It seems there are fewer and fewer brick and mortar shops that carry planners anymore. And if a shop near you does carry planners, they may not be anything like what you want.
For years I've ordered planners online, but recently I've discovered the joys of printing my own.
I'd like to know where most people buy/ get your planners these days. And, have you changed the way you get your planner compared to how you used to buy/ get them in the past?
Please leave a comment, or vote in the poll in the sidebar.
I used to go to the local Franklin Covey store and buy my inserts. But it's closed now so I get them either from the website or the local office supply store.
ReplyDeleteBut I've also been printing my own. I don't like printing pages but it is really convenient. I would rather print my own than wait for an order.
I've always had to buy mine online. I have printed my own, but prefer not to.
ReplyDeleteI get my franklin covey inserts online, but also print and design my own (finance) to suit my own use
ReplyDeleteWhen I started to use ring-bound planners in the 80´s of course there was no online order...... I used to buy them in stationary shops until last year but I find more and more shops are closed and it is getting difficult to find inserts. I also always made some inserts I could´t find myself (hand drawn or photocopied in the ´old´days ;-)). I still prefer buying in the brick and mortar shop though.
ReplyDeleteTime Manager always had to be ordered by phone as they did not sell through retailers (and still don't). I always purchased Filofax locally, supporting my local stationers. However, they now stock very little, so I've resorted to mail order - initially from City Organiser and, after they closed down, directly. Plannerisms, Midori etc. have had to be online too. I will never buy from Amazon on principle due to their ethics (or lack of).
ReplyDeleteFully agree re: Amazon.
DeleteDayTimer send me a handy reorder form each year, usually with a free shipping offer. I just review the order and mail it back with a check (I know checks make Tim nutty, but they are still very much acceptable in the States). A week later the inserts arrive.
I bought filofax stuff locally but the shop closed this winter. I am loathe to order from filofaxusa which has abysmal customer service. Not sure how to manage this moving forward.
Franklin Covey is usually available in limited quantities at the Staples. But more typically I've had to order online, pay outrageous shipping charges, and endure unreasonable shipping delays. I could WALK to Salt Lake City faster than Franklin Covey ships stuff from there to the East Coast (only slight exaggeration).
I've printed my own but don't tend to like the results. I am something of a perfectionist about small details and if a page is cut slightly irregularly or if the pages are not perfectly uniformly punched I get annoyed. Plus, it is a lot of work and aggravation. Craft projects are just not my thing.
Yes, FC has made bad choice in shipping. I am 7 hours fron Salt Lake and my order will sit in Denver FedEx for a week after PO has been "notified". I use to get my orders in 2 days when they shipped straight through PO.
DeleteThis year is the first time that I designed every page of my inserts, month and week on two pages for my Franklin pocket binder. I drew them by hand on lined note paper. I did not create a computer version because I have extra lined paper that I wanted to use. I also expected that designing a somewhat complex format on the computer would not be so easy. I finished my week insert and intended to use it with month pages I bought. Then I noticed several print mistakes on the month calendar and had to draw a month insert. I also took a 2015 year calendar that was included in a 2014 insert I bought. I trimmed off the holes and adhered the calendar to a piece of stationery. I cut and hole punched a sheet protector and placed the calendar in it. Although it all required some time and effort I am pleased with the result. I bought the paper for my week insert. For everything else I used supplies that I already owned.
ReplyDeleteSince I intend to use my inserts from now on I will only have to buy the paper. The office stores that sell inserts and binders do not have much stock. Also several long standing stationers have closed their doors.
I bought a DayTimer planner cover but filled it with inserts that I made myself. I offer them for free on my blog, plannerfun.com
ReplyDeleteI've bought at local office supply stores, Barnes & Noble and various drug stores. I will buy from brick and mortar first just because I want to support them. I prefer to see what I am buying before I pay for it. But I have also ordered from Franklin Covey and Daytimer online when I can't find what I'm looking for in the stores. And as a last resort I print/draw my own.
ReplyDeleteThere are several places in my area that carry planner inserts. One is a independant bookstore that features a huge stationary, fountain pen and filofax planner section in their shop, another is paradise pens which carry pens, filofax planners and inserts and finally, our local Staples has DayTimer, AtAGlance and other planners. So far, it is still easy for me to buy the inserts. I prefer to buy them, not print them.
ReplyDeleteI started with a DIY download, and wanted something more customized, so I created my own set of about 25 different refills! I'm now selling them online, and will soon be Kickstarting a large manufacturing run.
ReplyDeleteLife Minder - http://www.lifeminder.org or https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/LifeMinderOrganizers
I've got both 6.75 x 4.25 6-hole and 8.5 x 5.5 7-hole sizes, so they fit just about anything. Circa punch is possible, I just need a good large-scale puncher.
The sheets are really "niche" - which is why I created them. There's a series for general agenda planning, which is really innovative how it flows from month to weeks to month, or week to days to week. There's another series for capturing and sorting ideas, prioritizing thoughts, brainstorming, monitoring health, and what I call "life balance". There's a series for proper business use including full project planning and delegation, meetings, etc... And of course, the general list and note taking, but with a real GTD focus of contexts and such.
If anyone is interested, I'm going to make a freebie set available by PDF soon, so drop me a note on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LifeMinder and I'll tell you where to download.
