Thank you, Trinote!

I've used my 2010 Trinote more than any other planner this year.  Tomorrow I begin my 2011 planner experiment.

Tri and I have been through a lot together in the 5 action-packed months I've been using it.  It helped me through my move, kept me organized through the fall and early winter, and generally kept me sane.

I've done a lot of planner experiments in the time I've been using it, and have always come running back to my Trinote after every planner failure.  So far nothing else has been able to function as well as my Tri.

I'll do a couple more planner experiments to see if I can find something that works as well for me in a slightly smaller book.  But waiting in the wings is my 2011 Trinote just in case I discover than nothing else can match its functionality and organization.

Thank you Tri!  You are the Planner Champion of 2010!

Different planner uses via Quo Vadis Blog

If you haven't seen the Quo Vadis blog's new feature asking people how they use their Quo Vadis planners, you must go check it out!  There are lots of great ideas in there for different ways to use a planner.  Here's the link:

http://quovadisblog.com/usages/

I submitted a modified version of my Daily Goals post, click here to see my Quo Vadis post:

http://quovadisblog.com/usages/scheduling-your-goals/

Also be sure to check out Christine's excellent post Here's To Your Health, which has lots of great ideas for tracking food and health issues:

http://quovadisblog.com/usages/heres-to-your-health/

Do you use your planner in a different-from-usual way?  Let's hear it!

2010 Planners Tally

You may remember my 13 Planners post, where I tallied up all the planners I used in 2009.  Now it's time to total up all the planners I used in 2010.

First, keep in mind that I do actually use most of the planners I review, usually for a few days, to get a good idea of how they work.  Sometimes I switch to that planner, but often I go back to the planner I was using before.  I won't include these planners in my total for this year.

I will number the planners as I go:

So, those of you who have been following my planner saga for the past year will remember I started 2010 with my 1) Quo Vadis Minister, which I loved.  I started it at the end of November 2009, and I used it until March 2010 (which is a very long time for me to continuously use a planner!).

Then in March I had a really busy time and felt like I needed more space each week to write my lists.  Also I wanted pages to write my monthly goals and reviews. And, I really wanted month view calendars.

So, I drew up a 2) DIY planner in my large lined Moleskine notebook.  I am not much of a DIY-er and am not at all artistic, so this was a major feat for me.  I decided I would make My Ultimate Planner. (But you might guess how that turned out since I'm not using this planner anymore).

It was a great idea: pages for goals, month on 2 pages calendars, and week views with vertical columns for days.  To give myself lots of room for my lists, I put a blank 2-page spread between each week.  I even put month tabs down the side (as I like so much ).  It's a portable size, and has the Moleskine planner's address booklet in the back.  I thought this planner was absolutely The Shit.

But...(and you knew this was coming) it turned out not to be the end-all be-all I expected it to be.  As it turned out, having to turn the page to see my lists was a Fail.  Yes apparently I really am that out-of-sight out-of-mind that I have to have my lists visible alongside my weekly schedule.  Also, I found it very annoying when flipping through my book that the weeks were not back to back.  And I missed having information pages like dialing codes and time zones in my planner.

Not only that, but the black cover and format I drew were very boring and way too serious.  So when I went to London in April it was the perfect time for me to switch to the very fun 3) Dodo Pad A5 Filofax insert in my new Filofax Domino.  I loved the weekly changing pages, art, humor and colors.

But, as has happened before, I eventually quit using my A5 Filofax as my main planner because it was just too big and heavy to carry everywhere with me.   At the beginning of June I started using my purple-covered 4) Plan-It Planner because I love the large month calendars embedded in the weeks.   But after a couple of weeks I had problems because there wasn't space for my lists on the weekly page.

So in mid-June I switched to my 5) 2009-2010 Moleskine weekly notebook because it has an entire page each week for lists and notes.  Also  I think I used this because I was impatient to begin my 6) 2010-2011 Moleskine weekly notebook at the beginning of July.  Despite the fact that I used the weekly notebook format for much of 2009 and was never completely satisfied with it because the day spaces are too small for me, I gave it a try again. I thought the new monthly planning calendars might make a big difference.  And to be honest, I was excited to start a fresh new planner.

Near the end of July, my moving preparations were really gearing up.  For those who weren't following at the time, my husband was changing careers and my family and I were moving internationally.  A very stressful situation to put it mildly.  So predictably I had a planner crisis.  I was having a hard time keeping track of all the moving logistics and what needed to be done when. Also, I needed a lot of information handy, which usually makes me turn to my Filofax.  So after my Filofax revamp, I moved into my 7) personal size Filofax with week on 2 pages diary and used my large Noteletts notebook for moving lists and notes.  You can read about that here.

