Weekly Discussion Thread

[annofowlshire]

Comment to tell us about what you've been up to with your journal, planner, or other stationery related items. Tell us about a new pen or a coveted notebook. Consult the hive mind with a problem you've been having. Post a picture! Whatever goes as long as it falls in the realm of journals and planners. Remember, you can always make your own top-level post, too!

(Text from lunabee34)

Comments

[annofowlshire]

Hope it was okay to post it, I hadn’t seen one this week.

Anyway, I’m still using Moleskine Journeys. I migrated info from my latest paper journals into it—likes like my “books read 2022” list and gardening notes (including photos of the diagrams I drew on how I laid some areas out).

I’m liking being able to separate things off. There’s a general daily journal bit, but I have a separate “project” section just for my novel-in-development so I can cut and paste that info in at the end of the day and that’s all collected into one place. And the same with varying other “projects” like my gardening notes.

And it carries over my undone tasks from the day before to the next day. Very handy.

It’s very neat and convenient, but I just saw my box of stickers in my pencil bag and I’m having a little bit of longing for something physical to stick them to…

[vriddy]

Oh, cool to see an update!!

Ah, stickers is a huge downside of digital 😂 Passion planner seems to allow you to do that on theirs, I think I saw.

I do my BuJo digitally and have been using separate files for projects, too. It seems to mostly work well so far. I think I wouldn't like undone tasks automatically migrating to the next day, it would get overwhelming pretty quickly 😂

[lunabee34]

Yes, absolutely! We are heading into finals next week, and I am in grading hell, so it slipped my mind. I'm glad you did.

Re: stickers

Could you put them on postcards and send them to friends with a short message like Happy Summer! Or Welcome to May!?

[annofowlshire]

It gets a bit overwhelming, because I write all sorts of tasks or “remember this” type things into it. It can be organized a bit better, you can put tasks into “projects” and set reminders on them if you don’t want them to vanish out of your way. I’m still learning how to best optimize it for productivity (or at least reminding me that something needs doing, it can’t actually do the thing for me…).

But it’s been helpful to write down various tasks that need doing/attention and letting them follow me and nag me until they actually get done (or removed/migrated to a project).

I just wish I could find a way to set some “dailies” that would always show up!

[annofowlshire]

Things like sending letters or postcards or Christmas cards are way outside of my executive function level XD I’ve always envied (and felt a little guilty) the people who send them to me!

(My BFF sends me letters and postcards that are random with calligraphy and lovely and I enjoy receiving them and I know she loves sending them… but have I ever reciprocated? Er…. no. Guilt!)

[seleneheart]

That's really wonderful that it's working for you!

I know that it's a membership/subscription type thing - do you feel it's worth the subscription?

[bleodswean]

Still working on my quest for the perfect "pocket" printer for travelogue journaling. I'm looking at the Canon Selphy 1300.

Any suggestions for journals that are compact, not too many pages, and good for combo photo/journaling?

[annofowlshire]

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: When I break down the cost (in my case it was £22/year, I think as a returning user discount), that’s like 1.5 Leuchtturm1917 A5 notebooks (my favorite). Even on years I’ve done really well on my paper journaling/planning, I’ve used 3-5 notebooks, which is a lot more than £22 (or even the £30 that I think is the regular annual rate).

… and that’s assuming I finished using the notebook… which I have my fair share of them which I’ve abandoned at some point and then decided I wanted to start a fresh new shiny notebook when I was ready to start again. And let’s not even talk about the like 10 unused (and even more half abandoned) inserts I have for my Traveller’s Notebook… or the dozen spiralbound notebooks I picked up recently on sale… and the inks and pens and washi tape and stickers and…

Suffice to say, I’ve invested a lot in paper journal products that I didn’t (or haven’t yet) used ^_^; So, assuming I’ve accepted that’s okay (which I have), then even if I only used Moleskine Journey for a couple of months, or on and off through the year when it felt like the right tool for the job at the time… I think it’s earned the cost of entry. Will I renew it at the end of this subscriber year? If I’m still using it at that time, absolutely. If I’m not using it then, then I probably won’t (until I decide I want to give it another go).

[lunabee34]

What criteria would make it good for photos? Does it need a certain kind of paper or binding?

[lunabee34]

Totally understand!

<3

[annofowlshire]

Oooh. Pocket printer.

Have you looked at the Midori Traveller’s Notebook (or the varying “fauxdori” versions, I like Traveller Times here in the UK who also does a variety of sizes not just the long thin one). Leather or cloth cover with bands on the inside, and then you use “inserts”—notebooks which are often quite thin—like maybe 30 pages and can usually come in a variety of options like blank pages, lined, dot grid, kraft paper, etc. So you could keep as many in the notebook folder as suited you at a given time. When the insert is full, you could opt to bound it into a more permanent form, or file them, or whatever suits you for long term.

Another idea is a small, thin ring binder with kraft board or similar type pages, and then you could keep in what you needed at a given time and take out what you’re done with and store into a more permanent home (perhaps another ring binder for shelving).

