If you’re new to the planner community and have seen some phrases on Instagram, in planner Facebook groups etc. and are wondering what they mean, here’s the lowdown:

Common planner page sizes / quick reference

US Letter size = 8.5” wide x 11” high (used in the USA)
Half letter size = 5.5” wide x 8.5” high (used in the USA)
A4 = 210 x 297mm (used in Australia & the UK)
A5 = (Half A4 page size) 148 x 210mm (used in Australia & the UK)
Classic (medium – popular planner size) = 7” wide x 9” high
Personal = 95mm x 171mm
Pocket = 81mm x 120mm

You can print any planner printable (such as the ones from my shop!) at any size you like. See this post see for a tutorial on how to easily print A5 /half page size and also how to do custom page size such as 7 x 9” for your Erin Condren, Plum Paper, Limelife Planner etc.

Planner Supplies

Dashboard

Either the inside face of the front cover or an additional insert that stores sticky notes. Sometimes decorated with washi, photos, stickers etc. It’s usually laminated for durability.

Dividers

What people use to compartmentalise their planner or notebook, they usually have tabs as well to make it easier to find things in your planner (or a binder etc.). Rather than just a boring piece of paper, people decorate these with digital papers, scrapbooking paper, washi tape etc. They’re usually printed into cardstock or laminated for extra durability.

I shared a tutorial on how to make planner dividers.

Discbound

Round discs that can be used to create a custom notebook. They require a special punch but can be used to create re-positionable pages for a custom notebook. They’re my favorite binding style for planners!

Some popular discbound brands are:

Insert

Loose leaf planner pages (as opposed to already being included in a spiral bound, glue bound etc.). You can purchase these in smaller quantities and add them to your own ring binder or punch them yourself and add to a discbound notebook. They typically come in smaller than full page size. Personal size and A5 page size are quite popular.

Inserts are often called printables – they come in a variety of styles (e.g. health tracker, habit, bill checklist, notes pages etc.) and a variety of sizes. You can print any printable / insert at any size you like by following this tutorial.

Printable

Inserts (see above), worksheets or other files that can be downloaded and printed from home; can be free or paid for

Wo1P/Wo2P

Week on one page/week on two pages

Wo2P

Week on two pages

Mo2P/Mo1P

Month on two pages/month on one page

Full box

Refers to a sticker, stamp or other planner supplies that fits 1 box of the Erin Condren vertical life planner (which has 3 boxes per day).

Half box

Same as above, but fits half of the box instead of the entire box.

$2 Tuesday

A special discount some planner shops do on a Tuesday where selected sticker sheets from their shop are $2.

Planner Brands / Types

Bujo

Short for bullet journal. Where you basically draw any planner page layout you like, usually on grid paper

Fauxdori

Based on the Midori Travellers Notebook – a planner with leather or a fabric cover, an elastic band to keep it closed and inserts. Typically smaller than standard page size.

FC

Franklin Covey. A popular ring bound planner.

FF

Filofax, another popular ring bound planner available in many sizes and colors

EC or ECLP

Erin Condren or Erin Condren Life Planner. One of the most popular planners that comes in 3 styles : vertical, horizontal and hourly

HP (Happy Planner)

An affordable alternative to the Erin Condren) it features a similar vertical weekly layout. It uses disc rather than a coil so you can add, remove and re-position pages as often as you like! It comes in 3 sizes: mini, classic and large

KS

Kate Spade Planner – a sophisticated (but expensive!) planner. The brand also has tons of other cute supplies such as luggage tags

MAMBI

Me and my big ideas. The company that created the Happy Planner.

PP

Plum Paper. My current favorite brand of planner. An affordable alternative to the Erin Condren and Limelife planners with plenty of different weekly planner layouts. If you want to take a closer look at some of their planners, I shared a massive Plum Paper Planners Haul.

CC/WP

Color Crush / Webster Pages – ring bound planner brand, usually personal size.

Kikki K

Popular Australian stationery brand that has stylish glue bound and ring binders for smaller size planners (such as personal size).

Tracker

This can be used to track anything you like. Essentially a habit tracker such as cleaning the house, water intake, getting 7+ hours of sleep per night etc.

Bleeding

How much of the pen ink is visible on the back side of the page. No bleed pens are obviously preferable. Sharpies, Triplus Staedtler 1.0mm and other thick tip markers are prone to bleeding

Ghosting

When you see a small amount of pen ink on the other side of the page.

Spread

This could be a daily, weekly or monthly spread. It basically refers to the setup you’re using to plan. So a weekly planner may have a 1 or 2 page spread

Leuchtturm |loys-trum|: (LT1917)

A notebook typically used for bullet journaling. Comes in lot of pretty colors! Usually includes grid paper

Dutch door layout

Mainly used for bullet journaling – where you cut your notebook page in half so you can view multiple pages at the same time. E.g. weekly tasks that you don’t want to keep re-writing each week

Facebook Groups & Instagram

Here are some terms you’ve probably seen when looking for planner inspiration:

RAK

Random Act of Kindness. There are plenty of Facebook groups that do RAK’s. You essentially give stuff away for free for the sake of doing something nice. Like this:

ISO

Means ‘in search of’ – you’ll probably see this mentioned in buy, sell and swap Facebook planner groups. If you’re in a hurry and want to offload some planner supplies without spending hours scrolling through Facebook groups (which is easy to do!), do a CTRL F search in one of the buy, sell, swap Facebook groups will bring up all of the posts that mention this phrase.

NWT or BNWT

‘New with tags’ or ‘Buy new with tags’ – means a product that has not been used or is in as new condition.

NWOT or BNWOT

Same as above but without the original tags

Planner Peace

When you’ve found THE perfect planner. The planner you use the most often and don’t have the urge to change anything about it. Even though I’ve been planning for years and have made thousands of printables, I’m still yet to find planner peace. Join me on my quest to find it by trying 52 different planners in 52 weeks!

PM

Private Message. A direct message sent to someone (or a few people) – only those you send the message to can see it (unlike when you post in a Facebook group where everyone can see it)

TIA

Thanks in advance- typically used when asking for advice in a Facebook group

TFS

Thanks for sharing

TN

Travellers notebook. A portable type f planner that’s thin and usually stapled together or stitched. Compact and perfect for on the go planning. Smaller than regular page size.

Go Wild

An annual planner conference in the USA where planner addicts come together.

Washi

Abbreviation for ‘washi tape’ – a Japanese tape made from paper. It’s similar to normal tape but can be repositioning. Typically used for decorating planners, making dividers, dividing sections of your planner or your pages or just to add a pop of color. Washi comes in thousands of different patterns and colors, as well as gold foil, glitter, and of various widths. I shared my favorite washi tape for planning in this post.

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