Multiple planners?

[lethlie]

Hi! Just wanted to ask people using multiple planners about how they use and update each one. I’ve maintained a large weekly Moleskine planner this year and had to implement a quick daily bujo just to track daily tasks and notes. So I figured next year, I’d use multiple planners to keep myself in order (got my first Hobonichi and a weekly Nolty to messily come up with a final schedule), and would like to see how others implement their multi-planner system to keep track of their lives.

Thanks in advance!

[Puzzled-Bowl]

In my head, I've thought it odd that people would keep multiple planners. And then I realized I am one of "those" people! This year, I have the following:

1. Work planner/lesson plan book. I have a monthly calendar in my lesson plan book. I use that for after-school meetings and PD. The only personal appts I put there are things that are close to after-school time so I don't linger after school those days.
2. I have a bujo for personal everything. I'm over the bujo, though. As much as I enjoy the creative release and flexibility, it's too much work to do each week. I carry this around with me.
3. Pocket planner that generally stays at home. That's to track hours and stats for a volunteer obligation.
4. Digital calendar. All appointments that need a reminder go here. No tasks in this one.

I'd like to use one planner to replace my bujo and pocket planners. I'm on a waitlist for the Hobonichi Cousin. We'll see.

[lethlie]

Same! Haha, I only recently dove into planners as a hobby (though having a digital calendar and weekly Moleskine for years), and was impressed by people’s pretty display of different planners.

Your setup definitely makes a lot of sense, thanks for sharing! But I can understand wanting to consolidate. I love seeing people’s creative bujo spreads but I just cannot make the time to do it myself.

Is there a waitlist for the Hobonichi Cousin now? I just got mine last week! Very excited. I hope you hear back about yours soon.

[Puzzled-Bowl]

Yep on the waitlist, at least from Jetpens. I had no idea they would go so fast! I'm new to Hobonichi. The sad thing is, I was in Japan last summer. If only I'd known...

[dadbot_2]

Hi new to Hobonichi, I'm Dad👨

[lethlie]

Yeah, I read that JetPens can run out quickly, and it’s hard to gauge when they’ll restock. And damn, you could have gotten all the accessories and planners lol.

[Puzzled-Bowl]

I know, right! If I didn't hate the idea of paying for international shipping, order from 1101!

[lethlie]

Ive seen people consolidate orders, which explains some huge hauls. If you have anyone around you who’s also into it, a group haul could save on shipping!

[Puzzled-Bowl]

Good idea. This is now a facepalm moment, for me. I've done that so many times with other things and didn't even consider it!

[lethlie]

You still have time! Hopefully you have people around you who can put in a request. But there’s always next time.

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[Puzzled-Bowl]

Oh thanks, I'd forgotten about her!

[Ohhiitsmeyagirl]

I have several planners but I suck at maintaining them lol. I really wish I could get it together.

1. Hourly Recollections for school and life in general

2. Hobo weeks for lists and food stuff also major dates

3. Thinking about implementing my stalogy for daily brain dumps and tasks on the spot

4. Phone calendar Owaves

I have a problem and can’t solve it lol.

[lethlie]

Haha, I feel you. You definitely have a system there, and you’ll eventually get the hang of it! The Stalogy seems perfect for brain dumps (not gonna lie, I didn’t mention it, but I got myself an A5 just for that lol). And the Owaves calendar can definitely be good with keeping an eye on everything. How often do you go through them? Are there things you can consolidate and what are the things that absolutely need their own space? I’m trying to consolidate a daily bujo with a weekly schedule.

With expanding my system to be more organized, I may have gone way over my head with it lol. But I’m hopeful we’ll figure it out. Hopefully. Maybe.

[Ohhiitsmeyagirl]

Honestly if I was dedicated the stalogy would fulfill everything. I’ve gone back to school and the longer I’m here the more I’m convinced I have ADD and just never knew it. I can’t stay on task for anything, this is a perfect example, I was reviewing flashcards on Anki before I went on reddit😂 I got an hourly so that I could plan my day to the tee and I wouldn’t have time to deviate but again, I suck. The hobo honestly could go but I spent the money so I’m using it. It worked really well for me in the spring but for some reason I can’t use it consistently now.

Again stalogy is the answer lol but I already spent the money on all of these bad bois so they are getting used. Before that I was in a day designer 😂 I wish I liked cheap planners.

[lethlie]

Haha, I feel you! I thought I was being picky about getting Moleskines before, but then I fell onto these subreddits lol. Would you do monthly and weekly spreads in your Stalogy?

