My First Planner

My very first planner was not a Filofax but a black, zipped, Microfile. It is the same size as a personal and the rings are the same size too.

Let's start at the very beginning way back in December 2013 when one of my New Year's Resolutions was to:-

"write down, record and plan in the hopes that these jottings will enable me to be more organised.

Mind you, I don't particularly like being too organised as I enjoy 'going with the flow' which is much more spontaneous, inspiring and creative."

The black zipped planner was my first ever planner purchase, from the Charity Shop. This planner got me started on the whole planner experience and is really the one to blame for my Filofax Journey. I made it my personal planner and crafted dividers and inserts to fit it. Here's a blog post I did back in January 2014 about this planner.

"My goodness, there are a host of people out there who rave over these organisers and even put videos on Youtube to show you how they use theirs! (I have not done a video and this is only an overview of what I've got and how I've used it so far.)

Being a 'saver of the earth' my organiser is new to me and came from the CS. It's a microfile wallet with filofax inserts.

Hey, hey, handy zipped wallet.

Hey, hey again - handy calculator. I don't know what I'll keep in the little pockets. Advice welcome.

First off are pages of months so I have used these to note down birthdays.

Following these are diary pages. If you look closely the year starts with 19__,  and there are no dates so I've had to go through and write them in. I've shown you the pages I've labelled correctly!

There are some timetable pages and I've used these to put in dates for dancing, jollies and gym.

There's a section for notes ...

and some handy little post-it notes.

The next sections are different ruled papers - white lined,

squared,

pink lined

and blue lined. On these lined papers I have notes about freezer contents, the money I've spent, the Christmas card list and cards I have to make.

I don't think I'll put addresses in as I have these elsewhere.

I like this Action section and I can have the joy of crossing out tasks achieved (if I achieve any).

At the end of the organiser is another book of notes which I may use for shopping lists.

There's my tour. Hope I've not bored you to tears and if anybody out there has other uses for the pages please share. My NYR is to keep organised and I want this to help not hinder me.

xx

Edit : After watching a few Ytube videos I've now personalised my organiser and brightened it up a bit with colour coded felt tips - e.g. green dots for no spend days, purple for birthdays. I've made some month at a glance inserts and added some colourful address cards. I've also made better dividers so I can find each section easily and I've crocheted a dangly page marker in sparkly wool.

Oh dear!"

Since that post my black planner now has another use but that's another story.

A little bit of history

In February 2016, when I started this blog, I'd already collected quite a few planners.

From left to right there is:-

1. a Kindle cover (not a planner)

2. A cheap, yellow planner from China which was advertised as leather on Ebay but was actually PU leather which, when I looked it up, is man made.

PU (Poly) Synthetic Leather is a man made material that will represent the look and feel of Genuine Leather but in fact is NOT. This PU material is far less durable, considerably cheaper in cost, and may not last long if used often.

4. A brown, personal Hamilton, which I purchased from a Charity Shop. This planner has now been sold as I found it a totally different style and feel to the newer planners.

5. A personal Classic Cross Filofax, which was my second planner and first Filofax, bought at a discount price from WHS.

6. A lime, personal Piazza Filofax. I just liked the colour of this one and when it arrived from Ebay it was lovely to touch, had a wonderful colour and smelt divine.

7. A red personal Piazza Filofax - having already purchased a citrus green I decided another of this style would be in order. I felt a collection was coming on!

8. A fuchsia, A5 Original patent Filofax. The collection was definitely coming on as I fell in love with this A5, all in the name of research of course. Would the A5 offer different possibilities for planning? Could it be easier to use?

9. A black zipped planner which was the start of this planner adventure, purchased from the Charity Shop way back in 2013.

10. A black A4 Finsbury Filofax, which added another size and more possibilities for recording and planning.

Since then I have acquired more planners on my Filofax adventuring. It looks like an addiction to me.

Happy Planning

Quotation

"I've learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes."

Andy Rooney

Personal Malden update

I've transferred my diary to the new Personal Malden in ochre just to use up the Filofax pages that came with it. I think I prefer my own design of page but I'm not going to waste these Cotton Cream ones.

I've added a dingle dangle just for decoration - it's an old ear-ring of DD's. The brown base matches the brown of the Malden.

No dividers are decorated as I thought I'd use this planner as/is.

Behind number 1 is the year at a glance. I can soon mark of March - how quickly the months go.

There are the monthly pages behind which are just 'use up' pages from another planner. I've found the list view quite adequate for my needs. I'll keep all these monthly pages and chuck the dailies so I make sure I mark in any important things that have happened at the end of the day.

