An A6 Travelers Notebook Set Up

February 20, 2018

Did I need another planner? No.

Did I buy another planner? Of course.

Despite my mixed thoughts on my regular sized Midori Travelers Notebook I had been increasingly looking at purchasing some more strings. B6 seems to be the in size at the moment but I kept getting drawn to A6. As much as I love my pocket Finsbury for my everyday carry, I’m just not using it as much as I’d like because it doesn’t lay flat. Because it doesn’t lay flat it’s a real struggle to write in so I just end up not using it at all. I therefore started thinking about purchasing an A6 to turn into my everyday carry instead.

Luckily, one popped up for sale on a Facebook planner group I’m a member of. One that was also a beautiful yellow colour and from Meadowgate Leather. I snapped it up.

The planner

This is the Twin Catkin with white stitching and elastics. You get four elastics in here which I love. I hate having to faff about with extra elastics in my Midori. It’s a lovely thick leather but that doesn’t stop it from lying flat at all.

Inside there’s a boarding pass pocket both front and back which is handy but I’d have preferred card slots for my intended purpose. Unfortunately while there are other pocket options available, card slots isn’t one of them.

The cover smells lovely and I enjoyed just having it sat on my desk to look at until all my inserts arrived.

The inserts

I bought two inserts from Ultimate Success Planner – a month at a glance booklet and a spending tracker. Using a week on two pages in my current every day carry was a bit of a waste. All I really need to see is anything I’ve got planned so I don’t double book myself. A monthly booklet achieves that. I also bought the budget tracker as I’ve gotten a little poor at tracking my spending recently. I’m hoping this will help.

I also picked up a blank dotted notebook from the Chelsea Paper Co. It’s beautiful yellow paper and amazing high quality. This is absolutely where my inserts will be coming from in future.

A felt wallet insert from Biviolab. Finding A6 sized plastic card pockets is pretty much impossible it seems. As this everyday carry also needs to be a purse extension I needed to hold cards and vouchers. I came across the wallet insert and thought this would house everything nicely.

The set up

I open up the planner on the blank insert. I originally had it on the wallet insert but found this flapped open far too easily and got in the way.

So far I haven’t popped anything into the front pocket. I’m thinking this will be handy for any vouchers or coupons I know I need to use, in the hope that I’ll actually remember to use them!

Even though the craft cover is pretty plain I actually quite like it as I like kraft card. I might stamp something on it in the future, but for the time being I like how it is.

Next up is my budget tracking insert. Now this insert cover I did cover up. Unfortunately the Ultimate Success Planner inserts come with just a plain white cover and I’m just not a fan. So I broke out the Planner Society vellum I was hoarding and made a dash to wrap around it.

Then I come to my wallet insert. So frustration number one with this is the pockets aren’t card slots. This wasn’t clear on the Etsy listing and even going back reading it, it feels vague. Cards obviously do fit in just not in the way I’d hoped. The construction of the insert is really nice and it’s very well made. However, the felt is just that little bit too thick and it took my TN from slim to obese instantly. And that’s without even filling it full of cards and vouchers! It’s considerably thicker now than my pocket ever was.

Where you could save on bag space though is by just using this and not a separate purse as it comes with a velcro pocket in the middle. You could use this for change very easily. If you were using it just like an ordinary planner though it make the perfect place for stickers and washi samples.

I really do like this insert but I may find I have to take the plain insert out just so the cover doesn’t bulk out too much.

Finally, I have my monthly insert which again I covered with Planner Society vellum.

Inside I used some Planner Society bits to make a page marker. I’d seen this on Instagram and wanted to try and recreate it. Once again, I haven’t filled the back pocket yet.

Finishing touches

To finish setting this up all I will be doing is adding a pen loop. I can never understand it when I see planners or notebook covers without pen loops but luckily, Leuchtturm have adhesive pen loops in a massive range of colours. I intend on sticking one to an insert (not the cover) so I can carry a pen around.

Other than that, I’m happy with how it’s looking! It is a bit of a chunk though… While I’ll have no problem fitting this in my work bag, I may have issues fitting it in my much smaller handbag. I am going to have to keep an eye on my inserts though, as it does seem like the felt insert is so large it’s bending them.

Is the A6 better than the pocket?

I’m not so sure currently. While the planner itself goes flat, the inserts take a little more work. It is generally a lot easier to write in this though, which was my main reason for switching.

I’m definitely going to give this a whirl for at least a few weeks and see how I go. Hopefully I get some planner peace otherwise I’ll be finding a plan C! If you’ve had a similar issue finding the right everyday carry for you, please let me know in the comments below what you settled on!