but i can't remember which one it is!
Where do you put birthdays? I put them in my future log, my week at a glance, my daily, and my perennial planner. Also I am reminded on Facebook. Yikes! Where do y’all put yours? Oh. And in my iPhone calendar. Geez.
I love the idea of planners but I really don’t do that much to pop into one, more a notebook to jot down bits n bobs, which I’ve learnt has a name Common Planner I think it is 16:26 squeeeeee
I just want to emphasize that you absolutely do not need to DIY anything for a ring bound system - the major binder brands also make inserts, and if you buy a new (i.e. not second hand) binder you often get a set of inserts for a few months to a whole year. You can just buy whatever monthly/weekly/daily sets printed and ready to use, and I would bet that that's what the majority of users do. You CAN DIY everything, but you don't HAVE to. There's definitely more variety if you look outside the big brand inserts, infinite options if you print (or even design) your own, but you can just start out with some "mainstream" planner inserts.
You didn't mention the best of both worlds: a printed planner AND a blank notebook. People get caught in one or another mentality, while they could have both! This is what would work for everyone. Anf another option that noone is talking about: a blank notebook that you could use as a bujo and a planner, in which you don't have to draw anything yourself, because you could use the printables, which you could glue inside the notebook. Also the best of both worlds: a customized notebook without much effort 😂😂😂😂😂
I can’t stand the colours in Hobonichi - so distracting, and I hate being confined to a single page in the dailies. My idea would be a some kind of mix of Wonderland 222 and the Sterling Ink Common Planner, though for 2024 I’m taking a risk on the Nisha Fernando The Journey Planner as I feel what it’s offering is worth the need to white out the dates on the dailies. 😊
Another brand to look at is CleverFox planners. They pretty much have something for everyone. I used to have planners that I would start using and would not end up using it for very long each year and I would get another one, different one, and none of them would meet my needs. I stumbled across clever Fox and tried it. I don't think I'll go back to anything else unless my needs change. They even have a quiz to help you pick one out. Even if you just take the quiz it's helpful. It might give you an idea of what to look for. I really enjoyed this video though. I might recommend this video to my daughter who's just getting started in planners. By the way, clever fox also has a planner for kids to get them started early on having an organized productive life
"Neorah planners never disappoint! 😍 Just saw their 2025 collection and it's super cool! ✨ If you’re looking for something to keep you organized, this is it! 📅👌 #2025Goals #NeorahPlanners"
My biggest suggestion for beginners is there’s a lot of hype and it’s easy to get swept up in the marketing/the fallacy that if you buy this or that planner, then your whole life is going to be fixed and perfectly productive. This is a load of bullshit. A planner is a tool to help facilitate your life and goals, but it won’t work if you jump around from planner to planner hoping that buying a new one that apparently works for someone else will fix all your problems. Give yourself time and space to create/find a system that works for you, and then make small tweaks as necessary, instead of changing new planners every few weeks when something isn’t absolutely perfect.
Amen!
Thank you
I bet they felt it
Hobonichi cousin was my first choice this year and first time using it, but the squares/grid was way too small for me to write in. For that reason I quit the cousin, reluctantly, and moved into a Karma Planner then a “She’s In Her Apron” daily/weekly planner. I’m much happier now, especially with the daily pages the the “Apron” planner. Really an excellent planner and good for anyone doing routines, cleaning zones, freezer inventory, to-do lists, and general ADD. A little spendy but I’m loving it. “She’s In Her Apron” here on UA-cam, Kimmy Hughes, you won’t be sorry!
One thing I would warn about the Moleskine - if you are a fountain pen user, the paper is *terrible* for fountain pen ink. In my experience there's pretty heavy cross-over between the fountain pen and planner communities, so it's definitely something to note!
the paper is SO BAD
Some inks look fine, others are “beaded looking” and ugly. 😡
this is why even in my travelers notebook I only use Tomoe river paper
Thank you!!! I'm a super beginner but almost exclusively fountain pens with bottled ink user!😊
Cannot recommend drawing your own spreads to start off with enough. It was super helpful for me to know what worked for me and what didn't, and cost very little money! Yes, there was a time element to it, but a lot of that was finding ideas online. I've also found that spreads don't tend to work for me long-term, so drawing them by hand makes it super easy to switch it up when you need to!
“Drawing your own spreads”? Is that planner lingo? I don’t know what that means.
@@juliewiser8460 It means to physically draw your own layout & planner structure on the page. Many use bullet journals to do that instead of lined journals.
