2012 Planner Tally

Here's my year-end tally of how many different planners I used in 2012. As usual, it's a lot!

Interestingly, after I started using my self-drawn weekly planner in February (which is the same layout as my 2013 Plannerisms planner) I never switched around with the weekly planners again (except for a very brief experiment with Franklin Covey 2 Pages Per Day that quickly failed without my accompanying weekly planner). This is my ideal weekly format and I'm so excited it's been published!!

The daily planners, however, were another matter and got switched around a lot.

Here's the chronological rundown!

Jan 1-22: I started 2012 with my pocket size daily Moleskine diary, to continue using what worked so well for me in 2011.  I also started using my 2012 large Moleskine Monthly Notebook that my mom got me for Christmas.  I'm using the monthly calendars for overviews, the blank pages between each month for monthly goals and reviews, and the notes pages in the back for lists. It's super slim and goes everywhere in my bag, along with my pocket daily diary. So far I'm really enjoying using these two planners together.

Jan 23-26: After using just daily and monthly planners for awhile, I was having a hard time planning at the week level. Dinner menus, task lists and appointments are easier for me to plan on a weekly spread. So I started using my 2012 Moleskine Bakin weekly planner.  I still use my beloved Moleskine pocket daily planner for all my daily records, mapping out my day, etc, click here to read more about how I use this planner.  And I still also use my Moleskine Monthly notebook for longer-range planning to see holidays, school breaks, travel and deadlines.

For more info on how to use multiple planners simultaneously, click here to see my post about it.

I've been using daily and weekly planners together for most of the past year, click here to see more details.

Jan 26-31: After just a few days of using daily, weekly and monthly together, the system broke down because of too many places to write and look each day. (My limit is two places to keep up with on a daily basis.) I went back to using just my daily and monthly.

Feb 1- 19: Total change-up!  I'm using the Cotton Cream week on 2 pages diary insert in my new Aston Orchid personal size Filofax. I'm still using my pocket daily Moleskine as my daily record. My Moleskine Monthly Notebook is now my Goals notebook and where I write monthly and weekly reviews. Click here to see all the details of how and why.

Feb 20-May 1:  As usual when I use Filofax as my planner, it just didn't work so well. My to-do lists were behind a tab somewhere. I used my large Moleskine weekly notebook for a couple of days but decided I needed more structure, so I'm using a self-drawn weekly format that I drew up in a Leuchtturm dotted notebook. I'm still using my beloved pocket daily Moleskine diary too.  And, my personal Holborn Zip Filofax goes everywhere with me as my Medical Filofax. 

May 2-23: After much difficult decision-making, I stopped using my Pocket Moleskine day per page diary. The bottom line is, the pages are just too small. I wasn't able to write as much each day as I wanted to. I felt sad giving up this planner because my kids have done such wonderful art in it, but I decided it was more important to have more writing space each day for capturing memories.

Luckily I had on hand two 12 x 17 cm (4 3/4 by 6 3/4 inches = perfect size) day per page diaries, the Quo Vadis Notor and the Undercover UK diary. I went with the Notor for various reasons.

You can see my video with details on why I gave up the Moleskine and pros and cons of the Notor and Undercover UK diary here.  You can see my associated post here.

Click here to see my short post on why I chose the Notor over the Undercover UK diary for my daily diary. (Short version: the Notor's structured format and smooth white paper.)

Meanwhile I'm still using my self-drawn weekly planner in the Leuchtturm notebook, it is working very well for me.  And my Holborn Zip Filofax is still my Medical Filofax.

May 24-31: I'm moving in just a couple of weeks and am absolutely swamped with things to do before departure day. I've moved up to my large daily Moleskine planner to get me through the move with plenty of space to write lots of details. I describe this in full in this post.  I'm also still using my self-drawn weekly + monthly planner extensively!

June 1-August 4: I'm back to using my day per page Pocket size Moleskine. For the backstory, along with descriptions of why I've used (and stopped using) various day per page planners, and even speculation on what DPP I might use next year, see my video Daily Diary Litany here.

I'm still using my self-drawn weekly + monthly planner, which I've been using consistently since February. I think this might be a record!

