For Shame!

LOL…

Because ya know — ya gotta laugh at your Self some times and I’m laughing heartily at me right now. Why? Because I was SO excited for the year to begin so I could begin my Hobonichi Journey. I was bound and determined to use the Cousin and have a one book year. And the year came! And I started out great!! And then I realized: “This will NEVER work!”

ROTFLMFAO!!!

Not that it won’t work as bullet journal. That part of it is a breeze. Not that it is too heavy to carry around every day — a complaint of many. I carry 3 Hobos (now), a Stalogy, and a Seven Seas Crossfield every day. Not that it could not function as my “one book” and give me what I’m looking for in that arena. It could not be laid out more perfectly for that.

It is because I absolutely cannot STAND seeing the mixing of work and personal life!

The saddest part of that statement?  It’s because I can’t stand seeing the bullet journaling — the “work” — strewn in between my personal journaling, when I “wax philosophical” (some of you will understand that), when I doodle a picture or take a selfie… It is an intrusion into ME! I give that job 40+ hours of my life each and every week and on the weekends when I’m in my hobo, I end up giving more time to the job because I see some loose end for work that I can quickly take care of.

No. Thank. You!

The madness has to stop here… I cannot give even more time to building someone else’s dreams. What about my own??? And it took me the first quarter of the year to figure it out. I kept using my Cousin and doing all the things I knew I could do in it but I just wasn’t feeling the love. I had to un-commingle “work and play”, “me and the world”…

When all was said and done, I ended up with the English A6 and the Weeks too. But you see — I has a plan! LOL And I will share my plan with you for these 3 Hobonichis over the next couple of weeks along with picking up where I left off about bujo’ing in my Hobonichi…

Don’t be discouraged!

I haven’t given up on my Hobonichi and never will. I haven’t given up on the Cousin version, and never will. I simply added 2 additional journals that made me feel good about how I was planning. And that’s what’s most important, right?

That YOU feel GOOD about YOUR system and not try adopting anyone else’s unless it truly works for you. That’s using a personal tool for your personal needs, your way, as it should be.

Namaste,
Hobo Girl aka “The Artist Known As Simply Sumaiyah”…

Week 1 Down…

We are officially in the second week of the new year! How did you fare in week one of your new Hobonichi and your 2017 attempt at bullet journa ling in a hobo?

Me, I’m doing pretty good with bujo’ing in my hobo. I am following the “plan” as described for you in my December 26th post and it is working out really well. I have figured out, however, that I do not like to keep my trackers in my hobo bu’jo. They feel a bit “cluttery” (totally a word! lol) and cumbersome. It makes me feel like I’m am trying to cram EVERYTHING in one space (which in essence is the goal of a “one book”…). I even tried moving them from the Future/Monthly Log to the Daily Log and didn’t like the way they looked there either. I finally ended up moving them out of my Hobo Cousin and into my Hobo English A6 where I am much happier with their look and location.

BuJo Ho’ing

This is NOT a solicitation… I’m not inviting you to go ho’ing! LOL This post is about bullet journaling in your hobonichi!! But before I explain how I bujo in my hobo, we must discuss Modules. This is something I didn’t go over in my post about Bullet Journaling…

In the original bullet journaling method, there were four Modules:

1. Index. Pretty self-explanatory — it’s an index of the pages in your bujo.
2. Future Log. This is where you plan future events/tasks.
3. Monthly Log. This is where you plan out your month.
   1. The log page is an overview of what is going on in your month.
   2. Then there’s the task page, which is on the facing page and lists the actionable items for your month.
4. Daily Log. This is where you plan your day.

Now the question is: How do I fit those modules into a preformatted, pre-dated planner type book?

Bullet Journaling

Bullet journaling is not new to the planner/planning scene. It is a wildly popular way with which to both plan and document your life at the same time. Its popularity comes from it’s flexibility:

He [Ryder Carroll] sees this as an evolving, adaptable practice meant to be self curated as you determine what works best for you.
~http://bulletjournal.com/about/

And not only did Ryder Carroll develop this hugely configurable system and offer it to us (for free no less!), he also encourages you to hack it! Ryder wants you to take his bullet journal system and use it as a foundation for your own personalized bullet journal system.

Trying Things Out…

As previously mentioned, 2017 is my first year in a Hobonichi. Because of this, I don’t quite know how I want to lay things out, other than how I will be keeping my bujo. Now that December has arrived and the Hobonichi Cousin has a full December Monthly Calendar, I have been playing inside my hobo and determining how I think I want to set things up.

Conquering the Blank Page

Many of us are daunted by the blank page. We excitedly open our journals so ready to write and create and then nothing. We don’t know what to write or draw and we fear “messing up” the page…

FEAR can have two meanings:

• Forget Everything And Run, or
• Face Everything And Rise

Hobo Girl chooses to Face Everything and Rise, including the blank white page!

Stickers, Stencils, and Stamps

My oh my. We’ve reached the slippery slope of decorating and doodling in your planner…

There are two distinct camps on this topic:

• Those who believe a planner is for “strictly planning.”
• Those who believe a page in a book — any book — is fair game for artful decoration.

Being the weirdo that I am, I stand firmly IN THE MIDDLE! As an artist, I absolutely frickin’ love the creativity of artists and doodlers alike who create such beautiful masterpieces in their journals. It would make me not want to write on the same page! At the same time, the author in me makes me in love with the minimalist strictly planning pages that are all over Instagram too. Just words on a page. Bliss.

To Cover or Not to Cover? That is the Question…

The Hobonichi Techo is not a hardcover book. The cover is, however, stiff cardstock and very durable. Many go without covering their Techo. Many more pour hundreds of dollars into getting just the right cover(s) to complement their book. Covers, as well as Cover-On-Covers, are available through many outlets with the Hobonichi Store being the main source. There are something like 44 different covers available for the Techo Original & Planner alone…

Whether or not to put a cover on your hobo is a personal choice.

Hobo Uses

As much as I love love love the Hobonichi, there is one drawback — the possible uses are endless!

I ranted and raved for paragraphs last week about TRP. I discussed the other features of the Techo such as the Yearly Index and Daily Pages. I spoke on how well fountain pens take to the page. However, I never talked about any of the many uses of the Hobonichi Techo. So this week, we talk uses…