Let's say you're a weekly planner. You would sit down on Saturday, "draw your spread" for the week, meaning you draw 7 boxes, label the dates on them starting with Sunday, draw another wide rectangle under those for added notes etc. You can make your "spread" HOWEVER you want to structure/draw it for your week/month/whenever.
As someone who also works in academia, I would love to see maybe a deeper dive into how you use your planners each quarter/semester to help stay organized! But I know that's pretty niche 😅
I don't work in academia and would still like to see this. lol :D
You might try the Vegan Planner (I think). She works in academia. ❤️🇨🇦
I’m getting ready to setup my Laurel Denise for the spring semester 🤌🏾
I would love to see a deeper dive too, work in Academia myself and been using cousin and weeks but I am dreading the day I might have to buy one of those massive wall calendars 😅is there a way too see bigger picture in cousin or weeks 😂😂 I am allowed to dream 😊
As someone who uses a spiral bound dot notebook for a bujo, there is a benefit to using the ring/disc/ etc because you can move your permanent collections from book to book without having to recreate them. And you can remove pages when you want as well. Time and energy is definitely up, but money doesn't have to be expensive.
@@ccpippin307 That is a good point, then you can just move the tip-in. My pages that I move from book to book tend to be addresses, swatch pages and birthday spreads Although I am going to have to re-do some of them as my cat pissed on my 2023 bujo. :)
I love my disc binder. Take 2 books and combine to one
Great video!
My tip, which I thought of in the last few days, is you really do need to think of how you will store them when finished if you plan to keep them. Layout , style , and size can matter if you don't have the space for it.
Well I knew I had a planner problem, buying so many each year after having the same one for 5 years before my life got busier with a family and school.
This video was so perfect explaining all the differences of weird things that matter to me like laying flat, or customizability for creativity, vertical layouts, etc. Glad im not the only one that lol. Thank you for sharing this! Really loved it and helped me get a plan for my next one.
For beginners and weekly layout I recommend lined notebook. Budget friendly. Good for time blocking too
Thanks, Rachelle - took your advice to try different layouts to see what worked, and (of course) arrived at a layout that doesn't actually exist anywhere (horizontal week, but with M-F on the left and S-S on the right, along with a lot of note space) ... so I've ended up staying in my discbound planner (with the cover that's still holding up after several years) and creating/printing the layout myself. I also like that I can carry as much past history and future planning space as I think I need, without toting the whole year with me all the time. I'm also continuing the experiment with quarterly spreads and some 12-week-year goal planning and trying your bi-weekly ideal schedule planning. Someday I may find exactly what works, and a company that makes exactly that, but until then, I'm on the completely customizable bandwagon.
Thank you for this Rachelle! I am a discbound user and you are so right about the level of customization. I love that but you are right, if you're trying to cut costs, you definitely want to know what layout works for you beforehand because most discbound systems are based on a 12-month layout. Of course it can be changed out but it can get costly if you're trying to figure out what layout works for you.
I wish that more people were aware of / mentioned Agendio, which is super customizable and I think it's fairly beginner friendly IF you're willing to spend time making it. Playing around in the system lets you see all sorts of different layout types that you can tweak on the screen, which means you're able to visualize how you might use a spread you've maybe never tried before. If you're just looking to pick something off the shelf it's not a good choice because it does take time to craft what you want.
Thanks to your videos I learned about and ultimately purchased a Hobonichi Weeks for 2024!! It also gives me that refreshing feeling whenever I turn to a new page, and it’s easy for my brain to follow my tasks and jot down notes.
I just want to say Thank You. I’ve been watching your videos for a while, but have never commented. I wholeheartedly believe that because of your inputs, teachings and pep talks (I feel like the way you make videos feels more of a pep talk to me & I like it 😆😆) I have been able to just be more mindful of my habits when it comes to planning and buying planners.
I appreciate your Channel and thank you for all of your hard work 😊❤
LOVE YOU RACHELLE!! This is a video every planner needs to see. Sooooo helpful, simple and effective :)
I've been planning for years and I really enjoyed this video! That Moleskine weekly is what I started planning with!! Great recommendation!
Having A5 rings in Europe is actually amazing. It's the standard paper here and this way customizing is super easy.
When I started 6 months ago, I created simple templates for weekly and monthly spreads. In the beginning I tweaked them every 2 weeks a bit before printing again, now I'm stable for about 2 months and now check out how I can integrate some quaterly goal planning like HB90 to become more effective.
