Stationery Talk No. 2 My 2025 planner & journal line-up
New year, new planner!
I love the new year for many reasons, but chief among them is that a new year means new planners and journals! I love the feeling of breaking into a new notebook and I love setting up a new planner or journal. So, today, I’m excited to share my 2025 planner & journal line-up! My lineup this year is a mix of some old favorites (hello, hobonichi!) and a few new-to-me notebooks (looking at you, sterling ink!). I’m so excited to see these notebooks fill up over the next year.
Sterling Ink Common Planner (My Main Planner)
Size: N1 (or standard traveler’s notebook size)
Format: Dated yearly, quarterly, monthly, and weekly sections (with a horizontal weekly layout), and 368 pages of blank grid pages.
Purpose: This is my main planner and where I do all my non-work related planning, tracking, and note-taking. I use the dated yearly and quarterly pages for goal planning and habit tracking, the monthly section to record upcoming appointments, events, holidays, travel, etc., and the weekly section to plan out my week. I use the notes pages for daily to-do lists, content planning and other project planning, and whatever else I need (e.g., reading notes, micro journaling, etc.). I also have some core collections set up in the notes pages too. While some work events and major deadlines may make it in here, I largely try to keep my work and personal planning separate. I think of this planner as my home base, with everything I want to track and record in one place. This is the planner that I update the most frequently (usually everyday), that comes with me everywhere, and generally feels akin to my second brain.
Cover: Moterm Companion Traveler Notebook Cover - Standard size
Sterling Ink Daily Planner (My Main Journal)
Size: B6
Format: Dated monthly and daily pages with ~40 blank grid pages in the back
Purpose: This is my main journal. My intention is to journal everyday and the dated daily pages serve as a light accountability mechanism. (I will inevitably miss some journaling days and when I do, I often use those blank pages for other purposes.) Most days, I start with a short recap of my day, how I felt, and anything memorable that happened. Sometimes I’ll use the daily page to work through emotions or thoughts on something. And if the mood strikes, I’ll use any blank daily pages (or the blank pages in the back) for creative journaling, ink or washi tape swatches, practicing hand lettering or dip pen calligraphy, or memory keeping. I’m planning to use the dated monthly calendars as a media journal to record the books I read, movies and TV shows I watched, and music and podcasts I listened to. My goal is to fill this notebook up as much as possible over the next year and I’m excited to see how much it chunks up.
Cover: Gillio Firenze B6 Appunto (Epoca Purple)
Hobonichi Day Free (Work Planner)
Size: A5
Format: Dated quarterly and monthly calendars from Dec. 2024 through Mar. 2026 with 171 blank grid pages.
Purpose: This is my work planner, which I use alongside Notion, OneNote, and my Outlook calendar to keep on top of my work as an education policy researcher at a DC think tank. I do most of my work planning in Notion where I keep track of my year-long and quarterly plans, project-specific to-do lists and deadlines, and my longer-term professional goals. In this monthly planner, I use the quarterly pages as a future log and the monthly pages to sketch out when I’m going to work on which project. I use the blank grid pages to write daily to-do lists (regardless of the efficiency of digital organizational tools, the satisfaction I get from writing a short to-do list and crossing things off each day is unparalleled). I also take meeting and project notes in here.
Cover: Hobonichi Have a Nice Day! A5 Cover
Mini Plotter 6-Ring Binder (Every Day Carry)
Size: Pocket-size ring planner with 11mm (or 0.4”) rings
Format: This is a pocket-size ring binder. In here, I have a clear folder for receipts and business cards and dated monthly calendar inserts and blank dot grid inserts (all accessories and inserts are from Plotter).
Purpose: I’m using this as my every-day-carry which in Planner lingo is the notebook that comes with me everywhere (and I mean literally everywhere). I use it to jot things (tasks, ideas, etc.) down as needed. If something is particularly noteworthy, I may transfer it to my main planner or work planner.
Cover: Plotter Mini 6-Ring Binder (Pueblo leather in the color Navy)
Sterling Ink Grid Notebook (Reading Journal)
Size: A5
Format: Blank graph notebook with 520 pages
Purpose: While I track most of my reading digitally (using StoryGraph and a Notion database), I still love recording everything I’m reading in a separate notebook. I write down every book I read in my main planner, and once a month I sit down to update the different trackers and collections I have in my reading journal using my planner and data from StoryGraph and Notion as reference. I filmed a setup of my 2024 reading journal if you’re curious to see what it looks like in more detail (see link below). And as soon as I finish setting up my 2025 spreads, I’ll film an updated reading journal setup video.
Cover: Catspresso Co. Clear Cover
Hobonichi 5-Year Techo (Family Journal)
Size: A6
Format: Two pages per day with five sections for five years. The idea is to record your life in one journal over the course of five years, with each page allowing you to see what you wrote in the previous years. This particular journal is from 2021 through 2025.
Purpose: I started this journal in 2021 when I was pregnant with my son to record family memories, my son’s milestones, and short recaps of my son’s day-to-day. I was very consistent about filling it out in 2021 through mid-2022, and I’ve been less consistent about filling it out since. Though, I’m hoping to get back into this journal this year.
Cover: Sojourner Folio
Hobonichi Graph Notebook (Creative/Overflow Journal)
Size: A5
Format: Blank grid notebook with 288 pages
Purpose: I only started this journal over the last week (so you won’t see it in my recent YouTube video linked below), and I’m still figuring out what I’ll use it for. I’m thinking about this as a creative/overflow journal. For example, last week, I wanted to write out lyrics from a few Bad Bunny songs from his new album (which is SO DAMN GOOD), but I had already filled up the daily page in my main journal. So, I broke out this blank, undated notebook. My plan is to pick this up whenever I’m in the mood to play around with stationery or to do more journaling than my daily journal can accommodate.
Cover: Hobonichi Yumi Kitagishi Letter A5 Cover
In case you missed it:
I also discussed my 2025 planner and journal lineup in my latest YouTube video! Check it out below.