One of the first purchases I ever bought to start my adult life was my Filofax. I loved that I could keep my day organised in one place in a beautiful leather diary. (There is a magic in the smell of leather that always intoxicates me.) For years I faithfully used a Filofax to organise my day. Then I started writing full-time and the Filofax remained unused in the bottom of my desk drawer. I just didn’t think that a Filofax fitted my working-at-home creative lifestyle any more. I wasn’t attending meetings and keeping up to date with business appointments. So why did I need an appointment diary? I simply didn’t.
But there is something both actionable and relaxing to writing down a day’s plan. As of late last year I started becoming more interested in tracking my writing. I needed something to track my writing to-do’s and tracking how much writing I was getting done. So I started the hunt for finding the perfect app, tool, method. I tried out a number of iPad apps and zoned in on a few favourites…But something was still missing. I realised I missed writing things down with tangible pen and paper. As a self-confessed irredeemable stationery addict, I have beautiful notebooks all over the place. But I wanted something more structured than a notebook.
I needed a Filofax style planner again. I got out my old Filofaxes but they just weren’t zinging for me. They reminded me of sales targets, left over memories from my past in sales. They were also all in a personal size (A6) which was the perfect size to throw into my handbag while out and about but didn’t suit my at-desk lifestyle now. No, I knew I needed a fresh new style of planner: one that didn’t look so business-like. I knew I loved the leather ring binder style but wanted something more feminine, more creative and less business-like.
I found the perfect planner. The lilac and gold KikkiK large (A5) planner. When the planner arrived (about a month ago) I knew this was my perfect planner.
The leather is beautiful: soft to the touch and with a delicious squishiness to it that my Filofax never had. The colour is just amazing. My three favourite colours have always been red, mint green and all shades of purple. There was a mint colour available in this planner but since I already had a mint Filofax I wanted a colour I didn’t already have. So this purple with the accent of tiny gold diamonds is perfect. I also love that KikkiK refreshes their colours every season which means that once each colour sells out, there is a new colour. I love limited editions of anything.
When I was on the KikkiK website ordering my planner, I couldn’t resist getting some gorgeous new stickie notes. Because you can never have enough stickie notes.
Getting Personal
Wow, what a difference it is to have a planner now compared to some years ago. I used to always just stick with the standard Filofax insert refills because really they were the only option. But now there is a gold mine of DIY templates online to personalise and customise your planner.
I loved the KikkiK notes, to-do (the fact that the to-do is tearable is fantastic), monthly and weekly inserts that came included with my planner but I wanted a daily planner insert as well. So I started hunting around for the perfect one. After many fun trial and errors of downloading a few different designs and even designing one myself, I still wasn’t happy.
Until….
Design Your Day with Day Designer
I stumbled across a beautiful planner, designed by Whitney English, that hit the nail on the head for how I needed a daily planner to look. The only problem was that it came in a large A4 coil format. But to my joy, there was a downloadable undated template that I could print out and then insert into my beautiful KikkiK planner.
- I love that this template is undated. This way I don’t have blank days scattered throughout that hound me with guilt.
- I love the times that have been put there. From 5 – 9 (no definite am/pm: perfect for a night owl). Also although this section is traditionally used for appointments/meetings I use it mainly to time-block my day. So I schedule in my exercise and my writing as blocked out times. I can still use this for appointments as well.
- I love the top 3 priority to-dos. This way I know that I must get at least these 3 to-dos done for the day.
- I love the “quote” section. For a quotes junkie I love theming my day with a quote so this little addition is wonderful to a daily planner.
- Likewise I love the “download” section as a Brain-dump.
- I love that there is a section for a daily gratitude too.
Overall I am thrilled with my new planner. It is the first thing I go to on my desk in the morning and there is a supreme feeling of ticking off what I have achieved at the end of the day. I am thrilled to be back to paper&pen daily planning. I still love my many productivity apps as well but there is something special about a tangible paper&pen planner that lives on your desk/in your handbag. Now the test will be to see if I don’t succumb to more KikkiK planners in other colours. For now I am supremely satisfied with this one.
Tell me how you plan out your day?
Are you all digital/paper&pen/hybrid?
Tell me about your favourite planner/organiser?
Kim Koning 
I love the English planner layout, but i don´t like the coiled ones. So I did the same as you, print the freebie and that´s my perfect page. You have to check the other freebies. Love them.
I just recently bought a kikki.k medium planner and I can’t wait to use it! they came with quite a lot of supplies already (with a decent price since I got it 50% off) but your ideas are going to be great for me to try out for organizing internship information/ as a journal!
I use a PaperBlanks week-at-a-time diary for recording what I’ve been up to work-wise. It includes month planners, a removable address book and a document pocket – and it’s only about A6 size. Most important of all, the paper is thick enough that my fountain pen’s ink doesn’t bleed through. They come in a variety of styles – mine has a red cover with gold tooling and a magnetic closure. Love it!
I like that daily quote idea, though. I do have a quote on my blog each week, but that’s not quite the same.
Hi Deborah 🙂
I use a Paperblanks journal. I love the paper – especially for writing with fountain pens. I also love the antique styling of this brand.
I have not tried out any of their planners though.
Mmh…you are feeding my obsession. 😉 Now I am going to have to try their planner range.
Got to love a place for a daily quote! 🙂
A fellow KIKKI K lover! ❤
That is a really beautiful set-up. I’m trying to get my own writing Filofax going at the moment, and you’ve given me so many ideas.
It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to organise my writing schedule but for now I am really happy with my planner set-up.
I have been so inspired by so many planner enthusiasts myself and am flattered that I have inspired someone. 🙂
I have used something called Daily Planner over here, or a planner I got from Writer’s Digest. Problem is, I forget to use it. I need to find something like what you have. I wish someone would make a planner specifically for writers. Yours is about as close as I’ve seen yet.
Believe me, I researched A Lot to find the perfect planner template that would work for me and would work in my KikkiK. I thought I wanted something full of colour, and designed my own template but when I printed it out and inserted it, it just looked too busy.
I do love the Day Designer template. As I said though, there is a Gold Mine of template inserts for planners now available. It is just a question of finding the perfect one that works.
Good luck in finding the perfect one! Let me know what you bed up with. 🙂
Kim, hat off to you for being so perfectly organised. I don’t plan at all! That’s bad. Very bad! I think I need a planner!!! Next week I’ll invest in a paper&pen planner. Cheers 🙂 Irina
Ooh…love that this post inspired you to go paper&pen for your planner.
You’ll have to post what planner you end up going with. 🙂
OK. I’ll probably just go to our local newsagent first.