Hello and welcome to the Planner Pals Podcast, a podcast hosted
by two true planner pals. My name is Mark and I go by Mark
Your pages. And I'm Jess or Jessie Curran,
and one of our favorite episodes from last year, at least one of
my favourites, was putting down our predictions for the planner
year ahead. What was going to be popular,
what was maybe going out of style, any kind of trends we
foresaw coming. I don't actually know how
accurate our predictions were. I don't think we necessarily
made predictions that were the easiest to collect data for.
I'm pretty sure that one of mine was the idea of like the rise of
stamps. I don't know if stamps have
actually made a comeback though. I mean, stamps have always been
there. I think everyone's just
terrified of them as we talk about so many like Stationer,
that's kind of like outside of the normal and then they kind of
bring them in, you try them and you like them.
So I would say like that one was great.
There's a lot more stamps out there.
We saw, you know, companies like Archer and Olive really, you
know, go all in on that and come out with a lot of like cool
accessories and stamps for every season.
So I think it's a little bit of a little bit of everything.
So we were kind of on point. I just love the fact that it's
like generating these new ideas. What are other people seeing out
there in the community, not just ourselves?
It really kind of broadens my horizon.
Exactly. And so of course, we had to ask
the Planet Power community what their predictions were.
So in today's episode, we're going to be going through not
only the predictions you gave us, but also some of our own
ones. We're going to have a look
through and consider, do we agree?
Do we foresee this being in the future?
Or are we maybe not too sure about it, Mark, what was one of
the first predictions we had? Yeah.
So one of the first ones is kind of this mix between what has
been happening and maybe trying something a bit different, at
least when it comes to notebooks and planners.
It was switching from either a pre printed or predated into a
DIY or the opposite where you've had a DIY1 you've been doing for
a while and you're kind of giving that a break and move it
into a predated or pre planned. So it's just kind of this little
bit of a switch up that we're going to see happen more.
Perhaps this is just people getting more experimental with
how they plan and how they journal and what they're doing.
Or maybe you're like Jess and I and you sometimes just like to
try different things for the fun of it.
You know, invest your money into it, see that it doesn't work in
like a month, and then go back to old normal.
I mean, I feel like for myself, that's very similar to what I
tend to do. I see all the cool shiny stuff
out there and all the new ways of people doing planning,
whether it is predated or different type of paper or sizes
or whatever that might be. And then I get like very excited
about it and I'm like, well, I want to try that now.
So I totally see that way. That's a good prediction.
I know for myself, like I'm not going to be going that route
this this year, but it's a good prediction for other people.
What do you think? Yeah, no, I think that
especially last year towards the end of the year, we were seeing
a lot of people in their DIY systems like Bullet Journal,
Franken's planners or whatever and such going towards something
that was kind of more pre printed structure and such.
And I do also wonder if this prediction more so just comes
from like the space you're already in.
Like if you're a happy planner person, you follow a lot of
happy planner content and such and you see happy planner
content creators saying, Oh, I'm changing my system, I'm moving
to insert different type of planner here.
Then I can see why the prediction would be that there's
a lot of people moving away from whatever you're currently in,
because I know that that for bullet journaling was big last
year, We seem to have a lot of people jumping ship to something
that was pre printed. But I think that your point
about experimentation is a like right on the nose.
Like I think that that's definitely it.
And as people get more kind of seasoned with planning, as they
get more kind of, I don't know, solid in what works for them and
what doesn't, they might find different styles that are a
little bit not necessarily in keeping with the one they've
been using for however long that are going to possibly work
better for them because they know more about themselves as a
planner and what is going to work.
I think in terms of the experimentation front, that
definitely relates to the next prediction, which is the
downfall of the A5. A lot of people seem to reckon
that the A 5 is out and other sizes are in, so maybe bringing
in more squares or more B sixes. I personally believe that
there's going to be a rise in B6 only for the fact that it seems
to sell out so damn quickly with every ultra dollar release now.
Yeah, it's one of those sizes that people get really excited
about. You've talked about it a lot
with some of your journals. Being inside of there, it's
like, well, I don't have a ton to write.
It's actually less than an A5. I definitely don't need AB 5 or
anything larger than that. So it's kind of going the other
way without going to like a full pocket size, which to me is
like, what can you even write inside of a pocket notebook,
Right? Like I'm not writing that
little. I've been very curious about it.
I did buy one with the most recent sale to like think about
it like I bought it to look at it.
I was like, oh, maybe I'll use you for something.
But I think it is a really good option.
And I love this idea of, you know, moving away from an A5 or
trying something a bit different.
I mean, as a square lover myself, you know, having played
with bigger sizes and smaller sizes, I think for me, squares
like the perfect little space right now, to be honest, because
I always say it's like the height of an A5 but the width of
AB 5. So it's like, if you like to
write long or do you know, do 2 columns on your your page versus
1. It's a really good size.
I know I also heard from the community that, you know, people
are like, yeah, I like these smaller sizes, but like the
traveler size is kind of it for me, whether that is a pre bound
notebook or an actual traveler's journal itself, like the actual
brand. And then like really trying that
size and saying, Hey, this actually is working out for me,
which I love because I'm all about the fringe sizes.
I think they're more fun. I mean, yes, I have a crap ton
of a fives, but my my B5 and my square is growing.
And the more and more I've been thinking about it, even from
like our last conversation around trying something
different this year, I think I might just be going with another
square because I think it's kind of exactly what I need right now
in my life. Yeah, I I do love a square.
And I think that evidence towards people thinking about
different sizes and stuff can definitely was apparent on a
pole I recently put up because I was like, oh, do I use an A5?
