Ramblings on Hobonichi

I’m a girly, girl and I like change (at least some change). Like some women, I like to change my purses to reflect my mood or coordinate with my outfit. My traveler’s notebooks, planners, and Hobonichis are no different. I have a variety of tastes, so I have a variety of covers. If I could only pick one type of cover, a supple, pliable, gorgeous brown will always be my go to choice (think Filofax Madlen in Ochre). I am going to share a variety of ramblings on the Hobonichi and ultimately share some of the covers I have so far. I won’t do reviews at this time, but some day I might.

As I’ve recently mentioned, I have become obsessed with my Hobonichis. I have a Hobonichi Cousin (my main planner), a Hobonichi Planner (my daily journal), and a second Hobonichi Planner that now serves as my every day carry. I will be completely honest, the Hobonichi Cousin meets all my needs. It has sufficient room for planning and I have space for daily journaling. I ended up with three Hobonichis because my plans changed in November and I had already placed my order opening day in September.

So what was my original plan? In 2015 I used a Hobonichi Planner as my journal and I fell in love. The little book, I just enjoyed holding it, writing in it, and looking through it. So I decided I would get another Hobonichi Planner for journaling in 2016. I loved the idea of one year of planning in one book, so I decided on the Hobonichi Cousin as my planner. I was also playing with my work system, so I ordered a Hobonichi Planner to record my daily To Do’s and calls at work. Some day I will do a post on how I organize myself at work, because I have found a system that seems to work.

Around November I decided to return to my “old” vessel for organization at work (system didn’t change, just the vessel). The Filofax Malden in personal really is a good vessel to hold my vessel. Plus I adore my Malden and I need an excuse just to hold it every day. Since I decided I would use my Malden for work, I now had an extra Hobonichi Planner. For me, my go to sizes are Pocket, A6, and Personal. Books in that range really sing to my heart and that is a size that I know I will carry with me. The Hobonichi Cousin is amazing and well designed, but the A6 size kept tugging at my heart. Enter my conflict of planning for 2016. So for 6-8 weeks, I trailed the A5 and A6 size for planning. January 1st i really hadn’t made a decision, but I did decide to use the Cousin, a decision I don’t regret.

What is unlike me, I now have two planners for the same purpose. I hate duplication and I fear I will forget something if I do duplicate. So why am I using a Hobonichi Planner and Hobonichi Cousin for the same purpose? Great question! All I can say now is because I still cannot decide between the two. Right now I am enjoying playing in both books, even if it is a duplication. To make this work, I have to have one primary, one go to location, and that is my Cousin. Will I spend the entire year going back and forth between the two? I don’t know. What I do know, both will meet my needs, I just need to use the one that sings to my heart, and right now that is both of them.

Hobonichi Planning Resources

I belong to several groups on Facebook and these groups are great resources for learning what is new and what is out there. Although I see that people tend to ask the same questions and we want to see examples of how people use their Hobonichi as a planner.

While many English users of the Hobonichi state they do not see the Hobonichi as a planner, they see it as a journal, I happen to think it is the best for planning. You get plenty of space in a lightweight, compact format. At the end of the year, if you keep your planners, you have one book to archive. All the pages are bound together so you don’t have to worry about loose pages that can be lost. The format really is a shell, so you can change the format to one of your dreams, and if your needs change the next day, you can change it again. It is beautiful with just words on the page and it is beautiful when artistic elements are added. As the Hobonichi developer said, it is a park and each person can make it specific to them.

Hobonichi on Social Media

Hobonichi on Instagram Social media is a great resource for gather different ways of using the Hobonichi as a planner. Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube are my go to choices. Tumblr and Pinterest are other places to look for inspiration.

The three groups on Facebook that I really like for inspiration are: Hobonichi Strictly Planning, Hobonichi Users, and Fauxbonichi Journalers. Since I use somewhat of a bullet journal format in my Hobonichi, Bullet Journal Junkies is another group where I gain inspiration.

Instagram also has a pretty developed community of users and you get to see the range of Hobonichi uses. Tags to search for: #Hobonichi, #Hobonichisp, #HobonichiCousin, #HobonichiPlanner. I’m @momofcurt on Instagram and I use my Hobonichi as my planner and that is how I feature it when I post about my Hobo. @choosingbliss has great posts on how she uses her Hobonichi. Other users I recommend: @tinkerworld, @kristinatheengineer.

