If you’ve been around here for a while, thank you. Truly. This little blog has meant more to me than I can say.
Life has shifted a lot in the past couple of years — the girls are grown, the house is quieter, and I’ve found myself in a season I wasn’t quite prepared for but am slowly learning to love. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, I started writing again — not here, but somewhere new.
I’ve launched a new blog called Porchlight & Pine Trees, and it’s become the place where I’m doing my most honest writing. It’s about midlife, marriage after the busy years, empty nests, rediscovering yourself, and learning to find beauty in the quieter season of life. If any of that sounds familiar, I think you’ll feel right at home there.
June – pocket rings, pocket Bullet Journal (in a pocket Leuttchturm)
July – pocket Bullet Journal, pocket rings & personal rings + notebook
August – A6 & personal rings
September – A6 & personal rings + notebook (but nothing really – travel derailed planning)
October – personal rings/Jibun Techo A5 Slim
November – personal rings/Jibun Techo A5 Slim
I had planned to be in rings this year… with a Hobonichi Cousin for a memory keeper. I think I kind of achieved this goal… with a few distractions along the way. Mostly this summer – remember #summerinmypocket?
As the summer wound on, I got distracted by social media, tempted by the September planner launches –
I succumbed to Sterling Ink pre-order – This was truly FOMO. I now have four Sterling Ink planners to de-stash that I know I won’t use.
Then, I almost got a Hobonichi. That Cats HON was so tempting! But I resisted. Remembering that my current A5 Hobonichi Cousin sits largely unused and the past 3 years have been the same for me. It’s just too big. And the A6 size just doesn’t excite me. I think it’s the bound book syndrome.
I was off social media for most of September due to work and travel. This was a little bit of a blessing. It was a good “detox” for me – helping me to really reset and get back to basics with my planning without temptations from Instagram or YouTube.
I haven’t been back “on” social media much since then. I find I don’t miss it and I want to figure out how to enjoy looking at other people’s planner setups without it sending me into a frenzy of wanting to do the same thing they’re doing all the while I know it isn’t going to work for me. (Know the feeling?)
In late September, I got back into using my Hobo Cousin for “scrapbooking” and enjoyed that, but I was overwhelmed by the catch-up I needed to do. I have most of March through September uncompleted. Will I go back and fill in the missing months?? Maybe? I don’t know. It would be a good use of Christmas vacation time. So, maybe. But right now, it just feels overwhelming and I am avoiding it.
This makes me a little sad, because I wanted to have that as my “year at a glance” type of scrapbook, capturing all the little details of the year.
But what I have learned through this experiment with the Cousin is that this style of journaling/memory keeping just doesn’t work for me. I need to find another way to capture those daily details.
At one point in October, I thought about using a Cousin for planning for half a second – but it’s just not a good layout for me. There’s just not enough going on in my personal life for me to fill a day and the paper is so finicky it makes me crazy when using it for planning. I don’t mind the Tomoe River paper for journaling/scrapbooking, but not for planning.
Also, a bound book feels “archival” to me, and my planning is more free-form and fluid. When I use a bound book for planning, I find myself “saving” pages or space “just in case” I need it. And then things get lost or forgotten because I haven’t put it in my planner. (Which is the whole point of my using a planner! So that doesn’t happen!)
So, all of this led me to realize that I have a core planning system that I’ve used for over twenty years. It works with how my brain works. Trying other planners (setting them up) is fun, but I always seem to gravitate back toward my “old faithful” system.
So, why do I keep planner hopping? I think it’s about TOO MANY CHOICES – which leads me to confusion and planner fatigue.
That’s why I ended up in a spiral notebook for a few weeks. I just needed somewhere to write stuff down without thinking about it. I still like (and use) the little Walmart pocket spiral notebook – especially when I’m on the run. It stays in my purse, and I pull it out for quick notes. And then I synch up to my personal rings when I get home.
But what I ultimately realized is that MATILDA IS THE RULER OF MY LIFE – everything, and I mean everything, goes in this personal rings planner. Any other planner is just secondary.
Once I got comfortable with this realization and accepted this truth, all the other planners seemed superfluous. Which was very freeing.
I found that once I made peace with this, I was writing all kinds of stuff in Matilda, jotting things down, scribbling notes, journaling snippets about my day… everything! And I love this.
It’s what I’ve wanted for my planner all along. So that tells me I’m in the right place.
As for my Jibun Techo, I’m still using it for my record keeping, only because I started it in April and I am enjoying having the months all in one place. It’s less intimidating than the Cousin, I’m having fun putting in stickers and photos and tidbits. So, I’ll keep it going through the end of December at least.
The Cousin is still in time out – and I’m not sure if I’ll finish it or not.
Which leads me to 2024 plans…
What will I be doing?
You can watch this video to see what my current plan is…
Now that I’ve confessed to all of the insanity of my March planning, I thought it was only fair that I share with you the flip-throughs of the planners I used.
You’ll see in this video the evolution (or de-evolution?) of my planning through the month, which I think was influenced by some vacation time and a busy work schedule. I’m still getting used to the empty nest mama life, too.
For April, I’m hoping to settle back into my beloved Matilda. (fingers crossed)
I thought I’d share my weekly process as I set up my planner for a new week. I’ve got a checklist I created that was inspired by some of my favorite YouTube channels – Planning Annie & Brandy Michelle Plans.
This helps me to feel like I’ve got a good handle on things as I start a new week. I can stay focused on the most important things and (try to) not get distracted by whatever pops up during the week.
March was a hot mess in my planner world. I have so many thoughts (and so many planners!)
Do you find yourself suffering from “planner ennui” from time to time?
I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s a seasonal thing, driven by life changes, or is it just FOMO from social media.
I shared this on my video – and I shared it last fall on Instagram – and I’m going to try to stick to this manifesto for the future.
We’ll see if it works 🤓
I managed to stay in my A6 rings for almost a year in 2021. I really want to get back to that point again. Where I’m just using my planner and not thinking about it. Just USING it.
Here’s part 2 of a series of videos walking through my planner stack for 2023. Let’s look at what I’m up to with this new addition of a Hobonichi Cousin, shall we?
Grab your favorite beverage and join me for a chatty look at how I’m planning to incorporate this into my planner stack. Let’s get started!
January was all about getting settled in my planner setup for the new year. Join me for some thoughts about what worked, what didn’t and what I’ll be doing for February.
And a bonus flip through my January journaling in my Hobonichi Cousin
Thoughts Along Life's Highway 