I just print a month calendar and tape it inside a composition book, and the entire month is one book. I just do a future list in the back of the book for the coming months, mostly for story theme deadlines.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can get planners easily enough (Target, Wal-Mart, Barnes and Noble, Office Depot, and Staples), the format focuses more on appointments and to dos, neither of which I use. I even tried Charlie Gilkey's ones, but it doesn't help me as much to mark down projects and then tasks from the projects. It's tracking the wrong kind of stuff.
What I need is more of a place to write dated notes from things I learn or research, or ideas. If I go to a con, I may attend ten workshops and take pages of notes. Where do I put the notes? The average planner only has this tiny space for the weekend. So it needs to be flexible where I can use half a page or ten. I also find the size pretty versatile. There's writer video conference I attend and the agenda of questions gets emailed out. When I attend, I print the agenda, fold it half and tape it on a page next to my notes.
Online only.
ReplyDeletePrint my own, have done now for about 4 years. Inserts by QV available in local stores though
ReplyDeleteI get my little appointments diary in a shop, but the rest I buy online. I just find that there is no variety in shops. I get very frustrated when I go into WHSmith and they have three bays of planners, but they all pretty much have the same layout inside! I did once try printing, but I found it very tedious (esp. as I cannot find a decent Filofax hole punch) and I don't think I saved any momey by doing it.
ReplyDeleteI do a bit of both - I love vertical week planners so I use Franklin Covey's wirebound 5 Choices planner (you have to do a search for it; they don't show them as an option). I put this in a Organized Mum's leather purple zip binder. For daily pages, I print my own from David Seah's collection of pdf's, which I put in a 5x7 binder I bought in Staples. The comments in your post have renewed my interest in browsing for planner formats! Uh-oh!
ReplyDeletelol I get them where you all say you purchase yours!!!!
ReplyDeleteIn the last 2 years, I have purchased from a variety of US and international sources:
ReplyDeleteBarnes & Noble (Quo Vadis, Moleskine)
local gift shop (Filofax Personal)
out-of-state stationery store - over the phone (Filofax A5)
Office Max/Depot office chain store (At-a-Glance bound, FranklinCovey and Day-Timer ring inserts)
Amazon.com (Moleskine)
Abesbooks.com (Moleskine)
CollinsDebden Australian web site (ring inserts)
Rakuten (FranklinCovey)
DayTimer.com - manufacturer site (ring inserts)
I think that's everything :P
Currently I'm using A5 WO4P and MO4P that I designed just this week, after noodling on them for the last two months. I'm pretty happy with them so far, but they are different from any insert out there currently. If I can't make them work, there is no hope for me. I'm moving back to just carrying around a bound notebook.
I'd love to see the ones you've designed! What makes things work or not for what you need?
DeleteWith one, maybe two exceptions all of my planners come from paperchase or Amazon.
ReplyDeleteMy first planner was when I was about 12 and it was basically an over glorified birthday book. Now I'm *ahem* 'grown up' I couldn't function without my planners as I use them for everything. I feel lost without one!
Because I'd been going through the "planner dance" trying to find the right size, I have quite a collection. Ive settled on FC Compact. Unfortunately my local Staples doesn't stock this size, so I have to order online. Although, I've discovered printables. My fave is the vertical P2P from Becky of planner fun.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteUsually,..
ReplyDelete1. Web-search, to filter what might be interesting.
2. Extensive web-search, if it really is what I need.
3. Visit store, touch and feel the planner, and talk to an experienced sales guy.
4.
If I like how he helped me and what he has to offer, --> I buy it at the shop,
If not, --> I check it online & buy it somewhere.
Usually I bought every 1-3 years a new planner, calendar, etc..
(to get sth. new, or it just didn’t work anymore, or or..)
Now, I have the stuff from X47 and X17,
A X47 Organizer Pro and Expert for work, and the X17 mind-papers for private planning, so
since some years I don't buy planners anymore.
I just re-order the calendar- & notebook- inlays once or twice a year online via their website.
I order mine online, but I wish I had the option of going to the store and buy them. I like to look and feel the leather/pleather before I buy. As far as inserts, mostly online because what is offered here isn't what I want.
ReplyDeleteOnline. I miss Franklin Covey stores.
ReplyDeletefor the past three years, i've purchased online through erin condren, and have been quite pleased with them. prior to that i've bought from franklin covey (their brick and mortar stores), office depot, etc. and have printed out my own a few times - which usually ends up with my creating something so big and detailed i never take it with me when i need it...
ReplyDeleteI generally choose a specific planner and then buy it wherever I can - so when I'm at uni I go to the good stationers' where they have the full Paperblanks range.
ReplyDeleteI use to buy inserts online but now I create my own.
ReplyDeleteI use to buy inserts online but now I create my own.
ReplyDeleteI use to hold my nose and buy my planners at the Franklin/Covey stores, but stopped due to their stance on workplace fitness and discrimination (they changed it in about 1998). I'd started using them when I worked at IBM and I needed to track sales and clients. It wasn't great, but it worked. Leaving FC, I bought from Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples and online from PlannerPad. A site with leather-bound diaries, Moleskin, WeekDate, Amazon and Uncalendar (which I was set to despise, but now adore).
ReplyDeleteIt's tough finding places to SEE planners before purchase. Before settling on the UN, I ordered several -- PlannerPad, WeekDate, and At-A-Glance. Costly, but I know what I'm going to get the next few years.
Purchased mine from eBay. The lady only had it for a short while, said it didn't suit her. It suited me perfectly. It was the Pillarbox Red Personal Filofax. Red is my favorite color. With all the extras she included I saved about $50. It was a steal imo. I love it as red is my favorite color.
ReplyDelete