Why I’m Choosing the Enchanted Woods Planner Journal Over Bullet Journaling

Are you tired of drawing lines and tables on your bullet journal over and over again?

Imagine that you’ve finally bought your bullet journal and all the lovely colored pens you’ve purchased on the same day. You open up your bullet journal, staring at the blank dotted pages and you realized that you would have to draw lines after lines, table after tables from January up to December before you could even start planning your year.

Bullet Journal Vs Enchanted Woods Planner Journal

If you have a bullet journal, you would probably know what I’m talking about.

And after spending hours upon hours creating the lines, tables and content for your journal, you are probably now just too tired to have the mental capacity to focus and start planning your goals for the year. You’re probably now saying to yourself,

“Argh, I’ll leave it for now and just plan for tomorrow…”

Realizing that the hours you’ve just wasted could’ve been well-spent planning and decorating your planner rather than spending on those mindless, repetitive and unfruitful tasks for your journal. Not to mention, the number of rules you need to follow to create your bullet journal.

Now it sounds like I am against bullet journaling.

Not at all.

As a busy mom of four, I often do not have the luxury to sit down and draw lines and tables for my journal. I just want to get on with it and start planning. Every minute is precious to me. This is my humble and honest opinion.

But for those who have time – by all means, bullet-journal away… 🙂

And that is simply WHY I’m choosing the Enchanted Woods planner journal over bullet journaling.

And if you would like a change for next year, then you will LOVE what I’ve got for you today.

The Enchanted Woods Planner Journal {Undated Pages}

This collection is a cross between bullet journaling and goal-planning printables. I took the best of both worlds and created something special with this magical theme.

The Enchanted Woods Planner Journal will:

• Give you access to 176+ pages of pure joy with lines and tables all ready for you to write, doodle and personalize your journal and more.
• Help you stop wasting precious time, so you can focus on what matters most – planning, creating and exploring your creative side so you can create the journal you love using.
• Help invoke mindfulness – journaling will help bring your wandering mind to attention and engage actively with your thoughts
• Be more organized and help you achieve your goals – writing your goals down will provide a psychological blueprint and increases the likelihood of achieving them.

Here’s a sneak peek of what’s inside in the first few pages of this printable journal:

Have you ever experience writer’s block?

You know when you stare at your note book or bullet journal and you do not know what the heck to write or where to start. Seeing a blank or lined notebook makes you this way sometimes.

But fret not, because what if I told you that you won’t be stuck or get bored ever again?

If you’re ready for a change, you will love The Enchanted Woods Planner Journal.

Monthly Planners

So basically, for every month, you will get a set of Monthly Planner, Weekly Planner and Note Pages (which you can print as many as you like) for those days where you feel like writing your heart out. These pages are color/pattern co-ordinated for the respective month. So you will have 12 different patterns for each month.

The monthly planners are undated so you can use it for any month of the year you like! The same is the case for the weekly planners. In case if you miss a week or two, then you won’t need to skip pages. There are lots of room for you to write, doodle or paste your washi tapes or stickers to further personalize your journal.

Check out these juicy pages below:

This Enchanted Woods Journal Printable Collection is also:

• Consists of monthly and weekly planners and note pages
• Help boost your memory and understanding – the act of writing causes the mind to create the formation of letters in the brain which then causes the mind to formulate ideas while journaling. This helps you to remember and comprehend better.
• Help you to heal emotionally, physically and psychologically when you practice expressive writing.
• Boost self-confidence -The release of endorphins and dopamine will help boost your self-esteem and mood when you write about a positive experience. This allows your brain to relieve it and reaffirms your abilities when self-doubt appears.

Here’s a sneak peek of what the monthly planner pages will look like in this printable journal. And the image next to it is a close up of the monthly planner. It also shows you an example on how to use this planner. Use stickers, printable quotes or whatever you like to decorate your planner.

So to recap the problems you may be facing right now:

Number 1: The tedious tasks of drawing lines and tables for your bullet journal and the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get it all ready before you could even start to plan your year, month or weeks. Not to mention, the number of bullet-journal rules to follow to get your journal organized…

Number 2: You are a mom, dad, student, business owner or busy with your full-time job. Or you have a crazy amount of tasks on your to-do-lists, which makes it impossible for you to have time for anything else.

Number 3: You feel clueless because you do not know where to start or what to write when you are staring at your blank lined note book or the typical diary you would normally find in your stationery shop.

