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 this is another episode that has been brought to us by the
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But Mark, what are we talking about today?
Oh, this is a really good one. So got to love these official
planner pals over there. Today we're going to be talking
about trends that we have fallen into in the planner space.
Now, immediate caveat, this doesn't mean that we necessarily
are still doing them, but it's something that we saw online,
saw in a group of people did and said, oh, FOMO, got to do this
too. So we'll be sharing kind of the
good, the bad, the ugly, if we're still using it, if we're
not. And it's going to be a really
great episode. So just I'll go ahead and let
you kick off like the very first one because I feel like yours is
like, yeah, I should have written this down on mine too.
Definitely. And I think that in particular,
when I was here feeling like a discombobulated mess, I didn't
know what was going on. I had like all of these plans
and all of these places, and I'm finally like, I'm going to get
my life together. So not only did I find bullet
journaling, Yeah. But more specifically, I found
that every single person that I came across online was used
using the Lt. 1917. So I'm like, Oh my gosh, I must
have it. That that's the thing.
That's how we do this correctly, right?
To the extent where I feel like there's a very good reason why
Bullet Journal and Lt. 1917 now work together because that
connection is just so strong. And I definitely was an LT1917
fangirl. I was like, you know, from the
first one that I had, I'm like, oh, I'm going to have a full
rainbow of these. I'm going to work through them
in like reverse rainbow order. The first one I got was the
anthracite color because I'm like, oh, maybe I want something
a little more neutral just in case I don't want to, you know,
be carrying around this flashing like a hot pink notebook or
whatever, being like, Oh my gosh, guys, look at me, I'm so
organized. Make it a little more discreet.
And then the next one I got, I'm like, OK, well, if we're working
backwards from like a reverse kind of rainbow water, we'll get
a purple and we got a dark blue, then we got a regular blue.
And then I just randomly got a red one because I'm like, I
obviously need to Start learning Japanese and red is the only
color I can use for that. And then I got a hot pink one
because I'm like, OK, maybe we'll just build the rainbow out
from both ends of the spectrum. And then after I had like 6 of
them, I'm like, OK, yeah, this notebook isn't actually for me.
The paperweight was way too thin.
Being able to see everything throughout, like the entire
notebook on the reverse side of the page and stuff was doing my
head in. So although I was a fangirl, I
did have to kind of, you know, put down my fangirl card
eventually and say, yeah, I need to move to something that has
thicker paper. Yeah, the Red 1 was my very
first one too, and I vividly remember paying maybe $20.00 for
that and being like who the hell would ever pay this much money
for a notebook like this thing? Better fix my life for $20.00
because everything thing else that I had previously was either
a free notebook or, you know, just like a lined one that I got
somewhere else. Mine is a little bit more like
chicken before the egg or egg before the chicken where I
discovered bullet journaling first and then saw everybody's
with those notebooks. So I'm very much in line with
you on this trend too. And I think I only ended up
buying maybe two of them total before I much like you, felt
very similarly to the paper and kind of the ghosting and all of
that just because I didn't know any better.
And then, you know, you find a notebook that doesn't do that,
and you feel if you have found the Garden of planner Eden, you
know you're like, this is special, this is right.
This feels good. No, very that I found that for a
while I was holding out. It wasn't so bad, especially
when I wasn't doing anything that was particularly
decorative, I suppose. But as soon as I started to get
a little bit more drawing heavy and really wanted that kind of,
I guess, art to shine, I didn't want things showing through from
the other side because we just distract from the line work to
the extent where I was trying to, you know, maybe use every
second page in some kind of cases, maybe stick pages
together. But then it's like a cool, I'm
wasting, well, not using in the way that it's intended to be
used half a notebook so that then I don't have this ghosting
and bleeding problem. Why not just get a notebook that
won't have that problem? Yeah.
And some of my first notebooks, I used to put a sticky note in
the very beginning for the pages that I skipped because much like
you, like, I wanted a nice fresh, clean page when I got
started. And I was like, OK, well, I
can't have this ghosting on the other side.
And I definitely made it really far on that sticky note because
I would use those for like collection pages.
Or if there was like a collection that went to like
another page beyond what I had already planned, it was like,
well, that's not a big deal. I'm just writing notes on this.
This isn't something that I'm showing online at all.
But yeah, it was definitely one of those things just like, yeah,
this doesn't make me feel good having to like, read through my
previous writing. And I also was a really big fan
of like, really fine point pens as well.
And you can even feel the pen on the other side of that paper
too. And I was just like, no, no, no,
I want this to be clean because it was at the very beginning of
this Instagram bullet journal, fun time job thing.
And I was taking pictures of it every second of the day.
Yeah. And I think that the
photographing aspect in particular is probably why I
decided to move away from that trend.
If I was just, I don't even want to say if I was just planning
for myself because I probably would eventually have gotten to
the same kind of point as well. But I do find that I actually
quite like an LT1917. If you're just using black pen
in the notebook with like regular handwriting and you get
that kind of used feeling that is very satisfying, but it
doesn't align with how I actually enjoy planning and
actually enjoy using my planners.
And thus it's enough for me. So much like I said before, just
you know, the chicken before the egg or egg before the chicken.
As much as I was on that same Lt. trend, bullet journaling for
me was kind of my very first like planner friend that I
followed. Because when I started looking
into bullet journaling more officially the 2017 ish, I feel
like that was the height of bullet journaling.
Everybody was doing it. All the big creators of the past
were creating. Then I saw what they were using,
how they were using it, which then got me into some other
things too. But I really loved that time for
bullet Journal itself because so many of us were still figuring
it out and we were saying, OK, you know, we're by the book.
