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This month, I thought I’d walk through my current planner obsessions, which is all about the passport size. If you’ve ever been curious about what undated/bujo planner inserts are available for the passport size, you’ll find a list of popular brands below.
Planner Hopping Again!
My schedule changes next month and my contractor day job goes mute for 6 weeks. Because I’ll be less busy overall, starting in June, I’m planner hopping from my a5 and a6 pre-dated Leuchtturm planners back to a passport size with undated planner layouts. If my schedule gets super busy again, I’ll planner hop back.
Before March/April I was in a Stalogy 365 grid notebook cut down to passport size. I lurrrved it and miss it. I planner hopped into pre-dated 2024 planners to help me cut down on the time spent drawing my monthly, weekly, and daily layouts. And now I’m ready to return! But this time, with a hybrid approach to bujo, with some predrawn undated layouts to see if I like them better.
In my research of what I wanted to try next, I went down the rabbit hole of undated passport planner and bujo inserts (below). It was fun and it’s always good to see what’s available at any given time because the planner space is constantly changing.
Aura Estelle
First up, my Mother’s Day gift. When Aura Estelle released their new v2 passport planner inserts and covers, I was salivating. But, purchasing this system would have put me over my $500 planner budget for the year so I said no. Imagine my surprise when it became a Mother’s Day gift instead. Side note: we don’t have human children. My husband gets me. 🙂
I finally received my order last week and posted pics of my bundle on Instagram.
Unfortunately, I have decided to destash the cover. I had watched Aura Estelle’s new v2 passport planner cover and insert reveal video multiple times and the one thing I had a concern about was the planner cover size.
The new v2 size was intentionally made larger. When I got mine, I strung it and put the inserts into the cover and…discovered this wasn’t going to work for me. It’s overly roomy. I generally like my small planner covers to be as perfectly fit as possible.
However, I’m still invested in (and completely obsessed about) their passport-sized inserts. My gift included the daily (the release from last year), the weekly vertical, and the new beautiful plain grid sets.
In June, I’ll be using:
The daily Aura Estelle insert which has 2 pages per day, including a section for schedule tracking. Each planner notebook of this type has 1 undated monthly calendar and enough pages for 1 month. You get 3 monthly notebooks and a plain grid notebook in a pack.
The weekly vertical insert (4 pages per week) for memory keeping. Each planner notebook has 3 undated monthly calendars and enough weeks for 3 total months. You get 4 undated vertical weekly notebooks in a pack.
And their plain grid notebook to serve as an annual book to collect future log items and collections. Each plain grid notebook has 72 pages. You get 4 plain notebooks in a pack.
I coveted these inserts because of the 52 gsm Tomoe River paper and well thought out layouts. I recently decided to go back to using my Tom’s Studio Lumos multi-tip pen and I’ll be using fountain pen ink in both tips. One side will serve as my regular writing pen and other side will be a highlighter.
The paper in these inserts is an off-white color with a 5mm grid. All booklets are undated. One pack of inserts with the multi-bundle discount costs $20. While it seems like it’s the most expensive insert in this post, the truth is each pack comes with a bundle of washi-paper like stickers that help you date everything. For the undated planner bundles, the stickers alone are worth $20. And it’s Tomoe River paper. And the plain notebooks have almost twice as many pages as the passport inserts I’ll discuss next.
I’ve never had this exact combination of bujo inserts, so it will be interesting to see how I take to it.
Muji
I’m also obsessed with the Muji passport inserts right now. Muji sells them in 5mm grid, plain, and 5mm dot style paper. Awhile ago, I had purchased a stack of their passport inserts on Muji’s US website. And like any other planner hoarder, they’ve been just sitting on my shelf unused for far too long. Note: while you can find some Muji stationary on Amazon, the passport inserts are double the price compared to their online US website.
After obsessively watching all the YouTube passport setup videos I could find with Muji inserts (😩 there aren’t many), I landed on MariForgets’ channel and became intrigued by how she used all 3 types of Muji notebooks in her passport TN.
Muji inserts have cream paper. They use 55% recycled paper. I could not find the gsm of their paper. There are 48 pages per insert. They are currently priced at $1.90 each on their website.
