I Quit the Discbound Planner System (and Here’s Why)

[@TheLindajeen]

Over much time, I have dialed in my discbound planner system to perfection (for me). There are things I don't like about it (most notably the size), but the ability to customize things for my needs (especially all my various lists) and the ability to keep my notebook open to my TODAY page on my desk far outweigh the negatives. I used a BuJo for a few years, but I am much happier with my discbound system. To each their own!

[@KalynBrookeCo]

For sure! That’s the beauty of so many different systems to choose from-one for each of our specific preferences!

[@humble.pie.]

How come you don't like the size?

[@TheLindajeen]

@@humble.pie. I use 1.5-inch rings. They make for a bulky planner.

[@OtherDianne]

Our lives are so seasonal and what works for a time doesn't always work forever. And I've learned that it's okay. I like to have the flexibility to change it up when I need to. Now, to be fair, it does frustrate me to have more than one system for an entire year because it can make it harder to find information, but that also doesn't mean that I stick with the same one all year every time. I have used discbound and yes, I like the flexibility, but I don't always love the discs. So that's kind of a toss-up for me. I do like that it folds back on itself so it doesn't take up so much space on my desk. Thanks for sharing all this.

[@michelleadams5609]

This was an interesting video for sure. I'm a discbound user for the past 4 years now, prior to that I had one those super chunky Day Designer, but aesthetics aside, it was not worth the money. Then, I also had a few EC Lifeplanners and went down that rabbit hole. Then, currently, I'm in discbound. I use printables (which I designed) for House projects, Spring Cleaning lists, Maintenance, and a separate Finance planner on TUL Letter sized (which you can get on Clearance for $3.99). I have gotten three so far. Primary reason that I love discbound (for planning) is that I'm lefthanded and I can take the sheets out and set them up the Saturday before and just check things off as I go. --There's a lot of solutions out there for why people stop using discbound, but I've never thought of leaving this method. I don't know where I'd go from here. lol I've done the three-ring, and Filofax (which I still love granted). --If the discs are too big, go with the 1/2". --If you take the pages in an out constantly, I'd put pages like that in a 3-ring folder, but I also have the TUL plastic pockets to keep worksheets like that. Discbound is really only useful for time scheduling and for access. --I guess I love the constant customization of changing the rings for the season, or the cover (My meal planner has pictures of my business's brand on it), or using pictures of my family as covers. Functional Decorative planning became for me a great source of stress relief, especially during Covid, so it has a special place in my heart. I don't do "decorative planning" because that's not really planning but busywork and wallpapering a page with stickers...lol, which I don't have time to do. Then, last year, I went down the Hobonichi rabbit hole and I was convinced that I would buy it, and after looking at all the options, I settled on a different brand and am very happy with it. So, one bound Tomoe River Paper planner, and about 6 Happy Planners. Why so many? Because I have to keep the information separate. I can't put client information, court date info, a shopping list, next to "call the landlord about roof", and "take minerals". I don't understand the 1 planner life. 1) Business Planner--I have a bakery, small though. 2) Budget planner--a necessity and lifeline 3) Bible Study planner--to keep a Prayer list, read and study through. A little bit of deco. 4) Wellness Planner--water intake, food diary, steps, and lots and lots of goals in there. It makes me accountable as I share it with friends. 5) Social Media/Blog Writing--I have 2 blogs, one about the legal world and another food blog 6) Catch All--for everything I also have 3 other "planners", but frankly they're just journals with a daily time aspect to 'em.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Wow, you have quite the set of planners, but it sounds like a great system that works for you! That's fantastic. Thanks for stopping by. :)

[@opinionbytriz]

Thank you for the detail. I love Sugar Paper planners but I want to make my own. I think I've been living under a rock lol Cause I didn't know about these discbound systems. I do also love Filofax.

[@leabunting8125]

I’ve been using a disc bound system for five or six years. Love writing lists on paper because I spend so much time on a computer for work. Also I like to decorate my planner. That being said, since the start of 2023, I’ve been making planner pages from my stash of old scrapbook paper in order to de clutter and to save some cash.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

I love the idea of using up paper products to make it pretty and to save money. Excellent use of those pretty papers that are so easy to start hoarding!

[@kamalani808]

I used disc bound notebooks too. I realized the disc bound made things more complicated, at least for me. Thanks for sharing!