Literally, in some cases, reading the bullet journal book,
right? And really understanding what
this method was, why it was potentially working for us, what
was or wasn't working. In that same breath, it's like,
yeah, this is great, I'm doing this, but I don't totally love
this. And then starting to see the
bullet journal morph into kind of more of that DIY planning,
which I think is probably more along the lines of where we are
now. I mean, I still personally
follow the method very much. So kind of how I do my
day-to-day, week to week kind of planning and collection pages.
But I definitely have added my own flares to it to kind of fit
my specific needs. And that's something else that I
really just personally love about it.
I think it's why it's still a topic of conversation is because
it's really morphed and evolved over time based off of users
feedback and just how we use it for our daily lives.
Yeah, I found that at least where I'm based, bullet
journaling was probably was like a really big trend.
But because living at the ass end of the world and such, we
get everything late, you know, You know, when TikTok was
actually like a big up and Comer.
I know it's still around. OK, I'm not that old and you'd
get all of the memes and stuff on Instagram like 2 to 3 weeks
later. Yeah, that's New Zealand.
So I think that I found it probably around the same time
that it was getting big in other parts of the world.
It's just that it wasn't necessarily big here, but it did
capture my interest quite quickly.
So I think that I guess I would probably say that I quote fell
for this trend as well. But I also wonder if I have
ever, outside of maybe a handful of months done bullet journaling
aligned with the original method.
Like there have been elements that I certainly took from it
and terminology in particular that I've taken from it.
But I think that overall as like the system and the practice and
that kind of a thing, I would definitely say that there has
not really been a section of my planning journey that I was a
like bullet journal purist. I mean, early on I was, I think
that's also why I ended up getting the, the, the
Lloydstrom, right? Like that notebook is what
everyone used. And so you felt as if you
weren't actually bullet journaling unless you had their
notebook with their brand name on it.
And, and that was something that I found to be very interesting,
especially kind of growing up with the brand itself and like
learning more about it is, you know, bullet journal until
probably the past few years wasn't really a product.
I mean, it was a method, a product that gets how you think
about it, but it was just one of those things where you could
technically do it in anything. But for some reason, and they
did a great job of marketing it this way, like you wanted their
notebook, which was just another Dockrid notebook that you could
get anywhere, but it felt more official when it had their
branding on. It really made you feel like you
were like a part of something. But no, I would agree, I think
that in particular the fact that they have their own notebook.
Now I, I wonder what this has done in terms of their branding,
because so many people refer to Dockrid notebooks as bullet
journals, but they're, they're not, they are technically
different things. And I mean, you could
technically have something that was a bullet journal that is not
in a Dockrate notebook. Like you could have a lined
notebook that is a bullet journal because you're using the
bullet journal method and the system and all of that kind of
stuff in that notebook. So it's kind of like an interest
point, like the way that the term I suppose is being utilized
by the public versus the intention by the creator and all
of that kind of thing. Not getting into it right here
right now, but it is of interest to me.
Yeah, that's a whole episode just on its own.
Even just recently I was in like a Staples or something and
Martha Stewart has like a package of like a planner and
stuff and it says Bullet Journal.
And I was like, oh, this the how is this allowed?
Because I mean, years ago bullet Journal proper was going after
people on Instagram that had Bullet Journal in their name.
Like how are you letting Martha Stewart do this?
But you know, Bullet Journal girly 69, you know, sharing her
stuff online isn't allowed to have that in her name, right?
Or whatever, You know, it might have been it just it kind of
blows my mind again, I need to stop there because we'll get
into this whole sidetrack about it future episode.
What's what's another trend for you, Jess, outside of the space?
Save us. Bullet girly 69.
I love it. I hope that handle's not taken
and if it is good for you. Bullet journal girly 69 But I
think the next trend for me or the one that kind of like
really, I was going to say punched me in the throat came to
mind is what I mean. The one that really came to mind
when we were talking about this episode is the idea of waterfall
tabs. I love waterfall tabs.
I love the way they look. I love the decorative element.
I like the kind of creativity that goes to designing the pages
because you've got a different amount of page real estate for
each of them. Now, if you don't know what
waterfall tabs are, first of all, they're not tabs.
It's a complete lie. I don't like the term, but it's
essentially like a series of subsequent pages in your
notebook where you've cut down certain portions of the page to
kind of get this waterfall or this kind of like staggered
edge. So the first page you cut down
the most, it's going to be the narrowest.
The next page you cut down just a little bit less, so there's
technically more of the page there.
And then the next one, you've got a little more of the page
there. So on and so forth.
For however many pages you're using, typically speaking,
people will do this for like maybe a main set up in their
monthly kind of set up that they're doing.
So you've got a decent chunk of pages.
So you can really see like that staggered edge.
And typically the staggered edge will then be lined with
something like washi tape or maybe colored in or something
like that. And people do some super
gorgeous and creative things with this.
So not only just using different tape selections or whatever so
that you get like a really cool color palette going, but also
building it into some kind of other decoration.
One in particular that I've seen who've been like waves at the
beach. So they have, you know, the
series, so this kind of staggered edge and then each of
them is done in a different shade of blue so that you get
that gradient so that you can kind of see the beach waves.
It's so cool. So it is definitely something I
have done before, but I also find that it does work better in
particular notebooks, like if you're using a traveler size
notebook, that's not going to be great in terms of page real
estate leftover if you start cutting away horizontally on
your page. Whereas something like a square
or AB 5, like you can technically get away with it in
an A5 as well, But you just need to be mindful of how much real
estate you use and how much like you have left on the page so
that you can actually do your planning and keep your plan of
being functional. But it is one that I love.
I think it's gorgeous. I wouldn't not necessarily say
I'd like, you know, sad that I fell into this trend, but I do
feel like sometimes I just did it for the trend itself, not for
any particular like functional reason.
