review: orange weekly journal by paperways

As promised in my last blog post about The Fox and Star, here is a review of one of the planners I ordered. It is the Weekly Journal by Paperways. Retailing at £15.50, it is definitely more expensive than a set of weekly Filofax refills and maybe more than I'd usually consider paying for a planner but I thought I'd take the plunge with this one. One thing that definitely drew me to it was the squared paper but there are some other good points about this planner too.

There is a yearly planner that consists of blocks for each week of each month. I like how the alternate weeks are shaded but the design means that you can only use it to colour in the blocks rather than write in things. I'm not sure how I feel about this...

But then, you come onto some more pages for planning out the year. There's a little bit more room for writing things down with these pages but still not enough to make me feel comfortable with the layout.

The monthly planning pages are similar in design - each alternate week is shaded. There is even more room for writing things in here and with the aid of the square paper, plans can be kept neat (something that matters to me!).

Now, onto the bread and butter of the planner. Again, square paper is used for the weekly planner pages. There is plenty of room to write in plans for the week and also to-do lists - two of my basic necessities for a planner! Although you can use the double page spread for Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday have considerably less room in comparison. Considering a lot of my social life takes place at the weekend, I'm not particularly happy with this but I could just use the other side of the double page spread if I run out of room. So, problem solved on that one.

There is notepaper at the back but the lines within the margin are wonky - this is clearly part of the design but my perfectionist brain doesn't like it. However, I could get used to it... There is more notepaper at the back which consist of half blank/half squared paper.

There is also a world map at the back and it is printed on - you guessed it - squared paper. Instead of pinpointing the places in the world I've visited, I may use it to mark the places I would like to visit at some point in my life.

Finally, at the back, there is a page for my personal info. A lot of Far East Asian diaries like to have the personal info bit at the back and personally, I don't mind this.

Overall, I love the squared paper used in this planner and I like how much space you get for each day in the weekly layout. However, personally, I think the yearly and monthly planners let it down a bit but others may like how they are arranged.

What do you think of this planner?

my week #117

This week, I started work for the summer. It's been a busy and exhausting week but hopefully, with some £££ rolling in, it will all be worth it. All money earned this summer goes towards travel and living costs for the next academic year - a thought that is a little depressing! I'm hoping to also continue working part-time once uni re-starts but who knows if I'm being a bit optimistic... If only there were more than 24 hours in a day.

I know I blur out a lot that I write down each week but I do this to preserve some degree of privacy. Some of the things I write down mean that I am easily identifiable to the right people and I enjoy having a degree of anonymity here on this blog :) In the future, I might consider blurring less but right now, this is all I'm comfortable with showing - I hope that's okay.

How has your week been?

spotlight: the fox and star! & exclusive discount code!

I recently discovered a blog called Paper Crush (not to be confused with the previous name of this blog - Paper Rush) and it was through this blog that I discovered a lovely online shop called The Fox and Star. I'm a sucker for cute stationery from the Far East and so The Fox and Star appealed to me as soon as the website loaded on Safari.

Of course, this meant I couldn't resist placing an order. I've been toying with the idea of using a bound planner for the last few months and when I saw two to debate between, I knew I had to order both. I'm citing research purposes though (the things I do for this blog... /justifying a purchase I probably didn't need).

In the end, I settled on the two planners below: an orange weekly journal by Paperways and The Planner by Sees. I also popped in two packs of thin MT washi tape too (I just cannot resist a bit of deco tape). It came in the most adorable packaging too - the washi tape was in a paper bag and sealed with a cute 'thank you' sticker.

Over the course of the next week, I will be posting reviews of the two planners mentioned in this blog post so stay tuned for that!

The service I received from The Fox and Star was just brilliant but I may be biased as I received my order a day after placing it (quick delivery of online ordered goods is one of the ways to my heart it seems...). Ari is absolutely lovely and her store is just full of adorable goods that appeal to those who love cute stationery as much as we all do :)

So, what is this discount code mentioned in the blog post title? Well, to get 10% off your purchase, enter 'paperlovestory' at the checkout. The checkout process is a bit weird so after ordering, go to your basket and click 'checkout'. Enter your details and just before you confirm the order, you enter the discount code there. The code is valid for a week and will end on the 17th of July 2014 so get browsing and ordering :)

now sold: kate spade agenda

This planner is now sold. Thank you for your interest.

Due to the financial circumstances I'll be in for the next year (hello, not enough funding to live on per week), I'm selling this Kate Spade agenda. I've barely used it and it is in excellent condition. The colour is a bright pillar box red with a fabric polka dot lining the interior along with leather pockets. Inside, the rings are 30mm in diameter and are of an ice-gold colour.

The organiser won't come with any refills I'm afraid and it also came with no box (which is how it came when I first got it).

This truly is a beautiful organiser and I am gutted to have to let it go. The fact is, though, I've only used it for a few weeks maximum ever since getting it so I can't justify keeping it.

I am no longer accepting offers on this planner. Thank you for your interest.