Do I use a square? I'm not too sure.
So I asked the community and the majority did say square.
Like on the video that I posted about it, it was just like
square love the whole way through on the actual pole with
like numbers and such. It was more like a 6040 kind of
split. But it is nice to see a bit more
enthusiasm coming in for those fringe sizes.
Only if the companies keep up with it though.
The companies need to make sure that they don't run out so that
we can still get our notebooks. I remember when Square was brand
new, like it was never seen before.
It wasn't actually. I think my very first square one
was from Arch and Olive when they released those.
But I think it was a different company before them and I had
done it and I was so intrigued by that size.
I thought that was the absolute coolest.
I was like, I've never seen anything like that.
Like, yes, it's bigger to have to carry around, but for me, I'm
not doing that right. So like it really worked out.
And I remember the very first time I tried it and like set up
a spread, it was like, yeah, this is different.
I had to rethink my whole like mental grid space of how I had
been doing things. But it felt so good.
There's, I always say like there's so much more room for
activities, you know, like there was a lot more you could do with
that space, whether it was writing or trackers or kind of,
you know, using like bigger size stickers inside of their bigger
side stamps. But still, having enough room in
there to also write and kind of do your journaling part made me
feel really good about it. No, I definitely agree it is
nice to have that extra space, but what was the next prediction
we got? All right, so I loved this one
so much. It was actually one that I was
thinking about too. And then when someone else from
the community was like, I think that this is going to happen, I
was like, oh, let's let's really help.
The idea is that more notebook companies, in this case it was
specifically Archer and Olive, will come out or develop a more
fountain pen friendly notebook. So this is something obviously
that I've been like bitching about for the past few months,
right? Especially as I've been using
fountain pens more inside of my Bullet journals over the years.
And kind of taking that moment and saying like, OK, like, yes,
fountain pens can work inside of Arch and Olive notebooks or
other notebooks as well. They do.
But it's not really made for that, right?
And it's not that it needs to be a very specific paper, but it
also kind of does, you know, it's like a very hard spot where
it's like, it can work, but it could be better kind of idea
here. And so the idea that they might
be doing that. And I thought about this a lot
too, because this year, especially in the subscription
boxes and a little bit last year, like we saw Archer and
Olive start to lean into fountain pens and Fountain Pen
Inc. Now I can't really remember this
year if we really saw as much of that, honestly.
So I don't know if maybe they were like trying it and then
like they were like, Nope, not really our space, let's pull out
or maybe let's spend some time to do this right versus just
kind of picking whatever. So it is what it is, but I would
absolutely love to see that and find people like outside side
of, you know, just like our, our standard Hobonichis or some of
these other journals. I would love to see some of the
other popular journal companies, you know, playing around in that
space a little bit more. I know, like Julia here, for
instance, she's actually pitched to them, like some ideas
herself. She was like, I think this would
be great. I love this brand.
I use fountain pens all the time.
But I need a journal that's going to do this for me, right?
And like, here are some ideas. Here's some paper samples that I
think would work well. And I don't know whatever
happened to it, but I do know that she did pitch it because, I
mean, if anyone's going to pitch it, it might as well be her.
Yeah, The Fountainhead enthusiasts.
But no, I think that especially as we start to say, or at least
personally, I started to say, I don't know if this is just
because the algorithm serving it up to me or whatnot, but it
seems like we have a lot of creators who are now partnering
with brands to make fountain pens and such or like release
custom ink colors and all of that kind of a thing.
So if that continues, I feel like notebook companies are
going to have to follow the trend if they're like, OK, more
people are using fountain pens if we want to stay in the game.
Not that I think anybody's going anywhere or whatnot.
Not everybody uses a fountain pen, but as they get more
popular and especially as we have some of our later on
predictions, they're going to kind of note on this as well.
But people using materials that last longer and such, and a
fountain pen is definitely one of those things.
So it's like, OK, I want the rest of my materials to be able
to work with this, not against it.
Yeah. And I think with some, and this
is specifically for Archer and Olive, when they do those like,
is it Heritage or it's the other brand like the large heirloom
when they do those heirlooms, especially like the the wide
size 1, like those are for writing, right?
Those are essentially what those are for.
And I feel like that is something that if you're going
to put out a notebook like that would be a great space to test
it out, right? With like a larger size notebook
that's made for writing, do it on a lined notebook.
Like I don't care. I kind of do, but I don't at the
same time, like I'll I'll, I'll try to make it work inside of
there if I have to, But I think like that's a good space to test
it. We know Archer and Olive loves
to do these tests. They do it inside of their
subscription boxes. Like give me a subscription box
that's very notebook and fountain pen honed in and like
give me a small notebook with that paper.
Let's see how it goes. Like I know that they love to do
that. And so I hope by us like even
just putting this out into the universe, you know, that like
that's just something that we have to like got to get out
there and fingers and toes crossed that we might see that
in the future or what I love a lot of people are also
recommending a lot of that now too.
I'm someone would just recommended a notebook to me
recently was like, Mark, I know you like fountain pens.
I know you're not super happy your current notebook
performance. You should try one of these
hemlock and oaks. And I was like, okay, I've never
tried one before. I've heard about them, but I was
like, click, add the cart by it should be here in a day or two
to see because other people are like, if you like these sizes
and you like this paper quality, here's a really good mix and
maybe they're just doing it better.
So we'll see what happens. One thing that I do definitely
wonder about is with a lot of at least the ones that I've been
receiving or not recently, they have packaging on their journals
or whatnot that says fountain pen friendly.
