Setting Up My 2024 Moleskine Weekly Planner

Ever since I got my first full time job, planner shopping has been a much-anticipated annual fall event. I made do with the free school-issued agendas while a student, but one of the pleasures of becoming an adult was finally having the income to indulge in my hobbies.

Although Happy Planners, Erin Condrens, Passion Planners and Hobonichis dominate most of the Instagram accounts that I follow, I am actually not drawn to them as personal planning systems. (I admit that the cost of entry gives me pause…) For two years, I loved my Michael’s Recollections planners which have a similar layout to the Erin Condren planners but were perfect bound, included several pages of stickers and were just a fraction of the price. Sadly, that line was discontinued just after I discovered them.

Two years ago, I ordered my first 5 x 8.25 inch, hardcover Moleskine weekly planner when I saw it in the office supplies catalogue at work. I adapted to the format unexpectedly well even though it was different from what I had been using for years. So, for this year, it was a no-brainer to purchase another. The paper quality has been inconsistent between the years but I still love the size, the durable binding and how sleekly, professional it looks. It fits perfectly into my purse and stands up to travel.  Indigo had a clearance sale in October so I picked up the 18-month version (July 2023 – December 2024) for just $10 CAD.

I did an online search for some spread inspirations because I didn’t want to waste the extra six months of pages. Maybe I’m just not following the right accounts but I was surprised with how little content there was for the Moleskine weekly considering that it is a mainstream brand. A search of Instagram mostly yielded spreads from other planners; there were some videos on Youtube but most of the top hits were from a few years ago. After gleaning and adapting from what I managed to find, I put together a planner that makes me excited for the year ahead.

If you too are one of those unconventional souls who have chosen to use the Moleskine weekly planner this year then welcome to my excessively detailed description of how I finally set mine up!

Getting Started

The most daunting part of starting any new notebook is making that first indelible mark. The anxiety of marring pristine pages is strong. Some people counter it by scribbling or tearing the first page to “ruin” the notebook and that helps them overcome the mental block of striving for perfection. I cannot bring myself to do something so extreme. Instead, I ease my way into the use of my planner by filling out the easy stuff, like writing my name and contact information. Throw in a handful of stickers and soon, the page is looking enough of my own that I can flow into using the rest of the planner.

The Moleskine Weekly is arranged so that the left page is divided into the 7 days of the week while the right page is blank/lined. I usually write all my appointments, deadlines and any day specific tasks on the left page. I keep the right page for my weekly task list, habit trackers and general notes. At the beginning of last year, I wanted my planner to have a clean minimalist aesthetic to match the discreet, black cover so I wrote everything in black and abandoned my colour-coding system of previous years. Two days in, I realized that not only did it look boring but more importantly, it was harder for me to find the information I needed because the different tasks didn’t stand out as much.  By day three, I had reverted back to my multicolored Muji pens.

This year, I decided to create a margin on the left page after seeing several Instagrammers do this to ensure that all their appointments lined up neatly. The awkward space under the date is perfect for decorative stickers.

Planning a fresh year is motivating but trying to mentally process 12 blank months can feel overwhelming at first. I usually orient myself by marking out all the pre-determined events for the coming year because it forces me to flip through the whole year right from the start. These fall into a few categories:

1. Holidays – New Years, Lunar New Year, Family Day (it’s an Ontario provincial holiday), Good Friday, Easter Weekend, Victoria Day, Canada Day, Civic Holiday, Labour Day, Canadian Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Since a lot of planner publishers are from the US, not all of these will be pre-marked in every planner. I feel that activities and workload seem to naturally ebb and flow around the holidays and so they divide my year into more intuitive segments.
2. Birthdays – I am fortunate to have so much family and many friends. I want to be the type of person who recognizes everyone’s birthday be it with a message, a card, a gift or a full blown celebration. It’s a small way to acknowledge how valuable each of these relationships are.
3. Anniversaries – Tim and I like to celebrate both our wedding and dating anniversaries. We might not mark it with anything extraordinary but I think it’s still important that we acknowledge how we have grown and changed every year. I also make sure to note the wedding anniversaries of both of our parents; after all, without them, we wouldn’t be here.  
4. Deadlines – Less fun but remembering when is the last chance to top up my RRSP and when my taxes are due are important. Other things that fall into this category are renewing my licenses, insurances and subscriptions.
5. Community Events – There have been many times during the year when it doesn’t occur to me that there’s something fun happening in the city until its over. In Ottawa, there are lots of festivals and community events taking place throughout the year. Even if you’re a homebody like me, it’s still nice to occasionally go out and enjoy what your city has to offer and shake up your routine. I mark these with small post-it flags so that I can remove them if I don’t end up going and it doesn’t take up precious planner space. I made notes for Winterlude, Tulip Festival, The Great Glebe Garage Sale, and Doors Open Ottawa.

