Hello and welcome to the Planner Pals Podcast, a podcast hosted
by two true planner pals. My name is Mark and I go by
marker pages. And I'm Jess Ojasi, Karen, and
today's episode is an exciting one because the topic was
selected officially by the Planner Pals community over on
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We'd love to have you. Today's episode is a really
great topic and we really thank the Planner Pals for such a good
one, which is all about planner essentials.
What are the things that we cannot plan without?
This isn't just saying like I can't plan without it, but it
would be a nice to have like these are just like bare minimum
for us as we think about how we plan and what we do.
So Jess, let's go ahead and get started.
You've done a great job of organizing these episodes into
themes and areas, and the first one is notebooks.
So go ahead, kick it in. What is the absolute must have
essential for you when it comes to notebooks and planning?
Yeah, definitely. Because you know, in thinking
about essentials that really bare minimum kind of thing like
cool, need something to write on, need something to write
with. So I figured we'd start with
write on. As somebody who does prefer to
set up their own planner, I am looking for a notebook that
doesn't have any kind of pre printed stuff in it.
My personal preference is dot grid, but I also wouldn't be
upset with just a grid notebook. If it was the only thing
available to me, I'd probably use it.
But where I do get a bit just nickety and a little bit
particular is the actual paper itself.
So an essential for me is one that has, you know, that kind of
like bright white or maybe even a cream colored paper.
But it can't be a colored paper or like a really heavily
pigmented paper, like a dark blackout type thing.
Because if I have to write with a white gel pen, I I won't plan.
It won't happen. I feel like anybody who has ever
done that, I give them all of the flowers because the
dedication that it takes to write in a blackout notebook, it
is there. It is.
It is crazy, but I feel you on a lot of those things.
My essentials when it comes to the notebooks are almost
everything that you mentioned because we'll just kind of group
these all together into the same thing.
We know that we have similar taste.
I would say that the one thing I would like to have, even though
I said it's like an essential, but page numbers I think are
really kind of essential when you don't have them.
Running them in is something that I'll just do myself.
I will never ever in my entire life use those little page
number stickers. I think that that is not not for
me for sure, but everything else works out.
You know, the one thing that you mentioned about the ivory paper,
you know, I'm always kind of iffy on that one there
personally because I feel like especially taking photos of it,
it's like, I love that Christmas of the bright white of like the
page when it's like that. So like not having to overly
edit it. Have you used any notebooks
recently that had the ivory paper?
Recently, definitely not, but I think that, you know, if we're
coming back to that idea of essential, for me, it's just
essential that I can actually read what I've written so
heavily preferenced towards a bright white because I like the
way my pens look better. I like the contrast between my
like black ink pen versus the paper itself.
Like you said, for taking photos, it is, I guess I just
prefer the way the image comes out if I don't have to go and
like color corrected and such. You know, it's a little harder
to get the white balance right if you have a cream kind of
colored paper. But I do appreciate if I'm ever
working in direct sunlight, which is not often because I'm
pretty sure I'm like half removed from a vampire the sun.
But if you are working in direct sunlight, it is a lot easier on
the eyes if you have a slightly tinted paper tone in especially
that kind of like warmer direction.
I just don't do that very often. So I wouldn't consider ivory be
essential. I wouldn't consider bright white
to be essential, but it's definitely a preference.
I would say also for me with the paper type itself, definitely
has to be fountain pen friendly, even though I'm just finding
more and more and more like people can write that on their
notebooks, but I don't think they actually test it
themselves. Because I've had a few that have
been like fountain pen friendly. And I'm like, does that just
mean that I can write in your notebook with a fountain pen?
Like I can do that in any notebook technically, but really
paying attention to the bleed through and the ghosting and
when the bleed through specifically is like how it
bleeds through. I didn't realize that was a
thing until I compared my current journal, which is a
hemlock and oak to an Archer and olive notebook.
And while they tend to have, well, I'm not say similar paper,
but the way they react to fountain pens is different.
Where like the arch and olive paper kind of like blotches and
cut, I'm going to say pools, but it like feathers out, but it's
with the ghosting slash bleed through.
So it's on the other side of the paper and you get kind of this
like feathering. Whereas what I've noticed with
the hemlock and O, while it's not 160 GSM paper, I think it's
like 12140 or something like that, you just see where the
lines are. So it's not like soaking in and
feathering out. I'm just coming to kind of
accept it. I prefer not to have ghosting in
my notebooks, but I think that I have to slowly accept it where
it happens with the fountain pens, just because I like
writing with fountain pen. So it's kind of like a necessary
evil, but just making sure the paper can handle it is kind of
important to me and really just essential at this point.
Whereas before it was like, oh, I like to write with fountain
pens in my notebook, now I just do it all the time.
So like it has to perform, it has to do well.
Yeah. And I think that's, you know, if
we're thinking about the term essential type thing and taking
it from that standpoint of like this is the must, this is like
the bare minimum type of a deal. I also feel feel like the
essential category will definitely change over time as
you, you know, get further in with your planning, as you
understand your preferences more and whatnot.
Because I know that earlier in my journey, one of the things
that I came to have as an essential was a thicker paper
notebook because I didn't love the ghosting or bleeding.