And I wonder if they're, it's almost like a buzzword like
doesn't even actually mean anything anymore.
Or are you just relying on the fact that you have like a higher
GSM of paper and that is what makes it fountain pen friendly?
This is all just like my, I don't know.
Is it controversy? No, what's the word?
The one where the people say things, conspiracy theory.
This is just as conspiracy theory, the one where people say
things. Come on.
But anyway, moving right the heck along.
My next prediction was that we're going to see a rise of
like area specific journals. So in particular, the one that
kind of comes to mind is reading journals because I feel like
every brand and their dog is releasing a reading journal
right now. Or maybe again, it's just the
algorithm serving it up to me because it's like you want this,
this is for you. But I think we're going to see
ones in like obviously reading but also like health or finance
or like kind of goal or life area specific ones that are
actually released as like a pre printed thing and a lot more
brands that haven't typically done those releasing their
version of it. That's interesting.
I've seen a lot of them. I feel like recently, or maybe
it was just printables, but definitely in the reading
journal space. I mean, I feel like a go wild.
We we saw a lot of that right people we're starting to develop
workbooks and kind of how to build those out and things that
are very specific to that niche of space.
I love the idea. I think it's great.
It's not for me necessarily, but I think for anybody who has ever
custom made that type of notebook, you know, I think the
first time is a lot of fun. You're you're getting into it,
you've got your stamps and your stickers and your ideas and
you're doing that. But I, I think after you get
through your first one, you realize like how much went into
that, it can be very helpful to then kind of pick up something
that's already pre done. It actually, I think partners
perfectly with the very first one, right, Which is this idea
of like, yes, I DIY is my first reading journal.
But now there's a really good version of this, especially if
it's from a brand where you already like the notebooks in
the paper and the brand as a whole.
And they're saying, hey, now I developed the reading journal
like that, just like, well, that makes it really easy for me.
Like I don't have to think about it too much to do that.
So I think that's a really great space.
I think also it shows brands are listening to the community.
They see you when you're posting those things, when you're
talking about it, you know, when you're creating those pieces.
So I think it's really exciting that, you know, some brands are
doing that. Like I said, why it might not
necessarily be for me or might not be for you planter pal.
It doesn't mean it's not for somebody else or someone, you
know, like what a great gift to give somebody.
You know, you don't have to custom make a notebook.
Again, a lot of work, but very thoughtful.
Or you could buy something already pre made to handed them.
Be like, I know you would love this.
I'm so excited for you. Yeah, I think that even if it's
not necessarily you DIY D your first one, realize the amount of
work and now you're getting a pre printed.
It could be you've seen other people DIY there's you're like,
oh, I would love to, but that looks like a lot of work.
And this is really a nice kind of easy step into that space.
So it's like rather than setting up your own reading or finance
journal or like whatever you get a pre printed one, use that kind
of discover what you do and don't like about it or what was
missing for you. And then the next one is one
that you DIY yourself, DIY yourself.
Do it yourself, yourself. Come on, English, who is?
She no, that I think DIY yourself is perfect because I, I
thought it's exactly that. So you're you're all good there.
And that's actually a really good point.
I think that's maybe another way to think about it.
You know, with a lot of these other companies out there that
make these journals, like Finish Your Secret, for instance, is
one I've been seeing a lot of and I've done some reviews over
on my channel on. I think it's a really great way
to get people into a journal and trying it out and doing it to
say, OK, like it's like training wheels, journaling training
wheels, you know, where it's like, OK, I'm going to lay out
everything for you to kind of figure out and do it.
I think Amanda Rach Lee does a really good job with her doodle
planners. I'm thinking about that because
I know she just launched hers for this year.
But it's like, hey, if you like this style, you like to draw,
you like to journal, you like to do all of this, but you're not
feeling very confident, it may be the skill set just yet.
Here's a really great way to learn or do or just kind of have
the ideas there that maybe can help you on that next one.
If you want to take off the training wheels and kind of go
out on your own, right? I think it's a a really smart
way to do it. And again, if you don't want to
DIY it, don't. You've got something pre made
that's perfect for you and you can't beat that.
Exactly what was the next prediction that we had?
The next one, so I don't know if commonplace journal is just a
term that I'm not familiar with. So this was definitely one from
the community on this one. But the the idea is we're going
to see more commonplace journals and more customized journals.
Now customized journals I know, but do you know is commonplace a
brand or is it like a theme or a type?
Because I don't know. That is a theme or a type, I
guess it's essentially just like a little compendium of thoughts,
feelings, snippets, all of that kind of a thing.
So people would just kind of like bring it together as like
that, like life knowledge base. I, I think of a commonplace
essentially as the analog second brain.
So it's like anytime you kind of like hear a quote or, or like
have a spark of inspiration or something or like, you know,
learn something or whatever, it all goes into the commonplace.
I know that people do have a tendency to kind of organize
their commonplace in kind of like a chronological order, but
then like using a color coding system or maybe a tabbing system
or something like that so you can actually find the
information again. I have been mad curious about
commonplace thing. Like last year I was thinking
like, oh, do I add 1 to my lineup?
Like would I like this? Because I do love to store
little bits and pieces and notes and snippets and such that I
find from, you know, consuming media online or reading books or
anything like that. But for me it was just way more
like makes sense to put it in Notion because it is just a lot
more searchable and bindable. But I do think that people have
been getting more into commonplacing over the last
year. Gotcha.
Well, that's super helpful for me.
Thank you for educating me on that because I was like, is this
a brand I don't know about yet? But I think this is a really
great way to also kind of go the opposite way.
