✨ Thank you for watching! Team Hobonichi Avec or Team Sterling Ink Undated? Tell me in the comments which one you would choose! 🌸

I personally got the hobonichi avec as my first hobonichi ever! For someone who has a hard time finishing things, I find that the half year feels more rewarding. I don't do anything besides write in mine with pen but its just absolutely fantastic and portable so it truly feels like an everywhere anything journal!!!

Definitely team Hobonichi.
It's got yearly, weekly, and daily planning options; the paper feels really nice, and having the 6-month or 12-month option is good for people who have a hard time committing to one planner for the whole year.

Personally, I do use the addresses  and contacts pages, but mostly for contacts like plumber, electrician, emergency utility nunbers, etc. I don't really want them saved in my phone and I'll need my planner to set up an appointment anyway.

Hobo! I’ve bought it first time this year and loving it so far! Is like two fresh starts in the year!

Team Avec!  Probably because I just got my first one and starting it as a memory keeper in July, so I’m bias. 😂

Sterling Ink undated!! Am obsessed

I actually ordered the address book from EC recently. It’s so much easier to mail cards, etc., with all the information at hand. I don’t store addresses on my phone.

I'm definitely team hobonichi! Looks so premium and would go well with your Japanese stationary and I love the kawaii stuff. I also enjoy the colors for the months. I think I just might have to order one haha! These two planners remind me a bit of Moleskine (Italian) planners. I was really into those for a while. The pocket size was perfect for jotting down notes on the go. Oohlala you're going to France soon, hope you get a chance to vlog a bit! 🤗🎉

Hmmmmm Avec…..I really love Catherine’s art and stickers but Sterling ink planners are like nails on a chalkboard to me, the paper & the binding. I use a common planner for a budget journal; 1 year planner turned into a functional 4 year budget journal. But for my main planner or journal I use something else entirely. My ULTIMATE FAVORITE is Paper Tess, second would be Hobonichi tying with Rosey Life Planner.
If you’re wanting to use for a journal and the Avec would work then go for it.
I’m currently using an A5 Nisha Fernando Journey Planner and am finding it works in some cases and other cases it just doesn’t. I mention this cause I’m now using the “daily” pages as a journal and using up at least 2-4 pages a day….at the rate I’m going (having started this method in May) I’ll be done with all my daily pages by end of July. Blank monthly and weekly sections don’t bother me. If you tend to write a lot then maybe use a planner similarly or just a notebook.
At the end of this planner I’ll finish up the last 3 months of my half year planner in my Sterling ink common b6. I’m dreading it but don’t want it to go to waste.
Paper Tess has me spoiled but I’d be fully content in a Hobonichi.

As a BuJo planner type person, after many years and due to my 2026 journal not being big enough to contain all year,  I broke down and got a Hobinichi Techo Cousin for July-Dec 2026.  I hope it's so great that I'll use it going forward.  We'll see.  I need more layout ideas to help me come up with a game plan for July 1. 😊

I would pick the Sterling Ink. You should try plans by just scribble. It’s a great one. She has some on sale right now too.

If you are adding in a lot of photos or ephemera, I would use the Hobonichi.

I would go with the undated Common Planner. SI sells dating stickers (and probably a bunch of places on Etsy do as well.) Yes, you have to put the stickers on it, but you also talked about wanting to cover the quotes in the Avec, the red/gray on the calendar, and the changing of the colors of the grids and paper…not always in the way you like. The plus with the Avec is more built in structure, and you could leave dates, quotes, etc as is and not have the extra work.

But, with the SI, you have a nearly blank canvas that can be utilized in any way you choose, vs pages for favorite movies and addresses, etc. If you want an entire two page spread at the start of the month (undated so you aren’t “missing days” or running out of room on that day) that is all for ‘to-do’s’ and you run a stamp with check boxes or similar, make some columns, put a bright flag sticking out of that page so you know where to go to, and you have something useful. You can leave all of the days undated and date them as you use them (I have two cool stamps for the date and use the A5 2026 Vertical as my fun/creative planner…there’s very little planning, the actual planner situation is going for a Travelers Passport using a Paper Republic-esque trifold cover…we’ll see how that goes. This year has me riding the struggle bus for the “all work, no play” planner…this is #3 already, sigh…and I have never done this before. If this doesn’t work, I’m getting an A6 Notebook for my purse and just doing the OG Bullet Journal adjusted to my needs.

So, I switched from Hobonichi for the same reasons of the cons that you pointed out…the quotes!!! The dated dailies made me anxious if I missed a day, then a week, then it felt like I was wasting all the paper and it became this unpleasant experience of guilt when I would reach for it. (Note: I had a major life change a few years back. Planners for work were easy, they did what I wanted, I wasn’t decorating anything, it’s purpose was to keep my schedule, my to-do’s, notes from meetings, etc.) So, for me, planners arent’ needed for work, but for multiple appointments, and jotting things down so that I don’t forget that I need to do something. So, I like the freedom aspect (my bias inserting for my preference) because my life doesn’t have the regular structure that many people’s do.

But, it’s not quite the middle of June…you could set up a “June” month/weeks/pages for the next three weeks and see if you like it, and if you don’t…you still have 5 months of an undated planner to use another time and can switch into the Hobonichi! Might be a good plan, so you really are able to try both. If after July, the Hobo doesn’t work, you can switch back! I was able to repurpose my Cousin into a variety of things so the paper didn’t go to waste (or you can always donate it to a school or similar) and that way you aren’t feeling fomo of not being in the other one cause you’ve given each one a good try. My science brain says testing both samples with provide the data I need in order to make the best choice following the outcome 😅