y'all.
i straight up forgot i had scheduled a video to post while we were still on vacation. 😹 but i'll be using the hobonichi cousin avec with the love it (panda) cover, in the hopes that everything (bullet journaling, memory keeping/scrapbooking, long-form journaling, commonplacing) will fit in these two books.
still on the hunt for a digital alternative to notion so feel free to let me know your suggestions! (as fyi, i've already looked at obsidian - not a fan of the aesthetic and learning curve - and have experimented a little with the new ios feature that lets you like notes together - lot of setup at the beginning, but that's not dissimilar to notion).
Last week in my Hobonichi Cousin Avec! ✨ I LOVE this washi tape from BGM - such beautiful starry night vibes. (I got it from Miso Paper here in the UK!)
which books are you currently using for journaling?
my current journal / planner setup consists of
1. hobonichi weeks for planning + habit tracking
2. hobonichi original avec for daily journaling + memory keeping
3. plain hobonichi notebook for commonplacing (book of curiosities)
basically anything that does not fit into either my weeks or my daily journal goes into my little book of curiosities.
Turned an old unused 2022 Hobonichi A6 Avec into my daily journal.
Removed the monthly pages and left the cover and daily pages only.
I mark over the printed dates or place washi tape over it, then write in the current date. I keep it to writing only and don’t decorate the pages.
I find that writing only and without hesitation helps relax my mind and balances my thoughts. It has become a welcomed habit and enjoyable experience that I look forward to each day.
Reading the cover and inside cover page remind me that each day I just need to breathe and find the good that was part of my day or make it a good day myself .
On your ‘I think April of 2022 Megan had it cracked’ post, are you thinking of the avec system then? Or trying to keep the cousin? I’m just curious! I know when you where in the avec you had trouble cause when you’d turn the page you’d forget to move the tasks over (which was my main problem too when I was only doing 1 day 1 page bujo) so I’m just curious what your thoughts are in this! (Also I am NOT one of those anons who cares about your notebook ‘consumption’. Buy however many notebooks you want, find what brings you joy!❤️)
yeah! so here’s my thinking. i don’t use the weekly pages in the cousin anymore because i don’t find the columns good for to-do lists, and any other journal type notes i already have on the daily pages. i keep my sleep log in the calendar, so when im doing my daily updates, i fill the daily page and the calendar bits and then i flip to the weekly section and im like 😐 you.
i’ve been looking for the perfect “companion” book for my cousin as a portable place to keep my weekly to-do list, but am struggling a bit because the weeks feels like a poor fit, the TN passport feels too small/awkward to write in, i don’t really want to go back to field notes, etc.
i was cleaning yesterday and sorting through my old hobonichi boxes and realised that the a6 avec system that i had in early 2022 could be the solution? daily entries and notes in the dated pages, sleep log in the calendar, no weekly section to worry about now that i no longer need it. im looking at the ‘days free’ as my second book- an extra set of calendar pages for appointments/events/scheduling, blank pages for weekly running to-do lists, lots of room for commonplacing and extra notes (with pre-drawn margins and page numbers, too).
in the video i made in 2022 i was saying that i was having trouble maintaining the two books equally, but after working in a5 for a long while and refining my commonplace practice i don’t think that would be an issue anymore. so im like. huh. maybe past megan had it all worked out and i just wasn’t ready for it yet. but now it kind of seems like it might solve everything? using the avec system also means i don’t have to worry too much about bulking, and i get that archive/fresh start feeling midway through the year, while still having a complete set at the end.
idk i might test it for november and see. i’ll probably rehome my 2024 weeks and maybe the TN passport booklets because neither really feel like the right fit for my needs, disappointingly. then by december i can probably work out if the 2-book a6 system is working as imagined or if i should just stick with the cousin (probably without a companion book). i wish i had been able to work it all out without so much experimentation and so many purchases but unfortunately i’ve always been someone who learns best with hands-on practice so maybe there was no other way 🫠 ig it all led to the knowledge i have now, the refinement of my practice, the clarity of what i really, truly need from my notebooks, etc. so idk. but that’s where i’m at with it
either way hopefully whatever i go with at the end of december will be it. whether it’s the cousin or the a6 pair, i’ll have settled. and that’s a nice feeling
This year so far has involved a lot of planner/journal experimentation for me. I’ve tried one-book systems, multiple books, A5 books, smaller books… and, I lost one beloved Hobonichi Cousin to a tea-related disaster 🥲
BUT - I think I’ve finally settled on the perfect system for me! I’ve learned that I’m a two-book girl - one for planning/daily journaling, one for commonplacing. I’ve also learned that I’m an A5 girl because my handwriting is too big for anything else! So I’ve settled on:
✨An A5 notebook for commonplacing. Right now that’s a Hobonichi notebook; after that, I’ll be using a Stalogy!
✨A Hobonichi Cousin for habit tracking (monthly pages), planning (yearly/weekly pages), daily journaling (daily pages), and gratitude journaling (also daily pages). I’ve added a pic of an example of one of my dailies!
I’m using a Cousin Avec right now - it’s August, there was no sense in buying a full year one. Next year I’ll switch to the full year book, though!
This week and last week in my Hobonichi Weeks. I have to say, I’m really enjoying it, and now my brain wants me to get either the Hobonichi Cousin or the A6 avec, i think it’s called??