The Hobonichi Techo is a longtime Strategist favorite, used by three of our present and former staffers (all three of whom have used the planner for years to stay organized). This long-term testing and devotion has earned it the top spot here. Layout: Daily | Size: 4 by 6 inches | Cover: Softcover Any of the 33 planners recommended below will surely go a long way toward keeping you on track this year. I’ve also included my own thoughts on our best overall planner, which I’ve been testing personally for the past five years.
So to find the best planners, I talked to 32 productivity experts, life coaches, and people who love stationery (including a few Strategist staffers) about their favorites, then culled our archives for standout styles we’ve written about before. (I have, after all, updated this list faithfully every January and was tasked with selecting the best 100 notebooks for our massive notebook-testing story.) While I’ve been devoted to Hobonichi Techo for most of my adult life, I’ve covered the Strategist’s stationery beat long enough to know that finding the right planner out of the very vast and very particular world of paper goods can be overwhelming. Leafing through the well-loved Hobonichi Techo planners I’ve used over the years brings me almost as much pleasure as scribbling in them did. And once the calendar year is complete, a physical planner becomes an artifact - a time capsule, if you will - of its happenings. There is plenty of research that shows how actually writing down your to-do list and schedule for the day - rather than typing it out on a laptop or iPhone - makes you feel more engaged in the task at hand. The EU is also planning to impose a vaping levy across the 27-nation bloc.Instead of an app or gadget that claims to jump-start your productivity, consider investing in a good paper planner. The new tax would be similar to 15 schemes in European countries, including Germany, where a €1.60 (£1.37) tax is charged on every 10ml of vape liquid, and Italy where the rate is €1.30. Ministers fear that the relatively cheap cost of vaping has made it increasingly appealing to young people and non-smokers. The government will also provide £30m of funding to support the work of enforcement agencies including trading standards from the beginning of April.Ĭurrently, vaping products and non-tobacco nicotine are taxed at 20% VAT, with a lower 5% rate for e-cigarettes regulated as medicines. A spokesperson said: “By treating vapes as an excise product, and a tax on sales, it means that there will be more eyes on the product itself from enforcement agencies including Border Force and HMRC and this should help us clamp down further on the illicit market in vapes.” “This will help to tackle the pocket-money prices vapes are currently available for, deterring children from using them and helping the clampdown on illicit products.” The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) said it had long called for a vape tax “to help tackle the challenges posed by the illicit market in vapes”. Kaya Comer Schwartz, the vice-chair of the Local Government Association’s community wellbeing board, said: “It is good that the government are taking decisive action to make vaping products less affordable to minors … We urge government to ensure the proceeds from the tax are specifically targeted for environmental, public health and enforcement purposes. The move was welcomed by other bodies, but the government was asked to ensure that any proceeds from taxation go to tackling the environmental and public health consequences of vaping. It said the tax would raise £500m by the 2028-29 financial year. The Office for Budget Responsibility, which measures the impact of the budget, said the levy would mean a product in the high nicotine category selling for £3 would double in price to more than £6. These will be set at £1, £2, and £3 per 10ml of liquid respectively, and will be charged to UK manufacturers or importers. In a measure campaigners said would help tackle the “pocket money” pricing that has attracted so many young children to vaping, vapes will be taxed at three rates: nicotine free, nicotine (less than 11mg of nicotine per millilitre), and high nicotine (at least 11mg per millilitre). The chancellor also reiterated the government’s intention to ban disposable vapes “as soon as possible”. The change comes into force from October 2026. Hunt added that he wanted to “maintain a financial incentive to choose vaping over smoking”. He said “ can also play a positive role in helping people quit smoking”, which is why there would also be a “one-off increase in tobacco duty”.