MiGoals is a notebook and stationery company from Australia that features a range of products to help people plan and organize. I see a lot of plain black and grey planners and notebooks so it takes a lot to get me excited. Sometimes, between plain covers, is something worth getting excited about.
Not everyone reviews planners in July, but here at The Well-Appointed Desk, we know that sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the betterment of ourselves, our goals and our futures. The MiGoals 2018 Planner was worth cutting ties with my previous planner. Even if the year is half over.
First, it has all the features expected of a planner: monthly and weekly planning pages on creamy A5 pages that are fountain pen friendly between linen softcover covers, complete with two ribbon bookmarks.
But then it adds a lot of other details to help set goals and track progress. Normally, that kind of stuff kind of makes me cringe a little. It all feels a little hokey. You know, it feels a little “new agey”. But with the MiGoals, instead of setting all the text in chalkboard, frilly text, its set in simple black and white sans serif lettering. It’s clean and sophisticated. It feels professional and classy. And you can take the goals and vision planning to heart, or you can skip over it. There are quotes from popular artists and celebrities that may seem unusual choices but are interesting. There are not a ton of them either, mostly in the front of the book with the goals.
There is even some demo pages for how MiGoals envisions laying out pages which is helpful if you aren’t quite sure how you might lay out a goal page, a monthly page or a weekly page. If you’ve never used a planner like this before, this will give you a good idea of how these pages might be used.
Are these pages really fountain pen friendly? I tested them pretty thoroughly.
These are the same two pages from the other sides. NO SHOW THROUGH AT ALL. Seriously.
Then, in actual usage, on both the monthly spread and weekly spread for July and this week, I tried using a daily writer EF pen appropriate for everyday work use, along with an office pencil, and another fountain pen I grabbed off my desk. There was no bleeding, feathering or show through issues.
You will also note that the ribbon bookmarks meet my strict standard of being long enough to reach the corner of the notebook while still being able to open the book completely. YES!
Of the modifications I wanted with the planner, I needed a pocket in the back for ephemera and a pen loop. But these were easy fixes. I glued an envelope into the back cover of the notebook using adhesive tape runner and added a Leuchtturm Pen Loop
While I personally like the idea of the pearl grey linen cover, I managed to pick up coffee stains in a matter of a week. The darker covers might pick up lint and dust so it’s probably just what kind of weathering you prefer.
This is one of the best planners I’ve ever used. I never thought I’d want a planner with goals and vision planning. The monthly pages have large Saturday and Sunday side-by-side which make up for smaller Saturday and Sunday on the weekly pages. There’s extra space for notes on the right hand pages and habit trackers which I also never thought I would use. And extra pages in the back for notes. With the addition of my pen loop and envelope, it’s pretty close to perfect and fountain pen friendly!
The remaining stock of MiGoals 2018 planners are on sale and there’s still six good months left in them to use plus the goal planning, monthly planning and notes. Get a jump start on your future and be prepared to kick 2019 in the butt.
Stay tuned… Giveaway coming soon!
DISCLAIMER: Some items included in this review were provided free of charge by MiGoals for the purpose of review. Other items in this review include affiliate links. The Well-Appointed Desk is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon. Please see the About page for more details.
as always, thank you Ana for this review. although I keep my schedule in Outlook I use a variety of other analog tools for planning and each one of your reviews in this area gives me something new to think about. Thanks for helping to keep me on the right path! 🙂
Thanks for this great review – I might be the planner and doctor my Hobonichi Techo cousin so that it’s more amenable to active goal setting and tracking. One question – love the delightful green pen! Can you tell us more about it?
The pen is a Delike “Smurf” — a “cheap” Chinese pen. I plan on doing a thorough review soon. It’s an Ef 0.38mm nib and comes in several fun summery colors. Available on Ebay. The seals are a little iffy but I find that silicone grease has remedied the problem completely.
Awesome – thank you. I got the green and pink one – they are just too pretty to resist. 🙂
Thanks for your review! I’d love to get it but shipping is $14 to where I am in the USA.