the squirrels are here - planner plans
I love the wide-open potential, the possibility of a new notebook. It could be anything! I feel that way about a lot of things, actually. A new box of colored pencils or markers, a new watercolor set, really any new art supply. Think of all the things I could do with these!
I've bought far, far too many things, well beyond just art supplies, because of the possibility they represented in the moment. I'm now making a concerted effort to use the bounty at my disposal vs. acquiring more, be intentional about what I buy, and trying to repurpose things I already have vs buying a new thing when possible. It turns out just collaging over pages in a journal already containing writing is rather fun. I enjoy the feeling of finally emptying a bottle of random body soap I bought a few years back.
But I am far from immune to the allure of shiny new things.
All of this of course extends to planners.
I want to be a person who uses a planner consistently. I want a dedicated space I can trust myself to check where I track upcoming events, appointments, things I want do do. Currently I'm keeping an unread text on my phone from my dentist confirming my January appointment. My dentist sent that text in July. 🤦 I do use my phone calendar for some things, but struggle to habitually check it, despite notifications. I have a year-at-a-glance wall calendar which is handy for a quick overview, but I'm looking for a home for more detailed information.
So this year, I've ordered and received a Hobonichi Techo Weeks in English, specifically the 100%ORANGE: Squirrel's Moving Day edition. It's got cartoon squirrels on it! They're from the 2007 picture book Ohikosshi by artist duo 100% ORANGE (made up of Kenji Oikawa and Mayuko Takeuchi). In case you aren't familiar, Hobonichi is a Japanese brand that began in 1998 as Shigesato Itoi's personal website with daily essays and evolved to also sell products such as t-shirts and their very trendy planners. Hobonichi planners use fountain-pen friendly Tomoe River paper, which also makes them quite slim due to the thinness of the paper, come in a few different sizes/styles, and each year come out with a selection of different cover designs.
The Hobonichi Techo Weeks is a roughly wallet size planner with monthly calendar pages at the beginning, weekly two-page spreads, and blank notes pages at the end (and a few special extras, like a blank list of 100 things and a year at a glance).
Here's how I intend to use it, and I expect this to evolve over time:
- monthly calendar spreads: the usual suspects - birthdays, events, appointments, but also our evening activities. I want to make a short note of what we watched, or if we played a board game, went for a walk, or just chatted. I think it will be interesting to see this over time.
- weekly pages: on the left hand side I intend to track appointments and what I eat in a day. On the right hand side I will keep a count of the number of Pomodoro sprints I do each workday, and lists of to dos for the week and ones upcoming in later weeks, a shopping list, and a section to track creative things I do, like sewing, journaling, blogging, etc.
- year at a glance: daily weight and color coding for exercise completed.
- 100 things: list of books I've read in 2026.
The blank pages in the back (75 in the edition I ordered) will likely hold wishlists, perhaps my ooh shiny fund, and maybe the reference info I like to add to my journals (for example I often print out this comic and include it as a helpful reminder). There's also a 365 day countdown (count up?) page I might use as a mood tracker.
I've found that tracking things tends to keep my attention on them, which means I often find them improving, but I don't want to overwhelm myself with trying to track too many things.
Now there's one more thing: I have to address the aesthetic in the room.
Searching these planners on your social media of choice is fun. There are so many absolutely beautiful layouts, people who've spent hours making their planner look just so, with neat handwriting and color-coordinated everything and beautiful drawings and perfectly placed stickers. I'm really trying not to look, because my planner will never look like that, and it will certainly never consistently look like that.
I think one of the biggest hurdles I face is not getting sucked into trying to make my planner look perfect. It needs to be functional, not Instagram-ready. I also really, really want to stick with this planner, not abandon it partway through the year because the potential I bought it for isn't matching up to reality. So this is my commitment: I will not try to make an aesthetic planner. I will keep experimenting to find the best way to use it for me. I will let it be messy and imperfect. The best planner is the one I actually use.
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