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Tuesday, December 18, 2012

What I'll use in 2013

Here's my lineup of planners and notebooks I'll use in 2013:

They are my 2013 Plannerisms weekly + monthly planner, my 2013 day per page large Moleskine with the magenta cover, a large Moleskine lined Volant notebook, and the enormously cool Moleskine large lined Hobbit notebook!
Each book has a specific, different purpose.

The star of the show of course is my 2013 Plannerisms planner. This is the planner I designed as My Ideal Planner. It has a week view with the days as columns, month on two pages grid calendars, loads of goals pages, and more. Click here to see my post with tons of photos of the pages and features of the Plannerisms planner.

This is the weekly format I drew up in a notebook and have used for most of 2012, and it's the best format I've ever used. I use the column before Monday for goals and the space below the days for my weekly lists. Click here to see my post with loads of ideas on different ways to use this weekly format.

For the past two years I've been using a weekly planner for all forward planning, and a day per page planner to plan and record today only. This system works great for me because it's the perfect combination of planning ahead and plenty of recording space. Because I use only my weekly for forward planning, and my daily only for today, I don't have to synchronize them so nothing falls through the cracks.

I've changed my mind a lot this year on which day per page planner to use. For the past few weeks I've been using my Franklin Covey two pages per day in my Malden Filofax, but I have to admit the impermanence of the looseleaf pages is really bothering me. Starting January 1 I'll use my large Moleskine day per page with the magenta cover (which I reviewed here).

I like the color of the cover, and I love the open format of the pages. It's a little heavy, but not horribly so. Because my Plannerisms planner is so thin and light, I don't mind carrying both books in my bag.

I'll use the Moleskine's monthly columns with a line per day as an index like Patty uses with her Franklin Covey pages so I can quickly and easily reference important events.

For notes that won't fit on the Moleskine's daily pages, I'll use the pink covered Moleskine Volant notebook that my sister sent me a couple of years ago. I have numbered the pages and put an Index in the back so I can easily find notes. In my daily Moleskine I'll write the page numbers of the Volant with notes that are relevant to that day so I can cross-reference.
**Edited to add: I carried the large day per page Moleskine in my bag for a few days to test it, and discovered (as I have before with this size book) that it was bigger and heavier than I want to carry everywhere. I need a day per page book that I don't mind carrying with me everywhere I go, but still has a large enough page size. So I created a day per page diary with extra features I like in my Paperblanks Midi size journal with the Ventaglio Rosso cover. You can click through here to read all the details about that.

For a few years I've been inconsistent in using a large day per page Moleskine planner as my journal. For 2013 I'm starting fresh with an undated, large lined Moleskine Hobbit notebook as my journal. It is so very cool and I'm excited to start writing in it!

So those are my intentions for 2013. I like the permanence of using all bound books, I like being able to plan ahead in my weekly and record each day in my daily, and I like being able to reference page numbers in my Volant. I'm looking forward to the freedom of using an undated book as my journal.

Will I stick with this system for all of 2013? Only time will tell!

14 comments:

  1. I'm reluctant to start writing in my Hobbit Moleskine. It's too pretty!!

    I think I might save it until I need it for something specific...

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    1. I agree it's hard to write in something so beautiful, but one of my resolutions for 2013 is "Don't Wait." I don't save things anymore to use "someday." By using it as a journal, I'll be able to enjoy my Hobbit notebook often. :)

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  2. WOW I'm fascinated by this...there's no way I could keep track of 4 books. At most I can do the weekly or daily planner and then a journal. I can't wait for about March to see how this is working.
    Off to see if there are any more Hobbit Moleskines floating about...

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    1. If I had to synchronize them all, I'd lose my mind. There's no way I could keep up on that. But because they don't overlap, it's good. It's like having separate sections in a Filofax, except they're in bound books.

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  3. Sounds like a great plan! And they LOOK beautiful together!

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    1. Don't they look great?? Definite color theme going on. ;)

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  4. Laurie, are you planning on doing an academic year version of the Plannerisms planner?

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  5. Laurie, are you planning on doing an academic year version of the Plannerisms planner?

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    1. Yes! My publisher and I have talked about doing an academic-year version and I hope to have it available for 2013-2014.

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  6. Laurie - What do you use the monthly pages for in the Plannerisms planner? Thanks! Nancy

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    1. Hi Nancy, I use the Monthly calendars for overviews of the month: bills due, holidays, birthdays, school breaks, travel, major appointments (doctor, dentist etc.) and other big, fixed things. I don't use it for daily details, that's on my weekly. I don't refer to the Monthly calendars every day like I do the weekly pages. The Monthly is more for getting a perspective that allows me to see big things that are coming up.

      Also, it's easier for me to flip through the month pages than weekly pages to see things coming up in the future.

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  7. What happened to the ABP1 you were in love with?

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    1. Ah yes, that was a bit of a journey. I was using the ABP1 when I bought my Malden Filofax, which I intended to use as my wallet and info book. But the Malden and the ABP1 in my bag together were too big and heavy, so it seemed logical to put daily pages in my Malden to have everything in one book. So I did.

      Now I've decided not only do I not like the FC's looseleaf pages, I'm also fed up with the cluttery days. The Moleskine's open daily pages are appealing to me now with no formatting so I can use them any way I want.

      Yes I'm fickle! I'll be surprised if I stay with the large Moleskine all year because I've been changing my mind so much with the daily books.

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