It's that time of the year again, believe it or not. Time to decide on my 2026 planner line up.
I received no compensation of any kind for mentioning these brands. This is what I'm using or thinking of using and I bought (or will buy) everything myself.
I posted in August about creating my own writing planner from the Erin Condren dashboard layout planner, and since that's 18 months, it will take me through 2026. So far, it's working exceptionally well for me on the weekly level. I keep forgetting to look at the monthly calendar or the monthly dashboard.
The command center planner, the one that keeps me on track, will be another Journey planner. The Journey planner is fabulous! It's the meal section that makes it perfection for me. It also comes with the months, a vertical weekly layout, and dated daily pages.
I have a new strategy for using the monthly pages. Instead of only keeping track of appointments there, I also bought itty bitty icon stickers to keep track of things. Now I can tell at a glance when my lawn guy came (lawn mower), what day I cooked (spatula), or when my cleaning service came (spray bottle). This is easier than what I was doing--putting it on the daily pages and then flipping through to find what I need.
Even after spending 2025 in the Journey planner, I'm still trying to figure out my weekly pages. I have the weather there (I like that) and my word count for the day recorded there (as well as my writing planner), but keeping track of weekly things that need to get done? Well, nothing I've tried has gotten me to actually do the things.
Then there are the daily pages, which really work for me and my ADHD. I'm compulsive about checking off the items on the daily list, so I get those done.
I need an Everyday Carry (EDC). This year, I am using a Sterling Ink N2 size horizontal planner. The compact version with fewer pages. As it turns out, I didn't use anything except the monthly pages, so for 2026 I'm going to buy the N2 monthly booklet and an N2 notebook. The notebook means I can switch it year to year if I don't use it.
I'll also get the Sterling Ink vertical weekly booklet in the N1 size. That's traveler's notebook size. I use it for time tracking. I tried to use it for time blocking, creating a schedule ahead of time, but that didn't work at all. Tracking after the fact does work for me.
I also need a journal and this is where I'm more up in the air. I like the B6 size, so I'll stick with that, and I know it will be Sterling Ink, but I'm not sure if I'm going to get the weekly version with the 365+ pages behind the weekly spreads or buy the daily planner. I'm not using the weeklies at all in this year's B6 journal since I'm time tracking in the booklet, but if I buy the vertical weekly, I could maybe time track in there and skip the booklet? On the other hand, I could just buy the daily planner and not have to worry about dating any pages. The debate will have to be settled very soon.
For 2025, I bought Hemlock & Oak and didn't use it, so I'll re-date it for 2026 and use it this year. I'm going to try to do a list every day. The Currently list where I name what I'm reading, what I'm writing (although as slow as I am, I think it will be what chapter I'm writing), what I'm listening to, etc.
For 2025, I also bought a Just Scribble Plans. I really like the layout, and it might have been a battle between it and the Journey planner, but sadly, the one I want is only sold in two volumes. Command Central can not be two volumes, so I'll be skipping this planner this year. I really like to support small planner companies, but having a duplicate planner in my office is just too much repetition for me. I stopped filling in this year's in July. Too much work to keep everything synced and for very little value added.
I'm tempted to try the Aura Estelle this year. I nearly tried it last year, but I'd already bought so many planners, I couldn't find a use for one more. Maybe this year? Another topic of debate.
Finally, the Hobonichi Cousin. I took that for a trial run in 2025. If the boutique planners like Journey and Sterling Ink ever go away, the Cousin is the way I'd go, but it's a distant third. There's too much work needed to cover up quotes and fixing the timeline on the daily pages and other stuff. But it's nice to know that there is a big company making a planner that would work for me should the smaller companies stop creating their planners.
I think that covers everything from last year and the planners I'm looking at for this year. You know I will be talking more because planners are a passion. There are some changes I'm making to how I use Command Central, so maybe I'll post about that some time.
