2014 Hobonichi Planner (English version) review!

Finally, here is my Hobonichi review! Sorry for the delay.

So. The Hobonichi planner. You've probably seen these online a lot in recent months. The Japanese Hobonichi Techo planner has been extremely popular in Japan for more than a decade. They made an English version for 2013 which proved popular, but non-Japanese speaking folks had a hard time ordering from the Japanese website. That was remedied by Lindsay, their brilliant and wonderful translator. Now the English website is clear and easy to use!

I ordered my Hobonichi English planner and cover on the website linked above. Big heads-up to UK folks: be prepared to pay more than 20 pounds in import fees and VAT. For some reason I didn't have to pay (luck I guess?), but friends of mine who have ordered more than the 15 GBP value threshold have had to pay the fees. You can see more info on this website.

You can convert the Japanese yen to your currency on XE.com or similar conversion websites to see approximately what you'll be paying, but keep in mind the actual conversion rate is determined by your credit card company when you order.

To be honest, I wasn't going to order a Hobonichi planner. The planner + cover + shipping for my order cost the equivalent of more than $60 USD/ 38 GBP, which is more than I usually spend on a planner that is purely experimental for me. But the more I looked at websites online, the more I wanted one. Hobonichi fans are very enthusiastic and have a sort of combination of the creative uses that you see on Moleskine websites and the personalization of different covers that Filofax fans have. In the end, curiosity won and I caved and ordered one.

There are lots of excellent reviews online already of the 2014 Hobonichi planner, and I'm not going to try to duplicate those. In particular check out Well Appointed Desk's review for excellent photos, and information on how the paper performs with fountain pen inks. (I don't own any fountain pens so I can't help you there.)

Mainly I want to answer questions I've seen online, especially about the size. US folks in particular are not usually familiar with this size, which is A6. That's just under 6 inches tall and about 4 1/4 inches wide. Lots of people have been surprised at how small the planner is, so I will show you some comparison photos.

Here is the Hobonichi planner as it comes, without an optional cover on. The black textured cover can certainly be used without another cover on it.

Below you can see the Hobonichi planner between a large Moleskine (green) and a pocket Moleskine (purple). As you can see, it's about the same height and slightly wider than the pocket Moleskine.

Below you can see the Hobonichi planner next to a US standard letter size piece of paper (8 1/2 by 11 inches).

The Hobonichi's A6 size is very portable, and easy to carry with you everywhere.

Below is the cover I chose, the I'll listen to you anytime, says the Donkey cover:

I chose this cover because at the time I ordered it was the only cheaper cover left, at 1900 Yen (approximately $19 USD).

I really like this cover, it's colorful and fun. The design is by a children's author.

The interior has an excellent pocket layout, and two placemarkers to mark your current month and day.

So let me show you some interior photos. First of all I want to apologize for the quality of the photos, it's hard to get good light this time of year!

The diary is one page per day, with a 4 mm grid pattern. 

Some of my photos don't accurately represent the color of the paper. Here is a comparison of the Hobonichi paper with Moleskine's ivory paper (left) and Clairefontaine bright white (at right). As you can see it's just off white. Also you can see the 4 mm grid compared to the 6 mm ruling of the Moleskine. (Click on any of the photos for a larger view.)

I'll take you for a walk through the book to show you the features. The first two pages are reference calendars:

Next are months as columns:

Then monthly calendars with each month on a two-page spread:

The monthly calendars have space at the side for lists and reminders, and space below the month which is a convenient place to write recurring events.

Next comes the day per page diary section. I didn't show December 2013, which has two days per page so you can get started early. Each page has the phase of the moon at the top. Sundays are in red, and there is a quote at the bottom of each two-page spread.

Something I want to point out about the moon phases: they are in Japanese time. Below is a good example (click the photo for a larger view): the New Moon was on Friday the 31st of January in Japan, but the Moleskine diary behind shows the new moon at 21:39 GMT which falls on Thursday. Just something to be aware of if the moon phases matter to you, especially for US folks because the moon phases will be the day before in the US.

At the side of the daily pages are shaded areas indicating the month, so you can find the month you are looking for easily. There is also a month calendar with the days in view circled.

After the daily pages there are several pages with a red 4 mm dot grid for notes.

At the back of the book are several pages of content with a guide to sushi and sake, using chopsticks, and tea around the world:

Here is another view of the front and back of my cover:

The back of the cover has a full-length outside pocket.

