Welcome to Plannerisms

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

New poll: What size and type of planner do you use?

There's a new poll over there in the sidebar, please vote! I know I've asked in the past what size planners people use, but this poll adds another dimension: the type of planner.

I'm interested in size, to know if people work out of big or small pages, and type, to know what styles of planners are popular right now. I know I get a lot of Filofax users here, so I'm expecting plenty of ring binder answers. But with the growing popularity of Midoris and Hobonichis I'm expecting lots of those too.

If your planner doesn't fit into any of the categories I've set, please post a comment here telling us what you use.

I'm hoping this generates a lot of discussion among planner users, especially for folks who might be struggling with their planner so they can see what other people use and get ideas for what might work for them.

32 comments:

  1. I started a modified Bullet Journal on the first of this month. right now I'm using what I had on had which was an A6ish pocket notebook with grid lines from Piccadilly. I really like it so far, but I think I may want something bigger, like the same book, but A5ish. but I'm worried that it wouldn't be as convenient or fit in my purse as well.

    I've become rather obsessed with planners and such, and I kind of love the idea of the Filofax or DIYfish like system, but I don't think I'm quite busy enough to get the full use out of them, and I'm pretty sure I would accidentally rip most of the pages out of any kind of binder, my binders and spiral bound books in school never survived to the end of the semester with all of their pages, even when I was trying to be careful.

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  2. A pocket size Filofax for dates, addresses, "hard" calendar type stuff. Pocket is sometimes a bit cramped, but it's a good size for fitting in my bike bag :)

    On my desks, I tend to use a running to-do list, on whatever pad I have to hand.

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  3. I wasn't sure if "bound" also meant wire-bound, as I tend to think of bound books as like library books. I use a wire-bound A5 in a leather cover for my weekly & monthly planning. I found if I use ring planners, I tend to fiddle with the planner more than use it for planning. I just found the "Your Life Coach in a Book" on Amazon and use it as my daily planner. I really like the format. It's also a wire-bound book.

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    1. Hi Amy, good point, yes wire or spiral bound would count as a bound book. I had never heard of that planner before so I looked it up, it looks really good!

      And yes it's all too easy to spend too much time messing with pages in ring binders. There's just so many options and possible permutations!

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  4. I use the 8.5 x 11 Executive size Planner Pad and use a small bullet journal for daily pages as I need them and purely personal journaling.

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  5. I choose ring bound personal, even though it's actually FC compact. They are almost the same size and set-up.

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  6. My main organiser is a Filofax Slimline. I ticked Personal because it takes Personal size leaves.

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  7. I use a combination of Personal size and FC Compact. Depending on the activity and how "busy" I'll switch between the two sizes. Since they have the same ring configuration, it's no problem. I've noticed that I prefer a vertical style Wo2P, although right now I'm using up my KateSpade horizontal inserts. When things really heat up, I'll insert a daily page within that week, keeping pertinent pages contained. Bouncing around between sections would drive me batty.

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  8. I have a Staples 8x10 Lace Petals Planner, which is wirebound. I'm a creative type, so a lot of the structured stuff doesn't work for me (i.e., itemized appointments, task lists). I wanted a monthly only calendar in 8x10, but that's been really hard finding anything in that size, since all the vendors seem to be only making them in pocket or 8 1/2X11. The few I can find are too corporate, and my muse was not happy with that. So I settled on a weekly/monthly, where the choices were better. The cover is violet, and the pages framed by a purple and green floral print. The text is green and the lines purple.

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    1. Blue Sky Planners sells monthly 8x10 calendars in very pretty designs. I've seen them at Office Max/Office Depot.

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    2. Bree, I did like the calendar parts of Blue Sky, but the designs didn't do that much for me. I had to make the decision of having the weekly portion for more design choices or pick from ones that didn't do much for me.

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  9. I would love to use a planner that is the same size as a May Designs journal but in a Travelers Notebook style. Unfortunately, not very many people offer this and I've not had any luck finding a designer willing to create a custom one for me.

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    1. naomi what size is the May Designs journal? I know people who have had custom covers made for their large Moleskines, A5 size Hobonichis etc so I'm sure we could find someone to make a cover for you.

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    2. Have you tried Buteo Bunker on Etsy? I believe they have a travelers-type notebook that fits the May Designs. I just saw someone post a pic of theirs on the Midori TN FB page and was thinking of ordering one myself. I have heard nothing but awesome things about Buteo Bunker.

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  10. I use a Filofax Guildford xtra slim pocket binder. I used a personal Filofax for years, For whatever reason Filofax was very late with their month on two pages with tabs, so after 30 + years I abandon Filofax except for the binder. I am anxious to see what develops with the A6 size, and might consider that for 2016 from Vander Spek

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  11. I've stumbled into a very idosyncratic arrangement that seems to be working out (for a change). I use an 8.5x11 Daytimer Family Plus Planner, spiralbound, which I fill out on Sunday and hang with binder clips on my wall, open to the week. this has the meal plan and must-do lists and tasks for the week. I use an Erin Condren for my daily lists and notes, and a personal Malden for my trip to town & shopping planner and wallet. I also have adjunct classic/A5 binders for health, financial and project tracking. Would never have planned out this arrangement but it's working and that's all I care about!