This is 100% bujo style with no undated predrawn layouts. I love 100% bujo style but want to try some undated layouts first. Later this year, I plan to test a 3-Muji notebook methodology like Mari’s video above.
Baron Fig
Years ago I went on a Baron Fig adventure. I purchased several of their pens, passport inserts, and their Vanguard pocket dateless planner sets.
While I do love their pens and passport inserts (which uses a paper similar to Tomoe River paper), I never did end up using their weekly horizontal memo style planner. Note they call their passport size “pocket.”
Each Vanguard dateless planner set comes with 4 inserts, each with 3 months of weeks. There are extra plain and 5mm dot grid pages in the back. The covers are designed for each season.
The paper is cream and 90gsm. A set of 4 planners comes in a bundle for the cost-effective price of $16.
I hope to take this system for a spin later this year or next year.
Pen+Gear
Just recently, Seaweed Kisses did several videos on an amazing find at Walmart. Walmart owns the super cost-effective Pen+Gear brand which has recycled + fountain pen friendly paper.
She discovered their new passport-sized daily insert and since then, it’s been flying off of Walmart’s shelves. At a whopping ~$0.50 per booklet, it’s one of the cheapest passport-sized planners you can get. Each booklet lasts 1 full month and you get 12 colorful booklets per box.
Their passport planner layout is different than everyone else’s. There are 2 pages per day and each day is broken out in a summary time fashion with a lined memo notes page.
The planner paper is white and there are 32 pages per book. I could not find what gsm the paper was. A box set of 12 daily planners costs $5.94 on their website.
Traveler’s Company
Finally, we arrive to the mother brand herself, Traveler’s Company. I’ve been collecting this brand in both passport and standard sizes for over 5 years now and have multiple covers in various colors and styles. I also have stacks of inserts that I’ve hoarded by this company and most notably, their 007 free diary weekly passport size.
This is one of the original weekly horizontal styles and allows for 2 pages per week. One of these inserts has 64 pages and includes enough weeks for 6 months. It uses the Midori MD paper which is 80gsm and a cream color they call “ivory”.
This insert now costs $9.20 on their website. While it might seem like one of the priciest planners on this list, just remember that one insert covers 6 months and has high-quality paper. It’s roughly the same value as the Baron Fig undated planner inserts.
Summary Thoughts
If you’re looking to test out the passport size, there are a multitude of inserts you can try now! And without breaking your bank account!
It’s a good time to be in passport size!
My Self Accountability
Another month has passed and it’s time to do a check-in! Quick refresher on what this section of my newsletter is about: I’m doing a low-spend planner year for 2024. My budget for the entire year is $500.
Another month has passed. How was my unnecessary planner spend in April?
Ugh. It was the worst planner spend month yet. This month’s tab includes a variety of cheap planners, Yuruliku, and the Traveler’s Company new Tokyo TN.
Here is my YTD accounting:
YTD planner spend: $242
April planner spend: $214
Annual budget remaining: $44
Am I going to make it? It’s hard to believe it’s possible since I’ve nearly busted my annual budget in the first 4 months. So far May is looking pretty good at $0 spend. I just have to keep it up and be confident!
Enabler here. You get no chastisement from me. I say, "Go ahead, woman! Enjoy your journaling/planner life". Shooooot, girrrl.
I am about dug in for 2024, but I have BEEN inside my brain about '25. I have no complaints about my Common PlannerS. I think I purchased one from you that even when I did so was not sure what I would do with it. I just love TR paper. I have a couple journals/planners here on my desk that I am NOT using to their potential (thus the concern for '25). I must, absolutely M U S T select one planner/journal. I have not the time to keep up with multiples. I am NOT including journals for my worship notetaking. Even with that two should last an entire year. Right now I have all these journals with notes from different meetings in different ones. It's too skattered.
At the top of my radar is: Common Planner, Hobonichi A5, maaaaybe Wunderland 222. But what I want is:
Tomoe River paper
Dated and numbered
2 pages per day: one side time slotted, the other side for journaling about the day and to-do lists
Is that asking too much????
I think you might be asking for too much because that’s what I want and so far I’ve only found it in this Aura Estelle daily insert! 😂
It’s good to see you definitively know what you want. That’s half the battle.