I liked taking photos of my notebook to show on Instagram or
whatever, which are very like, you know, aesthetic forward
platform meant that, you know, having ghosting and bleeding in
there didn't really lead to the best quality images and bus
engagement on the posts and all of that type of a thing.
Nowadays with my planning, given I am tending in a kind of more
minimalist, streamlined kind of direction, I don't think it's as
essential. But for the enjoyment factor of
planning, I definitely prefer to have thicker paper.
So my tendency will always be to pick up 160 and because I have
the options in that category to grab 160, it's going to be the
one that I go towards. Like there are enough different
notebook brands and companies and such that are producing 160
that I can and usually find one pretty easily, even if it is a
little bit more expensive compared to something that is, I
don't know, an El cheapo notebook from the dollar store.
Not that I even have the dollar store, but you get the idea.
You know what you mean? I mean, before I started using
fountain pens, like I remember switching from the Loystroms
over to Archer and Olive and it being like this glorious
awakening because I was like, wait, I can write in a journal
and I don't see through the page.
And that's when I was using not fountain pens.
So gel pens and other ink pens where that wasn't, it doesn't
typically. So it's just funny, like for all
of these years, I was in this beautiful, glorious space of not
having to worry about it. And then I go ahead and start
writing with liquid ink out of a fancy fountain pen.
And then I feel like I'm starting that all over again.
And then I'm like, on this search for the perfect notebook
that acts in a perfect way. It's just unrealistic for me.
So now it's just important to test it out, make sure that it
is working well. And then I'm like, yeah, OK,
we'll make this happen. Yeah, you're just going to get
Piper that's thicker and thicker and thicker until you have like
a 2 notebook and you're like perfect.
I love this. I can't see anything through
this paper and I only have 10 pages.
Gonna last you all of like 2 weeks and 1/2 or something.
I'll make it work. I'll just get like a big like
one of those big like letter sized ones.
I don't know what they're called, like Ledger ones or
whatever where it's just like giant pages.
I'll just like cut a page into like 3 weeks at a time and we'll
see how it works. I think that with the mention of
the Ledger size, that's actually a very important consideration
for me is definitely the size of the notebook as well.
It's not necessarily something that I to be like the most
essential thing, like if I have something to write on I can do
my planning, but my preference will always tend towards
specific sizes, mainly being the A5 and the square.
Though I'm kind of tempted to try my hand at a Travellers
again, I also do a lot of Basics.
The basics is an absolutely excellent size, especially for
three month planning. Do you have a preferred size for
yours? I mean at this point now it
basically comes down to square and B5.
I think that just works best for me.
I have a lot of a fives I have to at some point start like
using them up. You know, I think my big thing
was like, Oh my gosh, I'm using 3 and 4 pages a week when I'm
using an A5 size. But now I'm like, go and do it
Mark, because like you'll just cut through those pages and
they'll cut through those notebooks a lot faster and just
kind of take down that inventory a little bit.
I've been really, really good about not buying extra notebooks
probably over the past like 6 months or so.
So it's just one of those things where like I'm looking, I'm
paying attention and I'm like very much aware of it now, but I
will always, no matter what, especially like square is just
the perfect size for me. It's like right in between an A5
and AB5 size, like perfectly matched inside of a nice little
perfectly square container. So you only have to figure out
like your line spacing for one side and it works for both.
It's fantastic. You know, I totally agree.
I do love the square size. I think the thing that has me
tempted to try Travelers again is just because of how I'm using
the square size at the moment. And I've been finding that for a
lot of my pages. I've been dividing them in half
vertically and I'm like, hey look, a travel is no.
So I'm like maybe that size would work for me?
I mean, I could, I guess if you're thinking about it that
way, it's just you're using multiple pages versus just
giving yourself that one page. That's what I really like about
the square is like I can fit an entire week onto one page versus
2. And then if I need a little
extra, I have it versus again, like I said, if I was using
travelers and even A5, I know it would be multiple pages.
But I don't know, I think after this next bullet journal, when
I'm finished with this one, I definitely need to maybe just
like go with it. Be like, yeah, who cares Mark,
if one journal doesn't last you all year, like just use them.
And somebody who hasn't had a full journal for one year and
like ever, I think if we're thinking everyday journal, my
everyday journals will last like maximum 2 per year if I squeeze
six months into it. But at the moment I'm going
with, at least in my mind, I'm going with A1 journal per
quarter type thing, so three months per.
But I think that with the square that I've got at the moment, I'm
going to have a lot of pages leftover if I do that.
So I'm kind of rethinking that at the moment, like, oh, do I
just try and cram another couple months and then because you've
been kind of laxed with the space you're using?
Or do we just move to a new one? But then I feel like it's
wasteful and that you're also creating it.
I want to keep using it. It's a future made problem.
It definitely is something to think about early on.
I remember being like, I have to fit an entire year into one
notebook. And then now I'm like, oh, it
might work out. I'm OK with this, you know, make
it work. I think if I get into December
and I'm running out of pages, I'm figuring something else out.
I won't start a new journal for like a month of a year.
