Why I Quit Bullet Journaling & Moved Into A Hobonichi Cousin
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 15 มิ.ย. 2024
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I purchase Hobonichi products on penstore.nl, which Is the cheapest option for me in Europe. Amazon JPN is also a good option, or the original website if you’re planning to place a large order. 🫶
Chapters:
0:00 - 2:08 My Bullet Journal history
2:08 - 4:10 1: My Monthlies Weren't Serving Me
4:10 - 6:04 2: Long-form Journaling
6:04 - 7:30 3: Felt 'out of order'
7:30 - 10:01 Weeklies & Drawing Spreads
10:01 - 15:49 How I'm using the cousin
15:49 - 17:05 Reflections
Kaitlin Grey's channel:
/ @kaitlingrey
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That’s my biggest pet peeve when I watch a video about quitting bullet journaling and they complain that they didn’t have time to draw out the “spreads” each week or keep up with the decorating. Because if you bullet journal according to Ryder Carrol then that’s not the way you should be doing it and no wonder they don’t have “time.” I’m glad you mentioned that. Bc I feel like no one ever comments on those people and their “reason” for quitting bullet journaling.
SAME. Wtf they made bj into a decoration cult that they then get to quit. Sad and ridiculous. xD
100%. It’s about productivity, not aesthetics.
But still there are people who like to enjoy their spreads, even without decoration, maybe they only want clean and crisp lines and still can't find to do this, so the way leads them to predated planners, and that is fine i think
Hi so I’m the person who’s quitting for what you call “reasons” and I made my bullet journal that’s more on the side of decoration because that’s what got meto actually use my journal. I read Ryders book and followed a number of minimalist spreads and tried it for a semester and guess what. I didn’t use it more than a couple times a month. It didn’t work for me. So what I did instead started getting more creative and personalizing it. Wanna guess what happened? I actually started using it everyday. And now that I’m a masters student and almost all of my time is dedicated to study I don’t have the time to do those spreads so I went back to being simple. What to take another shot at what’s been happening? I’ve stopped using it again. Don’t be so judgmental on how people make or use their bullet journals. Some people don’t like the simple spreads just like some don’t like the pretty time consuming ones. I did what worked best for me just like everyone else and my situation has changed so that’s not a possibility. Heck, I’m so busy I don’t have the time to make my grandmothers medical spread, which wasn’t something Ryder really endorsed but did mention in his book as a way someone CUSTOMIZED his system to make sure it worked for them.
I think it all needs preparations, to "draw" the week. I made a small pad, to hold my colored paper and washi-tape for the month, I used this across all my bullet journals (personal, work, garden, games etc.), otherwise I can't use the paper up, it's a lot. I have a theme of 3 colors and 3 categories, which makes my theme design, if not my sticker collections won't shrink at all. The garden only get's a monthly with todos, the personal and work have most, including 2 weeks at a time, so not drawing every week. And games, as they go. I try to keep the layouts simple, with a few lines and stamps. + Stickers. Don't draw a lot in it anymore. It was just too much, drawing every week and deciding every week, what to use. This way, I have a theme for the month, once selected and got with it. It's like preparing your clothes the night before, it will be faster in the morning this way.
There's definitely a difference between TH-cam bullet journaling and personal bullet journaling. Videos of you just making simple lists wouldn't be all that entertaining so people tend to go art heavy and that just doesn't work for everyone. I currently do pretty straightforward Ryder Carroll bullet journaling, but I'll do a fun quote page every so often and I really enjoy just drawing out lines for calendars and stuff. It's like a zen doodle but it also serves a practical function.
I'm using Ryder Carroll way of bullet journaling, these TH-camrs upload of bullet journal, pretty and attractive, but when comes to drawing, it takes time ~ Ryder Carroll way is working for me, but I have 3 bullet journal : personal, work and financial budget, using Ryder Carroll way as reference, and adding my ideas, using simple colorful gel pen and colorful marker pen to write title, put little stickers, that's it
I call it my low stakes art space...so if I have time to make it pretty great...if not, meh!
Ohh yes. When I first learned about bullet journaling, it was from TH-cam. I had used regular planners for 6 years in college and it was really hard for me to keep them up to date. The “pretty” spreads were a lot of fun to make in my first journal, but once I had to actually use it, it felt like a lot of work just to use it! Then my husband showed me the traditional bullet journal method and simplified it even more (to just dailies) and that helped me so much. In the morning, we talk through what we have for the day, and before bed we update our dailies for the next day.
I like that
This is exactly why I moved into a cousin 5 years ago. I love the cousin so much, it’s adapted to so many various uses I needed it for and has always done a great job at holding my entire life.
I quit BuJo, because my ADHS brain couldn't keep up with it. It was not enough and too much simultaniously. It is hard to explain, but maybe some of you can understand it.
I certainly do!
Yes, same for me. My brain has to work hard making sense of everything. I love Ryder Carroll and all of his ideas, but for me it was overwhelming trying to keep track of all the different entries (even with an index) and dealing with the visual overload.
I have ASD and I totally get it. Same. It got to the point where I couldn't remember to use the journal enough for it to be useful to me. I need electronics to remind me of stuff and keep me on task.