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Thank you for sharing! It's always so interesting to hear what works for each of us and why somethings don't. :)

[@betterbarbie8665]

2023 was my first disc planner year and the biggest pet peeve for me is the noise the disc's make on the desk and the sizes of them. I have a mix for 2024 of disc, spiral, and digital.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

I hope that you're able to find the thing that is perfect for you!

[@amybrevard3800]

I absolutely love my happy planner disc planner I prefer it to any digital myself but I can see the appeal of an app or digital one. Great video!

[@KalynBrookeCo]

It's always fun to hear how thing work for different people! I love that we can each find what works for us, and discbound absolutely has a lot of flexibility. Thank you for sharing and for being here!

[@emilyemm8460]

I’m switching to a hemlock and oak daily planner for this year too after seeing your video (it’s coming today!) - like you, I ended up using a planner AND a separate notebook for my mile long daily to do lists last year…and now that I’ve incorporated notion into sooo many aspects of my life anymore, I found myself not using the weekly planner all that much. We’ll see how it goes!

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Oh, yay! I hope you love the new planner. 🎉

[@jckansas6698]

I am going back to discbound planning because in the past it was too expensive to print my own pages however I just invested in an ecotank Epson printer and printing pages has become extremely more economical because I no longer spend 10 cents a page to print.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

That really adds up, doesn't it? I'm glad you were able to invest in an economical option! It's also so handy to be able to print and try things from home instead of going to pick up things you want to try!

[@laurafreeman3242]

I keep going around and around. I like wirebound because it is smaller than 3-ring and you can fold it back on itself, but you can’t add pages to it. I liked that I could customize discbound and fold it back, but I don’t like how the discs shift if not very full, and really don’t like the feel of my hand slipping between the rings when I hold it. Weird, I know, but it’s a thing with me. So I’m back trying half-page size 3-ring. I can rearrange as needed, add and remove pages, and the zipper around it keeps loose papers in. Better hand feel, but just a tad bigger than I would like (and compact is too small). I’ll see how long this lasts!

[@KalynBrookeCo]

It’s hard when nothing is *quite* right!! I understand that. I hope that you’ll be able to find the perfect fit. Not liking how something feels in the hand is a big thing!

[@wendiilord6851]

WAIT. People don’t have printers at home anymore more?? (Says the owner of two who sent discbound planner printables to OfficeMax yesterday because she wanted them to be perfect)

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Sometimes not! I think it depends for sure, but I’ve noticed less people seem to be keeping them on hand!

[@MaxTheSpycar]

I use diskbound notebooks for my journal. I currently have 2. One being my archive with 2 inch rings, and the second being my daily carry with the smallest rings. Every week Ill transfer out of my daily into the archive, refill the pages in the daily and continue on. Ive been doing this since 2017 and 2024 will be the last year in the archive before I move on to a second archive book. I am also spending a significant amount of time scanning the 500+ pages into pdf and then into obsidian so I can start transcribing them to make digital so I have a backup in case the archive ever gets lost, stolen, or damaged.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Sounds like you've really been able to finetune your system! 💯 Makes sense to have a digital copy for all the important things you want to remember from past years. Thanks for commenting!

[@MaxTheSpycar]

@@KalynBrookeCo For sure! Im actually debating whether or not I want to re-create the TUL page layout as a vector so I can write on my tablet, then print it out if it needs to go in the archive.

[@marym5759]

So I had used disc bound notebooks for like 5-6 years. I currently am not but I enjoyed it. With 4 teenagers and a very busy ministry I can’t for everything in a calendar SOOO when I got my iPad this past year and my hubby encouraged me to plan on that. And I discovered GOODNOTES AND the brain book printables. Make great inserts into my digital planner on good notes.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

That’s so great how you’ve found a way to use the printables and GoodNotes. I know a lot of people find GoodNotes to be an excellent solution!

