24 hour Rickshaw Bagworks sale: 50% off City Tote!

Get 50% off the @rickshawbags City Tote (click here for product page), from now until 11:59 6/01/12 PST only!

Here's the promo text straight from Rickshaw:

50% off our NEW customizable City Tote.

Laptop ready with 3 carrying options, the City Tote is a perfect alternative to a messenger bag for the urban commuter. The City Tote is sized to fit the Sunday Times, with ample room leftover for your favorite novel, iPad or 13" MacBook Air.

• Holds up to 13” Macbook Air
• Made from scratch in SF
• Three carrying options
• Completely customizable

Act fast, and tell your friends! Offer expires tomorrow (06/01/12) Exclusively available on any style of our new city tote. (Excluding the fabulous Juanita More! edition.)

Promo Code: totetastic

Order online or in store. Offer valid from 05/30/12 to 11:59 6/01/12 PST

*May not be combined with any other offers coupons, special orders, or embellishments.

Scotsman.com article: History Disappears in a Digital Black Hole

This excellent article (History Disappears in a Digital Black Hole) from Scotsman.com shows exactly what I was talking about back in this post on paper vs electronics. Information on the web is far from permanent. In fact, in many ways it's much more likely to disappear completely than information written on paper.

Yes there are ways to back up information, but data storage methods must be kept up to date. Like I said in my post linked above, you can transfer information from tapes to floppies to CDs to the Cloud, but until it's on paper it's still just electrons or magnetic fields. It's not directly readable.

I never like to rely on technology too much, and anything important gets printed as a hard copy. It's also why I like to keep old planners and diaries, as a permanent record and reference.

Thoughts?

Poll result: do you write in your planner in cursive or print?

Many thanks to everyone who voted in this poll! The result is very interesting:

Do you write in your planner in cursive or print?

Out of 144 votes:

Cursive	26 (18%)
Print	53 (36%)
Mix of both	65 (45%)

What I'm using update: Pre-Move

I'm knee-deep in move preparations, packing, organizing, selling and getting rid of stuff. On top of that, it's the last two weeks of school so I'm attending and volunteering at end-of-year class parties, lunches, brunches, and farewell cookouts. It's all good, but man am I busy!!

As a result, I have moved up into my large Moleskine day per page planner as my day planner, logbook and journal. I need the daily space so much I don't even care how heavy it is in my bag or how much I hate the dark Moleskine paper.

I'm using it exactly the way I showed in this post, with a timed column all the way down the left side of the page, space near the top for my daily list and the rest of the page for journaling.

I'm finding this extremely helpful for having lots of space to map out my day chronologically, write the most important event of the day at the top of the page, keep my lists together and journal all these near-departure memories.

I'm still using (the hell out of) my self-drawn monthly + weekly planner for all my forward planning.  In my weekly pages I keep list after list of all the household stuff I need to do before the movers arrive, all the paperwork that needs to be filled out, and all those other details like loading all my digital photos. I'm swimming in details at the moment!  I have to get them all down on paper to get them out of my head so I can think clearly.

I expect I'll continue to use my large daily Mole until I move. Then when I get to Scotland we'll see if I want to carry it around everywhere with me!

Fountain Travel Plan Journal

Here is a new Travel Journal from Fountain in a cool format I've never seen before in a travel journal:

This hardcover book measures 5 7/8 by 8 1/4 inches and it's slim so you can actually take it with you when you travel. It has tons of pages to help you from the planning stage all the way through preparation and to record your trip.

(Click on any of the photos to enlarge.)

There are pages to record your personal details, reference and emergency contacts:

Next there are pages for travel checklists with things to do before you go, documents you need, and things to pack:

Next are several checklist pages for you to fill in your own lists:

There is a very helpful time zones map:

There is a very handy page showing international currencies in their denominations and cents (or their versions of), and a page of dialing codes showing the codes for dialing in AND out of each country:

Next there are several pages of Recommended lists so you can write the must-see places for each destination:

The main part of this journal has an interesting layout that allows you to capture a lot of details very quickly by writing in what you did or where you went hourly day and night. There's a space for the date, country, icons for the weather, and lines for your travel plans.

