I’ve hoarded invested in many planner supplies over the years. These are the ones that have held up the best, and which I’m still use years after purchasing.

The best planner supplies investments I’ve made

1. ARC Planner

I mention this planner every week – it’s my all time favorite. Discbound means I can add remove, and rearrange pages as often as needed. I use the ARC discbound system for:

• Household binder
• Blog planner
• Business planning
• Lists
• Travel planning
• Projects
• Etc!

The ARC punch is also durable. I’ve been using it for years with no issues. It’s sturdy, has a large easy to use handle and a has a handy slider to change the page size.

Week 35: Planning with a functional minimalist DIY weekly planner printable 

2. Poppin Ruler

While expensive for a ruler, this one is in as new condition years later. So sturdy, the numbers are really big and easy to see, it has inches and cm and comes in lots of pretty colors. It’s my favorite ruler for drawing bullet journal spreads as it stays in place. If you follow my planner review videos on YouTube, that blue ruler in my videos is from Poppin.

3. Paper Guillotine Trimmer

I sometimes print printables at an odd page size (A5, Plum Paper size etc.). Hand cutting is much slower and far less accurate then cutting a stack of paper in under a minute with a paper guillotine. I was using a paper trimmer for a while but the blade would slip, it’s harder to line the paper up and the blade would wear down quickly over time. Gullotine is also my preferred method for cutting printable planner stickers.

4. Decent Printer

When I started making printables around 7 years ago I had a bottom of the line cheap printer. It only took a color and black and white ink cartridges (not Cyan, Magenta etc.) and the print quality was average. The inks were expensive and needed changing all the time and paper was prone to getting jammed.  Upgrading to my current printer that I’ve had for almost 5 years and which is still working great was definitely worth it.

Printing tutorials

• How to get rid of a white border when printing printable (borderless, no bleed, no scaling step by step video tutorial)
• How to Choose a Printer (Including the best printer for printing printables and planner stickers) 
• Best Paper for Printing Printables
• How to clean your printer (prevent smudging, streaks and make the colors POP!) 
• How to print any printable in black and white (greyscale) using your home printer 
• How to easily print printables double sided (duplex printing tutorial)
• How to resize a printable to fit A5 or US half letter (5.5 x 8.5) page size 

5. ARC Leather cover

I normally avoid leather (one of the reasons why I hate travellers notebooks), however the ARC notebooks are a nice leather than comes in pretty colors too. I have a hot pink one (my favorite), black, red and blue. I’ve had these covers for 5+ years and they’re still in as good as new condition. So while they were a pricey investment initially I definitely do not regret it! If you use the Happy Planner discbound system they have similar leather / more durable covers too.

6. Expensive Pens

More expensive pens not only tend to write better, the ink tends to dry out slower. Some of my favorite expensive pens are:

• Papermate Inkjoy
• Staedtler Triplus Fineliner 0.3mm
• Frixion Erasable

7. Quality label paper for planner stickers

My sister and I tried about 10 different types of label paper before we found the type we currently use. While it took ages to find and test different ones it was definitely worth it. The labels peel smoother and don’t tear, the colors of the ink show up well and the Silhouette cutting blades last longer.

Related: 5 Planner supplies you should never skimp on

8. Washi Tape

Has anyone ever actually finished a roll of washi tape? The stuff seems to last forever and stays super sticky for years.

My favorite washi tape is Doodlebug and MAMBI washi.

9. Small photo albums

Small photo albums are my favorite way to store planner stickers. They’re cheap, compact (but can still store a lot), it’s easy to flick through and see what you need and the pockets are big enough that you can store multiple sheets in the one photo slot.

Related: How to make planner stickers for free using Silhouette Studio (Introduction – Video Tutorial)

10. Expensive highlighters

I used to think there wasn’t much difference between highlighter brands until I splurged and paid $3 for one highlighter instead of $3 for an entire pack of highlighters. So much better. They highlight smoother (i.e. straight line), last a long time and the more expensive ones tend to be dual tip with a fat and thin end.

My favorite highlighters are:

• Frixion erasable (the brights not the pastel)
• Tombow Coat
• Uni Propus Window
• Zebra

11. Photoshop

So not technically a planner supply but Photoshop is the software I use to make my printables – definitely got my money’s worth out of that investment!

More planning tips

• 50 Tips for writing a better to do list that will make you more productive
• How to make planner stickers for free using Silhouette Studio (Introduction – Video Tutorial)
• Color coding your planner: how to choose which colors to use 

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