I also bought the Tartan cover from Tracy, it has a nice rough-fabric feel to it:

There are lots of places to look online for more info on the Hobonichi planner and different ways people use theirs. Their Facebook page has lots of good photos of use, as do the Tumblr page and Flickr. Lindsay has an unofficial guide to the Hobonichi, and you can see more info about the making of the planner in this interview with its creator.

The Hobonichi planner ordering website sells out of covers quickly, so if you like a particular cover be sure to buy it quick!

Let me know in the comments if you have any questions about the 2014 Hobonichi planner, and I'll be happy to answer!

Be sure to check out my post Monday: my review of the A5 size Hobonichi Cousin planner which has monthly, weekly AND daily pages!!!

Guest post: Christine's Bullet Journal system in her Day Runner Harmony desk size binder

Huge thanks to Christine for sharing her Day Runner system with us! Her work situation recently ramped up enormously, and she's using her new system to get her through this super-busy time. Here's Christine:

One week ago I learned that my boss is retiring in May and I’ll need to cover for her until her replacement can be found, which takes typically 4-6 months. In the interim, my weekly job hours will jump from 20 to 40. 

This is not precisely a happy development, since I know from long experience that working full time sends my diet and exercise programs into a tailspin, plus my writing is just now being published and I want to keep that momentum going. 

However, it is what it is. I will have 17 events to coordinate before October (by which time her replacement will surely be found). Most of them will be pretty basic, lasting just a few hours and requiring at most a single performer, but one will be an all-day event with multiple performers. 

Prior to this rather overwhelming development, I had been vacillating between a Moleskine bullet journal, a Franklin Covey compact binder with a two page per day diary, and a Day Runner Harmony classic size binder with a weekly calendar, unable to decide on a final format. I happened to be carrying the Harmony planner on the day I learned the scope of what was coming, and I am very glad for that, because only that format is capable (in my estimation) of handling this job. 

I put all relevant event details into the monthly calendar, and all the contact info into the A-Z, and there is no way I am going to jeopardize this data by changing formats until all these events are complete. So guess what, my 2014 planner decision has been made, at least until October, when my requirements will change again. 

Here is the Harmony Day Runner Planner. It holds 8.5” x 5.5” paper, with 7 rings. 

The binder is fabric covered and much lighter than comparable leather binders. It has a secretarial pocket, a few cards slots and a notepad in the back. It features an undated monthly and weekly calendar format, and the divider tabs included are Calendar, Notes, To Do, Information and Addresses. After Addresses are the A-Z Tabs.

I have of course completely gutted, replaced and rearranged everything. Here is my layout:

First, I have a flyleaf in front of a meal plan and shopping list I found at the Goodwill.

Behind that, I keep my annual goals, projects and resolutions on a single page.

Following that are my separately purchased monthly pages. 

These are Day Timers tabbed monthly calendar pages I bought at WalMart for $10 last year. They are so functional: 6 rows of weeks mean no cut off days at the end of the month, and lined day boxes are helpful. Also the “action list” at the end of the week is a perfect place to write down the 8 most important things to do that week. 

The front and back of the monthly pages are big lined pages dedicated to lists and notes. The months are separate, so you can insert pages between them. This is the first monthly format calendar that I’ve really loved and found workable.

In between the months I put the project pages chronologically for each event in that month. I was going to put them in the A-Z pages but there are too many (sigh). I’ll use top tabs to separate them as the information builds up. In the A-Z I keep a master checklist of all programs with a grid for every publicity venue to check off as they are promoted, and I also have a template of the procedure for hiring performers, and a master budget sheet so I can see whom I can afford to hire. 

After the month pages there is a section tabbed “To Do,” and this is my bullet journal section. 

I replaced the weekly pages from this planner with a bullet journal. Notes, daily and weekly plans and lists are written on quad paper. I made a pretty today page marker because I don’t usually decorate these pages. At the weekend, I bring forward all undone tasks, add events and notes to the monthly calendar, transfer lists into the A-Z, then unceremoniously dump the older pages. So, unlike my Moleskine, this adaptation of a bullet journal has no permanence. That allows me to write fast and furious, dump my anxieties and fears along the way, and not worry about how it looks or if anyone will ever read it. 

Given the circumstances, I absolutely must keep everything as simple as possible so I don’t lose information and have terrible crises and nervous breakdowns. Abandoning the weekly calendar is forcing me to use the monthly pages to full capacity, which is why I love their design, with plenty of room for lists and notes! 

