|

Wonderland222 Planner Review

In this Wonderland222 planner review, find out why it’s a great bullet journal planner, the best planner for ADHD and pros and cons of the Wonderland 222 planner.

Note: This blog contains affiliate links or referral links. Purchases from these links provides a small commission or discounts towards future purchases to me at no extra cost to you. Medical and health information and these recommendations are from my personal experience and do not constitute medical advice. Please seek professional medical advice for your health. Refer to my Full Privacy Policy and Disclaimers here.

I received some of these items for free for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.

Best Features of the Wonderland222

I’m going to talk about the best features in the Wonderland222 planner. The planner in the photos is the 2022 A5 version, I will update this review when I receive the 2023 A5 version.

For complete details and specifications, be sure to check the Wonderland 222 website.

The Best Tomoe River Paper

In general, Tomoe River Paper (TRP) is a Japanese paper which is super thin at just 52 gsm (regular copy/printer paper is 70-100 gsm as a frame of reference). Tomoe River Paper planners are a great option for people who want to carry a whole year planner in a surprisingly thin and lightweight book.

Usually found in book bound planners, Hobonichi and Stalogy are two popular brands that use this type of paper. Wonderland 222 ’s paper is also 52 gsm and the paper is an absolute dream to write on. I’ve tested out Hobonichi and Stalogy also but Wonderland222 is still the best for me. The paper is brighter white than the Hobonichi and the lines are darker than the Stalogy (which I have trouble seeing because they are so light). I want to write on this paper all the time, gimme all the notebooks!!

See my comparison of all 3 on Instagram:

I’ve seen people create absolute masterpieces with painting in their Wonderland planners and journals (co owner Andy is one of them, join the Wonderland222 Facebook group to see). His art is stunning and the paper holds it beautifully. I’m no artist but I think it just goes to show how versatile the paper is.

The downside (if you want to call it that) to the paper is that it does shadow but the pens I’ve used do not bleed through. Shadowing is expected since the paper is so thin. For me the thinness is not a downside, it’s actually part of what I love about the paper. I truly miss the Wonderland 222 paper when I test out other notebooks/planners for review. I’m going to stock up on these notebooks when this stash runs out!

It can be tricky at first to find the best pen for Tomoe River paper that works for you. Gel pens and fountain pens will need more drying time whereas ballpoint pens do not. However, depending on how hard you write can cause indentations on the paper because it is so thin. I don’t mind it.

The best pen for Tomoe River Paper I have used is the uniball jet stream multi pen, it’s a ballpoint that writes as smoothly as a gel pen and needs no drying time. The best highlighter for Tomoe River Paper I have used are the Colorful and Black Dual Ink Dual Tip highlighters. They have lovely colors and they aren’t as inky so don’t shadow as much as the Zebra Mildliners. I can write with the ballpoint and highlight over it without smearing or feathering.

Various Sizes

Wonderland222 planner sizes (from top row to bottom row): A6 planner and notebook, B6 planner and notebook and A5 planners in blush and black

I am usually an A5 or half letter size planner because I like doing a day per page for planning and journaling every day. But I do like that the Wonderland 222 comes in 3 sizes. I’m always tempted to try the A6 or B6 size so it’s even more portable to take with me on the go. Wonderland co-owner Liisa sent me these cuties to show you too and try out.

I really see myself using the A5 as my catch all for planning and journaling to leave at home (I’m too worried my planners will get wet or otherwise messed up to carry it with me) and a smaller planner for my every day carry and maybe my weekly overviews lists that I can get messy in.

I like that you can mix and match planner sizes and still use the same system.

Bullet Journal Planner

The Wonderland 222 planner is a great bullet journal planner, perfect for “lazy” bullet journalers like me or people who want a hybrid bullet journal planner combination. The well thought out layouts and abundance of minimalist bullet journal trackers are already done for you.

Here are some of my favorites trackers in the Wonderland222:

Yearly tracker

The Wonderland 222 has a yearly tracker like the Hobonichi. Here are some ways to use it:

  • future planning for important events, appointments, birthdays, etc
  • Bill tracker
  • Habit tracker
  • Workout/steps tracker
  • Hobby or self care tracker
  • Home maintenance tracker
  • Mood tracker
  • Index for daily pages (in case you have important lists you want to remember where they are)

I think the yearly tracker makes a fantastic year at a glance tracker for those habits you want to work on all year long. I am using it as a Joy tracker to make time for things that bring me joy everyday in 2022.

