The same or different?

Whoop, whoop the post has arrived.

And what have you bought this time?

Well - it's a purple pocket Malden zip.

Right  - and haven't you got one like that already?

Yes but this one is similar but definitely different.

Hmm!

This one's a different colour for a start ...

… and it's made of leather, whereas the other one is not. They are the same size and I shall use them both as purses.

The zip pulls are the same shape and both are compact and of simple design.

However the back pockets are a different shape ...

and the inside pockets are different too. Both have elasticated pen loops and ...

both have identical inside purses.

Both are very roomy with lots of card slots and a coin zip compartment.

So they are similar but different at the same time. I love the Pennybridge as it's handy and I use it when I need to pop a purse into my bag. I shall use the Pennybridge for summer and the Malden for winter. There! I need two purses which are similar and different.

Right - I've justified my purchase now and I'll just sit this Malden on my knee and give it a stroke. Whoop, whoop!

Happy Planning

PS And the smell is just divine.

Planner Peace

My ochre Malden Filofax family is complete, the A5 arriving in the post yesterday.

From the smallest to the largest there is:-

1. Mini Malden, (sounds like a Disney character, doesn't it!), which is my wallet of the moment housing cards, money, bus timetables, shopping lists and blank note paper.

2. Pocket Malden which started out as a thought catcher, went over to being a wallet and mobile holder and is now back to being chief thought catcher, brain dump and in-box.

3. Personal Malden, which is my everyday planner and diary, containing To Do Lists, appointments, important dates and notes.

4. A5 Malden which is initially being carried around and caressed housing spare A5 papers but will one day contain something Very Important. (Don't know what yet but I'm working on it!)

Planner Peace has arrived - for a little while!

Happy planning

My Filofax Collection

My planner collection is growing and I need to make sure that I am getting optimum use out of all my Filofaxes. I love collecting the different styles and colours and for variety I swap and change around with their contents as my planning and organising evolves. No one system stays the same for long as I find my way to planning efficiency. Life changes and so plans change - using my Filofaxes keeps my ideas fresh and more creative. 

Here is a list of all my planners and their current uses. There is only one that lies empty at the moment and that is because I need to match its colour with its use - the fluro-pink is so bright and cheerful and is crying out for fun and frivolity to be stored inside. Perhaps it could be a party planner - but we don't have parties here. Maybe it could be a fashion planner but I'm afraid I'm not into fashion, just wearing what I want to wear and not what fashion houses dictate. A Bucket list planner could be a good idea mapping out plans to put my wish lists into action - but I don't have a bucket list as I am content with what I have. I'll just have to keep thinking. Meanwhile here is my list as it stands at the moment.

1. Red Piazza personal

Christmas planner

2. Lime Piazza personal

Monthly, weekly insert storage from 2016

3. Black Finsbury A4

Home binder

4. Fuchsia Original A5

Ebay binder

5. Lilac Piazza personal

Monthly insert storage from 2015

6. Red Pennybridge pocket

Wallet and shopping planner

7. Ochre Malden personal

Daily diary

8. Dark Aqua Original A5

Hobbies binder

9. Ochre Malden pocket

Bullet Journal / Brain Dump

10. Ochre Malden mini

Weight loss recorder

11. Lavender Original A5

Recipe binder

12. Fluro-pink Original A5

Just there to be admired at the moment :)

13. Pear Original personal

2017 Diary for forward planning

14. Blue Active personal

Travel and Holiday planner, journal and diary

15. Burgundy Classic Cross personal

Paper storage

My main 'families' are the Maldens and the Originals. The Maldens to me are the workhorses that take handling in their stride, are comforting to touch and satisfying to use. The Originals are exciting and colourful and they to me are the eye candy of my planning empire being so simply stylish.

Happy Planning

PS I may use my Fluro-pink as a project planner. Now that could be exciting and fun!

Favourite pens for my Filofax

Once a favourite pen is found then writing in a Filofax is a delight. The pen that works for me for writing in my Filofax is the Pilot Frixion pen in the colour black. These pens are extremely convenient in that if a mistake is made the ink can be rubbed out by friction with the other end of the pen. My first pens came from B&M Bargains and were £4.99 for two. One day I found a  packet containing the same pen but with a clicker to bring down the nib. The pack also contained 2 refills. I think that pack cost £5.99. This clicker pen is now my favourite and is housed through the rings in my pocket Malden Brain Dump.

In order to satisfy the collecting addiction I ordered some coloured Pilot Frixion Pens off Ebay but at the moment I'm just testing them out and they are not part of my daily jottings. I've tried colour coding things in my organiser and it's too much of a put down, pick up ritual that I've stuck to the black and stubbornly refuse to move until I find a way of using the colours with the least amount of faff.