And that's why I love these things.
It's like we just talked about everyone finding custom made
planners that are already predated based off of topics.
And then like the next one is like, I think everyone's just
going to do it on their own now and figure it out.
And I think that's what's so fun about the planner space as we
take a look at it. And this is also really
important for me because like I said, it kind of goes outside of
like my immediate purview, what I'm seeing inside of the planner
space too. So understanding that a bit more
is very interesting. I think it's a really cool idea,
like you said, especially if it gets down to like organizing
your thoughts and doing that. Now in my mind, I'm like, well,
the bullet journal method does that inside of the index.
Therefore, I don't need the color code to find it.
Again, the index goes there. But I know from this podcast and
you telling me very often not everyone uses the index.
So like that's not helpful there.
So if tabbing, color coding, all of that very interesting
something to look into for myself.
But but yeah, I don't know. What do you think about this
one? I mean, I know you just
explained commonplace to me, but what do you think about kind of
the other side of that is like people really DIY and even more
in the new year? Yeah, no, I I don't.
Let's say I have had a couple comments from people saying, oh,
I was in a pre printed one this year and I've decided that like
I don't like this rigid structure and I'm going back to
DIY. But then we also have people
saying like DIY is too much time, effort and energy.
I'm going back to pre printed. So I think it's just like that
kind of going against and with the stream, like depending on
which way you look at it. So we've just got like migration
on both sides going from one to the other or other to the one.
But I would be interested to like not that we can get the
statistical on that, you know, survey the world and figure it
out. Like is there a kind of stronger
stream or is there like, you know, more people going in One
Direction rather than the other? I think that though for like the
common placing in particular, I think that it's kind of hot
right now. Like it is kind of like, you
know, popular right now in the same way that personal
curriculums are really popular right now.
But I also think that people are making personal curriculums that
are really just reading lists, not actually a curriculum.
So I'm just like, will people get into commonplacing thinking
like, oh, this is a great idea and whatnot, but they're not
actually quote, quote, doing commonplacing, right?
I'm not the commonplacing police.
Obviously. You probably heard my
description of commonplacing and she didn't even say, right.
That's not even what it is. This is there.
But anyway, I do wonder if people are gonna kind of
romanticize the idea of common placing, like the idea of it,
get into it, and then we're going to get to like halfway
through January and they're just like, I'm just gonna like put
that to the side and ignore it. Yeah, I think it's anytime you
get into something that feels like a lot of work or something
that's popular, maybe we saw it with the Bullet Journal, you
know, for years as people got into it more, it was brand new.
Everybody had one. They were all defining it
themselves, trying to figure it out.
We saw Ryder Carroll try to take that back very hard.
I feel like in a very like immediate way this year, which I
think pushed people away from the bullet.
Method, it was like, let me love you and everyone.
And then it's like get back to the basics and you're just like,
well, wait a second, hold on. I mean, I think as much as we
talk about notebooks and brands and things like that, these
methods as well, like get into it, especially if there's a face
or a person or a brand behind it, you have to feel comfortable
inside of that and in doing that.
And a lot of times it does take some setup to get there.
It does take some organization, but I always like to remind
people when they're like, this wasn't quite for me or I don't
get it. It's new and you at some point
have made a decision where you have to try something new
because what you're doing is not working for you.
So it's like give it more than a month.
I think usually I say like 3 months, give it a quarter and
really get into it. I think by that point you're a
few months in, you've really lived it, you've experienced it,
and then you can make a decision.
I know some people get on me. They're like, how can you make
you know a decision off of whether or not you like the
system in a week mark when you're like, I tried a new
system for a week and it didn't work for me.
Like, well, I've been doing this for a while.
I know what does work for me and I can get a really good vibe on
another system or another notebook or whatever it might be
quickly now. But for those who haven't tried
other ideas or other plans or experiments, it might be a
little bit more difficult for you.
So give a little bit more time, though.
I think it's like using my my like idea, especially when it's
involved because it takes more time to build that out.
Yeah. And I think that, like, if
you're coming from a place of like, very good understanding of
yourself as a person, it can be a lot easier to figure out what
will or won't work for you even before you start sometimes.
So for instance, with commonplacing, given that
interest and the idea of like, you know, everybody sharing
their commonplace, now I want to do a commonplace and such, I did
have to check myself and be like, yeah, but you're not going
to keep up with that. Like you don't like writing for
one thing. So come on, you're not going to
go and like, you know, hand write all of these quotes or
whatever from materials you had. You've already tried having a
notebook before and while it did work, it was fine.
You just found that you preferred to take all of that
down digitally. 1, you can type faster than you can hand write
and two, it's searchable after the fact.
And three, you're going to be using it on a computer anyway,
so it might as well be on the computer.
So by knowing those things about yourself and knowing how you
kind of like typically operate as a planner or your kind of
tendencies and whatnot, and comparing the potential of the
new system to the stuff that you already know about yourself, you
can make informed decisions faster, which is really nice.
Or if you get into it and start experimenting with it and really
kind of take a step back and reflect on that process and say,
OK, what did work, what was good, what is missing, what is
lacking? What are my aversions?
All of those kind of things. Being honest with yourself.
Then you can make those kind of like, I don't know, just like a
faster realization of what will or won't work for you.
Yeah, well, our next few topics we're getting into is
interesting because I think people are being a lot more
conscious about where they're spending their time and their
money, and rightfully so. So why don't you kick into the
next one of the the next prediction from the planner
pals? Because I want 100% back these.
Yeah, the next prediction we had from a lot of people was the
idea of like shopping your stash or using what you have just
especially as you know, money be moneying economy, being in an
economy and all of that, just trying to save money as the
price of things increase. So really kind of having that
focus on what do I have, what can I use that I've already kind
of got in my space in my system rather than acquiring new
things. And I would definitely agree
with this one, which I, I do wonder based on this, are we
going to see a kind of like rise again of people drawing more for
decoration in their journal rather than stickering?
Or if we are going to see stickering, is it going to be
like, I bought digital stickers and I printed them myself so
that then it's like I don't have to go and buy like a new sticker
kit. It's something that I already
had kind of like in my ecosystem.
I know some people like major digital sticker kind of
collectors and such and they'll like buy those sticker packs and
they'll print them off time and time again.
Or it could be, you know, for instance, what I do like making
my own headers rather than trying to, you know, go and find
stickers that align with the stuff that I want to put in my
journal or the headers that I want to have, I just type them
up, make them myself and print them off on sticker paper.
Like yes you still have to require the sticker paper that
is significantly cheaper than pre made sticker packs.
Absolutely. I, I love this one very much So.
And it's a bit, it's probably hard because people are like,
Mark, it seems as if you're getting new stuff all the time.
And I'm like, yeah, but like a lot of that stuff, like I'm not
buying with my own money. It's like through affiliate
sales or store credits or whatever else.
But I'm kind of in the same boat now.
Like when I am purchasing something for myself, I am
actually taking a moment now and saying like, do I actually need
that? Even with that Hemlock and oak
notebook, I was like, do I really need it because I have so
many other notebooks just sitting here ready to be used.
And I was like, but I really for me, want to try because it's
feels like the right thing. I've heard a lot of good things,
so I'm going to give it a go. So I'm like, OK, that is.
But like new pens and stuff like that, I've actually just been
going behind me recently and almost like blindly running my
hand to me and like, stop here. Oh, I haven't used this in a
while. Just to be like, oh, yeah, I
really did like the way that that pen worked.
I really did like the way that that ink looked.
I really did like, you know, this material I haven't used in
a while. I was like, maybe I used it too
much. I got sick of it.
Well, now time to like bring it back out.
So I think it's one of those deals like, you know, really
being like picky and choosy about when you are choosing to
purchase something. And I think it's also realizing
that we do have a lot of this stuff already.
Maybe we just put it in a box or a drawer.
Time to go through that box or that drawer.
Great way to do that at the end of the year and be like, hey, I
forgot that I had this, you know, flake sticker pack.
Let's go ahead and use that instead of like trying to buy
something else. Yeah.
And as somebody who has previously, like pretty much
never done a theme twice, or if I do the theme twice, it's
usually like a completely new take on it.
I found that this year I have repeated themes at least three
or four times, which for me is a lot.
I, I thought it was quite funny actually for my new journal
setup for 2026, both my reading journal and my everyday journal
are essentially the same themes that I used last year in those
systems, but switched. So the reading journal theme
from last year is now my everyday journal theme for next
year and vice versa for the other one.
But it just meant that I could actually use the supplies I
already had. I know that I like them.
I enjoyed that theme last time. So just like lean into the joy.
More joinaling. There we go.
That's a prediction. More joinaling, always.
Yeah, I 100% back that. And I think it is like if you
can enjoy that you bought it for a reason.
I had to remind myself of this. Like you bought it for a reason.
Like let's go ahead and just start using that until it's
gone. And then if you need to replace
it, hopefully you can. You can.
If not, you know it's OK. You got plenty more more in the
stash. That idea of like look back with
fondness and like in appreciation that had happened
rather than looking back at me like when I wish I still had
that thing. That's me and my my washi tapes.
My goodness. Well, Speaking of having lots of
things, especially when it comes into washi tapes, one of the
things I heard about a prediction kind of goes the
opposite side of washi tapes, which is people starting to
spend money on quality over quantity.
I don't mean that washi tapes are not quality, but we know
that you can get like 50 rolls for like $3 in some places.
So I thought about this one and I heard this one from a few
people. One of them is someone who did
get into fountain pens and like cursed me but loved me at the
same exact time. And they were just like, look,
I'm buying all these different pens that I think I'm going to
like, but like, I like this idea of buying, you know, 1 fountain
pen that I can fill with different types of inks.
And I was like, well, that's what they're here for.
Like that's a great way to experience writing, a great way
to do that. So, you know, instead of going
out and buying like a giant pack of pens, just buying 1 pen that
you can use over and over again. There's a little bit of
excitement to that, but there's also like, do I get bored with
that? But I think it also comes down
into notebooks as well. So a few people that I heard
from said like, no longer will I be buying my journal from the
dollar store for five and below or like a arts and crafts store.
I'm going to go ahead and I'm ready to invest in a nicer
notebook. And we've all been there.
I was there at one point, you know, where you're just like,
OK, this is the cheap one. I'm going to just do it in here.
And then the pages start to fall out or, you know, you bleed
through the pages or what not. And then you, you know, come
across and you see all these buying their notebooks, but
you're like, I can't spend $35 on a notebook.
That seems like a lot of money. But the way I like to look at it
is like, OK, but if you're going through several of those
notebooks not quite working out for you where they're falling
apart, you know, $5 apiece, you know, three or four of those.
And then you're just you're, you're a hop, skip and a jump
away from like that nicer notebook.
And I know again, for me from personal experience, this was a
really big thing. I remember I bought that
Lloystrom notebook, the very first one was like $18.00.
And I was like, who the hell is spending $18.00 on a notebook?
And then I remember trying my very first arch and olive and
like holding my breath and biting my tongue as I was like
$35.00. But I loved the outcome of that.