Yeah, that is interesting to think through it.
I mean, you were the first one that really introduced me to
that idea of them. I think most planner pals know.
And if you're never listened before, I'm not a big fan of
this because I don't like to cut pages in my journal like I I'm
more of a folded over kind of guy.
But it does look really nice. I think that that's definitely
something that I can appreciate about the the waterfall tabs and
how it's used. I know they are and can be
functional tabs as well. I just think as I've shared
before, it's just one of those things that just is like not
totally worth it for me. You know, I might do like a tab
or something like that, but I also have like stationary that
you can add inside of your notebook that adds those tabs.
So I don't have to do it with paper and cut things away.
And you make a great point. And something that that is I
think a really good one overall too, is like you kind of have to
have the space for it to work if you're going to have the
waterfall tabs and be able to see what's behind each piece.
I mean that the first page, you know, not a whole lot
necessarily to write on, you know, as you get into it and if
further back you go. So I think for me that's the
other reason that I don't necessarily love it or wouldn't
again, has never been a trend for me is because I'm just not
likely to do that because I'm just like, no, every inch of my
planner needs to have the option to use it.
Even if I may not use it right or I might not fill it all out.
I want to have that there just in case.
Yeah, and I do find that depending on how you like to do
your setups and such, it can also be something that kind of
almost gets in the way of the functionality.
So for instance, when it comes to doing my monthly setups or
cyclic setups or whatever, the first thing that I like to have
is a calendar grid. And typically that will take up
a decent chunk of a full spread. So if I'm then cutting away part
of a page, it's like, OK, cool. You're either going to have
really tiny waterfall tabs down the side or you're going to have
to put the calendar at the back of the setup rather than the
front. But it kind of makes the most
sense at the front, at least for me.
So it's kind of like a balancing act between the decorative stuff
and making it pretty and having that kind of like, yeah, I get
to live in my FOMO moment versus having something that's like
actually going to be functional for you.
I also find that in terms of waterfall tabs as a functional
thing because some people say like, oh, you know, it helps me
navigate in my notebook, which is fair because technically
speaking, from that very front spread, you can see that tabbed
edge and flip to any page. That's all good, but it only
works in One Direction because once you flip to that page, all
of the waterfall tabs from the first ones that are a lot
smaller, you can't see them anymore.
Whereas if you did something like a regular tab system,
either because you've cut down the side of the page and left a
little kind of like nubbin out the side or something, or maybe
you've gone and stuck tabs that do stick out the side of the
notebook. Which is not my personal
preference because then they just get in the way of things
and they get dirty and bent and whatever.
But some people like them. I feel like those are just more
functional though, because you can use them in both directions.
You don't just have to use them from the front and then as soon
as you turn to the page it's like they don't exist anymore.
It's definitely a more thought full way about going about it,
but I definitely understand the aesthetic and the interest and
the creativity behind it too. I mean, some of the things and
cutouts that I've seen when it comes to these types of journals
are absolutely amazing. Like you said, you've got the
waves I've seen want to say like keys almost like it.
It really makes your journal into like this really cool
design kind of functional thing, but but just look so special.
And that's I think a big part about the personalization side
of the journals too, and why I think so many people also have
gotten into those trends. Yeah, I think the
personalization aspect and like the kind of creative things that
you can really do to lean into a theme.
Absolutely gorgeous. So it's like, I understand why I
fell for it. I get it.
But I think it is one that I'm a little bit more mindful of now
because it's like, OK, you just doing this because it looks
cool, or are you doing this because it's actually going to
help you plan better or something like that?
But what would be your next one that you fell into?
Yeah, so I think my biggest one is behind me on the wall, and
that would be fountain pens. Oh, and also on my bookshelf and
two giant binders as well. And overall shelves on both
sides of me as well. I mean, I really went all into
this. I just remember seeing someone
write with Alami in their notebook and I thought that
looked so fancy and so cool. That scared me because I wasn't
sure what a fountain pen did exactly.
I think in my mind's eye it was this old stodgy thing that
leaked everywhere, you know, and that, you know, only certain
people could use it. And that was well before I found
modern fountain pens and kind of the beauty of them all and it
now look at me, you know, years later with quite the collection
of them. But this is definitely a trend
that I'm still on. That would be a very sad thing
to not be on this trend anymore after all these years.
I think for me, what I really loved about it, you know, from I
saw to what I'm doing now, is just really enjoying writing.
You know, we all have our favorite pens.
We've talked about some of our Planner essentials and past
episodes and definitely talked about our favorite pens and
tools that we've used. The fountain pen to me is just
like another level of personalization.
It's how am I feeling this week? You know, am I feeling extra
glittery? Am I feeling expensive?
Am I feeling, you know, cheap? Get the work done.
And then being able to mix that with fountain pen ink and all of
the different colors and combinations that you can make
out of the kind of those two things together really get me
excited to write inside of my journal.
Like I really look forward to pop and open a pen and writing
with it and seeing what the ink looks like on the pages I write
with it. And really just kind of came
down to like a handful of people at first, but then now that I'm
like really in it, I'm following more people who are also in the
fountain pen. So I just see it, you know, 3-5
times what it was before and it makes me really happy.
It feels like you're part of a little community.
It's probably a pretty big community, but just seeing how
different people use them, what they do with them, it's always
been very cool to me. So I'm glad I hopped on this
trend. I'm glad I'm still a part of it,
and I'm glad that I'm also helping and hopefully inspiring
other people to use fountain pens as well, because it's a lot
of fun. No, I am definitely marked safe
from this trend, but I am so glad that you are carrying it
for both of us. I do.
Do you have a video walking through your entire collection?
I did a video a while, maybe a year or so ago, yeah, where I
walked through kind of everything.