But usually if it's like half or I've even started like a new
journal, like September, like that still feels like there's a
lot left to the year so that I'm not just like wasting the rest
of it. But it all depends, you know,
It's one of those things like I feel like a grown up planner now
where it doesn't matter as much, where I was very persnickety in
the past with it. Yeah, I find that I'm similar in
the sense that I would really love to start a new journal with
the new year. That's usually my preference.
Like if we get to November, December, I'm like I'm going to
make something work. I'm going to get real crafty
with the type of a deal. I have started a new planner in
September before, but in thinking about starting that,
I'm then very intentional about what kind of notebook I would
choose for it. I will intentionally choose one
that doesn't have like, you know, 192 pages or something
saying that I'm not going to be able to use up in that four
month period. I'll go for something like AB6
or an A5 with the lower page count or something like that.
In thinking about notebooks though, I feel like we all know
what the answer to this is going to be, but preferred brands?
I mean preferred brands right now are Archer and Olive and
Hemlock and Oak just because. I mean this is my first time
using the Hemlock and Oak but I'm really liking it.
I liked it as page numbers. It has line grid option, which
always makes me feel very fancy and it's handling most of the
material that I'm throwing at it.
So there's nothing to be mad at. And then Arch and Olive, I just,
you know, again, like first true love, you know, really kind of
having that moment with them when I've discovered them and
then just kind of growing with them and watching that brand
grow as much as it has and all the different designs, all the
cool stuff that they're doing. I mean, I'm not going to lie to
you, just it has been a little bit weird.
Like for whatever reason, it's not feeding me as much Arch and
Olive content recently. I don't know if it's because I'm
not really kind of talking about those notebooks as much or
posting about them as much. It's kind of odd, but it's just
one of those things where I've always really enjoyed it and
I've liked it, but like, I'm not seeing a whole lot and I think
that's okay. It's just Instagram being a
little bee and not showing me any planner content honestly.
Yeah, no, they're just saving you from your over consuming
self. Truth.
Truth, Truth. Yeah, for me, definitely Ultra
and Olive, they are going to be my preference like pretty much
every time. I don't think that there's been
a notebook recently that wasn't like an R&D notebook or a
scribblebook or something that wasn't an Ultra and Olive
because they are just the ones that I prefer to use.
I love their designs. The notebooks work really well
for me. Every so often I get a lemon,
but their customer service is like unmatched.
So I always like very willing to go back and support a brand that
also has supported us really nicely.
Outside of that though, I think my other preference would be
Tifosi, which they have worked with me before.
They've gotten a lot of their notebooks and gotten to try a
lot of those ones out. But the quality of those is
quite comparable to Art and Olive.
The only thing I will say with that one is that depending on
the notebook you get, especially if you're getting some of their
older designs, the paper can be quite different.
I think that when they were, you know, just coming up and really
finding their groove with things and such, they tried a lot of
different things to really see what would work, which did mean
that they had a lot of variety in terms of what you could get.
So you could get your bright white paper or your cream
colored and your lined and your dotted and all of that type of a
thing. Nowadays, the ones that are
coming out from them are just the bright white dot grid page
numbered notebooks. Those ones go up to a lot of the
time, like 256 pages. So if you need a lot of space,
they do offer that, which is kind of nice, but my preference
alternative. Yeah, I've, I haven't used DFOC
in quite some time, I think since they originally kind of
came out. But a number of people recently
have been commenting on other videos and they were like, I
just got this brand. Have you heard about them?
They're really nice. I really like them.
They're in a good price range. The paper is really great.
So I might have to give them another try at some point just
because it's been a minute. And just see like what the
difference is. Because like you said, when we
got them, they were early on and that paper was just, it took
forever to dry. Everything.
Did I forget what it was like some kind of like stone wash
something paper? I forget what it was, but I've
heard good things. So I need to need to head back
to that brand and see what's up. Yeah, they're much more lefty
friendly nowadays compared to some of those earlier ones.
Super important. All right, well, let's move away
from notebooks to talk about what we put inside of those
notebooks. So the next thing that we're
talking about is rulers, which seems like a weird thing for
someone to be like. It is an absolute essential, but
like it's an essential. So share a little bit about your
preferences when it comes to ruling.
Definitely. So.
In particular, I used to be very, very specific about having
very crisp edges on my boxes. Nowadays I am less anal about
having those really super kind of straight lines, but anytime I
want to measure something out in my notebook or figure out the
sizing of a box or whatever, it is always faster for me to just
use a ruler than it is to count. I mean, personal preferences for
a grid spacing ruler, those are great.
But if we're thinking bare bones essentials, I'm thinking like a
very cheap ruler that you'll probably get, you know, at the
craft store or on Amazon or like something like that.
Really, really kind of bottom of the barrel type deal.
But the things that I'm very much looking for here is that it
has to be safe through because I need to be able to see the dock
grid through the ruler to be able to line things up properly.
And it definitely has to have centimeters because if it's
inches, then it's not going to work with the dock grid because
the dock grid that I use in my notebooks is 5mm or half a
centimeter. So every two boxes is 1
centimeter. You can very quickly count
things out being like, oh look, this is a 5 centimeter space,
It's ten boxes. This is a 12 centimeter space,
you know, it's 24 boxes or whatever and vice versa.
