Having limped into January with no paper diary or calendar, I’m writing the month off with my favourite ballpoint pen, on crisp white pages…
A very good friend of mine once said to me, “February is such a great time to buy a calendar! There is so much of the year left to plan and you really do get your money’s worth.” (he really did say this without a trace of irony). How I laughed and mercilessly ribbed him. Now I am clutching at these words like they came from a TED Talk by Oprah.
This year, I tried to be all modern and embrace the digital calendar on my phone (apparently this is supposed to link up to a calendar on my laptop – I am yet to find it. I have also just discovered that meme is not pronounced me-me.) but it just isn’t hitting the mark. I need paper pages to thumb, visual reminders, post it notes, treble circles drawn around significant deadlines, underlines and exclamation marks to really make the dates sink in. I’ve also realised that a year-in-view wall planner, looming large and reminding me that time is passing and that I can’t just sit and scroll on my phone until I lose the fingerprints on Peter Pointer and Toby Tall, is a must.
Brilliantly, not only was my friend correct in saying that there is so much of the year left to plan but all the diaries and calendars are now on sale! My favourite stationery find of 2019 is The Happy Colour Shop. SO good! I’ve just bought their wall planner and week planner and I am sure they are going to turn me into an organisational ninja or at the very least put a smile on my face. They also do motivational stickers (see above) and even a weekly plant watering planner! I need these in my life too but I’m pacing myself. Having spent most of 2019 so far nursing sick children and cancelling all work meetings and with only a few days of January left, I am officially starting 2019 from February 1st. Here are my favourite desk planners and diaries in case you need some new year jump leads too.
My new weekly planner from The Happy Colour Shop. I love the tune of the week and tea/coffee/water count.
The planner that will be beaming down at me and urging me to make plans and keep them.
The Happy Colour Shop does great notebooks too.
A chic daily planner book from The Completist, £33 at Selfridges. Surely, a planner to take seriously…
Love this hardback Elvis notebook £19.99 from Papier which can be personalised.
And diaries are now 40% off at Papier. Hooray for penmanship and brinkmanship! (details correct at time of press)
This Papier diary features an illustration by one of my favourite artists Victoria Fitzroy, for their Anyhoe Park Collection.
The Filofax! £32, Selfridges. Tempted to go back to the 80’s for this colour alone and also to be more environmentally friendly. Plus, hard to lose!
This looks brilliant for keeping track of the whole family. Has your week and then columns for writing down what everyone else is doing. Actually, this could potentially change my life! If I got one for my husband too…
Teal Diary, £16, Mum’s Office
Inside the Mum’s Office diary.
And last but not least, this pretty little cloth bound diary from The Rifle Paper Co, £19.99, Lily & Thorn ,which looks like something Anne of Green Gables would have carried about an has very pleasing dividers like an address book. Also in the sale 🙂
