Moving Back to the A5

Hi all, I am now feeling much more comfortable with my Filofax after suffering a bit of planner fail and the attempted move into my beautiful new A5 Aqua Chameleon.

Please accept my apologies for a very picture heavy post...

My personal Malden was doing a good job for a while (before I wanted to see more than just my daily tasks) and even enabled me to carry my passport and Ausländer Auschweitz everywhere with me (which was handy as it meant I knew where they were at all times - no more hellish search for them when I had to go on a work trip).

I will miss my beautiful Malden

Filofax stickers and donated Moleskine ones peeping out from behind the passport

Week on 2 Pages with To Do list inter-leaved

Annual Planner for Work & Holiday dates

Capture pages

However, it was decided that although I loved the convenience of using the personal size I needed something more, and so it was time to bring in the big guns - A5 style.

To help me in my move to the A5, and as I wanted to continue to have everything in one filo I designed what should have been the perfect 2PPD template for me, with sections for everything that I needed. I would now be able to see each area of my life all on one spread. Undoubtedly this would be the ideal layout for me... if I didn't look at all those sections and just feel overwhelmed by the number of boxes to fill in.

So, back to the drawing board... what are my needs?

Diary - for work and personal appointments/reminders. I know all my work appointments are in Lotus Notes, but I do my planning at home/on the train and prefer to do it on paper, so I need this.

Month to View & Annual Planners - everyone needs to be able to see the longer term, right?

To Do pages - much of my work is task-based and without these my work life would go back to being a complete disaster zone.

Stickers - probably never to be used, but I like to know they are there. One day I will start to use them - I should put that on my list of things to do :o)

101 in 1001 - my list of 101 things to do in 1001 days so that I can review and plan.

Work Hours Log - so I can see if I am achieving my goals to sort out my work/life balance.

Exercise & Food Log - so I can monitor what I eat and how much exercise I do in an attempt to make myself accountable. I intend to include calories burned during exercise too, but need to get a different heart rate monitor to do this as my current one doesn't have this facility on it. Maybe that would make me more determined to get off my butt each day and do it, or work harder when I do...

Motivational Quotes

Project Planning

Addresses

Household Planning (cleaning)

As you may have seen previously I have quite a few inserts already (which has been added to by the recent influx of new filos here and here. So, no more procrastinating about my ideal template, it was time to make use of what I already have...

Starting out with the Red Domino, as I had failed in the Chameleon I couldn't face risking her fragile sensibilities by leaving her open to another failure... and the Domino - 2 huge pen loops, and you never have to feel guilty for trying to force a big pen in there :o)

Business cards, stickers, passport and plenty of extra space. The loose sheets at the front are from the Gretchen Ruben Happiness  Project desktop diary as I have a few days off work and don't want to miss any quotes/tips 

Part of my 101 things in 1001 Days list

Logging my work hours to prove that I am achieving my work/life balance goals from my 101 list

Food & Exercise Log (please don't look too closely - you will see how lazy I have been), courtesy of Lord Dodo. The left hand page has plenty of free space, so this is where I intend to log my motivational quotes, or just ones that make me smile.

Month on 2 pages

Week On 2 Pages with To Do's inter-leaved. I love this format for the WO2P as there is a dividing gap that runs down the centre of the day so I can split between work & personal reminders

Activity planners from Sweden, in theory to use for project planning - we'll see if I manage that one...

Annual Planner stolen straight from the personal. Behind this section I have my addresses. One sheet per letter, but no dividers to split them at the moment, I'm not sure I will as I use them so rarely.

My Indodispensible Data

Card holders and a notepad to use as my capture area

Still a bit of work to do to get my routines in order (including adding a cleaning bit, but I think I may actually use the timetable insert that came with on of the Dominos), but I think I'm getting there. I've been using it every day, so that's an improvement :o)

Ooh - I guess I can cross off the 'write a post re my work Filo' off my 101 list now. It would have been done much sooner with my original A5 setup (which was work only), if I hadn't left it and my laptop on the train... obviously all you Filofax fans out there know where my biggest concerns lay at the time :o)

Although now I have seen Imy's post regarding her pocket filo I am thinking about other options again already...

LJx

101 List Progress Check - 19th April 2012

Hi folks!!!

Sorry I'm not updating weekly as I'd planned, but the good news is that some of the tasks may end up being crossed off sooner than expected.

New released films (DVDs) I'm talking about you :o) I ordered 4 DVDs from Amazon's new releases and they arrived last week, so we watched Happy Feet 2 (not as depressing as the original, but still not that happy...) and Puss in Boots (love the voice of Antonio Banderas as Puss) last weekend.

After reading The Help towards the end of last year, I was really looking forward to watching the film, so settled down to watch it - some weepy parts (but maybe that's just me being a bit weird at the mo). It was a good film, the book was better, but then that's no surprise as it's rare to get a film to pick up the finer details of a book.

Tonight I have a date with my man, the sofa, and Contagion - no doubt by tomorrow morning the cold that Marcus keeps trying to give me will be in full swing and I'll be convinced that I am going to die in the supermarket... update, it is now 5am the morning after, and although I watched the film and thought it was good, it hasn't left me with the feeling that I will ever watch it again, not because it's going to make me paranoid every time I get a cough, but because I just didn't seem to get the feel for many of the characters. Although maybe I should watch it again, maybe I missed something...

