A Thorough Mossery Planner 2021 Review

Kindly Note: If you find the images somewhat blur, clicking into it will show you a much clearer version

It’s that time of the year where every social media platform you logged into, you would generally see random strangers telling you to hustle, plan out your life - basically get a planner to set your life straight. But the amount of people raving about Mossery is huge + their ads keep appearing in front of me (I guess I’m their target audience).

Well to the Mossery marketing team, you have done well cause I finally bought your planner, but was it worth my money? 

Table of contents

1. Where and How to Buy?
2. Getting that Personal Touch
3. Unboxing Time
4. Mossery 2021 Planner Specifications
5. The Cover - It’s Detachable
6. How to Insert the Transparent Sleeve
7. What People Don’t Mention About Threadbounds
8. Pen Test - Will there be Feathering, Bleeding or Ghosting?
9. Before You Plan to Get Yourself One
• Ask Yourself These Questions
• Mossery Rewards
• Usual Mossery Promotion
10. Long Story Short

Where and How to Buy?

Before we jump into my review, if you have known and always been interested in getting any Mossery products, you can buy them from their website or stockists. From undated planners to notebooks to sketchbooks to art kits, they pretty much sell everything to help keep you creative. However, for the sake of my wallet, we will be focusing on their 2021 planner.   

I surveyed stationery shops in Malaysia (those that carry Mossery products), it’s slightly cheaper to purchase from Mossery’s stockists, especially if the stores are carrying out their promotions. For instance, WRITER Stationery Store (https://writer.my/) is selling it at RM98.00 (and their sale price is/was RM73.50) yet if you buy it from Mossery website itself, it’s USD28.50 (RM115.57). 

Although it is cheaper to get it from stockists, you need to know one thing: You won't be able to personalize your cover (those Fancy Name Personalization, Zodiac Constellation, Kaomoji option - out of the question), you'll be getting a cover with the Mossery logo instead.

A snapshot of Mossery 2021 Hardcover Planner from WRITER Stationery Online Store - should have bought from you ~ my wallet & heart now aches 

Getting that Personal Touch

As of 2020, they have over 40 beautiful covers to choose from, some covers designed by @meyoco, @somethingstokeep, @heikala, and many more. For me, when it comes to their personalization, it’s not much. After choosing your cover, you get the choice to emboss your notebook with either:

• Text in a sans serif or brush script font (i.e. your name, quotes, numbers etc., but it’s only limited to 15 characters which include spacing and punctuation marks & in 65 different languages)
• Zodiac constellation 
• Kaomoji 
• Emoji 
• Or just leave it blank

via GIPHY

Whether you want the embossing to be silver or gold, there isn’t an option; it’s predetermined with the design that you have chosen. Then it’s a choice on whether you would like Weekly Horizontal or Weekly Vertical. Once everything has been decided, it’s time to make payment. You can pay through Paypal, credit card, or debit card. If you’re residing in Malaysia and have a Malaysian bank account, you have the added option to make payment through bank transfer.

Unboxing Time

Mossery is from Malaysia, I stay in Malaysia. It arrived in 2 days.

Fun Fact: The name Mossery was stemmed from the idea of moss + stationery as 
one of their founders loves Nature & Greenery

Thank you Asmira but I'm not that strong...

The planner comes with a complimentary gift box. There's also a little card with motivational words (it varies) and a unique discount code behind it. You can use the code for your next purchase but there's a time limit which I think it's roughly a month.

Ah yes, I know what you're thinking. "Squeeze the Day" is so not original but I find it punny.

Their complimentary gift boxes are usually in plain blue unless they have themes (normally towards the end of the year or for certain collaboration).

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A post shared by Mossery (@mosseryco)

Together with Fictionist Studio, they came out with their very first community-led design gift box. Nearing the second quarter of the year 2020, Mossery ran an introspective survey, inviting people to answer a series of questions, like "What do you wish you understand earlier?". The team at Fictionist Studio then analyzed the data and used it to design the "Shapes of You" gift box and sticker sheet.