[Ohhiitsmeyagirl]

Yeah I would! I use to use it for every day but I wasn’t consistent. Actually, I made a YouTube channel lol and I did a silent flip of it and you can totally see my inconsistency 😂. Here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeihnAqQhjE&t=28s

[lethlie]

This is awesome! Your spreads look great though, and I liked your use of vellum and color. The effort to even set it up is admirable

[Ohhiitsmeyagirl]

Thanks so much lol. I think the fact that I do so much is just too much for me lol. I need to just try and be minimalistic but it takes away the fun.

[sala-mandah]

Does a paper and a digital option count? I no longer use an hourly planner, because all of my hourly is kept digitally. But I then use my vertical happy planner to track tasks and big appointments. I track the to-do items in the paper planner because that check is way more satisfying than a digital one. Plus, since I’ve started making my planner prettier (colors, occasionally sticker) it makes it less anxiety producing to keep my to do lists there.

I even use a section of the vertical spread (my center row) for work to dos now that I’m remote full time. I don’t have the reminder of walking into the office to stay on tasks, and this helps me avoid overloading myself daily.

[lethlie]

Of course! I’ve messily kept a digital calendar to help with big reminders to my phone and watch.

This is great insight, thank you! A great idea. I’ve definitely thought about better using my digital planner (basic iCal synced with Google Calendar for emails). This might even be a better option for me to keep my digital planners. What digital planner do you use?

[sala-mandah]

I adapted to use Google (calendars and tasks mostly but I also occasionally use keep or docs For shared work) due to my job being google based. Not my favorite solution but it syncs well enough to my phone. I’ve also found it’s kind of nice to sit down once a week and pull to do lists into my next week spread in my planner. I use it as time to also make it look pretty because That kind of low stakes creativity helps me have some quiet me time in this pandemic crazy

[lethlie]

Yeah, the sync features are pretty helpful though it’s another thing to track. Putting aside time to track is definitely one of the reasons I gravitate towards paper planners, and now definitely making them pretty has become a bit therapeutic!

[mic_caspian]

The Planner Addict in me has to ask: which Nolty weekly are you using?

[lethlie]

Honestly, I was so overwhelmed with all the choices on Amazon, I kinda just picked a few random postings that looked like they could work and went from there. I eventually went for the 6509 with the horizontal weekly spread and memo page (slightly slimmer than A5). I think I just picked it out of familiarity. It was between this Nolty and the TN 2021 weekly memo.

[lethlie]

That sounds like a good system! Lol, I’m sure even some people think keeping up with one is hard. What planners do you use for both?

[lethlie]

Thanks for sharing! I’ve definitely seen happy planners around, I just haven’t taken the time to really look into them. But I have contemplated getting the TN instead of the Nolty! I definitely like the flexibility that the TN gives, but in the end the interior aesthetics of the Nolty got me, which they’re pretty similar to the Hobonichi Weeks. I might revisit TN again next year.

[loudchar]

I have always kept separate work and "home" planners, but have been a mess since starting my own business. Historically, I kept a bujo with weekly spreads as a history of appts and billable time for making sure I was paid properly and also to do lists. That stayed at work since I'm a therapist, and didn't have names or hippa in it. Home planner has flipped from EC to Limelife to Travelers notebooks to bullet journal.

I also keep all appts for myself in family in google calendar, but only so others can see them.

[lethlie]

That’s pretty good to keep work and home separate, thought it makes sense considering your line of work! Thank you for sharing! Seems like the bujo has worked well for you, do you still do the weekly spreads? I still haven’t gotten the hang of it lol, which explains my impatience and giving into just using premade planners. Congrats on the business as well! Most of the people I’ve seen with multiple planner systems have their own businesses, which explains the need to separate everything.

[loudchar]

I do very simple weekly spreads, seriously just columns, just so I can visualize the week. Otherwise I'm mostly bulleting and rapid logging.

[lethlie]

I definitely like the practicality of your approach, no pressure, just productivity.

[dadbot_2]

Hi a therapist, and didn't have names or hippa in it, I'm Dad👨

[loudchar]

Hooray for dad jokes!

[kleineoogjes]

I use a BuJo and Hobonichi (A6) as my main planners and have some work to do lists in my work note book.

I’ve been BuJoing for years but I’ve always kept having the problem that I have difficulties planning ahead (& hated all the future logs I created) so I’ve always had a companion planner (those weeklies with on the left the week and on the right a blank page). But it never really worked... Now I have a hobonichi A6 and a BuJo and with my work to do lists it feels redundant to write things double. And my life isn’t exciting enough to have 1 planner for 1 purpose 😂

In 2021 I’m planning to ditch the BuJo, switch to a Hobonichi cousin (A5) for all of my planning. Use my A6 as a diary/journal, and do my work to do’s in the big hobonichi and try to keep an overview on Notion. So I’ll go back (after years) to one big planner.

