Crappy Day

I went through my blog last night after posting about my day planner dilemma and was surprised by the shear number of negative and primarily stress induced posts.
I suppose it makes sense because I feel compelled to blog when I'm upset and need to vent rather than when I'm happy because I want to enjoy being happy, you know?

Anyway, today is another negative post because today sucks.

My family has been dog sitting since Saturday for some family friends. The dog, Jane, is old and has a plethora of health issues associated with that, but she seemed to be stable. She was eating, drinking, taking her medication, and even going for very brief walks. That was until today when she stopped doing all of these things.
We contacted the family asking what was up, and they told us to take her to the vet. She then proceeded to pass away on route.

It stings because I still am very sensitive about my two dogs passing away over a year ago, but also I feel so bad for owners because they're across the world right now and know that when they come home they won't have a dog anymore. My heart goes out to them and I can't imagine what it is like.
I know that it was not my fault and that it was just her time (she was nearly 14 years old) but I feel that I failed them and that I failed Jane.

I then had to go to work after coming home from the vet. The place that I work at is currently dealing with a pest issue because of a vacant store in the same mall.
This has led to a rather unpleasant smell and overall just the work place being a little disgusting.
I sent an email complaining to the General Manager so hopefully things will be resolved soon because seriously this is gross and potentially dangerous.
I felt dizzy for a lot of my shift because of the smell...

Unrelated, the day planner dilemma has resolved itself when the Color Crush became no longer available pretty much anywhere, so I just finished buying the Kikki K planner.

The Day Planner Dilemma

I am the type of person who is highly reliant on a day planner to stay organized and am unable to use digital agendas to fulfill this need.
As a result I've become a bit day planner obsessed over the years.

For the past 4 years I have been using the Moleskin lined week on two pages agenda in red.
It has served me well but I feel that I need to step up my day planner game, which has lead me to my dilemma.

All summer I have been extensively researching day planners and hemming and hawing over which day planner I should invest in. I discovered the 6-ring planner system and fallen in love because it allows you move pages around just like a binder.
There are multiple companies that offer a product like this, but the most well known is Filofax.

In addition to the different brands that are available there are also multiple sizes.
The two sizes I have been debating over is the Personal size (3.7" x 6.7") and the A5 (5.8" x 8.3").

I have for the most part settled on the Personal but am still slightly unsure.

The solution seemed to fall into my lap when I discovered a company called Color Crush that makes 6 ring planners that are quite cheap in comparison to Filofax! I could buy the personal Color Crush planner and try it out for a semester. If the pages were too small or if I just hated the 6 ring binder system in general I wouldn't have to feel guilty about spending $100+ on something I disliked.

A few days ago I had purchased the sky blue Color Crush, however I was emailed today by the company I was ordering through that their stock is damaged and they have sent me a refund. While I'm glad I didn't receive a damaged product, I am now back to square one.

On another website that sells Color Crush planners I can buy a slightly flawed planner for a discounted rate. Unfortunately the discount is somewhat negligible when you factor in shipping, but I would still be able to try out the 6 ring binder system for relatively inexpensively and get a feel for the size.

One thing I am slightly worried about is just how flawed this planner will be. The site says that it is slightly dented and there are pictures that show a rather minimal imprint on the strap that closes the planner however it does note that there are multiple damaged planners and that the damages could vary. So I could get a planner that is far more damaged that I anticipated based on the photos. However if the intention of the planner is just to test it out and with the intention of upgrading in the near future, does it really matter that much?

That brings me to my second option. It's from an Australia company called Kikki K and they too put out cute 6 ring planners.

I personally like the simplicity of the black planner and they are high quality planners made of leather, so they in theory should last awhile.

The Kikki is more expensive and therefore would be more of a permanent purchase rather than a test run. I like the layout more than anything currently available from Filofax and it is cheaper than the leather planners from Filofax.

If I buy the Kikki planner I am committing to the Personal size as well as the 6 ring binder system in general. I don't believe that is problematic but like any major purchase, I wish that I could see the product in person before hand, which is the cause of such hesitation.

So that's the dilemma, and I was hoping that you would perhaps weigh in on the situation.

Should I buy the flawed Color Crush to test out the planner and the flaws are irrelevant because I already intend to upgrade anyway.

OR

Should I buy the Kikki K planner because I will likely buy it eventually and the Color Crush is simply an unnecessary and potentially bothersome purchase because of the flawed strap.

OR

Should I forget about the 6 ring system entirely and continue to use the moleskin agendas because they've gotten me this far.

Please let me know in the comments, I would really appreciate a second (and third) opinion.