The Vertical Diary...

Hi Guys,

I've had vertical diaries arrive with my A5's before, but have always used the horizontal ones because the rings just get in the way on Wednesdays.

I was in my room when I spied one of the 2013 vertical ones looking a bit forlorn and thought I'd take a closer look. Do you know what? The layout is great!!! But could it work for me?

I immediately transferred everything from my Lyndhurst into the Holborn, swapped the diary pages out, and gave it a go. I started out by writing some of my previous weeks stuff into January pages that I would never need.

But then it came up - that dreaded Wednesday reminder where pretty much the only way I could write it in would be to take the page out, and there is just no point in having it if you have to do that.

Of course my preferred option would be to stop working on Wednesdays, but as that isn't an option for me I had to admit defeat and put everything back how it was.

It's a shame - so much potential.

LJx

Is My Planner Failing...? And A Special Delivery To Make My Day!!!

Note: sorry, this is kinda long as it turned into two/three posts in one...

Hmmm... let me think about this question...

Is my planner actually failing, or am I just too distracted, trying to cram too many things in one place, and not using my system properly...?

So let's try and work this out:

          Do I love my current binder? Holborn Zip - yes, of course I do

Who wouldn't love this sleek baby?

             Do I love the inserts I have? Yes, yes, yes!!!

          Am I using the inserts appropriately? Well... I look at them and they make me smile...lots... does
          that count?   Heck - thought not :o(

OK, so I see the problem is me, not my inserts, so what am I doing wrong? Time for honesty - I am not being disciplined with regard to checking my personal items which need doing.

The last few weeks have been filled up with monthend (monthend tasks never go in my Filofax as we have a shared master checklist for this), writing up my 'Yellow Belt' project (a most hideous experience) and working on another project. The other main person working on this project was in our Zürich office with me all last week and we had a brief run through of where we were and what we needed to achieve, and so my poor filo didn't get much action.

However, I had a HUGE list of personal to do's to get through, and even though my Holborn was open on my desk all week, I barely looked at him apart from to think how lovely he and his inserts looked, and that the list was huge and I really needed to get some of those tasks done TONIGHT... every night... It is now Sunday night, and although some of the tasks are done, there are still a lot not done (way too much to get through in one weekend). It didn't help that I left the beloved on my desk at work overnight on a few occasions, forgetting the fact that I have everything else in there that I need to do when I get home, so nothing gets done.

OK - it's quite a list that I need to get through...

Previously I had a set up with work to do sheets in one section, and personal ones in another - for me this required too much flipping backwards and forwards between sections, and invariably I wouldn't look at the personal ones at all.

Putting them all together seemed to work for a while, but recently things have been pretty hectic again, and the personal stuff always ends up taking a back seat to work stuff... I know, I know, that's not how it should be, but that's just how I roll.

So I got to thinking, what could make me start using me Filofax successfully again? Could I:

          a)    Just do it!!! Stop being so bloody lazy and get on with it...

          b)    Go back to my old set up of sensible, professional looking inserts, to stoop me being
                 distracted every time I open my filo (yes, I am frequently likened to Dory from Finding
                 Nemo).

Very clean and practical... and I do love them and writing on fresh clean sheets of paper

          c)    Re-consider my whole set up...

I have considered these options and have discovered some things about myself along the way:

          a)    until I have a major consequence of my failing to do a personal task I will probably continue
                 to leave these until they are late. I try really hard not to, but that's probably the truth. I am an
                 atrocious procrastinator. I probably spend more time planning to do things, and weighing up
                 whether I should do things or not, than I actually spend doing things.

          b)    this would probably help as with 'normal' paper I was more disciplined with the use of my
                 filo... but I like my funky paper... The nice paper that I have is pretty distracting, and as there
                 is less structure and the paper is so 'busy' it does make it more of a challenge to identify what
                 has been done and what still needs doing, and it does make it easier to get overwhelmed by
                 the sheer volume of tasks.

A bit on the busy side...

          c)    I have already mentioned in previous posts that I am considering giving up the 'one life, one  
                 filo' philosophy, not because it doesn't work for me, but because I don't feel that I need to
                 carry my work planning everywhere any more. I don't need to take it home every night. I
                 think that all I really need to have with me is my appointments info so I can easily check if I
                 am free on a particular day (though it is pretty rare for me to need to check anything like that
                 when I'm not at work).