So being see through and being able to do those measurements
really quickly because it's blind with the centimeter
markings, that's really essential for me.
Yeah, I agree with you. If you can get a planner ruler,
super important. I mean the one that I got this
is from Archer and Olive. Every time I use it, people are
like, where do you get it? How do I get it?
I'm like, it came in a subscription box like AB5 size
1. I use this all the time.
Last week I accidentally closed this in a journal that I was
doing some R&D stuff on, forgot that it was there and then
couldn't find it. And I was like, what is going
on? And then I cleaned my office
this weekend and I found it. But when it comes to like that
essentials, I agree with you absolutely clearest.
The way to go, something that I like must have with my rulers
now is there's like a little bit of an an edge that's cut on this
because someone in the planner space told me about when you're
using brush pens or mild liners, if you flip the ruler upside
down where that edge is down, you can use the marker on it and
it doesn't accidentally smear the ink because it gives that
little bit of a gap. And once I learned that, it was
like game on, you know, I was like, oh, now I want to use my
mild liners more. Now I want to use my inkier
markers more because I always hated when you put down that
line and you move that ruling, that little skid mark on your
paper and you're just like, no, like I didn't want that there.
So that's always been a really cool tool.
You know, any time that I have, I have some other like neat
looking rulers that I've kind of collected over time, but every
time I use them, I'm in the same boat.
I'm like, I can't see my lines, I can't see my dots.
I need to kind of know where I'm going because even though I
pencil things in, I notice I don't give myself like a long
enough vertical on that. So like it's just a little
pencil dot on the line and I can't see it anyway.
So I have to be able to see where that line is, because
otherwise I'm drawing straight through it.
Yeah, very that. And I think that you're thinking
about the shaping of the ruler. My preference is always going to
be for that. You know, is it called like a
bevel edge? I don't know.
It's essentially when you look at the ruler straight on or
whatever, from the side angle it looks like a little trapezoid or
whatever that that is always very like.
It's going to be my preference. It'll always be the one that I
tend towards. But I don't necessarily use mild
liners like you do or rule coloured blocks.
I'm much more inclined to either.
If I'm being very particular about it, I'll put down a very
kind of non sticky washi tape, one that I can very easily pull
up off the page and I'll use it to mask off sections so that I
can get perfectly crisp boxes of colour.
Or more often than not nowadays I'll just freehand it and just
go slowly and hope it doesn't get too cattywampus.
So is that I like to always, well, the only time I ever don't
use a ruler with them, it was when I want to have like more of
like a natural looking like color drop shadow.
Like it's OK if it's a little bit off, you know, But then Even
so, I'm just like, get out the ruler, make it look perfect,
Mark, it must be perfect. Yeah, I watched one of my older
videos the other day because we, I was just looking through
things and I saw myself ruling out my lettering and I'm like,
oh, nowadays, absolutely not. Jess would either just go type
something up with a font online, print it off and stick it in, or
she would just avoid using that lettering style completely.
Yeah, that is some I I've done that before too.
And you're like getting all your edges and your angles and
whatever else. I'm like, I love beautiful
fonts. Still got me wrong, but my
goodness that takes forever. Forever.
Exactly. I know, right?
It's OK though. The ruler is still a staple,
even if we're not necessarily using it in that way.
But next category definitely would be writing implements the
tools that we're going to be actually putting the plans onto
the paper. You know, if we're going back to
that idea of something to write on and something to write with,
this is the to write with. But in terms of your writing
tool preferences, what do you got?
Yeah. So I'll break it down into 3
categories, but definitely the one I forgot to mention as we
were planning this episode is the importance of a pencil.
I don't know why I didn't think about that at first because
like, pencil first is always the way to go.
That's how I start all of my plans, my ideas, my spacing, all
of those things before I even touch a marker, fine line or
anything to my notebook. So that is the number one thing
any type of pencil works. Usually a nice light graphite is
good because it erases really nice and easily.
I'm finding more and more that the erasers usually the more
important part than the like the graphite pencil that you're
ready with in the darkness. A good eraser can erase
anything, that's for damn sure. So that's definitely the first
piece when it comes to pens and I'll say non fountain pens just
because that's its own little like fun category.
But like finding a really nice pen that just writes nicely,
doesn't skip, you can trust the Uniball Signo DX, the .38mm.
I know all the specifics of that because I still use that to this
day as my tried and true pens. Just like never can go wrong.
I've never ever had an issue with those pens.
And like that's a rare thing I feel like to be able to say
about most kind of pens. I just like the way it writes.
It's really nice and crisp and it's a fast dryer.
And so for me specifically, being a lefty, fast drying ink
is super important. And then just continuing on to
like the fine liner part of this is just, I really, well, I like
to have a lot of different things, but I'll say something
very, very fine and then something really bold.
And I feel like between that you can kind of make things happen.
So like I like the least just from a minimum stand point
pencil, good pen and like 2 fine liners just to be like yeah I
can kind of do anything I need to do with this line art
writing, you know, gritting out my pages.