But despite the post title, that wasn't gettin' it done.  I had a full-blown planner crisis.  My wise younger sister helped me through it and suggested I use the planner she's had great success with for the past year, the 8) Quo Vadis Trinote.  This planner got me through my move beautifully, and definitely saved my sanity through the difficult transition.

After I started to settle into my new place and new life, I got adventurous again with my planners.  Being in the UK opened up new planner possibilities for me.  I'd had my eye on the 9) Life Book for awhile and couldn't resist trying it.  It has monthly calendars (which I love and need) and space for lists on the weekly layout.  Also, now that my household is on a school-year schedule it seemed like it would be more convenient to have an academic-year planner.  So I switched from my super-efficient Trinote to the Life Book.

Before long I discovered that the Life Book's daily spaces were not nearly big enough for me to write everything I need to write each day.  So I ordered up the 10) Quo Vadis Textagenda (UK version) day per page planner.  I used the Textagenda together with the Life Book (which you can read about here).  Using two planners at once quickly failed and I went back to my Trinote.

So, 10 planners is better than 13.  But still, this is ridiculous.  If I have to look anything up, I have to search through all these planners to see where it's written.  I'd really love to commit to one planner for a whole year!  But in order to accomplish this, I think the planner would have to be perfect.  I need My Ideal Planner.

As excellent as my Trinote is, it's lacking some features I'd like: monthly calendars, a pretty cover and a smaller more portable size.  The first two I've fixed (with my addition of monthly calendars and colored covers), but there's no way to shrink the book.  If I can't find a smaller version of My Ideal Planner, then my Trinote might possibly be it.  But I still want to see if I can find something that works as well for me as the Trinote, but in a smaller size. This gets tricky because a smaller size book means less writing space, and as we all know I like to write a lot in my planner.

I plan to use my Trinote through the end of this year, but come January the battle of the 2011 planners will begin.  More on that in my next post!

**Edited later to add:  Before the end of 2010 I also tried:

11) My large Moleskine day per page planner. (You can read about that failure here.)

12) Personal size Filofax daily + weekly.  (Read about that failure here.)

13) Personal size Filofax 2 days per page. (Aaaaand, that failure here, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the comments.)

Monthly pages in Trinote, Part 2

You may remember my post Monthly pages in Trinote where I tried to figure out various ways to add in a monthly calendar section.  Now I have found the answer.

First of all, many thanks to Laura Reyna who sent me the link to free printable monthly calendars.  Here is the link to the 2011 calendars:

http://www.printable2011calendar.com/

Take a look around their website because they have loads of free printables like weekly household cleaning lists, weekly and monthly calendars for binder organizers of various sizes, and even forms like to do, etc.

I downloaded the 2011 monthly calendars, and I really like the clean layout with the holidays printed on the days. I'm not much of a DIY-er, and my hack scissor-and-tape job doesn't look as nice as someone craftier would make it. But it works for me.

My printer was set to automatically rotate the image and fit the page, but I unchecked that box so that the calendars would be upright on the page. This has two advantages:

1) I don't have to turn my book sideways to use the monthly calendars, and

2) there's plenty of space below the calendar to write that month's goals, reminders, etc.  Win!!

You may be asking yourself, where in my Trinote did I stick these pages?  Because after all, something had to get covered up.

The Trinote's weekly pages begin the week of the end of November/ beginning of December.  Since I'm not going to start my 2011 Trinote until the beginning of January, that gave me 8 pages to stick in monthly calendars.  The last 4 months went in the back of the book over the Pay/ Receive pages that I don't use:

This means January-August are at the beginning of the book, and September-December are at the end of the book.  I did it this way so that none of the information pages or maps were covered. Having the months split in the book is a small price to pay to have monthly calendars (with space for monthly goals) incorporated into my planner.

Alternatively, if I didn't need the writing space under the months, I could have stuck two months per page and had all the months together at the beginning of the planner.

So now I have the glory of having every type of calendar I need in my Trinote:

Year overview to track travel, holidays, school breaks and bills paid (and another one of these for the following year to write in next year's appointments, renewals etc.):

Monthly calendars to see two months at a time overviews and to track monthly goals:

Power-planning weeks with large daily columns, daily notes spaces, and categorized list boxes (click to enlarge):

And the 3 year overview calendars:

I also have my address booklet, which I use like crazy.

All of this in one book with the large page size for plenty of writing space makes me feel like I'm ready for anything!!!