I'm using my personal Aston Filofax for recording expenditures, budgeting, shopping lists and more. I wrote a post on this setup on Philofaxy, click here to see.

I'm using my Moleskine Monthly Notebook as my blog planner, which is working really well. I love the big daily squares for writing in post titles, and the notes pages between each month for writing in post ideas, topics and themes.  I color code for each blog so I can see at a glance when and what I'm posting for which.

August 5- September 26:  Still using my Mole pocket daily and self-drawn weekly + monthly. Plannerisms planners in my weekly + monthly format will be available to buy for 2013 soon!

Stopped using my Filofax for financial recording, it was too much to carry in my bag and things got confusing. Still trying to figure out how best to record financial stuff. I think I'll get a little pocket size notebook to record expenditures so I can take it with me everywhere and not leave it at home.

I'm using Charlie Gilkey's Blog Post Planner And Calendar, it is genius for categorizing posts and scheduling them easily. 

September 10-17: For a week I used Franklin Covey two pages per day inserts in my personal Filofax. You can read all about it and see tons of photos here in this post.  I liked having plenty of space to write each day. But this system quickly broke down because I need to see a week view. The spaces in the monthly calendars weren't big enough to write reminders so I forgot things like my kids' library days at school and other things during the week. So I went back to my self-drawn weekly + monthly planner that I've been using for most of the year.   

September 27-October 26:  After struggling for most of the year with the small daily pages of my pocket daily Moleskine, I finally gave myself permission to give it up. I switched to a 2012-2013 Quo Vadis Textagenda, which makes a brief appearance near the end of this video. I haven't reviewed this exact one, but you can see my review of the UK version here to see the format. 

I'm still using my self-drawn weekly + monthly planner.  I actually drew up an academic-year one in a new Leuchtturm dots notebook (purple cover of course) but it's the exact same week + months format of the one I've been using since February. The 2013 version of this planner will be printed soon and available in November!

October 27-November 21: After reading my post on the 2013 Quo Vadis ABP1 day per page planner (which I plan to use for 2013), reader Elsa very generously sent me her 2012 ABP1 that she didn't use this year, so I can start using this awesome planner right away! So now I'm enjoying the large page size and super-smooth paper in this lightweight book. I love it!

I'm still using my self-drawn version of my Plannerisms weekly planner. The 2013 Plannerisms weekly planners will be available in a couple of weeks and I can hardly wait!  I will make a huge announcement here on Plannerisms when they are ready!

With the Quo Vadis ABP1 and my Plannerisms weekly planner, I may have reached Planner Nirvana at last!!!  Watch this space!!

November 22-December 18: Another switch-up with daily pages. As much as I loved the ABP1, it was too much in my bag with my info notebook and weekly planner. Around this time I bought my personal Malden Filofax, which I really like. So now I'm using Franklin Covey 2 pages per day inserts in the Malden, and I really like it. I never have to worry about writing too much on any one day, because I can always add pages.

I'm still using my self-drawn Plannerisms planner until the end of the year, and I'm really excited to start using my wonderful published Plannerisms planner in 2013!
 
December 19-Present: The impermanence of the looseleaf pages in my Filofax really bothered me. I like to use a bound book as a permanent record. I tend to switch pages around between my Filofaxes and sometimes they get lost.

I had planned on using my large Moleskine daily for 2013 (you can read more about my 2013 planners lineup here) but after carrying it in my bag for a few days as a test I decided that it was just too big and heavy in my bag. I want a daily book that I don't mind carrying around with me absolutely everywhere.

After some decision-making, I finally self-dated my Paperblanks Midi size journal with the beautiful Ventaglio Rosso cover. It's the perfect size for a daily book, big enough to write a lot but small enough to carry. I added in maps and other features. You can read all about how I set it up here. I created my Paperblanks day per page on December 24, starting that day so I didn't have to wait until January 1 to start using it.


So there's what I used in 2012! For 2013 I'm very excited to use my Plannerisms planner! And it looks like this year I'll be using my self-drawn Paperblanks daily, similar to how I used a self-drawn weekly for almost all of 2012. I'm finding out that the only way to get everything I want in a planner just the way I want it is to make it myself!

What will you use in 2013?