to think that there's nothing more exciting in life than choosing a new diary/planner for the new year?

[toomuchturmericinwatermelon]

I don't think I spent this long choosing my childrens' pushchairs or even the family car!!

I went for the lux planner on Amazon. Not a full year but I like the idea of new planner time twice a year!

I find it quite hard to choose planners on Amazon because I can't tell the thickness of paper, cover and so on. Think I might have to waste even more time and visit a Waterstone's!

I’ve just received my Clever Fox planner from Amazon (purchased due to this thread!). Looking forward to settling down with it now and manifesting some plans for dreams to come true…I’ve got covid so not much else to do…I’m really love the look and quality of this..I usually go for A5 bullet journal but decided I want to prioritise my plans so thought a bigger A4 size might reflect that. Fingers crossed 🤞

Loving this thread! I'm a planner/stationery/fountain pens freak and always looking for the "perfect" set ups lol. I have a number of books/journals on the go at the moment:

A hobonichi weeks for the third year in a row for 2022 for weekly/daily appointments etc. I love the simple structure of the weeks layout - dailies on one side and notes on the other. I use it to track everyday appointments, to do lists, periods and migraines etc. I can still use stickers etc to jazz it up a bit too. I've tried the cousin before (too big) and the techo (ended up wasting too much paper) but weeks feels just right! (Also bought the hobo black zip round case with it this year so as to store a few favourite pens with it).

If anyone is still looking for a hobonichi I think this shop still has some: nishuraeast.com/

I also just bought a B6 stalogy notebook from Nishura with a xmas voucher to see what its like. Planning to try bullet journaling again in the new year as I used to do it, and then stopped as it got too annoying drawing boxes all the time! It's actually just a bulleted list format to organise your to-do lists but I was getting caught up with all the decorative stuff and stressing that it didn't look perfect, so this time I'm planning on going all minimalist and not bother with anything decorative here.

Finally I just started using some Clairefontaine A5 notebooks for things like gratitude journaling, as the paper is great for fountain pen ink, and have also started creating a "commonplace notebook" to store information I've collected on different topics. The commonplace books are such a cool concept I found out about recently from youtube's algorithms - it kept suggesting videos on them to me and it totally appealed as I've always collected lots of random notes and bits of info in different books but without any intentional structure before. It's also great because you can really go to town with your layouts - I've given myself permission to get out all my fountain pens, gel pens, stickers/washi tape etc and decorate my pages in relation to the topics at hand to make them more eye-catching and interesting to look back on! It's kind of become like an art journal as well, to express my creativity a bit too. Current topics include mental health and wellbeing tips, climate change, favourite poems and quotes etc. It's like a new fun hobby for me to do (I'm an introvert so I love doing stuff like this!).

BTW these are the Clairefontaine notebooks I bought recently if anyone is interested - the covers are SOOO pretty! I bought four to use for commonplace notebooks and keep them in a travellers style A5 cover to keep them together. And the paper is fab too:
amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08R2GZV66/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1]]

Thanks for all the links. I will be checking them all out for the rest of today lol.

sorry better link here:
amazon.co.uk/dp/B08R2CMDL5/ref=twister_B09FKLT1JV?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1]]

The Scribbler and Dot books are really good quality, lovely thick paper and a kind of suede like cover material. The only downside for me is that I like a note section with each week, but this doesn't have that so I end up writing notes across several days.

I'm on a long train ride ATM so can spend it happily looking at new stationery thanks to all the links on here 🙂

@baffledbunny, thank you for all that info. I am interested in the Clairefontaine notebooks you mention but both links are not working. Could you try again please?

Googling Hobonichi. Do they all have affirmations on the pages though? I am not keen on those. I used to be a big listmaker and planner but gave up entirely during Covid. Want to get back to it. Never could get into Bujo though.

I’m also using Hobonichi weeks for the second year now but the Mega version that has loads of note pages in the back.

I love having the week on one side and blank on the other so I can draw up my own lists or check boxes etc. I use all the note pages for daily to do lists and running “brain dump” or specific project lists like house renos etc as I absolutely need to write everything down or it doesn’t get done! 🙈

The only thing I don’t like about this planner is that I’ve got to write very small for it to look neat when my handwriting is naturally rather large. But having all my lists, routines and thoughts in one place very portable sized book is an absolute must and outweighs this negative by a mile.

@baffledbunny I’m also interested in the clairefontaine notebooks as I love their paper.

@ArblemarzipanTFruitcake

Yes! And using that dead time at work between Christmas and New Year to set up your new diary - when the shiny new year is just around the corner and the blank pages are gleaming with possibility.

This is one of the Joy's of this time for me

I’ve been using the Moleskine 1 week + 1 blank page for a few years but putting less and less into it.

