A package from Australia arrived in my mailbox and officially made my entire year — and it was just a planner.

Yesterday, a simple package in the mail made my year. I love getting mail, as long as it isn’t bills, don’t you! Anyway, inside was my 2013 planner!!

I feel like my year can not start until my yearly planner is filled out, prepped and ready to go.

I’m not sure where my infatuation with written planners came from. But, I HATE using electronics to keep track of appointments. I love the idea of writing in my planner and keeping it with me. Living in Korea made it super easy to find the most adorable Diary’s (as they are called there). They have stationary store after stationary store filled with the cutest planners, pens, stickers, page markers etc. I swear it is an untouched market here in the states and would love nothing more than to open my own here.

Here are two of my favorite Korean ones.

Artbox and  Kimchi4u

Of course I could order one online from Korea, but I really wanted it to be fully in English and I really was on a mission to find one here in the states.

This year, I had a really hard time finding a “cute, stylish, affordable and functional” planner.

I spent weeks going through every store in Orlando… Barnes & Noble, Staples, Target, Papyrus, Hallmark etc. Anyplace where I thought they might possibly sell planners and man was I disappointed! All I found were super boring, plain planners and very few at that. I finally found a blog on planners through FatMumSlim and immediately ordered this journal. Let me introduce to you Frankie Magazine.

My favorite elements of a planner are the yearly date page

The monthly plans (which I immediately went to work on once I opened my package), and doesn’t February already look so full!!

And of course the weekly plan page. Each month has a different design and there is PLENTY of room to write notes.

My only complaint is that there aren’t enough “address pages” in the back. But, to make up for it, I just used one of the “notes” pages. The planner has a page full of cute stickers and really exceeds my expectations.

I ordered the planner right before Christmas and due to the holidays, it got lost in the mail…it comes all the way from Australia! But, the good part is that their customer service was great and after a few email correspondence, they shipped me another one.

Who else uses a written planner these days? Do you think a written plan works better than an electronic one?

Q: Why use a paper planner instead of a digital calendar? A: For some of us the act of physically writing something down creates a connection to our schedule that no app can replicate. Seeing a month laid out on paper — filling in dates adding stickers color coding weeks — makes planning feel intentional and even joyful rather than purely functional. Once you find the right planner the digital calendar starts feeling cold and forgettable by comparison.

Q: What makes Korean stationery and planners so special? A: Korea has an extraordinary stationery culture that is almost entirely unknown in the West. Store after store filled with beautifully designed diaries planners pens stickers and page markers at incredibly affordable prices. Brands like Artbox carry designs so charming and functional that Western stationery stores feel barren and uninspired by comparison. It is genuinely an untapped market outside of Asia.

Q: What should you look for in a good planner? A: A yearly overview page for the big picture. Monthly spreads with enough room to actually write. Weekly pages with daily detail space and ideally different designs each month to keep things visually interesting. A decent notes section and address pages at the back. Cute stickers are a bonus that somehow make the whole system more fun to maintain consistently.

Q: Where can you find stylish English language planners? A: Western bookstores and office supply stores are surprisingly disappointing for stylish planners — we visited Barnes and Noble Staples Target Papyrus and Hallmark and found mostly boring corporate designs. The best finds tend to come from independent publishers and international brands. Frankie Magazine from Australia produces one of our favorites — worth the international shipping and the occasional lost in the mail adventure.

Q: Does writing things down actually help you stay more organized? A: For us absolutely yes — and research backs this up. The physical act of writing engages the brain differently than typing creating stronger memory encoding and a greater sense of commitment to what is written. Our monthly pages fill up immediately upon arrival and seeing February already packed before January has even started is genuinely motivating rather than overwhelming.