So I have been on that very common, almost inevitable back and forth deciding if I need a personal or an A5 sized planner. (Kikki K calls it medium or large). I have tried both now, and their are pros and cons to both.
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Everyone is different and everyone's lifestyle and needs for a planner are different, therefore one persons solution will not fit everyone. Also, you may run with a system for a time, then realise you need to change it after a few yrs as life changes, and that's okay! So firstly, for now, take these 5 thoughts into consideration:
1. What parts of your life will go in your planner? All areas? Or just a few?
2. Do you want to use more than one planner? or would you prefer an all in one?
3. Do you want to decorate or keep it simple?
4. Are you a list maker, or an avid notetaker?
5. Do you see your coming year to become busier or less busy than it has been?
So lets take a closer look.
Do you want to use it for one sole purpose? For example a home management system along with maybe some contacts/addresses and birthdays? Or perhaps you need it for work, like an appointments book, and your tabs would consist of a calendar for bookings, a few lists and an "ideas" section. This kind of planner use, means that you could most likely get away with using a personal sized (medium) planner. It's portability is great and its a neat little package for someone who either has a specific singled out use for their planner, or wants to separate a few of the different things going on in there lives into different planners. (Some people have a home management system in a large file folder which stays at home all the time anyway and they only need a small planner to use like a calendar and reminder book). Another reason to go for the personal sized planner, is if your a minimalist, or want to be, and are able to keep things simple. Personal size are great for list makers, not note takers. If you find most of what you jot down is in "to-do" format with a tick box and a few words each line, and you don't find yourself elaborating in any way, or writing down full details for something, or note taking and brainstorming, if these things aren't something you want to do in your planner, then a personal (medium) is perfect.
If you want an all in one system that has everything from monthly and weekly calendars and home cleaning routines, to a place for work bookings/orders, a blog section, and personal section to plan out home projects, creative endeavours, family details, ideas and brain dumps... If you're the kind of person who likes to write. Who likes details, and/or, likes to decorate their planner, my opinion is that you NEED the A5 sized planner. In my experience. I started in an A5, was cruising along nicely for a few weeks and got this nifty idea in my head that I could fit it all into a personal sized. I saw a youtube video of a mum who has 7 kids, homeschools and has other stuff going on in her life and she used a pocket size at first! (Smaller!) then moved on up to personal size. When I saw that I thought... WELL! I only have two kids (one on the way) and my life is about as busy as hers... so maybe i'm just being a "bigger is better" person with no need for it? So I purchased a personal size planner (medium) and gave it a go. I am happy to report, I did fit it all in... however sad to report, only just. And only because I bought a Kikki K planner. Their later medium sized planners have huge rings compared to most personal sized planners. They have 30MM rings wheras other brands like filofax only have 23-25MM rings (big difference in such a small package).
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However, although I can make it work, it isnt ideal. Although I love the small, cute compactness of it all and carry it with me everywhere, I just cant get into it. I am restricted. I have managed to jam in my monthly, weekly, home section, family section, personal section, blog planning section and work section all in one planner. But I feel somewhat trapped. Like I have nowhere to go from here. I find I am sticking post its in there all over the place as I run out of room. Or I stick a to-do list over my weekly spread each day to map out my day in better detail. I also perceive that our families life-responsibilities will expand over the next year, and there isn't really room for that either. For example, my work section next year needs to be almost double the paper because we will be getting double the work with me being back in action (preggo at the moment and not working much with our business). I also plan on this blog growing and have big ideas and my old blog was much less of an intense endeavor and that's the one I have in there at the moment. Not to mention I only had my personal sized planner for a week and a half and it was full... I will constantly be thinking of new things I want to add and its gonna get cozy in there.
Another reason personal size isn't working for me, is that I have discovered that I like to decorate my planner. Not like some of these amazing, detailed, more-pictures-than-words kind of planners that I love looking at so much, however I really do like sitting down and using washi and stickers and so on to pretty up my weeks. I can barely do that in a personal size because I need as much writing space as possible. I thought I wouldnt bother to decorate much, or that I wouldn't "have time", but I find, the prettier my planner is, and the more personalised it is, the more i want to be in it and the more I want to use it, and the more organised it helps me to be. So spending an hour here or there making it pretty or more suited to my needs, really pays off on the day to day. I need my planner to be a place of creative expression. It helps me to stay motivated to use it and bigger picturing it? It makes me more productive.
My main struggle with the A5 was the idea I had in my head about it's size. It is quite the step up from a personal... and many people carry on about how it is much too big to lug around with you. How it just isn't the right size for portability, and for some reason I just went with that train of thought... however, using my noggin to stop and think for a second I almost had to laugh at the thought.
Two types of people who probably really do not need to worry about the A5 size:
1. Uni Students. You carry how many books every day? how much do those books weigh? How big is your bag you take to uni? ... A5 isnt really that much more to take around with you is it?
2. Mums: ...Like me. When I leave the house (especially because we are semi-rural and have to take much more with us than most because each trip is pretty much a day trip), I need to bring a large baby bag, and usually an additional bag to the baby bag. Along with a small eski to keep the kids food and drink in, a pram, and if we are going to church, our bibles and notebooks, which I don't like to put in the baby bag because they can get squashed, bent outta shape etc. So I am kind of carrying everything but the kitchen sink... an A5 Planner is but a drop in the ocean and the least of my worries!! Even when I can sometimes manage to pack "light", my bag is still big enough for an A5 planner, because even packing light means I still need items for myself and children in a large bag. So..... large planner? no problem at all.
So Im currently in the process of moving back into an A5 and am so so sooo at peace about it. It just suits me and my needs. Yours may be different, I can't tell you which size to use or which you will need. You will have to do what I did and experiment. If you can even source a very cheap planner in both sizes you can test it out. personal size planners can be found fairly often in op shops and online generic no name ones aren't expensive in this size. The A5's you can buy from places like department stores or cheaper-end specialty stores like Typo. You can spend about $30 between the two of them and have two planners to experiment with, that you may even be able to sell when you decide what you want (if they are 6 ring binders anyway). Besides that, decent planners hold their value very well. If you get yourself a Kikki K or a Filofax for example, you can sell them for the same price that you bought them (or even more sometimes crazily enough) as long as you took care of them.
So just try out both if you really cant decide. Go just the one for a few weeks or months, and if it doesnt work, move on, change it up. The beauty of planners is that they can be a source of enjoyment. It is not a chore to play around with them ... well, maybe for some it might be! But just remember to keep your needs and purpose for the planner in mind when deciding what to go with at first. Take another look at the "5 thoughts" at the top of this post again and hopefully it'll help you take one step closer to making that weirdly hard decision of what size planner to get.
Then of course you'll have to struggle through what type of layout you want... you know, 6 ring or spiral bound or notebook or midori... and if its a 6 ring... a week to a page? or a week to two pages? day to a page? Normal traditional layout or that cute square looking system etc etc... yep its enough to make your head spin. Sorry, cant help you with that one, still working half of it out myself! But... one step at a time my friends, that's the road to planner peace, and to an organised life, baby steps. Just enjoy the experiment!
Hope this has been helpful in some way!
Love Terri-lee
XoXo
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