@@m0L3ifysame, I like the concepts and now use some of them, but in a digital format. Sometimes I still grab my journal to scribble in and just write out my thoughts. Or make a monthly spread because I got inspired and then never use it 😂
Yes I know what you mean!!! The only thing that’s ever been of any use to me was a blank, unlined diary that only had a spot to write the date at the top. I can completely cater it and change things to suit my needs and I can always pick it up again whether it’s been a month or 2 years since I last used it. I also use my notes app inconsistently. I was consistently able to manage my coworker and I’s google calendars when I was in an assistant role?? But it’s way easier to organise someone else than it is to organise me and my adhd 🙃
Oh my heck, YES!!!! I find the functionality of bujo is great (I did bullet journaling for 6 years), but for me it became so repetitive to keep setting up the same layouts day in, week in, month out when I'd found my groove. To save time, I switched to a Hobonichi in 2019 and never looked back... until recently. Lately I miss the flow of the bujo (some days needing a lot of room, others not so much, etc). So for 2024 I'm trying out Sterling Ink's common planner. Same paper as Hobonichi, simplistic design, but then free UNDATED pages after the monthly and weekly layouts (perfect for what I'm craving right now in life). I'm looking forward to it! She even has a B6 size.❤
I think the common planner is a great medium! More freedom than the cousin but just a lil bit more structure than a blank notebook! I hope you love it :)
there's the hobonichi day-free :D
@@NotebookOverloadd
I am a die hard hobonichi user and I include bullet journaling to-do lists in it (like in the video). I can be a “pretty” user but I can scribble a page totally messy and I cannot care less. It gives me a peace of mind that all the important stuff is there (my work is insane, I have to plan appointments and meetings in advance sometime for a year in advance). I like how the video uses the daily page to write and to-do at the same time.
I can totally relate. I bought a spring cousin last month because I realized the bullet journal spreads I was making were essentially the layout of a cousin. And like you said it's easier for the weeklies when it's already dated. Best of luck in your hobo journey!
Love “planner hopping.” Never heard that term before! LOL! I have done this before beginning to narrow down my journals to various purposes that don’t go well with Bullet Journaling. Still trying to figure out what works best!
It sounds like your reasons for switching were pretty personal but hearing you describe how you figured out what wasn't working is actually really helpful for thinking through for anyone, IMHO.
Even hearing how you iterated different weekly, daily, or monthly designs and still didn't find one that works is so helpful.
Thanks for sharing!
Oh, me too! I'd been in ring binders for 30+ years and decided to give bullet journaling another try. That lasted about 5 months. I never had enough space in the future log, and nothing was in chronological order. So now I have a two part system. The planner is in a pre-printed book (in case I need to refer to something,) then temporary notes and lists are alphabetized in a binder. Now I know where things are, and when I need to, the planner can be removed and tossed into my bag. Don't have to carry the whole thing around.
This sounds like a wonderful set up, I love the idea of an alphabetized master list for stuff.
The planner is it’s own book? Does it attach inside your binder too? Tbh I feel like this is a system that would work for me as well. I have everything kinda haphazardly in a binder right now, journal pages, to do, random notes and hand drawn planner pages, everything’s all scrambled. :// but having a pre printed planner book INSIDE the binder is so smart omg
I actually really loved bullet journaling because I, too, couldn't find a planner that suited my needs. It's also very ADHD friendly (which I have) if you can let go of the need for perfection. My issue is due to school. It's not time effective to set up a spread. I especially need a daily hourly spread because I require block scheduling and that takes awhile to set up. It's disasterous if I have to put off a spread for studying and then don't have a planner. Bujo-ing showed me whay I need in a planner, though. I just bought the GoGirl Pro Vertical planner which had all my requirements plus still has spaces for me to be creative with my washi tape and pretty pens. Super excited about it!
OMG thank goodness for TH-cam Recos. The ✨CLARITY✨ your video has given me. I also started doing bijo as well but it feels as if it ain't working for me either. Then I saw your video and how similar we journal. All the points you were making were hitting close to home and I'm considering getting a Hobnichi cousin for 2024. I'll then turn the remaining pages of my current joiurnal into an art journal/junk journal! Thank you for making such an eye-opening video!
Just ordered my Cousin last night! I am so excited for this. I implemented BuJo for the past 2 years, and it made my life better. But yeah, I crave for pre-made structure because I'm too lazy (and too messy) to make beautiful journal. I find Hobonichi is a great great planner to combine the two. I will have the structure, and the freedom to implement BuJo principle with this planner!
For all the reasons you mentioned is why I’ve never bullet journaled. Seems too overwhelming for me. The idea of having to do all of that would stop me from planning/ or journaling. The Hobonichi Cousin really is the jack of all trades. Seems like it does it all. I bought my first one in 2021 for the year of 2022 and I’m still enjoying the brand. Haven’t looked back.
I keep a bullet journal for personal use and only use weeklies in it because day to day would be a bit much. For work I use the Hobonichi Cousin. And I LOVE it. I decided this year to separate work from personal because I wanted to make a clear separation of the two.
Thanks for sharing your expiriences with bullet journaling. Your bullet journal seems more relatable for me as a normal person. Not as hard and unrealistic ,perfect ,artistic and overwhelming like others. I think its nice to show mistakes so one can learn from them.
GUTS - my most listened to album this year. And I LOVE Jurassic World omgomg
I totally relate to this video! I have tried simple, functional bullet journaling several times, but could never stay in the system. So much of what I need is future planning on a weekly or daily level & I was frustrated with the system. Good luck in your cousin!
