Migrating to a new Hobonichi Weeks

Hey pen friend!

I've come to the point where I have used up the notes pages in the back of my Hobonichi Weeks. Luckily, I knew someone that knew someone that could pick up a new Hobonichi Weeks for me from Japan. So it's time to migrate into my new planner. While I'm at it, let's take a look at how I use my Hobonichi Weeks.

How I use the Hobonichi Weeks planner.

The Hobonichi Weeks has three main sections: monthly calendar, weekly spreads, and notes pages.

The notes pages in the back is the section that I use most. It houses all of my daily logs, and I utilize this section every day. This is where all my personal tasks, events, and notes live for the day.

Each morning, I write out the new header for the day and start filling in notes for that specific day. I try to return to my Hobonichi Weeks whenever I have the time to add to it, but often, it's only a couple of times per day. This is where my daily log key gets utilized the most. Although, I tend to use the same colors in the other spreads as well.

I'm very flexible when it comes to my daily logs. I don't limit the space that I use. However, most times, I use two to three note pages per week.

Also, I should note, that my daily logs in my Hobonichi Weeks primarily consists of personal notes. I have a separate work bullet journal where I'm very detailed about my work tasks and work stuff.

The weekly spreads are my weekly overview. On the dated layout on the left hand side, I have my schedule, meetings, and appointments listed. On the blank right hand side, I list out some of my big tasks for the week and important notes. I also like to include the books that I read that week.

I like to think of my weekly spreads as my "future log" of sorts. I tend to setup the pages at the start of each month (i.e., add all of my meetings, appointments, and due dates), which I'll refer to when writing out my daily log. Then I'll update my weekly spread at the end of the week with any final notes I want to highlight.

The monthly calendar is the spread I use the least. For the most part, it just houses my various appointments for the year and my planned vacations. However, I'm pretty bad at updating them. So I often find myself still having to dig around for appointment cards from the doctors. I really need to be better about using my monthly calendars.

My new Hobonichi Weeks: the Detective Conan edition

Most frequently, I go for the Hobonichi Weeks Mega because of the extra pages. This year I didn't... My wallet isn't happy about it, but I really loved the editions I got. In particular, I'm quite happy that I got the Detective Conan edition.

The Detective Conan edition is a collaboration Hobonichi did with the famous manga and is a Japan exclusive. It not only has a special cover, but there is artwork from the manga on some of the pages as well. I think the artwork is what makes this truly a special edition; however, I do think it makes the pages a little harder to use because I have to write around the artwork.

The reason I wanted this edition is because the Detective Conan manga and anime is near and dear to my heart. I was absolutely obsessed with Detective Conan in middle school, and I honestly think it was the starting point for my love of mysteries. It wasn't until high school that I started reading a lot of mystery/thriller novels and watching police procedural TV shows, which all led to a career in forensic science.

So despite the fact that I could have saved some money by simply getting a Hobonichi Weeks Mega, I'm very happy that I got to have the Kyohei Sakaguchi edition and the Detective Conan edition Hobonichi Weeks. Next year though, I'll definitely be saving my money by simply getting the Hobonichi Weeks Mega. (Although if Hobonichi ever does a Peanuts collaboration, anything is fair game. lol.)

My Current Hyper Fixation

This past week I've stumbled upon a new hyper fixation: zines. I've perviously heard about the concept of zines or a small, self-published book often created by hand, but it wasn't until now that I've been toying around with the idea of attempting to make my own as a fun craft project.

Will I actually do it? Who knows. But I'm having fun researching the topic.

Some of the videos I've watched on this topic include:

• ​The Easiest 1-Page Zine You Can Make from Chris Piascik
• ​why every filmmaker should be making zines from Jake Frew
• ​Capture & Create: Designing Your First Home-Made Photo Zine from Island By Film
• ​Make a MINI ZINE with me from Kel Belter

If you've ever made a zine or enjoy reading zines, let me know! I'd love to hear about your experience with zines.

Thank you for reading this week's email! I hope to send out an email newsletter next week; however, I'm not 100% sure that'll happen. My grandfather fell the other day. So life has been a bit more hectic with care giving duties. I'm not 100% confident that I'll have the mental capacity to draft and send an email.

Hopefully, I can get an email out to you, but if not, I will definitely be catching you on August 12th. I'm hoping to do a couple of emails about planners and planner tips, and I already have ideas brewing. Planner season is right around the corner, can you believe it?

I hope you all have a wonderful week! As always, if you have a comment you'd like to share with me, don't hesitate to reply to this email or send me a DM on Instagram.

<3, Amy

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