Writing Wednesday - It's the Hobonichi Time of the Year!

July is 'Tour de France' month.

August is 'Hobonichi Preview' month!

I 'discovered' Hobonichi planners in about 2014 or 2015 and bought my first ones at that time. Since then it has been a love affair of the perfect planner for me.

Yes, I have dipped into the Erin Condren and Happy Planners, among others, as supplemental planners, but...

Sorry, I am a Hobonichi girl!

The Facebook group I belong to for Hobonichi users started posting their past covers. So I went and dug out all my Hobonichi. I do know there are a couple missing which are probably still upstairs in a box, but this is my line-up from 2017 to present.

This is my current line-up. The Japanese Print cover is my main planner. The green 'Weeks' is my planner I carry in my purse. The maroon one is my 5-year planner. I have filled up my 5-year which was from 2018 - 2022.

These are the past Hobonichi Planners from 2017 - 2022. 

Some years I bought a new cover. There have been a couple of years I reused old covers due to trying to save money or there wasn't one which caught my eye. 

But I use my Hobonichi planners. In fact, I probably would be considered an 'user-and-abuser', as I don't consider them 'precious', but rather a tool to be used. 

This year I am considering expanding my line-up a bit. I will still have my 'Cousin' for my main planner and will hopefully find a cover which tickles my fancy. If nothing else, they have revealed, so far, a solid lilac color with a light brown interior.

I will also get another Weeks (the slender one) for my purse to carry with me (EDC in the planner world). I am hoping there is another botanical cover.

So definitely two planners. The larger planner, the Cousin, is set up with monthly calendars, then weekly pages, then daily pages. So my views go from broad to specific. The Weeks is monthly then weekly and several notes pages. 

Hobonichi has a couple of options I am looking into. They have a 'day-free' which has the monthly calendars and then blank pages. They are also expanding their line-up for the HON, which is a hardback edition of the existing Cousin. 

Why will I need additional planners?

First, I journal every morning (and sometimes a follow-up in the evening). I am finishing up in a hardback notebook I purchased somewhere, and will be using another small journal I have on hand. But I wanted something 'better' to start 2024 with. So I am considering getting a Day-Free or the HON for my journal. I may start out with the Day-Free (and a excuse to by another cover - lol) and then switch to the HON when I fill it up, probably about mid-year. 

I have my 'Live Rich' Budget planner from The Budget Mom. It's undated and I started it in June, so I don't need a budget planner until mid-2024. I am using it to put in my meal planning and spending, rather than a 'regular' budget book on the weekly planner. I may go to her digital download in June of next year to get the more expanded financial pages as she is not doing a printed budget planner like she use to. Of course, it's still early, so she might go back to the printed and coiled budget planner for 2024. I will have to see.

But I'm thinking about 3 additional planner needs. The first one will be a project for 2024 and it will be a Garden Planner. I want to do a 'Year in My Garden' type of planner - what I see, what I plant, what is working, what isn't working, etc. 

The second one will be a 'Commonplace' planner. I will be putting information about my goals - yearly and quarterly - quotes, reading notes, books I'm preordering, etc. The third will be a 'Creative' journal - my writing ideas, post ideas, craft projects, etc. 

Right now I am deciding if I will make the second and third books into one book. Wonderland222 has a 368 page notebook I am eyeing. I want one place to 'dump' all the other stuff. Currently I have it all spread out over different notebooks and can't remember where I put what, so I want to capture it all into one spot. 

One of the things I like about ordering from Hobonichi and having it sent from Japan are the 'exclusives' they offer every year with certain purchases. The 3-color pens I love. They have a different color of pen every year. The pens for 2024 are right up my alley.

The grey-green is also close to the color I want to repaint my walls in 2024! 

And the 'toy' they have for 2024 planners are little bags.

They are small bags - as in fit in the palm of your hand small. But they are cute. I may tack them to the wall by the desk and put a sticky note pad, or something along that line, in them. 

One thing about having them shipped from Japan in the past is the amount extra you pay for handling and shipping. Apparently this year they are changing that up and will actually having free shipping for orders over a certain amount. Not sure what that amount is at the present time, but I'm sure I will hit it with an order of 2 Cousins, 1 Weeks and a couple of covers as my minimum order. 

Another thing I am excited about is a local store, Good Postage, which I recently discovered, will be carrying the Hobonichi lineup. While I will be ordering my basic planners from Japan (love getting that box and the exclusives), it is good to know if I decided to try a HON, which comes out in November, I can grab one from them. Plus, they carry Kaweco fountain pens and just added some Lamy Safari fountain pens, so I am drooling at their shop now.

They are also having monthly journaling meetup and a monthly letter writing meetup. So I am hoping to attend those if I have the day off. Good Postage also carries a pretty good selection of Traveler's Notebooks and other goodies right up my alley. 

So...

I'll get you posted on what I finally decided on for 2024 and how I plan on setting them up!