Those of you with children will no doubt be old hands at sourcing stylish wall planners.
I'm only in my second year of such communal organisation.
I remember a mum friend of mine once saying that one of her simple pleasures was copying all the dates of importance onto the new year's calendar.
It was a ritual I'd never experienced, because until not so long ago I had lived for years with lodgers, whose comings and goings were none of my business and vice versa, so my own Moleskine page per day pocket diary was all I needed. Now that boyfriend has replaced lodgers, the joint planner has a place on the back of the kitchen door (pictured above).
There are heaps of beautifully designed and interesting calendars out there – you only have to spend five minutes in an art gallery shop – but well-designed full-year wall planners are more elusive.
I'm going to go for the 2015 version of the one on my kitchen door, above, which is £15 by
Lollipop Designs. I like the sludgy colours and need a portrait rather than landscape design, which there's no space for. But here's my pick of the rest of the best.
The Crispin Finn wall planner, above, is £14. Having been feted in recent years by the likes of the
Creative Review and Grafik Magazine, and on sale at stylish haunts including The Peanut Vendor (whose owners' gorgeous rented flat
you can tour here) it is the go-to good-looker of the bunch. And it arrives in a pleasing brown paper bag, so it makes a great gift, too (that is if you know any other disorganised types who haven't quite got around to focusing on 2015 yet).
This clever screen-printed design, by Karen Willcox, is part wall planner, part calendar. It costs £26 from Karen's Etsy shop,
QuirkyLime.
It's printed on nice, solid card (so you can avoid the unattractive papery bulges once it's hung.
Below, Alison Hardcastle's green and white design is one of the bargains of the bunch.
I'm not entirely convinced by the cheery "exciting plans" banner (does that mean there's no call to enter "Pay Inland Revenue"?) but it's a lovely colour and the clean design would look very good on the wall. Good use of coat-hanger, too. And it's just £12 from
Alison's website.
I love a design with a bonus feature. And this planner that includes a seasonal fruit and vegetables guide has just that. It costs £12 from
Food Guide UK's Etsy shop.
Now, people either love or loathe this sort of personalised gimmick, but at the check-out at Not on the High Street (where else?) you type in the header you'd like on this sexily designed planner. Personalisation isn't my thing, so I'd simply type "calendar 2015" and dodge the issue, but each to their own.
It doesn't (luckily) come framed, or it'd be pretty useless, however it does feature glamorous gold foil detailing on a clean, white backdrop and is A3 size, so handy for compact rooms. It's £18.95 by
Milly's Cottage at Not on the High Street.
Love the subtle theme in the A Year Of Passing Clouds A1 Wall Planner by Cumulo, with its gentle pastel and greyscale palette. It is made in Kent, includes all the factual bits and pieces, including UK public holidays, clock changes and full and new moons, and costs £15 from the
YoPC Etsy shop, where you can also find their A4 wall calendars in the same style.
Some of the above can even still be ordered to arrive for Christmas as if you're as disorganised about your festive shopping as you are about your planning.