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A post shared by Mossery (@mosseryco)

Mossery 2021 Planner Specifications

What's Inside their Planner (Taken from their website)

The Cover - It's Detachable

The cover is made from sturdy cardstock - it’s not waterproof. To double confirm, I sprinkled some water on it and it’s really not waterproof. So if you do spill coffee etc., you might get a stain on your planner. However, if it’s just water, and you immediately wiped off the excess, it should be fine. 

Also just for additional info, the cover is around 2-3mm thick

I do find that the cover gets dirty easily. I live and work near a construction site so my area is pretty dusty, there will be black marks on it. Thankfully, I can use a magic cleaner sponge to remove it. Inside the cover, there’s a pocket for you to insert things like stickers/name cards etc.

I usually put my Planner stickers inside for convenience

The cover can be detached from the planner so you can reuse it again and again. If I do plan to buy another Mossery product, I can just purchase the refills (making sure it’s the same size of course). 

You know how when someone wants to help you put a coat on, you put both your hands to the back (like you're doing the Naruto run). Same concept for removing the cover. When you're detaching it, fold the cover backward (ensure that the ribbon is not inside the planner) and pull the planner out. For putting it back in or inserting a new refill, do the same backward movement and align it to the inner pockets of the cover. [ Attention: Ensure it’s the inner pockets and not the outer pocket or you might spoil the cover! ]

How to Insert the Transparent Sleeve

I bought them when they were having a promotion where it was either a 15% discount or get a Free Transparent Sleeve plus 3 sticker sheets. I chose the latter because it was a better deal.

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A post shared by Mossery (@mosseryco)

The transparent sleeve I received has a frosted-matte finish. I like how it comes with an instruction on how to put on the sleeve so I wouldn't have to figure it out myself or check it on their website.

The First Step starts with the Back Cover 1. Slide the back cover into the sleeve flap by pushing it in firmly with both thumbs.

The Second and Third Step involves the Front Cover

2. Lift the spine up and insert the bottom corner of the front cover into the sleeve flap.

3. Slide the top corner of the front cover into the sleeve flap until it is fully inserted.

4. Lastly, pull out the book band from the opening at the back and you’re good to go.

Initially, I found it difficult to put it on cause I was doing it in the "air". You should make use of your surface. I discovered an alternative for step 3, if you find it difficult to fully insert the front cover, maybe you could try the method below.

via GIPHY

The Pen Holder is Pretty Handy. When not in use, it's not bulky or anything, it blends in well that you'll forget it's there 

What People Don’t Mention About Threadbounds

Or maybe they did. I was excited about owning a thread-bound book because of reviews like "perfectly lays-flat, a joy to jot down notes" etc. So I had an unrealistic expectation where every page should indeed lie flat when it's open.

The pages do lay flat but some pages do need some help. Looking at the exposed spine, the planner has around 12 signatures. I guess they glued a small portion at every last page of the signature to the first page of the next stack of papers to join them together.

*"A signature is a bundle of pages, usually in groups of 8, 16, or 32, that started as one large sheet of paper and then folded and trimmed to create individual pages" - Taken from bookprinting.com (Click here to learn more about book parts).

Honestly, the planner itself looks really nice

Pen Test - Will there be Feathering, Bleeding, or Ghosting?

If you would like to know more about feathering, bleeding, and ghosting, I highly recommend this article, lots of great examples. I actually bought a lot of new pens and highlighter for this; it's my first time writing with fountain pens, gel pens, rollerball pens, brush pens (I usually just use ballpoint pens & fineliners), and using all those fancy pastel highlighters 💸💸💸 - so no calligraphy writing from me cause I would need some time to learn that.

There's only some bleed through from the Stabilo Boss Highlighter

Ghosting - You can see the writing on the other side

There's actually not much ghosting from the highlighters

There's slight feathering from the Pilot Petit 1 Mini Fountain Pen & Monami Olika Fountain Pen. However, at times feathering also happens not only because of the paper but the pen ink itself. Plan to get a higher-grade fountain pen in the future to do more testing.

I googled "the most used pen by everyone" & these came up. Do you own/use any of these? 

