City Organiser - Last Time Buy...

Sad times... at the time of writing this post City Organiser's online shop is no more, and the store in Bow Lane will be closing very shortly, by the time this post is completed the store will have closed it's doors for the last time.

I never had the good fortune to visit the shop, but I have had great service from them online previously. As they were closing down and had some great online offers, I though it only right that I should make up for never visiting by buying a stack of stuff from them.

I shall let the pictures do most of the talking today as there is just way too much to write about all of it.

The two main coveted items (that I must have put in my basket about 100 times previously) and finally saw in the flesh at the Philofaxy meet up were these two babies below...

It's quite a big box, so we're assuming A5

Can you guess what it is yet?

Loops are top and bottom instead of at the sides, how odd - and
why did I not already know this?

One minor ring issue, but I'm sure it's fine :-)

the gorgeous Osterleys - grey A5 and compact orange.

These two were top of my futures Filofaxes list, and at these discounts I wasn't going to hang about.

Once these two beauties were done (the main purpose of my visit to the website) it was time to look at inserts etc. The following is just a stack of photos of what I chose...

Deskfax inserts (which I had totally forgotten I'd ordered)

Really bad picture, sorry - you'll have to believe me when I
tell you that these are A5 cream ruled paper and zip lock envelopes

Personal plain cotton cream (ready for printing) and pocket
zip lock envelopes

City Organisers own brand pocket sized reminder sets, so
cute, and very cheap so I just had to get lots of them :-)

Then came the Moleskine onslaught:

Hobbit ruled and plain notebooks that I've wanted since before
they released them

What self-respecting female wouldn't want
one of these?

And this was an essential - another one
that I wanted before they were released

On sale and places I intend to visit :-) And some plain cagier
notebooks (somehow I have managed again to choose plain
instead of ruled - I am an idiot. Never mind, they will get used.

By the time this little lot was in my basket I wasn't far off the spend required to push it up into the next discount bracket. So bravely I added this gorgeous darling, which basically made it free :-)

My compact black Holborn - this my make me move out of my mini Chameleon as a wallet for a while...

Also, with each of the Filofaxes I got a free pen (one was hiding when it was photo time, clearly a little camera shy), so I will leave you with my favourite pic...

LJx

Daily Planner Setup

I am very excited to share this post.

I think there will  be a few surprised people by the end of this post - don't worry, I haven't moved away from Filofax as my planner of choice, but I have setup my planner using things that I just haven't been able to get to work for me before.

After my total failure to set up my personal planner I spent 10 minutes planning, to work out exactly what I need in my personal setup... so, here is what I discovered (again) in summary... outside of work I have no life, and therefore don't need a lot in my planner. Bear in mind that all my exercise, food, cleaning and other routine type logs for the time go in my Plannerisms planner.

With the little amount of personal stuff that I need it makes more sense for me to keep my personal stuff in with my work planner (gasp!!!). Hang on, haven't I been here before? Didn't I say that as I don't need my work filo at home then I can't keep my personal stuff in it? Isn't flipping to my personal to do section something that never happened when I tried this before? Er... yes, yes and yes, in that order :-)

As I use an A5 for work and cannot bring myself to try to downsize to personal for work, this means that I will have to lug around a rather full (another shock to my system I can tell you), heavy, A5 :o(  Suck it up girl!!! Man up and get on with it!!!

So, let's see what happened. Firstly, which love did I choose to be my companion on this arduous quest? Why, the magnificent Holborn Zip of course. I find that the zipped Filofaxes are just so much better for me for work, and Mr Lyndhurst (as lovely as he is) just doesn't fulfil my personal needs as well.

My beautiful A5 Holborn Zip

Handy pocket on the outside for carrying docs to meetings
or for travel

Of course, pride of place we have the essential Philofaxy business card. I also have a small plastic bag for carrying bits that I happen to need.

At the very front I keep a small pile of punched funky A6 notepaper pages in case I think of shopping lists to write. In the credit card pockets I have various plain but funky post-its. 

Then we come to the dividers, nothing fancy about these at all. They're not even labelled properly. All I have done is use Post-It arrow tags to show where each section is.

I have six sections currently...

Lists, with top tab sub-sections for "read this", "listen to this", "clothing", "watch this", "investigate this", and "101 Project".

         These are mainly to write down ideas from blogs that I read, or Facebook, or any other random
          thought processes.

Food planner - fairly self explanatory, but not actually used yet, so let's see what happens with this one.

Blog planner - literally just a list of posts that I need to do. No plans or outline, when they should be posted or anything sensible and organised like that (I admire people who manage to do that).

