Moleskine paper and lines are darker

I hate Moleskine's dark lines and paper this year! I opened up a new Moleskine notebook the other day and immediately noticed the lines are much darker than in Moleskine notebooks I've had before. I compared the new notebook to a Moleskine notebook I bought several months ago and not only are the lines much darker but the paper is darker too, and more yellow-looking. It is really not nice to look at!!!!

I compared my 2011 Moleskine planners to my 2010 Moleskine planners and found the same thing: in the 2011 versions the lines are much darker, and the paper is darker too and more yellow-looking than last year's paper.

Dark lines are distracting, and dark paper is not nice at all to look at, especially all day every day when using a planner.

I won't be buying any more Moleskine notebooks until they change the paper and lines back to their lighter colors!!

Is anyone else bothered by dark lines and paper?

Huge sale at The Paperie UK!

The Paperie UK is having a huge sale!  Click here to see their sale items.  And as if the prices weren't already amazing, shipping is free on orders over £10!

Jottrr notebooks are on sale for an incredible £6.75 (click here to go to the product page), click here to see my review of these excellent notebooks.

Last night while I was browsing the sale I could not resist buying this beautiful pink leather journal (click here to see).  At only £12.75 it costs about the same as a large Moleskine notebook, and the shipping was free!  I'm so excited to get it, and will definitely review it here on Plannerisms when it arrives!

The Bellini leather journals come in a variety of colors and two different sizes, click here to see all.

Happy shopping!  If you do buy something at the sale, post a comment to tell us what you got! :)

*Note: I'm not affiliated with The Paperie UK, I just wanted to give you all a heads-up about the sale. :)

Let the WeekDate begin!

I'm now using my WeekDate weekly planner! I specifically gave my Moleskine weekly planner its trial starting at the beginning of the month while everyone was still on vacation, and waited (very impatiently!) until now to start my WeekDate planner while I have recurring weekly events going on so I can give it a fair trial.

Here's something I already love about it, which of course is the point of the WeekDate: my recurring weekly events are already written, even into future weeks.  So for example when I had to make an appointment several weeks from now, I didn't have to try to remember if my recurring set weekly events would interfere with the appointment time, because they were already written there for reference.

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, read my post about WeekDate planners, or How It Works on the WeekDate website.

Click here to see the specifics of how I'm using this planner.

I'm very excited to be using this innovative, unique and extremely convenient planner!

Paperblanks daily and weekly planners

Some of you may remember my post My Ideal Planner where I speculated on what might be my ideal planner for 2011.  I received a lot of great planner suggestions from people in the comments.  One of those very nice comments was from Zed who said, "Laurie, I swear by Paperblanks' Dayplanners (I'm a sucker for anything beautiful). Have you considered any of their books?"

Here was my reply:

 "Zed, I agree the Paperblanks planners are beautiful. But, (and I am going to sound like a major snob here), I don't like that the covers are fake. I don't want a book that looks like it's leather-bound but is actually a paper cover. I'd rather get a real leather-bound book. Or covered in Sari silk, or Moroccan or whatever. That sounds horrible but I'd rather have the real thing or not at all. And, they don't have a vertical weekly + notes format."

Chris, who works for the publishers who make Paperblanks planners and notebooks, noticed this comment and very graciously emailed me.  First, he pointed out that Paperblanks actually does sell a vertical weekly planner with notes space on the weekly pages, in Europe, which I had not been aware of.  This version is not available in the US because the horizontal format is much more popular there.

Second, he very kindly offered to send me some Paperblanks planners to review here on Plannerisms.  And of course I happily took him up on his offer!  Thank you very much Chris!  He sent me a weekly planner with a beautiful purple cover, and a daily planner with the leather-look cover that I was so quick to diss in my comment. 

Here are the labels with info about each planner. Click on photos for a larger view.

Let me say this: yes I would prefer an actual leather cover.  But many of us (myself firmly included in this category) can't afford to shell out multiple tens of dollars/ pounds on a leather-covered book that can only be used for the one year.  The other issue is having to be careful not to get a leather cover messy, which can be inconvenient (and has caused me to abandon a planner before, which you can read about here).  I have to admit this cover looks really darn cool:

The purple cover is absolutely gorgeous and looks like silk:

Even the spines of the books are gorgeous, and these look amazing on a shelf:

Both of these planners are the Midi size, approximately 4 3/4 by 6 3/4 inches, which means they are very portable. In fact, in my opinion this is the perfect size for a day-per-page planner. It has plenty of space to write each day, but the book still fits into just about any bag.

The daily planner has a day-per-page format on the weekdays, with Saturday and Sunday sharing a page:

The weekly planner has a horizontal format with a space under Sunday for notes:

In both formats, holidays and phases of the moon are printed on the day spaces, which I really like.  Also you'll notice both formats have monthly calendars printed on the pages, to help you visualize where you are in the month.