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  12. I use an A5 Hobonichi cousin for my health monitoring (day to day pain/tiredness etc), a personal filofax for my day to day lists, and a bound A6 undated planner from Iconic which I discovered recently ( http://www.thejournalshop.com/brands/iconic/iconic-the-planner-v3-deep-blue ). I love this little planner, which has both month and weekly pages, lovely design and size and very easy to set up. I do write small so can fit everything in, might not suit someone with large handwriting!

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  13. I use a disc-bound system from Staples. The one I keep open on my desk is A4 with a leather cover, but I also have an A5 version with a lighter poly cover for when I travel.

    I created my own templates, since pre-printed planners don't work for me as a full-time writer.
    http://sandragerth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Daily-Planner.pdf
    http://sandragerth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Monthly-Weekly-Goals.pdf

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  14. For my daily work, my appointments and my most important 3 tasks a day, I use the Mabook A6 from X47. Papersize: 98 x145 mm, 3.86 x 5.71 inch.
    For my meeting-notes, I take my X17-A4+ notebook. 8,26 x 12,6 inch.

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  15. Currently using a Filofax Personal in Pillarbox Red. My handwriting is small and the paper size works well for me. I can cram a lot onto those lines! Biggest use outside of regular life planning is for class notes in Pharmacology and Medical Coding. It's been a huge bonus to have my notes available wherever I go. Another extensive use is for menu planning as I love to cook. I can jot down inspiration, ingredients, and see at a glance what I have planned for the week. I made my own menu template, used a self-seal laminating pouch for it, and use page markers to plan out the next week. It's worked very well for me.

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  16. Currently using a Filofax Personal in Pillarbox Red. My handwriting is small and the paper size works well for me. I can cram a lot onto those lines! Biggest use outside of regular life planning is for class notes in Pharmacology and Medical Coding. It's been a huge bonus to have my notes available wherever I go. Another extensive use is for menu planning as I love to cook. I can jot down inspiration, ingredients, and see at a glance what I have planned for the week. I made my own menu template, used a self-seal laminating pouch for it, and use page markers to plan out the next week. It's worked very well for me.

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  17. I use my own system (with things borrowed from bullet journal) in a blank tomoe river journal from paperforfountainpens.com It's a unique size that I had never used before, but I love it! The simplicity of it combined with a ton of pages makes it perfect for my everything notebook.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Beth it's great to see you here! I had never heard of that notebook before, wow!! It looks amazing! I love that there are so many pages but because the paper is so thin the book is still a normal size.

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  18. Midori in passport size. Ex Filofaxer until they lost their focus on organization and became a fashion company. Love Midori and their paper is uber fountain pen friendly. Now Midori and Kaweco own me.

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    1. I agree about the Midori paper, now that I am using it I find it hard to tolerate any other type of paper!

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  19. I have only a mere two organizers in use. I have a personal one, which is my A6 VDS Senior and for keeping track of meetings and fundraising events for the Royal Flying Doctor Service ( Local Support Branch) I use a Personal Filofax. They are kept in different bags - the VDS being for personal and church and the FF solely for the RFDS. I have no need of anything other than Kikki.K or Steve's downloaded inserts.

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  20. I've upsized again (even though I swore I was done with A5/Classic) - to an A5 Boston with custom FranklinCovey inspired inserts. I also use a Moleskine large notebook for note taking at work. And a Pocket Filofax for in my purse for notes on the go.

    I've covered my new A5 setup here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qipTTgEluLc

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  21. My favourite is A5 - because of paper size, but I don't like it to bring with me. I'm combining them now with a compact - what contains only calendar, todolist and notepaper.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYGp8P5BaDU

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  22. I made a "fauxdori" to fit the Clairfontaine 4 1/4 x 6 3/4 ruled notebooks (really wish they came in grid!). I keep two in my planner at a time: one for a modified bullet journal and the other as a kind of catch-all reference for lists, personal data I need to remember, etc. Ray Blake has very good tutorials on making your own Midori and inserts.

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  23. It depends on which day you ask me.

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  24. I basically use all sizes, depending on the area of life..

    Work
    - X47 Organizer Pro in A5, as my major list organizing tool in A5 at the desk and in meetings, but with an A6 calendar insert,
    - X47 Organizer Expert in A6, for on the way, here I clink in the A6 calendar from the Organizer Pro for the way + have some note pages for the way
    - X17 A5+ Horizontal, perfect for me as a laptop worker, I use the 5x3 method as my daily to do list

    Private
    - Mind-papers from X17 as my index card system, in A8


    I hope that helps :)

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  25. 7 x 9 inch weekly & monthly
    Abp1 daily with my own added month on two page inserts
    Both are bound books

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