I randomly came across this video and happy I did. That cousin book make so much sense for me. Thank you for the share.
the keeping things in order is why i write todos on super sticky post it notes so i can move them around between pages if i didn’t finish them
I left my bullet journal because of the same reasons and instead map out a monthly and weekly layout with a running to do list in a dotted notebook.
I now have a separate journal just for journaling, memories, and the lists and lists i like to make, lol.
Great video!
I also had moved from a bujo to a Cousin to get that pre-built structure. The Cousin ended up being too big, so this year I’ve been using the A6 Techo, but miss the weeklies. 2024 I’m going to try the Weeks for my functional planning and a travelers notebook system for the rest of my stuff. I really loved my cousin and am sad it didn’t quite work for me, hopefully it works great for you!!
This was so perfect for me! I just spent hours trying to find exactly this. I do wish there was a dedicated place for lists since I’m a list person, but it looks really great overall. Thanks for the review!
I was experimenting Bullet Journaling for the last 2 years, adding and taking away many elements, and I have to say that I really prefer just to do the artistic thing with the covers and the rest going quite minimalist, with some stickers and small drawing here and there.
I don't do trackers, weekly's and monthly's spreads because they didn't work for me. The to-do lists are basically appointed in my weekly/daily spreads and are basically what I need to do during the day. What I added and really works for me a lot is the monthly balances. It helps me a lot to control my expenses. Future logs, maybe I would use them just to remember birthdays, doctor appointments and other important things happening in the month.
Bullet Journal is not for everyone, honestly, and it's ok. If you want to go all artsy or go minimal, or combining both, you can do that. For me, Bullet Journal is a tool to organize your time a little bit better, specially for people like me, who is quite chaotic in that aspect.
The Hobonichi Techo sounds like a wonderful method, and I'm curious to learn more about it.
I did an organized monthly spread as well as weekly spreads and trackers for about a year and a half, but I think the reason I stopped bullet journaling was because I didn't really have an active schedule at the time, so my trackers and calendar weren't working for me to remind me of things if I wasn't prompted to open the journal several times a day. I could go for several days without remembering to open it and then miss events. Once I got my first Apple Watch and discovered how integrated it was with my phone, I immediately moved to electronic calendars and the Streaks tracker for habits, etc. I'd also gotten all the info I needed from sleep tracking, so i didn't even set that up on my phone. Having a wearable electronic device that reminds me to do things and can track things like exercise without much effort on my part was a HUGE relief after so much intense effort drawing spreads and keeping up with manual trackers, etc., even without all the artistic finesse so many BuJo users add. I'd probably consider going back to bullet journaling if my schedule ever got hectic again since I did find it very helpful for organizing my time and thoughts, but for now, my neurodivergency is greatly benefiting from integrated technology assistance. 😊
The cousin looks like an interesting system but it’s so damn expensive (my main gripe with “planners”). So I have found a bujo method that works for me and judging by your video, my setup is actually quite similar to the cousin 😂😂😂
Win win I guess?
Also, I really appreciate you going in depth into why bujo didn’t work for you because so many people say it is high maintenance when it really is not, if you keep yourself in check. Great work on the video!
Thank you so much for making this channel. I'm obsessed.
I agree with a lot of points in this video - I'm very new to planning and bullet journaling (just a couple months) and I've been using a bujo for that amount of time. I do love it, making pretty pages (and sometimes not so pretty pages) is really nice to get my thoughts and memory keeping out as well as just being able to vent and stuff. But I also have my lists and my trackers and my daily meal plans and ofc the more pages I make the more these admin things get a little lost. I don't particularly mind right now however I recently ordered a new Hobonichi cousin that I'm waiting on because I have already started noticing that drawing out the boxes and planniing weeks or months ahead is just so much more harder by hand when the hobo just has everything laid out. I'll still continue using my bujo for memory keeping and doodling and everything but I'll be using the hobo for more admin stuff absolutely
How have I never seen this scheduler before?! Its perfect
I loved this video so much. Im on the exact same path as my journalling evolves, my current methods arent meshing with my brain anymore. I need to check out these planners!
Subscribed 😊❤
Totally agree with you on many levels! Everything feels like it’s in a jumble. Also, as a leftie, don’t like writing in a ring binder. Thanks for a great video - it helped me understand my frustrations 😊
I too switched to a hobonichi for very similar reasons. I need SOME parameters and bullet journaling left me too free and my brain could just not cope with all of that. So with the hobo I can play around within the box so to speak. I love living in my box sometimes… hahaha😂
too much freedom stresses me out too, lol! Boxes don't have to be bad sometimes :D
I really want to get into journaling but haven't decided which route to go so this is really helpful ❤❤
Your reasons are the same as mine. Hated things not being in order and it taking so much time to draw out months and weeks. I love my hobo cousin as everything is ready for me.
100% understand and agree with your reasoning. I'm also recently in a Cousin and loving it so much, and bought a HON for 2024 :)
This sounds similar-ish to my journey! I started bullet journaling in 2022. I love the bullet journal system, but setting up the monthly/ weekly situation was taking too much time (I also filled up notebooks way too fast with all my collections and writing. I went through the official bullet journal journal in 6 weeks, and my second in 4 weeks). I realized that the organization of my collections wouldn't really be available to me nor would I be able to have a nice well-contained record of my year at that rate.
