Sunday 3 December 2017

Christmas Filofax

My burgundy Classic Cross is home to my Christmas planner.


The dividers are concoctions of cards and crafty bits and pieces.



A Christmas checklist is a must.


It's fun ticking off all the boxes as things get underway for the festive season.


The cards and gifts section houses addresses and records cards that are sent and received.


Opposite the addresses ...


is a chart which shows a tick when I wrote a card and the date a card was received.


An envelope houses receipts for presents purchased.


And a list records presents sent and received. 


There's a section for recipes ...


and a section for keeping those 'what we've done this year' letters.



Happy planning.

Tuesday 21 November 2017

The To Do list

Where does it begin? Why in my head.
Where do I write it down? There are quite a few places. It may be a scrap piece of paper, a scribbled note in my Brain Dump Filofax by my bed, a note on my mobile or a To Do listed straight into my everyday Filofax.

The evening's Filofax planning involves collecting up any jottings to turn them into To Dos. Most of them will be scheduled on the monthly or weekly pages and others will be gathered together and put on a Master To Do List or Some Time in the Future List which will eventually turn into scheduled tasks.

Here are a few items recently gathered - 

Get out decorations
Order tree
Advent Wreath by 3rd Dec
Sort music
Ebay Filofax up to date
Inserts to arrive Tuesday
Clean hob
Ballroom closed
Book circus
Arrange lunch
Sort out spare room
Check filters on tumble drier
Clear office (in preparation for decorating)

I've scheduled most of them but some such as 'Clear office', 'Book circus' and 'Sort out spare room' cannot be scheduled yet for logistic reasons. These remaining items will go on the Master List.

If I wrote everything down on one page then I would end up with some crossed out some not crossed out and the page would be messy. 

Scheduling items makes sure they 'get done'.

Happy Planning


Tuesday 14 November 2017

Preparation

Preparation for a new year involves, obviously a change of planner. My choice for 2018 was going to be my black personal Original but I decided on my black, personal Piazza instead, the reason being that I wanted to keep the Original in pristine condition. I'm not buying any more Filofaxes (!!!!!) so the ones I have have to last. I'm using the battered about ones first and also I like the Piazzas as they feel soft and smooth.

Not decorations for me as my everyday planner is purely functional. The only pattern I've got at the moment is the patterns on my dividers, which are postcards. If I'm feeling at a loose end I can colour these. Mind you that looks like a lot of hard work so maybe I'll leave them as they are.


First section is the To Dos and I'm using up my Filofax papers for this even though the lines are a bit far apart. I'll just ignore them, I think.


Section 2 has the years at a glance - 2017, 2018 and 2019. I've ringed some important dates already.


After these pages come the monthly pages - one side in listed view and the other for monthly plans.


After the next divider ...


I have the weekly pages. I've decided on WO1P for this year as I don't have many appointments and my To Dos only need to be day specific here.


Behind the next divider ...


... are some more colouring or jotting papers which may or may not come in handy. I'll wait and see. These papers are from a colouring in book which I thought would go with the black and white theme.


I've a few daily pages for if I have a busy day or want to write a bit more.


That's it for now. No doubt I'll tweak as I go along as I did last year. I've streamlined a few things and this planner should work well from me. I've decided to move into this planner now starting with November as I only want to use one planner rather than have two on the go, plus I get to flip through brand new pages - just like starting a new exercise book when I was at school.

Let's hope I can control my very untidy handwriting. 

Happy planning!





Friday 30 June 2017

Goals

One of my monthly goals is to de-clutter as much as I can and I''m purging up to 5 things each week. It's the books' turn as I have too many and quite a few most I haven't opened for a long time.


Five plus have left the shelf and will be off to the Charity Shop. The others I shall 'test out' so my trusty Filofax has come in handy for monitoring the testing and chucking procedure. This task will fit in well with menu-planning.


My next aim will be to sell some items so a LIST is in order now, I think.

Happy planning.

Saturday 24 June 2017

Recording and planning daily

Recording

Best Bit Book - here I record the 'best bit' of each day in a single phrase, on a single line. My note book should last from 2016 until 2021 and I'm in the second year of recording. It takes no time at all to jot down my 'best bit' and it's fun looking back at last year's entries.


Bullet journal - this is by the side of my bed to capture flitting thoughts during wakeful hours. I also have other 'in boxes' in bags, the kitchen and my office. All bits of information are sorted and acted upon - to dos in my every day Filofax on the master list or scheduled, thoughts put into a projects list and immediate tasks acted upon.

Notable occurrences are written on my monthly pages. I have a 2 page spread with the dates noted down one side. On the first page are meetings, birthdays, anniversaries etc and on the second page are dated journal type entries. These monthly pages are the only pages that I will archive so I like a few memories on them. 

Planning

The every day Filofax is my most important tool for planning and I also use my online calendar for alerts on my watch. My 'computer game' Filofax contains my next steps for each game I play and my Christmas Filofax contains planning for Christmas (of course!). I have an Ebay Filofax which houses information of things sold and notes for future items to sell. 

Each day I will - 

1. Fill in my 'best bit'.
2. Record a journal entry or just look at upcoming dates.
3. Enter information in my gaming planner.
4. Enter information and next steps in my every day planner from my 'inboxes'.

Happy Planning

Wednesday 17 May 2017

Every day planner

I'm using my lime Piazza personal as my every day planner. It isn't too precious so I can use it freely without worrying about scratches or scuffs.


It stays at home as I have no need to take it out and about.


I don't fasten my planners so the strap doesn't get worn. No decoration for me when the planner is opened. These stickies are hardly ever used.


First up is the year, the months of which are marked off with round stickies used from last year. May already - nearly half way through the year. It's gone very quickly.


My monthly pages look like this. Just a simple 2 page spread. On the left I put appointments, meetings and important occasions. On the right I make note of additional happenings. These monthly pages are the only ones which will be archived for posterity.


A master To Do list resides in different places - it's here with the monthly pages at the moment. It's one of my catch places and things get ticked off once completed. Sometimes I'll write 'big list' on my weekly pages and refer back to this page so that I keep getting things done.


The weekly pages house day specific tasks and are also a home to money spent at the moment. In the notes section at the top I'll put some more tasks that really should be done that week but haven't yet found a home. I may also put reminders there.


My Today marker just marks the page for me.


At the back I have one contacts sheet which holds some numbers that I use regularly.

That's it - plain and simple to run a plain and simple life.


No decoration just stuff that whizzes me efficiently through the day.



Happy planning.






Sunday 30 April 2017

The To Do List I don't particularly want To Do

* Sew in all the loose ends


* Tidy the cupboard in the eaves


* Clean windows throughout


* Tidy up the kitchen


* Polish the brass - managed that today!


Happy planning




Friday 7 April 2017

All change - again

Having a collection of Filofaxes means that not all are used at the same time and occasionally contents get swapped around according to season, favourite size/colour or whim. Today was a day of all change. The A to Z dividers (Don't we all have a lot of those?) came out of the new to me black Piazza and went into the burgundy Cross, which originally housed records of TV series that had been viewed. I thought that I'd record series plus episodes in alphabetical order e.g. Elementary under the E section and so on. I then took the black and white week on one pages out of my black Original and put them in the black Piazza but then changed my mind. My online game information which resided in my purple Original then went into the lilac Piazza. The purple Original is now sitting with my other Originals back on the shelf because I want to keep these as un-battered as possible. The ochre pocket Malden which housed my brain dump went the same way and was retired to the shelf. Even though I find the Maldens wonderful work horses I thought I would give it a rest for a while.


I had another change of mind and the contents of the red Piazza which housed Christmas were transferred to the burgundy Cross, (They were there originally.) so the TV record pages are now in the red Piazza. Are you still keeping up? :{


And what happened to the scrap paper from my lilac Piazza? Why, that went into the black Piazza which I am now using as my Brain Dump. Phew!



Now I have 4 Piazzas in use - the lilac, the black, the lime and the red. Spot the Piazza that has not had its contents changed.

Happy planning.

Thursday 6 April 2017

Filofax for storing

All this is scrap paper and it looks rather untidy.


This lilac Piazza is now being used as a scrap paper store. My desk is now tidy and my Piazza has a use.


The paper had only been printed or written on on one side but the plain side can still be written on. Why use new for notes when used will do perfectly?

Happy Planning

Monday 3 April 2017

From plan to party in my Filofax

The project was to plan a party for my friend who has golfing and quizzing interests. Her birthday is noted in my list binder (black micro-file) along with other birthdays of friends and relatives.


These birthdays are copied onto my monthly pages in my day to day planner (personal Piazza in lime).


The date is also noted on my weekly pages. Her birthday is in April.



My initial planning for this project was to wait for inspiration so my Brain Dump Filofax (pocket Malden in ochre) came in very handy when inspiration struck and I had to get my thoughts down quickly, some in the middle of the night, hence illegible scribble. (That's my excuse anyway!)


Now to get down to the proper planning and this is where my scrap paper Filofax (personal Piazza in lilac) came in handy. In this planner are pages of torn up scrap paper, recycled so I can write on the back of the paper. I ordered my scribblings on different pages, tearing out ideas that wouldn't work and refining ideas for action.



Once my plans were sorted I started making games and puzzle sheets (she's a quiz enthusiast), ...




sorting and buying small presents (she's a golfing enthusiast) 





and ...

typing up sheets that would be used throughout the evening.





Birthday girl played A ROUND at the PAR TEE and had a BALL. A great BIRDIE FORE her and success FORE my planning.

Happy Planning