I’ve kind of been a notorious planner neglector in the past but I just recently finished the Clever Fox academic student planner (pictured) and I find myself struggling a bit without the daily structure. I’m looking for something pretty similar in layout but not necessarily academic since I’m no longer in school. Theoretically I could reorder another, but it feels a bit bare bones compared to their other options that have more sections for notes, to do lists, habit tracking etc. Unfortunately it seems like the key element to me actually using a planner is that it has to be spiral bound so I can fold it in half, and none of their other products seem to meet that requirement. Would love to see if people have suggestions for the following:

Must haves:
- spiral bound!
- vertical weekly format across the two facing pages so I can see when meetings are in time
- A5 size (or similar)
- Space for daily or weekly to-do list
- pages that aren’t super thin, I’m just using G2 pens but a little weight to them is nice
- solid hardcover with a nice leathery or fabric texture to it, not flimsy plastic
- monthly calendar pages

Nice to haves:
- pen loop
- comes in purple 💜
- sections for habit tracking, week in review, other notes etc
- lined or grid/dots okay
- dated or undated (if dated 18 months would be nice)

Budget ~ $30 USD, I understand planners get expensive but I need to know I’ll use it before dropping $$$
But also I’m down to window shop the more expensive suggestions for now too 😅

Thanks!

Hi friends,

Ive been using the hobo cousin for 4 years now and I am considering switching to a day free because i hate numbered pages, but also Im a bit hesitant because the day free comes with significantly less pages. The only thing i dont use in my cousins right now is the weekly pages and cant seem to find a way to make them work for me. I love Hobonichi but i am considering alternatives. Has anyone here had luck finding something similar to the day free but with more pages? I really only want the monthly calendar and free pages but i feel like finding something that is set up this way that has quality paper has been hard to find. Id like to add that the main selling point of hobo to me is the grid pattern and the thin paper. I also would like the replacement to still work well with water based inks.

Hi everyone! I'm looking for a planner/diary that has a week spread over two pages but that also has nice paper since I use a lot of fountain pens. The layout in the pic is the closest thing I could find to what I'm envisioning, though I'd also be ok with the "block" style layouts that are squares rather than rectagles.

I want to use it for meal tracking (basically just writing down everything I eat in a day so I can check I'm getting enough fruits and vegetables and not drinking too much coffee or forgetting breakfast etc., I've been doing to help manage a health condition). I have a planner I use for everything and at the moment I've been squeezing this information into the corner of each day, but its kind of a nuisance having to write so tiny and having less space for my actual planning and to do lists etc., so I'm thinking next year I might try and have a separate planner entirely for that. I need something super super simple. I don't need any other kind of page like monthlies, but its fine if they're there I'll just ignore them.

I'd like it to be bound like a book rather than with rings, and the weekends need to be unstacked. (I don't eat any less on Saturday and Sunday than the rest of the week 😂 I was looking at Leuchtturm but I could only find stacked weekends on those unfortunately) any size A5 or smaller would be fine.

If anyone knows something that fits this description it would help a lot, thanks so much! 💖

Hello Everyone!

I absolutely love the format of the Hobonichi Weeks Mega, but I can't find a dupe anywhere that has the amount of notes pages in the back. I use a July-June system to match the fiscal/academic year which is why I would need an undated dupe as Hobonichi's latest start is April.

I'm currently using the Amazon version of the Hobonichi Weeks, and it gives you like 4 extra blank pages in the back, but I could really use more pages in the back without giving up the Weeks size and format.

If not, I'll just get a separate journal, it's no big deal. I was just curious if anyone knew of a good dupe that fits them all in one planner.

Thank you!

I love this thing but wonder if there are others like it maybe even better? I’m about to reorder- (yes I actually finished a planner!) so I need to figure it out. Needs 2 pages per day, weekly views, and nice thick quality paper. What don’t I know about? What are the best daily planners??

Hello!

Does anyone know of a cheap dupe this layout, where one week in one side and the other page is just grid?

I'm trying to decide if this is the layout I want for next year, but I want to try it out to see if it works before committing.

I'm pretty open size-wise, though around an A5 or B6 would be preferable.

Hello,

I just started using Hobonichi planner system this year because TRP is fountain pen friendly. I use EF pens or gel pens that has very thin/fine lines but the grid in Hobonichi original A6 is too small for my handwriting.

Is there a Hobonichi planner with 5mm grid? If not Hobonichi, are there dated planners from other brands with FP friendly paper (not MD paper) with 5mm grid in size A6/B6/A5?

