My 2025 Planner and Journal Lineup
It's Techo Kaigi time!
If you’re not familiar with the Japanese phrase, a “Techo Kaigi” is essentially a meeting of planner or life books. For me, that means considering all the notebooks that will keep me organized, intentional, productive, and mindful in the coming year. I’m happy with my main lineup of planners and journals for next year (I say this before inevitably doubting all my life choices and wondering if I should have gotten a bunch of other books). So here they are, for now:
PLOTTER A5
Hobonichi 5-year A5
Hobonichi A6 notebook
Hobonichi 5-year A6
Hobonichi Weeks
Sterling Ink N2
I put a lot of thought (more than I care to admit) into what planners and journals I use. For me, they have to have a clear purpose so that I don’t lose interest in using them. Keeping that in mind, I typically categorize each book into two main groups: Functional vs. Creative.
Functional Notebooks
My functional books keep me organized, productive, and mindful of my time. I put minimal effort on the aesthetics of these books and my main writing tool is a gel pen.
This category includes the PLOTTER A5, which I’m going to use as my main planner. In it, I have the PLOTTER monthly and weekly inserts which I’ll use to mark down events, schedules, and appointments. In the weekly section, I have a weekly log (similar to a Bullet Journal) and daily priorities. After I’m done with the dated inserts, I usually get rid of them as I don’t feel an emotional attachment to these pages.
I consider my A5 Hobonichi 5-year a functional book because it’s my archive of events. I write down daily highlights and happenings so that year over year, I can easily reference dates and events. I plan on passing this book on to my kids one day as a record of our lives.
The third book in my functional category is a notebook that I use for daily “stream of consciousness” writing. I’m currently using a Hobonichi A6 graph notebook to sit down and just let all my thoughts flow onto paper without a filter. I find this very relaxing and sometimes come up with surprising ideas and interesting thoughts.
Creative Notebooks
The notebooks that fall into the creative category let me document life events using stationery in a fun way. They reflect my love for cute and colourful journal aesthetics. In these books, I use stickers, washi tape, fountain pens and inks, and ephemera.
I started an A6 Hobonichi 5-year in 2022 for gratitude practice and it has slowly evolved to a place where I write down “Today’s Little Joys” (a phrase I got from Morgan Harper Nichols, an amazing artist and writer). Every day, I write down a few small moments that made me smile or laugh. On the right hand side, I practice drawing flowers using a glass dip pen and fountain pen ink.
The Hobonichi Weeks is a great size for memory keeping - I used it this year and will use it again next year. In this book, I’ll jot down highlights of the day as they happen and use fountain pens, stickers, washi tape, and other decorative elements. I also track fitness and health related activities in this book. The Weeks acts as the book that gives context to my daily life.
My third book in the creative category is the Sterling Ink N2 Common Planner, which I’m going to use to document everything that interests me. This includes all things stationery, fountain pens and ink (currently inked, etc), books that I’m reading, podcasts and music I’m listening to, and shows that I’m watching. I like to take notes and hand letter quotes while I’m reading, listening, or watching something interesting and this is the book I’ll reach for in those moments.
That’s it! Six book in my planner and journal lineup that fulfill either a functional or creative role in my daily life. For now, I’m happy with my stack and can’t wait to set them up. Stay tuned for updates!
If you want to see a walkthrough of my lineup, check out my YT video: