What I Pack to Plan // How I Plan

Hello everyone!
Recently I went out of town for a few days, and I had to decide what pens and planners to take along with me. What I brought is probably excessive to the average person, but throughout the whole trip, I never thought I was missing anything to keep up with my trackers and bullet journal.

Hopefully this list will give you ideas of somethings to take with you if you plan on the go. A lot of these items were featured in my New Year’s Haul, so you can check out more details on them there. I will also try to link as much as I can.

Planners

Obviously I had to bring my bullet journal along. This is the Artist’s Loft dotted journal from Michael’s. I’ve been using it every day since the new year, and I’ve had no issues so far. I have a lot of trackers in here including a year in pixels, habit trackers, and a mood tracker. When deciding what pens to bring along, I looked at what pages I frequently filled in and brought the colors that I would use for them.

Next I brought this super thin and lightweight monthly planner. I use this as yearly future log since it fits very easily in my backpack and takes up very little space. Admittedly, I didn’t check this or open it at all while I was out of town, but its so small, it didn’t hurt to bring.

Next is a planner you haven’t seen on the blog before, and that is because it came in the mail after that post went up. This is a 2019 Recollections Hourly planner from Michael’s. As mentioned, I purchased this online, and didn’t realize it was coming in the large letter size. At first I was so disappointed as I had a really hard time finding an hourly planner in a cover that I liked. However, the more I use it, the more I appreciate the size. I will be uploading a post specific to this planner with ideas on how to use it later in the month as a part of my “How I Plan” series. In summary, I use it to pre-plan and memory keep, so I wanted to bring it with me on the trip. Again, it’s very large so I could’ve done without it, but I found space and thought I might as well.

Another excessive planner, but as it is part of goals for the new year, I wanted to bring it along. This is the Erin Condren petite planner gratitude journal. I got this in the winter 2017 seasonal surprise box, and I’ve been using it on and off since. I like to write a little blurb about what I enjoyed that day so I can look back and appreciate.

I do have an Erin Condren referral code for $10 off your first purchase if you’d like to use it 🙂 I was actually able to purchase the surprise box using your referrals!

Pens

I brought a few simple black fineliners. Two of them are Sakura Pigma Microns in 05 and 005 and the third is a Staedtler triplus in black. I use these to do linework and fill out the body of my bullet journal. I’ve linked the exact packs I purchased. The Staedtler I’ve been using for years, but the Pigma Microns are new to me. So far I’m really enjoying them, and I’m finding that they smudge a lot less than the Staedtler.

I didn’t bring the thicker fineliners and brush pens because I had all my bullet journal spreads pre-drawn and didn’t think I would need to do any extra calligraphy.

Next are the colored fineliners. Once again these are the Staedtler triplus fineliners that I have been using for almost two years now. The four on the left are the fineliners I picked out to match my monthly theme. I use those colors to fill in my habit trackers and monthly logs. Th four on the right were random colors I picked out to fill out my year in pixels. I had a feeling I would have a positive time there, so I only brought the “happy” colors from my color key. The middle pen is the same black from earlier. I also use the colored fineliners to fill out my gratitude journal.

I brought some of my Crayola Supertips that matched my color scheme for January. I do use these to fill out parts of my weekly log, but I didn’t really find myself reaching for them, so next time I probably will only bring a black marker.

I’ve been enjoying using colored pencils for filling in my mood and habit trackers. I brought a few colors that matched my theme with some classic black pencils. The three on the right are from the Artist’s Loft Michael’s brand and the ones on the left are Crayola. So far I don’t really see a difference between the two brands, but I’ve only been using them for a couple weeks. I definitely did use all of these when I was out of town and it kept me accountable for my habits when I was away from home.

Last but not least, I brought some random Pilot Juice pen colors. I use the Juice pens to fill out my Recollections hourly pen. I have the 0.7 and 0.5 pens, but I brought the 0.5 at random. I use the black Pilot Juice 0.5 to fill out task lists, but it tends to smudge, so I’m looking for an alternative. What black pens do you enjoy? The last pen is a Uniball Signo broad in white. Finally I brought a simple mechanical pencil, which I forgot to take photos of, but it’s a really basic Bic pencil. Of course, I had to pack a white eraser, this one is from Pentel.

I used this clutch from my December Boxycharm Boxy Luxe subscription. I really liked the size of it, and that it lays flat. On the inside (it’s super hard to see) there is a half divider that I used to separate colored pencils from pens. Every pen I brought fit super nicely in here with room to spare.

Alright and that’s all! Let me know what you pack with you. I usually never bring planners with me as I like to have my array of pens and stickers with me, but with my new planning system, I found it more manageable. I definitely could’ve done without the markers and the big planner, but it helped me stay on top of my habits, and it didn’t take too much room in my backpack.