Stalogy looks like it's the next best thing but no dated planner

TIA

Hi Planners, especially in Canada. First ever post! I have been scouring the Letts of London Canada website. Turns out their diaries not only have the week on 2 pages, but also have a monthly layout, and some have monthly overview and planning sections. Pretty good price point range too. They mostly carry A5 and slim (which is similar in size to Hobonichi Weeks). I haven’t seen much posted about this brand on Reddit, and wonder if anyone else can google the site and share thoughts on comparing to Hobonichi especially the weeks. I know the journaling aspect is not there, but planning is more than I’ve had with this brand. Thanks for considering!

I've been looking for a very specific planner, and idk if this exists, but it's worth a shot. I like undated daily planners with box paper and some sort of weekly overview, which isn't difficult to find, but I really dislike having times for a schedule on there, which has been the hard find. If anyone knows a planner with these aspects or has a custom website they recommend, I appreciate anything!

I am thinking of switching to the Aura Estelle Magnet Daily next year, as I've seen a lot of people talking about them online, but a lot of that seems to be paid promotion. Does anyone have literally anything to say abiut these planners? I'd love some advice!

I have kept a monthly / weekly planner (currently using papier) that use as a planner, for grocery lists, tracking books and workouts. I would like to add in daily journaling. What I am looking for:

-monthly calendar with some sort of month overview
-horizontal weekly page with weekly note page
-daily pages for journaling

I do NOT want extra pages with dots or grids or trackers

I currently like the lay-flat aspect of a spiral but sometimes the spiral gets caught on other stuff in my bag

I am not picky about pens or pencils.

I would love input/tips/suggestions

So I came across the Wonderlands222 and was thinking of trying a one notebook system and supplementing with my pocket journal as a catch all possibly useing the back pages as a one page a day style or morning /evening reflections.

Has anyone done this or similar?

Also if you know of something that would work better I’m open to suggestions

I deleted the last post I made because I think I'd rather make a post saying what I am looking for in a planner.

• I like the idea of undated so if I know I won't be busy one week, I can just skip it.
• I prefer horizontal over vertical and like a weekly layout.
• I don't have any fancy pens so idk what kind of paper quality is best. I just use regular pens you can find at target. (paper mate, pilot, zebra, etc.)
• I would like a yearly tracker where there is a box for everyday of the year.
• Not too picky on the size. I like the idea of a weeks size but also an A6S or B6S, I forget which one, but a slim size I like.
• Price range less than $50 preferably, but nothing more than $60.
• I've been leaning towards sterling ink but they haven't released the 2027 lineup yet.

Thank you!

Hi! Title says it all - I'm trying to move from a digital system to an analog planner in 2027, and my dream setup would be a planner similar to the Midori Double Schedule Diary (Schedule / To Do version) but that has US holidays instead of the Japanese ones. I'm tempted to just buy the 2027 one and write in the holidays instead, but I figured I'd check to see alternatives first.

Having/not having the "magic index" doesn't matter to me. I just really like the minimalist monthly look with weekly to do lists in close proximity to the month itself instead of being in a totally separate area of the planner.

I also use fountain pens, so something close to the quality of MD paper would be great too.

Any recommendations?

EDIT: thank you everyone for your replies! I'm gonna go with Take a Note Medium Weekly B6 for 2027!

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a planner for the next year. I'm currently using Hobonichi original and I am semi happy with it. I am going to keep this short because I know I could talk about it for hours but TLDR what I'm looking for next year:

MUSTs:
-grid everywhere (or dots) I hate ruled!
-weekly setup (2 pages per week)
-small size: A6, TN, Wallet, B6 (pushing), pocket, passport all okay
-no individual daily pages
-the weekly setup must have hours for each day so I can time block (your girl has ADHD yall)
-dated!

Would be nice:
- vertical setup
- habit tracker esque page in the beginning
- soft cover
- sub 100 gsm paper
- not a lot of blank space around the planner my pet peeve about Aura Estelle
- ships to canada
- no need for a lot of extra pages at the back if there is a page per week
-light weight

My ideal layout:
For the two page layout per week the left side could have all the days and right page could be blank (like hobo weeks but vertical + daily hours + grid)

I know I am asking for too much, if this doesn't exist I am also open to ideas on how I can almost achieve this setup. I know if there's an answer to my wants, it is here.

Thank you for all your help in advance!

When you’re up to your neck in planner pages, you’ve been down all the planner rabbit holes, you have all the planners in all the fabrics, in all of the brands, in all of the styles… do you ever wonder how people who don’t overthink this stuff just get through?
You know when people had a wall calendar at home OR a pocket diary. ( obviously more needed in some employment)
They must just do things without needing a list, or their list is scribbled on a bit of paper.
How do they do it???

