The start of every new year means a new planner or at least new planner inserts. I think it’s exciting. It’s a reminder of the fresh new year waiting for new adventures, new ideas, and possibilities you never imagined.

A couple of years back I purchased a nice planner from Samsonite. The rings didn’t stay tight so I’ll not be using it this year.

I’ve been looking for a nice planner for this new year. There are so many options available. It’s hard to make a decision so I’m just trying out a few things right now to see if I can find a good fit for our family.

My first purchase was an ARC binder from Staples. (I decided to share this since I know there are others trying to find a good system for their family.)

There are several sellers on Etsy that have custom designed planner pages intended to fit this binder.

I purchased the smallest size I could find with the thought that I would try it out as a basic notebook before I made the actual investment for a planner.

On first glance, it’s super cute. I added the place marker (the black band), and the name plate to the front. It does seem well made. I think it would last quite a while.

It has slots for business cards and an extra pocket for larger items. Again, these seem really well made.

The discs that bind this little notebook are well made. You can purchase larger discs if you wanted to expand your notebook.

I purchased one set of pocket pages and one set of dividers. These are made of a nice plastic and from previous experience, I think these will last the lifetime of this notebook.

My opposition to this book is the paper. It’s not held in place with a ring system like traditional binders. This paper is punched so that it sits into these discs.
The paper you buy for the planner is heavy so that it will hold it’s shape when being
snapped on and off the discs.

This was actually my hesitation about buying this particular system for my planner. I wasn’t sure the paper would hold up, (and it hasn’t). I’m used to also being able to buy a pack of 3 hole paper for my binder-size planner.

ARC does sell a paper punch for these books but it is quite expensive.

I’ve been using it for my grocery list and to keep church prayer lists. I like that when you take a piece of paper out, it doesn’t leave the trail of paper inside the binding like a notebook- and you can replace the page, if you like.

Because of the paper expense, the expense of the punch and the ease at which the little tabs become distorted and not stay in the book, it’s not a good choice for my planner BUT I do intend to keep my daily to-do’s and grocery list in this book.

(This post is linked up at So Much at Home. Hop over to the link-up party for more inspiration and ideas!)