Everything works really well. Yeah, I like that pencil was in
your lineup of like an essential supply because I was kind of
thinking about them like, oh, you know, pencil probably good
to have. But for me, that's more of a
nice to have than it is an essential.
Because nowadays the way that I plan my layouts is using my
digital layout planner. I would just always mock it up
over there and essentially make a map for myself in terms of how
my layouts would get set up because I can figure out all of
the spacing in that digital space, chop and change things,
color code it so that then it gives me kind of a visual
representation of what the page will actually look like when I'm
done rather than sketching things out in pencil.
I think in particular because I've moved away from a style of
planning that is very like intricate doodle heavy where you
know, I, I would really want that detail on there before I
got started. It means that the pencil isn't
as essential for me. I'll do all of the planning out
in terms of spacing and sizing digitally instead.
So I guess like that is an essential tool for me.
It is one that I use every single time I go to set up my
planner to make sure that things are going to fit the way I want
them to. To make it so that then if I'm
write a checklist or something, I actually give myself enough
space for a said checklist. But when it comes to the actual
writing tools, for me it's going to be a black pen.
Sure, I know you can in theory write your plans down in a blue
pen, but like, I can't, can't do it.
To me, a blue pen is reserved for like I need to write a
shopping list or something like that.
It is not for the things that I need to get done.
Like blue pen is like a casual pen color.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, too.
School for school. Like sitting in the back of the
class like Pitbull and people or whatever.
That's the kind of blue pen kind of aesthetic.
I'm also like the, you know, front of the classroom here to
take notes down to business. Black pen.
When it comes to a black pen though, and for everyday
writing, it's going to be a ballpoint because I get a little
bit ham fisted with my writing implements.
And if I'm using a fine liner, then that nib will not survive.
Like as soon as I start writing something, when you get 2 lines
in that nib will be bent or blunted or just like it's always
so upsetting when you you get a new fine liner and the tip is
like beautifully rounded and it looks gorgeous.
We have the perfect line weight and then you write like 3 things
and now it's like flat landed at the top and you have to handle
it like a very specific angle to actually get it to write
anything. It makes me so sad.
Anybody who has ever had a Micron pan knows what that
feeling is like. There's nothing worse than
taking out that like .01 millimeter, like basically the
the length of like a hair follicle and, and there's like
pressing it down and just watching it like cut in half or
go up inside the metal piece. You're just like, no, that was
so expensive. I mean, I think everyone
probably has one or two of those in a drawer somewhere.
I know when I did my whole like pen clean out a number of those
and even the thicker ones too, you know, I didn't realize how
heavy-handed I was until I went to go do a writing sample and I
realized that I had like, I don't know the right word for
it, like frayed the like 1mm one.
Like I pressed on it so heavily that it was almost like a brush
pen, like not a fine liner part there.
But I think that's why I like the the emote I think is the
name. Like Uniball makes one that's
like a plastic tip fine liner, which is really nice.
And that way you can press as hard as you want.
It's not going anywhere. But I don't know, there is
something so very nice about like the Super fine fine liners.
Yeah Micron does have a plastic nib one which is my now go to
fine liner but they from my understanding at least only have
it in one line. Wait, don't ask me what it is, I
can't remember, but it is my go to and I do use it.
But when it comes to just getting my plans into my
planner, it will usually just be a regular black ballpoint.
But I'm very particular about making sure that it has a really
good quality of black ink. I need the black to be saturated
and dark and deep and you know, like the blackest of black.
Mainly because if it isn't, I will spend way too long just
trying to figure out like, is my pen running out?
Is it Gray because it's running out?
Or is it Gray just because of the nature of the ink which
distracts me from doing my planning?
How am I going to give my plans in if my pen's distracting me?
So I need to make sure it's actually dark enough that I
don't question those kind of things.
That makes a lot of sense. You know, one of the things I've
been exploring with the pencils are like different types of it
because I used to just use like a mechanical pencil all the time
and then now I'm like, oh, I'm refined.
And they make these clutch pencils, which are super nice
because it essentially has like a really long piece of graphite,
but the tip of it's really cool like grips and clutches onto
your graphite and it just is, it's just so fancy to write
with. I have two of them, one that's
like a big thick boy and then one that's a like finer point.
But it's just like one of those things where you're just like,
oh, I like writing. And so you kind of up your game
a little bit from like fancy pencils into like fancier pens
if you want to. It's one of those things where
it's just like, well, I'm already writing an analog, so I
might as well have cool materials to do so.
So for me as like a collector of things and like liking all these
fun, like, you know, you take a clutch pencil somewhere and then
like, oh, what is that like? Oh, that's so neat.
That's so cool. I'm like, yeah, it's cool.
And it doesn't break when I press down like a mechanical
pencil. Like it is awesome.
So it's definitely like a fun thing.
And I think every planter Powell can relate to like exploring
with those different pens and, and figuring out what you like.