And I would like to add another one…

Number 4: You may feel unmotivated, un-inspired, lack of confidence and direction in your life. Or feeling just plain lazy because you need some push and guidance to help you get started with goal-planning.

If you’ve said YES to any of the FOUR problems above…

Then I am confident that you will love the Enchanted Woods Journal Printable Planner.

As mentioned previously, it’s a cross between bullet journaling and goal-planning printables. I took the best of both of these ideas and created something special with this magical theme.

Weekly Planners

Below is what the Weekly Planner pages will look like. As previously mentioned, these pages are un-dated, so you can add them yourselves as you plan. So if you do miss a couple of weeks, you don’t need to skip pages – saving you ink and paper.

The image on the right is a close up page of how you can use and decorate your Weekly Planner pages using various sorts of mediums such as colored pens, markers, highlighters, washi taps, printable stickers, quotes and much more.

Want a free weekly planner? Click here.

Note Pages

Below is a sneak preview of what the Note Pages will look like inside this journal. Write notes or journal your thoughts away with this very cute note pages. And the image on the right is a close up page of your Note Pages.

So that’s everything inside this journal. I’ve kept it relatively simple so you can take over and go crazy with it. Put in your own twist, your style and personalize it to make it your own.

So let’s recap ~

Here’s what you will get with the Enchanted Woods Journal Printable Collection:

• Give you access to 176+ pages of pure joy with lines and tables all ready for you to write, doodle and personalize your journal and more…
• 1 cover page
• This Journal Belongs to page
• Dream Big Planner
• Yearly Planner (Plan each month of the year)
• Overview Yearly Planner (A birds eye view for the whole year)
• Consists of 12 sets of Monthly Planners
• 60 sets of Un-dated Weekly Planners and
• 12 sets of Note Pages (print as many as you want to use)
• 14 beautiful and positive motivational quotes to keep you inspired and motivated as you plan each month (including the intro pages of this journal)
• Cute and magical clip arts which makes your journal one of a kind.

The benefits of using the Enchanted Woods Planner Journal will:

• Help you stop wasting precious time, so you can focus on what matters most – planning, creating and exploring your creative side so you can create the journal you love using.
• There’s NO journal rules to follow. You set your own rules!
• Help invoke mindfulness – journaling will help bring your wandering mind to attention and engage actively with your thoughts
• Be more organized and help you achieve your goals – writing your goals down will provide a psychological blueprint and increases the likelihood of achieving them.
• Help boost your memory and understanding – the act of writing causes the mind to create the formation of letters in the brain which then causes the mind to formulate ideas while journaling. This helps you to remember and comprehend better.
• Help you to heal emotionally, physically and psychologically when you practice expressive writing.
• Boost self-confidence -The release of endorphins and dopamine will help boost your self-esteem and mood when you write about a positive experience. This allows your brain to relieve it and reaffirms your abilities when self-doubt appears.

Oh, and by the way, I have this exact journal planner in a digital planner format too.

Next up…

Choosing Your Perfect Binder System for Your Enchanted Woods Planner Journal

So we’ve gone through the problems you may be facing right now and the solution to have an organized year and a fantastic 2022.

And I believe this sweet collection will help you get there.

And now, we’ll quickly go over the different binder systems you can choose before printing your journal.

See three examples below:

Here are other binder systems to look into:

• 3-Hole Ring Binder
• Discbound Binder
• Spiral Binding
• Wire Binding
• Coil Binding
• Kettle Stitch Binding

We won’t go into much detail today, but I promise that I will write in more detail in another blog post on all the different types of binder systems out there and what they are. But if you’re really curious to know what they are now.. you can always Google to find out more.

Local Printer to Print Your Enchanted Woods Planner Journal

Some of these options above especially the spiral, wire or coil binding can be done by your local printer. All you need is to print at home, arrange it to your liking and take it to your printer to bind them for you. Or better still, send the file over and get your printer to do it all for you. There may be a small fortune to get them done for you, but you save precious time in the process. Remember though, you need to plan first and inform your printer in detail on how you want the pages to be arranged so they can do it for you. They can’t read minds.

Nothing beats a personalized planner that you have put much thought and care into. The paper and print quality will also be better and your journal will look professional.

And you only need to do it once. And once its printed, it’s done and all ready to be used for the year.

