Scheduling time to try out recipes.

The Recipe Filofax in my A5 Lilac Original has made an appearance this year as I am determined to make every recipe I've collected from magazines, family and friends. The Thai curry and Cheesy Leek and Bacon Lasagne have been eaten and this week I've made ...

... the Berry Chocolate Traybake which was very more-ish.

Other recipes have been around in drawers for ages and I've just stuck them on to a page as they were.

At the beginning of the Filofax are some contents pages - meals, pies, cakes, puddings ete.

There's no point in collecting recipes it I don't try them out and so I'm scheduling them regularly. If I don't like one then I'll take out the page.

Crunchy Coleslaw and Veggie Pasta next.

Happy planning.

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.

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

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!

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.

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

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.