You can get more information about the Quo Vadis Trinote including links to buy it at:

http://www.quovadisplanners.com/catalog/trinote

Or if you are in the UK the website is:

http://www.quovadis-diaries.co.uk/acatalog/Trinote.html

I don't know if the UK version of the Trinote is exactly the same as the US version. The UK version does have UK-specific information that the US version does not have, according to their website.

Looking for a 2011 planner?

Are you searching for the perfect planner to guide you through 2011?  Hopefully I can help you in your search! 

The first thing you have to decide is whether you want a bound-book style of planner or a loose-leaf binder system (like Filofax etc.).  Here is my post Planner Preference: Ring Binder vs. Bound Book to help you decide.

Here is a list of reviews I have done of 2011 planners, with some suggestions to help you figure out what you need and want from your planner in the coming year.

Click on the highlighted links for my complete reviews with lots of photos of features of each planner, and links to order the planner from the appropriate website if you are interested.  Click on photos for a larger view:

**Edited to add: in my original post I left this planner out because it was sold out, but now it is back in stock! If you want a beautiful, super-slim planner with fabulous paper and a unique layout: months and weekly pages visible at the same time, you MUST check out the Rabbit planner (click here for the ordering page)! Click here to see my review of this fantastic planner:

If you want a sleek, classic style planner that suits many needs in many circumstances, check out the Moleskine planners (here is my review of the Large Daily and Vertical Weekly Moleskine planners).

If you want a similar style to the Moleskine but with all seven days as vertical columns and space for notes in a portable size planner, then it's the Leuchtturm medium weekly planner you want.

If you want a very small, portable planner (perhaps as a companion to your smartphone) then you want the Moleskine Extra Small planner (in daily or weekly format).

If you want a portable planner with a pretty cover, large weekly view, and monthly calendars across a two-page spread with the months EMBEDDED in the weeks (a very hard-to-find format!) check out the Plan-It Planners.  Click here to see my review of the academic year version.  Click here for the 2011 January-December planners.

If you are very busy and need lots of space to write each day and need to write task lists on your weekly pages to see everything you have to do and when you have time to do it all in one view, you can't go wrong with a Quo Vadis Trinote or Minister planner.  Click these links for my reviews of the Trinote and Minister, links below go straight to the Quo Vadis product pages.

The Trinote format has Notes spaces for each day:

The Minister is a slightly slimmer book:

If you have lots of recurring events each week and/ or month and are tired of re-writing them each week (because sooner or later, you'll forget to re-write and something will slip through the cracks) then hurry to order your 2011 WeekDate planner before they sell out!  Its unique format allows you to "Only Write It Once" as the brand's logo says.  Click here for my review of the 2011 WeekDate weekly planner.

If you want to keep track of your and your family's schedule while having fun and learning interesting facts in a weekly-changing planner, check out the Dodo Pad diary (which comes in various formats and sizes including desk, mini, wall, and Filofax inserts).  Click here to read my review of the 2011 Dodo Pad A5 Filofax insert on Philofaxy.

If you want budget sheets, menu planning, shopping lists, holiday planning and more incorporated in your weekly planner, take a look at the Life Book by Organised Mum.

All of these planners, believe it or not, I actually own so if you have any specific questions about any of these that I didn't cover in the reviews, post a comment and let me know.  I'd be happy to help you sort through the piles of options and help you find the right 2011 planner for you!

Of course there are loads of other options besides those listed here, but this selection will get you started or maybe show you some options you hadn't considered before.

Good luck reaching your own personal Planner Nirvana in 2011!

For those of you who have already decided what planner you will use next year, please post a comment and tell us what you've chosen!

Just the cover, please

Awhile back I read somewhere on the QuoVadis Blog that it was possible to buy just the covers for Quo Vadis planners at The Daily Planner.  I decided I'd like a couple of different cover options for my Trinote so I contacted TDP to find out how to get them.

I got an email back from them that said I could call this number:

800-635-4321

So I did.  On the other end of the line was a very nice man (whose name I didn't catch, sorry) who was extremely helpful. I ordered up the Club cover in Lilac (of course) and the soft-to-touch Soya cover in Jade.  They won't be in until the end of the month so I have to wait awhile.  They will be worth the wait though.

The Daily Planner only ships within the US, so luckily for me I still have my US bank account to pay with and my lovely sister who is willing to ship these to me in the UK.  I'll pay for shipping twice but, to me it's worth it to have the covers.

It's nice to have the option to buy just the covers for those of us who are fickle, or just like variety!

