Hobonichi Mermaid Ane Pouch Set Up
When the Hobonichi Drawer Pouches were released I instantly loved them.
This post contains affiliate links, they will be marked with a *.
I initially picked up the small pouch* and followed it up with the Ane when it was released in the Spring.
There are three sizes of the drawer pouch; small, large and the Ane. The small is great for pens and accessories (but too small to house the Weeks), the large is A5 size and the Ane fits the Weeks. The small opens flat and the other two open in an accordion style (you can read my pouches review here).
I didn’t really get on well with the small. I didn’t find it all that practical but the Ane* was perfect. I’d been looking for something for a while to use as a purse and carry my Weeks and this fit the bill perfectly. 
The only thing I didn’t like about this was the fabric design. While I love yellow, as a purse this didn’t look all that smart or neat. I’d been eyeing up the Mermaid Ane when it was released, but it went out of stock instantly. When it finally got restocked though, I swooped in to purchase it!
The concept of the drawer pouch is to hold a whole drawer in it.
This isn’t an exaggeration and the amount you can fit in the Ane is insane. When I received my Mermaid pouch I reviewed what I’d been storing in the original yellow pouch and changed it up slightly.
Given the beauty of this fabric (by Mina Perhonen) I would have no issues carrying this as a clutch. The outside pocket (perfect for my phone) and the wrist strap makes this really easy to do. I haven’t dared to do this yet, just because I don’t want to mark the fabric. It instead lives in whatever handbag I’m carrying at the time. I even purchased a larger handbag that would fit the pouch in.
The inside of the pouch is split into two – a planning side and a purse side.
In the purse side I utilise the large back pocket for vouchers. I’m thinking of purchasing some of the Hobonichi A6 plastic folders this year to use in that back pocket and organise it better.
I love how many card slots there are in this. I’ve never had a purse that can actually hold all of my cards, and this is the first one to do it. In terms of the space in front of the card slots I don’t use it for anything. I don’t carry cash, but this would be the perfect place for a small coin pouch.
In the planning side you’ll mainly find sticky notes.
The back pocket has a strip of sticky notes that have a very handy little calendar set in them. The card pockets have a mix of smaller sticky notes, business cards, stamps and blotting papers.
The large space in front of that is where the Weeks lives. As much as I love this planner, I don’t need all that space in my everyday carry, so I’m going to experiment with using an A6 Avec in here next year.
The middle of the pouch has a little mix of everything.
There’s another couple of card slots. I use one of these for a pouch that holds tabs as I have a tendency to go through lots of these.
The zip pocket basically houses everything else I need to carry. It has basic beauty/medicine supplies – lip balm, eye drops, pain killers and a mini perfume. It also carries my pens, usually a Coleto* and a Pilot Kakuno*.
The pouch looks pretty full but I can probably fit a few extra things in here if needed.
My favourite part about using this as a Weeks cover/holder is that I can use the pouch normally and the Weeks doesn’t get in the way. Previously when I’ve used covers for the Weeks as a purse there’s been no way of keeping the Weeks closed, so I’d open up the cover to grab a card or something and the Weeks would sway open and annoy me.
I absolutely love the material used in this, too. Some of the other fabrics in the range are a little more functional and just don’t look as pretty. If I could get hold of a large drawer pouch in a similar material, I’d definitely pick one up. 