It's definitely grown since then, but yeah, I've kind of
talked about all different ones, price points and things along
that line just to let people know.
Like there is kind of a different approach to it
depending on what you want and what you need from it.
So. So yeah.
No, I think that I wish that I loved anything as much as you
seem to love fountain pens, I swear.
But I do. I understand what you mean
though, about like, you know, getting to have not only the
different kind of pen itself and its design and the nib size and
the nib type and all of those kind of things, and then pairing
that with a particular in colour and you know, whether it has the
shimmer or the glitter or like whatever else and such.
That personalization aspect is really enticing.
I can understand that. Again, I'm still marked safe
from it because I'm just going to be over here using my mark on
like this is fine. But I do appreciate that it can
kind of help you. Like, you know, side note, I'm
very much into this idea of romanticizing life right now and
just like making the mundane feel fancy.
And I feel like fountain pens are like right in there like
they are. They've set up a tent, they're
part of the camp. All right.
I think that you're being able to make your writing feel
special in that way. There is something very
appealing about it. Yeah, there totally is.
I think that's really what got me into it as well.
I mean, I got into it with just regular black ink because I
thought it looked so nice and so fancy.
And then, yeah, you start to get deeper and deeper.
And now I'm so addicted to finding different types of inks.
And there's a lot of stores too that will organize them by the
effect that you're trying to get.
So if you are looking for a shimmer ink, you know, they'll
kind of organize their site by that.
My favorite are like high. Shading inks.
And so that's like as you're writing with it, like it kind of
pools in certain parts. So your, your letters have this
really cool different gradient to it depending how the ink is
drying or how light or how dark it is.
And that's kind of that romanticizing part of it.
You know, after I finish my weekly and I look back on that,
it just has so much character in the letters.
I'm just writing down notes and tasks for work.
I'm not writing poems or love letters or anything like that.
I'm literally like, e-mail this person about this project.
Don't forget to, you know, submit your timesheet, you know,
But I love the way those look on the page.
And so I think that's really kind of the big part of it.
It's just kind of grown and grown and grown where at first
it was literally just black ink Lamy pen and then now it's like
this giant collection with way too many inks.
Yeah, I do think it helps to make the mundane feel more
special. And I like that point that you
had about what was it, the shading inks or whatnot.
Because I have long been the type of person who is like, I
want the blackest of black ink. If there is like any
imperfection, if there's any kind of like gradient or shading
or whatnot. No, that pen is dead to me.
I do not want it. But then you gave me Iris and
TikTok Croc. I find does that, or at least
the way that I was writing did that.
And I'm like, oh, oh, look at you with your little like
inconsistencies looking so fanciful.
We love that for her. Iris now actually has black in
her, though she's good. She actually got filled up.
So this is what the platinum carbon something or other, I
don't remember what it's called. It's yeah, it's black.
So this is good. I like this.
I write with this, but my other two fountain pens that I have
because I have 3 now look at her go.
She hasn't filled up the other two yet.
I have my problem is that I fill them up and then I don't want to
waste the ink even though there's not a whole lot inside
of the the converters. I know that but so right now I
have 1234. I have 5 pens that have ink in
them from the past five weeks, but that I'm using a totally
different pen right now that just has like regular black ink
in it. So it's those things where it's
like, I love to write with them, but then I'm like, well, I've
moved on from that color and that, you know, theme and that
thing for the week. Like one of my pens has like
it's called blood Fall is the name of it.
So it's this very like iron red, brownish kind of color.
And it looked good for that week and kind of how I decorated my
page and the pen itself. But like, I wouldn't write a
note with that because probably a look at that be like, EW, this
looks disgusting. Why are you writing with this
color? Like it's one thing to write
with blue, but now we're writing with blood, rust, orange, red.
You know, yeah, I think that's the thing that I also fine with
fountain pens and like, inks in particular, I love the way they
look when they're swatched out. I love the little ink bottles.
I think they're absolutely gorgeous and cute and just like,
wow, I can very much take that like, you know, Pokémon Go to
catch a ball, kind of like mindset to it if I was not
careful. But at the end of the day, I do
just prefer to write with black ink on paper and be like, yeah,
easy. Everything is consistent,
especially if it's a pen that I can just pick up and go with.
I know that when you fill them up, they last a long time.
Iris has definitely proven that to me.
But I'm also like getting messy fingers, the heebie jeebies.
Oh my gosh. So I'll let this be your trend
and I'll just be on the sidelines.
Like whoo go Mark. Well, what can I cheer you on
next, Jess? What's your next follow up
trend? I don't know if this is what we
should be cheering for, but there's definitely one that I
fell into. Oh, and I think that this one
actually is kind of like A2 parter.
There's like 2 kind of aspects to this that in my mind, I see
them as separate trends, but they do feed into each other.
So first one first, I think that over time, I kind of fell into
this mindset after seeing other people and or they were doing in
particular of this kind of more is more decoration and the idea
of like, how can we bring even more decorative elements into
something to effectively turn each set up into a little work
of art. Now, I'm not out here spending
three weeks doing a pencil drawing for a cover page.
Some people are and it's great and I love that for them.
And if that's how you want to use your creativity, more power
to you. But I did find that like the
time required or the time that I felt was required to pre plan my
plans before I put them into my planner so that I could execute
on my plans and get my plans done was ludicrous.
Like I was spending several hours figuring out how I was
going to set up a page or how I was going to bring together a
theme or how I was going to have everything laid out, which was
good in a way that I was thinking about it because then
it's like, OK, well, once you actually get it into your
planner, it's going to work really well for you.
But it also meant that I felt like I couldn't put anything
else in there without doing the same level of rethought, which
kind of helped me back from putting things into my planner.
And part of this was that war is more style of decoration.
