Here is my chronological What I'm Currently Using from 2013:
January 1, 2013: I'm starting 2013 using my wonderful 2013 Plannerisms planner, which is a weekly + monthly. I designed this planner as My Ideal Planner after using however many hundreds of different planners over the years. I'm absolutely thrilled it's been published! I'm using the purple cover one, because purple is my favorite color.
As I've done for the past two years, I'm also using a day per page planner to record each day. I've used a lot of day per page books over the years and haven't found exactly what I'm looking for, so I created it in a Paperblanks Midi size journal, which you can click here to read all about.
February 18, 2013-March 25 2013: I think I may have solved my Day-Per-Page dilemma! I'm now using an approximately A5 size (6 by 8 1/4 inch) Time Traveler day per page planner/ diary.
It gives me the same page space per day as the Franklin Covey 2PPD in a slimmer, lighter, bound book.
Here is my post on the Time Traveler day per page planner with lots of photos of the excellent features.
March 26 2013: The Time Traveler was too big and heavy to carry everywhere, as always seems to happen when I try to carry a large day per page book. I went through several planners I have lying around to see if I could find a solution, you can see my video about that here.
I settled on the Quo Vadis ABP1, which last year I predicted would be the daily planner I would use this year. It has the largest page size in the lightest weight book, and I really like the daily layout.
April 9 2013: After just a few days with the ABP1 I went back to the red Time Traveler day per page planner. The two books are so similar in size and weight, even though the ABP1 is a little lighter the difference wasn't enough to make it worth starting over in a different book.
If I was going to use a different book, it would have to be smaller. I tried using my Textagenda for a few days but couldn't cope with the format. I even downsized into my 2013 pocket daily Moleskine despite abandoning it last year for being too small. I like the portability but again the pages were just too small for me. I also realized if I moved to a smaller daily book, I would have to journal in a separate book which would require me to start over with journaling in a new book.
I decided to stay with my A5 Time Traveler after all! It's the one I keep coming back to and I have all of this year so far in it. I downsized my wallet and other things to lighten my bag so I wouldn't mind carrying it. I've been journaling in it more this year than I've been journaling for the past few years so I like that. And I love the book--the white paper, the soft cover, the maps and info pages. I love the layout of the daily pages and having plenty of room each day for anything I want to write. So I'll stay with my Time Traveler as my daily planner, logbook and journal all in one!
For a couple of weeks in June I tried using a non-dated pocket notebook to record my days for better portability, but it just didn't work for me. I have to have a big, designated page each day to encourage me to fill it, and so I can back-fill later. I think a large daily book is just my thing! I happily went back to my Time Traveler and I'm already looking forward to getting another one for 2014!
And of course I'm still using my weekly Plannerisms planner!
July 1, 2013: My Plannerisms planner and my Time Traveler daily diary are my mid-year planner winners! You can see my post about it here.
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| Purple Plannerisms weekly and red Time Traveler daily planners |
Click here for details on how I use my weekly planner and day per page planner together.
August 23, 2013-September 2013: I switched to using an A5 size notebook for recording each day, lists and notes. The how and why is a bit of a long story, I explain it all in this post here. The notebook I'm using is the Daycraft Signature Inspiro that I reviewed here.
And I'm still using my Plannerisms planner for monthly and weekly planning, and goals.
In my Journal Evaluation 2013 post I give my verdict on my day per page diary.
December 4, 2013: I had intended to finish my day per page diary for 2013 and start a new notebook system January 1st, but I have so much going on right now I couldn't wait. I started my large Moleskine blank notebook with my 3 part indexing system (which you can read the details of here). I use it to record each day, write my lists, brainstorm and keep information.
I did a video detailing the pros and cons of using a day per page diary vs an notebook vs a Filofax, you can click here to see it.
And of course I'm still using my Plannerisms planner, and am using it for my Annual Review where I look back through 2013, evaluate which goals I achieved, which ones need continued work, and which goals can be eliminated.
I already have my 2014 Plannerisms planner ready for next year! I'm filling in dates and events, and thinking about my goals for 2014.
Whew! So I went from trying lots of different day per page diaries to settling on an undated notebook. I'm enjoying the freedom of undated pages, but I wonder if I'll have the discipline to stick with writing every day like I did with the dated day per page diary.
Will I stay with the undated notebook? Will I go back to a dated day per page? Keep your eye on my What I'm Currently Using page to find out! On that page you can also find links to my planner usage all the way back to the beginning of 2009, to see the chronicle of my planner journey. What a trip it's been!
compact personal is for a wallet and potential purchase reference, my A5 is work,1 personal size is home,2 personal size storage, flex journaling, pocket sitting pretty because I will use it one day and cannot bear to get rid of it
ReplyDeleteI didn't do much better. I had two that I went back and forth between but within those two, I had a variety of formats. I'm kind of tired of this. If I could just pick up binder, I'm okay with switching formats in that ONE binder. I think.