Monthly pages in Trinote

As I wrote in Me and my Trinote, I love my Trinote.  But there is something important it's lacking: monthly pages.

I've gone back and forth on whether monthly pages are really necessary for me, and I've finally come to the determination that they absolutely are.  Thus began my quest to find a solution.

I have a Quo Vadis Monthly 4 planner and I really like its layout, so I decided to try to stick it inside the cover of the Trinote. Unfortunately the Monthly 4 was too fat to allow the Trinote's cover to close. So I went in search of another option.

I wondered if a Moleskine Monthly Notebook would work. I don't have one, but I do have Moleskine Cahier books in Extra Large and Large sizes, which have similar numbers of pages as the monthly notebooks.  I stuck the Extra Large into the Trinote, but the cover was too big to slide into the sleeve of the Trinote's cover.  And again the book was too fat.  So I tried the Large size, but it didn't fit snugly into the cover and I decided it wasn't worth it sliding around and potentially falling out of my book.

Ecosystem Life has monthly calendar inserts (although the 2011 versions are not out yet) that fit into the back pocket of their planners, which would be perfect.  But again size was an issue: from reading the measurements on their website it appears their Large size would be too large to fit, and their Medium size would give me the sliding around problem again.

Then I found what may be my solution:  On the Quo Vadis Trinote page there is a Monthly Calendar download available, so I downloaded it and printed it out.  It prints onto a Letter size page, but I trimmed the page down to just the size of the monthly calendar itself and it fits into the Trinote nearly perfectly with only a tiny bit of overhang.

I have the pages paperclipped onto the front page of my Trinote, and immediately I noticed some advantages:

1) First obvious advantage: it's free

2) Huge advantage: it's loose leaf, so I can rotate the months to always have the current month on top for easy access so I don't have to flip pages to view the current month.  When the month is done I rotate it to the back for reference, and the following months are under the current one for forward-planning.

3) Another huge advantage: if I mess up my page or my plans change radically, I can just print out a fresh page and start the month over again.

This is great!

A Collection of To-Do Tips

A couple of days ago, Time Management Ninja had some excellent tweets (which you may have seen me re-tweet) on a subject that I'm always looking for help with: To Dos.  I know I'm not alone in my battle to better manage my task lists!

In case you didn't see the articles, they are:

Time Management Ninja: The Secret of Today Versus To Do

Time Management Ninja: 10 Things Wrong With Your To Do List

99%: If It Won't Fit On a Post-It, It Won't Fit In Your Day

And here's another article I liked too:

Time Management Ninja: The Secret of Capturing Ideas

I'm trying out a new method for keeping track of to-dos and notes.  Despite the wonderful list boxes on my Trinote, sometimes they are not big enough to list all of my tasks for the week.  Sometimes I need different categories, or just more space in general.

Last week I added an Extra Large Moleskine Cahier (blank pages) to capture lists and notes.  I just happened to have a 3-pack lying around, and I happily discovered that the Extra Large Moleskine is exactly the same size as my Trinote (Sis, make note!) so the two are a perfect match.

I'm still in the early days of this planner + notebook system, and I'm wondering if the notebook will become a confusing jumble of lists and random notes as the pages progress.

How do you keep track of your tasks?  Do you write them in a separate notebook, or within your planner?

Me And My Trinote

Apparently I am unable to function without my Trinote! 

My Daily Diary + Weekly Planner was a failed experiment.  Writing appointments and events in 4 or 5 places was stressing me out, to say the least.  Using two separate planners made me feel scattered.  And the worst part was, my weekly To Do list was not visible enough on my weekly planner page, and not categorizing them caused a mass jumble of tasks in no particular order.  I hate to call it a Planner Fail necessarily, it was just an experiment that didn't work out.

So it's happily back to my Trinote I go, back to order and organization!  The large daily columns and categorized list boxes just can't be beat. Nothing else keeps me organized like my Tri.  I keep getting interested in other planners out of curiosity, but I keep coming back to my Trinote because it works the best for me.

Also, with all this talk about the Philofaxy event next month, I've been missing my Filofax a lot.  I hadn't been using it at all lately, but I realized I could adapt the things I like about my Life Book (like the Budget and Expenditure pages, Goals and Monthly Reviews) easily. In fact, those things will be easier to find in tabbed sections in my Filofax than the way they are currently embedded in the Monthly section in the Life Book.

