Paperblanks Lindau Grande Weekly planner

I won this Paperblanks planner in a giveaway on Twitter, many thanks to @paperblanks for this gorgeous planner!

I didn't know what type or size of 2012 planner I'd won, but I wasn't concerned. Paperblanks planners are all beautiful, so I knew I would like whatever I got.

But I certainly wasn't expecting this!

It nearly took my breath away when I opened the package!

This planner is the Grande size weekly planner, 8 inches wide by almost 12 inches tall. This design is the back cover of the Lindau Gospels. Here is a closer detailed shot of the cover:

 It is gorgeous!  But the glories of this planner didn't stop there.

Monthly calendars! On the big pages, you can see four months to a spread. (click on any of the photos to enlarge.)

The weekly pages have all seven days as full-size columns, timed to the 15 minutes from 7 am to 8:45 pm, plus a column for notes.

Holidays are printed in the Priority box at the top of each day.

Each weekly spread has monthly reference calendars:

There are also monthly calendars for all of next year too:

 

There are also pages with international holidays, time zones, dialing codes, travel planning, birthdays and important dates, and loads of notes pages. Inside the back cover there is a full-size pocket, with a removable address book.

There's an elastic strap closure if you want to use it, or it can stay in the back of the book out of the way.

There are two ribbon placemarkers, so you can mark the current month and the current week.

Here's the book open so you can see the front and back covers:

 Even the spine is beautiful!

Many thanks again to Paperblanks!

Woman's Success Choice Planner 2013: new format and features!

You might remember my review of the 2012 Woman's Success Choice Planner from The Success Choice (click here to see my review) where I detailed all the features of this excellent planner. I'm very excited to show you the new format and features of the 2013 Woman's Success Choice Planner!

The 2012 format had all 7 days as equal-size columns across the two-page spread. But, many customers requested more writing space per day, so the daily columns were expanded so that weekdays have twice as much space as they had before. That puts Mon-Thurs on a two-page spread (click photos to enlarge):

And Friday, Saturday and Sunday are on the next page. Saturday and Sunday are smaller columns, but each of these is the size of the original day spaces so there's still lots of space to write each day.  At the end of the week there is a lined page for notes, lists, and anything else you want to write for that week.

Below is a more detailed view of the weekdays. Each day has spaces to list tasks, phone calls or errands, and to track your water intake (check boxes for 8 glasses per day), fruit and veg intake, exercise, and an area to personalize for your needs (medications, vitamins, reading, etc.).  Also for each day are numbered tallies to mark off daily chores like sorting mail and picking up clutter.

 Here's a closeup of Friday-Saturday-Sunday:

My friend Rori did a series of excellent reviews on this planner (see Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3).  In her reviews she predicted that I would hate the split weeks, and to her credit normally she would be right. But, I think the value of having twice as much space to write each weekday is worth turning the page to see the rest of the week.

Pamela Henrie, the creator of the Woman's Success Planner, told me this about the new format:

"We keep all of the comments and suggestions from customers, and if we repeatedly get the same request, we consider a change.

The biggest request we get is more room to write, more room for appointments and tasks.

The reason we did the double column day with just a broken line is so that those who want to write straight across the two columns can. Those people who want to schedule appointments on the hour and half hour can use the second column for more appointments.

The two column tasks, etc. women can customize as desired. One column could be personal tasks, the other could be work tasks, kids, whatever.

The Contacts/Errands columns could be used for phone calls, emails, or however they want to customize it: kids, gratitude, etc.

The absolute biggest challenge was giving more room to write, more appointment and tasks, etc. and still keep it on a two page spread and small enough to easily fit in a purse. We couldn't see how to make it work and still give a full column for Saturday and Sunday which people love.

In order to keep the planner portable, we took out one notes page per week, but we added the creativity pages that can also be notes pages if desired. We had several requests for blank pages to mind map, put goal reminders, pictures, quotes, post-it reminders, etc.

We also added the monthly logs, numbered the pages, and put an index page in the back.

