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This is the most I’ve ever used in one year.

While they all serve specific purposes, I knew I’d need to create a little planning routine to keep me organised.

So, I wrote out what I need to do every day/week/month, printed it out and then laminated it.

I created two copies of it. One lives in the front of my Filofax, and the other lives in my Cousin.

As I got a few comments about how many planners I’m using this year, I thought it would be useful to talk you through my routine.

Daily

There are four planners that I write in each day.

First, I start with my A6 Day Free. This is my business planner. I use my yearly overview page for habit tracking which I update every morning.

I’ll then go ahead and update the monthly spread. In these pages I log and then plan tasks such as blog and shop promotion, posts and new releases.

Next up it’s my Weeks. This is my fitness and finance planner. In here, I’ll update the yearly overview page with the colour coding according to the exercise I completed the day before.

Next, I’ll update my weight tracking pages. I’ll then update the weekly pages with the exercise, food, and macros for the day before.

Weeks cover available here*.

Finally, I then update my budget tracking pages with any spending from the day before.

Next up, is my Nolty Listy 2.

This is purely used as a messy/pre-planner and will be grabbed at several points throughout the day with anything on my mind. Any tasks either current or future will get jotted down in here.

Finally, I update my Cousin.

This year I’m using my monthly pages as a bit of a memory keeper/gratitude log. I write in everyday something good that happened the day before. Given we’ve been in lockdown in the UK it’s mainly been food related highlights, but it’s nice to have at least something to write in there.

I then consult my weekly pages, and the planner stays open on my desk all day.

The only thing that ever changes with this routine is some weeks I plan my weekly spread in my Nolty Listy 1. These are mainly weeks I have less to write/do.

Weekly

The planners I review weekly is centred around weekly set ups.

When I plan the week in my Cousin I pull information from lots of different planners to organise my week.

In the monthly spread of my Day Free I have my new releases, blog posts, and You Tube videos planned out. So I move these into the Cousin weekly pages, so I know what to focus on that week.

In my Weeks, I plan my meals for the week and do a budget check in. The budget check in is just to add up the previous week’s spending by category to see how I’m getting on with my budget. Some weeks I’ll move that meal planning into the Cousin, so I know what I should be eating when.

Next, I open out the Nolty pre-planner and move everything I’ve written in that week into my Cousin. I cross it off in the Nolty when it’s been moved.

I then review my A6 Weekly Supplement and ensure it’s up to date with all appointments and events.

OliClip available here*.

The final planner I need to plan out my week in my Cousin, is my Stalogy. This is my blog/YT/social planner. Each week I take stock of all the social media post ideas I have and plan them out for the following week in my simple monthly spread. I then move this into the Cousin.

Monthly

This is all about setting up my monthly spreads.

First I set up my month in my Day Free and plot out everything I want to release, film and write that month. Next, I set up my budget planning spread in my Weeks.

If you want to see how I do it, I wrote a post about it here.

Setting up my month in my Cousin now is pretty easy now I use it primarily for memory keeping. I write in it any appointments or birthdays that month at the top of the box and that’s it. The appointments are generally already in there as they’re written on sticky notes as they are made. Birthdays and other events are taken from the perpetual calendar in my Filofax.

These inserts are available from Etsy*.

Finally, in my Stalogy, I set up another simple monthly page.

I hope that explains how I use all my (many) planners!

It probably sounds like a lot, but is actually pretty straightforward to keep everything up to date. If there’s anything I haven’t covered, feel free to ask any questions in the comments!

Related Posts

Hobonichi Cousin Set Up
Hobonichi Weeks Set Up
Filofax Malden Set Up

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In case you missed it, I posted a first impressions video on my YT here. If you want a flip through of the three styles of Nolty planner I picked up, that video is for you!

Today I’m digging deeper into the Listy planners I picked up. Listy 1 with a vertical weekly layout, and Listy 2 with a horizontal layout.

Price & Availability

I purhcased both of these from Amazon Japan recently. There doesn’t seem to be many official stockists of Nolty, but thankfully ordering from Amazon Japan is really easy. For those of you who get hit with custom fees, you can also pre-pay the customs charges with Amazon directly. This means no handling fees when your parcel arrives!