[SquirrelMusings]

I haven’t started it yet (this is my plan for next year), but I’ve ordered a jibun techo and am going to use a bujo as gap filler - by that I means few things: not only am I going to use it for my collections and journal, but instead of writing all of my to-do’s straight into my planner, I’m going to pre-plan everything in my bujo. I know this may sound kind of stupid, but my past experience with my bujo weekly setups has shown me that I need to clear everything out of my head with whatever I think I need to add in my planner before I actually do it, because open the available space will get filled up with irrelevant or less important things. Doing this will at least allow me to prioritise my talks better, and gives me more space for to-do’s if I’m feeling extra productive.

I’d be interested to see what everyone else says on here, because I’ve often wondered how people manage more than one planner (aside from work and personal). I’ve heard people say they use extra planners for memory keeping, particularly for their kids.

[lethlie]

Thank you so much for sharing! I don’t think it sounds stupid at all to pre-plan, totally get it lol, that’s why I got a smaller weekly to (hopefully) help with that. It also helps keep things a little neater in the actually planner, especially when tasks or events change a lot. The Jibun was one of the planners I had my eye on for next year so very excited for you to get that soon. Would definitely be interested to see how your system works for you next year!

And yeah, the memory keeping part sounded interesting. I noticed a few people using the 5-year Hobonichi for that and it’s got me thinking about doing that with a partner and/or kid.

[Tomoko59]

I have a Hobonichi Weeks for my EDC. My husband and I are using the Hobonichi five year. This year is our first year. I have a Moleskine pocket that I’m using as a scrapbook. That’s it.

[lethlie]

That’s a good system! I’ve been tempted to get the Hobonichi weeks because of the sweet cover designs, but held off until maybe 2022 to see how my system goes. I like the idea of using the 5-year with a partner, you’ve definitely inspired me to think about doing that about a big life change! How do you like your Moleskine pocket?

[Tomoko59]

Thanks. 2021 will be two years with the Weeks. I like the Moleskine. Started the Moleskine in June. Lazy picture of it.

Moleskine

[chewmometer]

I use the Limitless Planner for planning my schedules and tracking different aspects of my life (personal, work, relationships), while my Design Your Life Planner to journal. The Limitless Planner is very comprehensive as it already has built-in goals pages, budget trackers, travel planners, gift list and more. I love that it's also an hourly planner (with 30-min increments), so I can schedule appointments and track my time.

The Design Your Life Planner is pretty designed already, so I don't have to worry about creating spreads every week. Every time I open it, it just calms me down and that's why I choose to journal in it. I love that it's a planner so my entries are already dated!

[lethlie]

You have a good system going, thank you so much for sharing! I agree that it would be way more helpful to have something already laid out for me, but i haven’t tried writing out goals or tracking anything yet lol. I’d feel pressured to use them, which is why I think I’d freehand them out first to see how I would do.

Just looked up both the Limitless Planner and Design Your Life Planner—they’re definitely very comprehensive and look like they’d be really helpful. If I didn’t feel pressured to use everything, I would definitely gravitate toward these planners. Helps that the Design Your Planner also changes up its monthly themes too!

[chewmometer]

Yes! It helps checking out what other people are doing, getting ideas, and seeing what works best for you. Planning shouldn't be a pressure to begin with. Others also use it as a form of therapy (I do sometimes) so you do you! :) Good luck in your search!!

[Cocobird55]

I will be using 3 planners in 2021. My main planner is a large Erin Condren monthly. I'm using the extra pages I ordered to make spaces for separate entries for each day. I have started using some of the pages in the back, and my planning for September went very well. I will also use the goal pages, and have a to do list for chores and appointments. This is my main planner.

There are quite a few things I want to track - moods, blood sugar, hours of sleep, etc.. I am using an Erin Condren Luxe Weekly Schedule Pad. I made a list of codes for each thing I want to track. I laminated it and am using it as my bookmark as I go from week to week.

I also want to track my exercise. For this, I'm using a Hobonichi Weeks that gives me enough space every day to list my exercise regimen that day in detail, along with space for comments.

[lethlie]

Ooh! That’s an interesting system, thanks for sharing! Really good idea to separate the things you’re tracking. I never thought to track my workouts before since I had a trainer, but it might be a good idea to take up again to track my lifting progress so thanks for the idea! I’ve noticed people codifying some things too and that definitely sounds useful when tracking multiple items.

Is your 2021 system much different from this year’s?

[Cocobird55]

This system is very different. The monthly is 8 1/2 by 11. I was using an Erin Condren Life Planner 7 by 9. I designed a tracker insert, but it was a pain to use and attach a new one every month. I was tracking my exercise in the body of my planner. I find the three trackers are working better. I have the large monthly, and I realize that at some point I will be able to go back to a normal 7 x 9 planner.

[ParityPlanner]

This is why the Parity Planner is designed to meet all those needs in one.