Mid-year Review: Travelers Notebook

It's July and I've been thinking about my analogue system. I am still in my Travelers Notebook (TN) and am loving it. It's been almost 3+ months in my camel and yes, I stuck with it. I have had some inclinations to swap and change back into my brown (there's something about the brown that just grabs me), but I decided to just be patient and see how my camel will continue to patina over time and use (i.e. abuses). It has served me as a wallet, as a planner, as both wallet & planner - depending on my needs.

I also recently got my Fourrouf wallet insert from Travelers Factory - the regular size in Olive and a passport size in Mustard. OMG! It is so freaking thin and does NOT bulk up my TN at all. Total love! I can't wait to see how it will start to change over time and use.

One of the things that I realized is that I have too much waste happening at home. I don't use the other TN's that I've bought and should really start letting it go. The Chic Sparrows, the FoxyFix and others that I have lining on my shelves and drawers are not doing anything but collecting dust. I wouldn't say I have achieve planner peace, but I would say that the system that I currently have is working for me and I see no need in changing what works. Even when I do change it up, it would still be a Travelers Factory TN - either my passport or regular; or the brown or black or maybe blue, but at the moment, I am happy in my camel.

I realized that simplicity is the key that works for me. Apart from the TNs, I also caved in and bought the Hobonichis - Weeks, Techo and English Planner. These too somehow were not used for the past couple of months. In a way, I guess I can't deal with too many planners being around ~ but caved in because I see how it looks like when others use it, but I don't necessarily use it that way. Thus, for 2017, I have decided to sleep on it for a week before caving in to buy anything online. I have done this for several items that I thought I want to get, but it's more of a want than need - like TWSBI Eco fountain pen, the Midori pen loop ~ I have been sleeping on it for more than 2 weeks and still have not caved in to purchase it. Which tells me that it's a want not a need.

Anyway, I think moving on, I will just keep to what works for me in my TN.

• I know that I need a dated vertical insert - I can't deal with the horizontal ones cause I honestly need to have a visual look at my day in the vertical style. That way, the hours in my day makes sense to me. 
• I realize that I do not need a weekly for my passport, but rather the monthly will suffice just fine. 
• I might get the monthly regular insert for work use rather than the Hobonichi, cause I only need to have the monthly overview and the daily pages in the Hobonichi does not necessarily suffice with my needs for meeting notes etc,

That is probably my take away for my mid-year review. It feels refreshing to have taken a step back to evaluate my planning needs.