I have been busy since my last blog post where I was showing you the set-up of my Muji B6 weekly planner for appointments and tasks.
At the end of that post I was already thinking about a new set-up because my green inks were bleeding through the paper of the Muji planner.
Well, I really tested out some other options:
left to right:
- ringbound planner in Personal size
- discbound planner in B6 size
- discbound planner from William Hannah in A6 size
My main reason for checking out all these sizes:
I would like to take this planner with me in my purse, it should fit nicely, should be not too big and I would like to have enough space to write comfortably and would like to have the option to add some note pages.
Ringbound planner in personal size:
I normally do not use any planners in Personal size (95x171mm/3.75x6.75 inches) because I find this size too slim for my liking.
I rather like wide paper sizes, which are more square than slim (like A6, B6 or even the japanese size of HBxWA5).
But I rediscovered this old no-name cover in a drawer and thought, why not test out if I can fit a wider size than Personal into it.
And yes, Franklin Covey Compact does fit into this cover very well. No overhang at all and the height is the same. Franklin Covey Compact would be 108x171mm (=4.25x6.75).
This would give me over 1cm more width, so quite nice.
This old cover comes with 25mm rings, a lot of pages can fit into these large rings.
I still had some old note pages of Franklin Covey and the rest of the pages I printed out myself.
I wanted to use the same set-up as in my Muji planner:
- vertical months
- weekly overviews on the left hand page with Alastair lists for my tasks on the right hand page
==> it was actually working out quite well, I had enough space for everything, including note pages, but the overall cover was a bit too big to comfortably fit into my purse.
discbound planner in B6 wide size:
then I had the idea to reuse an old set up with small discs.
The paper size for this one is B6 wide, 135x178mm (5.31x7 inches), very lovely size, gives you a lot of width and is still portable.
The discs are from Levenger (0.75in) in alu silver, small enough to hold enough pages and still be portable enough.
I really like the 2 inches discs, you can set up a planner with so many pages, it really gets very chunky, but in this case I wanted to stay on the thin side.
The dashboard is from Citrus Bookbindery, the size is B6, so not as wide as the B6 wide size, therefore it does not go right up to the edge of the pages but I don`t mind at all. I have a clear plastic sheet as a top cover to protect it and I really liked the color a lot.
Same set up again, printed everything out myself, months, weeks and note pages.
==> actually very good, I just love this size!
and with the small discs it fits perfectly in my purse.
But, while using it, I rediscovered why I stopped using it before: the discs are not covered by any cover, you can see them, and while using them, picking up the planner, putting it down again on your desk, it always makes a clicking sound, everytime that you move it or put it down again.
And this is irritating for me! So, the next one with a no-go!
William Hannah discbound leather cover in A6:
so, my next thought: ok, then what do you have in your drawers where the discs are covered and do not make a sound?
My well-loved William Hannah cover in A6!
These leather bound disc covers are so very well made and a favourite of mine. The colors are so vibrant, for either the outside or the inside of the cover, and you can even order a bespoke notebook where you can chose the colors.
The discs are inside of the cover therefore no clicking noise when you use it!
I still had the months of 2021 printed out as I had tested that set-up before. I just added the weekly pages and used it for a few days.
==> but, in the end, A6 is just too small!
I love it from the outside, it is such a cute size, small enough to take with you but you have to shrink the layout of the pages to fit the same amount of information on them.
This means that the line width is smaller than in a B6 or FC Compact size. And then it gets to small to write.
I normally use B nibs in my fountain pens as this is the best thickness for my writing style, but with B nibs you automatically write bigger. I guess using F nibs I could use an A6 page size with maybe 3.5 or 4mm line width with no problem, but what should I do then with all my other pens? ;-)
A William Hannah cover in B6 would solve my problem but sadly it is only available in A6 and A5 right now.
back to square one:
and this is when you turn around to square one and use the first planner!
What was holding me back when I used the Muji planner?
It was actually just that the green ink was bleeding through the paper.... well, I have so many other inks, I do not need to use green ink at all. I wanted to use it because it matched with the gardening tasks, but well, I can use any ink for these tasks.
I have now found a pen with ink which does not bleed through the paper (Pelikan Edelstein Garnet ink) and will use that for my gardening tasks.
Easy solution :-)
I have printed out the vertical months for the rest of the year of 2022 and added these pages. I used 68gsm Tomoe River Paper which still added a bit of bulk but not too much.
I added two Jibun Techo Idea books, one at the front and one at the back. With these books I have now enough note pages. I can have a book per topic, for my private stuff and the other one for everything about my mother who lives in a retirement home, for stuff which I have to keep track of.
==> in comparison to the other three: best set-up right now!
Slim enough to very comfortable fit into my purse, space enough for everything and with the other ink no problem with bleeding :-)
I really told myself to use this planner at least until end of January! I know myself, I just love to change out my planner set-up but why change a running horse if it is running well?
oh, oops ..... an order from Filofax is on the way to me .... with a Malden in Personal size in dark blue (couldn`t say no to dark blue) ... let`s see what size of paper will fit into that one .... and then maybe a change again??!?
You will hear from me again
Thank you to all, stay healthy and (planner) peace to everyone!
Andrea
P.S. I have bought all my planners myself, I paid for them, I state my own personal opinions about them. When you click a link which I have added for you to see the original planners I do not get paid for it.