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.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Quo Vadis Notor
Here is the Quo Vadis Notor day per page planner in the Lilac club cover. I ordered this planner awhile ago to have on hand "just in case," and I'm glad I did because I've finally determined that my Pocket size daily Moleskine is just too small.
The Notor measures 4 3/4 inches by 6 3/4 inches (12 by 17 cm) which is my ideal size for a day per page planner. This has plenty of writing space and is still light and small enough to carry everywhere in my bag.
The Notor (January-December) is the same size and format as the Textagenda (August-July) which I've used several times before.
There is a full page for each day, even Saturday and Sunday. The timed schedule is at the top of the page, which is nice because it frees up the rest of the page for lists and notes. There's a space for the day's priority, and holidays are printed there too.
The majority of the page is lined, and at the bottom there is an open box for Notes. I like to use this box it to jot events that I want to write in detail in my journal later:
Along the side of the pages are the month indicators that I love so much!
Here you can see a comparison of the same day's page in my pocket Moleskine vs the Notor. With the Moleskine I had to make decisions about what was worthy of being written on the day's page due to space constraints. No such worries with the Notor, there's plenty of room for everything!
The Notor's paper is a dream: white and suuuper smooth. It's a joy to write on and takes any pen well.
Here's a pile of purple delightfulness: my pen, my Notor, and the Leuchtturm notebook I'm using as my self-drawn weekly planner. Yum!
There are other features I didn't take photos of including an anno-planner for the current year with monthly columns and the entire year at a glance, and pages in the back for contacts. There is a map of the US, Canada, and a world time zones map.
But I was very surprised that, unlike Textagenda diaries I've used before, there are no other maps, no international information or dialing codes, and especially surprising there's no anno-planner for the future year. I don't know if this will be changed in the 2013 diary, but the future year planner at the very least would be a nice addition.
For me the biggest advantages of the Notor are the super-smooth paper, the perfect size and the excellent selection of colored covers.
The Notor measures 4 3/4 inches by 6 3/4 inches (12 by 17 cm) which is my ideal size for a day per page planner. This has plenty of writing space and is still light and small enough to carry everywhere in my bag.
The Notor (January-December) is the same size and format as the Textagenda (August-July) which I've used several times before.
There is a full page for each day, even Saturday and Sunday. The timed schedule is at the top of the page, which is nice because it frees up the rest of the page for lists and notes. There's a space for the day's priority, and holidays are printed there too.
The majority of the page is lined, and at the bottom there is an open box for Notes. I like to use this box it to jot events that I want to write in detail in my journal later:
Along the side of the pages are the month indicators that I love so much!
Here you can see a comparison of the same day's page in my pocket Moleskine vs the Notor. With the Moleskine I had to make decisions about what was worthy of being written on the day's page due to space constraints. No such worries with the Notor, there's plenty of room for everything!
Here's a pile of purple delightfulness: my pen, my Notor, and the Leuchtturm notebook I'm using as my self-drawn weekly planner. Yum!
There are other features I didn't take photos of including an anno-planner for the current year with monthly columns and the entire year at a glance, and pages in the back for contacts. There is a map of the US, Canada, and a world time zones map.
But I was very surprised that, unlike Textagenda diaries I've used before, there are no other maps, no international information or dialing codes, and especially surprising there's no anno-planner for the future year. I don't know if this will be changed in the 2013 diary, but the future year planner at the very least would be a nice addition.
For me the biggest advantages of the Notor are the super-smooth paper, the perfect size and the excellent selection of colored covers.
Undercover UK Recycled leather daily diary
I've had my eye on this planner for a couple of years and finally took the plunge!
I admit my hesitation was due to worrying about the stiffness of the leather cover. You might remember awhile back I used a similar leather-covered day per page diary that was an utter Fail because the cover was so stiff it could hardly open. But after years of hemming and hawing I decided to just go for it, and I'm so glad I did!
This diary is from Undercover UK (www.undercoveruk.com). This is their day per page diary, in Majorelle Blue. This color is named after the Majorelle Garden in Marrakech for the supersaturated blue color on the walls. To be completely honest I wanted the Cyclamen color but by the time I finally got around to ordering (in April) the only colors they had left were this one and Lime green. I like the cool blue color so I went for it.
This diary measures 12 by 17 cm (approx. 5 by 6 3/4 inches) which is my favorite size for a day per page diary. In my experience, a Pocket size is not big enough for everything I want to write each day, and A5 is too big and heavy to carry everywhere. This size has plenty of writing space but is still light and small enough to go everywhere with me.
This little card came with the book and explains that their recycled leather comes from offcuts from the Italian shoe industry, very interesting!
The leather is not super-smooth and buttery like the Cavallini diary I used before, but that's okay. It has a nice leather feel and the cover is flexible without being floppy.
