Grichel’s day planner : making organisation interesting

I was at my computer, stressing out about accommodation for my upcoming trip to Melbourne, when the doorbell rang multiple times. Irritated, I turned to T (who was already trying hard to keep my stress levels down) and hissed “I’m actually going to stab everybody.”
“Who is it?” He asked, probably assuming that my excessive amount of rage – or maybe just the somewhat psychotic way that I expressed it- was due to someone or something in particular.
“I don’t know. Who would even ring the doorbell that many times in such a short time? Who is that much of a douche?” I growled, scrolling through hotels while my dad went to answer the door.
There’s just something about doorbells being rung over and over again before anyone has had any conceivable chance of answering them that makes me irrationally angry.  However, it turned out the annoyance was worth it- it was a postman, & as he was carrying the following, I forgave and decided not to stab anyone.

This is my new day planner. I think my day planner is the most important thing for me in my quest to be organised – my productivity goes up exponentially the more I like my planner (and I guess the more I want to look at it & write in it). So, every year I go on the planner hunt & try to find one that will do the job – and do the job well.  I went on the hunt for something to fill the gaping void that the pursuit of the perfect planner left within my soul. Stationary makes me melodramatic, deal with it. Then – it happened. Like a modern consumerist romance, I discovered the Grichels planners in an etsy search for leather day planners, and knew that my entire lifestyle would be enriched by owning one. Even if it ended up costing me $112.

It was expensive for a day planner, but in my mind not excessively expensive given that it was refillable and leather – something that I could use year after year. Something that I would always be proud to fish out of my handbag or display on my desk. Something that would halt the pressure of every year’s day planner hunt.

I’m reminded of an Oscar Wilde quote from Dorian Gray:

“We can forgive a man for making a useful thing as long as he does not admire it. The only excuse for making a useless thing is that one admires it intensely. All art is quite useless.”

This planner has presented the only time I have ever been conflicted about this statement. To me, there is no question that the delicately molded leather, with so much character (each face being one of a kind) – something that evokes the world of fantasy literature I immersed myself in from a young age- is art. It is beautiful, creative, it demands attention. I am happy whenever I see it; I am reminded of things that do not exist – but could. I am affected. I have not studied art, I am no expert – but I believe that art is made to affect. However,  a day planner is made to be useful, born out of necessity or convenience. I suppose I will have to bring my thoughts into alignment with those of the above quote by arguing that the planner cover and the planner itself are separate entities.

Enough of my banging on about art; see the inside:

It is small enough to be convenient and yet fits so much within it. It was truly a nice touch for it come all fitted out with pens & a calculator inside, begging to be used & toted along to university or anywhere else I might go. It seems sturdy – I think it could withstand being thrown around within my bag day to day, slammed onto counters when I hurriedly open it to find out what I’ve forgotten.

The only issue I had with it was the zipper getting a bit stuck around the bottom edge. It makes it a bit slow to close, but hopefully I’ll be so organized that I’ll have lots of time to safely close it

May have a short organizational post coming up soon, but I like to test out a planner & get into the swing of things before talking about it Also, the planner currently inside has no Sundays – so that’s something I’ll be working around.

To check out the Grichel’s etsy store, click here.

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Tagged as: agenda, day planner, denim, diary, grichels, organisation, planner