YouTube is a great resource for Hobonichi, though it is difficult to find channels that use the Hobonichi as a planner. I really like how the VeganOrganizer, FroggiesTN, TheSassyPineapple, ScrapJoy, OhaiJoy, BiancaNDM, and PoochieBaby display the use of their Hobonichi as a planner.

Personalizing the Hobonichi

The Hobonichi can be whatever you want it to be. It can be thin or chunky. It can be sophisticated or whimsical. It can be moderate or expensive. It can be decked out or plain. It can house journaling, art, or planning. It can even house all three. It can be used as a notebook, project planner, or tracker. The options are endless and are only limited by your imagination. This really is a book that can be all things to all people (I am bias of course. Some people have not fell in love with the Hobo as I fell in love with mine).

Covers for the Hobonichi are more numerous than the uses. Hobonichi sells covers for their Hobonichis that change each year. This means there is an endless line of designs and styles for all sizes. etsy and eBay are other places to look for Hobonichi covers. You can get covers made of leather or fabric. You can even find covers that are no longer being sold on the Hobonichi site. AliExpress sells covers at relatively inexpensive prices. Searching for refillable A5 journals on Amazon will present you with some options. Traveler’s Notebook designers are also starting to design covers for the Hobonichi. I have one from FoxyFix that I am anxiously waiting to receive. Even your local stores have options: Barnes and Nobles, Staples, Walmart, and Meijer have refillable planners and journals that can house the Hobonichi Cousin. Midair MD, Filofax Flex, and Franklin Covey wire bound are other places to look. You can even leave your Hobo naked. The Hobonichi Planner (English version) is especially amenable to this idea with its gorgeous black cover. While the cover of the Cousin isn’t visually pleasing, it can be made into something beautiful through painting, Modge Podge, or contact paper.

Tools for the Hobonichi

Many tools and toys are created for the Hobonichi, but all you really need is a pen or pencil. What is amazing about the Tomoe River paper is it can take almost anything that you can throw at it. While many pens may shadow, few actually bleed through. Copic markers are notorious for bleeding through the page. The paper can withstand a variety of inks, but patience (or a blotter) is essential due to longer dry times to prevent smudging. I recommend using one of the pages in the back as a ink test page. This is where you can really see what your Hobo can handle. If you search ink test, you will find many people that have already done much of the testing for you.

Hobonichi makes some great “tools and toys” for their books. The stencils for me are a must have. As a matter of fact I now have two complete sets of stencils for both of my Hobos and a third green stencil for my Traveler’s Notebook. The Midori Brass rulers are another great option. If you search for Bullet Journal stencils on etsy, you will find some options that may work for you (be careful, sometimes the stencils are actually quite large-think wide ruled notebook paper).

A search on etsy will present you with unlimited options of tools for the Hobonichi. Atelier Dreams makes wonderful stamps. Sweet Kawaii Designs makes fabulous stickers. You can find washi tape in every size and design you could imagine. Other places you can look are the stamps from Studio l2e, Sakuralala, and Marion Smith Designs.

My go to items: Coleto four barrel pen in 0.38, mechanical pencil in 0.38, TWSBI mini with extra fine nib, Noodlers xfeather ink and Diamine Ox Blood ink, Hobonichi clock stamp, Studio l2e and Atelier Dreams stamps, Prima chalk ink, and skinny washi tape. My planner is my planner. The washi tape is functional, it visually divides the two sections of my Hobonichi. The stamps are functional, they are how I track certain items. The pens and pencils, they are what brings me joy while writing.

Types of Hobonichi

The Hobonichi site does a great job of explaining the differences between the various Hobonichis. I have the Hobonichi Planner (x2), Hobonichi Cousin, and Hobonichi Weeks. I will start with the Weeks. It is a great size and great format, but it just isn’t me. Two years ago this would have been perfect. Two years ago I had less responsibilities. Now I use a separate work planner (Filofax Malden) that I will do a review on someday. So until two years ago, I mainly just had to keep track of a few meetings, Bible Study, and my son’s practices and games. I have more that I am responsible for that isn’t specific to work, so I need a different format. The A6 Hobonichi comes in the original and Planner. The Planner is the English version and the grid is a little larger than the Japanese versions. Note, the green stencil does not line up perfectly in the English version, but you can still make it work. The Cousin is the only Hobonichi that has the yearly view, monthly view, weekly view, and daily view. It has the same grid size as the original, so the green stencil works perfectly! If you want to split up your years, Hobonichi also has the avec versions.

