Up until the middle of last year I did pretty ok with my phone calendar and Outlook for work. Then I changed phones (iPhone4 to Samsung Galaxy S3) and my planning habits went to the dogs. Don't get me wrong, I love my phone, it's got a better battery life, it is far easier to sync to google, but its planner capabilities are just not the same as iCal. Plus I had a lot more going on in 2013 than in previous years, I had a new permanent job with a lot bigger workload, a new volunteering activity (I'm a Brownie leader) and I was trying to track food consumption and activity for weightwatchers.
So I used a John Lewis voucher received from my grandmother-in-law for my birthday to buy a Filofax (aqua compact Saffiano for the planner aficionados). It was perfect, a weekly calendar, notes pages, to dos, contacts, all in one lovely colour binder. That's when I discovered the online planner community (spearheaded by the lovely Steve at philofaxy). And I got kind of sucked in to the shiny and pretty and leather! I discovered different diary layouts, non linear ways of time planning (Patrick Ng's Chronodex is my favourite), different sizes of planner, etc. After 4 months of experimenting I found the perfect set up for me: the Midori Traveler's Notebook:
My MTN came from Japan, took ages and ended up costing me more than it would have if I'd bought from the stockist in the UK (lesson learned). It came with a brown elastic to close it which I promptly swapped out for the spare orange elastic and threaded a pendant through to jazz it up. I've been using it since November and already it's scratched and battered and loved looking. That's the point of the MTN, it is meant to travel and show where it's been!
Inside I have three booklets or inserts, a month on two pages from November 2013 to December 2014 plus a page for 2015 forward planning:
a grid paper insert which I use for a bullet journal:
and another grid paper insert for monthly goal tracking:
I've also got two zip pocket inserts, one midori one (which holds page tabs, washi and a muji passport notebook for random notes) and one from a paperchase notebook which also has little pockets that I keep my work card and stamps in. I also keep my favourite fountain pen: a Platinum Plaisir 0.5 nib, loaded with Diamine Rustic Brown ink, in a Midori pen loop slid on to the back cover.
Midori are a Japanese company which produce some of the best stationery, and their biggest export is the Midori Traveler's Notebook, a piece of black or brown vegetable tanned leather threaded with elastics in which notebooks are held. It's all held together by another elastic that threads through a hole on the back cover. Beautifully simple
My MTN came from Japan, took ages and ended up costing me more than it would have if I'd bought from the stockist in the UK (lesson learned). It came with a brown elastic to close it which I promptly swapped out for the spare orange elastic and threaded a pendant through to jazz it up. I've been using it since November and already it's scratched and battered and loved looking. That's the point of the MTN, it is meant to travel and show where it's been!
Inside I have three booklets or inserts, a month on two pages from November 2013 to December 2014 plus a page for 2015 forward planning:
and another grid paper insert for monthly goal tracking:
I've also got two zip pocket inserts, one midori one (which holds page tabs, washi and a muji passport notebook for random notes) and one from a paperchase notebook which also has little pockets that I keep my work card and stamps in. I also keep my favourite fountain pen: a Platinum Plaisir 0.5 nib, loaded with Diamine Rustic Brown ink, in a Midori pen loop slid on to the back cover.
I absolutely love this system, it keeps me focused on what I need to be doing. I love the concept so much I have another being made for me - a faux-dori made by the wonderful Ray Blake of My Life All In One Place. Can't wait!
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