They’re also really reasonably priced, even when you factor in shipping and custom fees. These worked out at around £20/£25 each.

Style & Size

The Listys are a B5 slim size. So they sit in between the Hobonichi Weeks and Cousin in terms of sizing.

Each of these planners comes in a few different colours. The inside of the planner doesn’t change, it’s just the outside cover.

The cover is removable, so you can decorate the cardboard cover yourself, or add a new cover onto it.

You may find you want to do this, as the style of these aren’t exactly the most fashionable. After years with Hobonichi and the beautiful designs their planners and covers come in, it’s a bit of a step change to be in a planner that looks like this. I don’t hate the designs, but they’re just very functional. They come with a pen loop though, which is a massive plus for me. These planners would actually work really well in a work environment, as they look nice and professional.

Quality

I’m super impressed with the quality of these.

The covers are plastic and seem hard wearing. I would have no worries throwing one into a bag every day.

The planners come with two ribbon bookmarks but sadly after only a month, they are already starting to fray. This is a pretty common issue with ribbon bookmarks and usually why I end up cutting them out of my Hobonichi Weeks.

I still haven’t been able to find out the gsm of the paper in these planners. But, it’s cream colour, smooth, thick and feels lovely to use. It’s handled all pens I’ve used in it with no bleeding. There is some ghosting but after years of Hobonichi use, I’m pretty used to ghosting now. As the paper is so thick, even if there’s ghosting, there’s minimal indents in the page, so it really doesn’t affect writing on the reverse page.

I’ve also found that because the paper is to thick it doesn’t crinkle or fold easily. This might seem like a strange thing to comment on, but because the Tomoe River paper in the Hobonchi is so thin, I do feel like I have to be really careful with it. Pulling up a strip of washi I’ve misplaced, or even moving a removable tab can bend the paper on the Hobonichi.

I’m really impressed with the overall quality of these planners. The only thing I don’t like is how these planners are bound. The binding on these planners do not allow them to easily lie flat.

It takes some work to get them to lie flat when using, which is frustrating. Thankfully you can pretty much get them flat but if this isn’t a planner that’s going to be living laid out on a desk, you’ll have to get used to re-stretching it every time you want to take it out to use.

Layouts & Set Up

I purchased two Listys and the only difference between them are the weekly layouts.

Both have yearly overviews and a year at a glance pages. If you’re a Hobonichi user, you’ll be familiar with them.

I like the year at a glance pages in these. There’s no ‘extra’ space, like you get in the Hobonichi so there’s a lot more space to write things in each day. This spread is definitely more functional as a yearly calendar.

Both of these planners also have the same two pages to a month layout.

It’s a great layout, basically the same as the Hobonichi Weeks layout. It’s got a lot of space for the days and extra room around the sides for extra notes and plans.

They both also have some grid note pages at the back. I like the format of these pages as they have a space for a title and notches to help you draw out lines, so you can really use these flexibly.

There’s around 40 pages, so it’s only really useful for random notes, rather than daily logging pages. If you were debating this as an alternative to the Weeks, if you regularly use all the notes pages in your Weeks (or you use the Sneaker Weeks) I doubt you’d be able to move into this planner.

Where these planners differ is the weekly layout.

The Listy 1 has a vertical layout, similar to the Hobonichi Cousin.

I really love this format. It has timings from 7am to 10pm which then leaves space at the top and bottom of the page for other notes and tasks. There’s also a sidebar for anything not day specific.

The only potential downside to this is obviously the columns are a lot narrower than the Cousin. If you have large handwriting you might struggle to fit what you want to write in these columns. On the other hand, if you love the format of the Cousin but think it is too big for you, this is a great alternative. I actually use this on weeks when I don’t feel like I’ll be able to fill the Cousin pages fully.

The Listy 2 has a horizontal format and so is like a larger version of the Hobonichi Weeks.

I actually prefer this layout to the Weeks. There’s very little ‘wasted’ space at the bottom or top of the pages in comparison to the Weeks. There is also a printed grid on both pages, rather than just the right hand side.