It is always scary to make changes because people get used to things a certain way, but at the same time there is always room for improvement.

As always, I would love any comments or suggestions."

Very interesting insight into the planner creation process!

At the end of each week is an End of Week Review, which is one of my favorite features of this planner:

And new for 2013, at the end of each month there is an end of month review, which is a wonderful addition:

This planner has a lot of goal-setting guidance, and gets you to follow-up in evaluating what you did, how it went, and how you can improve. This is enormously powerful in keeping you on track to your goals, and it's a step people often miss in their goal-setting.

Before each new month there is a blank page for notes, creativity, mind-mapping or anything else you'd like to put here:

Another fantastic new feature for the 2013 WSP is that each page is numbered!

 AND the very back page is an index, so you can easily reference numbers, quotes, ideas etc.

The other excellent features of the WSP still apply. The months are embedded in the weeks, and the months are printed on heavier card stock to make them easy to find between the weekly pages. Each month has a theme, a list of seasonal things to do that month inside your home and in the garden (like plant bulbs, change air filters etc.), and space to write your ongoing tasks each month:

At the bottom of each monthly planning page lists fruits and vegetables in season, to help you plan healthy meals.

The months are across the two-page spread, with space for notes under:

Each month has a page for goal setting, traditions and more details on the monthly theme (left page). Before each week there is a page for that week's tasks, menu planning and shopping list (right page). 

Each book holds one quarter (3 months) of monthly, weekly and notes pages, so you can start in any quarter you want.  The Jan-Feb-March quarter has goal planning pages for the year at the beginning of the year, to get you to think about and write down your annual goals. The July-Aug-Sept quarter has Midyear Planning pages at the beginning of the book to help you evaluate your goals progress so far, identify roadblocks, and brainstorm solutions for overcoming these roadblocks. The Oct-Nov-Dec quarter has Year End Review pages to be written in December to evaluate your successes and learning experiences of the year.

At the back of each quarterly book there are monthly calendars to plan a full 12 months:

And a Future Planning page for the following 12 months, so that each quarterly book has 2 full years of planning:

At the back of the book there are several more lined pages for notes, lists, quarterly reviews, expenses, or anything else.

The page size measures 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches, and each quarterly book is less than half an inch thick so it's very portable. It's designed to go everywhere with you in your bag to capture notes, lists, ideas and appointments wherever you are.

As I said in my previous review, this planner is the most comprehensive system I've ever seen for goal setting and evaluation, motivational quotes and advice, household maintenance and cleaning schedules, health trackers, notes and creativity, and more.

Don't forget you can get 15% off your total Success Choice order, including planners (spiral bound or looseleaf), leather binders and covers (see my review here), and the address book (see my review here).  Just enter code plannerisms12 at checkout!

Many thanks to The Success Choice for sending me this planner as a sample to review!

Planners for new Moms

Becoming a first-time mom is an enormous life change, maybe the biggest change a woman will face in her life. Physically, emotionally and socially, suddenly everything is different. And any major life change usually requires a change in planners.

There are many brands of "mom planners" out there with a grid format or other types of space to track what each person is doing each day, but most of those will be more useful for you when your kids are older and doing activities.

In my experience, there are a few main types of planners that are essential for new moms.

The first is a pocket size day per page planner. As all you mothers out there will already know, when your baby is born you have to carefully record his or her eating and diaper production, to make sure the baby is eating enough and that everything is working properly. My A6 size day per page diary never left my side during this time to record all these details.

Even beyond the first few days, a pocket size day per page diary is handy to keep in your pocket to jot down all those little things, before you forget. Sleep deprivation and taking care of a baby mean it's easy to get distracted and forget what it was you were supposed to be doing. And, your baby changes so quickly in the early months, it's fun to record those "firsts."  Your pocket diary is a convenient place to write these things down since it is with you all the time. I noted all of these details in my handy daily pocket diary.