Things I have discovered about myself:
                -     I procrastinate too much (I'm sure my DF has told me this before)
                -     I am easily distracted by random things (If I am 'in the zone' at work, nothing can distract
                      me, but if I'm having one of those days where I'm struggling to get into it properly, I get
                      distracted by everything).

So... what to do...?

Do I split my life between two filos, saving my pretty stuff for my personal filo... or do I stick with the one life one filo A5 for a bit longer with more appropriate inserts?


Well, monthend starts again soon, and then I'm on holiday for a couple of weeks, so I have to sort out a travel filo for the trip so don't really have time to set up two more filos from scratch.

Let's see what a streamlined A5 will look like...

Well, I started writing this last night and got into work this morning to receive my special delivery so I have to include that in this post before carrying on any further as it's just too exciting.

I have been waiting for these to come for the last week as I knew they had arrived with my friend but I couldn't actually get to them, no suspense in this one as I have already blogged about them as I was too excited to keep it to myself so without further ado, please welcome my two new babies:

Boxed and beautiful

Red personal Finchley

 The photo isn't doing the colour justice, it's actually a bit of a deeper red than this shows and is such a beautiful shade - nicer than I was expecting. I realised after I took the photo that I have taken a photo of the back of this for some reason - not sure what I was thinking, but it still looks lovely...maybe I got distracted by shiny things :o) 

A5 purple Malden

 Again, the camera doesn't do the colour justice. It's quite a strange colour in a way though, as it can vary so much depending on the light that it is in...

There's nothing wrong with these rings!!!

This is probably closer to the colour that I see in most lights...

Once I'd photographed these new darlings it was time to get back to the serious business of getting my filo set up sorted.

As you can see - it was getting a bit stuffed. It is a bit annoying when you can't add any more sheets to the front because the rings are too full and if you open them without going to the middle of the inserts then the front ones all fall off the rings...

Beautiful...

But kinda full...

Clearly something needs to come out of there... have I made the right decision...?

Out!!!

 It was out with the huge number of sticky notes (I have used one since I put them in there), and the stickers (zero), the WO2P diary pages (ouch...), the timetables, the personal info pages and the International Info (none of which have been used at all yet) and out with my plans for my routines, they are not finished and were started months ago.

This means I am left with most of my set up left much as it was before, with the main change being that the WO2P has been moved out and the MO2P is now my main diary insert, with a few sheets of various random, non-matching sheets of paper in between... will stick with photos now as I have waffled for way too long...

No before pic for this one, but it's feeling quite skinny now

No more sticky notes - but I had to add a few sheets of Supercat to liven it up a bit

MO2P - will see how this works when I have to add appointments, but I don't usually have many, so it should be OK

Yes, I know it's still busy - but I'm going to give it a fair trial :o)

 OK, so that's done for now. Let's see how this works out - wish me luck!!!

LJx

Too Excited!!!

Super quick post, because I am a tad excited...

I was reading Free for all Friday on Philofaxy today and saw the mention of seventeen filofaxes being added to the Adspot page. After giving three away the other week I do have space for a couple more in my collection, but hadn't intended on getting any for a while yet...

Oops!!! I somehow managed to click on the Adspot page (I really have NO IDEA how that happened...), but oh my word - an A5 Purple Malden at less then half price and a Personal Red Finchley at way less than half price. No inserts in either, but that is a good thing, I have loads here and it would just give me more diary inserts to throw out.

So I did what any self-respecting Filofax lover would do, I weighed up the pros and cons of the purchases and considered my budget emailed immediately about both of them and sat waiting in anticipation - feeling very excited and nervous... clearly the A5 Purple Malden would already have been snapped up, but the red Finchley was a possibility. And I could consider some of the other filos on the list (which I had resisted incredibly well - it would have been very easy to mail about four of the others as well) while I waited to hear.

But I received a reply in seconds, saying that both were available within minutes the whole email ping pong re Pay Pal etc was complete and payment made - love modern technology!!!

So very soon I will be the very proud owner of two more beautiful filofaxes - I guess I need to start digging through my others again pretty sharpish to see which ones I can pass on to new homes as I need to make sure that I don't get into a situation where I end up with more filos than years, and there are a couple more on Adspot that I am quite tempted by...

LJx

Going for the Professional Look...?

Well I have been having some fun this morning (well deserved after having to desert Christopher's birthday party to take Marcus to the hospital - not the nicest thing in the world, poor little chap, but at least it wasn't someone else's child that fell off the bench laughing and cut their head open). I thought it would teach him to sit on the bench properly, but this morning he still sat on it cross legged, so he is now being watched like a hawk to make sure he doesn't sit like that any more...