So figuring out like, you know, how to marry everything together
in such a way that it was functional and decorative.
So that was one part of it. But the other part of this was
that when you're trying to bring a whole bunch of decoration into
your layouts with that more is more mindset, you are so at risk
of falling into the overconsumption pit of planning.
And I do feel like for some people, consumption and the the
buying of suppliers, and I know that like we joke about this as
a community, it's like, Oh yeah, buying supplies is a separate
hobby to actually using the suppliers, haha.
Is it though? Like, because at the end of the
day, I have way more fun using the stuff than I do acquiring
the stuff. And acquiring the stuff just
gives me like, you know, more money, more problems, kind of a
thing. Like if I have too much stuff,
then it's like, cool, now I have to do a whole bunch of like
admin work to manage the stuff, make sure that the stuff isn't
going bad, make sure that I'm using the stuff.
Like obviously depends on what kind of stuff we're talking
about here. But washi tape goes bad.
Like eventually the stickiness fades, stickers go bad.
Eventually they fuse to the sticker sheet and you can't get
them off anymore. Ask me how I know.
So I just found that like I was in this mindset of like, oh,
everything needs to be new. Everything needs to be fresh.
You can't do a theme you've already done before because we
need to have novelty. Otherwise you won't like it.
And that's not actually the case.
Like some of my favorite themes I would definitely do again
using supplies I still have because I loved the theme so
much the first time. So it's like getting myself into
this headspace of like constantly acquiring and
constantly needing to get more and such.
But then pairing that with my, oh, got to hold it like a
dragon. Every sticker is precious kind
of mindset. It's like this is these are two
conflicting mindsets that do not work well together.
It's like, yeah, I've got to bring in more stuff, but also
I'm not allowed to use the stuff because if I use the stuff and
the stuff is gone. So definitely fell victim to
that one. Wasn't great for me.
I mean, I have a respect for that type of planning.
I mean, after our conversation with Aaron and her sharing a lot
of her insights about how she does it, I was able to like walk
away from that conversation and that episode feeling really
confident and like taking on some of those pieces.
I think for me, and this is definitely, you know, like we
just said, like the this is your trend and this is your thing.
I have no need necessarily to fall into this.
I have bits and pieces and mostly when it comes to like
washi tape or paper scraps or whatever that is, but I'm not
really putting them together. Often they're there.
Sometimes I will think about it, but it doesn't mean that like
I'm actively doing that. And I think for me it's mostly
just out of not being comfortable with it.
Like we talked in that episode with Aaron is like, I just, I
don't feel like I have the skill set necessarily to do it.
So for me, I don't worry too much about really adding a lot
of that inside of my journal. And I don't really have a drive
or a want to. Every now and again I'll get
like a little like, oh, I should do something a little bit extra
this week. I had some extra time or I saw
something online and I'm like, oh, I have to do this.
But I think once I really get into it, though, I just have
kind of almost like an adverse reaction because it looked
really great when it was odd on my phone in my hand looking at
it. It does not look so great inside
of my notebook right now. And they're like, I'm mad at
myself about that. Yeah.
I kind of got into this space of really needing to consider, am I
changing my planning to accommodate decoration or am I
using decoration to embellish my planning?
And that second one is really what I kind of wanted to be
doing, but I found myself very much in the first camp.
So it's like, yeah, we've kind of changed the way you go about
doing your planning just so that you can accommodate these
decorative elements rather than using it as a way to kind of
like, make planning fun and incentivize you to get in there.
Because I know I'm the kind of person who needs to have at
least some decoration so that it is fun and it is enjoyable, and
I'm more likely to get in and actually use it and get stuff
done. But I need to make sure that I'm
not like falling into that other side where it's like cool
decoration first, functionality second, kind of a thing.
Yeah, I think that many of us have stumbled on that when we've
tried the trend and we saw something online and then, yeah,
you're done and you're like, and where do I right, Because this
thing is just covered with photos and pictures and tapes
and stickers and everything else.
And you left yourself like a 5 by 5 square to write your entire
week's To Do List. Like it doesn't work out that
way. Obviously that's a very extreme
thing, but I've been there before where I was like, oh,
decoration, all these things. Then I go to like write in my
notes and I can barely fit like a full thought in a column.
And suddenly my Monday through Friday, you know, dated column
where I was like, oh, I'll just do daily logging in the column.
I'm already on Wednesday. It's not the end of the day on
Monday yet. You know, it's just like I focus
so much on the planning, the layout, the different pieces
that I'm completely forgetting about the actual like my
personal user experience of that page because I went a little too
far to the decorating. So I feel you on that one.
Yeah. And I think that you can kind of
have a similar thing when you see something online, you really
like the style of it or the look of it or whatever.
So you try and recreate it in your own planner or your own
journal and then realize it's like, oh, actually this is just
not aligned with how I plan. I found that in particular
dealer with certain horizontal layouts because I feel like a
horizontal layout does usually lend itself well to certain
types of decoration and the layouts end up looking so damn
cute. But I'm the type of person who
likes a long ass list. Like I need a full column of
space per day because I'd be writing every single tiny
granular task that I need to get done.
Because that's the kind of thing that makes me feel like I have
my stuff together. And it makes me feel like my
mind isn't like a noodle mess because I've actually gotten the
thoughts out of there onto paper so that I can prioritize them
and make sense of them and all of those kind of things.