There is a color-matched elastic closure that is attached to the back of the cover with a bit of suede that's imprinted with the Undercover UK logo, very nice touch:
The website only showed the book open to the daily pages and didn't describe any other contents so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that this diary is packed with loads of great features!
The first page is a Personal Data page, and next is a two-page spread with this year's calendar on the left in a very nice format, and on the right are planning calendars for last year and next year.
Next there are MONTH CALENDARS!! With holidays printed in the day spaces!! Hooray!!
These month calendars have a vertical format, meaning the days of the week go down the side of the page rather than across the top, to allow it to fit on the page better. It will take me some practice to get the hang of using a monthly calendar this way but hey I'll take it! Month grid calendars! Three cheers!
And THEN imagine my delight when I found several pages of international information! There's an excellent list of dialing codes for dialing into AND out of the country, and instructions on how to place a call:
Next there's weights and measures, with a handy F/C temperature scale (which I refer to often!):
International sizes (which I also find useful) and average temperatures:
Then there is a page listing international holidays. These countries have their holidays printed on the day pages in the book. There are holidays for the UK and US as well as Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Denmark and several others:
Like I said the days have the holidays printed, and there are lines, but that's it. There's no times, there's no formatting, it's completely open to use any way you want. This is great if you want to use it as a journal. Or you could use it differently depending on the day: write in your times on appointment-heavy days, fill it with lists, write little notes, draw a sketch, anything at all.
The paper is a beautiful ivory color, clear and not at all muddy, not too dark, just a very nice color and very pleasant to look at. The paper is smooth and very nice.
The lines are ruled at 6.5 mm (my measurement) which is not too big, not too small, just right! Below, you can see holidays printed on the days.
At the back of the book there are pages for contacts and a couple of pages for notes:
I didn't take a picture of it but there is a real ribbon placemarker.
This is a really wonderful diary at a great price! There's a huge variety of cover colors to choose from, and excellent paper. I really like the open daily format with holidays printed on the day spaces, the international info and the monthly calendars! This diary is packed with excellent features and I'm so glad I got it!
I admit my hesitation was due to worrying about the stiffness of the leather cover. You might remember awhile back I used a similar leather-covered day per page diary that was an utter Fail because the cover was so stiff it could hardly open. But after years of hemming and hawing I decided to just go for it, and I'm so glad I did!
This diary is from Undercover UK (www.undercoveruk.com). This is their day per page diary, in Majorelle Blue. This color is named after the Majorelle Garden in Marrakech for the supersaturated blue color on the walls. To be completely honest I wanted the Cyclamen color but by the time I finally got around to ordering (in April) the only colors they had left were this one and Lime green. I like the cool blue color so I went for it.
This little card came with the book and explains that their recycled leather comes from offcuts from the Italian shoe industry, very interesting!
There is a color-matched elastic closure that is attached to the back of the cover with a bit of suede that's imprinted with the Undercover UK logo, very nice touch:
The website only showed the book open to the daily pages and didn't describe any other contents so I wasn't sure what to expect. I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that this diary is packed with loads of great features!
The first page is a Personal Data page, and next is a two-page spread with this year's calendar on the left in a very nice format, and on the right are planning calendars for last year and next year.
Next there are MONTH CALENDARS!! With holidays printed in the day spaces!! Hooray!!
And THEN imagine my delight when I found several pages of international information! There's an excellent list of dialing codes for dialing into AND out of the country, and instructions on how to place a call:
Next there's weights and measures, with a handy F/C temperature scale (which I refer to often!):
International sizes (which I also find useful) and average temperatures:
Then there is a page listing international holidays. These countries have their holidays printed on the day pages in the book. There are holidays for the UK and US as well as Japan, Russia, France, Germany, Denmark and several others:
Like I said the days have the holidays printed, and there are lines, but that's it. There's no times, there's no formatting, it's completely open to use any way you want. This is great if you want to use it as a journal. Or you could use it differently depending on the day: write in your times on appointment-heavy days, fill it with lists, write little notes, draw a sketch, anything at all.
The paper is a beautiful ivory color, clear and not at all muddy, not too dark, just a very nice color and very pleasant to look at. The paper is smooth and very nice.
At the back of the book there are pages for contacts and a couple of pages for notes:
This is a really wonderful diary at a great price! There's a huge variety of cover colors to choose from, and excellent paper. I really like the open daily format with holidays printed on the day spaces, the international info and the monthly calendars! This diary is packed with excellent features and I'm so glad I got it!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Planner lessons learned: Indonesia
Now that my time here in Indonesia is drawing to a close, I can look back over the past year and review what worked well and what didn't.
