Friday 29 November 2013

Planning decision for 2014

My previous post is kind of an introduction to this one so if you didn’t read it this post may make more sense if you do. You can find the post which lists my criteria here.
I considered the following options:

  •         Notebook
  •          Bound planner
  •          Bound Planner and notebook combination
  •          Homemade planner
  •          Filofax compact
  •          Filofax A5

This was how I started:

System
Pros
Cons
Notes
Notebook


Large page size
Lightweight and compact
All in one place- unless need 2
Can create own monthly layout
Can create own weekly layout (and change if I want to)
Squared paper
Plenty of room for notes
Easy to archive
Time needed to set up monthly pages
Time spent on weekly pages- can’t enter information in advance
Likely to need more than one notebook per year
Can have exactly the layout I want but requires time investment.
Needing more than one will cause a problem – maybe 1 every 6 months so only need to draw out 6 monthly spreads to begin with

Bound Planner
Large page size
Lightweight and compact
All in one place
Monthly and weekly pages
Forward planning is easy
Perhaps some room for notes
Easy to archive
Set monthly and weekly layouts
Unlikely to have squared paper
Limited if any room for notes
Soooo many planners around but very few with monthly AND weekly layouts (if they have monthly layouts tend to have very limited space
Planner & notebook
Large page size
Monthly and weekly pages
Forward planning is easy
Plenty of room for notes on squared paper
Quite easy to archive
Extra weight
Not all in one place

Again have to find the right planner to go alongside the notebook
Homemade planner
Tailored page size
Tailored monthly and weekly pages
As light as I can make it –no extra unused information
Squared paper
As much notepaper as I want
Time investment
Will need to be spiral bound so maybe not as robust
Sounds good but don’t think I have the time to do this in time for 2014. Could use notebook until it was completed but idea of having a partly used notebook and planner not starting at the beginning of the year makes me feel a bit funny (not the good funny…) possibility for 2015 though
Filofax -compact
Tailored monthly and weekly pages
As light as I can make it –no extra unused information
Squared paper
As much notepaper as I want (ring size permitting but can remove and replace throughout the year)
Can add in extra pages if needed throughout the year and put them where I want
Small page size
Pages sometimes get lost
Get obsessed with dividers and moving things around
More difficult to archive
As much as I love the Filofax system I spend too much time faffing. If I really settled into a system and felt confident that I would stick to it and not faff and could deal with the page size I would definitely consider this for 2015
Filofax – A5
Large page size
All in one place
Tailored monthly and weekly pages
Squared paper
As much notepaper as I want
Can add in extra pages if needed throughout the year and put them where I want
Large and heavy
Pages sometimes get lost Get obsessed with dividers and moving things around
More difficult to archive

As much as I love the Filofax system I spend too much time faffing. If I really settled into a system and felt confident that I would stick to it and not faff and could deal with the weight I would definitely consider this for 2015

All the systems had a number of pros and cons so I had to decide which cons were deal breakers and which pros were essential.

I decided that small page size, heavy weight and time investment were the deal breakers this year.
This left me with the bound planner and maybe the planner and notebook combination.

This meant I had to find a planner which sounds fun and straightforward. WRONG! To begin with it was fun wasting time looking at every planner in TK Maxx, WHSmith, Paperchase, John Lewis, Staples etc.. but when I still couldn't find what I had pictured in my head I started to feel frustrated. I wanted a monthly layout that had enough room to actually write in as well as weekly pages which had room for extra notes. The closest I found was this one in Paperchase. I was about to order it when I thought about Laurie’s Plannerisms planner.

After having a look at the layout I wasn't sure if the weekly layout allowed enough room to write each day as the columns are quite narrow. So, as I am currently using a notebook which allows me to change layouts on a whim I drew out an approximation and used it for a week. It wasn't what I had originally pictured in my mind but it seems to work and having watched the video and seen that it was a similar size to the large Moleskine (which have the perfect proportions for me) and I could in fact fit a cahier in the back pocket (somewhat addressing the 'all in one place' issue) I was sold.

I ordered one on the Collins website and am at this moment waiting for it to arrive (hopefully today or tomorrow).


I will let you know in the New Year if all my research hours have been worthwhile.

3 comments:

  1. Oh wow!!! Thanks so much for ordering a Plannerisms planner! I hope you love it! Yes you'll be able to fit a cahier in the back pocket for more space for lists and notes. Plus the space at the bottom of the daily columns and the two-page spread between each month will give you space to write things too.

    Thanks again and I hope your Plannerisms planner brings you planner joy in 2014! :)

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    1. It has arrived and it seems that it will work exactly the way I hoped. To address my lack of filofax flexibility I have set it up in a way that some may find a bit fussy but I am really excited about it because it will give me the freedom to write as much as I want, be practical for the whole year and I will have the ability to locate information when I need to. Not quite as simple as the last few months but the trade off is easier forward planning and less time setting up and maintaining. I'm following your your decision making with interest too.

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  2. This is such a great list for decision-making. Thank you for the chart.

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