What would be your next one? So my next trend is very, very
new to me. I just had someone on YouTube
tell me that I'm not doing this even though I'm calling it, but
that would be junk journaling. I'm a very specific type of junk
journaler. And this was a trend that I saw
online where people were using the stamp punch out paper punch
and stamping out papers and things for magazines and cards
and then, you know, collecting them essentially inside of a
notebook. So I started doing that because
I really love of aesthetically how it looks and I've just been
like all in on it for, I wouldn't say maybe a little over
a month now, I've created several different pages that I'm
very proud of with it. And I think what I like about
it, it's almost the opposite of what you were just sharing
about, like feeling as if like, you know, you've decorated a lot
and now you're not able to kind of fit the functionality in
there. What I love about it is that it
doesn't need to be functional at all For me.
The way that I'm utilizing it is very much just straight creative
creativity. It's, you know, creating themes
out of different little pieces of paper that I have.
It's, you know, really, you know, putting a story together
in some cases or trying to match colors and patterns or not try
to match them at all. And I've been having so much fun
with it. And that's why I like, I get a
little, you know, iffy when someone tries to tell me that
I'm not doing it right. It reminds me very much like
having flashbacks of when I started bullet journaling and
someone's like, oh, that's not how you bullet journal.
Like if someone's telling you that junk journaling has no
rules and you can do whatever you want, then why are you
telling me that the way that I'm doing it is not junk journaling?
But I think mostly it comes from just the spot of like a lot of
junk journalers. And if you're not familiar with
junk journaling, it's really just take, it's called junk
because you're really finding paper scraps and ephemera and
like different things like that and kind of collaging it
together on a page. Maybe because mine is lined up
on a straight line and it has a a specific theme with the
stamps. Maybe that's why some people
feel like it's not junk journaling.
But to me it is. And I absolutely love it.
And it's something that I also don't feel this like desire
necessarily to make sure I have to keep up with it every single
day. It's just like a creative
exercise I can do when I want to.
Yeah, I also, you know, hearing this, this person saying it's
not junk journaling. I feel like it's just a really
good time to highlight the fact that like, just because you have
a thought doesn't mean you have to share it.
Because I also, you know, outing myself here or whatever.
I saw your video about junk journaling and I did have a
moment. I'm like, does that actually
count? Like, is that junk journaling?
And then second thought was just who the fuck cares?
Like, why does it matter? You know, if I'm out here saying
that I'm not the bullet journal police and like, I don't care if
you're like, you know, carving your notes into freaking like a
Tabernacle or whatever, then why do I care whether Mark calls a
junk journaling? But also where we have like, you
know, this very specific picture in mind when it comes to certain
things like junk journaling and particular, I just assume that
this person, and probably me to an extent, has this very
particular image in their mind as to what drunk journaling
looks like when it's finished. And that doesn't necessarily
align with what you're doing, but that doesn't mean that what
you're doing isn't junk journaling.
Yeah, I'm literally making art with junk.
Like I have a video over on my YouTube that I took one of the
value pack ad envelopes and literally punched things out of
that to create a page. It is interesting.
I mean, I totally get it because I mean, in my mind, what I like
the part that makes me feel comfortable about the way that
I'm doing it is that there is some structure to it because I
don't feel confident enough to create something that's not
structured. So being able to, you know,
punch out something that's in the shape of a stamp and line
that up on a horizontal line and, and have even space in
between each of those on a page like that makes me feel
comfortable. That makes me feel good.
Like, again, I'm excited at the end of it to, to be finished
with it. It's similar to like when I do
like the stamping radial patterns and stuff like that,
that's just something that I like to do and someone would be
like, that's a Mandela or whatever those things are
called. I'm like maybe, but I call it a
radial stamp pattern. Like again, who cares?
And I think also it's like similar things can have
different names because technically speaking, like,
yeah, it is a radial stamp patent because it's radial and
you did with stamps. Like that makes sense.
It's just a descriptive name. And in a similar way, a mandala
is kind of radial and has a repeating patent or whatever
else. They can be similar but have
different names. That is fine.
And you can also have it that things that look completely
different also fall under the same umbrella term because junk
journaling, if we take it at face value, is like, OK,
journaling with junk. That's what you're doing.
You've just given yourself some guard or some guidelines to help
make it approachable. And I think that that's a great
thing to do. Like especially when creativity
can be so open-ended and can be so scary because of it.
It's nice to have that in for people by giving them some kind
of structure or guidelines around something that makes them
feel more comfortable. So me and other Nelly naysayer,
you don't, You don't pay us 2 minds.
It's all good. You do what you're doing, Mark.
And I'm having so much fun. Exactly all.
Right. Jess, what's your next big trend
that you're on? So this one, I feel like I've
actually come through the other side of, or at least I'm slowly
getting there. And this would be the trend of
the fat planner stack, you know, where people have at the end of
the video like this is my planner stack or what they're
now calling their planner ecosystem.
I can't. Oh I very much.
I prefer ecosystem over like planner stack personally.
But I'm like, it's not an ecosystem.
There's no ecology anywhere to be seen.
OK. Please like somebody who knows
the is it etymology? It's not entomology.
Somebody who knows the history of the word ecosystem, please,
like hit us up in the comments and let me know what it actually
means and where it came from. But in my mind, I'm like your
fleet of notebooks or journals or planners is not an ecosystem.
Like sure, things can work together and stuff, but I'm
like, it doesn't feel very eco. Anyway, that aside, the trend
itself, the idea of having multiple planners in your stack
of planners or multiple journals or notebooks or whatnot,
definitely one that I fell victim to.
And I feel like in particular for me, this was because
previously made a lot of content about planners and journals and
notebooks. So it's like, OK, well, we have
this way to like, you know, justify the amount that I had is
probably the best way to word it because it's like the more you
have, the more content you can make.
The more content you can make, the more like valuable your
channel is very kind of like cumulative causation.
It's like, Oh yeah, we'd get more notebooks so we can make
more video about notebooks, but we want to make more videos so
that we get more notebooks, yada, yada, yada.
