planner

2025 Planning... Still

Some of my most popular posts are about my obsession continued daily use with my paper planners, specifically, my Hobonichi Cousin. At this point, I’ve used this same planner for… ten years? (Goes and checks…) (Yes, I’ve saved them all)

If you want to check out ALL of my previous planner posts, you can click here

More specifics:


My 2019 Planners as Planned
A Peek at my 2020 Planner Lineup
My 2021 Hobonichi
My 2021 Planner System
The Joy of 2022 Planning
Hobonichi Weeks v. Cousin
2024! Planning


And again ALL THE PLANNER RELATED STUFF I’VE EVER PUT ON MY BLOG


So, what’s new in my Hobonichi Cousin for 2025?

I’ve changed up how I use some of the “special” pages.

For instance, these pages at the front. (What are they called? I don’t know)

For the past few years, I’ve tried using these pages as a habit tracker. Specifically, I had three habits that I tried to grow last year. I simplified my methods, tried to #focus, experimented with different systems of moving habits to my daily pages…. all sorts of things that I’m not doing a great job of explaining. And when I set up this year’s hobonichi, I realized if insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results… well. I needed to switch it up.

So I thought about what has worked for me in the past, and decided to just use these as a monthly goal collection area. Each month, I’ll set goals for myself, write them here and cross them off when I’m done.

What hasn’t changed? My book tracker page, ^^ up there. It’s perfect!

And I’m still using this for tracking my tv/ movie watching. I started doing this just to see how my input affected my writing but really, it’s handy to go back and see what I’ve watched when someone at a party asks, “have y’all watched anything good recently?” This is 2025. There’s a LOT of content to keep track of.

Last year I used two different pages to track my decluttering progress and my self-care activities. (After going through breast cancer, self-care hits differently for me. It’s not that I have self-care goals, exactly, but when I do something nice for myself/ my body, having a page where I can write it down, helps me remember that I can’t forsake being kind to myself.)
I have monthly and weekly decluttering tasks, so this is where I will record them. Again, it’s not like anyone is asking me at a dinner party, “have you done any good decluttering lately?” but it’s to keep me accountable. Also, this a good excuse to use these excellent stickers.

Speaking of stickers, here are the ones I chose for the cover of my Hobonichi cousin planner. I am feeling a demure champagne - fire - sword - sparkle vibe this year.

I have some other things I’m going to talk about in my January newsletter, so make sure you’re signed up for it, so you see all my 2025 planning tools and tricks! Sign up here.

Introducing... my 2021 Hobonichi

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Planner people are really the ultimate optimists, right?

Look at us all, buying planners after 2020 showed us that we can’t always plan what life is going to look like.

But there’s something that I’m always going to enjoy about it. There’s a ritual to selecting a new planner. To setting it up and carefully inscribing birthdays and holidays. There’s a beautiful faith that life goes on, that we’re going to be here to enjoy it, that we want to honor these days with purpose and distinction.

Or maybe we just like stickers and washi.

Or both. Definitely both.

I still used my Hobonichi Cousin almost daily in 2020, even when I had no outings or appointments or anything to look forward to. This is because I use the daily pages as my journal so that meant this sturdy, beautifully designed book was in my hands a lot.

I did an unboxing video for those who are curious as to what a 2021 Hobonichi looks like: (Don’t judge. I am not a videographer, obviously.)


I’ll do another post in January with how I’ve decided to personalize this but ICYMI, here are some past blog posts about this year’s set up and previous years’ as well.

My 2020 Planner Line-Up

My 2019 Planners

And… that’s all for now. If you want my blog posts sent straight to your inbox, subscribe to my Inner Circle Newsletter here. Or follow me on Instagram to see my occasional weekly spreads.

A Peek at my 2020 Planner Line Up!

My 2020 Planner Line Up

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To review, see my 2019 planners here.

Yes, I planned out my planners. I’m that kind of person.

Yes, I planned out my planners. I’m that kind of person.

So this is the most unexciting planner tour ever. Why? Because I’m not changing *that* much from 2019.

For me, this is a good thing. Because that means I’ve found what (mostly) works for me and I don’t need to change too much.

But it probably makes for a boring blog. Sorry?