I love the paper. I love how it worked.
It was, it made me so happy. And then, you know, that just
kind of snowballed into what it is now though.
What do you think about that? Do you think that it's more of a
quality over quantity game? As we move into the new year,
some people just kind of keep doing what they've been doing.
I think that it's going to be material dependent.
I reckon that we'll probably see a rise of quality over quantity
when it comes to, I guess for the items that you only buy
once. So you were never really buying
all that much in terms of quantity to start with.
But I do think that for staples and things that don't
necessarily like get consumed or used up, those non consumable
items, I think that people will probably either upgrade the ones
they have when they break or realize like, hey, if I'm going
to be using this for 1/2 minute, then I might as well go with
something that is a little bit more lasting.
It is a better material. So I'm thinking things like, you
know, sticker tweezers, scissors, rulers that aren't all
crackled up and janky and such, like they just made out of
better materials and such. So they are going to last better
because it's a one and done purchase in theory, unless like
you lose it or you roughhouse it up the wazoo and it breaks or
something like that. But it just means that first of
all, it makes the process more enjoyable dwelling because you
don't have to kind of like fight with a supply that is good
enough to work, but it's actually not good enough to be
enjoyable to use. And I think that that also will
just like along with adding more joy, it will save you money in
the long run because you don't have these kind of El cheapo
supplies that just break after three uses.
And then you either go buy another one or then go and buy
the more expensive one, whereas you could have just bought the
more expensive one to start with.
Yeah, it's one of the same things when, like, you know,
someone buys those really nice craft scissors and you use them
to like, cut paper. And so it's like, don't you dare
do that. It's like those are really nice
for a reason. They're supposed to last long,
handle more materials than like your dollar store brand that you
kind of go with. So I think that's all about
that. Very much so.
I'm excited to see what happens this year.
People actually follow through on this prediction or not, I
guess. And I know for myself, I've been
doing that more with a lot of quality materials as I'm just
like, Nope, not going to go buy them from the dollar store and
use them once. I'm going to go and invest in
something nicer that's going to kind of hold on a little bit
longer. All right, what's the next one
that you got? So the next one is also kind of
about like money related stuff, but not necessarily about the
purchasing, but more so the idea that we're going to see more
finance and budgeting related layouts in people's journals as
they're starting to be more money conscious.
I know that I personally won't be part of this trend, mainly
because I don't do math on paper.
I do math in Excel. So I get it to add everything up
for me. But I think that people are
going to be a little bit more money conscious about, you know,
that kind of hobbies, stationery, all of that type
thing. And part of that might be
setting up some kind of like no spend or no buy type challenge.
It could be setting up like an expense log or something like
that, a savings tracker. That being said, I did actually
just set up a savings tracker. So I am part of the trend.
Yay, part of it. What do you reckon?
I think it's going to be a very big deal.
And like you said earlier, because the economy's economy,
things are more expensive, you know, all of those things come
into play. I think that those would
probably be very popular spreads this year because people are
going to be trying to figure out how do I afford certain things?
You know, especially here in the US, a lot that's going on with
just like, you know, food stamps and people who can't afford to
eat. There's a government shutdown.
People aren't getting paid. So you have to think differently
about how you're spending your money.
I was out just the other day actually at the vet as a weird
place to be. And the woman next to me, you
know, basically was like picking and choosing, like what
medicines to get for her pet because she was like, well, my
husband's in the military, he's not getting paid right now.
So like, we're going to forego this for right now because we
need to afford this. And this is very much different
when you're talking about like personal health and family
health. First was like stationary.
But I think that if you're trying to figure that out for
yourself and like pick and choose and budget, sometimes
writing it down is the right way to do it.
What's coming in and what's going out, whether that's an
Excel or just on a piece of paper, you have to do that at
some point. So I absolutely think that's
going to be something that we're going to have to do.
Doesn't make me happy that we're having to do that.
I'm hopeful that like a lot of this will come out of like a
necessity and turn into something that's maybe more in
the positive as we go forward. But this is a great way to try
it out to see how it works, and then hopefully be able to
utilize what you've learned by doing this in another space.
Yeah, and even if it's not necessarily something that like
is a necessity, like you, you feel very much like you have to
keep on top of your finances and such, and you're really penny
pinching and such to make it so that you can make things happen
and meet all that kind of thing. It is just good to know more
about your financial health and be more aware of where your
money is going and such. Like the number of times that
I've gone to my account just been like, wait a second, wasn't
this number higher before? And it's just because, you know,
a bill came out or whatnot that I just forgot about.
The nice part about being myself and being a forgetful person
like that sometimes is sometimes surprises are fun.
But more that I try and make sure that all of my bills are
set up on autopay because otherwise you get another
statement being like, ma'am, where's your money?
I'm like, yeah, OK, I'm sorry about that.
I'll just put it on the autopay and then future just won't have
to worry about this. Yeah, absolutely.
So something else that we saw just this year, which I feel
like I've seen more of this happening, but I know at the
same time we got the counter this people are like I'm going
to see more jointly happening, withdrawing and painting all of
this. I did see a lot of people who
are saying this upcoming year, I'm going to foresee or think
that a lot of people are going to kind of go that opposite way,
maybe a little bit more minimalist or just maybe kind of
more basic in their approach. Again.
And it could be just from, you know, having too many or not
being able to buy a lot of stationary or just trying
something different. Kind of like bringing down all
of the things that could potentially happen on a page and
just really get down to the brass tacks.
Here's what's happening is my task is my notes.
I mean, that's, I know I've done that too.
