From my previous post on Thai calendars for next year where the usability and design have improved, I find more varieties of diaries, planners and organizers. These items are usually sold between October to January/early February of each year. The items below are being sold in B2S bookstores:
You would be able to get a nice diary to be used for your personal life planning or organizing your office tasks. If you happen to travel to Thailand during year end, why not consider getting a diary or organizer from Thailand…. since this is the kinda item that you cannot buy from your home country. For more tips on how to use the diary for office planning, do check out my article Organizing tasks at work- to use a diary with daily dates or other alternatives?
If you wish to check on more variety, then B2S bookstores that are located at most Central Departmental stores would provide you with more choices. I went to two B2S outlets and I find the one located in Bangkok town to have more variety…. but the smaller town B2S outlet sold a diary that I love which comes in one of my favourite colour, lilac.
Most diaries are priced between 135 baht to about 285 baht. The diaries above, like the one in purple cost less than 200 baht. The cover is soft and not hard. Because I love purple tones, I used to wonder why I seldom see purple diaries. Now, my wishes are being answered, hee hee.
The Bosco brand (same name as one of the most famous actor in Hong Kong, Bosco Wong) comes in more affordable pricing of about 135 baht if I remember correctly. The diaries are comfortable to hold. You would have the monthly schedule planner but the inner pages are not dated.
If you prefer the dated diaries, they are also available.
This year there is also a cheerful planner that comes in A4 size whereby it is a monthly spread where you can jot down your appointments. The pages below are in pastel theme with different designs each month…. similar to the “Follow Your Heart” monthly planner sold in Malaysia:
Below is the A5 size which you can fit in a carry on bag where you can use to list down appointments and reminders for your personal life. You may want to check out my article on Why a monthly planner spread is useful for planning and organizing
I know, many people said that there is no use for planners as their Smartphones with the calendar apps and other useful productivity tool can easily take over their planning and organizing needs. If electronic planning tools work for you, then it is good for you.
For me, I still prefer pen and paper planning- reason being that I find it good to have everything available at a glance on paper. This helps me not to forget or overlook appointments, important dates and bill payment dates. If I put it on my electronic calendar, I need to remember to set a reasonable range of timing….because my phone usually default the reminder to appear for one hour from 8am to 9am. And, I tend to choice planners, often inexpensive ones but with designs that help sparkle my creativity.
Well, if you feel you have nothing much to write about, you can get these tips. If you are worried you would end up wasting money buying the planner or organizer, okay here are some ideas on how to repurpose your old diary/planner.
Update in November 2019: Below are the 2 planners that I have purchased from B2S bookstore. I have written more about how I would be using them in this article in another blog.
The Sawasdee planner (left) came with my favourite colour of lilac colour and cost 170 baht. The monthly planner (right) cost 30 baht. Update: I love the cover of my Sawasdee planner so much that I reused it for my monthly planner.
May you have a productive year ahead. Happy planning!