Also in this Months section is a tracker of my spends in various shops. I've some space left so I may track other things as well. I know I'm drinking enough water so I don't need to track that. Any habits I want to get into I shall note down here and the first one is going to be - no chocolate tracking!

Behind tab 2 ...

is a To Do! Again this page is a re-use of an old diary page with the days crossed out with tape.

This master To Do List can be fed into any of the days on the following pages. I've enough space to write on these Week on Two Pages so I don't really need a daily page. I was finding that I was just writing for the sake of filling up the spaces on the other pages. This way I'm not wasting paper.

The other sections are not in use at the moment. Other information and planning is stored elsewhere.

I've sold one planner (the Hamilton) and am in the process of selling my Personal Classic Cross (which was my first Filofax and recently housed my Christmas planning) and Pocket Cross Filofaxes. They have to make room for (and pay for) an A5 that I just had to have.

A change is as good as a rest.

Happy Planning

Inserts for a Filofax wallet/mini + Crocheted Filofax ring protector

I made a few information inserts for my mini Finsbury which will be of use when I'm out and about.

1. Bus times - Having a bus pass means I use the buses quite regularly and I typed out a few local bus stop times so I don't have to wait very long at a stop.

2. ICE information - ICE stands for In Case of Emergency and emergency services are trained to look for ICE information in order to contact near relatives or friends easily. On my card I have the numbers for my immediate family, my doctor and one friend. On the opposite side I have my medical information and the meds I am taking.

I cut out my information and mounted it on thin card, anchored down with tape and then I slipped the card into a plastic page protector and cut it down to size. In order to punch the holes I lined up a mini page and marked the centre of each hole.

With no dedicated planner punch I just used an ordinary hole punch with the bottom taken off. Just line up the mark with the hole and punch.

Another titivation to my mini is a ring protector, or rather a protector against ring marks. With the Filofax came a cardboard protector which seemed a very temporary affair to me so I got out my crochet hook and ...

… made a protector the same shape.

This now fits snugly around the rings so protecting the back and front of the Filofax from ring marks. 

It's done in Tunisian stitch and is another colour that tones in with the Raspberry theme.

Happy Planning.

Crocheted mini Filofax purse

I did put down my mini Finsbury but it stayed by my side just like the cat. I started to transfer my cards to the new mini and as I wanted to use this Filofax as a purse I investigated the zipped pocket at the back. It would not be easy to use this for many coins so I looked up tutorials on making a purse insert myself. Most of the ones I looked at used material for the purse, however, I found the wool that I was using for my current crocheting project toned very nicely with the raspberry colour of the planner so why not crochet a purse.

I did, and here it is.

I crocheted a rectangle using Tunisian stitch which gives a very dense weave, folded it over and crocheted 2 sides together. 

I hand sewed a zip into place and crocheted slip stitches along the base of the purse about 0.5cm away from the edge.

The purse can now be slotted on the rings of the Filofax without the rings showing inside the purse.

It's quite thick but I've managed to get in a full diary and some 'to do' pages and the wallet is still able to close.

I have a few more ideas yet.

Happy Planning.

Finsbury Filofax Mini

Just arrived this morning - my Finsbury Mini in Raspberry.

I bought it off Ebay for another bargain price and I intend to use it as a wallet to house my cards, coins and notes. I am awaiting some plastic badge holders to hold my cards and paper inserts so the full set up will have to wait until they arrive.

Filofax do not make mini Finsburys any more so this is old stock.

New to me, though and it even tones in well with my crocheting.

I shall carry it around with me for the rest of the day!

Happy Planning.

Red Pennybridge Pocket zipped

I bought this off Ebay because I wanted a Filofax to use as a purse and these have a purse section. It's gorgeous.

My favourite part about it is the zip. The zip? Where's the zip? It's very cleverly hidden from view. How's that for getting the zip straight!

The back looks very stylish with a lovely shaped pocket.

This Pennybridge has never been used and was an unwanted Christmas present.

The purse part has many sections for cards and a zipper purse for coins.

All the inserts are there with a 2016 diary plus ...

a selection of papers,

address pages and a see through envelope at the end.

It's perfect - too perfect. It's so new that I daren't use it or clutter it up with coins and cards. I have only one regret and that is it's not leather. It feels smooth and is very tactile but the 'smell' is not there. I'm seriously debating whether to put it back on Ebay for these reasons.

I keep taking it out and weighing up the pros and cons. Anyone out there with one of these who can give me advice one way or another?

Happy Planning.