Will you be doing a follow up on how your 2023 goals went in your common planner this year and a video for your 2024 goals? Very interested in seeing your 2024 set up in the CP and hearing about what you learned your first year in it.
I do a modified bullet journal system primarily because I want a Monday through Sunday monthly layout which is ridiculously hard to find in the US. I'm personally a big fan of the Alistair method of weekly planning because of how my life works (SAHM + WFH where i set my schedule). I tried a TN system one year and loved the ability to group my sections, but struggled to find inserts I loved.
Just got my first Hobonichi because of this vid. Tysm!
I’d put size and line spacing right up there with layout.
Love the simplicity of Hobonichi Techo. Its my 2nd year of using the Techo A6. I love the bare minimum and removes unnecessary features.
Thank you for the full explanation of the planners. It becomes overwhelming with all the options.
For me personally the best planners have been the Bullet Journal (original) and Franklin Covey. For 2024 I will be using the FC two-page daily. I used it in 2021 and it helped me immensely in my personal and work life. I can't wait to get started using it again!
Yay second comment and third like. Love this channel. Best to you and your family. Thanks for making this video. Happy holidays!!!!!
I have been trying to Bullet Journal for years, this is such a good guide to really put it all in perspective.
This is so helpful and definitely has me thinking what I want. I need a fiscal year, calendar year, monthly planner. Horizontal, I’m wordy.
I feel like there are a bunch of disc options out there that aren’t time/money expensive. You can get a dated or undated fully formed planner like happy planner or levenger circa 😊
You videos are always informative and helpful!
Great information!! I used a bullet journal for years. But found that planners that were not customizable were the ones I used the most. Teetering between the Hobonichi cousin and Aura Estelle complete weekly for 2024. But I’m leaning towards the Hobonichi because of the daily pages. I too abhor the red Sundays. 😂
The gray Saturdays and red Sundays were a no go for me, so I switched to The Common Planner. The English Hobonichi Techo doesn't have colored weekends so not sure why the English Cousin does. Also founnd that I like the undated notes pages more than I thought I would in The Common Planner.
Well I make my own Inserts for the travelers notebook, so I do print them myself 😅 but you are right. most people don't print them on their own but many buy blank Inserts; they are less expensive
I love the brand Wonderland 222. It is similar to hobonichi but it has some extra spreads like monthly planning and reflections and a habit tracker for each month. In the middle of the year they sell their planners for half-price.
i started using a planner after years of google calendar, so i got a vertical weekly planner because that's how i set up my online calendar. i like that i can block out time in my planner and add my lessons knowing how much free time i have each day
Very well put together and explained. Unfortunately I've found that I have very expensive taste.. Plotter and William Hannah are my favorite types of systems. Flexibility of movable pages and leather covers :)
Good video. Personally I might've swapped the TN and bujo in the customizability track, because TN's are usually certain specific size. So once you pick a cover to hold them all, you're "locked" in that already. Cost, size, having inserts on hand if one runs out... And of course because TN does have printed inserts along with blank (and dupes) also with a dated and undated options and that just... snowballed. That's just my thoughts when I looked into it year ago and decided it was too many decisions to make for me.
I'm a Cousin/TakeANote user after testing out bujo's and collections.
I used a customized daily planner and found that I don't need that since I'm a full-time traveler. I've bought 4 planners since February with the most recent one being a student planner that I got at the beginning of July. I decided to ditch it on Saturday and came up with a customized weekly. The problem with store bought planners is that the don't give you a full day on the weekends!
gorgeous planners, some great recommendations ❤❤
Information we need right here
Thank you another insightful video on planner selection. What type of planner is that says "Take a Note 2024 mint"? (Timestamp 25:06)? Im unable to find it on the description. Thanks
This was so so good 🌻🌻
Excellent overview. Now I'm looking for a moleskine style weekly layout but with dotted paper on the right, instead of lined.
