WHY THE HOBONICHI IN 2017

One of the things my planner friends ask me is why I changed planners this year.  Why the Hobonichi all of a sudden?  My friends know that I am pretty loyal to my system.  If it works for me, I seldom do any changes.

Well, the main reason as I have mentioned in an earlier post is that I would really want to streamline my planning process.  With all the planners I have, planning sometimes could get really tedious until I get planner slump and stick to one at the middle of the year.

In my last post I mentioned about using the Stephen Covey worksheet and the Franklin Covey Sample Planner printables.  It worked so well for me that I was no longer planning in my Petit Planner and in my MB Planner especially towards the end of the year.  

The Petit Planner

I love the Petit Planner.  I still love it.  It just handy enough to fit in my handbag.  If I have to go to a meeting, I don't have bring my MB Planner along.  And it fits in my shoulder bag which is smaller than my handbag.  It is also very pretty with its colored pages.  The paper is thick enough so there is no bleeding of inks.  You can use your ballpoint, gel or fountain pens, it does not matter.  I also do not have to decorate the planner.  It is pretty enough as is.  There is also several pages at the end of the month for notes and a area for lists.  I used the note pages but I failed to use the list area.  But, that is alright as I used my Petit Planner pretty well during the year.

The thing is, the monthly pages are so small.  The main feature of this planner is the weekly layout.  The pages could also be confusing on what month I am on so I had to put small flags on the side.  However, even that didn't help.  I missed some appointments because I put it on the wrong month.  So, I would write the month on one side of the spread to remind me of the month that I am on.

Although the Petit Planner worked really well for me, I have to live without ample monthly planning space with this planner in my bag.

You can find the details on the BDJ Petit Planner on this link:

https://ilovebdj.com/shop/2017-bdj-petit-planner/

The MB Planner

The MB Planner is a free planner sent to institutions that support Manila Bulletin.  I always receive this during Christmas as a part of a gift pack that the newspaper sends.  It is relatively thinner than other planners and the cover is a nice navy blue leatherette that is sturdy and elegant to bring with you in a meeting with executives.  The paper is also of good quality glossy paper.  Being glossy, there is a limited range of pens that you can use.  If you insist on gel pens or fountain pens, you have to be prepared to wait for the ink to dry.  That is the only way for you not have ink transfer on the other page.  This is actually quite a bummer for me since I could not really use my gel pens.  If I have the time though, I do.

The thing is, the MB Planner is also a weekly planner.  There is a one year planner in a spread at the first few pages of the planner, but this will not do for monthly planning.  It is sorely lacking in that respect.  It does boast of its own section for addresses with lots and lots of pages, but I never use that section.  

In a nutshell, this planner is really functional and helpful, but without the monthly, it is as deficient as the Petit Planner.  It is also not available for purchase by the public.

The Search

With my decision to streamline this year, I wanted to do away with the worksheets. Although it was working really well for me and I did not want to lose that functionality 

but still it was clutter.  I had to use a clipboard to keep it together so I couldn't take it out during meetings.  I didn't want to put it in a binder because I like to just put it on my lap while I am making calls in the car or on top of my desk so I can just scribble notes on the dailies.  Previously, I would write notes on notepads or post-its and stick it to my planner but I would sometimes lose important information doing that.  So, the note-taking on the dailies was really practical. Remember, all my planners featured weeklies and no dailies.  So the planner I was looking for needed to have the same elements as my worksheets.  A daily, a monthly and a yearly planner all in one notebook.

My search on the net led me to the Hobonichi.  I have been reading blogs and watching videos of the Hobonichi as planners would use it also as travel or art journals for years.  I haven't really thought of it as a functional planner that I could use everyday.  Besides, it was really expensive and difficult to procure.  I am so glad they have a new website now in english.

