My 2025 planner set up - Have I made a mistake? [Sterling Ink Common Planner]

[@ErinMargl]

I would say don’t worry about it too much. It’s totally okay to have blank space. I’m moving from an A6 to an A5 and my plan for the daily pages is to basically use them for commonplacing, gratitude, and a “ta da list” (tasks completed instead of a to do list which will be on my weekly pages). The nice thing about sizing up is that it gives you more space to experiment. Try tracking your meals for a week, if it doesn’t work you can try something else. No big deal, it’s your space and you are the boss of it. 😊

[@IllustriousShadowPlans]

Oh I like the idea of a 'Ta Da' list! I think that would be very motivating for me. I need to figure out what spreads I actually want as well I guess, which your comment has reminded me of - I'm likely panicking (figuratively) about something that may not even be an issue. I'm excited now to get stuck in! x

[@reneel2502]

The funny thing is I’m an A5 user and I’ve never been able to figure out how to go to a weeks size. You just did it for me- my spreads need to be on 2 pages instead of 1! LOL! I really enjoy having some white space around my planner. It gives so much freedom to just “do whatever”. I feel it’s calming to have some negative space visually. I know it’s a trend to have all the information packed in but it is nice on a daily basis to have some breathing room on the pages. I would try it. You can always go back.

[@IllustriousShadowPlans]

Ah glad I helped :) Yes, you are right - I think I do fall into the trap of needing to fill the blank space rather than letting the information 'breathe' as you say. Perhaps that will be an interesting experiment in 2025 for me - letting go of the need to cram everything in and submit to the beauty of an emptier page :) x

[@bad_anima]

I'm using an N1 planner (TN Standard size) this year and upgrading to an A5 for next year. Although I am using the pages in the back as one page per day for journaling/memory keeping so I'm not worried about finding a use for them. But I am curious to see what having all of that extra space is going to look like. I'm pretty sure my handwriting is just going to get much bigger haha.

[@IllustriousShadowPlans]

I am pretty good at keeping within the boxes but I can see I might be tempted to go bigger with the handwriting and then it ends up an incredibly ugly mess! (Though that doesn't matter really, does it? As long as it's functional I guess!). On the one hand it'll be nice not to have to spread layouts over multiple pages like my book covers one from last year, on the other hand it's very daunting! x

[@jessicai9976]

Maybe try to draw a line down the center of the notes pages and then use every half like it's own page. I think that makes quite a big visual impact and format wise it'll feel similar to the weeks size

[@IllustriousShadowPlans]

Yes, that's a very good idea! I will have to try that out when I get a chance to have a play. At the moment the chaos of Christmas is making it far too difficult to sit down with my planners and think it through but in the new year I'll have some time for it again :) x

[@angrycatplans]

I've seen many people split the A5 page into two columns and use it that way. Like ru on paper uses a take a note planner for journaling and Ellie's corner also bujo's by splitting the page into two columns. Hopefully you figure out how to best get it to work for you.

[@IllustriousShadowPlans]

Thank you, I will check them out! I believe I've seen Ellie's Corner before (I've possibly mentioned her in an older video with my Weeks? My memory is awful!) but I've not seen Ru on Paper's channel so will look forward to having a browse of them :) x

[@BTeamNerd]

Rachelle in Theory uses planners of different sizes and just recently posted a system for 2025 .

[@IllustriousShadowPlans]

Thank you, I love her videos but seem to have missed that one! When I get chance I'll watch it :) x