Next there are several pages for your shopping list, and space to record prices, dates and where purchased. This is extremely helpful if you want to claim taxes back on items purchased abroad:

There are lots of pages called Capture the Moment where you can either stick in photos or draw/ sketch directly onto the page. Below the blank space are lines to describe the pictures.

At the back of the book are several pages to write country info like numbers for the embassy, police, hospital, bank, hotel, airport, car rental etc. for easy reference.

Inside the back cover there is a full-length pocket to hold papers, tickets, cards and mementos.

Many thanks to Fountain for giving me this Travel Journal as a sample to review!

What do you think? Have you seen any other travel journal with this format?

Edited to add: Great news! Even though Fountain's new retail website isn't up and running yet, they do have these available for purchase! They come in this A5 size, and also a smaller A6 size.

If you are interested, please email me at: laurie at plannerisms dot com and I will put you in touch with the person at Fountain who can process your order.

Day per page idea: schedule and journal space

I like to toy with the idea of using my day per page diary as a planner + journal. My daily book is with me all the time so it's a natural place to capture those memories before they escape.

Currently I'm using my Quo Vadis Notor, which I like because the schedule is at the top and out of the way so I can use the lines below for lists and journaling.

My new 2013 Moleskine Magenta large daily planner is so pretty, it got me thinking on how I could use it next year. With the larger page size I could have a column at the left to see my entire day chronologically, have a space to the right for to-dos, and still have a large area of the page for journaling (click on photo for a better view):

I probably wouldn't even actually draw the lines, but just use these areas in this way.

I admit this setup is a lot like the format in the Quo Vadis ABP1, which has a timed column at the left and the rest of the daily page lined for notes and lists.  But really you could use any day per page planner in this way.

Does anyone else like to journal or jot memories directly onto your planner/ diary pages?

2013 Moleskine large daily planner in Magenta!

It's about time Moleskine got colored covers for their large planners!  The large daily and horizontal weekly planners are now available in a few colors, including this Magenta color.

I love this Magenta cover, it's the same color as the Extra Small daily I reviewed a couple of years ago.

There are several color-matched features of the book. The In Case Of Loss print on the first page is in Magenta:

The placemarker and elastic strap are color-matched to the cover:

And the sides of the back pocket are magenta too:

Even the print in the removable address booklet is magenta:

Other Moleskine features still apply like the travel planning pages, stylized time zones map, handy international conversions and dialing codes (although only the codes for dialing into the countries are provided. I wish they would also provide the codes to dial out of the countries.)

Interestingly, a new feature in the 2013 Moleskine planners is a two-page spread with flight times between major cities of the world. I have no idea why anyone would want this in their planner, you can easily look up flight times online when you're booking your tickets. Seems like a waste of two pages to me. I'd rather have two more notes pages. Oh well.

There are reference calendars for all of 2013 and 2014:

The monthly planners with months as columns are back. I preferred the monthly grid calendars, but apparently the majority of their customers wanted these back. There are monthly planning columns for all of 2013 and all of 2014.

The daily format is the same with times printed subtly down the side and the temperature and weather icons at the bottom. It's a very nice open page with no formatting to interfere with your freedom to use the page any way you like. 

I pre-ordered this planner from Amazon.com several months ago and it shipped when it came in stock. I've put the product link in my sidebar and below here in the post for anyone who is interested.

2013 Moleskine Passions Family Life planner

This is a brand new planner from Moleskine, with a new format and features. It's part of their new Passions planners lineup.

Here is the cover with the label off:

This planner is a departure from the usual Moleskine style of little to no formatting. This planner is very formatted in the weekly layout and the other pages, with lots of designated spaces to write specific things.

After the personal information pages, the first two-page spread is to fill in your family tree. I couldn't get a very good photo of it because the print is very light: (Click on any of the photos to enlarge)

Next are handy reference calendars for all of 2013 and all of 2014:

Next are monthly planning columns for 2013 and 2014, with International Holidays between the years:

Then there are the usual Moleskine reference pages with conversions but no time zones map.

Next begins the pages that are specialized for this planner. There are several pages for Family Life Planning with columns for Event, Date and Notes:

Next there are two 2-page spreads for Lesson Plans with times down the left side and days across the top:

Next are the weekly pages. This unique format has loads of features.

