Posts filed under Hobonichi

Planner Time!

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And her latest book, The Atropine Tree, is now available!)

I had a delightful revelation last week. While I knew my new Hobonichi Cousin planner started in December of 2024 (at least on the monthly pages), I hadn't looked closely enough. Because December starts at the end of the week, there are actually a few days of November in there! Which means I can actually start using my new planner on Monday! I was thrilled. It's the little things.

As I gleefully prepared for the annual planner switch, a second feeling set in. Just a very small sad one. And I realized I was also a little blue to let go of the planner that's been my constant companion of 2024.

Maybe that's weird, but I'll own it.

Another thing that's weird is that I did not switch planners mid-year this year. I'm fairly notorious for giving up on a planner and swapping to a different style. But usually my year starts with me resisting the hypnotic pull of a Hobonichi, buying something else, and then buying a Hobonichi in April when the academic year versions come out. In 2024 I just started with the Hobonichi and saved myself the trouble. This wee planner has been with me through what one refers to as a Very Bad Year. We're buds, now.

I was tempted to switch early in the year, anyway, but only because I'd bought a Hobonichi Weeks (which is my favorite layout for planners), and then got a new extremely busy job, and found the Weeks to be a little small for all the plans I had to plan.

For 2025, I got the Cousin, hoping that the extra space will serve me well--though I still prefer the weekly spreads. If there was an A5 Hobonichi with the Weeks layout, I'd be in heaven. "But Sarah," you say, "There are other planners that are A5 with a weekly layout!" I KNOW. I buy them every autumn, start them in January, and then buy a Hobonichi in April. It has happened more than once.

The daily pages in the Cousin are going to be perfect for meeting notes, looooong to-do lists, and brainstorms, which is going to help me at work a lot. I've been doing all that in a second notebook, carrying both that and my planner with me around like Linus with his security blanket--so combining those into one tool will be lovely. I will lose the "Oh crap--that's tomorrow!" reminder feature of the weekly pages, so I'll have to keep the habit of scanning the monthly calendar every day, or flipping through the daily pages, or both. I cannot live one day at a time, as much as I would love to.

Today I transferred my ongoing task list to the new planner, moved my goofy bookmarks and made sure there weren't any notes I needed to move forward, then I tucked away my 2024 Weeks on my shelf-o-planners. Most of the planners on that shelf are half-empty. But 2024 has been a very full year, and while not every memory in that book is a happy one, I'm happy to have them all there.

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Posted on November 21, 2024 by Sarah Read and filed under Planner Reviews, Hobonichi.

Hobonichi Techo Weeks MEGA 2024 Planner Giveaway

The Hobonichi Techo Weeks MEGA looks like an excellent planner plus notebook choice for 2024. The front part of the planner contains the popular two page per week layout for the full year, and the back part contains 200+ pages of classic Hobonichi graph paper. This is a great format and layout, so if you are interested in winning this Aqua Blue model read the rules below and enter away!

Posted on October 24, 2023 by Brad Dowdy and filed under Hobonichi, Giveaways.

Hobonichi Paper(s) Aurora Duty Notebook Review

(Sarah Read is an author, editor, yarn artist, and pen/paper/ink addict. You can find more about her at her website and on Twitter. And check out her latest book, Out of Water, now available where books are sold!)

Hobonichi's planner success is legendary, but their accessory offerings seem to grow more fun and varied every year. This is the first time I've tried their Paper(s) Notebook, and it's a great addition to the Hobonichi lineup, though it may not be as popular with the fountain pen side of their audience.

The Paper(s)s notebook is the same A6 size as a Hobonichi Techo. While it has the same tape-sealed spine, the binding in this book is a glue that allows you to remove the pages. Every page separates cleanly and easily, which is perfect for sharing notes and info, or for disposable writing like shopping lists. While a Hobonichi planner feels like a keepsake, almost a bit of memoir, this Paper(s) book is clearly a consumable. There's no pressure of preservation or perfection. In fact, I even messed up my first writing sample, so I threw it away and tore out a new sheet.

This notebook does fit inside any Techo cover, though I would imagine it would fit less well as the pages inevitably deplete. And I wouldn't want to cover up those adorable bears, anyway.

The design, by Hiroko Kubota, shows an adorable bear guiding an aurora across the sky. On the back there's another wee bear pulling a sled with his coffee pot and steaming mug while he watches the sky. Each page inside has a third illustration of the bears enjoying the coffee together. It's ADORABLE. I can't stop saying it.

The pages themselves are where I think Hobonichi divides their audience a bit. If you're just using this paper to make throw-away notes with a standard ballpoint or pencil, great! You're good! But the paper in this notebook is not the Tomoe River paper that is found in Hobonichi planners and other notebooks. It's a fully uncoated wood-free paper, so any liquid ink goes straight through. If it's a very liquidy ink in a broad nib pen, it will actually bleed through onto the next page. While the back of the page isn't as important for notepaper, where it's unlikely you intend to use both sides of the sheet, getting ink onto the pages behind is not ideal. So, there is no amount of fountain pen friendliness here. Which is okay, because that's not what it's meant for, but I think the Hobonichi name does carry the expectation of excellent paper--and this isn't that. It's functional, disposable paper--and we all need some of that, too.

In keeping with the purpose of "use this up and throw it away" this notebook is priced very fairly at only $8 at JetPens. For 155 sheets patterned with adorable bears, that's a great price, and it's an easy add-on when you're selecting your array of other Hobonichi accessories. Mine has already seen a lot of use, as the loose pages are endlessly necessary for lists and notes I can hand off to family members. And yes, I'm still using it with fountain pens, letting the ink bleed and feather as it will, like the chaos gremlin that I am.

(JetPens provided this product at no charge to The Pen Addict for review purposes.)

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