[bleodswean]

Yes, a heavier paper, unlined, but I got a GREAT tip below! You guys are AMAZING!!!!

[bleodswean]

*swoons* This is why I LOVE THE INTERNETZ!!! And also why I miss the brick-and-mortar stationers. I want to hold one of these Travelers in my hand today! So, perfect suggestion is perfect. I'm now taking the deep dive. Any good blog resources? I found this -

https://www.galenleather.com/blogs/news/everything-about-the-travelers-notebook-system

Thank you!!!

[pasta]

Got a new cover for my rings planner. I love it. I can't function properly without my planner. My whole life is in it: https://i.imgur.com/wuLQ9Um.jpg

[annofowlshire]

That’s a good resource! I’m sure there are others, but they’ll basically cover the same things.

I hope it works out for you! I’ve had mine for several years now (the dye on the leather is a bit faded now, though… maybe I should get another one…), and I don’t use it all the time, but I always come back to it again at some point. It’s so versatile it can be whatever I need it to be at the time.

Notebook ramble

[annofowlshire]

Okay, another comment. After telling bleodswean about the Traveler’s Notebooks, I got a sudden hankering to pull mine out and see what I was last doing with it. And then I was thinking - is there a place for this alongside my MJ app? And the answer is probably yes. And then I was thinking about new inserts, and went to the site where I usually get them from (from the person who made the leather binder in the first place which is a custom size) and choked when I saw that since I last bought inserts (apparently in 2018), the price had jumped from about £1.50 an insert to £5.75. Holy geez. It’s 17 pages of paper stapled into kraftboard (look, I know there’s more to it than that to make them turn out nicely, but what?).

So then I went on an odyssey to look at the supplies I’d need to make my own. The initial outlay isn’t cheap (long arm stapler, paper guillotine, an edge rounder because I want to), but at those rates it would quickly pay for itself XD

And then I made myself check my drawer, and found I had 8 unused inserts and nearly that again of inserts where I’ve used like 3 pages with some grand purpose before abandoning it.

So, I don’t really need to invest in a bunch of insert-making supplies just yet…

ANYWAY I’m just going to noodle around with the remains of the current inserts, and stop being so grandiose that it must be A Book and see what emerges. AND one thing I’ve come to realize is that it can work with my MJ app because I can take a photo of the pages I want to keep and put it on whatever “project” it belongs to.

Also, there will be stickers.

[annofowlshire]

I’m in awe you can fit your whole life into that tidy looking notebook. Does it use TARDIS technology?

(As you can tell from my other comments and jumping around organizers willy nilly, I’m pretty hopeless on this front.)

[pasta]

Haha, I've tried them all to find the perfect match. I mean, it's basically a glorified "to do" list, mostly. But it also tracks my sleep, my health, when I get sick, every doctor appt for each kid, when they've been sick, and for my cat Booker. All my passwords, my parents passwords, emergency contacts. It never leaves my house.

For out of the house, I have a simple Hobonichi Weeks book. I jot stuff down on there, and I also use it as a summary journal of my week. For awhile I used Notion.so online and it was good, but I prefer the physicalness of a planner.

But I used Travelers Notebooks for quite awhile too. I even got my special edition one from the Traveler's Caravan in NYC's Ace Hotel, but in the end, I feel like the rings was just more tidy for me.

[seleneheart]

I received my EC Lifeplanner today, which was extremely fast as I just ordered it Monday. I seem to remember it taking a month last year.

I'm slightly disappointed in it - they discontinued one of my favorite layouts from last year, which was just the perfect amount of colorful (I'm not much of a neutral person), but what they replaced it with this year is just obnoxiously colorful. Now I wish I had gotten the neutral layout.

[annofowlshire]

Ah, it’s cool that it’s a “never leaves the house” journal, and you have something else for being on the go. I in theory had have that (a “passport” sized Traveler’s notebook), but I get obsessed with idea of The One Journal To Rule Them All. (You can see how well that’s gone… LOL).

Of course, it’s not like I leave the house much these days anyway…

[pasta]

Oh yeah, nowadays I never leave the house, so I don't really need too much of an outdoor one all that much. The rings planner is definitely a "One To Rule Them All" planner because it's so versatile. And I also like that I can make or buy, and then print my own inserts exactly how I want it. I'm very particular so it helps!!

I made a planner instagram like the weirdo I am jenbeeplans if you want to see more depth with how I use it, haha.

[annofowlshire]

I have added you! (Same username as here, so should be straightforward.)

[omnipotent]

Received a dozen of my favorite pen, the blue/green Pentel Sparkle Pop. I am happy.

[pasta]

Nice! I also added you on my personal instagram, haha!

[thistleingrey]

Thank you for posting!

Having migration actually seems pretty helpful to me, for confronting do/postpone/drop. I'm not sure it's enough to encourage me to migrate to Moleskine :) but I appreciate your description of what works for you!