The A-Z (which has an archival counterpart in a separate binder on my desk) has an index at the front and holds only highly relevant information. 

Information like the book club and writers group rosters and schedules, expense registers, petty cash envelope, lists of home and car maintenance tasks, procedures and routines for both work and home, major purchases, health notes, prescription numbers go in here. Plus of course address and phone numbers for work contacts. 

Yes, I’m mixing work and personal, and I do work for local government, so that’s probably not smart. I can take personal pages out of the A-Z pretty fast, and there’s never more than a week of bullet journal in there anyhow; I’ll just back up my monthly calendars in Evernote so I don’t lose my personal dates and deadlines if worse comes to worst and the planner is seized for some legal purpose (I even have a backup Harmony in my supply cabinet). 

This is probably the simplest ring bound arrangement I’ve ever used. Plus, I’m taking all my notes on 7-hole punched classic-sized notepads, so I can put the information straight into my binder without rewriting. I don’t want to take any chances at all right now! Zero replication of data, zero rewriting and weekly removal of deadwood are my three magic bullets to get me through the coming challenge. 

The binder fits into my handbag and weighs in at 1.12 lbs. or 508 grams. It’s no trouble to carry. 

In case you wonder, I have 4 other desk-based books in service: The first is a classic sized Aurora binder for bill paying and budget tracking, one is a classic sized Day Timer Malibu that holds vehicle data plus gardening and home repair notes, one is the aforementioned A-Z archive, and the other is my Plannerisms planner, the only bound book of the bunch, in which I am tracking my diet and exercise. 

Christine thanks again so much for sharing your system with us, and best of luck during this busy time!

New Winner For Textagenda!!

Unfortunately the winner of the Textagenda from the recent giveaway never contacted me to claim her prize! As stated in the rules (if I didn't receive an email from a winner by Friday Feb 7) I had to randomly generate a new winner. 

The new winner of the Textagenda is:  Katrine D!!!!

Katrine included her email address in her entry comment, so I will be emailing her immediately to notify her of her prize. Congratulations Katrine!

So let this be a lesson to you folks: when you enter giveaways, be sure to write down the name of the website and the date to check to see if you won, so you don't miss out on your prize you took the time to enter for!

Planner user levels: Low, Medium, High

Look around at all the different types of planners and you will notice that some are meant for more intensive planning than others.

Pocket size weekly or monthly planners are geared toward planner users with low or minimal needs. Believe it or not I was a Low user once! In college (university to my European friends) all I needed my planner for was due dates and my work schedule. I used those Sierra Club planners with the week on one page and the other page full of a beautiful photograph. I didn't even use lists back then! I guess I didn't really have that much to remember. I got my classwork done and got to work on time, and that was all I really had to think about.

The vast majority of planners are for Medium users, which most people in the general population are. Horizontal weekly planners are simple and straightforward, and give you space to write what needs to be done each day without too much analysis. I graduated to Medium planner use in grad school, when my schedule was more complicated and I had more things due. I also had my thesis to write, my degree requirements to keep track of, and my research to plan. I used a horizontal weekly format in my personal size Filofax, and even though the day spaces were small they were all I needed at the time. I used tabbed sections to keep track of everything. It worked well for me then, but has never worked as well for me since.

After I had kids and moved overseas my life suddenly got a lot more complicated. I would say I'm a Medium-High planner user, as I suspect most moms (and anyone managing multiple people) are. I have to keep track of myself and everyone else in my family, make sure everyone gets where they are going on time, and with everything they need. I plan ahead for birthday parties, holidays, travel and events. I have to put all that information somewhere, and am constantly trying to figure out the best way to keep track of it all in a reasonably sized binder or combination of books.

There are several systems designed for the Medium-High planner user like the Organised Mum diaries (and countless other Mom planners) that help you keep track of each person in the family, budget, holidays etc. Uncalendar is geared toward Medium-High planner users and is useful for anyone keeping track of multiple things at once. I've heard students in nursing school (which is notoriously busy and stressful) love using Uncalendar planners.

I'm not truly a High level planner user. Those are the folks that have multiple meetings and scheduled events every day, clients and/or employees to keep track of, and multiple projects/ billables/ deliverables going on at once. I suspect most of these folks have moved over to Outlook, Google calendar or other digital ways to keep track of everything.