Purchasing the Hobonichi

So, on the second week of December I decided to place an order with the Hobonichi Store Website.  December 12 to be exact.  On December 13, I decided to add the Hobonichi Weeks to replace my Petit Planner 2017 as an on-the-go planner.  I liked the lay-out with the weeks on the left side and a place for notes on the right side.  I also liked the idea that if I decide to decorate my planner, I can try out the technique or lay-out first in the Hobonichi Weeks without ruining the Hobonichi Cousin.  I also love that there is about 72 pages of note paper included in the planner. I have so many ideas on how to use it and I will discuss that in a future blog post.

On the 14th, I received an email that my package was now being shipped.  I received the package on the 12th.  I had to pay P135.00 to the post office though to receive the package.  No problem.  For the efficiency I was willing to pay extra.  I have to commend Hobonichi and EMS for the prompt service.

The emails were all in English although I received an email in Japanese after my additional purchase.  This was stressful as I do not know how I would be able to understand the email.  But, a follow-up email made me ignore the Japanese email.

Generally, it was a good experience and yes, I will purchase again from the Hobonichi website.

You can find more about the Hobonichi from there website here:  http://www.1101.com/store/techo/en/

The Hobonichi It Is

Now, I am on the 3rd Week on my Hobonichis.  I am loving it.  I am using my Weeks more than the Cousin though, which is understandable, as I use the Weeks more than the Cousin.  I will be posting more about this in the coming weeks as I share how I use my Hobonichi.

That's all for now.  Happy Planning!

Peachy :-)

Planning in 2017

Keeping track of my schedules and tasks is an event in itself.  Between my family, work, civic organizations and crafting, it will be chaotic if I don't find myself a system to be able to get a hold of all of the things and people that needs my time and attention.

A Little Background


I have been keeping journals and notebooks since I was seven.  The simple notebook I had when I was seven, later became two.  One was an assignment notebook for school to keep track of homework and projects and another I kept as my journal.

Then, in High School I discovered Filofax and kept my days in order in it until College.  Then, in College I read the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People and made myself planning worksheets patterned after the Stephen Covey's weekly planning template.  I punched holes in it so that it would go into my Filofax. It was in Law School that I decided to buy myself a very expensive Franklin Covey Planner and this I used every year, until I discovered the Belle Du Jour Planner in 2006 and I had one every year ever since.

During this entire period of going from one planner to the next, I always kept a notebook as a journal. That is only one notebook for all my journaling, whether it be for travel, book review, movie reviews or just rambling on about my day.  Sometimes I would faithfully do this everyday, but most of the time, my journal was left untouched.  So when Starbucks started to come out with a planner I got myself one every year too for my daily journalling.

When I started working 10 years ago in my present job now, I receive a free planner from Manila Bulletin (a broad sheet newspaper) every year.  I would usually just give it away, but three years ago, I started using it because it became very handy to bring with me during meetings.  It was not very thick unlike the BDJ Planner and had a serious look to it rather than my whimsical looking BDJ.  It became my workhorse.

My 2016 Planning Workhorses: (L-R) The Manila Bulletin Planner,
The BDJ Petit Planner and a notebook I use as my Daily Log Bullet Journal.

So, for three years my planning constants were my BDJ Planner, the MB Planner, and the Starbucks Planner.  This also includes a notebook, no specific preference, for my meeting notes and project planning.

Now, last year, BDJ came out with their Petit Planner.  I purchased this handy planner and it quickly turned out to become my primary planning tool.  It had monthly pages, but the squares are too small and it primarily featured weekly pages.  The paper is thick 85 gsm so the planner, although small is thick.  I loved writing on it it and used it for most of 2016.

The Stephen Covey Worksheet.  I used this from August to December.
It has the Roles area on the left and the weekly planning template.
I used the blank area below the weekly template area for
notes and reminders.  

Then, at around July last year, I just felt so unmotivated.  One day, I decided to read again Stephen Covey's 7 Habits and got motivated enough to print the weekly worksheet again and this time I also printed the sample daily pages from the Franklin-Covey website.  This is the link to the free printable planner: http://www.franklincovey.com/tc/mediaengine/public/files/31_sampleplanner.pdf

You can also download the printable Stephen Covey Weekly Planning Worksheet here: http://momssmallvictories.com/free-weekly-planner-printable-based-on-7-habits-of-highly-effective-people/.

