So much of this hits home! Im not happy with the new weeks. Between the writing experience and the fact that no matter what i do it wont lay flat... i fell out of love and have been struggling. Im a B6 girlie at heart, but i have this "fantasy" of being a tiny planner girl... ie A6 or pocket... and they are so stinking cute, but in reality i need another book to accompany it to have enough room... now im just struggling to get the right setup in b6 for my brain. I love that you simplified. Im working on it so i can enjoy my things!! Lovely video!

I have already changed 4 times s8nce the beginning of the year 😂 I think planner hopping is my real passion 😅

I feel like one of the reasons people aren't very happy with their systems this year is because there were a lot of new journaling and related contents last year that may have inspired people to explore new systems, whether that be incorporating new layouts or an entirely separate journal for a specific purpose. Most people likely waited until the new year to try out these new layouts and/or systems and quickly found out that it didn't work for them. That and maybe some disappointment from the high expectations people had for some products that may have been hyped online, too.

I have a July to Dec cousin avec that I'm not using that I'm happy to send you.

I also felt the same way about the A6. Last year I used an A5 Hon and I find the A6 too limiting for the things I want to write about. So I had to buy another A5 Hon even if it's halfway through January. It's sad when sometimes such systems don't work but it's better to know them early on to make adjustments:)

I tried using a TN and I couldn't get it to work for me but I had heard somewhere that some people willl turn the book sideways and write from the bottom to the top, using the sides as top and bottom. Perhaps that would give you ther wider set up? I haven't tried again but it is a thought. Thanks for your honest thoughts.

god i love the journaling community because everyone is sooooo different and what they need is so different - some of your comments you made about the techo or whatever that you didnt like is EXACTLY what i liked about it or what not love your content!

Its great you could move back into your cousin! I found your video very thoughtful. Im glad you were able to really hone and pinpoint what was and wasn't working and find solutions. Happy journaling to you ❤❤❤

Omg that’s me this year too😢

Thank you for sharing this. I’m also totally changing my planners. After much back and forth, trying to make it work, and feeling like I have to just push through and force it until it clicks, I gave myself permission to just start over with something else. It’s made all the difference. For now anyway 😊.

I'm using a small, undated notebook for journaling this year because daily journaling is also not for me and it's going great so far! keeping up with one every day it's not always manageable 🙂‍↔️

Everything you said about your current system really resonated with me and how I am feeling about mine. I want journaling to always be a joy and not a tedious hobby; finding what works for me to achieve that is important. Great video!

Thanks so much for sharing this! 😊💛 I think it’s so important to be able to change your mind. To me it’s so insightful & thoughtful. I can totally relate to wanting a system to work, and working it all out to be a ‘success’...only to find that it just doesn’t fit. I haven’t read the other comments, but I hope you’re not getting too much negativity. If you have the means to be able to change, then I think it’s really healthy to do so! It’s your daily life. For me, my journals are crucial to my mental health. I need to feel comfortable and safe in them...and the layout, size, the tactile feeling of the pages & writing on them...these make a difference in how I’m able to journal daily. I’m grateful to be able to have these things - I don’t take them for granted. And it feels like you don’t either. I’m glad you have changed to what’s best for you right now! 💛🖊📖😊

I've changed gears every 2 weeks since I got my last 2025 planner in November. I realized yesterday that when setting up this week in my main planner, I was literally emulating the layout of a planner I decided not to use in December. All roads keep leading me back to the first planner I bought from the season, which not coincidentally is the one I bought based on my needs that I've used in the past successfully. All of the others were "ooh shiny" and I'm trying to force my life to fit into them. Why do I do this to myself? I need a planner buddy to smack the shiny new planners our of my hand. Figuratively speaking.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts, despite feeling conflicted about it. It sounds like you learned a lot from experimenting with trying something new, and it takes a lot of self-awareness and reflection to recognize when something isn’t working and needs to change. The fact that you felt relief moving back onto your Cousin shows that it was the right move! My journals are working out so far this year because I haven’t changed things much from last year… but that’s because I was too scared to switch things up 😅. I’ve been so tempted to try a daily journalling practice, especially in the Cousin, but I looked at my daily journaling track record and realized it would likely be too much for me at this stage in my life. My daily processing journal isn’t pretty at all, but I use mine similarly to yours - to work through how I’m feeling and build more self-awareness. I can’t have too many restrictions when I’m journalling, otherwise I’ll get distracted and forget about what I need to process. I do like journalling in a TN sized notebook, but it wasn’t until I switched to an insert with a smaller grid that allowed me to fit more on a page (previously, I was in an A5!). I also love my TN cover, so I’m always reaching for it and holding it. Haha I suppose it has become my emotional support book. 🥲 Thanks again for this wonderful video. 💗 I think it is going to go a long way in helping others who may be feeling similarly at this point in the year!