Do It Yourself

What I Am Personally Using

Binder

I personally like the 6-hole binder/organizer (see image above) as I am already using it myself because I like to move pages around and having the option to do so is perfect for me.

I am currently using the A5 size binder. And for those who do not know what A5 is, it is half of an A4 size. Although it isn’t as big as A4, I can still comfortable write on it and it’s small enough to be portable if you’re traveling a lot.

See sizes below as reference:

• A4    210 x 297mm (8.27 x 11.69 in)
• A5    148.5 x 210mm (5.83 × 8.27 in)

Printer

I have a basic HP printer – HP DeskJet 3630 and yes, it is an inkjet printer.

It’s fast, quiet and has all the basic needs I need in a printer which is:

• A scanner (lets me scan either in black and white or color)
• A copier (lets me photocopy either in black and white or in color)
• Wireless capabilities (so I can use my mobile phone to print recipes or documents wherever I am at home)
• A genuine HP ink cartridge (A genuine HP ink gives you way better quality print)

I know there are used or conterfeit HP ink cartridges out there that is cheaper but the print quality may be questionable. I like my prints to look great (crisp and clear texts) hence I always opt for the genuine cartridge. The quality of the print also sometimes depends on the printer settings that you use. For everyday print, I opt for the ‘Normal’setting under print quality. But if I’m printing photographs to be framed, I use the ‘Best’ settings.

There’s another way you can save on ink and that is buying better quality paper for your inkjet printer and if you buy in bulk, you may be paying a little more upfront but you save heaps down the line and you could use it for years to come. When you opt for a better quality and a heavier paper weight for your printable planners, I only set my print quality to ‘Normal’ and I get really nice clean, crisp, bright print and you’ll be very pleased with it, I promise.

Paper

Earlier we talk about getting your printer to print it for you.. but if you’re on a budget and printing it at home like myself, I recommend using the 100-120gsm for paper weight so your ink won’t bleed out on the other side. Plus, you can print your paper double sided helping you save paper! It’s a slightly thicker paper weight than your regular paper at home. The regular ones here in NZ are 80 gsm.

I am currently using the Navigator brand. I opt for the Presentation paper 100gsm, the one in maroon (I recommend going for the 100 and 120gsm). Again, I save on ink because I set the print quality to “Normal“. And it prints great! The dark navy one below the first image (160gsm) is a way thicker paper and is probably suitable for your cover page.

I choose the Presentation paper because the print quality is better, paper is much whiter and brighter than regular paper and as a result, your print will stand out too. I will have to try the Orange one (above) – Colour Documents 120gsm paper in the future and will let you know how that prints.

And because it is also a heavier paper weight (100 gsm and above please), your pages will not tear easily especially when you turn the pages over in your ring binder. The ink will also not seep at the back of the paper. This will allow you to print back and front so you could save on paper too. I’ve done this personally and I’ve loved the results.

To Recap:

• Decide on your preferred binder system – Saddle-stitching, 2, 3 or 6 hole ring binders or other binder systems mentioned above.
• Get your local printer to print and bind the journal for you if you have lacked of time.
• Go on a budget by printing the Enchanted Woods journal planner yourself.
• Choose the right paper weight for better print quality and save on ink.
• Alway choose a genuine ink cartridge or toner for your inkjet or laser printers for better quality print.

I hope this post has been educational and helpful so you can get started on your first planner journal if you haven’t already.

And if you’ve been a customer, I would LOVE to hear your thoughts on this planner journal.

Speaking about that, in 2018, my product had the privilege to be handpicked by Creative Market for its quality and creativity in the marketplace which was pretty cool.

And it’s been quite popular in my shop as well.

If you like to give the traditional bullet journal a break, then try this planner instead. It’s sweet, charming and it might be a breath of fresh air for you.

And because you’ve taken the time to read my post all the way to the end, I would love to help you make the transition a little easier with a special offer below.

Here’s 50% OFF the Enchanted Woods Planner Journal (176 Pages) as well as the Enchanted Woods Notes & Bullet Pages (35 Pages) when you apply code: ENCHANTED at checkout.

Or click here to apply your 50% discount code automatically at checkout. 

Printables, design elements, graphics and any digital products provided on this site are for personal use only. You may NOT modify them or redistribute them for free or monetary gain without the written agreement from the author, Janice Banks. You may share these with your classes or co-workers (educators/teachers/tutors) as long as they are not modified in any way. Please share the link to the blog post if you want to share these digital resources with others.