Most obvious is that the Moleskine Information Book I used to contain all my Indonesia contacts turned out to be unnecessary. Using the Moleskine Info book was a great idea at the time, and I was interested in a permanent reference which of course this book is good for. I didn't know at the time that I would end up carrying my Filofax with me everywhere. Had I known, I would have just made an Indonesia tabbed section in my Filofax. Several months ago I realized I never look in my Indonesia reference book anymore, so I stopped carrying it.
My Filofax turned out to be absolutely indispensable as my Medical Journal. I cycled through several personal size binders. I started with my Ivory Deco, but it was heavy and precious so I use it at home instead. Then I moved into my Grape Domino, which is lightweight and indestructible. Last summer I got an Aqua Finsbury that I love, and really enjoyed carrying that. Then my dad gave me a gorgeous Orchid Aston for my birthday, so I used that for awhile until I got a Wine Holborn Zipped, which has wonderful buttery soft leather and is still my everyday, go-everywhere Filofax.
A huge success has been using a weekly planner along with a day per page diary as my logbook. I've been using a Moleskine Pocket diary for all of 2011 and all of 2012 so far, and it is great for planning each day in detail and as a permanent record. Just yesterday I had to look something up from last year and it was very easy to find in my DPP. But if I had it to do over again, I would have chosen a slightly larger, approximately 5 x 7 inch book to have more writing space each day. I never did get myself to journal while I was here, which is fine. I wrote things I want to remember, like fun things I did with my family, in my day per page diary. A 5 x 7 inch book would have given me a little more space for this and still been light enough to carry everywhere.
As much as I love my pocket Moleskine for all the art my kids have done throughout it, I may switch over to using my Quo Vadis Notor that I ordered awhile ago "just in case," or the Undercover UK leather diary (in Majorelle Blue) that is currently on its way to me (and that I will definitely review here on Plannerisms when it arrives!). I know I would capture more details in the larger pages, and especially now while my move preparations are gearing up I could use more daily space.
But no matter what size daily book I use, I expect I'll go on indefinitely using a day per page diary to plan and record each day along with a weekly + monthly planner for planning ahead and goals.
So, predictably, just when I've got a system that works really well for me, my circumstances are changing. Right now in my bag I carry my personal size Filofax, my weekly planner (self-drawn in a Leuchtturm notebook) and my pocket daily Moleskine. But after I move to Scotland next month I'll be walking a lot more, and I doubt I'll want to carry so much everywhere with me.
I love using my Filofax as my reference and info book, and I love the idea of carrying it everywhere and adding to it over the years. But, I wonder if it will become my at-home reference that only comes along when I'm traveling.
My other dilemma is my day per page planner and/ or a journal. I'll have a lot more things I want to write and record. Will I prefer to use a larger day per page book as a combined journal/ logbook, or will I be better off using a separate undated book as a journal? If I can somehow regain the discipline to journal, this might be a good option.
So the good news is, my planner situation is working really well for me right now! But it's all-change in just a month and a half, so who knows what will work well for me then!
Most obvious is that the Moleskine Information Book I used to contain all my Indonesia contacts turned out to be unnecessary. Using the Moleskine Info book was a great idea at the time, and I was interested in a permanent reference which of course this book is good for. I didn't know at the time that I would end up carrying my Filofax with me everywhere. Had I known, I would have just made an Indonesia tabbed section in my Filofax. Several months ago I realized I never look in my Indonesia reference book anymore, so I stopped carrying it.
My Filofax turned out to be absolutely indispensable as my Medical Journal. I cycled through several personal size binders. I started with my Ivory Deco, but it was heavy and precious so I use it at home instead. Then I moved into my Grape Domino, which is lightweight and indestructible. Last summer I got an Aqua Finsbury that I love, and really enjoyed carrying that. Then my dad gave me a gorgeous Orchid Aston for my birthday, so I used that for awhile until I got a Wine Holborn Zipped, which has wonderful buttery soft leather and is still my everyday, go-everywhere Filofax.
A huge success has been using a weekly planner along with a day per page diary as my logbook. I've been using a Moleskine Pocket diary for all of 2011 and all of 2012 so far, and it is great for planning each day in detail and as a permanent record. Just yesterday I had to look something up from last year and it was very easy to find in my DPP. But if I had it to do over again, I would have chosen a slightly larger, approximately 5 x 7 inch book to have more writing space each day. I never did get myself to journal while I was here, which is fine. I wrote things I want to remember, like fun things I did with my family, in my day per page diary. A 5 x 7 inch book would have given me a little more space for this and still been light enough to carry everywhere.
As much as I love my pocket Moleskine for all the art my kids have done throughout it, I may switch over to using my Quo Vadis Notor that I ordered awhile ago "just in case," or the Undercover UK leather diary (in Majorelle Blue) that is currently on its way to me (and that I will definitely review here on Plannerisms when it arrives!). I know I would capture more details in the larger pages, and especially now while my move preparations are gearing up I could use more daily space.