I recommend the Moleskine Pocket size daily planner and the Quo Vadis Exacompta Daily Pocket planner. Both of these are small enough to actually fit in your pocket, and they both lie flat easily for easy writing (which is important when you're juggling a baby, diapers and whatever else!).

Another planner format that I recommend to help you keep it all straight is a weekly planner with the days as columns. Especially during those first couple of months there are a lot of appointments for vaccines and checkups, and it's easiest to schedule those in a vertical weekly format.

I highly recommend the Quo Vadis Executive weekly planner. The square 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 inch book is small enough to fit easily in your bag and go everywhere with you, the vertical timed format will keep you organized, and the weekly notes boxes will remind you of those other things you still need to keep going like phone calls and paying bills.  And the paper is so nice to write on it will be one of those little pleasures in your day.

If you need a larger weekly format you can't go wrong with the Quo Vadis Minister or Trinote.

An alternative for keeping it all together is using a Filofax, either as your planner or even just to keep all your notes, contacts and reference info all in one place. This is a great place to keep that confusing vaccine schedule for easy reference, record your baby's weight at each doctor's visit to notice trends (hopefully upward!), and keep all your lists in one place.

Especially if you are traveling with your baby, use a Filofax to hold your contact information, doctor's phone numbers, emergency information for your destination, packing lists etc. I've learned the hard way never to get on a plane without my Filofax!

Whatever planner you use during your baby's first year, make sure you keep it!!  It will be fun to look back in years to come at your baby's milestones and remember all the new fun experiences that first year.

Moms, what planner did you use when your kids were babies?

Poll results: Sunday or Monday start in Monthly calendars?

Back when I posted this poll, I had no idea what the outcome would be.  Very interesting!!

Here are the results, out of 141 votes:

Sunday	46 (32%)
Monday	95 (67%)

Many thanks to everyone who voted!

Guest post from Mstraat: Graphic Image weekly notebook review

Many thanks to Mstraat for this excellent review of the Graphic Image weekly notebook!!  I'd never seen details of this planner before so I was very interested to read her review and see her excellent photos.

This is my 2012 Graphic Image Notebook in lime leather. The actual color is a nice, soft avocado and has worn well. I am not careful with my planner as it goes everywhere with me! The page edges are gilded, there is a cream ribbon marker, and the paper is a cream color. There is a note in the back page that the paper comes from “responsibly managed forests”, and “all materials in this book meet established criteria for their preservation for several hundred years” under normal use and storage. It is published and bound in the U.S. This planner measures 5 ¼” x 7 ¼” and is ¾” thick so it is portable. The photo shows a comparison with a Large Moleskine Daily.

The endpapers are yearly overviews, with 2011 on the front left, 2012 front right and back left, and 2013 back right. There are 248 pages and a table of contents at the front, as the pages (besides the diary and maps) are numbered. The first 13 pages include five-language common phrases (English, French, German, Italian and Spanish) and U. S. and international holiday lists. 

The diary section begins with 2-page monthly grids for December 2011 through January 2013.  There is an overview of the previous month and next five months to the left. The grid “squares” measure 1 2/8” wide by 1 3/8” tall and are faintly lined, a very nice feature. Holidays for the U.S., Canada and the U.K. are printed at the bottom of the squares.

The monthly spreads are followed by a week + notes format for mid-December 2011 through mid-January 2013. 

The left-hand page has the month at the top and then horizontal spaces for the days, with the date and weekday name in each. There is a darker rule between days and faint-ruled lines in each day, with a break in the center of the lines so they may be used either as columns or written straight across. The lines are spaced at 6 mm, with four per weekday and three for the weekend. Saturday and Sunday share the space at the bottom, which was a disappointment to me. The photo on the website when I ordered showed Saturday at the bottom of this page, and Sunday at the bottom of the right-hand page. So the weekend days have very small spaces. The right-hand page has the month and day numbers at the top right with the week number underneath. There are then faint-ruled lines able to be used as columns, with 24 lines if you count the dark rule at the bottom. Under this line (which, alas, used to be Sunday. . .) there are monthly overviews for the previous, current and two following months.