Happy Planning.

Mini Malden in Ochre

This new to me mini Malden has started its organiser life as a diet and weight tracker. I aim to lose some weight and this baby is going to help me.

The first section shows which weight range I should be in for my height. I'm only a little overweight but I aim to be in the middle of the healthy band.

After that I aim to have my own graph charting, hopefully, a downward trend in my weight. The weigh-in will be weekly. Any upturn will influence my future goals. At the moment it is eat fruit for afters, no biscuits, chocolate or any calorie laden food and no alcohol.

Next section houses any recipes that I come across on my Internet travels which will help me fulfil my goal.

In order to make the ideal meals I need a list to remind me to shop for the right ingredients.

Finally the last section houses a pull out week on which ...

I can record my meals. From this I can set myself the next week's goals and tell myself off if I fail to keep on track.

I also have in there somewhere a body measurement chart (waist, thigh, arm, hips etc) which will graphically show my changing body shape!!!!! 

Another incentive is a page promising me small treats or presents if my weight loss stays on track. My first 5 lb loss will give me permission to buy some coloured Pilot Frixion pens. It's early days yet but I aim to get there.

Happy Planning

Bullets for a Bullet Journal - portable dashboard

I use my pocket Malden as a Bullet Journal because it is the only one of my planners that moves around with me. It's portable and convenient and one place to put all my ideas as and when they occur to me! I suppose it's my own portable dashboard.

I've been playing around with my own design of bullets for my Bullet Journal in my pocket Malden. It has squared paper pages, (there's a name for this kind of paper and I keep forgetting it), and I thought I'd try a simple way of marking my notes. 

Most of my notes are tasks that are to do and these get marked off when done - so a simple tick does the trick. Some tasks I move into my personal diary Filofax to do another day so they are 'Forwarded' there. 

I couldn't get my head round the difference between Forwarded, Migrated and Scheduled so my Scheduled mark means that I put that task on my Master To Do list which I dip into from time to time. 

Abandoned means either -

great idea but not a chance of carrying it out

or

rubbish idea, why on earth did you write it down!

Put back means - it's a possibility - stick it in a goals list somewhere and I may or may not get round to doing it. I can't decide.

From the first mark many different arrows can be drawn. I couldn't think of what I could name them.

Watch this space!

Happy Planning.

Making my own inserts for the mini and the pocket Filofax

I've just spent an hour or so making new pages for my mini Finsbury and my pocket Malden. For the mini I cut up some To Buy and Notes pages from a pad bought at B&M. Cut to size and hole punched they are in my mini. To Buy is my shopping list for the week and the Notes pages are self explanatory.

Each page is pulled out when finished with.

The pages for the pocket, which functions as a Bullet Journal, are from a pad bought from Lidl, hole punched and cut to size. I mark the holes with a pen …

… and then punch them with a normal hole punch - one hole at once.

I round the corners with a corner rounder - do these things have a name?

Rounded corners seem to look better than square corners. Not that it matters.

Now I'm going to have to clear up all the bits that have fallen into my lap.

Happy Planning.

D.I.Y. Card holders for a pocket Filofax

Top loading badge holders off Ebay from Japan are nearly the right length to fit in my pocket Malden. They were, however, not wide enough and I needed some way of adding holes for them to fit.

We found a sheet of clear acetate in our study and I cut a page size out.

I used Washi tape to secure the badge holder to the acetate and then punched some holes and rounded off the corners.

Cards fit perfectly and they can be zipped in if necessary.

I put 2 cards in each holder as both sides can be seen.

A perfect fit. Ten of these holders cost me £1.55.

My D.I.Y. card holders for a mini Filofax can be found here.

Happy Planning.

Filofax system

At the moment the following system is working for me. Of course, systems change all the time due to circumstance, re-organisation and whim!

1. Brain Dump

This Filofax Pocket Malden is a 'take around with me in the home' place to put down everything that occurs to me - facts, ideas, things to do, thoughts. This Bullet Journal way of working has proved to work in motivating me to 'Get Things Done'.

2. From here I filter relevant details to my -

a. ABC list and information black organiser

b. Filofax Personal Malden Daily Planner and Diary

c. 'Out and about' Filofax Mini Finsbury wallet

d. Hobby organisers - Filofax A5 originals

e. Home Binder - Filofax A4 Finsbury

3. Then comes the action. The facts are noted and acted upon if necessary. e.g. looking up the date of St. George's Day and digesting the information.

The ideas are added to the Project List if necessary and further broken down for the Master To Do list. 

The To Dos are put in the daily diary so they will get done.

The thoughts are pondered upon and may be put into action or dismissed.

So far, so good.

Happy Planning.

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