finally: my choice for 2023 - Leuchtturm A5
Can you believe it?? finally....
finally, finally, I have decided on a planner for 2023!
When you have read my previous blogpost you might know by now that I was really in a "planner-hopping-frenzy", the last 6 months I had no idea which planner or notebook to use, I was hopping back and forth between sizes and types of planners/notebooks, it was not fun anmyore.
But, the year has nearly ended, today we have Dec 28th, 2022 and I was finally forced to decide on a planner for 2023. I have appointments for January and to-dos for next week, and I need to write this down somewhere to not forget anything.
And here we are: my choice for 2023 ....
ta-da: a Leuchtturm A5 with grid layout!
and here are my final decision points:
- the size A5:
not small as A6 or B6, but much better to write something down and fit my trackers on one page, even my monthly pages fit on one page (1-31 days of each month) and I still have 5mm boxes and not tiny ones like on A6 sized paper
- the paper of Leuchtturm (=LT)
normally I don`t like cream paper, Midori for example is way to yellow for my taste, but this cream colored paper of Leuchtturm is fine for me, it is the right shade to be acceptable
The paper is very nice to write on, not too smooth like Tomoe River Paper or Midori MD paper, it has a bit of a feedback, the nib is not "sliding" around on this LT paper but can be controlled very well.
I had to sort out some inks because these were bleeding on this LT paper, but these inks kind of bleed through every paper, so I was not sad to sort them out, for example J Herbin Violette Pensee, J Herbin Bleu Myosotis, Lamy green and J Herbin Rose Cyclamen with a B nib. Rose Cyclamen is fine with an F nib but I rarely use F nibs. As an alternative Lamy Beryl is fine and with an M nib working well on this paper.
Now I have inks which do not bleed through LT paper and the ghosting is normal for such a 80gsm paper. There is much more ghosting on TRP or in Stalogy notebooks for example.
- grid layout
I like to use a grid layout more than for example dot grid layout. I can more easily use my weekly overviews on grid layout and my daily coloring of the boxes for my trackers is more easily done on grid layout as well.
The grid layout of the Stalogy notebooks was always too faint for me, the print is very light and when you write with dark inks the grids were not visible anymore on the backside of any sheet.
The print of the Leuchtturm is just right, not too dark and not too light.
- bound book + page count
this is one point where I had to "fight" with myself! I really love ring covers or disc covers where you can add or remove pages if needed.
A bound book is more restrictive and I always thought, no, I do not like that.
But writing is so much easier in a bound book, no rings or discs in the way, you can easily write on the left hand side pages (or right hand if you are a leftie).
And through all my testing I found out what I need to have in my EDC, how many pages I need for what. Leuchtturm with its 250 pages has the perfect page count and I can fit everything into this book.
- yearly overviews + future logs
- monthly pages
- monthly trackers
- weekly to-dos
- 3 different note sections
- the weight + size
another point which always made me go back to smaller sizes, like A6 or B6.
This planner is my EDC, most of the times when I leave the house this planner will have to go with me.
A5 is quite big and a bigger size is more heavy. But in the last months I have tested it out and took smaller sizes or this A5 size with me in my backpack. I wanted to see how I can handle each book in a shop for example, when I have to take it out of my backpack and hold it in my hand to look something up.
And surprisingly the handling of this Leuchtturm was the easiest one of all my "test-planners"! It was nice to hold, pages did not fall out (like sometimes in my disc planners), flipping to different pages was easy, no closure was in the way (like in my Filofax Original covers).
It is a hard cover, you can hold it in your hand and write something because you have a flat surface.
And the better handling was in the end more important than the weight+size. Yes, it is a bit bigger than B6 but it still fits nicely in my backpack, it is not too thick and a ring leather cover in Personal size has about the same weight as my Leuchtturm with a cork cover.
(You can read about the weight of my planners in my other blog post)
By the way: my backpack is from a french company name "Cabaia", a small one called the "small adventurer", but big enough to fit everything into it.
And my blue cork folio cover is from a small shop on Etsy: DaCasca
it is light weighted and soft to the touch and protects the cover of my Leuchtturm.
My 2023 set up
and all these deciscion points made me now set up my new pink Leuchtturm A5 Medium size with a grid layout!
here are the first pages for January, all before the pen, the rest of the year will follow
my yearly overviews and future log pages
I have printed the overviews on Midori Cotton paper, nearly the same shade as LT paper, for the years of 2023+2024+2025.
on the right hand side a future log for montly reminders, when do you have to make your taxes or when does a subscription needs to be reviewd
my monthly overviews
I do not like monthly overviews with boxes where the weeks are displayed in a horizontal way, I rather like this vertical overview of a month, with a notepage on the left
the dates and weekdays are stickers, the month+year as well
my monthly trackers
my monthly trackers, on the left side at the top my step count of each day and below my sleeping hours.
On the right a tracker of "when did I do what"; when did I water my plants or had to work or made some household work.
my weekly to-do lists
at the top a short overview of appointments and below my to-do list with a kind of Alistair-method-setup. This is normally meant to be used for monthly to-dos, but I use it for my weekly to-dos.
note sections
And at the back I have three note sections, each with 16 sheets, marked with washi tape at the side of a sheet and three tabs
- notes + lists for home and gardening
- notes + lists for my sticker and printable shops
- notes + lists for family matters
And still some pages left if I have to write down something else.
The top one in the picture is my new one, the below with the blue cork cover my old one. It is still slim, it did not "blow" up like other planners you might see around. I use fountain pens, only a few stickers and no add-ins.
I think I will use the cork cover for 2023 as well, it is so nice and soft to the touch, a pleasure to hold and proctect my LT.
Ok, I have now decided on a 2023 planner, how about you? Decision already taken and new planner all ready to be used?
Thank you to all, stay healthy and (planner) peace to everyone!
Andrea ✒💖
P.S. I have bought all my planners and accessories myself, I paid for them, I state my own personal opinions about them. When you click a link which I have added for you I do not get paid for it.