Quarterly tracker

The quarterly trackers have 3 monthly calendars on the left hand page and gridded space for each month on the right. I think the layout is just enough to customize how you want. Here are some ideas on how to use the Wonderland222 quarterly tracker:

  • Goals tracker
  • Content tracker
  • Bills tracker
  • Daily spending and budget
  • No spend tracker
  • Meal planner
  • Home maintenance tracker
  • Decluttering/organizing tracker
  • Joy tracker
  • Doodle a day or handwriting/handlettering practice
  • Mood tracker and currently
  • Gratitude and memories

Monthly Review and Overview

I love monthly reviews where I can do my own reflection on how the month went. I love that Wonderland 222 planner gives you the space to do that and customize it for how you want to. Here are some ways to use the monthly review page:

  • a weekly log of what worked and what didn’t
  • a memory keeper
  • a currently list or current favorites list
  • small victories log
  • goal progress and achievements
  • gratitude weekly log
  • journaling prompts

The monthly overview page is a mirror image of the previous month’s review. I love that as it helps you see the next steps and put what you learned from last month into this month’s actions and goals.

Monthly tracker

This one I love, monthly trackers can take forever to draw out if you’re a bullet journaler. This monthly tracker is unique because it not only has the daily tracker but an extra 4 columns on the left. The owners say this can be used for project planning, which is pretty clever.

This is how I use it:

But since there are 4 columns and usually 4 weeks per month, I use it as a weekly tracker too. It kinda looks crowded but I love that all my routines are on one page at a glance!! That way I don’t need to write all these weekly recurring tasks in my weekly or daily planner spread, they are all here and I know how long it’s been since I last cleaned the dreaded bathrooms for example.

I have accumulated a lot of daily tasks and health tracking over the years and this monthly tracker actually fits it all!

Weekly Pages

I want to touch briefly on the weekly pages. There are 6 columns with a Monday start and a stacked weekend where Saturday and Sunday share a column. I like that the columns are wider to maximize the planning space for each day on the page.

The layout is missing a space for a to do list in the sidebar. I don’t mind that as all my weekly recurring tasks are in my monthly tracker. But there are some non recurring weekly tasks/goals that I sometimes need to write in.

Here are some solutions if you need a weekly to do list or overview:

  • tip in a weekly list, I prefer taping It in the edge of the page so it folds out and I can see it when I’m planning my days. I don’t keep the weekly list since I write the tasks I actually do in my daily pages so I just take it out and toss it at the end of the week.
  • use a weekly list as a bookmark in my daily pages or
  • Use one of the notes pages for a weekly overview
  • write in your weekly items in the bottom section of the days.
  • Turn the stacked weekend into a to do list space and then use the daily notes pages for your weekends. This allows you more space to document all those fun things and happy memories that happen on the weekends!

The weekends are stacked which is not my favorite, I prefer a full column for each day. Here’s where I would probably use a daily notes page divided in half to track my weekends if needed.

I actually don’t use the weekly spread for planning (I told you I’m a daily planner girl), I use it for my weekly review and I love that!! It’s a great summary of how my week went when I’m flipping through my planner. Here’s what my weekly review looks like before I fill it all in and I just list as many things as I can in each column:

Best planner for ADHD

I will write a whole other post about this but I do think this is the best planner for ADHD. Let me say, I do not have confirmed ADHD, I suspect I have ADHD with impulsivity issues. I am not a medical professional and this does not constitute medical advice. Just sharing my personal experience with some of the issues I face.

I have a really hard time focusing and committing and sticking with even my best laid plans. There’s more to my issues but I can see why this planner would be a great planner for ADHD and here’s briefly why.

After talking with co-owner Liisa, she said they created the Wonderland222 planner for people with ADHD, as she wrestles with ADHD herself. She said,

“Being diagnosed at 31 years old was life changing. My brain zoomed all the way back to 2nd grade remembering all the things that were so obvious now but no one really knew about then. It completely changed the trajectory of my corporate career and helped explain so many struggles. This, in turn, helped me find actual solutions for the struggles.