Girl, I lasted eleven days in my Narrow TN with monthly, weekly, and daily inserts. LUCKILY I got undated inserts, so I can move back into them when I’m ready. I moved from three inserts to a cut down Narrow Moleskine. I draw the monthly out, and don’t do the weeklies, but also journal. It’s like the same system but in one book instead of three. 😅 makes sense to my brain that it feels like less work. Idk 🤷🏼‍♀️

Nothing is going to help me because of the general uncomfortable events happening …I need to stop reading the news. I don’t think it’s our books, it’s our saddened hearts. At least for me

With over 40 years of journaling, I have to say that I have never changed my system or my way of journaling. I have changed the size of my journals from A5 to A6 and found that B6 suits my needs more so than any other size journal. Another issue is the Tomoe River paper has changed and the new Sansen version has some issues that many have complained about, and one is the feathering. Loved your honest point of view on your journaling tribulations but don't fret it will all work out in the end. Kudos from NYC.🗽

I’m only half way through the video and want to comment before I lose what I was thinking lol I want to say that I love how thoughtful you are with your journals. I feel that journaling is such a personal thing and to be able to share your thoughts about and how you feel about it appreciated. It has taken me about 8 years of constant abondonment of my journals because the system didn’t work for me. The way I journal is somewhat like you. It felt like a chore to have journal about my thoughts every day. I like to journal when I have things to talk about and things I need to process. But I also want to also capture happenings. And also my everyday. And so I finally found the journaling style that worked for me. And that was the practice of documenting my day in a fun way with stickers. Then only journaling if I want to expand on that. So I get best of both worlds of being in my journal daily but also not obligated to talk/write about how I’m feeling or reflecting on something if I don’t want to. Don’t be so hard on yourself about changing your system. It’s an important thing in your life and you definitely should do what works best for you. You can always repurpose those notebooks. That is what I have been doing. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!! You are definitely not alone! :)

My digital cousin is probably the best thing I've ever made. I actually journal everyday. If I miss a day I back fill. I'm journaling a lot more now and it's working really well for me. I've even started doodling in the pages, which is huge for me. I haven't drawn in forever.

Great video with awesome information. Speaking from experience, I’ve been through way too many already and it’s not even February. I’m strictly a functional planner and I freaked. I’m in a passion planner now and totally thought about it, the PP is brand new too, barely learning it…but I need to find a daily routine, daily planner!!! I may just try an simple stalogy since they are awesome and just try my own method

Question - have you considered using your Cousin’s daily pages for work as well and basically making your HC purely work/life admin? That’s how I use mine and it works really well. Weeklies are meetings/appointments and then just the top few to do’s and then in my dailies I have a more comprehensive to do list each day that I can expand to note down steps involved and/or important notes from meetings etc. Especially if you are ignoring the dates /not journaling every day.

I completely agree it’s helpful to talk through what’s not working and I’ve also found it insightful to hear your thoughtful reflections. I’ve found your flip throughs quite motivating actually to recommit to my books and an experiment with different spreads that work better for me. I’m glad your Cousin offered a safe space to return. That’s so disappointing to see your 2025 A6 had the defective TRP. My A6 was thankfully spared but both my Weeks have the ink spreading and bleed issues.

I’m torn with this because more and more it seems people are becoming completely unable to stick with anything. We’re definitely normalising a lack of self discipline, attention and resilience

If I'm going to be honest, my system is always changing 😣 I like trying out new things, and nothing ever truly sticks. Once I accepted that this is just another part of my journal routine, I've simply adapted to my needs and felt less guilty using what I have I'm not enjoying my 2025 everyday journal because of the paper quality, but I'm not entirely sure if I want to jump ship quite yet. I do know that if I do drop this journal from my everyday lineup, it'll be a backup journal in the future and repurposed for something else :)

Hi! What do you use to print out the movie/show/album covers? Thank you!

Ive also noticed the trend of people not liking their systems earlier than usual this year. It seems to me that a lot of the people who left Hobonichi are struggling to fill in the gaps of certain things that Hobonichi does well.

Oh my goodness! I loved this video. I love honest people speaking about honest feelings. So thank you for your vulnerability. I have a super LONG comment so I hope that doesn't annoy you or anyone. Anywho, first thing is, do not feel alone. I experienced this same thing very early in January and had to completely revamp. I went kind of opposite of you, so I went from a A5 sized to a passport Traveler's Style Notebook. However I am a retired professional makeup artist, so no need for so much space. I also streamlined my "life book" into a concise memory/hobby insert, health focused life insert (utilizing the grid for check offs systems), and a minature commonplace insert. It is always the right decision to change something when your soul is nudging you differently. So well done sister. Last, I get flash migraines and my mother gets frequent longset migraines. Her doctor prescribed Sumatriptin and she has experienced rave results. We also don't eat more than 15 grams of carbs/sugars per meal, (always eating protein first) and opt out of all grains and milk/lactose foods. We both have some rave health improvements to share if ever you have interest. Sorry again for a long comment but there was so much to say. Thank you again for your special videos moonlit! 🤗🩶

Sending you lots of love and good vibes for your notebooks! It’s the worst feeling when they don’t work out like you hope. Looking forward to see what you adjust to 💗

i understand it , for past few years i tried to keep notebook , but ended up not using or ripping pgs out of them cuz of pranoia , but this year i started keeping again and i am more comfortable now , and i think its ok if something is not working the same as u wanted , cuz thats how basically life is , enjoying what u do is really important too

Ive been feeling a little bit similar with my TN. I dont like the weekly layouts, but i do like the simple grid inserts for daily journaling/memory keeping. I plan on checking out the Plotter USA booth at the CA Pen Show next month and maybe I can use that for commonplacing and planning :) ive been telling myself "i tried it, and its not working for me and thats okay. its not a waste, i just learned its not what i needed."

