September is the month where most planners for the following year will be released. Hobonichi Techo Planner 2021 lineup was slowly updated on Hobonichi website in the August and finally opened for sale from 1st September 2020. There are different type and sizes of Hobonichi Techo Planners that you can choose from. But which one would you choose? Following guide will help you to choose which planner will suits you the best.
#1 Purpose
Decide what are you going to use the planner for. Are you going to use it as journal? Office? Notes? Recipe book? Scheduler? Purpose of the planner is important because it will also determine the size and thickness of your planner, which brings me to the #2 point.
#2 Size & Thickness
Size & thickness matters because if you want to use the planner on the go, means the planner may need to be compact size or thinner so that it won’t add bulk to your bag. Hobonichi Weeks is the best choice for this because it is thin and small. Most Hobonichi users love to put this planner in their wallet.
If you need a planner for office where you have lots of notes or minutes that you need to jot down, then you would require a cousin avec / cousin. The cousin is large enough to accomodate lots of information in it and it even has a section where you can plan hourly work in the planner.
Let’s say you want a planner to jot down your daily gratitude, write down first thought comes in your mind when you wake up or you want to write down your dreams, then the Hobonichi A6 techo planner is perfect. The size is small enough to be placed by your side and it has dedicated page for each day. Easy to refer information by date.
TYPE
There are 4 types of Hobonichi Planners namely :
- Hobonichi Techo Planner /Original / Day Free A6 size
- Hobonichi Cousin / Day Free A5 size
- Hobonichi Weeks
- Hobonichi 5 year-Techo
The Day-free planners comes with dated monthly calendar and undated grid papers. Since the Day-free planner is thinner than other, it may be suitable for those who do not want to be confined with notes that are bound to specific dates.
Hobonichi Techo Planner / Original / Day Free A6 size
The A6 planner is the smallest among all other Hobonichi Planners. If you have a lot going on and you need a lot of space to write daily, then the Hobonichi Techo A6 is not recommended. The planner is small enough to be put in your handbag though. The Hobonichi A6 is perfect for :
- daily journal
- budget tracker
- dream notes
- sketchbook
Hobonichi Techo Planner Cousin / Day-Free A5 size
The Hobonichi Techo Cousin is the largest of all other planners. As the title mentioned, it is in A5 size. Compared to other Hobonichi Planners, the Cousin has weekly pages which you can track by hour. This weekly pages is great to those who want to plan down by the minute to be most productive.
Daily page Weekly Page sherlock_bujo
As for the daily section, the Cousin has the most space and due to this there are some occasional complains from users who say that there are too many empty space in their planner. However, for those who has loads to write down or has 1 planner for everything, the Hobonichi Techo Cousin is your best choice.
Cousin Avec has 2 books – January to June and July to December. The main purpose of such way is to cater to planners who do not want to carry heavier A5 around and would prefer to concentrate half year. However, the Cousin Avec can be cumbersome to others who wants to refer to their previous schedule / notes from January to June.
Hobonichi Weeks
If you google Hobonichi Weeks, you will notice that many use it as their planner on the go. As mentioned earlier, this planner often accompanies them with their wallet. That’s because the Weeks is light and small to be carried in their handbag. You can use it to write down your errands, daily expense tracker, habit tracker, children’s school activity tracker, meal tracker, appoinments and the list goes on.
Usually, planners who use the Hobonichi Techo Weeks, have a main planner that tracks everything and the Hobo Weeks is their sidekick that goes everywhere with them. So, if you think that your current planner is too heavy to lug it around, you should pick the Weeks as your planner on the go. You need to transfer the necessary information (eg : errands, expenses) chuck it in your handbag and you are good to go.
Hobo Weeks do not have the day-free version but it has mega size which has 200 plus pages of notes section that you are free to write what you want. The regular Weeks has only about 72 notes pages.
Hobonichi 5 Year Techo
The 5 year Techo is not a typical planner. It has a layout of yearly entry section (by day) on the left side of the page and a blank page on the right side. This planner is suitable for journal, memories or gratitude. It is available in both A6 and A5 size (large). This planner is great for those who like to look back and reminiscence the sweet memory that happens for the past year. Plus side of this 5 year Techo is you don’t have to have 5 separate journals for 5 years.
WHY CHOOSE HOBONICHI PLANNERS?
Hobonichi Planners Tomoe River Paper is perfect for fountain pens or most wet type pens because the paper does not bleed. The planner also lay flat, so when you write on it, you will not be disturbed by rings (annoying part when using ring planners) or books moving up and down which disrupts your writing. Other than that, the square lined planner is favoured more than vertical lined planner.
SUMMARY
Ultimate choice of which Hobonichi Planner that you want for yourself comes down to what is the purpose and the desired size you wish as your planner. Of course, you can choose a blank notebook and design the layout as you like but it is time consuming.
As an avid planner myself, I have tried bullet journaling and other planners but I have always returned to Hobonichi Techo. It has the best layout, best writing experience, best paper and offers wide range of planner sizes.
If you are still not satisfied and looking for more detailed information about the planners, then checkout this page from Hobonichi. For the year 2021, my entire range planners are from Hobonichi.Those who enjoy watching unboxing videos, following is my Hobonichi 2021 Planner Unboxing video.
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