I sometimes remind myself, like Mark, make this look a little
bit more fun, like this is supposed to be a fun thing for
us. So I definitely see that more.
I've heard from a lot of people, especially if you've been
overwhelmed in the past about like the DIY planning and like
over purchasing kind of all the things all on a single page, you
know, breaking that down, I always say like you can still be
fun and functional at the same exact time.
You don't have to have a ton of stuff on there to be able to be
like, oh, OK, this works for me. You can do some very basic
things and make it look fun, but have it be very functional and
and do exactly what you need to do.
So this is definitely a trend that I can see happening more in
the new year. People trying it, kind of taking
it back a step or two and then seeing what they do.
But as a person I know who's, you know, went from one extreme
to the other, like, what do you think about this one?
I reckon that it's, I do foresee us saying less drawing because I
feel like we're already kind of on that trend at the moment.
But I don't necessarily foresee less decoration.
What I think is going to happen is that we're just going to get
to like, you know, more extremes.
So we're going to see more that's like truly minimal and
we're going to see more decorative.
That's like quite decorative. It just might not necessarily be
decorative in the sense of drawing.
So I think that like we have the rise of junk journaling.
I swear that this is happening and I feel like people are going
to experiment with that more in their planners rather than
making separate junk journals just to kind of like test the
waters a little bit, see if that is a process they like, see if
that's a style of memory keeping they like.
Whereas we're also going to get more of that kind of like
minimalist, like, you know, very kind of bare bones basic kind of
thing. Not so much they're like
decorative heavy. Or if it is decoration, it's
going to be those kind of like smaller touches like maybe a
colored header or some nice line work or something like that.
So I kind of see it more as like a a polarizing on the decorative
spectrum. No, it makes makes total sense.
I think it will see it to it. I think it's more exciting too
is like if you're taking it down a lot of maybe trying something
by hand, like I got a lot of people like I can't draw them
like cool, but you can do this easy lettering.
It still looks fun. You can still take a marker and
put a little drop shadow under your box and still looks fun and
exciting without having to like do a whole like illustration on
your page as well. I think it's fun to experiment
and sometimes like those baby steps are really great ways to
do it, which might lead you to a spot where you want to do more
of the other kind of way of doing it or just build on those
basics. That's kind of like how I see
it. I see a lot of people maybe
haven't tried it before, but want to give it a go but don't
want to go in all the way. All right, Jess, what's the next
one you got from the community? What is a plan and prediction
for next year? I definitely foresee as being
something that happens is the idea of just leaning into brands
and kind of like a focus on, you know, putting your money into
brands that share values that you share.
So that could be around the idea of like eco friendly or eco
conscious brands, ones who are using like recycled materials or
they have like fully recyclable materials that they're making or
something like that. It could be around the idea of
like avoiding materials that use computer generated imagery and
such. That's something that people are
quite passionate about as well. So making sure that your kind of
purchases align with the values that you hold, that's something
that I foresee is going to be happening next year.
Yeah, I think it's really important.
We've talked about that, like why people stick with certain
brands and what they're doing and why they're doing what
they're doing. And I think that it really does
make a big difference for me. It's always been very big.
I love when I can align myself with the brand, especially if
they have products that I like, but they're doing cool things,
experimenting, doing all of that.
And it really kind of hurts my feelings when it goes the other
way. And I'm like, why?
Why are you excluding people? Like this is supposed to be a
very inclusive space. This doesn't need to be, yes, do
it this way, don't do it this way.
Or like, let's be more open minded to it, right?
Let's try different things. I think that's why a lot of
people do kind of pick and choose.
There was a number of ones. I didn't make it into the
episode today, but there was like brands I've never heard of
before. And I'm like, oh, that's kind of
cool to like go down that route. Like maybe there's someone new
doing something different. So I think even just like
listening to more than just like, what is the thing that I
have? But like who's the brand that's
making it? Who's the person or the people
behind? Do I align with what they're
doing and how they're doing it? And if not to be like, yeah,
this isn't really my kind of thing.
It's, I mean, it's a consumer product at the end of the day.
Like you don't, there's plenty of other notebooks and
stationary out there. Let's be real, right?
Like, so if something's not feeling right kind of gives you
the ick, it's OK to try something different because
you'll probably find something else out there that you really
like a lot more. Yeah.
And so I think that we will also as part of this, see a rise of
brands putting their brand values or the kind of like
things that they stand for more the forefront.
So people can make those conscious decisions about like,
oh, I'm going to support XYZ because they support ABC.
So it'll be nice to see more of that kind of summarize that
maybe their marketing materials or just on their websites and
stuff like that. So it's a lot more kind of
upfront in your face so that making those choices can be a
lot easier, especially when it comes to like computer generated
art and such. Sometimes it's hard to tell
like, you know, there are tells and such about whether something
has or hasn't been made by a a real people versus as a computer
people quote, quote. But I think that being able to
say with confidence that something is or isn't because
the brand has put out, yeah, we, you know, 100% design our
designs like this is by real people in the back on their
graphics tablet pushing this out for you versus we typed in some
things into the Chatchipati and the Chatchipati give us this
picture of a flower. Yeah, usually you just look for
like any type of human that has more than like the normal number
of digits. That's usually a big tell.
And then any type of wording usually is like, does not mean
anything. And I know it.
Like at first glance we don't see that.
And I'm always like like as an artist myself, I'm like iffy
about it. There are AI functionality that
make it a lot easier to do what we do.