So, to chill out for a bit after another night of not enough sleep, it was time to put some pretty stuff in my Holborn Zip :o)

Picture heavy section coming up now...

My oh so professional Holborn Zip

OK - maybe not so professional after all...

A fab selection of sticky notes, with a top opening envelope behind containing my Paperchase and Moleskine stickers

The first section is my info section, containing FF registration sheet, sizing charts etc that come as standard with the FFs, my Indodispensible Data sheet and timetables (which I have yet to fill out), along with all my planning sheets to work out what needs to go into my timetable.

Blank timetables - I really must sort these out

The next section is still my Dodo pad inserts to track my food, exercise and supplements

Thankfully the marker is in the way so the exercise column is hidden

My today marker, overhauled with washi tape and Sentimental Circus stickers

After this we have a section for recording my hours worked and one containing my MO2P diary (which I don't look at - will be re-thinking this).

Then we get to my next marker which is for my main section.

I was going to put her on the current weeks page, but she gets in the way a bit, However, she is happy wherever she is - I think she may be a Martini girl - any time, any place, any where :o)

In the main section I still have my WO2P lined diary from Sweden, but have replaced my To Do lists between each page with A5 funky paper, and have added a smaller funky sheet for writing out quotes, or nice thoughts so they can be taken out of here and put into my Happiness Binder.

My first Super Cat sheet "Once upon a time, in a land far away... Make time to DREAM!!!"

And my first non "To Do" list, to do list. As you can see I have quite a lot to try to accomplish today...

Avery re-positionable tab used as a top tab to mark the current week

Another sample combination - cats and Super Cat

Mr Comic and Chou Fleur combination

Behind this section there is my annual planner - again, not looked at in quite a while, and then a section for storing some extra paper in case it's needed.

Random spare paper

After this I have sections for my 101 in 1001 Days list, addresses, project plans (not used).

Now I know I am pretty new to the discovery of the 30mm rings and how amazing they are, but today has seen me remove a fair amount of spare paper from my filo, because with all my pretty new stuff there just isn't enough room - will FF ever do 50mm rings...? I have more pretty paper than I can shake a stick at now, and haven't opened any of the fantastic writing paper sets that I bought to use in my A5 (Alice in Wonderland anyone? I can't wait to get her in here).

So, it's looking lovely and I'm already thinking of making some changes. As those of you who have read my earlier posts may remember, my Filofax obsession has paid off really well with the organisation of my work. So well in fact that it is now very rare that I bring any work home with me, and I usually get home in time to put my boys to bed. With this in mind, do I really need to stick with the one life one filo method?

Or would I be better off leaving my A5 on my desk at work every night (I have done so on a couple of occasions already and it was pretty tough, but this bad boy adds a fair amount of weight to my rucksack) and using a personal for everything else?

I may switch to a MO2P layout with lots of pretty paper in between as I don't actually have that many meetings, and it would give me more space to use so I could put more of my funky paper in it... ooh, now there's a thought...

I would consider a pocket as well, but they're too small for my pretty paper - ha ha ha!!! So many things to consider :o)

LJx

Hauls Part 2!!!

Well, you know how it is. You're tired, worn out from a fun weekend and a long day at work, knowing full well that tonight is the night for getting that early night before monthend kicks in tomorrow evening, when what happens? Oh no - I had to get something out of my suitcase and then this lot sort of fell out...

I have to admit - it's amazing how much stuff you can get into such a small space :o)

First up is my bundle of stickers and bits that I bought off Ebay, not all of it is here as some of it has already gone to another home (my friends 17 month old daughter now has a small bundle of card making stuff and stickers), and somewhere in my case I still have three bottles of Fairy Glitter

Not a bad haul, card stuff, stickers and stamps

 Next up I have a couple of Oxford notepads that I was given by Maggi who is now the proud owner of the three filos that I gave away. Having read reviews by people who have used this before I was quite excited when I saw these, and they are so smooth to write on - amazing, and how cute are these page markers?

While I was in the UK I went to Wootton Bassett for the weekend to see friends and watch rugby. I thought that popping into Thornton's would be harmless enough - little did I know that they have stationery and lots of other funky things (thankfully my case was already pretty full so I couldn't buy too much, but that didn't stop me from spotting these little beauties...