Thank you for posting this. I have been feeling guilty about wanting to abandon a few of my journals.

Maybe something else will come up that will pick your interest back up on a specific journal - like you a notebook is an open space that can change in purpose to serve the person

I’ve been feeling the same way-it’s not even February yet and I’m considering jumping ship to another notebook/system. I just need to get over the mental hangup of the guilt of a DNF. I try to tell myself as long as I’m trying and learning from it, it’s okay lol

I think people subconsciously overthink about it. Like, what am I going to be leaving behind? Or, is my journal worth keeping if I'm just brain dumping? It's a tool, not a history book about your life. You're just going to make yourself hate journaling. :(

Congratulations on winning this gorgeous TN! I love that we’re using the same insert as a Japan travel journal… and imagine my surprise when I see that we’ve stayed in the same ryokan! (I was there in 2018.) Another beautiful video. Thank you so much for sharing! 😊

Ahhh I’m so glad you like it and thank you so much for all your support!! I’m truly grateful to have met you and been able to create a friendship. I’m looking forward to possible journal meet ups, hopefully soon!!

Love what you have to say. You have a great voice. Would be nice if we could see your face.

Appreciate your intro, really thoughtful and validating. I wholeheartedly agree, I couldn’t have said it better. Thank you for sharing your favorites, I’m excited to try the bronze stars!!!

Just seeing the video of someone being inside a stationery store and I get so excited from looking at all the pretty things 😍✨

Wow! Congrats!! you're super lucky to get this! I would love to get my hands on one in the future. Traveler's Notebook has announced on Instagram that they have added this cover to the US TNS line up for good which is great. Sadly, I don't live in the US so I don't know how am I going to get one, but at least it's not a limited edition anymore so there's a slim chance I might get one. And yet that hotel limited edition is a dream cover for me as well, it's so beautiful!

Travelers Company has announced a re-release of this cover along with the brass clip at the end of February 🎉 enjoy your beautiful cover ❤

To me, since we are in the era of being able to access any fact in 2.2 seconds online, the best use of a commonplace book isn't collecting facts. It's remembering that the fact interested you, in the first place. That's a very different thing. Then you can launch your research when you remember it interested you. As an avid journaler of all flavors, it's more than a little annoying when the masses take a specific system and invariably morph into "aesthetic journal du jour, with a different name." Aesthetic/art/junk journaling and planning is already a thing. Diary journaling is already a thing. To-do and straight planning, a thing. Bullet journaling is a specific system. Hybrid journaling is a specific thing. Commonplacing IS A SPECIFIC THING. Obviously I'm not claiming one shouldn't customize. But it's really a problem for people who seek information, videos, blogs on a specific type of journaling and keep ending up with content that really just aesthetic/art journaling called by the wrong name. We need to back that trend down.

You have a nice collection

Did I mishear or do you make stickers?! (The stickers used on your techo monthly spread, I absolutely adore them) & lovely video, I adore watching your content. It’s so relaxing

I also have migraine and was inspired by your health journal when I watched your earlier video where you showed it, and I have started and am using the Monthly Free Schedule notebook from Daiso to track my symptoms. It has a similar layout as the Weeks but is undated with the first half of the notebook a monthly spread and plain lined paper in the second half. I know the more work I make for myself the less likely I am to track so at the moment am writing my notes for symptoms each day in the little boxes of the monthly view and in the second half of the notebook I title the paragraph with the date and write a longer spiel of anything relevant on symptom heavy days that could be impacting my symptoms like weather (I live somewhere where the barometric pressure can shift rapidly and give me a migraine attack haha) or sleep etc. If I can keep up the habit I would love to track more detail in charts like you do! I find I can't stick to symptom tracking when I try do it on my phone! I suppose it might be because there are too many distracting things on my phone like watching KZbin videos hehe. Anyway I thought I would say thank you for the inspiration as it's only been a short time but I already have found it so helpful to start tracking in this way :) I hope the coming year is kind to you and that we may both have a good year with improvement in migraine symptoms haha 🤪🩶

You are right and I try to take it to heart. I often feel pressured by the beautiful journal pages I see online. I am a perfectionist and I don‘t even start when I feel like I wouldn’t be happy with the aesthetic. But it is MY journal and it has to fit to me, nobody else. No one else will see it anyway. Also, if you don’t do something, you can’t make any progress.

currently wrapped up in a blanket & sipping an evening cuppa - this video gives me cosy vibes & appreciate the disclaimer ✨☕

Thank you for taking us along with you and your sister as you went stationery shopping. It was so relaxing to see snippets of your travel and personal journalling as well. I hope your Monday journaling helped set you up for the week. ☺️

Love the clips of the stationery shops and haul! Loving all your videos lately! This one was so cozy ☕