So now my setup is:

My Trinote is my weekly Master Planner. I write all appointments, to dos, notes, expenditures, and other things to record each day in the big daily spaces, and categorized task lists for the week in the list boxes.  This prevents my "out of sight, out of mind" by keeping everything visible.  My Trinote goes everywhere with me in my bag.  I already have the 2011 Trinote so as appointments and events need scheduling into next year, I write them straight into next year's Tri.

My Deco Filofax is my everything-except-my-planner book where I have sections for my Goals and Monthly reviews, Financial with expenditure and budget totals for each month, and everything else.  I have also updated my inspirational Me section.  My Filofax stays home most of the time, but will come with me when I travel.

My Habana notebook is now my journal, and I absolutely love it. The smooth, thick paper has such a nice feel to it, it adds to the relaxing experience of writing in my journal.

Many thanks to my sister yet again for her sensible planner counseling services!

2011 Planner Choices

I FEEL like I have about two thousand and eleven choices of which planner to use next year!  Here are my current considerations:

I can hardly wait to try out my new 2011 WeekDate planner (which I reviewed here).  I'm intrigued by the whole setup and I wonder how it will work for me.

I've been using my 2010 Quo Vadis Trinote these past several months, and I know my 2011 Trinote will be a reliable and functional planner if the WeekDate doesn't work out for me for whatever reason.

Lately I've been thinking of going back to my personal size Filofax, because I miss having lists, maps, and removable pages in my planner.  Even though I've had several Filo Fails with the personal size, I keep coming back to it hoping I can somehow get it to work for me despite the small diary page size.  Steve's recent guest post here on Plannerisms about the Quo Vadis inserts to fit Filofaxes has me hoping that the Prestige format will work for me.  I have resisted the urge to order the refill up immediately, and instead I have drawn up two weeks' worth of the format on lined pages and am using those in my Filofax now.  After a couple of weeks, if the page size is big enough for me to write everything I need to, then I'll order these up. I'm very excited about the combination of the Quo Vadis format I love with the convenience of my Filofax!

I commented on my Planner Permanence post that I've fallen out of the habit of journaling this year.  It's been months since I've written in my journal (I use a large Moleskine day per page planner).  Right now I couldn't even tell you exactly where it is.  It's on a shelf or in a drawer somewhere.  The only way I'll write in it is if it's open in front of me, often.  So I had the idea that I could use it as my combination planner and journal.  I did this with a day per page diary the year my daughter was born, and it worked fine for me that year because I had very little to plan ahead for but lots of things to record.  I  wonder if I could do this with my daily Mole.  I could use the area down the side next to the printed times for my schedule, and the rest of the page for my journal entry.  That certainly would create a thorough record of my entire year in one book.  I fantasize about my book looking something like this woman's creative use of her daily Moleskine.  I've had multiple Planner Fails with day per page books because I can't see the big picture to plan ahead.  But, because the 2011 Moleskine planners all have monthly calendars with the days as squares big enough to write in, I wonder if I could use the months for the overview and the day pages for the details.  I could put my weekly lists on Post Its that would float along day to day...hm, this might be worth a try.  It would be fun to have my planner and journal all together in one book that I would look at and write in often. It would also create that Planner Permanence that I crave.  I could carry it in my Rickshaw daily Moleskine folio so that I'd have pockets for papers, pens, maps and sticky notes in its zip-around security.

But then I think, that would be a pretty big and heavy book to carry around everywhere.  What if I used the large daily Mole as my main planner and journal, and used the Extra-Small daily Moleskine planner as my carry-around planner?  How light and free would I feel carrying only this tiny little book as my planner??  The day spaces are large enough for appointments and a to-do list for the day.  And it is so CUTE and so portable!

What do you think?  I'd especially love to hear from anyone who has gone from one of these methods to another, and if it worked out for you or you went back to what you were doing before.  (Greg? Are you out there? How did it go with your daily Moleskine experiment?)

2011 Trinote updates

Those of you who were upset about the changes made to the 2009 Trinote will be VERY happy with the 2011 Trinote!  All the issues that users complained about have been fixed.  Thank you for listening to your customers, Quo Vadis!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this saga, you can read about it here in the Quo Vadis blog post about it, and also in the Trinote user reviews.  Some things people complained about included the too-dark lines on the daily columns, jumpy fonts, holidays taking up too much space in the too-small daily Priority boxes, and the Pay-Receive box was unnecessarily large.  I can definitely see why long-time users were upset with the changes.

