>> it has a "life" and a "idea" book as well as the planner book that they call "diary" <<

Fascinating. Thanks for sharing what you're using!

>> The life is designed to go from year to year with a new diary, names/addresses/passwords/historical data/etc.<<

Oh, that's a clever idea.

>> I've filled out some of the forms, but there is also a lot that I won't use and am re-purposing.<<

It's a typical drawback of premade planners. But some people don't like the look/feel of printables or just don't have the time to make one from scratch. Best you can do is try to find a premade one that closely matches what you want to do -- or at least has pages that you can think of ways to repurpose.

>> Also, jetpens.com is a great place for planners. They have lots of help videos and articles as well. They focus on pens, but they do almost everything stationery.<<

I should probably do a post on supplies like pens and stickers. I don't think I've done one for tutorials, but I've stuck a few "theory" links in other link clouds.