Page a day planners (and beyond) - 2025 plans

[rainboe]

Hello! With December quickly encroaching, and the end of the year nearly upon us, I was wondering if anyone is planning (heh) to use a page a day planner this new year? Or, really, any kind of journaling/planner system? If so, what will you be using? Think Hobonichi Techo, leuchtturm1917, etc.
Maybe share a link/pic of what you plan to get/have gotten already! And share about what you plan to use it for. Scheduling? General journaling? Habit tracking? Sticker collection?

Speaking of, share if you've gotten/plan to get any new stationery (stickers, pens, washi tape-) for the new year! I know some people like to plan a cohesive style/theme in advance.

If it weren't so expensive and out of stock, I'd love to have gotten the minä perhonen Techo, but alas, it is. If I have enough money come the new year, I'd like to get either the Shin-Bijutsukai Techo Cousin or the Yumi Kitagishi Techo Original. Otherwise, I plan on getting a Stalogy A6 with a clear cover from Midori. I'd also like to get a Midori Notebook to use as a commonplace book of sorts.
I'm planning to use whichever planner I get as a way of tracking my studies (Mainly coding) and other habits like exercising and sleeping well. I also just think forcing myself to write something every day, about my feelings or whatever, would be good. I always feel a lot more balanced after journaling in my current one (A water damaged Rilakkuma notebook), so I'd like it to become a habit.

I don't have a planned theme, I'll just see how it progresses over time. I have a butt load of stickers to use though
I will say though... I'm also considering just getting another cheap a5 spiral notebook and calling it a day! The painfully human urge to indulge myself is warring with my common sense regarding a notebook costing more than $30, so we'll simply have to wait and see what wins out XD

Oh, also feel free to share if you used a page a day planner this year! I bet it's super full by now 

[zziz]

i've been trying to get into journaling recently, around october or so!   the problem is, i can't really find my 'niche'. i've been trying all sorts of ways to journal my thoughts: video diaries, digital blogs, literally everything! it's all super over the place. i struggle a lot with wrist pain when i write (must have to do with my death grip on my pen lol), so i've been avoiding the ol' traditional way like the plague. i realized now that was probably a big mistake.

currently, i do have a 2025 planner, albeit, digitally (so i'm not sure if it counts for this topic?) on goodnotes for my ipad. it's the exact same style as my previous one, including a sleep + habit tracker and whatnot. though, i'm not really sure if i'll ever use it. on top of the fact i have too many journaling mediums to count, i also have a really bad attention span!! and my memory is just plain awful!!!

this year im aiming to just be simple, i would really like to try illustration journaling! i saw this in a video i watched about a week ago, and it seemed really fun! i really want to sharpen my art skills, i would also think it'd be very fun to challenge myself to draw whatever i can in a day, i rarely draw about my own life, so i'd think it would be pretty fun. i'm just planning to reuse one of my old, unused sketchbooks for this! i really want to get into the scrapbook-y territory of art, using stickers and washi tape to make something cute and unique! i have a lot of unused stickers and washi tape that are in desperate need of some usage!

i'm surprised that you're aiming for specific brands :0! usually, i just pick up whatever notebook i can find at a local bookstore and call it a day, i never rlly think about that stuff!! again, super beginner when it comes to journaling.

i hope that you can get the planners you'd like for next year!

[candycanearter07]

I'm planning to (try) to update my journal section every day next year, to try and be more open and stuff. Does that count?

[rainboe]

i've been trying to get into journaling recently, around october or so!   the problem is, i can't really find my 'niche'. i've been trying all sorts of ways to journal my thoughts: video diaries, digital blogs, literally everything! it's all super over the place. i struggle a lot with wrist pain when i write (must have to do with my death grip on my pen lol), so i've been avoiding the ol' traditional way like the plague. i realized now that was probably a big mistake.

currently, i do have a 2025 planner, albeit, digitally (so i'm not sure if it counts for this topic?) on goodnotes for my ipad. it's the exact same style as my previous one, including a sleep + habit tracker and whatnot. though, i'm not really sure if i'll ever use it. on top of the fact i have too many journaling mediums to count, i also have a really bad attention span!! and my memory is just plain awful!!!

this year im aiming to just be simple, i would really like to try illustration journaling! i saw this in a video i watched about a week ago, and it seemed really fun! i really want to sharpen my art skills, i would also think it'd be very fun to challenge myself to draw whatever i can in a day, i rarely draw about my own life, so i'd think it would be pretty fun. i'm just planning to reuse one of my old, unused sketchbooks for this! i really want to get into the scrapbook-y territory of art, using stickers and washi tape to make something cute and unique! i have a lot of unused stickers and washi tape that are in desperate need of some usage!

i'm surprised that you're aiming for specific brands :0! usually, i just pick up whatever notebook i can find at a local bookstore and call it a day, i never rlly think about that stuff!! again, super beginner when it comes to journaling.

i hope that you can get the planners you'd like for next year!