So many nice books. Have not seen some of these before. 😮
This year I bullet journaled for half the year, testing different layouts, and ended up buying a hobonichi cousin for 2024 (my first time trying hobonichi). I’ve discovered that I like weekly layouts, but hate horizontal formats. I need a vertical weekly format! Still haven’t decided on how I want to use the daily pages though 😅
I love my hibonichi but they dont have a sunday start weekly and i live in ameeics where sunday is the start of the work week. I hate seeing my week planned out and decorsted with sunday standing lonely and blank because i dont know if its a free day or a workday. I cant do a daily though because i dont have enough plans / discipline to use it and it becomes harder to open it the more blank spaces spreads
Ugh… I’m a quarterly brain, but MY quarter isn’t the same as everyone else’s. In my brain:
Dec-Feb (Winter)
Mar-May (Spring)
June-Aug (Summer)
Sept-Nov (Fall)
Why oh why is this not THE way? Anyone know of a planner that is quarterly-centric and undated?
I would find a dated brand/layout you like and then check online - sometimes brands have undated versions of planners available! If you like the sterling ink quarterly pages they do have undated versions where you can add in your own months to quarterly/monthly spreads
I used to use Day-Timers which seems to only be online now. They have different sizes, different layouts, different start dates. The style I preferred was a pocket size , about 3x6" closed. And I selected each month was one little spiral bound booklet. The cover I had could easily hold 2 or 3 if these months at a time. This kept it small, lightweight, portable. And I wasn't carrying around the whole year at once.
So in Feb 5th I'd have February in there. And January because I would still be referring back to that. And maybe March to jit dit future items.
All sorts of accessories were available. I liked one accordion folder paper that was the entire year. I've been trying to see if I could get a printed catalog because their printed catalog used to have samples of each design in actual size.
You could get a month at a time, a week at a time. Two months to an insert, one page per day. Two pages per day. It would probably be closest to the travelers notebook style shown here. It was designed for professionals person so it had area for financial information like to keep track of expenses from business trips to get reimbursed. Meals, lodging. Etc.
Now that I'm older I would probably get a larger one because my eyesight isn't perfect anymore and I don't write as small
But I'm just using a cheap composition book now. Because cost
Omg.. this can't be serious. Ok.. i plan like this and yes i am new to planners thing. But still at the back of my mind. I have this Dec- Feb winter.. etc. thing. And i plan like this. I believe Winters(Dec to Feb) are for learning, spring to start a fresh i.e. implementation part, Summers to hustle and fall to slow down, enjoy and analyse again. I can't work with usual calendar and therefore its hard to maintain planners and bujos. And btw... i also used digital planners and yes notion too.. but nope... i like it handwritten. So started with a simple lined notebook for now. I know the struggle right. Maybe i will buy an undate planner next year. But your comment made my day. I thought i was plain crazy.😅
@@arushishukla8299 yes!!!! At least ONE other brain that’s just like mine!!!!
I’m also a seasonal brained person. But I’m in the southern hemisphere so all the seasons are the opposite! Same months as dividing between seasons tho.
Great video! I applaud your discussion about just starting with a blank notebook and trying different things. I did that for a couple of years. Now I use a Hobinechi Weeks Mega and a Cousin. For the most part, they work for me. But my perfect planner would be a Hobinechi Cousin but with monthly, weekly and daily pages for a specific month all together. I get tired of flipping back and forth. And of course it would be great if the daily pages were 2 pages per day. I run a consulting business and have to keep detailed notes of client business, so even with the Cousin I run out of room and have to insert another page.
the midori hibino is a planner that has two pages per day! unfortunately it only has monthly and daily though; no weekly.
I am so curious about how thick the paper is on the Moleskin! I’ve got it in my cart but I really want it to be a tad bit thicker. I’ve got a Hobinichi Weeks, but the paper is just so thin and the pages really are just tiny. But I love the layout.
I just love your videos... I don't know where were you earlier 🤪 💝 🌸
I appericate this post. Very valuable information regarding bound books. However, IMHO there was a miss on the disc/rings systems where there are the same variety of customizing from inserts to covers. The Happy Planner has the market on discboundd planner. If you can review that style and/or brand I am hoping this would provide greater insight to the planner options overall.
The expensive speciality planners that aren't available in US stores, or have to be pre ordered need to have a sample booklet that you can order that is on the planner paper and provides full size examples of layouts.
A long time ago, I found a planner that had a monthly layout with a 3/4 horizontal dutch door for weeklies across the top of the month. So you could flip through the weeks while viewing the month below it. Has anyone seen this? I haven't been able to find it again and forgot the manufacturer. 😢
I really wanted to buy a Moleskine but they just flat out erased Taiwan from their planners and call it "Province of China". Absolute deal-breaker for me.
