As we are nearing the end of 2023, I figured it would be nice to write a blog reviewing all the planners and journals I’ve used this year, generally reflecting on what worked for me, what didn’t, and anything I’d like to try out next year. It’s always an exciting activity for me as I get the feeling of having fresh start.
I do this every year as a prelude to my yearly Techo Kaigi or “planner meeting”. And I find that it’s also a good way to practice mindful spending and not give into planner FOMO.
My 2023 Techo Kaigi
Before 2023, I had planned out what I wanted in my lineup. I had listed out my needs in terms of planners and journals, namely:
- A media journal
- A place to track my habits, finances, and to plot out my daily to-dos.
- A daily journal
My Actual Lineup
Hobonichi Weeks
My venture into the Hobonichi brand started with the Weeks. This is now my third year using this format and for good reason: I find it very functional, cute, and handy.
I use the April start Hobonichi Weeks so I’m not overwhelmed about starting so many journal and planners at the beginning of the year and I look forward to the April designs every February. This year I have chosen the light Purple Weeks in Japanese. Unfortunately, none of the other artistic covers caught my eye, and I decided to go with this pretty purple cover so I could decorate the cover with my own stickers. I had bought a Light Distance COC with it this year but opted to just use my previous plain cover to let the sticker shine through.
The Hobonichi Weeks mainly serves as my media journal, my habits tracker, and it holds my chore list as well. The notes section holds some book notes and my finance tracker which is something I am trying out for the month of December and will hopefully refine next year.
I reach for the Weeks every morning to log my daily habits on the weekly pages, I especially find it fun to fill in with my highlighters and fountain pens. I have not found a good way to use the year at a glance pages and the monthly spreads but I plan on using the monthly pages to track my reading more in the future.
Hobonichi Techo Original Avec (A6)
This year I decided to try the Hobonichi Original Avec for my daily journal. I chose the format of having the year split up in two books so I don’t have to worry too much about chonking from pasting ephemera and stickers. Personally, I find the A6 size perfect for daily journaling, I don’t find it overwhelming and I can slip it into most of my bags to journal on the go. And to make the Avec more fun to use, I got a Willow Tree cover and a Light Distance COC to protect it.
I have to admit, daily journaling has been a challenge for me, as I don’t usually have anything exciting going on everyday. Most days, I end up writing more about my feelings, recounting small but interesting moments that I am likely to miss and forget.
I did find it fun to use a lot of my sticker and washi tape stash decorating the daily pages for the first half of the year. I had also used the monthly pages a lot to list some reminders and appointments.
Traveler’s Notebook (Camel Passport)
2023 has been such an eventful year for me, I flew out of the country for the first time as an adult. And to commemorate my travel, I decided to buy something I have been wanting to buy for years: a Traveler’s Notebook.
This year, Traveler’s Company had come out with new releases, one being the leather cover in Olive. I originally wanted the olive but it sold out quickly in stores that carry the brand. I’m sure it is pretty obvious by now that I do love small format journals. And especially for traveling, having a compact companion is very useful.
Travel journaling was tricky for me, because I had to maximize the little supplies I brought with me. And this had made me purchase stationery I hadn’t initially planned to buy abroad (no regrets though). It was also fun to customize my TN with a kraft folder, a sticker release insert, and a zipper pocket.
Muji 2023 PP Cover Monthly/Weekly Planner (A5)
I have used a Muji planner back in 2017 as a pure planner, so when I was gifted this Muji A5 Monthly/Weekly Planner, I was excited to give it a try again. This will serve as my main planner, where I list down all important dates such as birthdays, appointments, deadlines, holidays, etc.
I had also planned to use the weekly section to go list down my daily to-dos and to write whatever notes and important reminders that came up every week. I only kept up with this planner for 3 months. The amount of space I couldn’t fill in was a lot for me and I didn’t find it appealing to use.
Hobonichi Plain Notebook (A6)
A popular concept in the journal and planner community this year was common placing, although this has been a practice for hundreds of years. This is the system of keeping one notebook to store any important notes from texts and other resources that you can come back to.
The Hobonichi plain notebook was an addition I had made to my lineup in the middle of the year, as I had just started getting back into the habit of reading. I had chosen the Tomitaro Makino cover, the botanical illustration just gives off a really nice aesthetic for common placing.
So far, I have used my common place notebook for quotes, poetry, and a lot of notes related to mental health. This is also a place where I keep any lists that I’d like to jot down on paper instead of going to my notes app. I had set categories for the type of entries I wanted to keep in the notebook. This was inspired by Meghan Rhiannon’s videos on her common placing method. I have not even filled half of it yet, and I plan to keep using it into the new year.
What Worked
Small format journals work best
Of all my notebooks this year, the Muji Planner A5 was the biggest, and for that reason I did not reach for it that often. It just had too much space that I couldn’t fill especially on days where I had nothing going on.
And I also had no desire to decorate this planner since the idea was to keep it as functional as possible.
My passport TN, though being the smallest in size, did give a different kind of challenge for me. As a travel journal, I found it tricky to paste in all my ephemera, such as tickets, pamphlets, maps, etc. But I still enjoyed taking my TN along with me wherever I went.
Sometimes less is more
When I started using my Hobonichi A6 Avec, I decorated heavily, wanting to paste in stickers, ephemera, and even doodles relevant to my day. I did this consistently for the first quarter. I found that this practice and worry of making my spread look beautiful was placing a block on the true purpose of a daily journal.
I eventually started to purely write on each page, not worrying about decorating. I enjoy seeing each page with just words in my favorite fountain pen inks. I still struggle every now and then with daily journaling but I find it more enjoyable now without the added pressure of making it look pretty.
2023 is the year of fountain pens
It really is. I ended up with a lot more fountain pens and inks in my collection this year. I am very lucky and grateful to be gifted such beautiful pens. And I find myself motivated to write more when I’m using a smooth writing instrument.
That is why the quality of the paper on the journals I use are equally as important. Hobonichi’s Tomoe River paper is still the best paper for me, followed by Midori’s MD Paper.
This leaves out the Muji Planner though the quality of the paper is pretty good, it does not handle fountain pen ink well and I find that even gel pens like the Zebra Sarasa tend to smudge and take some time to dry.
Overall Review
This year was a really good year for me in terms of journals. I feel like I had figured out what really works for me and what I want to do more of in the future. I had also managed to try new formats and stick to most them.
The only format I would not try again is the Muji Planner. Although this is very good for functional planning and has a lot of room for customization, moving forward I would want to use one of my Hobonichis for planning. In this way, I can keep it all in one book.
Overall, I am very happy with my 2023 lineup. I am satisfied with how each journal has served me and I am looking forward to another year planning and documenting.
I hope you’ve found this review helpful as you consider your own journal and planner lineup for the coming year. I encourage you to reflect on what has worked for you in the past and what you might want to try in the future. Remember, the best journal or planner is the one that you will use and enjoy. Happy planning!
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