 Capture pages - just pages to write down things that I need to do or think about. These mainly come from emails at work, but are, in theory for my personal things to do. I must try to remember to write
these down.

Next up is the diary section, and this is where we find the biggest surprises...
     i)   a vertical diary, despite deciding here that this layout doesn't work for me. Having seen the
          pictures that Robyn Placek (I think it was) posted on Facebook I couldn't get this layout out
          or my head

    ii)  colour coding!!! Don't get me wrong, I've always loved colour coding and believe that it can be
         put to great use, it's just that whenever I've used it I've given up because I've never been able to
         remember what any of the colours are for.

Somehow I have managed to overcome my Wednesday issues (being too close to the rings to write in), and have finally found a colour coding system that is working for me - with my wonderful Frixion pens.

I have used one of the tips from Kent from Oz, and added small post-its to one side of my today marker and thought my hotlists from Imy of imysworld would be the perfect addition for the other side

I have even added relevant stickers, which I am quite excited by :-)

Behind the diary section I have my projects section, which I use purely for my work projects. Technically my 101 list could go in this section, but I wanted to keep it separate. Really I guess the Lists section is for me personally, and the Projects section is for my work.

I have also kept the A-Z dividers in here. Originally they were left there because I couldn't be bothered to take them out, but they are quite handy for random stuff, eg holiday dates/notes (for work planning purposes).

In the back I have a few stickers and have just added a red Moleskine cahier notebook which is the perfect size to slip in the back pocket.

So far this set up is working really well for me (including my busy week last week shown below :o)

 Long may it continue...   

LJx

Personal Setup 2013 - What To Do?

Hi guys and gals - pull up a chair and prepare for a long post (no photos today I'm afraid)...

As some of you may recall from my post here, I was getting a tad stressed with the whole personal setup debacle. I ended up just chucking in a basic setup (no changing of the divider labels to suit what they were being used for or anything) and seeing where it went, and this is where it went...

My beautiful wine Holborn Zip was the obvious choice (I'd only just got it) and the inserts were pretty standard and things that I had in my stash already. Here beginneth the review...

I started with the following things in my filo:

• Horizontal year planner, for school holidays, family plans, work trips and bank holidays. Useful? Anything that wasn't known when this was set up at the beginning of the year didn't make it onto here, so not really that useful...
• Vertical year planner. Useful? this only had one entry written in it and has now been recycled for 2013 as shown in this post here.
• Tabbed monthly inserts. Useful? These were used a bit at the beginning of 2012, but much the same happened as with the horizontal year planner at the top of the list :o( 
• Blank/lined sheets to use as capture pages. Useful? I have referred to these, and also used some of them for to do lists. 
• WO2P diary with lines. Useful? If I'm honest, not really as I haven't used them much. I tend to think of the diary pages as for tracking appointments, and as I have very few personal appointments they don't see much action.
• Notes section (for To Do lists). Useful? These have barely been looked at, hence the overwhelming lack of check marks against the tasks. The 101 list items are checked off and some of the things from other lists have been checked off too, but this is mainly from luck than from me actually using the lists.
• Projects (for my 101 in 1001 challenge). Useful? This section contains my full original 101 list, and also a version as it stood when I did the setup. I look at this section every week when I post my progress check, and have been using it to plan what I need to do.
• Information. Useful? This contains the workout schedules for all the Beachbody workout programmes that I have so I have the information ready so that when I get started on my fitness again I can use this to help me decide which programme I want to do and then follow it using the schedules. Also, if I feel like mixing it up a bit and doing a random hybrid of workouts, I have all the information I need.
• Financial. Useful? I decided to start using these for the first time ever when I started my Fabulously Frugal No Shopping challenge, so started when I was on holiday in November. I kept it up for about two days after the holiday ended, which isn't great, or particularly useful. 

So, what am I going to take through to my 2013 setup?

• Diary / planner layouts. The horizontal year planner and tabbed monthlies barely got used, so I clearly don't need those. The vertical year planner can stay, purely because I have recycled it ready for use - let's see if it gets a bit more use this year. I have used the WO2P with lines successfully for work before, so although it didn't get used much this year I am going to give it a go for 2013.
• Information for exercise - I think is still good for me and will be used.
• Projects (101) - if I am to stand any chance of completing my 101 challenges this has to stay.
• Capture pages - I think I still need these, but need to make sure my sections are labelled appropriately so I don't forget what these are for.
• Action Lists - if I have a separate section for my capture pages and use it properly (and have top tabs for the various types of actions) then I should remember to look in this section and actually do the things on the list.