But for the 2011 Trinote, all of these issues have been fixed.  The result is a sleek, streamlined look on the weekly pages that everyone will love (click on the photos to enlarge):

Here is a comparison between the 2010 and 2011 Trinotes, close up on the tops of the daily spaces.  At the top is the new 2011 version,  lying under the 2010 version.  You can see the 2011 version has smaller fonts, which gives more space in the daily Priority boxes.  Also the 2011 print is smaller, so holidays take up less space:

Here is a side by side of the Sunday spaces.  The smaller font means the Sunday spaces in 2011 (at right) are a little bit bigger:

The list boxes in the 2011 version no longer have words cluttering up the spaces.  A simple icon tells you what goes in each box (2010 at left, 2011 on right). You can also see that the large 2010 Pay-Receive box has been replaced in the 2011 Trinote by a large box for notes, and the $ box above it is smaller.

The lines are fainter in the 2011 Trinote (2011 on left, 2010 on right):

Also in the 2011 Trinote are the other features that I love so much like the Anno-Planner for the current year:

and the following year:

Detailed maps of all the continents:

An excellent time zones map:

A detailed international calling codes list:

Pages to record your financial totals:

Planning calendars for last-this-next year, and the removable address booklet:

You can buy the 2011 Trinote now on The Daily Planner and other websites, and in stores.

This Trinote was very generously sent to me by Karen at Exaclair, thank you so much Karen!  She even included the Soya cover that I love so much.  And, she also included a Rhodia Meeting Notebook which I will review soon!

The Planner That Saved My Sanity: The Quo Vadis Trinote

You may remember my Planner Crisis post at the beginning of this month, where my sister Sandy convinced me to use the Quo Vadis Trinote planner to get me through my move.  Now that I'm here on the other side, I wanted to follow up and give you the details on how this planner absolutely saved my sanity before and during my move, and is working spectacularly well for me now in my new life.

There has been a lot of Trinote love here on Plannerisms: my sister uses one, I reviewed this one recently, and I've discussed them periodically.  I won't do an actual review here, I'll just describe what about it in particular is working so well for me right now. (The answer is, "everything.")

This Trinote was generously sent to me by Karen at Exaclair, and is the same one I wrote about in my post where I compared the Trinote to the Septanote planner.  The more I use it, the more I wonder how I ever functioned without it.

The Trinote's weekly layout with the large daily columns and the designated list boxes works very well for busy people, no matter what you are busy about.  While I was preparing for my move, I had plenty of space to list my millions of to-dos each day.  I was able to list appointments and note deadlines, and make notes in the Notes space at the bottom of each day.  The list boxes for Phone/ Email/ Do/ Pay-Receive really helped me keep my tasks straight.

Now that I'm here in Scotland, the Trinote is continuing to work extremely well for me.  I'm already a million times busier than I was in Albania.  Doing the school run twice a day, having my kids in activities, tracking bills on two continents and generally being involved in more things means I need a powerful planner to keep it all straight.

Sandy, you were right: the timed columns definitely help me schedule my day's events, and let me easily see how much time I have in between!

Something that's extremely useful for me: the Trinote has US and UK holidays (even Scotland-specific ones!) printed on the day spaces.

If you've ever lived in a foreign country, you know how important it is to be informed about local holidays (especially ones you aren't familiar with).  And having the US ones too helps me feel connected to what's going on back home.

In addition to official country holidays, there are things I love having on the day spaces like the phases of the moon and solstices/ equinoxes.  These are very important to me, so I really appreciate having them already designated on their days. (Click to enlarge photo to see what types of info are at the top of the day columns.)

For the record, as much as I've complained about the small Sunday spaces in Quo Vadis planners, to be perfectly honest I can't see myself needing any more space for Sunday than this.

The advantage of having those big list boxes hugely outweighs a full-size Sunday column.

And hey Quo Vadis, here's some more conflicting customer input for you: as vocal as I've been about wanting monthly pages, in my current experience they are not nearly as important as the address booklet. I'm using my wall calendar for monthly stuff, so that the whole family can see appointments and events, so re-writing those in monthly calendars in my planner would be redundant.  And as it turns out, I'm using the address booklet in the back of my Trinote EXTENSIVELY.  I write in all my new contacts, local information for reference, billing addresses etc.  I am using the address booklet insert INSTEAD of my Filofax.  What?!?!

I started out carrying my Trinote and personal size Filofax (as my reference book) everywhere with me, but after just a couple of days I started leaving my Filofax at home. I walk nearly everywhere, and the extra weight and bulk of carrying my Filo just wasn't worth it. Now I use a small Clairefontaine notebook (also generously sent to me by Karen) to capture notes and jot lists, then transfer the info to the appropriate location later.

The Trinote is very useful for keeping track of finances.  I'm using the anno-planner (with the entire year in view across the two-page spread, months as columns) to keep track of bills just like I did all those years ago with my Septanote.