This is also the first time I’ve seen printed timings on a horizontal layout.

I found this fascinating as I once created a sticker kit to turn my Weeks into a vertical layout and this reminds me of that.

I’ve been using this as a messy preplanner. It lives on my desk (with my pen in the loop, ready to go) and when something occurs to me that I need to do at some point, I jot it in here. I also write things in future weeks to remind myself. Some weeks I’ll also use this to roughly plan out the week, before I do my ‘proper’ plan in the Cousin.

This is probably larger than what I need, but as this is basically an ‘extra’ planner I have this, I’m happy to keep using this for this purpose.

I’ve been using these planners for about a month now, and I’m very impressed

They’re great planners either in their own right, or as alternatives to Hobonichi planners. B5 Slim is also a size that you don’t really see all that often in planners, so if you want a planner in this size specifically, this is definitely one to take a serious look at.

If you’re interested in hearing more about these planners in comparison to Hobonichi planners, be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, as I’ll be posting a video on it soon!

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There will also be a YouTube video to go alongside this if you want to see a bit more of the planners, you can find it here.

So it’s fair to say I’ve got quite a few planners this year

This is the most I’ve attempted to use in a year. Thanks to discovering Nolty planners at the end of last year, some were a very late addition. I’m hoping that there’s going to be very little duplication and with a little ‘planning routine’ I’ve set up, I should have no issue keeping up with them. While this may look excessive to some, I have some lofty goals this year and need to stay organised to meet them.

The biggest reason why I have so many planners this year is I realised I like to keep things separate. Usually when I’m planning my week in my Cousin, I’ll need to reference different things to fill it out – shop plans, blog plans, planned Instagram posts, any financial commitments that week etc. I found if I kept all of that planning in the other pages of the Cousin (daily, monthly etc) then I had to do lots of flipping back and forth in the planner when planning out my week. I hated this and much prefer to have a few different planners laid out around me, so I can easily refer to them when setting up my week.

Filofax Malden Personal

This hasn’t changed since I first shared this set up last year. This is basically all the stuff that won’t change much from year to year and so isn’t the kind of thing I’d want to keep migrating into a new planner each year.

There’s perpetual calendars for things like birthdays and when things like insurance are due. Stats tracking for the blog and shop going back four years has a home in here. There’s long term financial planning and a section for long term goal planning. Basically, anything where the page will be needed for longer than a year lives in here.

It’s very minimally set up with just a bit of vellum and some frosted dividers from Etsy.* This is a purely functional planner for me, but one that is referred to most days.

A6 Day Free

I wrote a full post about this and my weekly supplement a few weeks ago. The day free is my third attempt at using an A6 Hobonichi.

This is for shop and a little bit of blog planning. I purchased this due to the large amount of ‘plain’ pages at the back. This allows me to use this planning to do long term planning for the shop. New products I’m researching, sticker ideas and supplier research. I wanted this over just a normal notebook as I wanted the monthly pages. I use this to plan out my tasks for the month, when I’m going to writing, posting new releases, and any other tasks that need to get done.

It’s definitely a scruffy planner, and I’m finding the Coleto is probably not the best pen for this. As I’m usually writing quickly I frequently smudge my writing on these pages. I have two Hobonichi pens I’m not using, so I’ll likely switch to using one of those instead which is a shame, as I liked having the pencil as an option for quick sketches.

A6 Weekly Supplement

Thanks to the UK being in yet another lockdown, this hasn’t really been used much, beyond set up. This is purely a planner to live in my Ane Drawer Pouch, that I take out with me. It holds appointments, birthdays and shopping lists where needed.

Stalogy B6

This is a planner I don’t think I’ve ever shared on the blog. I purchased the B6 a while ago as I kept seeing people rave about the planner and had to find out why.

This is used as a simple content planner for here, YT and social media. I have separate pages dedicated to post/video ideas and a simple monthly spread where I plan out my posts for that month.

This notebook is going to last me a long time. I’ve been using it for this for 18 months, and I’m only about a third of the way through it.