Like you said with certain types of fine liners, for instance,
like part of the fun of it is the experimentation to figure
out what it is. I just wish there was a place
you could go to, to like test them out before you like buy
them all. And then you just have the giant
collection of like 5 different brands of fine liners that
pretty much are all the same. Yeah, I think that there are
definitely some stores where you can test some pens, like they
will have their little tester station, but usually those are
the ones that are, I don't know, heavily available, I guess the
ones that are quite common. So you don't get to test those
more like fringe brands or whatnot.
I love your pencil though, because it reminds me of like
year 10 art where we were told we had to buy Progresso pencils,
which are essentially just like all graphite the whole way
through. I, I, I still have them like I,
I, a lot of my supplies, you know, if we're thinking about
the idea of forever supplies, a lot of the supplies that I have
in my stash and the ones that we're talking about today are
ones that I have had for a good on like, you know, 8 or more
years, sometimes up to like 1520.
Oh my God, how long has it been since I was in high school?
Too long. It's been too long.
No, trust me, my art closet down the basement.
Both my wife and I both went to school for art and design and we
have so much charcoal. You know, all of the different
type of pests. Dells like all of the things and
but The thing is like, they were so damn expensive.
But to our point, it's been a really long time since we were
in college and high school where we had those materials still
holding strong. If you ever feel an artsy, you
just go right down into the art closet and get yourself a little
art product. Go for it.
Well, what I I still have my like eraser that I've had since
year 4 and I still haven't used through it.
So anytime I get a new yeah, well, there's the thing like I
don't don't pencil all that much in, so I don't need to erase all
that much. So just still kicking around my
pencil guys. I use it more often now to prop
up the front of my notebook when I'm just starting a new notebook
and you get that kind of like, you know, ledge going.
I prop up the front cover of my notebook more than I actually
erase things with it now. I just foresee this like one of
those like, absurdly comic erasers with just so many like,
pencil points poked into it. Like every elementary school art
classroom, probably. Hold it up like a little beauty
Blogger. That does that looks like an
antique. That is something you've like
uncovered from like a dig. Gosh.
His robe is falling off because I've had to like, sellotape the
outside cover back on because it's so worn out.
You take. That off Jess, that is years of
finger oil and Greece he'll be. Naked then.
And then I'll just get more years of finger oil actually on
him. True, true, true.
All right, our next section that we're going to talk about right
now. I love this.
I love when Jess adds these fun little titles.
This is called Color Adder. So Jess, when it comes to colour
adding, what is your essential for your planning?
I was very entertained by this category because I was, you
know, reading through the suggestions that you had for
what you wanted to talk about in the episode.
I'm like, Oh yeah, I guess I have something adjacent, but I
wouldn't really pick the one that you've got.
So. Haha, yeah, you're always good
to have a point of contention. For me, it's definitely going to
be Tombos. They are like my favorite.
When it comes to the brush pens, technically speaking, yeah, it
is just brush pens as a category.
I could use in theory any brush pen, but then my favorite and
it's very much one of those supplies that, you know, if I
lost everything, you know, somebody came in and robbed me,
you know, knock on wood, I don't want that to happen.
But if somebody came in and robbed me, what kind of supplies
would I definitely replace? Tombos I would definitely
replace. But brush pens in general I like
to have mainly because that is how I add a pop of color to my
layouts. It's how I can color code if I
want to. I don't do a lot of color
coding, but it is technically how I would do that.
It's how I do my second line highlights in particular, which
can add some visual interest to my pages, but also increases the
readability of sections. It's how I add headers to
different sections. So I'm like, OK, yeah, this is
your routine tracker, this is your meal plan, this is your
priorities list or whatever. The header for all of those is
done with a Tombow or a brush marker.
I think that if I had to kind of pay down to the bare minimum,
like the absolute essentials, it would really be the pale colors
at a minimum. Mainly because if you're doing
second line highlights, especially if you're doing them
by hand and like free handing it and it's a lot easier to make it
look nice if everything is kind of paler, blends into the page a
little nicer because as you're practicing, a lot of those lines
are going to be quite cattywompus, very skew with look
a little wobbly. Most of the time you can get
away with it with the cheerleader effect.
You know, if you do all Neph lines in a row, they kind of all
merge together and they look kind of uniform and OK.
It is a lot easier to pull that off though, if you aren't using
something like super saturated punch you in the throat kind of
a colour. You know, if you have a really
wobbly line, green line, that's a lot more kind of stand out and
aggressive compared to something that is a pale mint or something
like like that. So at a minimum, I'd want to
have the pale colors in whatever brush pen.
If I'm going to get to pick or, you know, actually have options
here, they're going to be Tombos.
Nothing wrong with that. I mean, I think it's important
to have those favorite brands. I mean there are a ton of
different brush pen brands out there.
Some are high and well known, some are low and not so well
known. And I think it's great to have
options, especially depending on your budget.
I mean, when we talk about Tombos specifically, I remember
buying my first pack because when I said her bullet
journaling, everybody was using, right?
It was just like Loystrom notebooks, Tombow brush pens.
And then that was kind of like it Micron for black fine liners.
Like that's what everyone was kind of using.
And I know we've talked about it before with like, you see that
you buy it and you're just like, OK, now I have the entire
collection. For me, the brush pens haven't
always been what it's saying essential, but like how I use my
mild liners though could kind of fall into that brush pen kind of
space because I use most of mine for or the accent colors.
