polaroidic

unfortunately in 2024, despite having a whole swanky setup, i've largely fallen out of my journalling hobby due to work and real life :( however, i'm not giving up all hope. next year i plan on using the TAKE A NOTE B6 weekly planner, which is smaller (= more portable) and has a lot less pages (about 70? blank grids instead of 365 like the hobonichi).

before i explain how i want to use my planner-to-be, i need to assess how i've been using (or idk, not using) my current lineup... i think i'll save the TAN plan for another post

USES: journalling, life tracking, schedules
REVIEW: haven't used it properly since may! my current lifestyle and job doesn't give me enough time to write in here, and i don't even need to schedule anything on weekdays since my work hours are the same. it's a shame since I spent so much time setting it up and decorating before the year started. ever since i started my first job, journalling has been low priority due to the lack of free time outside of work. even though i got a new job with a longer weekend, this situation hasn't improved, so I'm moving to a Take A Note B6 Planner next year.
ACTION: at the end of the year i'll fill out the to-do list at the back. when i set up my upcoming TAN i might take out some of the deco i've done and insert them into it. i don't plan on using the Cousin for the rest of the year - not until i get more free time maybe.

USES: money tracking, package tracking, EDC, purchase-related logs, travel journal
REVIEW: haven't been using this consistently since july? mostly due to the fact that i haven't been bringing this to work. the other reason might be that i'm avoiding looking at the amount i've spent the last few months (6 copies of the same album, a bunch of concert merch, a concert livestream, some jewellery, lots of drinks and food, upcoming clothes? jesus). anyway, i find myself caring less about how i'm spending - not sure if this is a cause or a consequence.
ACTION: damn girl idk. might repurpose this into a sketchbook. the travel journal idea is still appealing but i don't travel that much. i'm also thinking of replacing the thickass hightide insert i have with a thin muji one

FINAL THOUGHTS
i'm surprised at how not sad i am at not journalling that much anymore, even though it was a large part of my post-sixth form and uni life. there's a lot of other things that i want to spend my time on: this dreamwidth, making art (work in progress, lol), fitness, and going out to touch grass. i've been finding my cousin setup too big and unwieldy - ironic since that was what i enjoyed about it in the past. however, like i said at the beginning of this post, i'm not giving up on journalling or using a planner yet because my brain is too scattered without a planner to schedule my life - i made a to-do list on my notes app just to clean up my brain for dreamwidth shenanigans this weekend.
i hope my TAN arrives soon cause dawg