Hobonichi Weeks

This is another planner that got a full set up post.

I like the Weeks, but it’s just too small for me to use for full planning. I also couldn’t every fully commit to the horizontal format. This is perfect, however, for health and fitness. The yearly overview pages have been used for at a glance tracking of exercise, and it’s so satisfying to see it getting filled up.

I’m still playing around with how I use the weekly pages this year. I don’t really feel like I’m using them fully.

I think leaving the whole left hand side of the page for exercise makes it looks like I haven’t done a lot (even when I have!)

Nolty Listy

I’ve merged these two together, but they’re actually used for two different things.

The vertical one gets used as a bit of a Cousin alternative.

I really enjoy the layout of the weekly pages, and find the spreads end up looking really nice.

I really like using the Alistair Method in my Cousin, but this planner gives me an alternative layout style, if I feel like changing things up.

Recently, I also discovered that Weeks kits work really well in this.

The horizontal listy is what I’m using as a pre-planner.

I wanted to get this to compare it to the Hobonichi Weeks, but I can’t imagine using this as a full time planner. I think I’m just not a horizontal planner. But, it is perfect as something to live on my desk for me to jot things in. Ideas that come to me, or things I need to remember to do next week (or later) go in here. I’ve actually really enjoyed having this so far, and it’s come in handy so many times.

I’ve also used one of the monthly pages to plot out all my recurring tasks for the week and month. I use this when planning out my week in my Cousin and it’s so handy.

Nolty A5

I can’t really show this in use as it’s my work planner. However, if you want to know how I plan my work week, you can see my bullet journal set up here.

Due to the fantastic set up of these weekly pages, I can basically use it like a bullet journal. But, I like having a bit of structure along the top for anything that is day specific.

I’ve been dividing each page up into two, so I have four columns each week, that are split up as follows:
– Things I need to raise with people
– Tasks
– Notes
– My ‘waiting on’ list. Everything I ask someone for something, I make a note of it here, so I don’t forget to chase it up.

This has been working out really well so far, and has been keeping me organised.

Hobonichi Cousin

Last but not least, my main planner. You can see the full set up post here.

This is my fourth year in the Cousin and my set up is pretty much static now. I love this planner, and it’s definitely planner peace for me.

All my main planning goes in here. The daily pages are used for a bit of a mix of stuff. Actual daily planning, journalling and then collections such as shop planning (that is better placed in the Cousin, than my A6 Day Free), lists and an inbox that I keep long term tasks in.

And there you have it, my planner line up for 2021!

Since I discovered Hobonichi I tend not to change up my planners much during the year, so I’m hoping these will remain the same throughout the year.

Are you using any of the same planners? Any of these you want to try?

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I’ve also filmed a video with my first impressions, you can watch it here.

I accidentally ended up purchasing three. One A5 and two A5 Slims.

The reason I accidentally purchased these? I was only intending on getting the A5 and one A5 Slim. However, I couldn’t decide between them as one has a horizontal layout, and the other vertical. I clicked through to review the total price but instead of doing that it placed the order. I took it as a sign I should have both and left the order!

The range

There is so much to choose from in terms of sizes, layouts and colours. It’s not that easy to find full explanations as to the available range, and Amazon Japan isn’t the easiest to navigate. I found this fantastic blog post that really helped me work out which ones I wanted.

There are six different sizes of planners offered, and I lost count of the different colours available. All the planners come with covers that allow most of the planners to come with different colour options.

I lost count of the different layouts available. Basically, if there’s a layout you want, you can probably find it in a Nolty planner. From highly directed weekly spreads, to simple traditional planner layouts.

The easy comparison to make with these planners is with Hobonichi. The A5 Slim size sits perfectly in between the Weeks and the Cousin. The Listy 1 that comes in that size is a very similar layout to the Cousin, so if you love the layout but don’t want something as large as the Cousin, this could be a good compromise.

Price

These are all really reasonably priced. When you purchase from Amazon Japan you pay all customs fees upfront, which means you don’t get charged any handling fees when your order arrives. Including those customs and delivery charges, all three planners cost me less than £70, which is almost about what one Hobonichi Cousin costs once you add in all the fees.

