Friday 23 March 2012

Sweden Too - Time For a Filofax Family Photo...

Woohoo!!!

After such good service from Filofax UK, I was still waiting to hear from Sweden that they had dispatched my order (which I ordered on Monday night) and thought it would probably be dispatched on Monday and via FedEx which would be a pain as I wouldn't be home to receive it


However, I got home at 3:30 today (early finish, always a bonus), and the postman had left something in my mailbox...

Too much tape - I had to go and find the scissors!!!

What is in these wonderful packages?

Personal Domino in orange and A5 in ultra-violet
I have been wanting the orange Domino for ages, and now I finally have it :-)

But now for the final reveal from my recent filo-fest...

A lovely box for an A5- I haven't seen one in these boxes before...

Can you guess what it is yet...?

A5 Chameleon in spring green
Now that is beautiful - not as bright as I was expecting from the website, but it is pretty wonderful...


Not just back dividers, but black plastic dividers!!! Yay!!!



After my previous purchases from Sweden I was a little disappointed to discover that the Dominoes had standard dividers rather than black, but I have enough still from the sale so I'm not too disappointed. This means that I now also have more 2012 WO2P diaries from Sweden, which although lovely will probably remain unused... I can live with that, and I'm sure the littlest guy won't care when he uses it to doodle all over :o)

It's strange that Filofax are so dis-jointed though - the ones I received from the UK had 2012-2013 diaries in, but by next year who knows what format of diary I will be wanting to use? Ha ha ha!!!

I figured that as I have received quite a few new FFs that t was probably time for another family filo photo... and here are my wonderful (and yet useful) babies...

There's always one to get drunk and ruin a family photo isn't there, yes Cuban slimline, I'm talking about you!!!
 So realistically - one life, one filo - with this many beautiful filos will I be able to stick with it...?

LJx

UK Delivers


How excited was I when I received not one, but two boxes via FedEx from Filofax UK this week?

Too excited to wait for a camera before opening them I can tell you!!! I have to say I was also very impressed with the delivery. I placed one order on Monday evening and the second on Tuesday morning. By Tuesday afternoon I had received mails saying that they had been despatched and they arrived at my work (that in itself is a miracle - don't get me started on how badly set up the Filofax ordering website is set up, and they will never respond to mails which tell them there is a problem, let alone fix it) before lunch time on Wednesday - fantastic!!!

Unfortunately I has just started a 2 hour meeting when Sabine waved a box at me through the window, and I was immediately told to "stay!!!" - honestly,anyone would think that I would have run out of the meeting to get my hands on the beauties...(clearly they know me too well).

So, what did this lucky girl get...?

Magenta A5 Flex

With 2 notebooks
Opened out with 2 notebooks and a jot pad
Quite excited about having this at home - it's mainly so that I always know where there is a notepad, as I can never find one when I want one. If they have a proper home then I will (hopefully) be able to find them.


A5 Domino in red

OK, this one wasn't in the bag, and didn't arrive with the delivery, but I got it off Amazon when I was in the UK last week, and love the fact that there are two fully elasticated pen loops so I can have both my Bic 4 colour pens in there :o)

A5 with the Personal Domino in ultra-violet

Since discovering that the Domino is actually a fabulous FF I have wanted more colours and the ultra-violet was at the top of my list, there was also another one, but you can't get that from the UK, but more on that in a post soon.

Personal Chameleon in rsapberry

The reason I fell in love with filos is this baby right here - Lucy pulled one of these from her bag in January last year, and I have had the bug ever since...


A5 Domino in deep pink and violet
Having bought the violet and discovered that it is a completely different colour to the picture on the UK filofax website I am very happy. I wasn't sure whether I would really like the violet colour, but this is more of a vibrant purple, although the photo above doesn't do either filo justice.

And finally...
A5 Chameleon in aqua
I love the texture of these babies, and at 50% off, how could I resist...?

Total UK haul
Love it!!!

LJx

Sunday 18 March 2012

Planner Fail?

Aargh!!! What to do, what to do? No pictures today I'm afraid as I just have no time, but I will take some pics of my current setup before I change.

I decided to try the "one life, one Filofax" theory for this year, and as far as it goes it has done me well for work on a day to day basis. Kept me on track, helped me plan my workload, and helped me actually start finishing work on time most days. I manage to write in any personal reminders and appointments (usually), and so am where I am supposed to be when I am supposed to be. It has been great using a personal size instead of an A5 as I can take it everywhere with me, no leaving at work as it takes up too much space in my bag, or is just too heavy.

However, I haven't been using it that much for longer term planning, and really must start doing so if I want to address areas other than just the standard day to day stuff. Currently I am using the Swedish WO2P diary, along with the MO2P tabbed diary and the horizontal year planner for capturing most of my meetings, deadlines, time off, children's holidays etc.

My poor Filo is just not fulfilling it's potential. I have the sections set up to make my life easier (diary, capture pages,  next actions, project list, project plans, information), but if I am honest I use the diary and the capture pages. Nothing else is used because I just haven't had the time to use it properly - or is it because this set up just isn't what I need...?

For my day to day stuff I use the WO2P, interleaved with To Do lists as I just haven't found a layout that works for me. I had my templates that I used when I was in my A5 before which were great for me, but since moving to a personal and deciding that I would use the inserts that I have (as you have seen from my stock-take post there were quite a few) I just haven't had the same feeling that the inserts are right for what I need. I have been able to make this set-up work for me so far as I have only been considering the day to day stuff and not thinking about the longer term stuff - other than to have a sheet of lined paper between the tabs of my MO2P tabbed inserts, or my personal stuff (apart from the occasional important things that I have to remember).

Unfortunately the time has come where I really must start getting my long-term goals and objectives planned, and also must concentrate on myself and my family more rather than just the work things, so I need more space.

I sat for a while trying to work out if I could fit all this into a personal filo, but having looked at all the areas I need to cover, and the fact that I would probably need diary sections for both work and home/personal planning I don't think I can manage it. So the time has come to make a decision - do I move to two planners, one for work & one for home, or do I continue trying for one life one filo, but scale it up to an A5?

If I do go to an A5, then I think I can fit most things into my planner if I use a similar setup to Missus Aka (Christa) in her fabulous post here. As I only have four A5 Filofaxes - including the red Domino which I just bought, yay!!! (and there are some good reductions around at the moment) this would give me a good reason excuse to get some more, although the fact that some will be discontinued shortly is a perfectly good reason to buy some more anyway o).

I shall set up a poll shortly to help me work out what to do...

LJx