Both books have loads (LOADS) of features including notes pages and current year planning calendars:

International holidays:

Monthly calendars with holidays printed in the day spaces:

Useful numbers and websites, and conversion charts:

International dialing codes and time zones:

Space to record travel planning, birthdays and important dates:

At the back of each book there's a calendar for the next year and list of holidays:

There's also a forward planner, and several lined pages for notes.

Both planners have TWO ribbon placemarkers, so you can keep your place in your daily and monthly sections.

Each planner has a closure.  The daily planner has an elastic strap that you can use to close the book, mark your page, or if you prefer not to use it it can stay discreetly in the back of the book. Also in the back of the book there is a pocket and removable address booklet:

The weekly planner closes with a magnetic flap, here is what it looks like open:

The weekly also has a pocket and address book in the back:

I don't know what the weight of the paper is, but it is thick and smooth.  It has a slight ivory tint that adds to the classy look of the books.

Click here for the Paperblanks website to see their products and find a retailer near you.  See their planner selection here and browse the interior pages of their planner formats (daily, weekly etc.) here.

Many thanks again to Chris for sending me these planners to review!  I have to admit the covers are beautiful, the books are well-made and have loads of great features. Now I finally understand why these planners are so popular!

Discontinued Filofaxes

Last week I went to Edinburgh for a couple of days and went to Jenners Department store on Princes Street.  I met Craig, the manager of The Pen Shop, who kindly showed me their excellent selection of Filofaxes.  He also pointed out to me a whole bunch of Filofaxes that are deeply discounted because they have been discontinued!  I was shocked at some of the binders that are being phased out!

You can read more about it with my entire list of which Filofaxes are discontinued in my post about it over on Philofaxy.

My current system

Here is my 2011 system so far.  This system is in its infancy and, as we all know, is subject to change.  But so far I'm really liking it!

My main planner is my Moleskine weekly vertical, which you can read all about here.  With its monthly and weekly views, this planner wins the prize for forward-planning and structuring my week.

For overflow on very busy days, I bust into my Pocket size day per page Moleskine planner.  This is the third year in a row I've used a pocket size planner for this purpose (1st year I used an Exacompta Daily Pocket, last year I switched to a Moleskine daily pocket for the hard cover and elastic strap. This year the Exacompta Daily Pocket does come in a cover with elastic strap, but this version is not available here in the UK.). 

This system is vastly different from my failed Daily + Weekly experiment.  In that system I used my daily as a satellite to my weekly, and tried to use both at the same time as my main planner.  The way I use my Pocket daily Mole is simply as that day's To Do list with any appointments filled in. I don't use it for future planning at all.  That morning (or the night before to get it out of my mind) I write everything I have to do that day.  The small page size limits me to what I can actually accomplish that day, and the small book fits in my pocket to go with me everywhere on days when I'm feeling really scattered so I can capture those fleeting thoughts and tasks before I forget them.  Most days I don't use this planner at all, but when I do need it it's a very important capture device.  Really it's a way of keeping my daily To Do lists in a bound book instead of on a scrap of paper that gets thrown away later.

My Extra Small Daily Moleskine planner is for fun things only.  Specifically, it's for things I want to write in my journal later.  The Extra Small is so tiny I can take it with me everywhere to capture those cute things my kids said, or anything I want to remember to expand on in my journal later.

My journal this year is my Quo Vadis Habana notebook with white paper and blank pages.  I regret to inform you that this notebook has been discontinued, QV will replace these with the ivory-paper Habanas that are currently available in Europe.  But, there has been such an outcry from Habana lovers (myself included) that it's possible QV may reconsider and offer the white-paper Habanas as a special edition. I hope they do!  You can read more about that here on the Quo Vadis blog's post about it.

Could I streamline this system and use fewer planners?  I'm sure I could.  But, this is a fun way for me to use more planners!  And, compartmentalizing things this way works well for me.  Some people might prefer to use a notebook for some of these functions instead of a planner, but the dated pages allow me to find information faster and easier than an undated book.

As always, this method is subject to change!  ;)

Happy New Year!

And Happy New Planner to all of you starting a new day-per-page planner today!  It's so exciting to start writing in a new book!

And, how cool is today's date?!?  1/1/11!!!

This year holds a lot of mysteries for me. Yet again I find myself wondering where I will be at the end of this year.  Will I stay here?  Will I be back in the US? Will I be somewhere else entirely?

I look at my 2011 planner and think, what will I write on all those pages of yours?

But whatever happens, I am feeling optimistic about this year.:)

I hope you have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2011 and that your planner gets filled with good things!