Personal Goals

I am a New-Years-Resolutions-making girl.

In the past, I divided my life into seven categories (Faith, Family, Friends, Work, Health and Personal) and would write broad, sweeping statements for each one that reflected the type of person I wanted to become. From those resolutions, I created SMART goals (ie. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) so that I would have concrete steps to follow. I have had varying levels of success in achieving those goals.

This year, I had too many disparate ideas and thoughts distracting me in December and so I flipped the process around. I started with a brain dump of everything I need/want to do in 2024. I tried to make it as comprehensive as possible. Some of the questions that I used to prompt me were:

• What are some household projects that I have been meaning to tackle?
• Are there any DIY/craft projects that I want to do? (or haven’t finished…)
• For past new years resolutions that I didn’t achieve, are there any smaller steps that I can take to get closer to success?
• Do I have any regrets about last year that I want to change going forward?
• Which relationships do I want to cultivate?
• Are there any fun activities that I have been wanting to do with friends?
• Were there any events that I have previously said that I want to attend but never got around to it?
• What are some experiences that I have been wanting to try?
• What is on my shopping wish list and why do I want them?

I compiled this list over several days, keeping a pad of paper nearby so that I could jot down ideas as they occurred to me. I ended up filling 4 pages with the entries ranging from large projects like renovate the pantry, to smaller things like bake croissants with a friend. Grouping these tasks under my seven categories, I crafted resolutions that summarized their overall purpose. The exercise helped organize my scattered to do list, allowing me to see the big picture. 

I created logs for each of my resolutions using the extra 6 months of weekly pages. I covered the dates with washi tape and relabeled the boxes with the months. The intention is to record my progress bullet-journal style to capture some of the otherwise mundane details of my journey. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will have neat little summaries of each resolution captured here.

For my goals which involve a daily habit, I created weekly habit trackers using a set of mini stamps by Craftsmart that I had bought years ago from Michaels. It’s a cute, succinct way to record my progress.  For the past 2 weeks, having the trackers visible whenever I flip open my planner has definitely motivated me to complete the habit.

Maximizing My Benefits

My husband and I both work full time but sometimes we forget that our jobs provide more than just a salary – there are lots of other perks too.  This year, I plan to make a conscious effort to take advantage of everything that our employers offer including:

1. Paid Vacation Time – It’s surprisingly easy to just work, work, work without thinking to take time off. Those weeks off are incredibly valuable for my physical and mental health. I try to coordinate my vacation time with my family or friends when I can so that I can joy my time off with others.
2. Conference Leave – I work in academia so “life-long learning” are the buzz words. I am subsidized to attend conferences, which is a great way to learn, network and travel all at the same time. I am lucky that most of my relevant conferences are international. I invite Tim or my family to tag along for the week if they are interested in getting some free accommodations.  
3. Health Benefits – I am fortunate that I am currently in good health but doesn’t mean that I can neglect regular health maintenance like:
   • Doctor appointments
   • Dentist appointments
   • Massage Therapy appointments
   • Optometrist appointment

Lists, Lists, Lists!

For the last few years, I have kept annual lists of:

1. Books Read
2. Movies Watched
3. Restaurants Visited

Because I am already tracking so many other things though, I have tended to keep these lists very simple to maximize the odds of me actually maintaining them. I don’t write reviews or give ratings, I merely write down the names. It’s still interesting to look back to see how long each list is and see if I recognize any patterns or trends. 

Sections I Am Not Sure How to Use

One of the downsides to having a bound, preprinted planner is that there are often pages which I am  just not sure what to do with. For the Moleskine Weekly, these are the pages that I struggle with:

• Monthly calendars – The spaces are too small to record more than one thing per day. I’ve seen some people use this as a gratitude log or mood tracker but I am not sure either resonant with me at the moment.
• My inspiring journey – This page is a map of the world made up of dots. Unless you are doing a lot of traveling in a year and want to mark them out, I am not sure how you would use this. I haven’t seen any ideas posted online either. If you have any suggestions, please comment below.
• Timetable – This is probably geared towards students. Since I am out of that stage of life, I am not sure how to repurpose these pages.

Ready for 2024!

This was my longest and most extensive planner set up to date. If you’ve made it this far through my post – thank you. 😊 Although I see a lot of planner lovers online, I actually don’t have any friends in daily life who share my level of passion for paper planning and goal setting. Now it’s time to actually use my meticulously arranged planning system.  I will check in at the 6 month mark to see how it is holding up! 

Feel free to send me a message or leave a comment if you want to be planner friends!