How to Find the Ideal Journaling System for Your Own? Best Undated Journals and Planners for 2025
Ame Jin
Autumn is the season when journal and planner enthusiasts start gearing up for their next year's journaling system. Stationery brands are also busy preparing, with new planner products hitting the shelves between August and October - one-page-per-day, continuous diary, weekly planners, vertical timelines, all-in-one solutions... - the variety of layouts can be overwhelming for journal beginners.
But have you ever felt pressured by a dated planner? Every autumn, I buy planners for the upcoming year while promising myself to fill every single page without missing a day. But in reality, skipping days in my journal is perfectly normal. This makes me feel wasteful and stressed, and even blame myself for being lazy.
That's why I've started to seek the flexibility of undated journals and planners. This blog post will summarize and recommend some undated journals and planners I've used. While it's not a comprehensive review of all such products out there, it's based entirely on my user experience.
Before we dive in, let's address the question: What is an undated journal and planner?
In this blog, we're talking about planners that don't come pre-printed with next year's dates. This means you can start using them anytime and flexibly use them on any day you want to record. Also, compared to regular dot grid or lined notebooks, these have layout features that make them convenient for use as planners or daily journals.
CONTENT
- Traveler’s Notebook Free Diary refills
- Midori MD Journal
- King Jim HITOTOKI NOTE
- Stálogy Editor's Series Notebook
- MARK'S Happy Log
- NOLTY Horizontal Slim Notebook
- Iroha Publishing Study Planner
Traveler’s Notebook Free Diary refills
The annual release of TN's planner for the upcoming year is a major event for planner enthusiasts worldwide. However, it's worth remembering that TN's refill product line also offers undated options year-round, including monthly planner, weekly vertical planner, weekly+memo, and one-page-per-day.
Among all the options, the most popular, 019 Free Diary Weekly+Memo, stays in my TN all the time. I use the weekly planner page on the left side to record each day's highlights or daily gratitudes, and the right side for habit tracking and summaries.
TN's versatility is undeniable. In many ways, its flexible combination options rival those of loose-leaf planner systems. The various combinations of Free Diary refills and others can meet all sorts of recording needs - you could even use a single TN to create an all-in-one planner system.
Moreover, TN is incredibly user-friendly for those just starting to use planners and journals. The thin refills are quick to fill up, allowing you to try different page types to find out a journaling way that best suits you.
Midori MD Journal
You might be familiar with the Midori MD Paper series, renowned for its high-quality paper, craftsmanship, and minimalist design. But have you noticed their journal notebook line? Currently, they offer three types: Dot Grid (a favorite among bullet journal enthusiasts), Frame (blank pages with a subtle red border and space at the top for dates and titles), and the one I'd like to highlight here - the Grid Block.
This journal divides each grid page into four equal sections, creating eight sections across a two-page spread. Planner enthusiasts will immediately grasp the potential here. That's right - each spread can serve as a weekly planner, with one section per day plus an extra for summaries or to-do lists.
This notebook represents the perfect design in my mind. With just two bolder lines, it strikes a balance between functionality and freedom while adhering to MD Paper's elegant minimalist aesthetic. You can use it as a weekly planner or explore other possibilities - a daily planner with four recording aspects, or a two-day-per-page with a plan+log approach to visualize your task management, or a family diary, one for family members and one for yourself.
The notebook contains 192 pages for six months of use, if used as a weekly spread.
King Jim HITOTOKI NOTE
The HITOTOKI NOTE is currently my favorite journal to replace Hobonichi one-page-per-day. It features a daily page format with a grid layout and space at the top for filling in dates or titles.
The best part is that the page edges are printed with small dots, allowing you to quickly divide the page into different sections. This is extremely helpful for customizing the layout based on your needs. Another useful feature is its special binding. Pages can be neatly torn off without leaving any trace. This is perfect for someone like me who doesn't want frequent writing mistakes or unsatisfactory decorations in their planner!
Additionally, it comes with an artist-illustrated cover. This not only means an attractive appearance but also provides some storage capacity. The matte PVC version has a slim inner card slot that is perfect for KITTA. The newly launched zipper version offers even more storage space, making it ideal for use on the go.
This product comes in three sizes: passport, comic, and square. While the first two are familiar to planner enthusiasts, I'd like to particularly recommend the square size. The square page proportion is quite unique and can bring some fresh fun and challenges. It's especially suitable for vertical weekly layouts. The guide dots on the page will also help you easily divide a spread into eight equal-sized vertical sections.