All seven days are columns across the two-page spread with a column at the right for Notes. The daily columns are timed from 6 am to 8pm. Each daily column measures about 4 1/4 inches (10.5 cm) long (measuring just below the printed day) and 1 1/4 inch (3 cm) wide.

Below each daily column there are Daily Highlights spaces with icons to fill in Homework, Food, Events or Other:

Below the Daily Highlights spaces are spaces for Daily notes:

At the right there is a monthly calendar with the current week highlighted and a space for Words of the Week:

You can click on the photos for a closer view.

After the weekly pages there are tons more pages. There are several pages of Food Facts:

After that there are pages to hold eight Recipes:

Then there are several lined pages titled Recipe List, Wine List, Restaurant List, Film List, Book List, Music List, Wish List, Gift Record, Health Notes, and several more lined pages for Notes.

Inside the back cover there is a double pocket:

Inside the pocket there is a tabbed booklet with label stickers to label the sections as you want. There are also planning stickers, Moleskine's info pamphlet and the quality control sticker that comes with every Moleskine planner.

I pre-ordered this planner from Amazon.com several months ago and it shipped when it came in stock. I've put the link to the ordering page in the sidebar and here below for anyone who is interested.

2013 Moleskine Star Wars planners!!!

Here are the 2013 Star Wars planners by Moleskine!!  I have to say, these are excruciatingly cool!!!

I got the large Weekly Notebook (Yoda), the pocket Daily (Han Solo) and the large Daily (Darth Vader) (Click on any photos to enlarge):

The Darth Vader large daily has his quote embossed in shiny black:

Han's quote is embossed in white (with Solo looking very sexy on the label). Makes me feel like it's going to be a very fun year indeed!

I love Yoda's quote, what a great thing to have on a planner!!

The inside covers have cool shots of planets (or the Death Star in the Darth Vader one) and a postcard with the character's photo and quote:

Inside the back cover there's another cool image that continues onto the cover of the removable address booklet, and if you take the booklet out the image is printed on the back pocket too:

Inside the Moleskines are the usual formats, weekly notebook in the Yoda one and day per page in the Han and Darth ones:

On the front cover Star Wars is embossed on the bottom left:

These planners have made me fall in love with Moleskine all over again. They certainly have their finger on the pulse of what's cool.  I'm a huge Star Wars fan so I'm very excited about these planners!

I pre-ordered these planners on Amazon.com several months ago and they shipped when they came in stock. I have put links below and in the sidebar to the ordering sites for these planners for anyone who is interested.

Large hardcover Weekly Notebook (Yoda):




Large hardcover Daily planner (Darth Vader):




Pocket hardcover Daily planner (Han Solo):

Another video! The THREE planners I carry in my bag

I decided to continue my video kick by showing you the three planners (actually, two planners and one Filofax) I carry in my bag everywhere. Craziness!

Click here to see the vid.

Comments and especially suggestions appreciated!!

New Video: Filofax faceoff: Aston vs. Holborn

I put a new video up on You Tube comparing the Holborn and Aston Filofax binders. In it I compare the features and especially the leathers.

Check out the side-by-side comparison here.

New poll: Do you write in your planner in cursive or print?

Mstraat had the great idea to do this poll to find out if people mostly write in their planner in cursive or print.

I thought this was especially timely since many schools in the US no longer teach cursive writing so they can spend their time on "more important" things. Is handwriting soon to be a lost art?

So, do you write in cursive for speed, or because you have beautiful handwriting? Or do you print for tidiness and legibility?

Please vote in the poll at the side!

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Printable Planner from Pretty Chaotic

Pretty Chaotic, a blog about home organization, now has a pretty planner you can print yourself!

It's an excellent layout with all 7 days as columns and space to write what everyone in the family is doing. There are monthly calendars too, and lots of pages for notes, lists, and creativity.  The planner goes from August 2012 to July 2013.

It's designed to be downloaded and printed at home on 8 1/2 by 11 paper, then cut in half (so the planner page size is 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 inches) and either bound or hole-punched to fit in the binder of your choice.

The planner is also customizable, just contact her and she will customize it to your needs.

Right now it's at a special Launch Sale price for just $10 US, later it will go to its normal price of $15.

Click here to see the Pretty Chaotic Pretty Planner website for more details!

Edited to add images! Many thanks to Pretty Chaotic for allowing me to use these images!