The thin Tomoe River paper & the roomy pre-set hobo cousin were an incredible find for me and I spent the rest of 2022 in it. Another amazing find was the Sterling Ink common planner which I spent my 2023 in (same paper, more daily flexibility).
Now for me it's just a matter of choosing between the Hon & the Sterling Ink A5 for 2024 bullet journaling.
(just to clarify, it wasn't any artwork that was taking up time, it was literally just the effort of making the monthly calendar (I also couldn't do the vertical monthly layout) and setting up my weekly schedule for pre-planning)
Thank you for making this video! I have seen a lot of videos and yours is the first one that I resonate with the most. A lot of video really do focus on ecstatic, which is quite enjoyable to watch. However, when I am not able to commit and reproduce the type of ecstatic because I just have too much to record, and don’t have a minimalistic type of journaling style I get quite discouraged
I’m new to your channel and I like your vibe! I had a lot of the same thoughts but I actually didn’t come from bullet journaling. I love what you did with the perpetual yearly as an index.
I stopped using a planner when I left school and was only using my Apple calendar, but after getting laid off about 11 months ago (I have a new job now that I like better!) I really needed something to keep track of interview prep and interviews. I considered using a bujo because of the flexibility, but I had a lot of the same thoughts that you described.
What I ended up going with is a “bullet journal inspired” discbound planner. I’ve been printing out inserts and disc-punching them but it also gives me the flexibility to change it up while staying in the same planner. I also *really* like being able to organize the pages
I’m interested to see what you think of the Hobonichi cousin over the next few months since I’ve been a bit tempted with this new release. They’re gorgeous! And functional 😊
Seeing this content makes me want to get back into journaling for productivity. For a long time I used a TUL notebook with my own custom printed sheets that I would design in Microsoft Word or later Canva, and I loved doing that because it made it very customizable for me but still easy to upkeep (didn't have to draw out each daily/weekly/monthly/etc, just print once before the start of the next month and bam). I have ADHD and bullet journaling was my first foray into trying to address it. I made 16 different planners over the course of 5 years and I learned a lot about myself doing it, mostly learning what types of sections in pages work for me and what I found extraneous and never really found the time to fill out.
Things you mentioned like the accessibility of monthly to weekly is something I found quickly, and I actually had a fold out design for a long time to address it which I might go back to. The TUL I had was a smaller notebook, where I could actually put a page in horizontally and fold it inwards to make layers, and after a couple iterations the one that worked for me was a Monthly foldout and a weekly foldout so you could see a portion of the monthly, weekly, and daily all at the same time when you opened the journal. The visible part of the monthly was a running todo-list and need to remember dates and the weekly was like a short stop planning of when to do things on said to-do list. The non-visible part of the monthly was things like finances and project management (specifically in my case tracking what projects I was working on and needing to rotate between them). My daily sections had short checklists for my routines and also a time tracker which was my largest breakthrough for my ADHD. Every 30 minutes just taking a moment to write what I was doing and planning what I wanted to do next, it was personal accountability and helped me redirect myself from staying distracted too long on one task. Also it was highly flexible for planning so if a day wasn't going exactly according to schedule I wouldn't need to fall apart, just redirect. I also had little notifications go off to remind me when those 30 minutes came.
Really I'm writing this comment out to self-motivate, but if anyone finds these ideas useful I would recommend them, whether that's TUL with making your own pages, a foldout structure for monthly/weekly/daily, or the time tracking method. I fell out of planning properly with the pandemic and changing jobs but I'm gonna try and get back into it for sure.
I have weeks and just ordered cousin A5 I am pumped to get it and get started in both I fell in love with the weeks my second one love the paper and how much it can hold amazing products ❤hope you love it too
I’ve been on a very similar journey! Moved away from bujo cause I was spending HOURS trying to create layouts instead of just having the structure and using it. Then I went from a physical hobonichi to a digital hobonichi and have refined my system even more!
Digital allowed me to duplicate monthlies and weeklies so I could make my info even more readable (one monthly for events and appintments and one monthly for bills and expenses. One weekly for time blocking and one weekly for daily stats) then the daily pages for tasks and journaling. Now I’m considering going back to a physical book, but instead to an undated Starling ink common planner so I can replicate my digital system. I’m even considering a plain tomoe river paper notebook and taking the time to draw the basic layouts myself cause I know I’ll get a full year in one book that way rather than the 2 undated books I’d need to cover a full year.
Please share which digital hobo you use ❤
ooooh I'm so curious about your digital set up now! It sounds awesome
I’ve been using a simple MUJI agenda for the past 4 years, but this looks like an excellent alternative. Thanks for sharing✨
5:49
This is one of the reasons I use refillable journals.
I have one refill for daily entrie and one refill for daily / weekly tasks.
In the end though I realised I didn't really mind simply integrating my daily to do within my daily entries, they don't really feel out of place to me.
Your journaling is a work of art!
Thank you so much!
I just found this video by accident but you're making me want to journal! I know it's not about making them pretty but yours are lovely~ Also i never thought about having an index... that would make my life so much easier.
Exactly why I switched from my monthly medical journal decked out with washies & stickers, to a B5 lined journal to just write down my thoughts on days I want to write like a regular journal. Zero clutter. The simpler the journal, the easier it is for me to keep up with it. No pressure & it won't feel like a chore after a while. I even bought a medical record book, but I don't use it anymore because it felt like a chore. Less is more.