Ghosting Here, Ghosting There

Got Ghosting but at least there's no bleeding

Before You Plan to Get Yourself One

A. Ask Yourself These Questions

1. Are you fine with it being thread-bound?
   If you enjoy doing paper collage in your books; sticking washi tapes or small cute pieces of paper etc. as a way to decorate your book or give it character, it can be bulky overtime, will that be okay with you? 
   
   
2. No monthly tabs, will that be a problem?
   You could combat this by getting monthly tab stickers. Mossery sticker sheets do have that feature. 
   
   

   

   That's how it looks like after putting on the sticker tabs

   
   
3. Monday First, Not Sunday - is that what you're looking for?
   
   

   

   Mossery Monthly Calendar Spread - The Sunday Column is actually somewhat redish-pink

   
   
4. Sundays are Highlighted in Red - will that bother you?
   
   
   
   
   
5. The Size - will it be too small for you or just right? 
   
   
   
   
6. The Prompts - will you find it helpful or unnecessary? 
   Personally, I appreciate and enjoy their prompts given on top of certain pages. However, some might find it cheesy, an unnecessary waste of space or be pressured to fill every thing up. 
   
   
7. What Mediums would you be using - Pens, Color Pencil, Paint?
   Honestly, I do not think it's suitable for Paint or Markers. If you do want to use those, do place a paper behind so that it won't bleed to other pages. Some people use watercolor but I find the pages too thin so it will buckle. 
   
   
8. Shipping Costs - will it be too costly for you?
   If you live in Malaysia, you get free shipping with a minimum order of $10 USD (around RM41.15). If you're from other countries, the minimum order is at a different amount for you to claim free shipping, plus you would need to key in the discount code before you checkout. (Check out their shipping rates here)
   
   

B. Mossery Rewards

If you do plan to buy any Mossery products (or just keeping an eye out), make sure to sign up for Mossery Rewards! It's basically a membership where you get to claim points and use them for further discounts on your next purchase.

Information taken from their website

They are pretty generous with their points, by just signing up with them you'll already have 150 points, follow them on Instagram 100 points, share on Facebook another 100 points which already add up to 350 points.

I missed their Celebrate birthday points where you'll get 200 points if you celebrate your birthday with them. To get it, you would need to sign up at least 30 days in advance before your birthday or just wait the next year. However, they did send me an email with a special code to get 15% off my whole order (Ensure to key in the code before you checkout & it can't be used with any other discount, voucher, promotions and offers).

If you know someone who has a Mossery account, ask them to send you their referral link. You'll get $10 USD off your first purchase and your friend will get $10 USD off their next order. (I could be your friend if you want, click here for my referral code - hope it works 😊)

C. Usual Mossery Promotion

They do have promotions from time to time. Looking back at their previous post, they have offers during Watercolor Month (July) and Black Friday (November). For dated planners, I find once it hits June (or maybe nearing July), they'll start promoting for the next year's planner. At times, when they do have collaboration with artists, you can sometimes get a 10-15% discount code from that artist's Instagram account but it usually only lasts a month. 

The best way to be up to date with their promotion is to follow them on social media. These are just my observation (if I'm slightly off, please let me know). Again, you can only use one discount code per order, you can't stack them up so choose the best deal for you!

Long Story Short

This is my first time using a premium notebook so my expectation might be unrealistically high. 

It’s the Mossery Dated Planner worth it? Well for me, the biggest drawback it’s the paper quality, for the price and paperweight (100gsm), I was disappointed that there was so much see-through (ghosting). 

I like everything else - the cover design, the somewhat A5 size, the prompts given so I have an idea on what to fill in, the different quotes you get for each week of the weekly planner, the faint greenish-grey lines that are dark enough to be used as guides but not so heavy that it’ll be overwhelming. *Plus after using it for 3 months, it did help me improve my productivity.

In conclusion, for me, it’s more of a “maybe” instead of a “Definitely would buy again”. However, I do have my eyes and wallet set out for their other line of products, especially their art kits - looks interesting but it will be another pricey purchase.  

If you have any other questions on the Mossery planner, just let me know by commenting below. I'll do my best to answer them. Thank you for your time and have a great week ahead. Stay safe :)

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