More sticky notes, some name confetti with my name actually spelt the right way for me, and a fridge magnet

Next up - Artbox haul. Sticky notes, notepads, labels, writing paper and a postcard. There is an "I Heart Artbox" badge somewhere too, but I guess it's still hiding in the clothes...

Yay!!!

Gorjuss labels, cute sticky notes and a lovely hearts writing set 

Mr Comic A5 notepad - 8 designs of paper

Super Cat in 8 designs!!!

Little Miss Sunshine seems to be trying to get in with the Modes4U package - I can't say I blame her, their stuff is awesome. Looking forward to using her as a page divider as she is a magnetic bookmark so I can move her round without having to take her on and off the rings :o)

What's in the package then Little Miss Sunshine...?

Wow, wow, wow - and can I just say again - wow!!!

I was in a room all by myself when I opened this package, and there was a squeal, and a "Wow" or two and then a silence of total awe as I went through everything :o)

Sentimental Circus again - notepads, writing set, die cut writing set (awed silence), sticky notes and more stickers

Chou-Fleur writing sets and notepads - v cute

Another die cut writing set with cute little houses on, a deco tape, quite a few rolls of washi tape, a triangle rubber and a pencil that is a rubber if that makes sense - I was very impressed!!!

 I haven't had time to play with my new stationery yet, but I did manage to punch some holes in some of my A5 paper from the first haul last week when I went to see Lucy of Modern Musings fame. It took me the best part of half an hour to punch holes in about 30 sheets of paper using Lucy's metal A5 Filofax hole punch - not because there is anything wrong with it, just because I am a bit special. Every time I thought I had the technique sussed I would be totally unable to punch any holes through the next piece I tried...  But I persevered, and tonight I punched a few sheets from Mr Comic and Super Cat to brighten up my filo. At the weekend I think it will be time (in between sorting out and having Christopher's birthday party) to sort my filo out just the way I want it.

My A5 Holborn Zip looking very professional...

Just a few bits of colour to brighten my day - Super Cat paper peeking out from behind the beautiful Paperchase sticky notes from Lucy :o)

My only section with funky A5 paper so far - roll on the weekend

Mr Comic!!!

 Anyway, I really must get back to doing sensible things like loading the dishwasher, trying to get the youngest chap to go to sleep as he was still pottering around and going through to my bed 10 minutes ago... maybe if I leave him a few more minutes he will actually lie down and go to sleep... yeah, and I might give up all my Filofaxes and stationery - ha ha ha!!!

Will post an update once I have re-organised my very professional filo :o)

LJx

Leaving Home

So, the time has come. Three of my babies are leaving home - they are now packed and ready to go :o(

So let's take one final look at them before they make their journey overseas (obviously I will be accompanying them on their flight - they are too young to be flying alone). Please excuse picture quality, I had to pull these from other group photos as I didn't have time to do new photos before they head off to their new home

First we have the A5 Domino in Ultra-Violet - wonderful thing, and only going because I know that it will be loved and well looked after in it's role as household filo in its new home. I have the personal in UV and the A5 in Violet, so don't feel I need the A5 in UV (in fact. the violet is a stunning colour. This one is going complete with 2011-2012 WO2P Sweden/Denmark style, standard dividers, and some coloured papers, address sheets and a notepad, so should be all the basics for initial setup, although I will point the new owner in the direction of Philofaxy so she can have a look and see what is available of course.

Next up is the pocket Finsbury in Raspberry, I have had it a while now, and although I really like the colour I just can't see me ever using it. I originally got it to use as a wallet, but at the time I thought it was too big (seems a bit stupid saying that as I now have the Pennybridge for that, but it is way more practical), and the zip pocket was just too tight. Unfortunately that doesn't have a diary at all at the moment as I emptied all my binders to do my stock count and then gave away all the pocket diaries as I won't use them (at least not this year), however it does have a random selection of stuff out of my box, so hopefully that will be OK.

Finally, the Cuban Slimline in Ink - I bought it with such good intentions, in fact I ordered two as Sabine (FF convert) at work wanted one - she loves hers and uses it everyday. I tried... for all of twenty minutes (literally), it doesn't have a clasp which I thought would be fine... and the pen loop..., as soon as put a pen or pencil in it, it just bugged the hell out of me. Maybe if the pen loop hadn't been so annoying I'd have been OK with the lack of a clasp, but that pen loop - never gonna happen.

So although I will miss them (especially the Domino, but when they launch new colours of those babies I may have to get more) - they are going to a better place, where they will be loved and cherished, and more importantly, used.

LJx