Thanks for sharing! Same reason for me, life changes meant changing planners but I went for the Hobonichi weeks to pre-plan and carry around. ❤ I also tried cousin but it’s too heavy for me.
I have a very minimalist bullet journal. I don't draw a lot, I just choose a theme for that year and follow that (this year is flowers). I like that I can add pages, have a tracker, my budget for the month, and so on. Definitely not moving to a simple one.
I LOVE my Hobonichi's! Ive been using them for a few years now. I love the customization as well. You can get the soft cover Hobo-Cousins and then buy a cover for it (then there are clear covers for those if you so choose). They change every year, and its exciting to see what's coming. The booklets themselves don't change, but the covers do. And they have everything you need as well, like pencil boards that match, bands to hold them closed (super popular for the booklets with the soft covers). I also got this same Hon, and got a clear cover to put it in to keep the beautiful cover clean. Also in case you didn't know, the paper is HARDY. I've even water coloured in mine!
I love the original minimalist bullet journaling. And I continue doing that in my Hobonichi Weeks Mega. Future log, monthly’s, etc all pre-made and then my daily logging happening throughout the notes pages in the Mega.
OMG we are twins! I have the same dilemma with rapid logging and having tasks mixed with journaling, so got the Makino HON to possibly use for next year. I was thinking of using the dailly pages in the same way, with tasks on the left and journaling on the right. It's so affirming to see someone else using the same setup successfully! 🙏
I hope the Makino HON works out for you!! It’s a gorgeous planner. I find the to do list on the left works super well. Enough space to write (for me) and still tons and tons of space to journal. I’m loving this set up. I’m surprised I found something that works so well so soon, but that’s a testament to hobonichi’s great page design!
What I do in my bujo is making artsy spreads in the ones that are yearly like a year in pixels, or the trips I made this year, etc. then I search for a monthly and weekly spread that I can easily copy from page to page that uses two colors max and takes me 5 min to redo each week
Yah, every one has their own sense of what’s important to them, and how their brain works! I started with a cheap lined spiral notebook/paper pad. I experimented and found I need a calendar, liked learning how to hand letter, ( not much drawing, not stickers) and found out how much space I need to track tasks, habits(just a few- you do you) and how much journaling I do. I make my own weekly spreads and monthly calendar a month ahead, leaving room/pages for extra thoughts, recipes, research, whatever, in the month. As I discover more as I age, I’m almost sure that will change!😃
This totally resonated (hi first time watcher here). I’m excited to check these out, I love a journal
Also! Not to distract, but if you haven’t seen the agendio planners, I’d highly recommend checking it out. It’s so wildly customizable, so it does take some thought and planning but it’s so worth it and FUN for people who are into that kinda thing (with a desire to buy or not lol)
I'm a teacher and I'm still in the works of finding the perfect planner for me, too. It's fascinating to see the way other ppl use planners ! Thanks for the input! (I usually use my planner only for important tasks to remember in regards to my school work as well as dates I need to remember - so far I haven't been planner hopping, except when a new school year starts, so I can try another method - lesson planning I still do on seperate single pages as well as to do lists - it's just such a mess and things do get lost - I wish I were able to use only one tool to put everything in but I simply lack the knowledge as in how to (and probably the time and nerve to the research haha) BUT I learned that I'm a visual and hands on person, so the digital planner wasn't for me when I tried it - I got lost in those everytime lol
I had a similar journey with bullet journaling and it served me well for a while, though I didn’t use it for personal journal entries. I ended up going back to a more traditional planner.
I needed to plan further ahead, and more detailed than the future log. Therefore, I got myself a Hobonichi Cousin for 2023 (and now one for 2024) and liked it very much.
I resonated with so much of this video. I started off bj in dot grid 160gsm paper but then found myself struggling and putting pressure on myself to decorate. I was the opposite in that I had weekly and not dailies but my weeklies were journaling and as soon as I noticed I needed more space to journal I moved to a stalogy - to try the paper with my fountain pens as I wanted to go back to the joy and release I felt writing my daily diary, it felt so freeing to have more pages or less pages, however I needed to work through my daily challenges. I felt like it was still too much to draw out layouts each month and I wasn’t getting the layouts done until the last minute or even after the month started and then I started noticing I was copying Hobonichi layouts so for 2024 I have decided to get myself a Hobonichi cousin for my personal life planning so I can do more of what I want in my life around disability, I got myself a Sterling Ink planner for my work in mental health so there is a fair bit of planning I need to do for the clients I work with. I am going to try the daily journaling in the Hobonichi cousin for personal goals but I worry there will be days when a page is not enough and wonder if I should keep a separate book for journaling/daily diary and separate for planning. I also have collections especially my finance spread which have been great for noticing my spending and I am not sure where they will go so I am still deciding if I will just have a notebook for all future finance monthly/ annual spreads. At least this time I have started thinking about it early enough. Thank so much for this video. I will also still use my Bj method in the Hobonichi and Sterling Ink planners as that works for me. Looking forward to to see how this all works out for me. Good luck and thanks again for your honesty and very validating video 🙌🏾🙏🏽
I'm so glad you found this video validating, I enjoyed reading your personal experience with this as well! I personally really need to incorporate more finance spreads, historically it's the thing that I struggle with the most. The sterlink ink planner is another planner I've considered, but I missed the window for the 2024 preorder and I think I prefer the colors of the cousin. But it's a great planner I think especially for people who don't want dated daily pages!