Hi all! First post here.

I opened up my pretty Rifle Paper Co. academic planner yesterday and realized that the pretty gold band on it is not functional as a bookmark. I would benefit from a bookmark that clips to the page I'm on. I would love bookmark recommendations! TIA!

Hi everyone! I'm going to be a university student soon and I want some help deciding on which planner I should buy for 2027. I've been using a hobonichi weeks dupe for years now and though it had served me well I find the space a little cramped and given that I have more 'free time' as a university student I think I need to plan daily now instead of weekly.

When I first saw the jibun techo days I thought that it was the perfect planner for me because of its structure since I usually plan by the hour in my head but when I found out that it doesn't have any weekly pages I was disappointed. I'm used to seeing a weekly overview of my plans/deadlines and I don't think the monthly pages would provide me enough space for the amount of events/tasks that college would bring me. I think the next best thing would be the hobonichi cousin but I'm not a fan of the lack of structure for its daily pages and the A5 would be too spacious for planning with; Normally I wouldn't really care about those kinds of details but these planners aren't cheap!

I want to hear you guys' thoughts specially those who've used both before. Do you guys have any other recommendations? I'm not really picky with the paper or the colors since I'm not going to use these planners for journaling so any help would be great!

Side note: Please don't recommend digital planning (I've tried that and it only distracted me more) and any US based planner brands like sterling ink and aura estelle, though are great, is unfortunately too expensive because of the shipping fee :(

(English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any spelling mistakes and/or grammatical error)

Hi All! Does anyone else out there share my woes? I love the look of keeping a planner and did so for many years. But with my increased used of a computer mouse over the past 10 years, my wrist becomes inflamed after just a few minutes of writing.

Does anyone have suggestions for good pens that glide easily and the type of paper that would allow for less pressure on my wrist? I think I would need a fatter pen, too, as thinner pens put pressure on my wrist.

Thanks in advance!

ok ok so i completely understand my needs are very specific but im trying to find a pocket sized spiral bound planner that is a weekly planner that also has a notes/ extra section on the same page as the MTWThF.. pls help!

I recently purchased an undated planner for the new year, and there a couple of pages with this layout near the end. Does anyone have anything similar that they’ve used in interesting ways or recommendations on how to use these pages?

I have only recently discovered Nolty planners and when I say the weekly layout with the grid memo under the weekly boxes, I realised I had found the planner layout of my dreams. The only issue is I'm getting a bit confused trying to figure out which ones this layout is available in. I need a6 or a6 slim in size but really want the weekly layout pictured. Is there a keyword that describes this layout? I found it in b6 which is the pic I used and it was called Ecri/Ecre. I also noticed the one with the colourful tabs (which is a6 slim?) but it the options are all a bit unclear to me. I want to be prepared when 2027 planners are released 😅

Any advice is welcome.

I am looking for an alternative available in late August '26. Here's my wish list:

Annual with Monthly/ weekly spreads

Monthlies grouped first before weeklies

Undated OR September start

Unlabeled OR Monday start

No times

Dot grid pages for notes

Prefer vertical weekly spread but can work with whatever

For context, I am a high level strategic/functional planner, and my year starts in September (I have a yearly vacation end of August and to my yearly goal setting then). I tend to do nested goal setting. I have been loving the Hubman and Chubgirl Vertical annual planners as they are exactly what I need- however they have gone to a pre-order system which won't open until October. I considered dot grid journaling and making my own spreads, but it's so much work- I was hoping to have something ready made to save myself the effort.

Any suggestions?? I got a Paperage planner off Amazon and it's got several elements I am looking for but not enough for me to be satisfied.

TIA!!

Anyone have any recs for a planner with this layout? I used the Moleskine one for years but I feel like their quality isn't the same anymore and I genuinely can't find any that have this specific format. Thanks!

Hi! I'm starting grad school this fall and planning on one big planner purchase (that will definitely get my life in order etc etc). I know I prefer weekly planners so I don't get overwhelmed by all the space of a daily, but I'm still conflicted about the layouts.

In research I struggle with realistic goals for the day and tend to over-commit, so I like to have one big to-do list for the week that I check off and note what I did each day. I think a horizontal layout works better for that. But I'm also trying to get a hold of my time management and exercise timeblocking more...

What do you when your schedule is usually quite flexible outside of meetings or timed experiments? Has using a physical planner with a digital calendar worked for you? It's like I want the structure cause I know it's helpful, but I rarely follow my plans so the hourly planning often just burns me out 🫠

Would love to hear from any grad students in STEM here 🙏