My use

My last blog post about my 2016 setup I go into detail about how I will use my Hobonichi Cousin. Two weeks later and this setup is still working quite well. I chose the Cousin this year because of the additional responsibilities that will be added to my year. The A6 works perfectly for me as well with the addition of the A6 Weeks book. I do have artistic elements in my Hobo. They are mostly function (washi and stamps). However the extra space I will use to practice drawing, stamp images to color, or practice watercoloring. Outside of my monthly pages, I do not decorate in advance, all decorative elements are added after.

For now, I have found my planner love. This is of course always subject to change, but I am on my third month and I am still pleased. Fortunately in today’s planner world, we have many options for when our tastes and needs change.

I am sorry for the exceptionally lengthy post. My goal is to help anyone that is looking into the Hobonichi. I am still somewhat of a newbie (2016 is my second year), but hopefully the newness helps me remember the questions people ask. Have a beautiful day and week.

Danyel

My 2016 Setup

That’s a pretty bold statement! I feel I can be bold because I do feel like I will at least use the same book all year. Now the layout may change as my needs change or when I get bored with the current layout, but I do feel confident that I will use my Hobonichi Cousin all year.

Daily Layout in the Hobonichi Cousin

Why am I focusing on planning and planners. Simple, while my house is organized, my brain is not. I’m not sure what changed last year that I could no longer remember anything or why my old methods simply were not working. I teach my patients all the time how to augment their memory (our meds cause short term memory loss), so it was time for me to put into practice what I continually teach.

Planning

Anyone that know me is stunned that I don’t use my iPhone as my planner. It is great to add appointments on the spot. It is always with me. It has nifty reminders for when I arrive and leave. I can color code to my heart’s content. If I don’t like the native calendar app I have thousand more options in the App Store. With all of these neat features, it has one significant drawback for me, I don’t use it. I’ve tried a couple of times over the years (going back to my Palm Pilot) to use an electronic calendar exclusively. The problem isn’t putting in all the data, the problem was I just didn’t look at it. So I fell back on the one method that has worked since middle school, I wrote things down.

Things changed in the last couple of years; I gained more responsibilities and my son got busier. Where a monthly calendar was sufficient before, I needed more space for more details now. Also, with my workload increasing with my home activities, I could no longer depend one book to keep it all. (I will write about my work changes in a future post).

I need a monthly page. I need a daily or weekly page. With my Hobonichi Cousin, I get all three. To be honest, I don’t look at all three pages every day. I look at my monthly page when I need to glance what is coming up in the next couple of weeks. Each Sunday I plan my following week using the weekly layout. This gives me an idea of what my week will look like (or should look like) so I can plan routine tasks for less busy days. I do include work meetings and the clinic schedule in my weekly pages. If I have a lot of patients in clinic, I know I will be tired that evening and not productive, so I will need to plan tasks for a different day.

Weekly view for a slow week

Then each day I focus on the daily page. I do write down the appointments on my daily page. If I don’t have any appointments, I celebrate by using that space for a quote or to stamp an image. The right side of the appointment section I use like I used my monthly plan books or the A6 Hobonichi. I write everything down, what I did, need to do, tasks I want to accomplish, thoughts, ideas, everything! At the top where the section for top tasks are located, I use this for gratitude. This is something I missed when I moved from my bullet journal to the monthly plan books. The bottom section of the page is my free for all. It isn’t for my private, daily journaling. That goes in a separate A6 Hobonichi. Some days I may use it for journaling, I could use it for notes or ideas, or I can draw. I like having a section that will allow me to play as I see fit.

Daily layout put to use

Daily layout

So that’s it, one book, my Hobonichi Cousin. I personally don’t like combining my journaling with my planning. I don’t want to take that part of me outside the house where someone would have access to it. My planner I like to leave open on my desk and and I don’t want my deepest, darkest thoughts exposed to the world.

I will chronicle my experience with using my Hobonichi Cousin. If you search the web, YouTube, Instagram, or Pinterest for uses for the Hobonichi, you will find a lot about art journaling. I wanted ideas to how to use it as a planner. Layouts that work, ideas for the Remember This page, using a monthly, weekly, and daily. I wanted to see how people used the blank pages at the back. The Facebook Group: Hobonichi Strictly Planning has been a great resource, but the amount of info out there is still lacking. Hopefully this will be a topic that expands as more people in the English speaking areas of the world become more acquainted with how amazing Hobonichi is.

Change, again!

