A sure sign of overwhelm is when I start Planner Procrastinating - a sure and certain desire that the Perfect Planner is all that is standing between me and the fulfilment of all my hopes and dreams.
When I was a student (so early 2000s) I carried a Moleskine notebook. A pocket one that didn’t cost too much money and it had all sorts of scribbles and post it’s stuck into it. Only now I semi-consistently bullet journal do I realise I sort of did it before it was a thing. And yet I still get sucked into the planner vortex, so I need this shiny one. Nope but it’s sooo pretty. And what about this one....? No don’t need it but maybe then I’ll actually be organised and will get a job that I enjoy and many other things that my planner is not responsible for but I tell that voice in my head that it will fix everything lol.
So back to the Leuchtturm 1917. My tiny stray at the moment is that I’ve got back to a basic personal Filofax for my calendar and also have a Stalogy notebook that is my travel journal and coming with me on our crazy adventure (standard bullet journal is staying at home because we’re about to get creative with the packing.
I keep looking at the Stalogy notebooks with interest. How would you compare it to the Leuchhturm.
It's funny but when my dad died we found a stack of empty Moleskine notebooks in his desk and honestly me and my niece were so excited. The love of stationery is clearly strong in our family.
Stalogy are nice but their pages are so much thinner than if you use anything too thick then they ghost (I can’t find the posts but I’ll see if I can find an example). I’d definitely pick Leuchtturm over Stalogy for everyday stuff but the Stalogy takes up less space lol.
I love that! When we moved my Great Grandma to a residential home she had diaries that she had kept for years. We found her one when my grandma was born. She literally wrote grandma’s name time of birth and weight. That was it lol.
Aww, I remember my Nana making my dad promise to burn all her diaries before she died. She had shoe boxes stuffed full of them. It seemed such a shame to burn them but we felt we had to do what she wanted with them.
I've been a committed bullet journaler since 2015. Before that I tried every possible version of things out there including ring binders (Filofax), pre-made planners, and digital task management systems. Haven't looked back since I got my first Leuchtturm! I've tried a variety of notebooks including Scribbles That Matter and Dingbats (which I loved), but now I use a simple paperback A5 dot grid notebook which I designed myself and print through KDP. I went through the obligatory decoration phase, but I have scaled way back over the last few years, and it's pretty much just my notebook, my favourite pen, and a brush pen for headers. I follow the original system pretty closely, so it's a simple monthly with an additional page for goals for the month, then straight into dailies, and making collections for important info as I need them. My current notebook is the one I started in January, and it will last all year. I do have additional notebooks for my craft projects, business planning, and book journaling though.
Oh, I love the Dingbats notebooks too - they always have such a great choice of covers. And yes - like you I've definitely simplified things over the years. Ultimately, it's got to be practical in order to be useful.
I've been out of bullet journaling for a while, but reading this article made me go back to the old classic Moleskin notebook!! We are mid-way through the year, and it is definitely the time to review and already thinking about next year's planner situation!
A vote in favor of the Stalogy--the pages are very thin but they don't bleed through. I buy the 365-day planner and use it for my journal. I also love the Leuchturm (the built-in index is handy) and the Moleskine. I just discovered today that Moleskine has an extended edition--400 pages. And they have a two-for-one sale on at the moment. The extended edition may not be as useful for bullet journaling but I'm excited about it for journaling. I've been using the Hobonichi Cousin for my planner this year and it is working okay but I'm casting longing glances at all the mid-year journals that are coming out. Trying hard not to bite!
I tend to just use a plain A5 dot grid journal and do my own layouts rather than buy a specific bullet journal. At the minute I use a Leuchtturm 1917 journal because I like the slightly heavier paper. Moleskine do a good one too but it's slightly narrower than the Leuchtturm.
Leuchtturm do a specific bullet journal but I've never actually tried it - just kept it as a bookmarked tab on my laptop
When I was a student (so early 2000s) I carried a Moleskine notebook. A pocket one that didn’t cost too much money and it had all sorts of scribbles and post it’s stuck into it. Only now I semi-consistently bullet journal do I realise I sort of did it before it was a thing. And yet I still get sucked into the planner vortex, so I need this shiny one. Nope but it’s sooo pretty. And what about this one....? No don’t need it but maybe then I’ll actually be organised and will get a job that I enjoy and many other things that my planner is not responsible for but I tell that voice in my head that it will fix everything lol.
