2020 Planners and Planning?

Well, we've survived a few weeks of 2020, which is sufficient time for many planning "systems" to have been purchased, tried and abandoned. I have returned full bore to using an old school Franklin planner and pretty much have stuck with it since last April. I have 3 more months of the original page refills (which are pretty FP friendly) and then I will be using the Leadership pages (I had a coupon!).

I don't scrapbook or decorate. I use my planner as a tool. I used the bullet journal/DIY planner method in Field Notes pocket notebooks and then Clairefontaine A5 notebooks for about 7 years, but found myself desiring to return the set-up and style I first used in 1982 starting with a pocket Daytimer and then on to the larger half-letter sized Franklin. I've been using a Lamy Studio with an EF nib and Private Reserve green ink and a mechanical pencil for all of my planning uses.

I don't have a high powered executive job. I'm a high school Agriculture teacher, FFA Advisor and have some quasi-administrative duties with our skilled trades academy.

What are you using this year?

I set up my own 4.25 x 8" planner pages (8.5 x 8" folded in half) that fit into a leather cover. I couldn't find anything on the market that I really liked, so I made my own. It's been a work in progress, but I think this year's design is going to work the best. It has a weekly calendar on one side for appointments and the like, and is blank on the other for lists and other notes. I have the entire year easily accessible one week at a time and plenty of room for everything else that pops up during the week.

I used to keep a shirt pocket full of 3x5 cards for notes, a wallet in my pants, and a booklet-style 8.5x11" calendar planner in my laptop bag. My planner now performs all three functions admirably and still fits easily into a rear pants pocket or the inside pocket of a suit jacket.

I’m using the Hobonichi slim weekly planner as i have for most years since the mid eighties

I’ve been happy with my Rhodia Goal Book since beginning a bullet journal last summer, and with using a TWSBI Pagoda 0.5mm mechanical pencil to write in it. That’s my ongoing plan for 2020 as well.

Still use a pocket Day-Timer, although now that I'm retired, I went to the one page per day edition. It does okay with my Montblanc fine point cartridge filler, but broader nibs tend to bleed on its paper.

For long term planning over the year, I like the Passion Planner.

I use my iPhone/iPad/iMac calendars for all my planning needs and really appreciate the way they sync magically!

However, as a fpgeek I also have a large 17"x22" paper calendar on my desk on which I write with an Esterbrook dipless pen.

I also carry a small pocket Rhodia notebook for writing notes and other information.

I use the Passion Planner at school, the Hobonichi Weeks for my EDC, and a Midori planner at home. (I'm planner mad.)

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Originally Posted by Lady Onogaro

I use the Passion Planner at school, the Hobonichi Weeks for my EDC, and a Midori planner at home. (I'm planner mad.)

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Impressive. I've gone the other way and use only my phone now for planning, appts, lists, etc. I still do all my teacher planning by pen (and my grading), but my calendar is all digital now.

Sent from my Moto E (4) using Tapatalk

I screwed up this year.
Used for a long time Ciak Firenze planners, they are very robust and withstood everything, from cold winters to hot summers and rain.
Switched to some Moleskine last year because I couldn't find any Ciak planner, and paid the price of not buying ahead: the thing fell apart before the end of the year.
This year I bought a Quo Vadis, pocket, but it's tiny... Smaller than a Moleskine pocket size, and the lines inside are cramped!!
Won't throw it away because I plan ahead of months, but I am not buying another. Good paper and seems like it's well built, but I'd rather have the Ciak or the Moleskine.

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Originally Posted by BlkWhiteFilmPix

Still use a pocket Day-Timer, although now that I'm retired, I went to the one page per day edition. It does okay with my Montblanc fine point cartridge filler, but broader nibs tend to bleed on its paper.

For long term planning over the year, I like the Passion Planner.

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Try filofax inserts. They are now more FP friendly than they were in the past.

While I really enjoyed using Hobonichi A6 planners, I could not justify the cost anymore. I opted for a blank notebook/ringed planner binder/blank lined paper for my freeflow, BUJO, list-maker planning style coupled with Google Calendar for reminders and OneNote for larger projects that require digital file storage and sharing capabilities. I would normally choose Google Keep for the digital side of my planning but I think I have outgrown it. So far it seems to be working. I like that paper that is given to me can be scanned into OneNote in almost any format I need and I am liking OneNote's organization over Google Keep. Currently, I am working on upgrading the school bell/intercom system for the school district I work for and keeping each campus project organized is a breeze now and something the Hobonichi/Google Keep combo is not cut out to do.

Hobonichi A6 is my goto. Use mine as a daily food log.

https://i.imgur.com/0B8nJsI.jpg

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Originally Posted by KrazyIvan

While I really enjoyed using Hobonichi A6 planners, I could not justify the cost anymore. I opted for a blank notebook/ringed planner binder/blank lined paper for my freeflow, BUJO, list-maker planning style coupled with Google Calendar for reminders and OneNote for larger projects that require digital file storage and sharing capabilities. I would normally choose Google Keep for the digital side of my planning but I think I have outgrown it. So far it seems to be working. I like that paper that is given to me can be scanned into OneNote in almost any format I need and I am liking OneNote's organization over Google Keep. Currently, I am working on upgrading the school bell/intercom system for the school district I work for and keeping each campus project organized is a breeze now and something the Hobonichi/Google Keep combo is not cut out to do.

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I like the Hobonichi Techo A6 planner, but after buying my first one found I didn't use it as a planner. Instead I use it as an additional paper in my ink reviews. I didn't pay full original price for it but waited until there was an offer that included a reduction in it's price. It's been a couple of years since I bought one, but while I happened to be in the US during December, and found it on offer for $30 including shipping, I decided to buy my second one. We can't get them for that price in the UK, and don't usually travel to the US during December, so maybe the 2020 version will be my last....

Planning never really helped me in my life..... so I don't.

I have had planners/agendas before and I fill like the first few weeks and the rest of the year is empty so maybe my life is just really uneventful. I think I am better suited to an empty notebook with as little structure as possible, the only structure being that there are lines so I write straightly. I have days where it fills half of the notebook, like during my depressive, existential crisis-y, events, and then maybe I will have two years of no writing.

So, yeah, an empty notebook is my best "planner".

I make my own using a disc bound system in 5.5"x8.5" (Levenger) using HP32 paper and 1 1/2" discs.

Not a decorator or an artist but like the ability to write varying amounts of detail for planning and end of day. I use Outlook calendar/appointments for scheduling/planning as well.

Originally I was going to also do my creative writing in the same journal but ended up putting together a different one in 8.5"x11" using the same paper but smaller (3/4") discs. Just felt better to me.

During the pandemic lockdown period - I think other places called it 'shelter in place' - I found myself turning to A4 sized notebooks for project tracking. The nature of my work is constantly changing and becoming more complex as well as more dense, and my Hobonichi Techo just doesn't cut it anymore and will be relegated to scheduling.

Now I am wondering if I should get FP friendly A4 pads or go with biro and pencil and any old pad? If the latter I may splash out on a Lamy BP and pencil set (you can shoot me later).