Designing these books / two book system answered many of the issues I had with planner flow, the need for some structure but not too much structure and how to visualize the breakdown of time.“

Here are some ways they created the planner to help those with ADHD plan:

  • Planner flow shows the breakdown of time – yearly to quarterly to monthly to weekly to undated dailies/notes if needed
  • Does the recurring bullet journal elements for you to free up time for creativity and getting things done including the key, index, prenumbered pages and all those yearly, quarterly, and monthly trackers mentioned above.
  • The page titles are generic enough so that ADHDer can customize as needed. The monthly pages say “monthly review” and “monthly overview “ for example to allow flexibility of what’s on the page. You aren’t locked in to a specific purpose for the page (like goals, budgeting or tasks) on the trackers so you can change the function as needed.
  • The weekly and daily layouts have non intrusive print for the hours. It’s dark enough that you can read the times and time block your to dos during the day. But light enough print that can easily write, highlight or color over it as you need to.
  • Visual cues (highlighting) to help you know when the week starts and ends in the trackers
  • Visual cues (highlighted boxes on side margin of pages) to show on the monthly pages all the monthly/weekly pages for that month. I prefer coordinating monthly tabs which are available for purchase on their site.
  • Visual cues with ribbon bookmarks to help you identify key pages. I prefer tabs so I know where something is, they have monthly mini tabs available for purchase for the side of the page.

Flexible Daily Planning

I’m also a firm daily planning person (the Simplified planner turned me into one in 2018ish). As a result, I LOVE flipping the page for a fresh start every morning, it’s a must to start each day with a clean slate.

The thing I struggle with is sometimes I don’t need a whole page per day and others I need 3 when I do a lot of journaling or mindmaps or list making. I love that the “daily pages” in the Wonderland222 are undated and although they have an hourly schedule on the left hand side as a guide, you can easily write over the numbers if you want to change the hourly schedule or not use it at all and use the page for lists, bullet journal collections and journaling.

I also love that the daily page has slightly darker lines at the halfway points vertically and horizontally so it’s really easy to create the layouts I want without counting squares. The darker grid lines help me draw a straight line as I don’t want to mess around with carrying a ruler.

The Wonderland222 planner comes with 90 daily/notes pages. At the beginning of the year, I tried using it like a bullet journal for collections and just use the weekly planner for planning. That lasted a month and a half and then I was back to daily planning because that’s just what I like better.

You can purchase an additional half year (192 pages) or full year sized notebook (368 pages) for extra daily notes pages. I love and need the extra space. Even with both the planner and notebook combo, it’s lighter than a standard daily planner for the year. I’ve preordered the A5 planner and full year sized notebook combo for 2023.

Wonderland222 Planner Pros and Cons

Pros

  • super lightweight because of the 52 gsm Tomoe River Paper means you can carry a whole year with you
  • the paper can handle fountain pens and watercolor paint!
  • the paper is smooth and fun to write on. Once you try it, you’ll understand the different writing experience that Tomoe River paper gives you.
  • designed for people with ADHD who need both flexibility and structure
  • bullet journal style trackers are already done for you
  • minimalist design allows you to customize and be creative with pages if and when you want to
  • pages for quarterly, monthly and weekly planning for the entire calendar year
  • 90 “daily” pages are undated and with times so you can use them when/if you need them. These pages can also be used for notes, lists, journaling and bullet journaling collections
  • 3 sizes to choose from

Cons

  • if you like gel pens, it can be trial and error to find one that works for you (i love gel pens in any other planner, but for this one, the ballpoint uniball jetstream multipen and pencil is the best. It writes and feels like a gel pen but it’s ballpoint so doesn’t smear even if you highlight over it.)
  • If you want an entire year of daily pages, you’ll need a second half year or full year notebook (available for purchase in their shop. Even with the second notebook, it’s still lighter than many full year daily planners on the planner market)

Favorite Wonderland222 Accessories

Here are the accessories I recommend, use or want with my Wonderland222 planner:

Is the Wonderland222 Planner Worth It?

it’s 100% been one of the best planners for me in 2022. The quarterly trackers have helped me track my goal progress. The monthly trackers have helped me establish and track effective routines to help my household and business run smoother and to make my health and self care a priority. The weekly pages have helped me document my weekly reviews and the daily pages have allowed me to enjoy my usual daily to do list and health planning and get all my bullet journal collections (like my beloved reading challenges) into it. I also have done lots more journaling, because the paper makes me want to write. I do have a second notebook because I filled up the blank pages.

Is the Wonderland222 planner worth it for you? Well, I think it can be if you are looking for:

  • a planner with bullet journal style routine trackers, quarterly trackers and yearly trackers already done for you
  • need both structure of weekly planning pages and freedom in your daily planning pages
  • high quality paper that allows you to write and paint and express your creativity
  • minimalist design for optimal functionality but allows you to be creative if/when you want to

More Planning and Productivity Tips and Resources

Well, there you have it, everything you wanted to know about the Wonderland222 planner before you buy it. Let me know if you have more questions and I’ll be sure to help however I can!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *