2024 Planner Talk

I bought an EC vertical awhile ago. However, I’ve decided to go with MakseLife instead. Again, vertical. I really like their goal setting and reflections. I may give my EC to my daughter.

I go back and forth between stickers and purely functional. I just used stickers for the first week. I’m excited to set some goals and get started on a new year.

The Laurel Denise planner is gorgeous, have fun with it!!

After years of trying all different sorts of planners, I’ve moved to a bullet journal. I can set it up exactly the way I need it. It does take time, but it’s the perfect size for my purse and I don’t waste pages which I felt like I was doing with larger, preprinted planners.

I’m a Monday start, one page per week, vertical. The facing page is blank for notes, to do lists, etc. I always need more weekly blank pages that typical planners provide. Each month I have mental health tracker, rate my day, a small area for goals (which are often craft related, events and then 6 blank habit trackers.

So, I was confused when planners started showing up in craft stores in addition to office supply stores. I guess I still am.

Are we talking about calendars? Journals? Some cross between them? Is there a difference, really, between planners in craft stores and those in office supply stores? If so, is it a difference of intent or of design?

I'm not trying to be cheeky or offensive...I really just don't understand....

I am going to stick with my Google Samsung calendar. I barely touched my Happy Planner since February. Its so much easier to just have it all on my phone because it is always with me.

When I found out that Elise Cripe’s Get to Work Book was going away I bought 3 of the undated ones to last me for a few years. I plan messily with a marker and a pen, no stickers because I shred and compost the pages at the end of the year. I like a Monday start weekly and I mostly just use it for to do lists. I need the flexibility to make a lot of messy lists because I never do the things I intend to do on the days I first write them down.

I use multiple planners as both planners and journals, and do a mix of functional and fun. Like many others at this point I own a stupid amount of stickers, washi, markers, pens etc. I like to keep things compartmentalized by life area so I use multiple books. It is just my husband and I, no kids or pets, I work full time with set hours. For both personal and work I use a mix of digital and physical, but they are different enough representations of tasks and events that it doesn't feel repetitive. I don't feel like I need the planning aspect as much as I enjoy the journaling aspect. I prefer vertical layouts and Monday starts.

My lineup:

My personal daily planner since 2020:
Hobonichi Techo A6 (the little one), Monday start
I use the calendar pages for a calendar of big events, I like being able to see them at a high level. I also make heavy use of my Apple Calendar- I have a personal one and my husband and I have a shared one, but I find I enter things in a somewhat different manner in my physical planner, less detail.
Daily pages are just kind of open task lists. There is a monthly page at the start of each month I try to use as an open task list of 'try to do this at some point'.
Sometimes I use stickers, sometimes I just slap on some color with brush pens/highlighters.

My daily work planner since 2023:
Jibun Tech Business Daily planner (B6 slim)
I really only use the daily pages, one side as a to do list, the other side as an hourly calendar in 15 minute increments for time blocking. I don't always use it but I like having it for when I have a lot going on. I make heavy use of Outlook as well. I have an office- type job though I work from home.

My Personal journal since 2020:
Hobonichi Cousin Monday start
I love this. I feel like this is the item I use the most built in parts of and is the most consistently used tool in my day to day life. I find I get a lot out of this.
I use the year at a glance for some high level tracking, but have found daily tracking of multiple things doesn't work for me. I just track if we go to a theme park (we live in Orlando and go to Disney and Uni a fair bit).
Monthly for health stats tracking
Weekly for quick memory keeping, great to use when putting together scrapbook/PL pages
Daily I use the least regularly, but thats ok, I have mostly accepted it. Just a catch all journal/noteboook/once in a blue moon art journal.
Lots of stickers in this one but sometimes just pen
For the coming year I plan to use the unused Monthly pages for goal setting
This year I used some random pages to track every movie I watched this year and my husband and I are really excited to go through it at the end of the year as most of the movies we watched together.

these other things I started this December!

Running Journal:
Hobonichi Day Free A5
Monthly pages for tracking workouts
Notes pages for quick journaling of runs- plan vs actual, what did I do and how did I feel pre, during, post etc.
Additional pages for goal setting, event tracking etc.
95% Pen & marker
I ALWAYS wear my Garmin which tracks a lot of stats, but I am happy to have the written record of how I feel and again, paper just presents things in a different view, and I find it is the best method for me for high level reviews. I am working out some color coding ideas for quick glance views of my runs over the entirety of a month

Media Journal:
Stalogy A5
A page for each movie, book, show, whatever media type I feel compelled to write about
printed stickers of book covers/movie posters etc, some wash, mostly pen & marker

What planner(s) are you using for 2024 and for what purpose? I'm using a Blue Sky Weekly/Monthly Planning Calendar (same as last year) from Staples. It has to have squares big enough to write a few lines on. I work a rotating schedule so I find it easier to look at when scheduling appts.

Has to be a Sunday start.

Horizontal or Vertical layout? Uh, horizontal.

Sticker girl or just functional? Just functional for this one.

Now I do a memory planner ala Heidi Swapp like. I've used official HS material in the past, but for 2024 I just bought a large Blue Sky which has horizontal grids (very similiar to HS folios) and is bound. In the memory planner, I use stickers, stamping, photos, all sorts of ephemera

I did buy the undated "Get to Work" planner, but it scared me off.

I am using a Wonderland222 All-In-One B6 planner. It has a December start, so I've been auditioning it this month. So far I love it! It has dated weekly and monthly pages, and at the end, there are undated daily pages. The only thing that's not perfect about it is that the months have a Monday start. I prefer Sunday starts for my monthlies and Monday starts for my weeklies. I mainly use my Google calendar for appointments, though, so the monthlies weren't a deal-breaker.

For several years, I used a bullet journal, but I got tired of setting up my layouts each week. This is the best of both worlds since I can keep my collections at the end.

I use a bit of washi and some stickers and stamps, but I don't go too crazy since I don't like to add bulk to my pages. I just started subscribing to the Cocoa Daisy Journaling Kit, and the rub-ons add some color without adding bulk. My planner is mainly functional but I find that if I make it pretty, I feel inspired to go back to it.

Happy planner for me. Catch all and a separate health planner, wellness planner, house planner, budget planner, social media planner, and a scrapbook planner.

The scrapbook is the only one I decorate. All the others are functional.

Monday start.

Planner tip - your brain retains information much more easily when you write something down. I saw it on a display for post it notes lol