I honestly relate quite a bit! I've always struggled to get any sort of "do this every day to better yourself" activity to stick. I think my best bet is trying to make it fun, which is why I'm tempted to splurge on a fancy planner and stuff hehe.
Also, digital planners totally count! I feel like... journals, planners, scrapbooks etc. are less separate defined categories and more like a spectrum? Like, a scrapbook and a diary and a planner are the same... animal? Just different breeds of it? That's an odd analogy actually, sorry lol. I'm sure that diehards of each community would disagree, but that's just what I think 

I had a look at that video, and it looks super interesting! It's making me want to keep an illustration journal alongside a regular one.... last time I did that was back in college. I can distinctly remember the last entry I made in it was a picture of me looking sad sat at a table, because I burned my tongue on hot chocolate in a hospital cafe and dropped my credit card 3 times trying to put it away. No clue why that stuck with me lol.

In regards to brands, I'll be honest, I take an odd joy in researching things way too much. So, after a long old time of research, those are the ones I've determined would be IDEAL, but honestly I'll probably go for something cheaper. No matter how many brilliant reviews these high quality journals get, there's just something about a cheap spiral bound notebook that's hard to beat...

Oh, also, I get the wrist pain thing too. I've been told I hold my pen like a cartoon character, so that probably doesn't help!
I'd definitely recommend looking into RSI stretches and exercises, I find those have helped me a lot. There's this fun Splatoon themed guide I reference a lot!

I wish you luck in your journaling ventures! 

[rainboe]

I'm planning to (try) to update my journal section every day next year, to try and be more open and stuff. Does that count?

Totally! Any sort of taking stock of yourself is good form no matter the format! 
Though I will say, it's also good to have a private journal just for your eyes! Blogs and public journals can foster a perfectionist mindset, and you might find yourself holding back on things or altering your desired words just to try and fit your "image/theme". It's a subconscious thing, hard to avoid. That's why I like having a private journal where I can be more visceral and unhinged and work through my emotions without worrying about "Does this sentence make ANY sense to anyone other than me??" XD

Obviously, feel free to disregard all of that, journal however you please! I hope you succeed in your quest for daily updates 

[dream]

Love @rainboe's point on private vs public. My blog is what I choose to share. My journal is raw.

My journal is on paper because I enjoy writing longhand for three reasons: the tactile feel of writing, the pacing, and the directness. The combination has me fall into a spell of writing. Digital is faster; to write, edit, and search. But writing isn't about any of these things. Writing is about channeling. There is real power in writing longhand.

What you might find while writing longhand is that while much of what you write might be plain, poor, or even puzzling, some of what you write will be profound and at times quite lovely. Celebrate in keeping those words secret too. It is okay to keep secret some things you are proud of. Not everything needs be shared!

If you think about it, writing longhand is like building your own webpage. You choose the paper. You choose the format. You choose the pen or pencil, the thickness of the stroke, the color. You write every little letter, and no one is the same as before. You can doodle, sketch, stylize text without bounds. It is personal. It has heart. It can be private. And you depend on no one, no thing.

The way I journal is I start on page one by writing the date right within my journal body text, then I write to my heart's content. The next time I sit down to write, if it's the same day, I just put the time to denote intraday time jump. Otherwise, if it's a new day, I put the month and day. Example:

(Nov 29, 2024) I'm tired. (4PM) Took a nap! Still tired. (Nov 30) I should sleep more.

That ^ is a single line in my journal! The result is no wasted space. Every part of every line is used. No pressure to ever write more or write less. I also write on both sides of the paper, which you can do without ghosting or bleed with the pens I use (more on that later).

My fav notebook is Leuchtturm 1917 paperback in "B6+" size. For pocket, I like Moleskine soft-cover pocket (or Moleskine soft-cover volant if you like even thinner, flatter, and tearable pages for the cost of far less durability and pages per notebook). I go always soft because it tends to lay flatter, pocket more comfortably (even B6+ can fit in my pants pocket), and I like the feel better. All that said, I also do a lot of writing in 8x5 Top Flight college rule notebooks. They go for $2 a pop. 80 sheets. Handles even fountain pen just fine in my experience.