Quality

I was very impressed with the quality of these planners. The cover is thick plastic that would easily with stand being thrown around in a bag all year. There’s also a pen loop in the cover which I love.

I haven’t been able to find the gsm of the paper, but it’s thick, smooth and takes every kind of pen I’ve tried, really well. There was no bleed with anything that I used. All the fountain pen ink dried really well, except the J Herbin ink, which is always a problem when it comes to drying on paper.

All the planners I purchased come with bookmarks which is a nice touch.

A5 – 6322

The planners have a numbering system to denote the different types. The A5 one I chose is the 6322 which has a black cover. It also comes in khaki which is the 6323.

The cover comes with three card slots on the inside which is really handy.

The front pages are similar across all the planners I purchased and are very similar to the Hobonichi planners. There’s a year at a glance, yearly on two pages, and then a month on two pages.

I’m not a fan of the monthly pages in this planner as the pages are lined. The weekly pages are the main reason I purchased this planner.

This is perfect for work. A small about of space to plan out each day, and the rest of the pages are just free planning space. I don’t have much day specific planning in my work life and have been using a bullet journal for the last year. This layout is the perfect compromise between the two. I no longer have to set up any weekly pages, but have lots of space left to plan flexibly. If you want to see how I plan for work, I wrote a blog post here.

Behind the weekly pages there’s also a good chunk of blank notes pages. There’s not enough for daily pages, but these will be perfect for meeting notes and other planning.

If, like me, you don’t need all the daily pages in a Cousin, this could be a good alternative.

Listy 1 – 6506

I purchased this in red as I couldn’t find the light teal in stock and I didn’t like the caramel.

The red cover on this has got a texture to it, but doesn’t come with any card slots inside.

Like the A5, this planner starts with a yearly overview, year at a glance and then monthly pages. I prefer the monthly layout in this planner as it has grid pages.

The weekly pages in this are very similar to the Cousin. However, the timed part of the vertical layout doesn’t cover the whole page. It doesn’t cover all 24 hours, but it does mean there’s room for both to do lists and a schedule. I used it with a Hobonichi Weeks kit between Christmas and New Year and loved how it turned out.

There’s also about twenty notes pages behind the weeklies.

Listy 2 – 6509

The 6509 is the grey version of the Listy 2. This is also available in black, red and blue.

The only thing that differs between the Listy 2 and the Listy 1 is the weekly layout. This has a very similar layout to the Hobonichi Weeks.

Aside from the size, there’s two differences to the Hobonichi Weeks layout: there is a timeline for scheduling and both pages have a grid layout. My one complaint about the Weeks is the fact that the only side of the weekly layout has a grid page (my handwriting is very wonky on plain paper) so this is a great alternative.

I’m really impressed with these planners

The only thing I don’t like about these so far, is the fact that they don’t lay flat as easily as the Hobonichi planners. Even on the A5, it takes some work to get the pages flat. This is something I really take for granted on my Hobonichis, and it does annoy me that I have to spend some time to flatten out any pages I want to write in.

I’ve just started using these and am still in the process of getting these all fully set up, but will share full reviews once I’ve used them for a while.

If there’s any specific posts or videos you want on these planners, let me know in the comments!

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This time I’m showing you my Weeks set up. The Weeks will be my health and finance planner for 2021. Last year I had this spread over two different Weeks, but I’m merging everything into one this year.

I’m using the same cover as last year on this, from Da Casca*. This is a beautifully made cover that despite daily use for a year isn’t showing any signs of wear.

In the pen loop I keep my favourite pen for the Weeks, my Pilot Coleto*. I use this for colour coding in my finance tracking, so I like to keep it close to the planner.

Opening up the cover and I don’t have any pockets in the front as I don’t really need them.

I have post it notes (I don’t use these very often and have had them for years) and some Coco Fusen tabs*. I always use these tabs in my planners to mark any pages I need to go back to.

Next up I have a plastic pocket that I use for stickers

I don’t use a huge amount of stickers in this planner, but I do always use my fitness icons from the shop. I created some custom sheets for the stickers I use most (weights, cycling and running).