I'm using the Notes spaces at the bottom of the daily columns to track expenditures and make financial notes.

I love having the Pay-Receive box each week to make note of bills I need to pay that week.  In the back of the planner there are record pages for daily expenses and income with spaces for monthly totals, but I'm not using those right now. 

Something I love about Quo Vadis planners is that they are very aesthetically pleasing. A lot of attention goes into the materials.  The paper, of course, is legendary.  Fountain pen users love it.  I adore the silky-smooth texture.  This particular planner has a Soya cover that looks like leather but wipes clean easily, and feels wonderfully soft to the touch.

The soft cover and smooth paper together create a wonderful tactile experience that I really appreciate.

I use the pockets inside the cover to tuck in papers so they don't get lost. Full-size pages folded in half or thirds fit in easily.

This planner is working so well for me, I plan to use it through the rest of this year.  I can't stand the thought of not having one in 2011, so I will definitely get another one.

The Trinote measures 7 1/4 by 9 1/2 inches, which fits perfectly in my Rickshaw Bagworks Small Zero messenger bag (which goes everywhere with me all day).

If you like the Trinote but need even more space to write, the Prenote has the exact same layout and measures a generous 8 1/4 by 11 5/8 inches.

You can buy the Trinote and the Prenote with a variety of cover materials and colors at various retailers in the US, or at www.quovadis-diaries.co.uk in the UK.

Planner crisis averted!

In yesterday's post I speculated about what planner might work best for me in my new life.  Meanwhile, I'm experiencing a full-blown Planner Crisis right now, before my big move.  Even worse than your typical Planner Fail, a Planner Crisis is when my planner system has an Epic Fail right when I need the most planning power possible.  This normally happens to me during a move.

So I contacted my most trusted Planner Adviser, my sister, to beg her advice.  She asked me what I'm currently using and I told her my Personal size Filofax with the Week on 2 Pages.  Her reply was, "WHY in the WORLD are you using the personal size weekly pages????  You know they are too small for you!!!!!"  And of course she is absolutely right.  The last time the Personal Wo2P ever really worked for me was grad school, almost a decade ago.  Ever since then (with my increasingly complicated life), they are just too small.  I've tried several times since then to use them, and they do indeed fail me every time.  I love my personal size Filofax, and I keep trying to "make it work," without success.  (You can read about two such PWo2P fails in my 13 Planners post.)

She talked through my needs with me and asked a crucial question about my To Do list: what is more important, chronology or categorization?  I said mostly categorization, because the only real chronology besides actual scheduled appointments is what tasks I have to do specifically during a particular week.

My sis recommended the Quo Vadis Trinote, which she has been using with great success this year.  I have a 2010 Trinote, generously sent to me by Karen at Exaclair, that I reviewed here not long ago.

The Quo Vadis Trinote is very similar to the Quo Vadis Minister, which I used at the beginning of this year and really liked.  I abandoned the Minister when I decided to hack my own self-made planner in a Moleskine notebook, then I went on to my A5 Domino, then back to my Moleskine weekly notebook which recently experienced a "crash-and-burn Epic Fail crap-tastrophe," then turned to my Personal size Deco Filofax.  Fascinatingly, my sister had a similar journey from Filofax to Moleskine to Trinote, which she chronicled here in her guest post.

Some readers commented on my last post with the very valid point: why not just switch to an A5 Filofax?  Actually, I've done that twice before (once being two years ago during my last move, and again this past April) and both times they quickly failed.  The book is just too big and heavy for me to take everywhere.  Honestly, I could take my Trinote (as my planner) AND my personal Filofax (as my reference book) with me everywhere in my bag and the two of them together would still be lighter and less bulky than my A5 Filofax. I know some people do carry a Filofax and separate planner/ diary book, so this wouldn't necessarily be completely insane if I decided to do this.

Additionally, the Trinote has features that no Filofax pages can replicate.  First of all, the pages are even larger than A5: about 1/2 wider and 1 inch taller.  (Trinote measures 7 1/4 by 9 1/2 inches, very generous page size.)  But, the book itself is only 1/2 inch thick and very light, and therefore very portable.

The weekly layout is just what I need right now.  This is some serious planning power (photo of my sister's Trinote):

Timed day columns, with Notes space at the bottom of each day.  And, categorized list boxes at the right, so I can keep all my tasks straight.

