Currently Nerding, March 2022

Nerding Out Over the Hobonichi Cousin (Avec)

Earlier this week I pondered over on Twitter why I couldn’t find a daily planner to meet my needs for a structured look at the day.

If you don’t already know, I’m a big proponent of the bullet journal method. You could say that I’m always nerding out about the bullet journal.

I started using one in late 2016 to test it out, and by 2017 I was using it daily.

And I continue to use one daily to this day. However, there’s just no easy way to draw in a week-at-a-glance schedule that has timings for as long as I need it.

So of course, I bemoaned my situation on Twitter. A few folks made suggestions like the Stalogy (which I already use as my B6 size bullet journal), and the various Hobonichi options.

But I couldn’t think of ways to use the Hobonichi, outside of the timed weeks, that weren’t duplicates of what I already do in my bullet journal.

So I did some YouTubing and brainstorming, and I think I’ve figured out a way to make use of it. As such, I’m now nerding out over it.

My bullet journal will remain my “main carry” as planner folks would say.

It’s my to-do list with access to a not-time-blocked weekly overview and month.

And it houses all the minutiae that I need to dump out of my brain on a daily basis so that I can continue to work as unhindered as possible.

But my new Hobonichi Cousin Avec set (two half-year A5 size planners) is going to help fill in some things that I’ve wanted to do but couldn’t figure out in my bullet journal.

For instance, the monthly at-a-glance page that a lot of folks use as an index?

That will now be replacing the four pages of sales trackers I currently use every month in my bullet journal for my content creation.

The weeklies will be my bread-and-butter section. They’ll be my timeblocked days, as well as house some extra information like holidays and birthdays.

The daily pages will now become a sort of scrapbook meets journal meets art. I guess that’s called creative journaling?

I do journal in my bullet journal right now, but I don’t necessarily have the space within to paste in cute clothes tags I may get on an outfit, or a card from a friend.

These items and more will go in the daily pages of the Hobonichi Cousin.

And I’m actually really excited to just doodle and collage on the blank pages I have available to me.

Are you a stationery or journal fan? Is there anything in that category (stickers, sticky notes, pens, notebooks, etc.) that you’re currently nerding out about? I’d love to hear it!