I did bullet journaling for a couple of years. when I discovered Hobonichi it was like the clouds parted and angels began to sing... it was exactly how I handwrote my bullet journal. I will never go back I love the A5 Cousin Avec. I use it like a common place book/scrapbook. My daily spreads are mostly artwork and some yearlong projects....
that green aura estelle cover is so pretty i had to order one immediately for my a6! i wish the a6 size came in green but the black is beautiful as well.
The Aura Estelle cover is amazing. Great quality and well made. Money well spent!
I find this video very interesting, especially because i never thought of using weekly that way, i always saw it as a to-do list more than not. :D
I’ve always just done regular plain Jan journals. I write down my thoughts. Sort of like morning pages, but all day. Mostly stream of consciousness.
Me too! Like The Artists Way way but as you say all day/when I can get to it
yeah, i felt the same. bullet journaling worked really well for a few years but ever since i changed my major it stopped. ive been looking for somthing that could work, tried a few different planners but nothing seemed to stick.
now ive also got a hobonichi (a6, bc im dumb and got confused about the sizes) and so far it works longer than all the planners since my journal. im really excited about the week spreads since i ordered the a5 for next year already :D
thanks for the introduction and explanation
My first "bullet journal" was in a $2 composition book; now I paint the covers of my books since I'm a painter and I think it makes them fun.
I always have two journals. One for planning/tasks/daily logging of activities and such, and one for thoughts/feelings/ideas/quotes/etc.
Sometimes I use the bullet journal to remember tasks, usually I just use it to log things I've already done. I was often making weeklies since the beginning. I don't mind drawing them up, I don't try to make them super pretty or anything. I don't enforce consistency in the pens I use or anything like that. Often I'll have my whole week across a full spread of two pages: four days on one side, three days on the other - with a sidebar for unassigned "get done this week" tasks.
I like that I can make random pages for different projects or topics if I need to. I like writing my calendar pages for the month - I often include a "sleep log" so I can visually track how my sleep sched is going. Often I also keep a monthly page of "favorites" -- books I read, songs I got stuck in my head, movies I watched, silly things my friends said.
This is what works for me! But it would never work for internet "bullet journal" content, haha.
Such is to say: I think the bullet journal loses function if you try to enforce any kind of stylistic consistency. I design my pages differently week to week, day to day. Sometimes I forget to write for a whole week and just write "oops didn't write," or a very quick reconstruction of the previous days' activities. Usually I forget to use one of my monthly pages, or maybe all of them. If you're a perfectionist it'll get frustrating really quickly - but if you let that stuff go, it can be a fun time.
I would also feel guilty for not writing about my thoughts every single day, get overwhelmed and quit if I had a personal journal with prescribed daily pages. I organize my personal journal by topic, and I don't pressure myself to write in it every day. I write when I have something I want to get off my chest or something I'm excited about - I keep a table of contents and I write anything shorter than a page as "short entries" starting from the last page working backwards. I've filled up 5 or 6 of these this way.
I switched to the Cousin from a RC BuJo because I needed the weekly as well as a place for tasks and notes. I needed to be able to find prior notes at a glance and the Cousin layout made it easy.
I love your channel and your ideas behind how and why you journal and why you use the Hobonichi. I quit bullet journalling half-way through 2020 and went into Midori TN which I love.
I bullet journal at work and use a Hobonichi cousin for my personal life. Best of both worlds. Btw, my bujo is purely functional. No decorative elements.
I am eyeing a Cousin! Thank you for this video. Also...I LOVE GUTS!!!
Such a great album!!!
Your writing is so neat and small!
Your reasoning makes so much sense to me! I tried out bullet journalling a few years ago, and what didn‘t really work for my way of thinking and processing things was the monthly-daily combination. I‘m not really a daily planner-I might set up a daily once in a while, but otherwise, I prefer to live in weeklies. That‘s why a pre-made weekly planner with some notes pages in the back is the best option for me. I do love memory keeping in vertical weekly spreads and daily journalling, though, which is why I actually made the same decision as you when it comes to the A5 HON (and yes, I also ordered the Tomitaro Makino HON!) My planner will be a monthly and a weekly TN insert by PaperTess Designs plus some lined and gridded TN-sized booklets.
Planner twinsies! When it comes to the hon at least. The Cousin is just so perfect to plan AND memory keep. Truly an ''all in one book'' if that's what one looking for. :)
I am absolutely late, but I rely on what you're saying very much.
I like how the method per se does not require fixations, during life things change and the bullet journal adventure must take the new direction aswell.
I felt the method I was using was not working for me anymore from the moment I finished university and started working.
Coming from a "you do you" situation with food, study time and lessons, spending and all, to a workplace with a resident planner which everyone employed there must consult for appointments, orders, holidays and whatever happens my personal planner got emptier and emptier.
I no longer felt the need of a weekly and a full monthly planner spread. I adapted my need to a two journals situation (because obviously I'm overflowing with empty journals, let's be honest haha): one for daily logs in a creative design, custom made each time, for which I use washitape and some stickers, it don't take more 3 minutes in total to create, and then I have the space to write down my thoughts; and a real bullet journal with a yearly spread for birthdays, doctors appontments, migraines entries and my period tracker, and the singular spreads that I may need, like the one for my project pan and my reading tracking.