I considered just going back to the Minister since it is so similar, but decided to go with the Trinote for 3 reasons:

1) The Notes boxes at the bottom of each day's column are similar to the Recurrent Weekly boxes at the bottom of the day columns in the WeekDate planner, so I thought that might give me enough of a fix to sustain me until January when I can start using my WeekDate! (Edited to add: the 2011 WeekDate planners are already shipping!!  Mine could possibly even be already there waiting for me when I get to Scotland!!)

2) I like the Trinote's Sunday Situation better than the Minister's.

3) I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use the same planner as my sister uses!!

Many, many thanks to my wonderful sister, who is always there to talk me through a Planner Crisis!  I love you sis!!  :)

So last night I set up my Trinote, and immediately felt better and much more in control.  The large page size gives me plenty of room to write.  The weekly spread with the large daily columns lets me see what I need to do, and when I have time to do it.  And the categorized list boxes at the right allow me to group all of my phone calls/ emails/ paperwork tasks together so I can streamline my time.  I can see everything all at once, so there is NO "out of sight, out of mind."

Edited to add:  the large daily columns are key.  They give me space to write in little details that otherwise would slip my mind.  You would think I'd have learned my lesson back in March when I wrote about this exact same issue in How Big Is Your Day?  Note to self: I need a LARGE page size with BIG daily spaces, a WEEK to view, with space for LISTS ON the week view pages!  Don't even bother with any other format!

So where does this lead?  Who knows.  Maybe my Trinote will get me through the move, and once I settle in I'll go back to my Filofax.  Maybe I'll even use the Trinote through the end of this year, then switch to my WeekDate in 2011.  The good news is, if I'm completely in love with my Trinote by the end of this year, I can always get one for 2011 because they are sold in the UK!  Planner Win-Win!

Quo Vadis Trinote vs. Septanote planners

This comparison is to help those of you who are trying to decide between the Quo Vadis Trinote or Septanote planners. Many thanks to Karen at Exaclair for sending me these planners to review (along with the very handy elastic strap/ bookmark)!

Both the Septanote and Trinote have the same weekly Agenda Planning Diary format, but there are some differences that will determine which one will best fit your needs.

The biggest difference of course is that the Septanote is an academic year planner (July-July) and the Trinote is on the calendar year (December-December). That alone may determine which is best for you.

But beyond that major difference, there are some other features that may cause you to prefer one over the other.

In summary, the Septanote has more pages for notes, and the Trinote has more information pages. I will walk you through them to show you the specifics.

At the beginning of both planners, there is a page for your personal information, and a page with international dialing codes.

The next two-page spread has on the left page a chart of monthly temperatures for many cities around the world. In the Trinote, the page on the right has a chart of international holidays. In the Septanote, this page is lined for notes (click on photos to enlarge):The next two-page spread in both planners is the current year's Anno-Planning calendar, which goes July-June in the Septanote and January-December in the Trinote:

Throughout the planners, the Trinote is printed in gray and teal inks and the Septanote is only in gray:At the end of the weekly pages, both planners have an Anno-Planning calendar for the following year. In the Trinote, between the last weekly spread and the Anno-Planner, there is a January calendar to start planning into the following year:

Both planners contain the same (excellent) maps of the continents marked with cities, lakes, rivers and other major landmarks. After the maps there is a lined page for notes, which is the only notes page in the Trinote:
After this page, the Trinote has four pages for Receipts and Payments. In the Septanote, these are Notes pages.
In the back of both planners there are overview calendars of last-this-next year. Also in both planners there is a removable address book tucked into the back sleeve of the cover. And both planners have the same 90 g extra-white Clairefontaine paper that is famous for being wonderful to write on and fountain-pen friendly.

So there is the breakdown of each planner. If academic year vs. calendar year is your main need, then your choice is easy. If it doesn't matter which schedule you're on, you can choose which will function better for you: Septanote with more pages for notes, or Trinote with more information, a month planner to start the next year, and pages for financial records.

The Septanote is an excellent planner for anyone on the academic year schedule. Not only students but parents, teachers, school administrators and university professors would really benefit from the organization of the daily columns and categorized list boxes on the weekly page.

All those notes pages in the Septanote can be used by students to record their class schedule, grades, and extracurricular activities. Parents will really benefit from the extra notes pages to write in their child(ren)'s school contact information, carpool schedules, party planning and gift lists for the year.

Another great feature of both the Septanote and Trinote planners that's excellent for parents: you can use the daily column for your own schedule, and the Notes space under each day to keep track of what everyone else in your family is doing. That way you can see everyone's schedule all at once, on the same page.

Quo Vadis Septanote planners for the 2010/ 2011 academic year are now available online and in stores.