My current planner/journal/notebook ecosystem and work bag setup

This was inspired by a video from Earthy Sam about her planner system. She's like me in that she struggles to downsize what she uses, but her brain can't work with just one planner or notebook. I figured I'd turn what was going to be a ridiculously long comment into my own post! So, here's my current lineup.

1. Hobonichi Weeks, whom I have named "Nichi"--an idea I got from Rebel with a Plan (highly recommend this channel for anyone with ADHD or any kind of neurodivergence and/or going thru perimenopause). I'm currently carrying her separately from the Moterm cover my bestie gave me with her, using the cover as a wallet. Sometimes I like having my planner and wallet together, sometimes I don't. Nichi is my main planner/bullet journal/whenever journal. I do memory keeping in her, but I will also write down appointments and to-do lists as needed.

2. Wallet notebook--I recently discovered a TN in my stash that is actually Weeks size, so I decided to try it out as a cover for Nichi and carry the Moterm cover itself as a wallet. So I tried one of the inserts from that TN in the Moterm cover, and it fit perfectly as well! So it's there for grocery lists, budget notes, or anything I might need to jot down while I'm out and about.

3. Morning Pages journal--this is an A6 size hardcover notebook I bought last year. It started out as an on-the-go journal bc of its size, but while it was great for that, I found that I prefer journaling or bullet journaling in whatever planner I'm in at the time, so it sat around for awhile. Then I got into doing The Artist's Way Morning Pages (see my other posts for details), and after filling up a couple of other notebooks, I decided to move my MPs into that one. It's almost full now, so I'll have to pick another notebook from my stash soon.

4. Writing notebook--I threw a cheap old-school spiral notebook and a plastic folder from Dollar Tree into a thrifted cover that happens to fit them both. I have previously tried lots of different setups for this--TNs, ring binders, discbound, even other spiral notebooks--but this is the one that's worked the best. I've learned that I need it to be intentionally messy and simple in order for my creativity to come out and PLAY 😉. In the past, I overcomplicated it with lots of sections and things I never ended up using. I also had a tendency to make it too pretty and "perfect," which would cause me to freeze up. I could do a whole other post on writing notebooks! Hell, I will! Why not? For now, back to the list!

5. Thinking Book--I covered this in this post.

6. "Pocket" notebook #1--it's a little bigger than pocket size, hence the quotes. It has dividers that turn it into a 4-subject notebook. I don't have the sections labeled, but my brain has kind of divided it as random jot-downs, general stuff to remember, writing-related, and can't decide lol. I have only used a few pages in the front and middle sections, and I've thought about tearing them out (it's spiral) and moving them elsewhere, but I can't bring myself to do it bc the notebook's design is just so cool that I want to use it.

7. Pocket notebook #2--this one is small enough to actually fit in a pocket. I am trying to stay in the habit of carrying it on me at all times so that if a random thought pops into my head, I can get it down before my ADHD erases it, which happens way too often if I try to use my phone to catch it. It's a temporary holding place for those "oh let me get this down before I forget" ideas and reminders. The notebook itself is one of a pack of scented notepads my sister bought me one day while we were out shopping--she wanted someone to accompany her, and she treated me to lunch and a few things, the notepads and a pack of mini gel pens (also scented) being among them.

The craziest thing is I've been carrying all except the MP journal with me to work every day. I think I may have left my little pocket notepad at work--if not, I've lost it somewhere. At least there wasn't anything in it as far as I remember, and I have more, so there's that. But everything else? I pack it all into a huge tote bag along with my sticker book, which has tons of random stickers in it, and a pen pouch full of a ridiculous amount of pens. Oh, and a separate pouch of highlighters.

I'm always thinking about downsizing, but at the same time I feel naked without all this stuff in my bag. And I wish I could carry my washi tapes with me, too! But they're all in a big box that is impossible to carry around outside of the house.

I know I could consolidate in some areas. Like that 4-subject "pocket" notebook for instance. I wish it was just a tiny bit smaller so that it would fit in my pocket bc that would be perfect. I love the idea of giving at least a little organization to the randomness. But that stuff could go into other places such as Nichi or the thinking book maybe. Speaking of the thinking book, my writing stuff could technically go into that. However, I don't want writing stuff to get lost among the other stuff. I did briefly consider adding another folder to the writing notebook and combining them that way, but there's too much stuff in the thinking book that would probably bulk out the folder, so nah.

I also wonder sometimes if I should keep the thinking book at home and just carry a thinner, lighter one in the bag, such as the Vera Bradley I was originally going to use. Or if I should just use Nichi as my on-the-go thinking book since it's pretty much for everything else too? It's not like I'm super strict in how I use my planner. But I don't want to fill Nichi up with too much of one thing. She's more of a day-to-day functioning thing, whereas the thinking book is meant for you to go in-depth on one thing or another, big-picture thinking.

Welcome to the chaos that is my AuDHD brain lol.

I have come to accept that my brain needs more than one place to put everything. I can't just dump it all into one notebook and let it stay there. If I do dump it all into one thing, it's gotta be reorganized later. Otherwise it just gets lost.

The whole reason I carry such a big bag to work with me is I want to have all my planning/journaling/writing stuff with me during my downtimes at work. I try to not stare at the computer screens all day when I'm there. Sometimes that works, but sometimes I end up watching YouTube or getting lost in email newsletters and such. And there are rare occasions when I actually write while I'm there. I'd love to do that more often!

Speaking of that, I recently watched this video: Writing Your Novel in Google Docs - Character Tracking, Outlines & More This has got me thinking about switching from Word to Google Docs for my writing. More on this in another post!

But yeah. I really wish I could downsize what I carry, but at the same time, I want to have all my stuff with me so I'm not completely stuck in cyberspace between students. And it would be cool to take this stuff to the library some days or to a coffee shop or something. Not to mention I have to have it for writing meetings! (That reminded me to get in touch with Jaime and see about scheduling our next one!)

I guess I'll keep thinking about it and tweaking my system as I always do. I'll figure it out eventually. One thing I know for sure is it will never stay exactly the same for too long! My brain just won't work like that--believe me, I've tried.

Hope whoever has read this enjoyed! See ya next time!