I switched out of bullet journaling to a Jibun Techo at first and a A6 hobonichi planner, in late June of 2020. I found I was procrastinating doing real project work by drawing all those spreads. I too used a more visual way, and tried to avoid the cute and artsy spreads. I needed to get stuff done. Drawing spreads just was something that took hours a week that I felt I no longer had time for. I kept them simple even. Now the cousin is beginning to feel like that because I divide the page up to areas with boxes. Maybe I just need to simplify it again like you use it. It looks so clean to use the faint line.
I would suggest though if you get more into writing everyday, and losing the collections inside is to get a A5 notebook from somewhere, just for your collections. I use many past day free and plain a5 notebooks. I do my pen swatches in the satellite notebooks that hobonichi sells. However the paper type will not match the new Hobonichi Tomae river paper. Also, i loved the idea of the Stalogy however, the grid was too faint and hurt my eyes.
I left bullet journaling, and I was not trying to make it look picture perfect. I went to a Jibun Techo, so I would have a task list with a weekly spread, a monthly layout, and a habit/Gantt chart. I treated the list pages as collections if I ever had time to do it. When I needed to make more notes, I added a Jibun Techo Days. I got tired carrying two books, so I moved to the Hobonichi cousin the next year. All in one book. The one thing I miss from the Gantt charts to track my time on projects. I also miss the colors on the JT and the lines are darker and easier to see.
Ik lees ‘planten water geven’ en kijk even verder en dan…🤔. Was dat nou in ‘t Nederlands??? Even terug kijken dus..yep! 😂
Subscribed👍 Ik snap je helemaal. Ben zelf ook van bulletjournal naar hobonichi gegaan en heb nu een Kinbor: planner peace for me😁
Hi! I enjoyed this video! I have never bullet journaled because I am just not that talented. Although I have always wished I was. I subscribed to your channel. I have been using a Cousin for the time this year, and I love it!
Welcome to the wonderful world of Hobonichi :)
My favorite part of the bujo method is that it’s undated. I hate feeling like I am wasting pages. I think the better alternative if I stop bullet journaling would be to use an undated planner.
I like bullet journaling for the artistic part but then I'd never use it. So I just switched back to more a sketch book with some thoughts and notes.
Wow your video blew up. Congrats. I got a Hobonichi Hon and a Leuchtturm1917 Bullet Journal Edition 2 and I'm a total newbie... wish me luck 😅
I quit bullet journal because I didn't like writing the dates 😅 it was the original method, no decorating, but even that was too much for lazy me. Now I use a normal dated planner but like you, I still use some of the symbols of the bullet journal method.
The bullet journal website sells journals that number the pages, have the measurements for page set ups, and has date stickers.
I feel like this is the closest thing yp the system i currently have, so im interested and excited to see how the hobonichi journey continues!
I am for sure going to do a one month update! Still going strong with the daily pages as of right now :D
I made a similar transition last year. I did the STM dotcross this year and it was meh. Next year is a Hobonitchi Hon for me as well. I think it makes the most sense for what I use my planner for.
I bullet journalled for a few years and moved this summer into a Sterling Ink B6 undated common planner for my personal life. The daily logging works great for me. And I got appointments in my digital calender (with one or more reminders). But with bullet journalling I found that I sometimes got surprised by how busy my week (or a specific day in a week ) was. I had no overview beyond 'today'. Just checking my week digitally didn't make my week feel real enough, so I needed to write it down. Yet drawing weekly spreads got tiresome. Hence the common planner.
I am not sure if the vertical week layout is the best for me. Definitely not in the width that it has in the B6, I hate how it's basicly one word wide even if I write smaller than I normally do. I did turn the comon planner 90 degrees one week and basicly made an horizontal week. Didn't want to draw every week, so back to vertical, but using it very minimally. Time specific events, top 3 (or less if low energy / focus), some notes on dinner or what I read/watched, the weather.... It does help with getting an overview but I underuse the amount of space. Maybe I should take a cue on that point from all the 'pretty bullet journalling' channels and use more stickers :).
For work I bought a 2024 weeks. When I made a weekly overview myself It was usually a horizontal one. I want to write appointments and events in the weekly overview. Put some focus things / top three tasks there (that actually worked great in the vertical weeks overview). Right side I am not sure about. Maybe a weekly review, to keep to the 'bigger view' theme. I do have Outlook at work to plan, but again writing helps with getting a feel of the week ahead. Also sometimes I want to know about appointments on a certain day at work, for example to know which day I could go home a bit earlier to deal with some personal life stuff. I do not want to log on to my work network outside of work hours and then also see mails and tasks and get sucked into thinking about what I need to do there.
Backpages of the weeks (got the mega) could be my usual logging with tasks and quick notes. I want to start using it as soon as possibly so am also making weekly overviews for the 2023 that are not in it. Still on the fence about getting an A5 cousin avec or A6 HON (I just love some of the covers, but A5 HON would be too heavy/bulky to bring on my commute). Just started a new job so I don't know what I will need. I feel for very chaotic days the structure of the daily page could help, but is it worth getting a whole planner for that? The day free wouldn't work because that precisely misses the structure I'd want (timeline and the boxes at the top). And I feel that if I have to start drawing again I would get a plain notebook (more room as well without quotes at the bottom).
