Planner question
Jan. 2nd, 2026 11:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dialecticdreamer posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
journalsandplannersDoes anyone else in this group create their own planner? Not a BuJo, in that it's got a framework and elements of a commercially sold planner.
dialecticdreamer posting in journalsandplanners
no subject
Date: 2026-01-03 10:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-03 02:35 pm (UTC)Absolutely
Date: 2026-01-03 11:28 pm (UTC)I startled the German teacher because I already wrote dates as 1 January 2026, and THAT just about got me held back by an annoying second grade teacher in the same school. Fortunately, my ACTUAL second grade teacher went to bat for me.
With those issues, I couldn't see spending money on a preprinted planner which would constantly annoy me. And that's just the start!
Re: Absolutely
Date: 2026-01-06 12:05 pm (UTC)I completely understand your logic though. Monday start makes sense. I just can't get used to it.
Re: Absolutely
Date: 2026-01-06 03:33 pm (UTC)A planner off the shelf just won't corral the weirdness in my brain.
no subject
Date: 2026-01-04 12:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-04 12:25 pm (UTC)Back to school sales!
Date: 2026-01-03 11:55 pm (UTC)Have you found a good source for comp books which still have 100 pages in them? The newer ones from both Staples and the "Pen and Gear" brand (Walmart?) only have 80 pages each. Which is fine except they are HEAVY and do take up a bit more shelf real estate to cover the same number of days. I'm such a stickler for details though, that ONE green cover, sitting on the shelf with only the black spine visible, bothers me because I know that it's hiding in there.
Re: Back to school sales!
Date: 2026-01-04 12:09 pm (UTC)I haven't actually looked much at page count -- I was actually looking at the pages themselves. The Pen and Gear books I use have dotted pages, so I bought them more for that than for how many pages were actually in the book. My 2025 book actually has about 20 pages left over. Hang on; I think I have another one in a drawer -- I bought a handful of them when I first saw them because I figured the next time I wanted one, they'd be gone...and they have 80 pages. Since I have only been doing this for a few years, I have only the Pen and Gear notebooks on my shelves.
Re: Back to school sales!
Date: 2026-01-04 12:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2026-01-03 04:42 pm (UTC)I use 8.5x11 pages of my preferred paper cut in half, disc-punched as the notebook pages. I like this because I found the right weight/color paper and could buy it in bulk at plain copy paper prices rather than marked-up stationary prices.
When I make a spread, I just chunk up the lefthand page for how many days I want (in quarters for MTWR, for instance, or thirds for F/St/Sun). In each chunk I just put the date and day of the week. The rest of the space in the chunk is for daily task lists.
On the RIGHTHAND side, I leave it open, for journaling. This means roughly two pages of journal per week, which is about right for me. I just keep journaling continuously on the journal pages, not getting too precious about journaling immediately next to the days in the planner. If I'm enjoying journaling, I can just continue until I'm done, using both sides of the paper. If that takes over a left-hand page, then oh well, that and its facing page are BOTH now journal pages and I'll start my next planner page on the next empty lefthand page.
For any tasks I want to remember a week or two in the future, I use post-it notes that I stick in future pages. If I'm in the middle of one week and need to make a note for next but there's no pages setup yet, I just start a post-it note and stick it generally where that week's pages will go. Then as tasks get written on planner pages, the post-it note can be thrown away or moved to a later page if I still need to finish something. Anything more aspirational than that ("do this someday", "do this on Jan 1") gets put in a separate reminder on a post-it note on my desk or in my online calendar, with a reminder.
Honestly, this works better for me than any other planner or journal I've had, because I don't need much structure or different types of pages. I can have the exact paper I want. There's no pre-printed decoration or structure that gets in my way. Everything is exactly where I've decided to place it. Mostly it works for me because I don't use the planner as a full calendar system that would be annoying to hand-make. The twice-weekly setup is not too time-consuming and can accomodate both "I want to make it pretty!" and "I'm super busy, just divide up a page and be done with it" moods. It's also not too much or too little decoration space (sometimes the premade pages lose like a quarter of the space to decorative stuff!) If I feel like it, I use colored markers to draw the lines, color the heading dates, make little curlicues, and use stickers/washi/etc. to decorate around the edges.
If you want to make your own, I recommend starting with the bare minimum pages you know you need, then adding elements as you think "I REALLY want this". Trying a bunch of added page types and elements as a way to "force" myself to adopt that structure has never worked for me. You already know what you'll need/use, so start with that and add in only when you know you'll use them.
I've been doing this for years
Date: 2026-01-03 11:45 pm (UTC)Right now I'm using a cheap composition book and drawing my format in pen, then filling in with pencil.
The things that I /really/ need to track just aren't in most planners. Sleep interruptions, cups of water consumed, glucometer readings, pages read, and reminders to journal, among others. If I have to handwrite them into a commercial planner anyway, save the $15+ and set up exactly what I want!
It's just that I've felt somewhat alone in this group because the commercial ones cannot work for me at all.
Re: I've been doing this for years
Date: 2026-01-04 12:03 am (UTC)Re: I've been doing this for years
Date: 2026-01-04 01:16 am (UTC)Frex, I set up special penmanship pages, using short poetic forms (Haiku were favorites of the kids in first and second grade) and setting the font color to 30% gray. The font was the magic--it was a British penmanship font called Jarman. It's written print-style, but when spaced properly it looks like cursive. Printing those as needed saved me a thousand hours of arguing and a dozen hours of prep work.
Doing the same with planner pages would be lovely, but I just corrected nineteen typos in this short message. Mouse use is worse. Le sigh!
Re: I've been doing this for years
Date: 2026-01-04 01:27 am (UTC)Re: I've been doing this for years
Date: 2026-01-04 01:49 am (UTC)Re: I've been doing this for years
Date: 2026-01-04 03:43 am (UTC)Re: I've been doing this for years
Date: 2026-01-04 04:05 am (UTC)I've considered buying stamps to simplify some of the handwork, especially on bad days when I can't pick up anything smaller than a nickel.
Re: I've been doing this for years
Date: 2026-01-04 04:28 am (UTC)Masterlist of Printables
For more inspiration, try searches like "bullet journal page" or "printable tracker" plus your topic.
>>I've considered buying stamps to simplify some of the handwork, especially on bad days when I can't pick up anything smaller than a nickel.<<
There are many stamps for trackers, journals, planners, etc. including full pages and elements of pages. They do make it easy to whack out multiple copies.
Based on what I've seen, I recommend that you get the kind of stamps which attach to a big clear acrylic block. It's a bit fiddly to position the stamp part, but some blocks have a grid. Not only is the block itself large and easy to hold, you can also attach a suction cup handle to the top of the block. Some of the stamp pieces are big, others tiny, but you could set up the tiny ones on a block during a good day and just leave them set.
The kind of wooden or plastic self-stamps that have their own handle are sturdy and work well ... except you can't see exactly where you're putting them. If you want multiple elements on a page, clear is easier. Pick what you think will work for you.
https://www.etsy.com/market/calendar_stamps
https://www.etsy.com/market/tracker_stamps
https://www.etsy.com/market/clear_stamps
https://www.etsy.com/market/large_stamp_ink_pad
no subject
Date: 2026-01-03 08:26 pm (UTC)Stab binding
Date: 2026-01-03 11:50 pm (UTC)Re: Stab binding
Date: 2026-01-04 12:08 am (UTC)Re: Stab binding
Date: 2026-01-04 01:21 am (UTC)Thoughts
Date: 2026-01-04 03:39 am (UTC)2026 Free Printable Calendars, Planners, and More