Oh, what a week. I had to give myself a stern talking-to on Friday night because the whole planner situation has spiralled way out of control. I took a different planner with me to work each day. On Friday, I took two! It just has to stop.

I decided, first of all, to forgive myself for the past few weeks of indecision. We have been in what I think of as the “between-time”. Many people see the week between Christmas and New Year as a pending period where they put one year to bed and finalise their decisions about the new year. For me, it’s the entire 6-week period between Christmas and my birthday. So, I’ve just been suffering the in-betweenies for a few weeks. This week, though, it’s time to call a halt and get myself properly settled.

Stung by the telling-off I had received from myself, I sat and wrote down some of the points that have been swirling about in my head. What are the pros and cons of rings/discs/bound books? What has failed to satisfy me in each thing I tried this week? What, most importantly, do I need and want from my planner? The answers to these questions have returned me to my William Hannah for the time being. This has received a bit of a face-lift, if not an entire personality transplant, including lovely bright Tabriz blue dividers which lift my spirits. And a stirring quote? Why, thank-you, I don’t mind if I do.

One thing that was clear to me was that the week on one page diary insert is too cramped, especially when it comes to the weekends. Yet I haven’t quite been feeling the desire to add a full lined sheet between each week. Enter the two-thirds page to provide a useful extension for each day. It feels rather innovative for me, something I haven’t tried before, and I look forward to working with it in the coming weeks. I made it by trimming off the dated side of the diary pages for August-December 2023 which means that this planner is now set up to take me through to the end of July.

After the diary pages I have a section for notes and some To Do lists. Then the book closes with a reinstated”envelope file” to hold tiny treasures and some sticky notes because they are, very occasionally, useful.

It’s my intention that this revamp will make the planner feel a bit more creative than it has of late. The aim now is to use what I have for the next six months then have a complete reset just before autumn hits. If I want, I shall feel free at that point to travel a completely different route. I have plenty of supplies to see me through until then and I will have the pleasure of perusing fresh options knowing that their time may come quickly enough.

One side-effect of my peregrinations is that I have accidentally found that an A6 fold-back book is perfect for work. I just need it to write out a task list each day and jot any tiny notes. The A5 hardback books I’ve been using are overkill and desk space is sorely lacking. This little cutie can travel in my bag with the minimum of fuss or I can just lift out the current To Do list and pop it in my A5 planner for work-at-home days.

I constructed it from a William Hannah A6 archive set but swapped out the large archive discs for some smaller-diameter Atoma ones I had to hand. When I come to the end of the To Do pages I’m currently using, I shall use up all manner of other odds and ends, trimming larger sheets and punching them to fit. I hope that this frugality will leave me feeling less guilty should I ultimately decide upon an option that involves buying new stuff in the dog days of summer.

Now, all I have to provide is the willpower to ignore everything else and work with this.