And in a way, I do appreciate that I fell into this trend
because it just helped me fast track my learning about what
works for me as a planner and what doesn't.
You know, which parts do make sense to have separate from
others, which parts need their own space versus the ones that
don't, which parts can be combined, which parts can be
done in a different size or style or whatever else.
But I also think that it, you know, going back to that last
trend of the overconsumption and such, this was also used to
justify the accumulation of notebooks, of which I have quite
a few now. I've gotten better, though.
I did a big declutter. I got rid of over 100, and I
don't mean got rid of a like went down and burnt them in a
fire pit or something. They've all gone to new homes
now. But I do think that it's
interesting that you can have a trend where you kind of like
regret falling into it, but at the same time you very much
value what you got out of it or what you learned on the other
side. Yeah, I think there shouldn't be
any shame or or feeling a failure if you didn't keep up
with something. I think that's the whole part
about experimenting with our planners and our materials and
things like that. I mean, even going back to like
the junk journaling thing, it's like maybe the way that I'm
doing it is just the gateway drug to eventually creating
something more, you know, stereotypical junk journaling
pages, right? Like I have all the stuff to do
it. It.
It's just about like how you're putting together kind of in your
same way. I mean, I think the reason that
people call it an ecosystem is just because in that case, and
hopefully it's the right way, it's elements that are working
together to kind of create a sphere of a thing like, yes,
ecosystem and all of that is very much based out of like
nature and stuff like that. But the whole idea of it really
kind of like integrating with each other, working together to
create it. That's why I like the like the
the idea of a planner ecosystem versus the the stack because the
stack to me is almost just like a collection of all the
different planners that people use together versus the
ecosystem. You can see essentially having
multiple notebooks that are there to try to accomplish a
similar goal or to compartmentalize one's life, but
it's still kind of is contributing to the larger one
person, right, that's utilizing that.
I think that the thing that gets me about the term itself is the
eco part, because in my, you know, mind eco, ecological
living things, some people could argue like, Oh yeah, my plan is
a living document kind of a thing.
But I'm like, just call it a system.
Then it could be your plan, a system.
I would have no qualms with that term because I feel like there's
no way that I could fight it. And I don't think I would
because I feel like that just makes more sense.
But as he was saying. No, I mean, it's a it's an
important part. I think if you're taking it
literally, it's the water interacting with the soil and
then the soil interacting with the sun that interacts with the
flowers, right? That like creates the ecosystem.
Like I totally get the sign. It's the science nerd inside of
you that can't let go of that, right?
But like from a big piece like I call like the Applesphere,
right? The idea of all of the Apple
products working together in some way, shape or form, right?
I'm like, oh, you're 100% inside the Apple sphere when like you
have the iPad and the laptop and the phone and you know, like you
have all of those things and they all work together.
I think that's kind of a similar type idea here.
So maybe it's like a planner sphere instead of ecosystem,
right? It's just the idea that it's
all-encompassing as a part of like a goal or end.
But I though similar to the kind of what we were just saying
though, like I think it's probably not that important to
really differentiate between it. But like a planner stack, like I
said before, is just all the different things that you're
using together. I don't know that necessarily
they're all working together. They might, like I said, just be
like different parts of your life that you're bringing out of
there. But I'm the type of person like
I've never fallen into that because I think the most that
I've ever like had of a stack was like 2.
Maybe 3 at a time and that was just way too much.
I'm like, I can't, I can't, I couldn't do it with two When I
tried to have like work and and life separate.
I, I didn't like even for the podcast.
I created a whole notebook just for this podcast and I don't use
it anymore because I don't put things there like I would write
it on, you know, like one of my like cards or something like
that. Instead, it doesn't really fit
its purpose now. So like I don't need to add
another one to my one journal that I have now essentially.
So I mean, I feel lucky on this one too because I mean, well,
no, no, I'm a liar because I also now do have that like new
like trifle Jenny BIC one that I'm using for my junk
journaling, which eventually will hold an A5 size Archer out
of notebook for my next journal. So like technically it's a
stack. It's 3 notebooks that are just
held together with some elastic but I think.
It counts. It's just like a mini stack
because what? In mine, I used to have the
everyday journal, the yearly collections journal, the long
term collections journal, the reading journal, the notes book
for like personal learning, the R&D notebook, the five year
notebook. I had the scribble book, the
brainstorming book. That probably more so like my
stack was like 9. And technically speaking, they
did all have separate functions. But it got to a point where it's
like, will I actually think to go back and check in with this?
Is this the natural place to go check for that information?
Does this align with how I actually want to do my planning
anymore? So technically speaking, I do
still have a stack. Currently I have the everyday
journal, I have the five year journal, I have the reading
journal, and I have a goal planner and a scribble book
because we love a scribble book. But the rest of them I've either
moved into Notion or I just do on scrap paper.
It didn't need a notebook for it.
So I think that going from like 9 down to five, that's pretty
good. I was going to say going from
9:00 to 5:00, then I'm like Dolly Parton pops up.
What a way to make a living anyways.
I love it. I love Dolly.
That was like one of the very first movies I ever saw and I
was like, this is a great movie. And then I love the song too.
So perfection I love. It didn't even know it was a
movie. So I feel like I learned to
think today. But what's your next trend?
So I would say like my final trend that I kind of, well, not
kind of that I really got into is stamping inside of my bullet
journal for functional reasons, but that has of course morphed
into more designed elements as well.
I remember seeing, and I cannot remember her name, she was in
one of those Instagram pods that we were a part of and she used
to stamp her notebook pages like exclusively.
And she did so good, like ridiculously good.
And I was like, well, if she can do it, I can do it.
