Archer & Olive Have Skewed My Planning System For 2023
Archer & Olive Have Skewed My Planning System For 2023
Archer & Olive has been having a massive warehouse sale for a while now. I am not certain when it started. I have no idea when it will be over. I can tell you that they have to empty their Florida warehouse for whatever reason. I can also tell you that I am grateful for that.
I purchased two mystery notebook bundles. Each bundle should include a notebook of any size, as well as at least five different accessories.
My purchase arrived yesterday.
One of my notebooks is a 2023 Planner. It’s a notebook that is already set up for the entire year with basic monthly and weekly spreads. No decoration included. Quite a few empty dot grid pages to fill with your own spreads or trackers or whatever else you want to include.
Now, I have actually been considering buying one of their planners. I never committed to doing it because I have a stash of Passion Planner planners and GoGetterGirlCo planners—these all need to be dated or re-dated. None of which takes into account the number of blank notebooks of varying sizes ready to become my next Bullet Journal.
With all of that sitting on my shelves and stuffed into cupboards, why bother buying yet another planner?
Why not?
My new 2023 planner arrived, a beautiful shade of brown linen for the cover. I also received a clear A5 jelly planner cover in the same box. The cover and the planner do not as yet get along. I need to find some sort of way to make them more compatible. The cover yanks on the journal in an odd way. That’s about the best I can explain the issue. It’s not so bad that I have thought, nope, gotta take that planner out of there and find some other cover to use on it. I might try a hair dryer at some point. Maybe.
Anyway.
As soon as that planner arrived, I set aside the rest of my day and started to play in it. I have her name: Mnemosyne. I have a 2023 page, a word of the year page, and my nameplate page. I used my Tombow Dual Brush markers on the year at a glance. I created a quote page. I sketched in the January cover page. I stuck in a bunch of sticky notes to mark what other spreads I plan to put in where. I filled in the first week in the planner, which also happens to be the last week of December, plus the first day of January.
Then I set up this week’s weekly spread as well, still using only the Tombows. I filled in the days that had occurred before the planner arrived.
The entire time, I kept staring at this thing, pondering what it would be replacing, what it would be augmenting, or what I needed to turn it into.
The planner sort of fell into position in my line-up. She is now my project tracker.
I have been thinking I wanted to create a reading bujo. I also knew I would need something to be my knitting/crochet bujo. Mnemosyne takes care of that…and more.
She will track my crafty projects. Not only my personal projects but work projects as well—minus writing and course development.
Only a few days into this planner and I am overjoyed to have her in my line-up.
I didn’t want to have this many planners and notebooks for 2023, but it keeps moving in that direction.
In case you are not sure, I have my Hobonichi Weeks Mega where I track a number of things, as well as where I keep daily prompts to write about for posting on various networks throughout the weeks.
I have an A5 Bullet Journal where I have been playing with a more decorative style while testing out various spreads. I have a slim dot grid Bullet Journal where I am doing the same thing, only with different spreads, to test out that size to see if that is a viable size for continuing my Bullet Journal journey.
I have my undated 5-in-1 six-month GoGetterGirlCo planner where I keep my to-dos and various other information for my days.
I have what I currently call my R&D journal where I have spreads that I don’t have room for in a ‘regular’ bujo. I keep long-term collections in there as well.
I have my Traveler’s Notebook dot grid notebook that stands as my reference journal/bujo.
I have my B6 Stalogy that I rarely decorate where I chronicle everything I accomplished or that we did as a family throughout the days, one day at a time.
I have a B5-ish-sized lined journal that I use as my reflective journal. As in, this is the notebook I turn to for Morning Pages or other journaling.
I have two or three actual R&D bujos. These are my messy scribbled raggedy things where I make lists of ideas and whatnot more than anything else. I have two of them at the moment, but there were more at one point.
Also coming this month, I am putting together and binding my own art journal because I need to have an art journal. Art journaling is something I have been missing for quite a while. I need to step back into it. Making my own art journal is the best first step I can take.
Even up to last year, I used to be adamant that I only wanted to have a single Bullet Journal and a single notebook to use as a journal. All planning, tracking, memory keeping, and decorating all ‘had’ to happen in one single book. I was also using at least one A5 dot grid notebook every single month.
Thankfully, I let go of that rigid view and moved into something else.
However, I am now worried about having so many planners and notebooks, and journals rolling around. What if I miss something? What if I forget something? What if I lose something?
Normally, I do keep all my notebooks and a few essential pens and markers in a single bag. It’s a very big purse, trust me. It makes me pretty happy as well.
I need to learn how to adjust to all my notebooks. It’s all a part of my system. Overall, these books all make me feel good. My planners help me stay in the present moment. They help me feel grounded.
Not to mention, I have to have something for my children to fight over when I die, don’t I? My oldest threatens me every so often about things of that nature.
I know it is early in the year yet, but how is your planning system going? I would love to hear about it.