My original plan was for my personal filo to stay at home and be fat, as my mini Chameleon comes everywhere with me because I use it as my wallet, However, looking at how rubbish I am if I have too many areas to look at I think my filo will stay pretty slim, and then I think about my action lists and realise that important calls etc need to be made while I am at work..., maybe I should move to something smaller and take it everywhere with me...

LJx

A Quick Overview...

Wow - I got a bit behind with my blogging recently, only having to time to squeeze in the 101 updates unfortunately. Thankfully now I have a few days free, so spent a bit of time this afternoon taking photos of my new toys :o)

I have taken in three deliveries over the last few weeks (pre the Fabulously Frugal No Shopping Challenge) and am going to give you a quick run through to show you all - I will be doing more detailed posts on some of the items as I have plans for them already.

Here is my pile of fabulous stuff, yes, you can see filos in there, I won't deny I have an addiction...

My first delivery came from Filofax Germany. All my resistance to this purchase (which to be fair I did resist for a number of weeks - not a very high number, but a number all the same) was totally futile when I saw Anita's post on Philofaxy..., so here is my beautiful A5 Bronze Domino Snake...

Shiny sophistication

 

Love the black interior - potential scrapbooking filo...

Next came my amazing parcel from the marvellous Alison of Filo Obsessed fame. I was lucky enough to spot her list of items for sale on the Adspot page on Philofaxy, and decided that I just needed all of it... seriously, anyone looking for a Filofax or related products (diaries, paper, Flex, etc) should check this page out first, you can get some amazing bargains here, and in my experience they are in very good condition as the people here look after them very well :o)

First up - the personal Holborn zip in Wine - gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!!!

Definite personal organisation potential...

This bundle of gorgeousness contained 2013 inserts, and a lovely bundle of other stuff, including a complimentary pack from the Filofax shop in Neal Street.

A more detailed pic of the other bits and pieces that were included - a fab owl card, he is too cute (I really am struggling i my No Shopping challenge when I see this as I know that there will be stickers and all sorts of other stuff in this range - thankfully I managed to save myself by buying some for my niece ready for Christmas to go in her Paperchase filo that will also be winging its way to her via Santa). There were also five different styles to do list and some cool card which is crying out to be used as dividers, and stickers to go with it - I am so excited it is quite ridiculous!!!

 Also in the parcel were... not one, but two Filofax Flex, a slimline and a pocket in Magenta. I was thinking about getting one of these sizes in the new leather editions, but as these were just sat there pleading not to be separated from Mr Holborn it would be mean not to take them, and use the opportunity to see how well they work for me before putting the leather ones on my wish list ;o)

Slimline complete with notepad, contacts pad and jotpad
I have ordered (before the shopping ban) a notepad to go
in the pocket - should be here soon...

And check these out... I have never had anything from Mum's Office before, but these are great, although the shopping list on our house should read Dad's Shopping List as he goes every week, I don't drive and apparently I spend too much whenever I go... oops!!!

Must Do, Should Do and If I Have Time...

Meal Planner plus detachable shopping list

And my third delivery? I know there were a lot of people who hoped to get there hands on these, but I am pleased to say that I was incredibly lucky to benefit from the generosity of John Edgar McVey from the Filofax for Philofaxy Fans group on Facebook - thank you again if you are reading this :o)

Lots of stickers and a few other bits - I'll be doing a separate post on this shortly, I've kept them hidden so far so the boys couldn't steal them before I'd taken photos :o)

 Will be back with updates soon - take care all.

LJx

Really!!! I Did That?!!!

Oh my word!!!

I have to say, that after my holiday I actually feel very relaxed and calm, which makes a huge change for me I can tell you.

Well, I had a bit of a rude awakening this morning when I got to work and opened my lovely Holborn to see what I had outstanding from before I went on holiday so that I could plan my time as monthend will be upon us in a couple of days. This is what I opened it up to find...

In the chilled out state my mind has retreated to during my break, it found it almost impossible to decipher what on earth was going on - did I really do that to myself...? As much as my fun paper makes me smile, I really don't think that it is ideal for my work stuff, so this evening I have been trying to sort myself out into something more workable. I love my Holborn Zip, I really do, but I think if I use something with smaller rings I will be more inclined to reduce the amount of stuff that I keep in it.

I have also come to the conclusion that I really don't need my work and personal stuff with me all the time and am going to split myself across various filos.

Ideally I would have a compact A5 for work, but as there are none of those around I will move (for now) into my aqua Chameleon for work, using my old set up and then work out what I actually need and want in there. I really wish there was an A5 compact as part of the reason I keep so much stuff in my work filo is just to pad it out to make writing on the diary pages easier...

Maybe I should just print out inserts so that I always write only on the right-hand side...

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