I typically do a lot of my journaling in black pen.
Only recently with adding, you know, fountain pen color to my
pages is there now a color on the page.
But before it was just like black ink all day, all day long.
And I was like, OK, how about like a little pop of something
on here? So I use them a lot for drop
shadows before I found the love of like a smear proof ink, like
the bark on pens or the signals I was talking about before, you
know, you had to highlight first and then right over top of it.
You know, when they finally came out with the nicer pens like the
mark ONS that you can highlight over top of it, then I just feel
like, oh, now I can use them more.
I also will use them similar to you like you talked about for
like headers and things like that.
You know, sometimes it's just a really fun place to use those
and not the chiseled end, but I'll use like the bullet end of
those to do lettering because it's all monoline also.
So like if you like the look of that, it can come across really
nicely. There are so many colors.
So like I don't think that like an essential is having every
color. I would say like my essentials
are definitely going to be like a lighter blue color.
Definitely some types of Grays. It's hard because there's like
cool Gray, light Gray, dark Gray, Gray, Gray.
And I'm just like, OK, it's Gray, but I also really like the
cyan is like always like the blue I end up like picking just
because it's so nice. And then I always will like
juxtapose that with like a really like in your face yellow.
Like those two colors to me are really like fun.
So like, I'll just say cyan, yellow and then like a grey.
Those are like the fun spaces I play.
And do I have every other color under the rainbow?
Yes, absolutely. Do I do.
I use them sometimes, but not often.
You know, just talking about essentials today.
Yeah, I think that it's funny that mauve liners are one of
your essential tools because recently I did a pen declutter
because I'm slowly trying to, I've got a project this year and
pulling a project. Use your shit, essentially.
But it kind of has three parts. So one part is to just use the
stuff I have. Another part is to declutter and
rehome the stuff I don't. And the other one is to be a bit
more intentional about what I'm bringing into my collection so
that I don't come to have to do this project again, is the idea.
And so part of that being decluttering my pens and
whatnot. I got rid of 590 pens from my
collection of over like 1500 pens.
You know, if we're thinking of all of the different sets, you
know, you've got your Tombos and your Hoo Hoos and your Karen
markers. Everything else, small liner
chisel tips got the job. Like I just, I have so many of
them and I'm like, you don't use these because a chisel tip is
not your preferred type of pen nib.
If they had that color range in the brush marker, heck to the
yes, I would drop my money on that because I do like the color
range, but I don't use chisel tips so well, you know, chisel
tip hardliners and maybe you're essential.
That's like one of my, I don't know, I'm just saying regrets.
Well, The thing is, is like working with them, they are very
generous with gifting you things.
So it was like I need to have anything.
They're like, hey, we're going to send you this.
Or when we met up the very first time it go wild.
They're like we have this 800 pack of every single color
rainbow. You want one like Jess, you want
1? You guys want one?
I was like, yes, do I already have these at home?
Absolutely. Do I need more?
Absolutely. Yeah.
When I did my pen declutter, it was in the same thing.
I counted all of them out. One of the reasons I also really
like them specific likely as they write their color names on
the barrel very important for this very color deficient boy.
And so I went through and any of them that I had three or more of
I kept two of the colors in my collection and if I had any 3rd,
4th or whatever else, some I had like 5 of the same color.
I was like that goes into the donate bin and I was able to
call them down, which I think is very good because I don't really
run out of them. I don't use them enough to ever
like honestly, I've never run out of a fine liner before or a
mild liner before. But it was one of those things
though, where I was like, it's OK, Mark, to like, let other
people love these. And I took them to work.
It was like piranhas on me. They were just like, yes, I want
all of these because they're just fun to have.
You know, they're great because you can write, you can see over
top of them. They're mild versus just like a
very bright highlighter. But they're not a marker for me.
They're perfection. I think one of the things that
is definitely a win for mod liners is just the aesthetic of
the pen. Like they are a very attractive
looking pen in terms of, you know, the body and the calf been
having that little pop of color that is against the white or
whatnot. Whereas something like a Micron,
like Micron is an ugly pen. It's just not very attractive.
The best thing you can ever find is like a blacked out Micron
pen, you know, just like all black like that.
I don't know like tannish color that's on there is just.
Not my personal preference, but to get to the job done.
All right. And the last area is a spot that
I don't have an essential here because I don't do very much of
this. I'm doing more of it now, but
not as much. But Jess, you have cutting tools
on here as an essential. So curious about this one.
Definitely. Because I was thinking about,
OK, you know, typical structures I use in my layouts and whatnot.
You know, what kind of things do I use repeatedly time and time
again? And one of those things is Dutch
doors. You know, I like to be able to
trim away a page or cut down a page so that I can either, you
know, do decoration once and have a go over multiple spreads.
Or currently in my weekly setups, I've been using a Dutch
door system that's kind of like a vertical Dutch door where you
just cut away the side of a page so that I can have my weekly
dashboard and then flip it over and then see my daily log
spaces, which has been working really well while being able to
like see the daily logs, see my kind of daily task lists right
next to my priorities list, but then also have the fully decked
out weekly dashboard. Like cool.