The final diary section is an overview for 2013 with two months per page, one column for each.  There are 29 lines so if you wanted a day per line you would need to use the space below the last line.

Page 164 begins a “Travel Information” section, including air distances, weather, time zones and weights and measures. The “Contact Information” section begins page 172 with dialing codes. There are then 13 pages for your own contacts; I assumed this was intended for two letters per page and added the letters at the top corners.

Next is a page and a bit for birthdays and anniversaries, with printed charts of traditional gifts, birthstones and so on.

There follow four pages for recording hotel and restaurant details, which I am using for book lists. 

Pages 196 through 210 are lined pages for notes—this is an outstanding feature to me!—and then page 211 is for personal data, which seems an odd spot for this even if it were wise to fill out, which it isn’t. The final section is several pages of beautiful full-color world maps, with several major cities and even the London Underground and New York Subway included.

So how did this planner work for me? “Did” is the operative word. I preferred it to the weekly Moleskine, partly because the paper was heavier and partly because it is much more aesthetically pleasing. The monthly calendars and week + notes pages provide more writing room than the personal-sized Filofax though the book is smaller and easier to carry. I found work arounds for several annoyances:  There is no closure, but a stretchy headband works for that and also solved the problem of no pen holder as I tucked the pen under the headband. Since the book is bound I needed a spot for disposable shopping lists, so I stuck some 4” x 6” lined sticky notes inside the front cover. It surprised me to find I missed my Filofax ruler, not so much for measuring but for using as a straightedge to draw lines, so a few times I used the edge of an envelope or some such. I did miss having a Moleskine back pocket as I had nowhere to put the stickers I use to mark details on the monthly grids. I also found I missed having moon phases on the calendar, though the weekly pages have the equinoxes and solstices.

The paper is very nice for writing and a bit heavier than Moleskine but still not good for very liquid ink, which I like to use. See the photo for ink test results. The Uni Ball Vision Elite bled through. 

And I do confess to liking white paper best in planners, though this paper is a nice shade of cream. Honestly the printed information and maps are not at all useful to me as I don’t travel; more lined notes pages would have been my preference. But the deal-breaker for me was the size of the weekend days. They are just too small to work for me. I adapted by using the left column on the notes page for weekly to dos, the bottom right for info I might need to find later, and the right column for my weekend days. Which sort of defeats the purpose of the day spaces, in my mind; I want weekly things on the right page and daily things on the day spaces. I’ve moved on to another experiment as right now practicality trumps sheer beauty for my planning needs.

Daily Diary Decision

It didn't take long to decide which diary to use for which purpose!

In my previous post Daily Diary Dilemma and its associated video, I debated the pros and cons of the Quo Vadis Notor and the Undercover UK daily diary.

I'm pleased to report I've come to a decision!

I'll use the Notor as my day to day diary.

As I detailed in my video, I like having my scheduled events out of the way at the top of the page, leaving the rest of the page open for lists and notes.

The empty box at the bottom of the page encourages me to fill it with noteworthy happenings and things I want to remember, like a mini-journal. (And to be completely honest, the paper is so wonderfully smooth I want to touch it all day long!)


The Undercover UK diary will be used as my blogs diary.

The monthly calendars will be perfect for scheduling blog posts.

Since I don't have any appointments associated with my blog, the open daily format will be better suited for notes and post ideas.

Whew!  It feels great to have made my decision!

Daily Diary Dilemma: Quo Vadis Notor or Undercover UK diary?

I've just posted a video on You Tube detailing my current planner dilemma: Which to use, the Notor or the Undercover UK?

In the video I explain why, after much angst, I finally decided to stop using my pocket Moleskine day per page planner.

The video details the pros and cons of the Notor and the same-size Undercover UK diary. Which one will I choose??

For more information on each of the planners:

You can see my review of the Notor with lots of photos here.

Click here to see my review of the Undercover UK diary with lots of photos.