On the yearly overview page I’ve used a kit, so I could use the large box to write down my key. This spread will just be for tracking the exercise I do at a glance, and I’ve made a note of my exercise goal for the year below.

I’m hoping I’ll be great to look back on at the end of the year and see it filled!

On the yearly planning pages I’m going to be tracking my weight. I don’t plan on weighing myself daily, but probably around three times a week. At the top I plan on creating a graph charting my lowest weight of each month.

In the top boxes I’ve written weights in 0.5kg increments. Based on my current weight I’ve had to take a bit of a guess as to where my weight would be for the next six months, taking into account my weight goal for the year. Then I’ll make a dot at the end of each month with where my lowest point was. As the months go back I’ll be able to create a line graph showing how my weight has progressed (or fluctuated).

The monthly pages are going to be used for meal planning.

Down the left hand side of the page I have my food shop staples that I always buy. I then plan out my meals for the week and create a shopping list on the app I use.

I’m great at meal planning, I’m not that great at actually following the plan (as I write this, I’ve only had about three of the planned evening meals for this week). This is definitely a focus for me in 2021 to cut down on food wastage.

The weekly pages are going to be used in broadly the same way as 2020

On these pages I use the Platinum Preppy pen*. This is one of the few fountain pen inks I’ve found that seems to dry quickly on the Tomoe River paper.

I want to try and keep it simple in 2021 though. Things like water and weight tracking won’t live on these pages any more. I no longer need to track water as it’s a full habit now, and weight logging is on the yearly pages.

Instead, the left hand side of the page will be for tracking my exercise. Everything on the right hand page will be to do with food – meal logging, daily calories and macros. At the bottom of the page I’ll use a habit tracker to track my skincare routine.

I pretty much gave myself December off so this starts on Monday for me.

The notes pages are mainly used for finances

I use my budget planning stickers to lay out my budget for the month. I then track every single thing I spend money on during the month. This is an example page. If you want to know more about how I budget plan in my Weeks, you can find a dedicated post here.

This is where the colour coding comes in. I have four categories – food, shop, petrol and other. Each expenditure gets written in the corresponding colour so when it’s time to sum up my spending, it’s a lot easier.

After this, I have an order tracker page.

The final thing to talk about in this planner are my tabs

I use my trusty Avery tabs* and use little stickers to show what each tab is for. I hate writing on tabs as my handwriting isn’t neat, so I love using stickers instead. These stickers are either from my shop, or the CoffeeMonsterzCo.

This is how my set up is looking at the start of the year

I’ve kept it simple, but I’m hoping it’s going to work for me. No doubt I’ll switch it up several times throughout the year.

With the spare notes pages I have, once I’ve left enough for budgeting and orders for the whole year, I’m looking into using them for meal ideas. Not necessarily full recipes, just a list of meals and the ingredients I need to buy to make them. I’m hoping this will make meal planning easier and stop me from eating the same meals over and over.

Are you done with your planner set ups for 2021?

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I wouldn’t say I’ve changed up the set up loads. Instead, it’s been more about tweaking the set up to make it more efficient.

It’s not in a cover yet, as I’m moving it into the Moterm cover I purchased earlier this year. I normally like to change up my cover every year, but I’m happy in the Moterm.

I’m not big on decorating planners, so I keep things simple.

I’ve tweaked how I’m using the year overview pages for 2021.

I’ve used this kit from shop to cover up the dates and 2020.

The 2021 side I’m using to mark pay days and bank holidays with Mildliners. I’ll also mark any holidays from work. On the right hand side is where I’ll be tracking how many holiday days I have left and booked dates.

This year I’ve done my tabs slightly differently. I’ve used my favourite Avery tabs* and covered them with this new washi tape*.

The next tab is for the yearly planning pages.

I’ve settled on using these pages an index of my daily pages. The top section will be used to write any important dates. The bottom section is for any highlight pages that I might need to refer to quickly.

Post it notes* are being used to write my plans for the pages until I start the using the planner. Just in case I change my mind (it’s already happened a few times). These are the best ones I’ve found that don’t crinkle the Tomoe River paper.

