My 2019 Hobonichi Planners
Terrance Brown
2019 is a few weeks old now so it’s a good time for me to post about my latest batch of Hobonichi purchases and give a run-down of how I’m planning to use them this year in both my daily life and at work. This year sees me entering my fifth year of using a Hobonichi of some sort as my planner. I would scarcely have though all the way back in 2015 that I’d be this deep down the rabbit hole of scheduling and planners.
Doraemon
First up is my A6 English Hobonichi with a rather cute Doraemon cover. The blue and cream colours are perfect in that they aren’t too loud, so I can still use my planner in the office without too much attention. It’s also a nice break from the plain black leather cover I used last year and the several Mother inspired covers from before that. This planner is where I put everything that happens on a daily basis. Funny things I hear, events that I’m planning, things I need to do for work or personal life. And everything else that I feel like I want to remember or that might inspire me. I’m also looking to use some yearly pages as a way to track fitness goals in terms of logging my weight and going to the gym or working out at home.
It functions like a dump for my brain with lists of things to do and interesting passages from books I’m reading. I write in football matches I’ve watched and lists of movies and books that I’ve worked my way through. Many people seem to be really invested in making their journals look beautiful with illustrations or intricately organized journalling systems, but I tend to prefer simply writing down things as they occur to me. After all, I’m the only one who will ever see it so as long as it makes sense to me I’m happy.
Alphabet Maze
The second Hobonichi I’m using is the A5 Cousin in a cover called Alphabet Maze based on a series of children’s books from Walter Wick. It’s a fun little design that I feel suits me as a teacher.
This journal is where I write everything to do with my work as an English teacher. I write lesson outlines, homework, upcoming test dates and any notes about my classes and student attendance. I tend to leave it on my desk at work so if there’s anything I think of at home I can write it in my smaller A6 journal and then transfer it over the next day.
Hobonichi 5-Year Techo
A new addition this year has been the five-year journal that Hobonichi started selling since last year. My copy runs from 2019 to 2023 and I grabbed the natural leather cover for it as well. It’s very similar to most other five-year journals in that each page is dedicated to a single day that has space for each of the five years.
I tend to use this more like a traditional diary in that I make a brief note of anything special that may have happened that day, any thoughts I might have about the day or some place I visited that I’d like to remember.
So there you have it. My 2019 as laid out in a series of journals, both personal and professional. I’ve come to find that the Hobonichi journals tend to fit my needs and style of journalling best.
The beauty of journals like those from Hobonichi are that they provide you with so much freedom to tailor them to your tastes. They work great for any purpose you can think of and that’s why I can 110% guarantee that I’ll be picking up a couple of journals from them again next year.