Don’t blame you ❤️🇨🇦
Oh wow, I'm going to boycott Moleskin from now on
Question!! I’m going to order 3 planners for 2024, and I want to branch out a bit. I’m a previous Full Focus Planner user but I want to try some new options and break out into three planners this year: work, personal development/journaling, spirituality. Would you recommend I try a.) three different sizes of Hobonichi or b.) three different sizes but one of each Hobonichi, Sterling/Common and W222? I have never used any of these three brands. I use digital for scheduling both personal and work, which works for me, so all three would be more reflective than for planning. Thanks!
Would love to know what you think about the ‘Moleskine pro planner? Vertical layout
I would love to see a planning system that works in a hobo A5 for planning a book writing project. ❤
Very helpful. Thanks
how about the leuchtturm months? what do you think about that as a start off?
You may have found what you needed by now, so ignore if you have. I have a Leuchtturm1917 Monthly B5 planner. Here are the features:
3 year calendar in the front (no space for writing, each year is one one page)
Two-year overview. Each two-page spread contains half a year with each month in a vertical column.
Project tracker for two years (some people use this as a habit tracker).
16 months of monthly spreads. Each month is on two pages. It contains November and December from the previous year and January and February from the next year.
An index.
138 dot grid pages. If you wanted to do your own weekly spreads or don't need a weekly spread, this would work.
I have the B5 because I don't use this as a planner. I use the year overview to write down special events I want to remember, the project planner for tracking my knitting projects and books read, and the monthly spreads for short-form memory keeping. The rest of it is for common placing. I also use a B6 dot grid in the same color to accompany the B5. This is just a notebook for memory keeping when I want to do lengthier journaling about an event or I want to add photos.
I just purchased a Leuchtturm1917 Week Planner (it's the one with the vertical layout) in the A5 size. I love the times on a vertical weekly spread so I can do time blocking for work and appointments. It still has space at the bottom for a daily to-do list. There are only a few extra pages in the back for notes. This is going to be my daily carry for the remainder of the year and I wish I had bought it for January.
What tabs did you have in the cousin?
Great video ❤❤❤
Help! Been watching so many planner videos i forget which is which. There is one that has the page split in two and a day on each side, but i can't remember which one it is!
Where do you put birthdays?
I put them in my future log, my week at a glance, my daily, and my perennial planner. Also I am reminded on Facebook. Yikes! Where do y’all put yours? Oh. And in my iPhone calendar. Geez.
I love the idea of planners but I really don’t do that much to pop into one, more a notebook to jot down bits n bobs, which I’ve learnt has a name Common Planner I think it is
16:26 squeeeeee
I just want to emphasize that you absolutely do not need to DIY anything for a ring bound system - the major binder brands also make inserts, and if you buy a new (i.e. not second hand) binder you often get a set of inserts for a few months to a whole year. You can just buy whatever monthly/weekly/daily sets printed and ready to use, and I would bet that that's what the majority of users do.
You CAN DIY everything, but you don't HAVE to. There's definitely more variety if you look outside the big brand inserts, infinite options if you print (or even design) your own, but you can just start out with some "mainstream" planner inserts.
You didn't mention the best of both worlds: a printed planner AND a blank notebook. People get caught in one or another mentality, while they could have both! This is what would work for everyone.
Anf another option that noone is talking about: a blank notebook that you could use as a bujo and a planner, in which you don't have to draw anything yourself, because you could use the printables, which you could glue inside the notebook. Also the best of both worlds: a customized notebook without much effort
😂😂😂😂😂
OMG I was confused B4 I watched the vid, but now I'm even more confused 🤔😮
👏
I can’t stand the colours in Hobonichi - so distracting, and I hate being confined to a single page in the dailies. My idea would be a some kind of mix of Wonderland 222 and the Sterling Ink Common Planner, though for 2024 I’m taking a risk on the Nisha Fernando The Journey Planner as I feel what it’s offering is worth the need to white out the dates on the dailies. 😊
anybody else find this video hard to hear? i cant get it loud enough
Another brand to look at is CleverFox planners. They pretty much have something for everyone. I used to have planners that I would start using and would not end up using it for very long each year and I would get another one, different one, and none of them would meet my needs. I stumbled across clever Fox and tried it. I don't think I'll go back to anything else unless my needs change. They even have a quiz to help you pick one out. Even if you just take the quiz it's helpful. It might give you an idea of what to look for. I really enjoyed this video though. I might recommend this video to my daughter who's just getting started in planners. By the way, clever fox also has a planner for kids to get them started early on having an organized productive life
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