I want to try and incorporate something new into my monthly pages in 2021

I’m still going to be using them for usual planning, but I also want to log how many hours I spend on the shop/blog each day. Finally, I want to try and write something about each day on these pages. A highlight, gratitude or just something to remember the day by.

The left hand side will be used for tasks for the month.

I’ve used these new style tabs on the months this year. My application is possibly the worst I’ve ever done. I’ve no idea how I get them so wonky.

To differentiate, I’ve used a wide Avery tab* for my current weekly page.

I’m going to be using this pages for my adapted Alistair Method layouts I’ve been doing recently.

The ‘turning a page to a new year’ layout is going to be for a brain dump/goal planning page.

I’m planning on filling this out during my Christmas break from work. It’s always a nice exercise to do just before the start of a new year.

Finally, it’s onto the dailies. Nothing to say about these, other than the current day gets an Avery tab too.

I use my dailies in a variety of ways. Journalling, collections and daily planning mostly.

Have you set up your planners yet?

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel, where I’ll be uploading a video on my 2021 set up!

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I actually came across this shop on Reddit. Even though these stickers are not in my usual style, they were so adorable I knew I had to order some! The shop is Microbes & Beyond*; a science themed shop.

The first things I added to basket were these amazing holographic vinyl decals*.

I knew these would be perfect on the front of planners, and they very quickly ended up on my two A6 planners for 2021.

You can see the set up post of these planners here.

I was super impressed with the quality of these stickers. Thick, perfectly printed and perfectly cut. I have no worries about these lasting the year on these covers.

Because I was ordering from the US, I had the mindset of making the shipping (which actually was super cheap) count! So I added a few sheets of traditional stickers.

The sheet on the left is a sheet of clear stickers*. I waited for these to be in stock before placing my order as they were so cute, I had to have them for deco. I have no idea what I’m going to use the glassware babies* for, but they were too adorable to pass up. Finally, I knew these career cats* would make perfect character stickers in my planning.

My order came with a great selection of freebies!

I’ve no idea how I’m going to use these. But, I’m sure they’ll make some cute decoration on my pages at some point!

These are quite niche stickers, but they’ll add some pretty to my planning pages.

The stickers are very well-made and high quality and I’d definitely order again. They also have washi tape and other items which I’ve got my eye on.

If you’ve discovered any new sticker shops lately, please let me know in the comments below!

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While you’d think that perhaps the layout of the weekly pages leads to only certain ways of planning; in the three years I’ve been using the Cousin, I’ve found various different ways of using these pages.

Most recently, I’ve been adapting the Alistair Method of planning in the Cousin. If you’re not aware of the Alistair Method, it’s a simple bullet journal technique. You can find more information about it here. Essentially, you list out your task list on the right hand side. On the left hand side, at the top, you write out the different time periods. This could be months, weeks or days. You then simply mark which time period each task needs to be completed. I’ve used this a couple of times in my Weeks for my weekly task list.

Why do this in the Cousin?

The simple reason is I find a lot of my tasks through the week are repetitive. Particularly when it comes to the shop, I do the same task (printing, cutting, packing) several times over the week. So instead of writing them out multiple times, I realised I could use the Alistair Method and simply mark the days I’d do the tasks.

I also realised this would allow me to ‘group’ tasks. So on the left side I could simply write ‘supplies’ and then in each daily column, write the supplies I needed to purchase that day.

The first week I tried this method, I just did a brain dump of everything I needed to do that week, and then marked on the day that it needed completing.

This worked out pretty well, although I had some spare space at the bottom of each day. I decided to use this space to log things, such as the Skillshare classes I’d been completing.

This worked fairly well for a while

However, there were quite a few tasks that were only being completed once a week. Or, there were adhoc tasks that came up that I didn’t feel should have been added to the sidebar. So instead, I started using the bottom of the spread for those adhoc tasks.

The final improvement I made to this layout was to group my tasks in the sidebar. I then marked out the sections with fineliners.

