Extra weeks at the end of the year
December 11th
Here’s a seasonally-appropriate suggestion from the mailbox: include the first few weeks of next January at the end of the current planner year, since many people are late in buying their new calendars.
It’s always a struggle to add new pages without either raising prices or getting rid of another feature, but does anyone else think this is useful? Procrastinators, unite!
December 11th, 2009 at 9:55 am
My 2003 Trinote includes the month of January 2004 at the back (the grid format, not the planning — I find planning calendars confusing) and it’s a very helpful touch.
December 11th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I like that the Ministers start in December – I switch calendars then.
December 11th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
My 2010 Minister has January 2011 in a grid format after December 2010, and I like it.
But what I like even better is the following year’s anno-planning calendar (with the entire year at a view). The spaces are big enough to note a future event (such as a dentist appointment, trip, whatever). Especially late in the year, I find these features useful so that I don’t have to carry next year’s book and this year’s book with me everywhere.
What I find less useful are the previous year’s calendars in this year’s book. For example, my 2009 Visual has semi-annual planning pages for July-December 2008 and also monthly pages for September-December 2008. I would rather have these pages for notes.
December 11th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Absolutely. Many of my doctors begin giving me follow up appointments as much as a year before the new calendars come out for annual testing. Gives us a place to put them since the teeny lines on the year at a glance are too small to write the information.
December 11th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Yes! It’s called forward planning.
I make my own planners and the monthly section has an extra page with the new January drawn in it. The weekly section usually has a few days into the new year, but I’m thinking if 31 December falls right at the end of the week, I would draw the first week of the new January in, too.
December 12th, 2009 at 5:21 am
I absolutely agree – I only every buy my planners part way through January when a) the back-to-school sales are on, or at least b) the prices for the larger, more expensive ones (my preference) come down a bit after the new year.
That said, I probably wouldn’t pay much more for a diary with January in it, and like Laurie above, I certainly see no need to include the previouse year.
December 12th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Keep the price low. Encourage the procrastinators not to.
December 12th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Absolutely. I have found that getting 1.5 x 1″ Post-It notes and having them cut in half at the local printer means I can write tiny notes and put them in the columns for the months that I don’t have handy (yet). Like B Irwin and Chet, I like having the extra feature. If you perforated it, say 1/8″ or so from the edge where it is bound, then tearing out the pages of the previous year that are not used once a few months have passed would be beneficial too.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Totally useful. Not just for procrastinators. I typically plan 2-3 months in advance so having, at the very least, January and February monthly views included make me a very happy person!
And BIG kudos for doing just that in the 2010 Journal 21~I’m totally excited.
December 28th, 2009 at 3:19 am
Having January of the following year in the planner is SO HELPFUL, and not just for procrastinators. Like someone else mentioned, I do my planning often far in advance and it’s nice to have the space to fill in my planner for reference.