I was planning to write an incredibly detailed review of my year of using the Hightide Pouch Diary, but seeing as 70% of the available stock sold within the first 24 hours I think I’d better get a wriggle on and scribble down a few quick thoughts before they’re all gone!

If you read my Choosing My 2024 Planner blog post last year, you’d have seen that I was torn between a bullet journal, an Iconic Undated Weekly Archive and a Hightide Pouch Diary. Obviously, I went for the Hightide Pouch Diary and here I am, one year on, reporting back…

First up, the main pro of using any dated or undated planner is that it’s much quicker to set up than creating a bullet journal from scratch in a dot grid journal. I love the customisability of a bullet journal, but with my somewhat hectic work/work/work/work/life balance*, I’m a big fan of anything that streamlines my life. I also found that during my last year of bullet journaling, I wasn’t really mixing up my spreads all that much and it had become a bit of a chore to sketch them out every week. With that said, I do genuinely miss creating a themed cover page every month, so I think I’m going to start doing that just for fun in one of our A5 Linen Cover Dot Grid Journals.

*Yes, I really do have four jobs!

I loved the compact size of the Weekly Archive I used in 2023, but it didn’t give me quite enough planning space on my freelance days, whereas the Hightide Pouch Diary is just about perfect for me. Each day has five lines, plus a blank space which fits 4-5 additional lines of text or a little doodle if you’re that way inclined. I also appreciate that it has a space at the top left of each week for recording your priorities for the week.

As well as generous-sized weekly spreads, the Hightide Pouch Diary includes a year-per-page view which I wound up using as a habit tracker. One of my goals for 2024 was to exercise twice a week and it was really handy being able to see how I was doing over the whole year at a glance. I’m pleased to say that after a rocky start (thanks, COVID), I did pretty well!

Next, there are month-per-page views for October 2023 - January 2025. As I had a different planner last year, I didn’t actually use the October - December pages, and the same went for the weekly spreads for these months. The additional months weren’t particularly helpful for me personally but they could be handy for someone who’s moving from an academic planner or isn’t currently using a diary and wants to get a head start on the new year’s good habits! I did end up using some of the 2023 weekly pages for notes as there are only a couple of lined pages in the back. There’s also a personal data / in case of emergency page on the last page which I didn’t use because I never do!

I loved the waterproof PVC cover as it didn’t attract as much cat hair as a linen cover, and it was so fun to mix up different postcards and stickers in the front pocket throughout the year. The B6 size was also a great fit for me as it was large enough for everything I needed, but compact enough to carry out and about.

Last year's dark green and lilac covers

To summarise… 

Hightide Pouch Diary Pros 

• Quicker to set up than a bullet journal
• Convenient compact B6 size
• Yearly, monthly and weekly spreads
• Space for 9-10 tasks per day
• Waterproof PVC cover
• Pocket on the front
• Small pocket at the back to store receipts etc
• Two ribbon bookmarks

My two teeny weeny gripes are that I personally could stand to have slightly thicker paper as I’m heavy handed and like to use a highlighter in my planner. I did get a tiny amount of light ghosting but certainly not enough to stop me getting this diary again and it’s a small price to pay for having such a lightweight planner IMHO. Secondly, I personally like to have more notes pages at the back but I got around this by using a Paperways Mini Notebook for my freelance timesheets instead.

Hightide Pouch Diary Cons

• Paper isn’t quite as thick as a dot grid journal
• Only four lined pages for notes in the back

…and there we have it! I hope this has been a helpful round up of my year of using the Hightide Pouch Diary. I’m 99% sure I’ll be grabbing another for 2025 but they’re selling super-fast (orange is already gone at the time of writing!) so do grab yours ASAP if they’ve caught your eye. If you’ve been inspired to try one out next year, we’d love to see! You can tag @nikkissupplystore and #NikkisSupplyStore on Instagram, where you can find heaps more journaling and stationery inspo. You can also follow me, @joy.margot, for more craft content, monthly reading round-ups and photos of my cat, Juniper.