But when someone's just like blasting out designs because
they want them to buy it and it's not quite it, like again,
you have to align yourself with it and say I'm either OK with it
or I'm not, you know, And that's and honestly, at the end of the
day, like you don't have to say it out loud if you don't want
to, you know, like it kind of maybe could get you in trouble.
So like no shade like you do you, but just know like you have
to make that decision and feel OK with it at the end of the
day. Yeah, I think that even being
able to tell nowadays because like, yeah, we used to be able
to rely on does she have like way too many fingers or like 2
rows of teeth or something like that.
But it's, it's crazy how much better it has gotten in such a
short amount of time. So nowadays the ones that I'm
really looking for is the intricacies is like a, would a
human person go to the effort to put this level of detail in for
this type of product? Because oftentimes if it's like
a roll of tape with like hardcore intricate details and
such, probably not. Or if they did, then I should be
paying a lot more for it. But what was your next
prediction? So the last one that we're going
to go over today just cracked me up because this one came from a
few people and I just was like laughing.
The prediction is that after January that these people are no
longer going to use their journals anymore.
Like this age-old. I bought the thing, I made the
thing, I plan to use the thing and do it.
I did it for a few weeks, it didn't work out for me.
And now I'm abandoning this, you know, one month in.
This is why when we spoke a few episodes ago about like testing
things out and trying them, you actually said it to me.
You're like, Mark, this is actually the best time to test
and do because you've actually got a few months until you
really technically have to like choose for the new year.
And that's exactly what I've been doing.
And it's been really awesome to be able to sit back and I take a
week at a time and try something different because I want to go
into the new year knowing like I've made the right choice,
right? I've invested, I've paid the
money, I've done the thing, I've given the time, and I wanted to
pay off for me at the end of the year.
I want to be able to use my fountain pens inside of my
notebooks this year and be happy about each week as I flip the
page, right? Like that's a really big thing
I'm looking for this year for myself just because of what I
like to do. Someone else, it might look
totally different, right? You might want a certain type of
paper or grid or dot or lined or whatever that looks like.
Give it a go before you pick and choose so you don't get to this
point. But I still think it was just
hilarious to see. Like, yeah, my planning
prediction is that I'm not going to be using it after the start
of the year because that happens every year.
Yeah, especially when you see these people putting out their
like, you know, journal lineup or plan a stack or whatever.
It's like, Oh yeah, here are like the 26 different notebooks
I'm going to use. No shade, not really.
OK Like if you want to use 26 notebooks and they all have a
purpose and you're happy, go forth, be merry about it.
But I do wonder if we get a kind of like, you know, influencing
people, see these fat stacks of planners and go, oh, OK, well,
maybe I should add some more into my system.
And they do. And they have great intentions.
And I'm not calling you out on this because I do this.
All right, Know that this is me as well.
But we put together these stacks of different journals and
planners and such we're going to use.
And then the reality sets in like we get to January 1st, 2nd,
3rd, 10th and we realize, OK, yeah, in the day-to-day actually
using this, it's a no from me. I think that the ones most at
risk are usually the ones that are like completely new in some
way. So for instance, like the five
year journal, if you haven't done daily memory keeping like
that, where you do have to like do a daily touch on that
notebook, then that's probably at risk of wah wah.
Unless you have some really good implementation intentions around
that. You're like, I have this time in
this place. I will sit down and write my
notes. I've got that for my 1.
So it has actually survived, which is nice, but there are
plenty journals that I have set up, started with like, Yep, this
is going to be the thing. I'm going to be using this for
the rest of the year or several years.
And now they're just relics of a time past.
I'm thinking like my notes book, my language learning journal, my
travel journal, half of my R&D journals that I started off with
great intentions and then realized the paper was and
decided that I wasn't going to use it anymore.
Or my first long term collections journal that I was
like, Yep, this is going to be the one.
This is going to be my like reference book of all of the
materials that I need for the rest of forever.
And again, then I decided the paper sucked and I set up a new
one. And then I set up a new one when
I decided I didn't like that one anymore.
And then I moved everything to Notion.
And eventually I'll probably move everything out of Notion
and just keep it in a notebook under my bed or something.
But it's all good if you start something with good intentions,
like, Yep, this is going to be the notebook that changes it all
for me. This is going to be the one that
does everything and it doesn't work out.
You're allowed to be a learner. You're allowed to take time to
figure out your system and find things that work for you.
Just make sure you're honest with yourself when something is
or isn't working. Yeah, and then you go and you
find other uses for it on something else.
Jess and I both have great videos of that over on a YouTube
channel. So like, how do we use a journal
that, you know, maybe it's halfway done or you only used a
month, What do you do with the rest of it?
And there's other planners too, outside of that that do that
then just us. But you know, why not self
promote ourselves while we're here?
But we'd love to hear from you planner pals on these topics.
Whether you agree or disagree with some of these predictions
for the new year, or maybe we didn't mention yours or you've
got one that you've just been seeing a tunnel in line.
Make sure you let us know. We'd love to hear from you,
whether it's in the comments, if you're watching this on YouTube
or over on Spotify. Or if you're listening, you can
also drop comments over on Spotify too.
And you can always hit us up over on our e-mail address,
right? We love checking that the emails
responding to youthereplannerpalspodcast@gmail.com.
And of course, over on all of our socials at Planner Pals
Podcast. Very much curious to see which
ones you agree with, disagree with or just general predictions
because I do think it's a lot of fun, like future casting,
thinking about what may or may not happen.
I don't think again, that we've made any predictions that
actually have, you know, accurate ways to measure them.
So we should not be doing any kind of chicken to be like, were
we right? But I am very excited to read
your thoughts, planner pals. And as always, thanks for
watching.