My main planner for 2020 will still – again be a 2020 Hobonichi Cousin Techo, housed in a Louis Vuitton Couv Carnet GM.  The Hobonichi Cousin still wins my heart for its size, the flexibility, the paper, the combination of monthly, weekly and daily pages (which I use for my morning pages). I love the Japanese writing, the way it sort of decorates my planner in a way that doesn’t take any mental or emotional energy from me (since I don’t read Japanese).  I love the soft grids which gives me an orderly skeleton to drape the often chaotic fabric of my life.

I’ve selected some stickers to decorate the cover…. But I haven’t quite decided which ones to use. I’ll probably update y’all on Instagram in January with that oh-so-fun announcement.

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Last year I used the extra December calendar for a reading log. (More below on that) This year I’ve decided to use this page in the back to log the books I’ll be reading.

This is pretty basic, I know. I might add some washi or something to jazz this up.

This is pretty basic, I know. I might add some washi or something to jazz this up.

In the second half of 2019, I got into the habit of using these as habit trackers and I hope to continue that for 2020.  My plan is to use the boxes at the bottom to keep track of quarterly tasks/ goals.

My 2019 habit tracker. This actually turned out to be a very useful practice for keeping me on course-ish.

My 2019 habit tracker. This actually turned out to be a very useful practice for keeping me on course-ish.

2020 Habit Tracker and I’ve already screwed it up. My ruler didn’t keep the Mildliner contained. We’ll pretend that I’m just artsy, okay?

2020 Habit Tracker and I’ve already screwed it up. My ruler didn’t keep the Mildliner contained. We’ll pretend that I’m just artsy, okay?

I also have decided to track my television/ movie watching in 2020. I’ve noticed in the past 12-18 months that shows and movies are one of my main sources of #input and creative inspiration so I’m interested to see what trends and insights this might reveal.

Again, I might add something cute. Or not. I do like a nice minimalist planner.

Again, I might add something cute. Or not. I do like a nice minimalist planner.

I don’t (usually) do a lot of stickers and washi tape. If they’re in my planner, it’s to block off large chunks of time or something particularly celebratory - release dates, birthdays, anniversaries. But this next layout is the exception, as it was in 2020.

Hobonichi Cousins include extra months at the end of the calendar year (usually until March) and the month before (December, obviously.) Now I really like to move into a new planner on January first, but I still use those next-year months because, well, in December, I am usually making appointments, etc. for the next year. But I NEVER have a practical use for the extra December because… I’m still using 2019 right now. Get it?

So last year, I turned the extra December into my reading log, which you can see in this blog post (here.) This year, I’m trying something different. Voila. The Hobonichi Kanban board.

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I think I’ve talked about how I’ve done the HB90 system since RWA 17 in Denver. If not, here’s an explanation on You Tube.

But I noticed the last few months of this year that my big bulky Kanban board had been replaced by some other processes and so I decided to start 2020 without it. Where I still enjoyed the Kanban though, was for some repetitive tasks that I do every month. Hence, my Hobonichi kanban set up. The plan is, to label some sturdy reusable stickies and move them through the board each month. I’ll update you later in 2020 with how that’s going!

And like last year (again, sorry! I’m not more exciting…) I’ll be doing some social media/ blog/ newsletter planning in my MM (medium) ring planner.  But! This year I did order new inserts from Sessavee that I’m reallllyyyy excited about. I got the monthly inserts with all these darling goals and task lists and then I couldn’t resist biannual/ quarterly spreads. I’ll be using these to keep track of social media, blogs and newsletters.

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No, I’m not sure what I’ll do with all these yet. But I can see them coming in handy, can’t you?

It’s a little smaller than I’d like. One of these days I’ll have to move to Discs or a GM…. one of these days…

It’s a little smaller than I’d like. One of these days I’ll have to move to Discs or a GM…. one of these days…




Planning blogs and newsletters for Q1 2020 already!!

Planning blogs and newsletters for Q1 2020 already!!

And then finally, this isn’t a planner per se but, I have to have a notebook.  This is both a remnant of my legal training/ career and the natural inclination of a writer. I love this grid notebook and use it to take notes on calls with agents/ editors, workshops, classes, and whatever brain dump I need to expel.

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And that’s all there is to see… right now! I regularly post my #amplanning photos on Instagram so follow me there for more updates throughout 2020. And I hope you do because I’d love to see your planning supplies and techniques too! If you’re interested in more of my Plan - Write - Publish blog posts, click here to see them all!


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