I do really appreciate how bullet journalling has made me both more critical about planners and confident to ignore layouts or make my own when needed. I want something that works for me. And what works for me changes sometimes from day to day and that's ok.
I could never keep up with bullet journaling. I worked quite a bit and when I got home, I had little energy or was in extreme pain to move to my art room where all the creative stuff was at. I also eventually could not stand the cluttering which is funny bc I remember having so much stuff on my pc when I was younger and now most of my things are minimal now. I don't think I could settle for the cousin but I did settle on Hobonichi Weeks. Sometimes I really did have nothing to say, but sometimes I really had to go ranting for one reason or another or wanted to put a momento there to remember.
I have moved out of bullet journalling because I don’t have time to prepare all the different spreads. I am now taking a month to plan how to use my Hemlock and Oak, undated weekly, very similar to the Hobonichi Cousin without daylies. I am learning that I need to plan how I want to plan. 😊
I was unfamiliar with Hemlock and Oak but it looks like a beautiful brand. I love their linnen-look covers!
Through years of trying planners from ring to bound books, from bullet journal to dated, it is actually the Hobonichi cousin made me consistent. I also realized that I'm the dated-planner type of girl. I love the dated daily pages of Hobonichi. I wanted to try the sterling-ink common planner because of how neat and sleek it looks but I just wish they have the dated daily pages.
I've heard great things about the sterling ink planner but haven't tried it myself! I do know it coems with 365 pages exactly so you'd have a page per day, although not dated. I think the Sterling Ink planner is best suited for people who need a bit less space per day or that get overwhelmed from 'having to fill' an entire page per day. Personally I don't have that because I always have lots to write lol.
I'm at a similar cross-roads with my Personal Filofax with Week on 2 pages and near daily journaling.
I totally understand why you stopped BJ'ing. I have for a number of years tried to maintain it but just didn't work for me, not because of needing to decorate, just because it didn't give me satisfaction. So, my A5 HON arrived today and I am very much looking forward to using that in the new year and I'm toying with getting a Weeks for work and a general notebook too. I hope this works out for you.
Amazing! I hope you enjoy your A5 HON. Which cover did you end up getting? ✨
The Tiny Dragons. They're very cute @@NotebookOverloadd
@@jom6829 those are so cute!! Great choice!
These are exactly the three items I purchased as well. I’ve moved around a lot the last few years but Hobonichi for the win.
Oh that makes me think of th evo planner I had hahaha we totally had the same journey I feel like I was having a conversation with myself this whole time. Go southpaws
When did I last clean my washing machine? 🤔😬 Uhoh...there goes my Sunday!
I love the stickers you used on your avec. Could you share where you got them from?
Sorry I don't have a singular answer :/ I *think* some of these stickers are from JuneMoonCrafts, JarteaDesigns, and MarigonaSuliArt or Etsy. Others I've gotten in stationary swaps/secret santa's or from friends. However I don't exactly remember which sticker is from where sorry! If you look up ''witchy stickers'' on Etsy you'll find lots of similar ones though :)
I am going to use a dated planner (tasks only) in combination with a bujo for memory keeping for 2024. We will See how that works. I was tired of drawing so many weeklies to plan ahead...
I use a planner instead of a bullet journal. It's been a lot easier for me to use. You can find space for all the lists every day of the week and the calendar for the monthly things and woth a disc system have your note pages in a separate section or In the middle of the week. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I couldn't make smaller versions work. I used to use sketchbooks but found having to make the format every month bothersome. I do miss the quality of the paper though.
I love your stickers. Where did you get them ?
Hence why I did not start BUJO. My life is not that interesting to be able to make huge planners xD So I made a commonplace book and I do plan the important days in a calendar.
Very well written
It's funny, I usually prefer a Stalogy B6, but for next year, I bought a slimmer A5 and then cut it down to the size of a hobonichi so it would fit into my travelers notebook...
And now I'm wondering if I just should have bought a hobonichi. 😅
Bullet journalling was actually the first time I was ever able to find a planning system that worked for me (don't ask me how I managed to keep all of my appointments in order before that, I literally have NO IDEA!).
Then my disabilities started to affect my mental and physical energy levels, and creating bujo spreads all the time became too exhausting for me. I'm not even a decorative planner (just a colour to highlight headings, and a ruler for straight lines, and the occasional sticker or piece of washi tape).
This past year I experimented with a couple of different planners and a journal (which I use to as a form of self-expression) in an A5 TN cover, so for next year I thought it would just be easier to try a hobonichi cousin. Then of course once I realised all of the big life changes I'm making next year, I realised I should get a 5 year techo (to document these changes), an English planner (for gratitude and logging all the cute things my pets do), and a weekly (for finances). Then I'm also getting an Aura Estelle planner for my main tasks planner
You make a great point about mental and physical energy levels. Personally I really want the 5 year techo for a quick journal entry every day but I'm a bit intimidated because it's such a commitment. Maybe in 2025 if I keep up with journaling and still love the cousin I'll get one. :D
My bullet journal is super basic and functional. I used to try to do art like what I saw but it was too much. I didn’t have time plus I just want to make art in a sketchbook. Since the pressure was off, bullet journaling was much easier. But I did buy a Hobonichi for 2024. I used it before and loved it so going back to it. I tend to change it up every other year so I’m sure 2025 will be bullet journaling. Keeps me from being bored I guess