I found this made it a lot easier to track where I was writing things as the week went on. The times on the days also really help with that. If I keep the list relatively static, I get used to the times the tasks are on.

How are the top of the pages used?

These are for events happening that day, places I need to go, or just something that happened. This is basically the one area I allow for stickers/decoration.

This also allows me to still use weekly sticker kits in my planning.

I really love this planning concept.

I love that I’ve been able to mash up traditional planning with bullet journaling. This has kept me extremely productive and I feel like it’s the most functional planning I’ve done for a while.

Do you use the Alistair Method in your planning?

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Time to start setting up the 2021 planners!

Like last year, I’m going to be dedicating a post to each of my set-ups. If you want to see what I’ve purchased for 2021, I showed the planners in this post.

First, I’m going to be sharing my A6 set up in my Day Free and my Weekly Supplement.

Day-Free

This is a bit of an experiment for me in 2021 with a planner dedicated to my business. This little planner is hopefully going to house all my business related goal planning. It’s going to have all my tasks, ideas, brainstorms, everything. The day to day planning will still live in my Cousin, but this planner will be referred to when planning out the week in the Cousin.

The day-free has an ideal set up for this. It has the yearly and monthly overview sections, and the rest of the pages are undated. It doesn’t have a year worth of note pages, so it’s nowhere near as bulky as the usual A6 Techo.

I didn’t purchase a Hobonichi cover for this, as that would have been quite bulky and I wanted something small and easy to carry. Instead, I purchased a Midori A6 cover.* This cover fits perfectly, creates some storage and has a pen loop. The pen for this planner is a Pilot Coleto with a clear barrel. I’ve got three refills inside – blue ink, pencil and an eraser.

As it doesn’t have a closure, I purchased a jumbo Oli Clip* to keep it closed. I love the design of this Oli Clip and have been looking for a reason to buy a large one for a while! To add a bit of decoration, I added this cute holographic vinyl sticker* from a shop I recently discovered.

At the back, I just have my favourite tabs from Coco Fusen*. I’ll be using this to mark all pages I need to refer back to often.

Finally, I finished off the planner with some tiny monthly tabs.

The set up

The yearly overview pages are perfect for the new goal planning system I’m trying at the moment.

I plan on writing the big goals I want to achieve at the top, and then mark with a line the weeks I intend on achieving them. I also intend on using these pages as a sort of habit tracker. I’ll mark social media, blog posts and YouTube videos.

The monthly pages are for a more detailed overview of my month. The left hand side is where I’ll be splitting out tasks by week. On the actual dates I’ll plan out when I’m going to complete the tasks, and log things of note such as shop milestones. Along the bottom I’ll write out the main goal for that month. The monthly kit I used is available here.

The notes pages are basically for everything else.

I’ve already made a start, brainstorming new releases for the shop and all the things I need to do for each product. I used it this week to plan out my week off from work.

Weekly supplement

This has a very simple use in 2021 and doesn’t have a huge set up. This planner is simply to live in my Ane Pouch and serve as an everyday carry planner. Important dates and appointments will be in here, along with any notes I need to jot down during the day when I’m out. This too has an Oli Clip (this time a large size*) and a holographic sticker* for decoration.

The only setting up I’ve done so far, is to add in the bank holidays (by highlighting the date) and any friends/family birthdays.

There we have my simple A6 set ups for the year!

This is my third year of trying to find an A6 set up that works and I’m pretty hopeful that I’ve found one at last! Do you use an A6 planner? Let me know in the comments!

Related Posts

Hobonichi 2021 Order
An A6 Travelers Notebook Set Up
Hobonichi Ane Pouch Set Up

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…as I’ve finally started a YouTube channel!

It’s under the name Lethbridge Paper so it relates to the shop a bit better. I’m also planning on moving this blog over to the same name, too. Just need to work out how to do it without losing everything!

So, if you’d like to see a quick flip of every single planner I’ve used in 2020 click here. If you enjoy the video, please be sure to subscribe!

If there are any future videos you’d like to see, leave me a comment below!

The post Every Planner I’ve Used in 2020 appeared first on Polkadotparadiso.