But no matter what size daily book I use, I expect I'll go on indefinitely using a day per page diary to plan and record each day along with a weekly + monthly planner for planning ahead and goals.
So, predictably, just when I've got a system that works really well for me, my circumstances are changing. Right now in my bag I carry my personal size Filofax, my weekly planner (self-drawn in a Leuchtturm notebook) and my pocket daily Moleskine. But after I move to Scotland next month I'll be walking a lot more, and I doubt I'll want to carry so much everywhere with me.
I love using my Filofax as my reference and info book, and I love the idea of carrying it everywhere and adding to it over the years. But, I wonder if it will become my at-home reference that only comes along when I'm traveling.
My other dilemma is my day per page planner and/ or a journal. I'll have a lot more things I want to write and record. Will I prefer to use a larger day per page book as a combined journal/ logbook, or will I be better off using a separate undated book as a journal? If I can somehow regain the discipline to journal, this might be a good option.
So the good news is, my planner situation is working really well for me right now! But it's all-change in just a month and a half, so who knows what will work well for me then!
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Plannerisms is on You Tube!
Recently I asked on Twitter and Facebook if people would be interested in seeing Plannerisms videos on You Tube and I got a lot of positive responses! Thanks everyone for your interest!
You can see my You Tube videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Plannerisms/videos
I will still use this blog as my main format for reviews, but I thought it would be fun to do videos sometimes. Check them out and let me know what you think!
If you would like to suggest topics for videos just send me an email at Plannerisms at gmail dot com.
Thanks for watching!
You can see my You Tube videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Plannerisms/videos
I will still use this blog as my main format for reviews, but I thought it would be fun to do videos sometimes. Check them out and let me know what you think!
If you would like to suggest topics for videos just send me an email at Plannerisms at gmail dot com.
Thanks for watching!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Poll: Monthly calendars, Sunday or Monday start?
Whether you prefer your monthly calendar's weeks to begin on Sunday or Monday has a lot to do with where you live.
In the US, monthly calendars' weeks usually start on Sunday. Many people in the US don't like monthly calendars that start on Mondays because they are used to the Sunday start ones and find Monday-starting weeks confusing. I grew up with all monthly calendars starting their weeks on Sunday.
Elsewhere in the world, monthly calendars' weeks usually start on Monday, which I prefer. It keeps the weekend together for easier planning, and I like that my weekly planner pages directly match up with the corresponding week on my monthly calendar.
Quo Vadis blog had a post on this not long ago, and even though most of their readers are in the US there were still mixed replies.
Which do you prefer, Sunday or Monday start? Please vote in the poll in the sidebar!
In the US, monthly calendars' weeks usually start on Sunday. Many people in the US don't like monthly calendars that start on Mondays because they are used to the Sunday start ones and find Monday-starting weeks confusing. I grew up with all monthly calendars starting their weeks on Sunday.
Elsewhere in the world, monthly calendars' weeks usually start on Monday, which I prefer. It keeps the weekend together for easier planning, and I like that my weekly planner pages directly match up with the corresponding week on my monthly calendar.
Quo Vadis blog had a post on this not long ago, and even though most of their readers are in the US there were still mixed replies.
Which do you prefer, Sunday or Monday start? Please vote in the poll in the sidebar!
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Moleskine 2013 planners ALREADY shipping from Amazon!
I was very psyched to get an email today that the 2013 Moleskine planners I pre-ordered from Amazon.com are already shipping!!!
I got several of the new Limited Edition Star Wars planners, a large Magenta Daily diary, and the new Family Lifestyle planner too. I can't wait to get them, and you can bet I'll be reviewing them here on Plannerisms!
Here's what I got, if you're interested:
Star Wars (Yoda) Large Hardcover Weekly Notebook: (I love the quote on the front!!)
Star Wars (Han Solo) Pocket Daily Planner:
Star Wars (Darth Vader) Large Daily Planner:
Passions Family Life planner:
Large Magenta hardcover daily planner:
Let me just say how much I appreciate that Moleskine makes next year's planners available so early in the year. I wish more planner companies did!!
I got several of the new Limited Edition Star Wars planners, a large Magenta Daily diary, and the new Family Lifestyle planner too. I can't wait to get them, and you can bet I'll be reviewing them here on Plannerisms!
Here's what I got, if you're interested:
Star Wars (Yoda) Large Hardcover Weekly Notebook: (I love the quote on the front!!)
Star Wars (Han Solo) Pocket Daily Planner:
Star Wars (Darth Vader) Large Daily Planner:
Passions Family Life planner:
Large Magenta hardcover daily planner:
Let me just say how much I appreciate that Moleskine makes next year's planners available so early in the year. I wish more planner companies did!!
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