2018 Moleskine Hack Part 1

Hello, 2018!

It’s another year and another chance to put together (or agonize over, depending on how you look at it) my planner system. I know I’ve said (repeatedly) that I wanted to be more frugal and was very determined not to buy a Moleskine planner a couple of years ago. But I failed miserably.  I did succeed last year when I bought a MUJI planner instead (which was way cheaper).

This year, I want to be even more frugal. And I also wanted to see what local products I can use as my main planner. So here are my stationery finds plus what I ended up buying as my 2018 planner.

Clockwise from top left:  1.) Grid notebook by HEMA (€1) | 2.) Fenella Smith Pug Notebook (£8.50) | 3.) Notebook by Daiso (₱88 or about $1.75)  | 4.) National Bookstore 2018 Weekly Planner (₱279.75 or about $5.55) 

 

1.) Grid notebook by HEMA (€1)

This  wonderful A5 grid notebook is from HEMA, the  Dutch lifestyle shop that sells everything from candlesticks to make-up. I’m just in love with it!   I bought this notebook in the Netherlands (in a quaint little town called Abcoude) for 1 euro. I can either use it for logging my expenses and storing receipts or as my draft notebook for my leather craft designs. We’ll see.

2.) Fenella Smith Pug Notebook (£8.50)

Isn’t this pug notebook just adorable?  This was a gift from my sister in law who lives in the UK. It has 70 beautiful blank pages, perfect for journalling!

3.) Notebook by Daiso (₱88 or about $1.75) 

As you probably know already, another shop I’m in love with is DAISO. It’s where I buy my storage boxes, coffee filters and stationery  (among others). This notebook is such a  great find because of the combined grid pages and craft paper pages, all for the bargain price of 88 bucks!

4.) Stradmore 2018 Weekly Planner (₱279.75 or about $5.55) 

And my planner for 2018 is… (drumroll please)… National Bookstore’s 2018 Diary!

Surprisingly, it’s…very nice. I love the faux linen cover with elastic closure. The year stamped on a piece of leather and stitched on the cover is a nice touch, too.

I also love the layout of the monthly calendar grid and the weekly planner plus the matching ribbon bookmark. It’s all very similar to Moleskine’s.

And to be sure that I won’t miss my old Moleskines, NB even added an expandable inner pocket!

And did I mention that the cream acid free paper is 80 GSM? I prefer this over Moleskine’s 70 GSM because this means ink won’t easily bleed through the paper (which is my problem with Moleskine).

So there you have it!  My wonderful stationery finds. Up next, I’ll talk about my tools and accessories. Here’s a preview:

 

How about you? Have you chosen your 2018 planner yet?  Tell me about it in the comments section below!

 

Food for Thought:

And the idea of just wandering off to a cafe with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss.

-J.K. Rowling