So back to the Leuchtturm 1917. My tiny stray at the moment is that I’ve got back to a basic personal Filofax for my calendar and also have a Stalogy notebook that is my travel journal and coming with me on our crazy adventure (standard bullet journal is staying at home because we’re about to get creative with the packing.
I keep looking at the Stalogy notebooks with interest. How would you compare it to the Leuchhturm.
It's funny but when my dad died we found a stack of empty Moleskine notebooks in his desk and honestly me and my niece were so excited. The love of stationery is clearly strong in our family.
Stalogy are nice but their pages are so much thinner than if you use anything too thick then they ghost (I can’t find the posts but I’ll see if I can find an example). I’d definitely pick Leuchtturm over Stalogy for everyday stuff but the Stalogy takes up less space lol.
I love that! When we moved my Great Grandma to a residential home she had diaries that she had kept for years. We found her one when my grandma was born. She literally wrote grandma’s name time of birth and weight. That was it lol.
Aww, I remember my Nana making my dad promise to burn all her diaries before she died. She had shoe boxes stuffed full of them. It seemed such a shame to burn them but we felt we had to do what she wanted with them.
I've been a committed bullet journaler since 2015. Before that I tried every possible version of things out there including ring binders (Filofax), pre-made planners, and digital task management systems. Haven't looked back since I got my first Leuchtturm! I've tried a variety of notebooks including Scribbles That Matter and Dingbats (which I loved), but now I use a simple paperback A5 dot grid notebook which I designed myself and print through KDP. I went through the obligatory decoration phase, but I have scaled way back over the last few years, and it's pretty much just my notebook, my favourite pen, and a brush pen for headers. I follow the original system pretty closely, so it's a simple monthly with an additional page for goals for the month, then straight into dailies, and making collections for important info as I need them. My current notebook is the one I started in January, and it will last all year. I do have additional notebooks for my craft projects, business planning, and book journaling though.
Oh, I love the Dingbats notebooks too - they always have such a great choice of covers. And yes - like you I've definitely simplified things over the years. Ultimately, it's got to be practical in order to be useful.
Absolutely! While I adore form, when it comes to my bullet journal function takes precedence.
I've been out of bullet journaling for a while, but reading this article made me go back to the old classic Moleskin notebook!! We are mid-way through the year, and it is definitely the time to review and already thinking about next year's planner situation!
Have I managed to miss your post showing how you manage to track your knitting in your bullet journal?
No, not at all. It's in drafts and will be out tomorrow as long as the Substack gods smile on me and don't delete it
I feel called out! In terms of size, I love the Paperblanks midi size.
A vote in favor of the Stalogy--the pages are very thin but they don't bleed through. I buy the 365-day planner and use it for my journal. I also love the Leuchturm (the built-in index is handy) and the Moleskine. I just discovered today that Moleskine has an extended edition--400 pages. And they have a two-for-one sale on at the moment. The extended edition may not be as useful for bullet journaling but I'm excited about it for journaling. I've been using the Hobonichi Cousin for my planner this year and it is working okay but I'm casting longing glances at all the mid-year journals that are coming out. Trying hard not to bite!
Ooh, some great suggestions there, thank you. The Moleskine extended version looks really interesting.
And of course I fell for the two-for-one deal....
I love planners! I have my work planner, and then my knitting planner!
Do you go for a particular brand, or just freestyle it in a notebook?
I usually a freestyle notebook for my knitting.
I tend to just use a plain A5 dot grid journal and do my own layouts rather than buy a specific bullet journal. At the minute I use a Leuchtturm 1917 journal because I like the slightly heavier paper. Moleskine do a good one too but it's slightly narrower than the Leuchtturm.
Leuchtturm do a specific bullet journal but I've never actually tried it - just kept it as a bookmarked tab on my laptop
https://www.leuchtturm1917.co.uk/notebooks/journals/bullet-journal-edition-2/?ref=AdWords&gclid=Cj0KCQjwho-lBhC_ARIsAMpgModVS2qeuuUAz0BsUtONyRLbHFuC3aufN4Pz3uuY01BtPGLdsCk_HhYaAiwQEALw_wcB
I can never find bullet journals. Do you know of a good one (although I really shouldn't buy yet snother journal)
I really like the Legami ‘my notebook’ notebooks which are gridlined but designed to be good for bullet journaling
people, I need pictures.