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!
10 Comments
Pensive
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.
LM
I like that the Ministers start in December – I switch calendars then.
Laurie
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.
B Irwin
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.
Chet
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.
David
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.
Blake
Keep the price low. Encourage the procrastinators not to.
Muse
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.
Michelle Pendergrass
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.
Dani K.
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.