Love writing by pencil. Cedar Pointe if I can, but carry a BIC "Xtra-Strong" 0.9mm mechanical pencil when on the go. Sometimes though, I feel like going pen. Can't go wrong with Schmidt P900 Fine in Blue or Jetstream SXR-600-07 in Black. I sometimes grab a Pentel R.S.V.P. in Black or BIC Cristal in Blue too.

[candycanearter07]

The way I journal is I start on page one by writing the date right within my journal body text, then I write to my heart's content. The next time I sit down to write, if it's the same day, I just put the time to denote intraday time jump. Otherwise, if it's a new day, I put the month and day. Example:

(Nov 29, 2024) I'm tired. (4PM) Took a nap! Still tired. (Nov 30) I should sleep more.

That ^ is a single line in my journal! The result is no wasted space. Every part of every line is used. No pressure to ever write more or write less.

That is so clever, I'm stealing that!! It always kinda bothered me having multiple entries on the same day, and it almost feels like a book narrative that way, like a little time skip. I'd still separate it by day, though, just to make it have SOME order lol :D

[rainboe]

Love writing by pencil. Cedar Pointe if I can, but carry a BIC "Xtra-Strong" 0.9mm mechanical pencil when on the go. Sometimes though, I feel like going pen. Can't go wrong with Schmidt P900 Fine in Blue or Jetstream SXR-600-07 in Black. I sometimes grab a Pentel R.S.V.P. in Black or BIC Cristal in Blue too.

Oh I love writing in pencil too! My current go-tos are actually these two novelty topper pencils I have, a Rilakkuma one and a Donald duck one. Not exactly high-brow, but they're both like... weirdly smooth and nice to write with considering they're cheap kids ones. Also they make me smile, and that's what it's  all about in the end :]

I do have a .5mm Pentel P205 mechanical pencil, for when I need a finer tip and a bit more precision, but it rarely gets used. There's a similar situation with my pens, I have a Zebra Sarasa Clip in black that I got at the recommendation of others, and it's nice enough, but my favourite pen right now is a KENJI gel pen which has a cute little white doggy on the top... you click its tail to retract/extend the nib! And the little floppy black ears move!!! So obviously that's the better pen

If you think about it, writing longhand is like building your own webpage

This made think about making a journal layout that resembles a webpage! Like, designing a homepage on the first double spread, then making "links" within the text, using highlighter to denote them, and matching labeled/colored index tabs on later pages to show where you should go to if you "click" them. It seems like it could become messy & confusing very quickly, but also like it could be a lot of fun!
Plus, no battling with HTML/CSS to get an element where you want it, just draw it in XD
Call it.... a Writesite? 

[BlazingCobaltX]

The world of journaling and note taking is rather foreign to me. Earlier this year I got a Correctbook because a lot of things I write down I only need to remember temporarily. As for online notes, I've streamlined my system in UpNote. After using both of these I now feel something is missing.

For 2025 I have two notebook plans. One is a diary I'll be writing in Spanish for the sake of practice. Writing by hand is, to me, the better way to learn everything. Especially for languages, because you have time to think about everything you write and don't have a clutch like autocorrect to lean on.

Two is a commonplace book. I find that I don't really have a dedicated place for spontaneous thoughts or things I found provoking. My website journal is specifically to record what I do in life and how I feel about it. But at work, a lot of papers and reports pass my eye that make my head spin with ideas, but not yet elaborate enough to do something with them. To put it differently, I need to let these thoughts "cook" and I think a commonplace journal is a good way to do that. Digital notes, while handy, don't have that same 'staying value' as handwritten notes do, and that's precisely what I need.

Like rainboe, I love researching things to death... But I try not to splurge too much on stuff that's utilitarian at its core. I also definitely don't wanna enter the world of premium stationery-- BIC pens are just fine!

[cairo]

I'm typically the type to DIY my own planners month to month using stencils and pens, but I'm thinking I'll actually go in on a nice planner for 2025! Definitely looking at the A6 Hobonichi Techo. That one specifically because I met an artist this year who does daily comic practice in theirs and it really is the perfect format for all kinds of daily art practices. Definitely aiming to evolve my journaling to include more commonplace book-keeping habits in the coming year. I also love how someone said they use their notebook/planner to practice a foreign language.. brilliant!!