I’m strongly considering a paper-based Japanese personal spending journal as our family budget needs spotlighting over the next 12 months.
kakeibo

Can we know more about commonplace books please?

I love planners. I listen to podcasts about them and it brings me much joy. However I use a school year planners so feeling sad about not having a new one at the moment.

Great thread!

I use digital calendars on my laptop and phone, especially for work, but I love having a paper planner as well. I keep all sorts of information in it as well as appointments and to do lists, for work as well as personal items. I find that the act of writing something down helps me remember. I know several people at work who do the same: essentially keeping a digital calendar and a paper planner.

I'm in the US and the one that I have used for the last several years is Plum Paper Planner. You can customize the layout and other aspects of design. They also offer several binding options, including disc bound, which I prefer.

According to their website, they ship to the UK and several other countries outside the US. www.plumpaper.com/

I've just treated myself to a lovely Winnie The Pooh Family Organiser from M & S. It has a column per person each month, a pocket for tickets etc, and beautiful illustrations! 🙂

Talking about nice paper, I like to stick a magnet on one of the long slim notepads by Rhodia (now owned by Clairefontaine) and keep it on the fridge for my to-do lists.
rhodiapads.com/explore_everyday_8.php
A small daily indulgence

[quote toomuchturmericinwatermelon]@baffledbunny, thank you for all that info. I am interested in the Clairefontaine notebooks you mention but both links are not working. Could you try again please? [/quote]
Hi really sorry - don't know why the links aren't working. Maybe try this one: www.amazon.co.uk/Clairefontaine-Deco-Notebook-Lined-Sheets/dp/B07PMCC76T/ref=asc_df_B07PMCC76T?hvlocphy&linkCode=df0&psc=1&hvnetw=o&hvlocint&hvdev=c&hvadid=80058247183242&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=pla-4583657824348926

I think some aren't available anymore. I've pasted some pics below on what they look like should you come across them on another site - they were only about a fiver each. I'll dig around to see if they are available elsewhere.

@Theyearsareshort

I love planners. I listen to podcasts about them and it brings me much joy. However I use a school year planners so feeling sad about not having a new one at the moment.

There are planner podcasts? What are they called?

@JanisMoplin

Googling Hobonichi. Do they all have affirmations on the pages though? I am not keen on those. I used to be a big listmaker and planner but gave up entirely during Covid. Want to get back to it. Never could get into Bujo though.

Hi I think most of the hobos come in Japanese with some variations in English so you need to be careful which one you're buying. I get them off the official japanese site here: www.1101.com/store/techo/en/

I think the english ones start with monday for the week, while japanese starts with sunday. Also there are quotes at the bottom in japanese which aren't translated in the english version so I use the google translate app for that but most of the time I don't bother! The only thing I don't like about them is that they sometimes have lots of random pages of extra info at the back in japanese which I don't use and don't find useful. The book could be thinner without them but the tomoe river paper does help keep it sleek anyway.

I feel like I might want a HOBONICHI 2022 WEEKS but it's nowhere to be found. Too late to the party. The story of my life. Or do I just want it because I can't have it?

This is simple….same every year, moleskine, pocket size, 12 month, hardcover, red, weekly planner - days on the left page, mini bullet journal in the rules section on the right page.

Perfect.

@toomuchturmericinwatermelon

I feel like I might want a HOBONICHI 2022 WEEKS but it's nowhere to be found. Too late to the party. The story of my life. Or do I just want it because I can't have it?

:) I felt that way too before I sharply reminded myself that I didn't know what a Hobonichi was until yesterday! I might just start with a simple Moleskine until I get back into the habit of planning/journalling.

@crochetmonkey74 I like best laid plans which is my favourite. Also planners and wine though that is a lot more than planners.

@crochetmonkey74

Can we know more about commonplace books please?

Hi it's basically the idea that you store info you learn or come across and want to keep in one "common place" (ie a book). Lots of historical figures such as authors, philosophers and scientists used to do this so there's a bit of a long history to the practice. It's not so much a journal for your own thoughts I think but more a collection of things you learn, ideas/inspo you collect and bits of info want to refer back to etc.

Anyway here's some links which explain it better than I can, and some videos that I liked and find inspiring. I've also attached a couple of pages from mine that I just started on mental health, with some decorations of course!

www.thereader.org.uk/10-fascinating-facts-about-commonplace-books/
ryanholiday.net/how-and-why-to-keep-a-commonplace-book/
www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-keep-a-commonplace-book
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book

Also lots more here: www.youtube.com/results?search_query=commonplace+book

Hope this helps! It's a bit of a minefield once you get onto youtube but i find it fascinating. Personally I think it's quite a mindful practice and think they should teach it in schools!