[@patleonard2884]

Oh, my goodness...I just about fell off my chair when I read your email subject line...lol! I shouldn't have been surprised being that you had already shared what you are using this year, but it was a bit of a shock to see it in black and white. Ha! Now that I can breathe again...lol...I wanted to share with you that I am completely embracing the discbound life this year! I ditched the former planner from the last three years, and I am using a large discbound for our goals, detailed monthly planning, weekly tasks, and meal planning. I did buy a simple monthly planner from the previous company's line because of the fun ideas for each month. A junior discbound notebook will hold my daily, bucket, workout, 30-Day Challenge, and deep cleaning lists. To fill the notebooks, I will be using most of your 2024 Priority Planner, Yearly Goals, Birthday Tracker, Level 10 Life, Vertical Weekly Plan, Meal Plan, and Monthly Memories as well as the ones mentioned above. I LOVE the Brainbook Library, and I spent hours the other day looking at just about all 200+ options to create what I think will be the best planner for me for this year. Thanks to you, I will continue to use Google Calendar for important events, meetings, time blocking, etc., and I will be hanging out with you to learn more about Notion. I want to create a Master Task list and also start working on the incredible Christmas Planner you created. One of my personal goals this year is to learn new skills, so Notion will serve two purposes! I can't thank you enough for sharing your vision through the Brainbook Library, emails, and videos! May God continue to use you and Joseph in a mighty way!

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Sorry to give you such a shock! I am so glad to hear that the BrainBook is providing you with the tools you need! Here’s to a great 2024 for each of us!

[@patleonard2884]

😊 I am excited to try it this way for this year, and I know you are excited for what you have planned too.

[@kristinewithak3616]

I bounce from one planner type to another throughout the year. I had been in personal size ring bound but now am using discbound. I am keeping it very simple. I already had some HL printables so I've gone back to them. The great about planners is yiu can always change if it no longer works for you.

[@kristinewithak3616]

And I'm back in my personal ring planner. I love the cover. Its from moterm and it is soft

[@실눈으로야리기]

That happens to everyone, you really into something then things changes and it brings a shift to another thing. Why not giving a shot to a new thing? I’m going to embark on a new journey with the disk bound binders. I’m kind of excited.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

I really enjoyed my discbounds when they fit what I needed, and I loved how many creative printables were out there! Enjoy your journey!

[@zsofiagroska1367]

My biggest problem with the disc bound system is the special holes on the pages. I got one disc journal as a present, and since I journal, plan and travel a lot, I ran out of pages fast. And I can't follow my good old routine to just hole punch new pages, as I did in my ring notebook. I would have to purchase a new, bulky, pricey hole puncher. However, with my ring planner, I can even poke a hole in the paper with my pen when the need arose during one of my travels. Unfortunately, this was a dealbreaker for me.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

That makes absolute sense. I know the price of the punch and having to have it on hand all the time was a big deal breaker for many others!

[@robinmartin5788]

What I love about discbound planners is everything you don’t like. I love being able to customize it to my own needs. This year I bought inserts from someone else because the Brainbook library did not have what I wanted. Kind of disappointing since I bought a lifelong membership. I also started learning Canva, so I can design my own. I think your lifestyle is different than most, and I believe quite a few people still have printers, etc.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Hi Robin! That’s great that the discbound planner is working for you! What were you looking for inside the Library? We have over 700 active members with all different needs, so we try to offer inserts that would be appealing to the majority. It’s a bit difficult to make sure everyone has the exact design that they want, as you can imagine! But we will still be adding inserts throughout the year so you’ll definitely have some more to choose from!

[@lindaholbrook7447]

I use a Happy Planner that I've use for years. I'm kind of on the fence about them at this point. I like it. Don't get me wrong. It's just the price is getting out of control for me as I'm a senior on a fixed income. I use my Apple calendar on my iPhone a lot and can share that with my husband so that is good because it's mobile and small, but the downsize is it's small. I write large and I like to write. So I have a hard time giving up my paper planner. I need a little guidance to figure out Notion which looks like it would be good, but no one around to help me put that together.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

HP can be pricy for sure! I hope you find the perfect solution for your love of writing and your budget. :)

[@michelleadams5609]

The last two happy planners I got were $3.49 each. 18 month planners, classic and Big. Michaels off season is the best.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

@@michelleadams5609 Yes! If you have a local hobby lobby or Michael's you can sometimes get a deal! Good tip.

[@lisaboxill778]

LOL, I just bought a whole bunch of stuff for discbound planning! I want to use a discbound along with Notion. But I cannot figure out Notion for the life of me. Help!!