Stálogy Editor's Series Notebook
I’d rather define the Stálogy Editor's Series notebook as an all-purpose notebook. If you want a regular notebook for extensive writing projects, it can meet your needs. If you're looking for a free-form journal for diary, bullet journal, hobby tracking, or decorative purposes, it can accommodate that too. And if you need a flexible, customizable planner, it still fits the bill!
What makes it so versatile and remarkable is the subtle markers of months, dates, and days of the week at the top of each page, as well as the time markers from 0 to 24 on the left side. You can highlight specific dates, turning it into a daily page with a timeline (just like Hobonichi!). If you ignore these markings, you can give it other functions.
I use it this way when I'm working on a larger task, like writing a thesis or managing complex projects at work. Besides daily time management, task tracking, and summarizing insights, I have plenty of blank pages left for free-form note-taking, brainstorming, and periodic reviews.
This series of notebooks comes in A5, B6, and A6 sizes, with two types available: 365 Days use (if used one-page-per-day) and Half-year use.
MARK'S Happy Log
MARK'S Happy Log brings a light-hearted and joyful atmosphere to me. It offers two layout options. One is a weekly planner with a spread divided into eight sections; the other is a daily type with dot grid, featuring space at the top for dates and titles, along with icons for weather and mood. The right side has a clock icon and guide dots, making it easy to arrange a vertical timeline. There are also positioning dots at the top and bottom, allowing you to easily divide each page into five sections. These thoughtful features make it incredibly flexible and user-friendly.
Like the square type of HITOTOKI NOTE, the daily type is also square-shaped. In my preference, the square composition is more practical than the notebooks we're accustomed to. The wider page makes it easier to create two or three-column layout designs, allowing you to efficiently arrange various elements like timeline logs, to-do lists, and reflections on a single page.
Additionally, the Happy Log planner provides a richer set of functional pages, including pages for monthly plans, monthly events, wishlists, favorite logs, and travel maps for both Japan and global destinations.
NOLTY Horizontal Slim Notebook
The history of NOLTY planners can be traced back to the 1950s, and their planners have accumulated years of design exploration, resulting in very thoughtful practicality. Thus, it has many loyal followers worldwide.
Recently, I've been fascinated by NOLTY’s Horizontal Slim notebooks and have completely transferred my work logs to this Grid Matrix type product.
Firstly, the horizontal design allows it to be placed under a laptop keyboard, which perfectly suits contemporary learning and office scenarios. Secondly, when opened, it creates a widescreen-like writing space, ideal for work notes such as flowcharts and mind maps.
More importantly, there's a positioning dot in the middle of all four sides of the page, allowing you to easily divide each page into four quadrants. I've discovered that this four-quadrant layout better aligns with my mental understanding of complex projects and tasks. For instance, sometimes I divide it into four aspects of tasks for a comprehensive project, with potential links between each task in different aspects; sometimes I use it to prioritize tasks based on the Urgent-Important Matrix; and sometimes I use it for SWOT analysis to help myself clarify complex challenges.
Iroha Publishing Study Planner
During the most intense period of my graduate studies, I heavily relied on this planner. It was a good tool for helping me improve my focus.
It comes in two types of layouts, weekly and daily, but the core functional principle remains the same: a to-do list combined with a 24-hour time log. This special time log helps you completely visualize your use of all 24 hours in a day, broken down into small blocks representing 10-minute intervals.
You just need to color-code the blocks based on your activities. For example, I used different colors for sleep, thesis writing, vocabulary study, and exercise. I also honestly marked passive leisure like gaming or TV watching. This instantly visualized my daily time allocation. Through continuous recording and reflection, I improved my study efficiency, avoided mindless entertainment, and gained new energy through effective relaxation.
After graduating, I no longer need to meticulously record how I use my time. However, as a small business owner working for myself, I find it challenging to maintain a good routine. So, whenever I feel that I'm struggling with the balance between rest, work, and my own leisure time, I bring out this planner and commit to recording and observing for about two weeks. It certainly helps me understand more intuitively how I'm living my life.
The above are the undated journals and planners I've used and consider worth recommending. From flexible, free-form usage to rigorous planning methods, from daily mood tracking to work and study organization, they've provided effective help and faithful companionship in different aspects of my life at various times. Since I don't have to follow fixed dates for writing and recording, they've allowed me to actively explore when and why I need to keep records - questions that, I suspect, are at the heart of every journal and planner enthusiast's journey.
May we all continue to discover the most suitable ways to record our lives, starting from 2025, or from today, or from any time you feel ready.
— Ame, Paper Whisper