Ben also picked up In Time a couple of weekends ago, so we may watch that this weekend, then I think I only have 3 left. War Horse is now out on DVD apparently so I have to get that quick before it is no longer considered new enough to count towards my list, although I nearly cried just watching the trailer for it last night - I am such a wuss!!!

I have started my 3 months of taking supplements with some twice daily vitamin & mineral thing from Beachbody that came with the 10 Minute Trainer programme. Unfortunately I have enough of a problem trying to remember to do anything once a day let alone twice, so I have been pretty rubbish on the one so far (it is now 8pm and I will go and take my two doses for the day shortly).

I am currently on my first of four days off so I shall (attempt) to sort my paperwork, order the prize-winner books off my list (one is ordered from Amazon already for one of the guys from work to bring back for me and another five I can definitely get via Kindle), and be a bit more consistent on my exercise in my endeavours to get ripped abs... although I have lost 18lbs so far, surely there can't be much more hiding them - clearly I just need to make them bigger :o)

I have been logging my working hours since before Christmas to keep a record of how I am doing against my work/life balance targets and am pleased to say that I have been managing pretty well with finishing on time on Mondays and not bringing work home, and only have two more weeks to get through for this one to be completed. I have also managed to finish on time two days a week since March 5th, bringing no work home, and am half way through the three months, only six weeks to go - I am very proud of myself (and my Filofax) for managing to do this.

For the classic films I picked a couple up of DVDs at the airport the last time I was in the UK, only to discover when I got home that Papillon and The Sting were not on my list of classic films to watch, but as they are definitely classics I will just add them to my list (I'm allowed to do that right?). I have also discovered that a friend has Brief Encounter on DVD so I will be adding that to the list and borrowing that shortly.

LJx

More Filofax Dilemas...

Well, it's been a busy week, what with monthend at work, dinner with friends (fabulous fondue), fitting in exercise and generally being life.

I spent a couple of hours last week setting up what seemed to be the perfect FF layout for me, on a wonderfully segmented 2PPD diary format.

As the vote came in for me to move back to an A5 filo I figured I would print the templates out to use from Monday and was very excited to try out these new babies...

2PPD

WO2P

I was so looking forward to finally having a template that could really work for me and every area of my life... so, how have I loved my new set up...?

Er, well... not a lot actually. I have left it on my desk every night except Friday for 2 reasons:

• I can't be bothered to take it home
• I have barely written anything in it

This could be due to it being monthend at work, which although the busiest time of the month, it is totally task based and I have a timetable/checklist for all the monthly procedures (including a separate list for any irregular monthend tasks). Therefore, I have no need to write these tasks into my Filofax.

But I am concerned, is there a more serious problem? Am I just no longer compatible with the A5 as my filo any more...? Have I been spoilt by the luxury of using a personal size for 3 months?

A5 Aqua Chameleon , Personal Crimson Malden

I spent some time yesterday re-reading Christa's post re the Holbourn here, and thinking what a gorgeous rich brown it is (not digging the wine one for some reason, I have no desire for a black filo for some reason, no matter how much more professional it would look compared to some of my others). I am now totally convinced that I need to have a Holbourn in my collection - it has everything, stunning buffalo leather and lots of pockets. Zipped or not, that is now the question...?

I was desperate for the A5 purple Malden, but now I'm not so sure I want the A5, but I don't think I want two personal Maldens. By the way, is it just me or is the picture of the purple Malden on the Filofax UK website really not that nice? All the other pics I have seen have been quite a cheerful purple, but theirs is totally dull and uninspiring.

I haven't given up on the A5 yet though, I have the rest of monthend to get through and then on to all the other stuff, which is where my Filofax comes into it's own - let's see how that goes...

101 List Progress Check - 1st April 2012

A quick update on what's occurring in my list...

Shakespeare - I have read King Lear this week, so that second of my Shakespeare plays is done. This one was another tragedy ... greedy people, a bastard son, people flung out, truths realised, forgiveness sought, but other person dies and therefore much tragedy - a tried and tested formula. I have a historic one next and then 2 comedies.

Prizewinners - I read the first of my 10 prizewinner books last week, Angela's Ashes. It's one of those books that I have seen lots of good reviews for, but never got round to reading before and I am glad it finally happened. It was a very well written memoir, which I love as it's all in the first person and you feel the teller getting older as the book progresses.

Classics - I have started reading the tenth of my 10 classics, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, and am enjoying it so far. I am surprised at how much I have liked most of the classics that I have read, so may have to put together a new list of them when this one is finished.

On the exercise front, I am near the end of my second week of the latest Beachbody programme that I have started in my quest for ripped abs. I have started Brazil Butt Lift and intend to do this for 8 weeks before moving onto Rockin' Body for 4 weeks. It will then be time for holidays and I am hoping to start P90X again after that.

My Flylady habits have fallen by the wayside somewhat at the moment, and I have realised that I need to be ruthless and throw things away. First stop in this was attacking the front room and clearing those hot spots (the table and the Kachelofen). I have also been looking into getting a steam cleaner (eg the H2O x5 or a Kärcher) as this may help ease the cleaning burden (once the de-junking is done) and will be cheaper than getting a cleaner.

I have also been checking out new DVD releases to see what is around so I can continue with that challenge. I went onto Amazon (after checking out play.com) and found that it was a lot cheaper to buy through them so Amazon now have an order for 5 DVDs from me (admittedly two of them are more for the boys - Happy Feet 2 and Puss in Boots, but they still count, right?).

I also managed to pick up a couple of classic films off my list while I was at the airport on the way home from the UK the other week following a very exciting conference... :-)

LJx

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

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