And I started to dabble. And that is really where I
started to waterfall because when I realized that I could
essentially almost like create like a printed page in a way
utilizing stamps. I got the absolute perfect
lettering, lines, elements. I didn't have to draw anything,
but it was still ink on paper. And that made me feel really
good about myself. Like that is just how it all
started. I think that was it.
Ashton plans. Yes.
Her stamping stuff made me like gave me the cute aggression
because for the longest time I didn't realize they were stamps.
So I was like Oh my God you're drawing everything so perfectly
and it looks so good. And I loved the kind of like
clean and minimal look of her pages.
And I feel like she only ever really shared them before the
pen. God, that was so good looking.
Never afterwards. That's how people know what
you're doing. But gosh, it was so cute.
I had so many of her pictures saved in my Instagram save
folder for like, future inspiration that I just never
acted on. But obviously you did.
Yeah, I I'm into the extreme that I have, you know, 2 crates
filled with stamps now. And for me they really do kind
of fall. I would say probably 70% of them
are functional. Now do I need 5 different sets
that say Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday and
weekend? No, but I do I need the
different fonts. Yes.
You never know how I feel. Sometimes I feel like a serif,
sometimes I feel like a sans serif, but I also kind of see it
as like that stamp of creativity, pun intended there
though, like when someone like Carrie Bradford for instance,
you know, comes out with a new font or something like that
letters blocks that very much like a line with whatever I want
and what I like in my journal. I'm an instant buy everyday
explorers coat like they're another one that like literally
they just put out some of the coolest stamps.
They're really great quality and early on I didn't realize the
importance of that. Like I was just going to the art
store, the craft store and I still do it now.
Like, for instance, like I just got this stamp set here.
They're just drawn houses, right?
But like, I could I do this probably like if I really wanted
to, am I going to know because I just have the stamp and I can
just stamp it on my page. And so like now when I see those
things, like I'm like, oh, that's my style.
Like I would totally use this. I can almost envision how I'm
going to use it on my page versus back in the day, I would
just buy it just to buy it, be like, maybe I'll use it.
But I think that's just like the excitement of it.
And I've even come to the point now to Jess, because I know a
lot of people don't like stamping because they see it as
like advanced level, like Aaron was like stamping's advanced
level crafting for me, I love and hate at the same time, like
get a little extra ink on the page or like, you know, getting
the extra little corner because you press too hard.
Like I used to really hate that, but now I just accepted it
because I know I can't get rid of it anyway.
But it just adds like a fun personality to the page.
It really becomes a part of the stamping way.
I don't know if that's the right way to put it, but I think
that's why I really fell into the trend, really.
Because like you said it, it looks nice and neat.
It can be. And then I can go ahead and take
that to the next level and like make an entire belligerental
page out of it and love what I'm working.
With yeah, I think that if I ever got into stamping, I would
be very much in camp, like way too anal about it.
Like as soon as you get that kind of little corner as much be
like, because I think that part of me likes that idea of the
kind of imperfection and how it becomes very much like like a
symbol of the fact that it's handmade, which is kind of nice.
And I think that in certain themes and styles, I could
totally get on board. Like if I was going very
scrapbooky and very like, you know, torn people, organic kind
of looking with little stamped headers, I could probably make
my peace with it. But something like the way that
Ashton was doing hers, where it was very clean, very minimal,
very like, you know, precise line work, the black ink on the
white page and just very crisp, like, oh, if you got a corner
smudge on that, I'd be like, no, no, no, cannot do this.
Like stick something over it. Get out the whiteout.
Stick the pages together. Start again.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. So this is definitely a trend
that I could say like, yeah, it was a good one.
I'm in pretty deep, you know, I've got a lot, but I'm getting
to the point where I'm really organizing them and making sure
that I'm getting uses out of them and just being thoughtful
about it too. You know, sometimes it's so easy
to be like, ah, not worry about it.
But I'm just finding, you know, I sometimes I'll just look at it
and like, I'll pick one up and be like, OK, build around this
theme, you know, and that's a lot easier.
They're trying to sometimes fit like your stamp into what you're
already doing. Like I kind of start from the
stamp and let that inspire me. So I think that's just a really
fun way to plan in journal and I'm all in.
I do love the reusability of stamps as well.
Like if you get a sticker set, obviously you use the stickers,
the sticker set is gone unless you're buying a digital sticker
set and then printing and cutting them yourself.
But stamp, you don't have to do that.
You just ink it up, smack it down.
Probably lighter than smacking things down because that's
probably how you end up with Smudge City.
But that idea of being able to use it as many times as you want
without having to have like either multiple packs of
stickers that you're purchasing or buying like a big ream of
like sticker paper to use or whatever else.
I do love that aspect of it. I just feel like I'm kind of,
you know, over there with what Aaron was saying, like that's a
high level skill. I'm like, you know, too low
level in terms of my ink anything journey to be able to
do it in such a way that aligns nicely with my persnickety
biscuit brain. Because as soon as I get that
smudge on a theme that isn't supposed to have smudges, it's
it's a no for me. I can totally understand it.
But Planner Pals, we would love to hear from you.
Did you fall victim to any of these trends or were there any
others that you fallen victim to either for like, you know, the
good, the bad, the ugly? We would love to hear.
Let us know either in the comments if you're watching on
YouTube, or you can hit us up at plannerpalspodcast@gmail.com or
over on Instagram at Planner Pals Podcast.
Thank you so much to the YouTube Planner pals joining the channel
and the club. I don't know what we want to
call it. Maybe we will eventually come up
with the name, but what a great topic this was today.
So if you'd like to contribute in the future, as we mentioned
in the beginning of the episode, get episodes early, make sure
you head over to our YouTube channel and you can join from
there and start immediately receiving all the benefits.
As Mark said, we would absolutely love to have you with
us, but for today, as always, thanks for watching.