I’ve been gone for awhile because I fell in the trap of the planner addict. I started in a Franklin Covey classic and used the same planner and layout for nine years. Then I went to the Erin Condren. I loved it, but I hated that it wasn’t portable.

Then I started my search for a new system. I started out in a modified bullet journal. It was simple and it worked. Then I when to a personal Filofax. I liked it, its customizable, but oh, how I hated the rings. Then I started using a Midori Passport. I loved it and it worked. However, I couldn’t resist all the other cute travelers notebooks out there, and I discovered Field Notes. So I ordered the pocket traveler’s notebook and started my Field Notes color subscription and I was ready to roll. Then I discovered Jenny Penton’s Planner Perfect System.

Created planner using Moleskine

Color Crush weekly pages

Erin Condren Life Planner

Midori Passport

Hobonichi Style insert that I made

I started using the Planner Perfect System in May. I used Field Notes as my monthly plan books and BohoCottage monthly inserts. I purchased many pocket traveler’s notebooks (Chic Sparrow, FoxyFix, Sojourner, and Naked Cow) trying to find the right fit. I felt like Goldilocks. They are all great notebooks and deciding the one you want depends on how you want your leather to feel and look. This method worked really well and it allowed me to truly see what my planning needs are. I learned it didn’t matter if I used a plain notebook, bullet journal, Filofax, or Traveler’s Notebook, because now I have a system that works.

Monthly Calendar using BohoCottage printable inserts from Etsy

My System Needs

I must have a monthly calendar for at least 12 months. I also need daily pages. Anything else is bonus or confusing. The monthly calendar allows me to keep track of my schedule. Now I have a separate system for work that I will review in the future. So my planner includes only items that affect me when I am not at work. Sometimes works does cross into home time, so you will see those items on my planner. My daily page is how I design my day (using the Planner Perfect system). It isn’t full of ToDo’s and tasks, it is a list of how I would like my day to be. At the end of the day, it is a representation of how my day was. I don’t worry about decorating, format, or rules. Sure you will see similar layouts. Of course I like to add cute washi or doodles. However, none of this is required. Even the plain pages in the course of a week tell their own story because they are plain. I love flipping through my old monthly books because I am able to see at a glance, what was my life like this year.

My Plan for 2016

I plan to keep doing the Planner Perfect Method. However, I will be moving to the Hobonichi. The only drawback I experienced with the monthly books is when I needed notes from previous books. Now I have them conveniently stored, so it wasn’t a deal breaker, but when preparing a list recently from my notes in my monthly books, I had three laying before me. Also, I’ve had to grab a book from a couple of months ago to reference my work hours. Again, none of this was truly a problem, but I really like the idea of one year in one book. That is how my planners have been until May 2015, so it was something I missed.

Hobonichi Planner on left 3 months of Plan Books on right

My daily pages and monthly layouts will be used the same as my monthly plan books. I also got the separate weeks booklet. I hate duplication, but I like the weeks booklet because it lets me see busy vs. less busy days. This helps me plan what I will do at home.

Trailing the daily page in the Hobonichi Planner

Special Events and Days

One of the beauties of the Planner Perfect System is planning for special occasions, a trip, Christmas, a birthday, the big game, etc. The Hobonichi won’t really allow for layouts for these occasions. Sure, the back has extra note pages, but I’m afraid I would run out of pages before Halloween and my brain couldn’t handle that. I saw a post in one of the Facebook groups about using a notebook for each big event: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Birthdays, etc. Really, I do the same thing each year. Sure, minute details may change, but the big picture remains the same. So I am going to use separate Field Notes books for each occasion. Then I will move them in and out of my Traveler’s Notebooks as occasions occur.

Collections

One of the things I adore about the Bullet Journal is collections. Random thoughts collected, then gathered in one place. As a companion to my Hobonichi, I have a Field Notes book that houses my book of lists collections). I will capture these random thoughts on my daily pages, then migrate them to the appropriate list.

Collections

I know this is a lengthy post, but I learned a lot from my time and expense this year. I plan to take this knowledge and share it with you. My goal is these posts will reinforce what you are currently doing or help you find your way if you were lost like I was. I know I have planned this before, but now I feel like I have really learned what works for me. There are many beautiful planners and wonderful systems that can be found on the web and on social media. What is important is finding a system that matches how your brain works. No matter how pretty or organized, it will not be useful if it doesn’t match how your brain thinks. Enjoy looking at other planners and systems, then enjoy developing a system that works for you.

Merry Christmas!