ReplyDeleteStill in Search of my Perfect Old fashioned Collins Home & Work Diary Planner Journal 2014. It needs to be explored/reviewed and well loved as will be my gadgets companion and best friends to my Lamy Pen for the next 359 days as we are already 7 days into this year 2014 already.
ReplyDeletePlease help Laurie.
Dee the Collins Home and Work planner is available on the Franklin Covey website: http://franklinplanner.fcorgp.com/store/buy/All-Planners-and-Refills/24-Hour-Home-and-Work-Planner---2014/prod1390128/?skuId=61242
DeleteFantastic Laurie, Many thanks You are a GOD Send literally, you have saved my Year!
DeleteDee x
You're very welcome Dee! I assumed you are in the US, but if not these are available on the Franklin Planners UK website too. :)
DeleteNot in the US,From Zimbabwe but live in UK, And I absolutely love the practical format of these ONE-FOR-ALL planners. I get ALL my multidisciplines/multi-tasking juggling & homelife Agenda's & Schedules incling Rota's for working week. Incl sometime other half's appointment reminders (his PA) Both our kiddies school stuff/Volunteering and all my Uni stuff very well organised & planned out in the good old fashioned way.
DeleteInstead of finger touching a gadget, of which yes I too, have many.
I love my journals, it is extremely therapeutic & a sense enormous achievments accomplished or conquered over the past years. History in the happenings after reflection... and makes fantastic scrapbooking for old photo's and festival tickets and news articles or simplistic doodling etc etc...Thank you so much for that link Laurie X dee
I am just fascinated by the number of planners and notebooks you use. I still can't quite picture how you use each with the others. (I'm a visual person, so I can't quite picture it myself.) How do you determine what goes in each? You forward plan in your Plannerisms planner but record everything that happens in a day in your daily planner--is there overlap between the two? Or are the separate?
ReplyDeleteI think using more than one for separate purposes is great. But for me, I wouldn't know where to find something. And I'd need a cart to carry around all of these books. I am in awe of how you do it. :)
Hi kanalt, yes that's right I use my Plannerisms weekly planner for all forward planning, then each day I record in my daily book. That way I know if it's a future event, I look in my planner and if it's a past event I look in my daily book. I did a detailed post last year on how I use my two books together:
Deletehttp://www.plannerisms.com/2013/02/how-i-use-my-weekly-and-daily-planners.html
Hmm. This has the wheels inside my head turning... I tried this one in my Filofax, using monthly pages (helps me to forward plan) and weekly pages (for detailed forward planning, like when things have to done) and daily pages (for the daily record). I found it to be a lot of flipping back and forth, and at the time I wasn't keeping too much of a daily record, making it more work than necessary.
DeleteBuuutttt... perhaps it might be time to revisit that idea. Hmm... thanks for the reply!
You're very welcome! A few years ago I tried to use monthly, weekly and daily pages in my Filofax and it failed quickly because as you said it was a lot of flipping back and forth, and trying to plan on all 3 formats meant some things didn't get written in all 3 places and things slipped through the cracks, were double-booked etc and it was a mess. The big difference is planning ONLY on the weekly, with no forward planning on the daily pages. Then each evening I sit down and plan the following day writing only what I MUST do that day. If I get those done and have time for more I can look at my weekly list. This keeps me from re-writing tasks over day to day. Let me know if you want any more details, I've been using this method for years now and it works great for me! :)
DeleteAbsolutely what I do, love the practical thought process going on there, It works great for me too. And hey if one doesn't get tasks re-written or over written or schedules or meetings, agendas change etc, it's not a train smash ---- Rome was not built in a day.
DeleteTime waits for no man. Life goes on....No journal/diary/planner/filofax will be beholden to us if a task is forgotten/unwritten or ignored or misread on that day or week or month. Don't beat yourself up about it. Take each day at a time & live life to the full !!! dee x
Well said Dee!
DeleteHere is your Home and Work planner on Franklin Planners UK:
http://franklinplanner.fcorgp.com/uk/buy/Wire-bound-Planners/Home-and-Work-Diary---2014/prod1680080/?skuId=HWDL24-14
Hi Laurie, I enjoyed following your Day Per Page saga last year, but this is my first comment. Of all the books you showed on YouTube, I like your Time Traveller the best. Mainly for its elegance: One Day--One Page and One Year--One Book. After a few years, you would have a lovely collection of books. Like your own set of Encyclopaedia Brittanica! Or like Patty's FC archive binders. If you go to an undated format, then you might not be able to find things as easily.
ReplyDeleteZoe that's exactly what I'm thinking too. Although my friends over on FB had a great idea for me to make an archive box and put all my planners and notebooks for this year into the one box, which I think is a great idea. Still not decided yet!
Delete