So if I was going to set this up with my bare essential supplies,
I'm not just going to RIP off a page out of my notebook.
That's not going to work. Or like it will, but it won't
fill me with much joy and it will probably fill me with much
rage. So in trying to mitigate that, a
cutting tool is definitely going to be necessary.
Just going to use scissors. I mean like you can use a
guillotine. I do have guillotines and little
paper trimmers and such, but more often than not, I'll just
whip out my scissors. Key factor has to be sharp,
right? It has to be like, you know,
screwed together properly or whatnot.
Because previously I have tried working with scissors for
actually for way too long I have tried working with scissors that
are just kind of rickety and they don't bring the blades next
to each other very nicely. And you're trying to cut and the
paper just kind of went bends instead of actually cutting.
And it's one of those things I feel like I do this too often
for myself. I will just struggle through
using crappy supplies because I just won't go and get myself a
decent replacement. I don't know if it's because
I've like worked it up in my brain that it's too hard to find
a replacement, which it isn't because you can like order
things online now and get practically same day delivery,
you know, depending on where you live and where you're ordering
from. But still, I think it might
might just be like the research part of it or worrying that I'm
going to buy something and it's not going to live up to the hype
or it's not going to work very well.
But I found that I, I actually got gifted a pair of scissors.
They're one of those kind of like comfortable grip ones that
look like tiny little garden shears kind of a thing.
But they work so well. I absolutely love them.
They are like the fiskas comfort grip something or other.
I don't know. All of the things that we
actually love. We've linked them in the
description box. It's all good.
You know what there is, but they are absolutely excellent.
The only problem is that, you know, given that one of the key
factors for me for a pair of good scissors is that they're
sharp. Funnily enough, they're sharp.
So more than once I have stabbed my hand on it.
But it's fine. I'll take that.
I don't mind taking that as a battle word because then at
least I've got good scissors. Roots yeah, I guess I don't have
any type of cutting materials of mine is because the thought of
cutting my pages, it just it doesn't make me feel good.
I mean I have like a reaction anytime anyone ever talks about
cutting pages. I get why people do it.
I understand it. I will forever be a faux Dutch
door boy because I'm like, I can't cut this page.
So I just fold it behind and I'm like, oh, look a little secret.
It's behind this here. So like I'll find other uses for
it. But recently I have been
thinking about it though, because I just did a video where
I like journal say which Oh my gosh, I'm addicted to that
freaking store. But there was this this cutter
that's like a ruler and it has this little blade on it that you
like press down and it cuts. And I was like, this is going to
be really cool. And someone in the comments of
the video was like, Oh my gosh, like now you can like easily cut
your pages just like with a slicing versus trying to stick
it under a guillotine or in another kind of like paper
cutting machine or whatever. And I was like, you're right now
will I ever do that? Probably not.
I can't cut my page. I can't do it.
But if you are a page cutter, then like it could be right for
you. But I have been thinking about
it because this also came with a deckled edge slice.
So like I can like cut down a page and get like a deckled edge
cut on it now with like a nice fine straight line versus when I
have those like crappy craft scissors, it's all caddywhompus.
I'm using your words today. It's not a straight line.
It doesn't look good, but I have a feeling this would look really
cool though. Yeah, I know that like you're
using the paper cutter tool like you've got there or one of those
little guillotines or whatnot can make for a very quick cut.
I find that where I start to fall down in terms of like time
saved is getting it lined up in a way that like brings me peace
in the mind hole. Whereas when I cut my pages down
for a Dutch door, typically I will just align the cut with the
dock grid because that's going to be the thing that is most
obviously aligned or not aligned.
So I'll just position my scissors so that they sit
slightly inside of the dock grid and cut away so that then
there's none of the dots remaining.
But I've at least cut in a a straight direction based on the
printing on the page. I like that.
You're very like a straight direction.
Is it 100% straight? Maybe not, but it is cut in a
straight direction. That's what's most important.
And I mean, of course, like, you know, in talking about these
essential supplies, we've glossed over a lot of the ones
that would be very much nice to haves because there are
definitely other items in these categories and beyond that we
like to include in our journaling and planning
practices. We'd love to know from you
planner powers, what are your essential planner supplies?
The ones that by your ride or dies, they're the ones that you
cannot plan without. You're allowed to be very strict
with this if you want to and really only nail it down to the
writing on and writing with or get a little LAX with it.
Tell us all of the ones that you definitely feel like you need to
have when you're doing your planning.
Either let us know in the comments or you can hit us up at
plannerpalspodcast@gmail.com or over on Instagram at Planner
Pals Podcast. And shout out to the official
Planner Pals crew over there on YouTube suggesting an amazing
topic. So thank you all for this.
I hope you enjoy it and don't forget to head over to YouTube
as well for us. You can join us as a part of
this. Get in early, get these episodes
early, vote on things. It truly is amazing.
I mean, you know, just because it's our thing doesn't mean that
it's not. You know, I'm going to say it's
great. Like it really is great.
Yeah, we definitely would love to have you with us.
And as always, thanks for watching.