Franklin Covey Daily Sample Planner Sheets

The system worked very well for me.  I wrote everything on the daily and weekly pages and I could attach receipts of my expenses.  I felt more motivated and this continued until the end of the year.  The sample I posted here does not show my daily entries as it is too personal.  I take note of my expenses and attach the receipts on the sheet.  After the end of the month, I archive it in a binder along with all the finished sheets for the year.

I still had my MB Planner and my Petit Planner but rarely used my BDJ and had little time to write on my Starbucks Planner.



Life Audit

Sometime 2007, my brother gifted me with the book Life Audit.  At that time, I thought it was a good idea.  I faithfully followed the activities in the book for a Life Audit and started a notebook where I would monitor where my time is going and whether I give time to all the things I feel is important.

Last year, at about the same time I started working on the covey planning worksheets I started a daily log notebook inspired by the bullet journals I saw on Pinterest and by my Life Audit Notebook.  I was not very faithful in doing this.  But around December I finished one month and I found it very useful in monitoring my productivity and making sure I do all my chores and routines.  I will continue doing this and will be discussing this in this blog in the future.

This Year

As the new year was drawing near, I decided on several changes in my life.  First on my list was to declutter.

My clutter was getting into my productivity, my relationship with my family and is a cause of a lot of my troubles.  I had to be very mindful now of what I keep and I truly have to start organizing my stuff.

This would have been my 2017 Planning Workhorses.
I changed my mind.  I still have it just in case I want to
switch planners mid-year.  Crazy planner addict!

So, early on I decided that I only need one major planner, then a small one that I could keep in my handbag.  I would keep my meeting and planning notebook as I need it for work.  Then I have to continue my Life Log notebook/bullet journal because it really helps me start my day.

However, yes, I bought the BDJ Planner along with the Petit Planner because I bought it before I made the decision to keep to my two planners.

I did not receive the MB Planner for 2017.

I also deliberately did not fill up my Starbucks sticker sheet last year so that I will no longer have any chance to get the Starbucks planner that I thought would just add to my clutter.  My husband said I should have just filled it up and gifted the planner to someone else.  Well, knowing me, I know if I got that planner I won't be giving it to anyone.

So, I started surfing the net around November to get ideas on what planner to get this year.  If I didn't find a planner that I liked, then I would have to go make do with the covey worksheets and find a way to put it in a binder.

The Hobonichi

Being the planner addict that I am, I learned about the Hobonichi years ago.  However, my desire to have one was never strong enough to motivate me to get one.  First, it was difficult to procure.  I don't really like purchasing online.  I only do so when there is absolutely no way for me to purchase the product myself physically.  But, this year, looking at the Cousin, I thought, I've got all I need in that one planner.

My Ultimate 2017 Planning Workhorses:
The Hobonichi Cousin, The Hobonichi Weeks and
My Daily Log/Bullet Journal

The Hobonichi Cousin was of a size I was really comfortable with.  It also had montly, weekly and daily pages, the formats that made me keep all the planners that I was keeping.  The Monday start didn't bother me as I start my week on Mondays anyway.  The Japanese quotations was fine too as I could just washi over it.  So, I purchased it online from the Hobonichi website.

The Hobonichi Weeks came as an afterthought.  I needed an on-the-go planner.  Last December, I was already using the Petit Planner, but I figured, why not purchase the Hobonichi Weeks as well and make it as an experimental notebook before doing anything artsy on my Hobonichi Cousin?  So, I went on to add the Hobonichi Weeks to my purchase.

Now

We are now on the 3rd Week of the year and I am loving the Hobonichi Weeks and Hobonichi Cousin.  I will blog about how it is going as I go from week to week to week.

Happy Planning.

Peachy :-)