[@KalynBrookeCo]

*shameless plug warning* Have you tried the Notion Anatomy Beginner’s course and support group? Notion can have a BIG learning curve, but this breaks it down into more understandable bites! kbcreativeshop.com/products/notion-anatomy-beginner-building-blocks

[@lisaboxill778]

@@KalynBrookeCo I think I'm going to need to suck it up and go for it!! Thanks for pushing me over the hump. :)

[@txmom2jami]

This is so funny, because I had tried another planning system that a dear friend who I consider to be like a daughter designed with her sister and a couple of other people. The problem I had with their planner was that I need more space. So I came back to Brainbook because I had gotten the membership several years ago. I took time and really thought out which forms would work best for me. And now I have a custom planner that I had spiral bound at Office depot that I am really enjoying. I love the forms, I hate disc bound notebooks, so that’s why I had it spiral bound and I’m OK with that. This planner only has the following forms: Monthly Overview, Monthly Calendar, Notes+Ideas, Weekly Schedule, and then two page Week Of: form for more detailed planning. I also included 8 Blog Post Planner pages for each month because I will be writing and posting two weekly blog posts for our local SPCA. Any other Brainbook forms I use are in a separate three ring binder. I love your forms and hope they are always available for our small niche! I printed pages from the different forms and created my own PDF of integrated forms so I could do two sided printing when I printed my planner. ❤️

[@KalynBrookeCo]

I’m really glad you’ve been able to build something that works for you! And thank you for your compliments about the BrainBook forms! That makes me happy that they are so useful!

[@suzan1mal]

I’ve been a disc bound user for 15 yrs. Started with CIRCA from Levenger and then others were available. I’ve tried other notebooks (tried bound Bujos, three ring again). I have 3 printers at home…😬

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Having printers makes it easy to try out new things! I love hearing what works for each person. :)

[@treehugger2718]

I have the hemlock and oak inserts for classic hp size - weekly and am thinking about getting the disc undated daily

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Oh, that'd be interesting to hear how it works for you!

[@fbt328]

Disc planners were great for me when I had more time. I’m too busy now and I’ve switched to a digital notebook. Easier for me to move info, edit, search, erase, etc and easier for me to incorporate photos from my phone. Plus I can still use downloads I purchase from creators as long as it’s a pdf.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

I do think that when our lives get very busy, pulling out all the necessary things for discbound planners can be a bit more time consuming. I'm glad that there are so many options out there to make planning work for so many of us!

[@KJ-gz2vi]

I just purchased a discbound planner from cloth and paper but it won’t be for my daily planning. It will be creativity and business planner. I’m using a regular bound planner for daily use.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

There are so many ways to do this! I love hearing how each person's planning looks.

[@brendalg4]

How do you deal with Notion being so slow? I end up not putting things in it because it is too much of a hassle to wait for it to load.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Oh hum, I haven't really had too much of an issue with it being really slow. What kind of device are you using?

[@ghostyplans]

I tried a discbound book but my toddler liked taking the pages out. 😅 it lasted a week before I went to a TN.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

Haha! I can see how that wouldn't be a great fit-though I'm sure they enjoyed it. :)

[@Debwriter]

I’m not using mine either. But I don’t know what to do with my hole punch and discs.

[@KalynBrookeCo]

I’ve seen them sold on FB marketplace!

[@RobinTaney]

I am a planner junkie and buy something based on what someone said and then ditch it for something else that someone else said was better. Ugh! I have a bad habit of spending a lot of money on a system, using it for a few weeks and then abandoning it because it's so time consuming. I have been using a disc bound planner for several years, BUT all the reasons you hate it are the same reasons I do, too. I have the COZI calendar on my phone that I use for appointments because it reminds me when something is coming up, but I don't really like digital planning. In your video about your 2024 planning system, you said that you like the feel of having a planner in your hand and that's totally me...until I forget to look at it...or forget where I put it. Can you tell I'm ADD?! The issue with my disc bound planning system is that my planner covers are from an old Happy Planner, which is 7x9. I have been getting my printable pages from Anchored Woman and love that (like you said), I can print what I need based on the season I'm in, BUT I hate having to print them at 80% and then cut them down. I tried seeing if I could commit to a page for a quarter and then print them all at once at Staples, BUT they don't do 7x9. So, I'm using an 8-1/2 x 11 discbound because I can print and go, but it's soooo big, and I don't like the way the discs feel, and it still feels like a lot of work. I have a couple coming from TEMU that I may give a try and I have a Plum Planner that's like a bullet journal so I may try that. I have a feeling it's going to be March before I settle on something. 😭

[@KalynBrookeCo]

I can understand! I hope one of your options turns out to be perfect for you this year. Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing with me!

[@wplants9793]

Your first sentence made me laugh, it’s so true and you just came out and said it ;)

[@lillahigdon771]

😊