At work I use Outlook to help keep me organised but in my personal life, I much prefer to use a physical planner. I’ve used various planners over the years as I love experimenting with different designs and layouts, but this year I’ve gone back to using a Muji Diary.
I first used a A5 Muji Paper Diary a few years ago and fell in love with the size, weekly layout and if I’m being frank, the grid paper. I have an unhealthy obsession with grid paper and the extra space was perfect for listing any projects, ideas, lists or overflow from the week. Since there aren’t any Muji stores in Perth, I went searching for the same planner while I was in Singapore a few months ago, but was only able to find the White Vinyl Diary in stock. I wavered because I’d had my heart set on the simple brown paper look but I’m glad I ended up buying it as I’ve quickly grown to love the clean, silver look of the planner.
Inside the Planner
The inside of the planner is as I remembered and starts off with a yearly overview from 2016 to 2018. The next section are monthly overviews that spread across both pages and I’ve been using these to map out potential blog posts and highlight any birthdays, public holidays or important dates. The next section and majority of the planner are weekly overviews from Monday to Sunday on the left-hand side and my beloved grid paper on the right-hand side. At the end of the diary is extra grid paper that I’ve started using to track things that aren’t specific to a particular week. The outside of the planner has a plastic cover that protects the diary. It’s a snug fit, which I like and the inside of the front cover has an extra flap for inserts and the back has a smaller flap for small cards.
Using my Planner
Nowadays I much prefer functionality rather than trying to make things look pretty, so I don’t really do much other than list what I need to do and cross things out once their done. I’ve watched plenty of “plan with me” videos and I love to see other people’s creative process with their planners but its just not for me. Beyond using watercolour for my monthly overviews, I’ll probably stick to using highlighters to colour code tasks in my weekly overviews because it’s quick and easy.
So that’s my diary situation for 2017! Do you like to use a diary to plan and if so, what are you using this year?
Marie xo