There are paper planner systems designed for the High level planner user. Franklin Covey is probably the most well-known and long-lived system for helping High level planner users to prioritize tasks and keep track of multiple things at once. Getting Things Done is a system I've heard a lot about but never tried myself, it is designed for very busy people too.

What about you? Would you consider yourself to be a Low, Medium, or High level planner user?

Free For All Friday No. 22: One month in, how's your planner situation going?

Here we are one month into our working lives in 2014. Right about now is when people tend to realize either their planner situation is working well, or it needs some tweaking.

I am enjoying my Plannerisms planner for all planning, and my large Moleskine notebook for all recording. But that planner contentment doesn't keep me from thinking of ways to make it Even Better!

I realized recently that both my books are closed too often, and I need to find a place where I can leave them open so I can see them most of the time.

I've also been toying with getting a Daytimer Desk size Malibu ring binder and cutting and punching my Plannerisms planner pages to put in it, so I can have my planning, recording and permanent lists all in one binder.  I know people who have cut and punched Plannerisms planner pages with success, so this is a tempting option. I am concerned about the overall weight though, and am wondering if it would end up being bigger and heavier than I want to carry. I haven't decided if I will do this experiment, but I'll be sure to post about it if I do!

**Update: someone has kindly agreed to do a trade with me, so I will get a Desk size Malibu! When it gets here I plan to undertake the Plannerisms hack experiment. I'm very excited about this and will do a post to let you all know how it goes!

What about you? How is your planner situation working for you so far this year? Is it flowing smoothly, or are you thinking about tweaking your system?

And as always on Fridays, feel free to discuss/ ask anything planner related!

What to do when you Hate your Planner

Hating your planner is a tough situation. When you hate your planner, you don't use it, which causes your schedule and tasks to fall down around your ears. If you are hating your planner, let's see what we can do about it.

Planner hatred is actually caused by one or both of two separate situations: hating the planner itself, and hating what you write in it.

Hating the planner itself is solvable, although many people have a hard search for their Perfect Planner. The first place to start is my Planner Quagmire post, and then my What do you want your planner to do for you post. These will help you determine what you need and want from your planner.  When you have figured out what you want your planner to do, you can look at the other posts in my How To Find Your Perfect Planner page to see what type of planner fits your needs.

Maybe you are stuck with a planner you hate. Maybe you are required to use a certain planner for work, or your budget doesn't allow you to get the planner you want right now. That's okay. Decorate your planner, get a new cover for it, or otherwise make it more "you." If it's lacking features you need, check out my Bound Planner work-arounds series to get ideas.

Hating what you write in your planner is a different situation. If you hate what's written in your planner, you won't want to open it and you definitely won't have good feelings about using it, which won't encourage you to use it on a regular basis (which you need to do).

There have been plenty of times when I've looked at my to-do list and thought, "I really don't want to do any of that stuff."  There's a certain amount of drudgery in all our lives. Bills and chores won't take care of themselves. But if you are dreading everything written in your planner, it might be time to re-evaluate your life situation.

You can write up some life goals and start thinking about how to go about getting where you want to be. But in the meantime, purposefully write fun things into your planner. Schedule in time to read a good book or go out with friends. Schedule a short trip or fun activity, and plan for it. Do a countdown if you like. Looking forward to activities increases our overall enjoyment of them.

You can also increase your enjoyment of your planner by recording fun things you did, adding your gratitude list, positive quotes or other things you like. Anything you would enjoy seeing day to day will help you like your planner better.

Don't let your planner become a reminder of things you Should do but don't want to. Then it will only be a source of annoyance and shame. Make your planner enjoyable to use (whether with excellent writing paper, fun decorations or a nice texture) and write fun things in it and events to look forward to.

Have you ever been in the situation where you hated your planner (itself, or/ and what you wrote in it)? What did you do to get rid of your Planner Hatred?

Gallery Leather Monthly and Textagenda Daily planners WINNERS!

Here are the winners of the Gallery Leather monthly and Textagenda daily planners:

The winner of the Gallery Leather monthly planner is: Sandy Reynolds!

The winner of the Textagenda daily planner is: kate!

**UPDATE: I never did hear from kate, so as stated in the rules (if I didn't hear from a winner by Friday Feb 7) I have randomly generated a new winner. Check the post on Feb 11 to see who won the Textagenda!!


Congratulations! Winners, email me at Laurie at Plannerisms dot com so we can get your new planners to you!

Thanks to everyone who participated!

**Reminder: if the winners do not email me by this Friday Feb 7, I will choose new winners!