12 September 2008

Free for All Friday No. 11

Feels good to be back in the old routine, doesn't it?

Have you changed planners or sizes for autumn?

Anything else you'd like to talk about?

—Inky

13 comments:

  1. I'm not changing my planner this fall or the next year. I've orderd the same planner for next year.

    But i have to make a section for appointments and to dos for next year and my question is: how do you do that?

    This morning i was watching my financial tab, my moving tab, my eating schedule tab and my lists tab and they are a mess. My finances aren't up to date anymore, i live here now for six months and i want to change the second tab into a renovation tab, ive neclected my eating schedule and some of the books in my lists i don't want to read anymore and i stopt visiting some websites that are behind my liststab.

    but where do i start?

    love Rose

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  2. I'm sticking with my personal Finchley for life planning and my little Lizell (which roughly corresponds to a Pocket) for now. The system works for me and I'm trying out a few little tweaks I learned from the "Advanced Day Planner Users' Guide".

    I did have a minor organizational triumph in that I got the emails in my inbox down to 9 from over 20two weeks ago! I was inspired by "Inbox Zero" and had just gotten tired of being overwhelmed by emails. I set up a separate file for personal emails and then flagged the emails that require different actions. I'm hoping to end next week with zero emails in my inbox!!

    Lovely-rose-- when my system gets wooly, I like to start with a brain dump, in which I write down all the things that are on my mind. Then I spend about half an hour going through my planner, consolidating lists, eliminating lists and notes that don't apply anymore and getting things reorganized. That tends to help refocus and re-energize me. Good luck!

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  3. I am in the middle of a huge project right now, and when I'm done I'm completely reorganizing my Filofax (an A5). I was thinking of going electronic but I know that's just fiddling. The change I am making is that I am dumping GTD--it is resulting in too many long lists for me. I think for next year I need to go back to the week on two pages calendar; I'm spending too much time flipping around (I use the business layout one day a page currently). I think it's not a bad thing to purge the Filofax now and then, just don't do it to procrastinate from real work.

    I only have the one Filofax, but I have been thinking of getting a Mini Domino and using it as a) a front-pocket wallet (I'm a guy)--my current wallet is getting old and b) as a replacement for the pocket Moleskine I carry with me everywhere. I have to have something to take notes on everywhere I go and I like the Moleskine but would like to have removable pages.

    So here's my question: are there enough pockets in the Mini Domino for credit cards, etc. and cash, and can you somehow manhandle a Mini page into an A5? I don't mind if I have to fold or alter the page, but if I want to stick something from the Domino into the A5 I would like to.

    Thanks for any suggestions.

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  4. I'm currently all set up for the remainder of this year and next. I use both the monthly view and the week on 2 pages lined. I have tried various other formats, but this is the one that I'm so used to that I can't work with anything else. I do occasionally use the daily pages if I need more room than the weekly block allows. I am using the brown classic personal binder. I have considered buying a few other binders so that I can swap them out occasional, mostly for different seasons. I'm hoping that this will eliminate the need I feel for changing planners altogether - I would only then have to swap out the pages rather than having to rewrite everything. I haven't made up my mind about buying the other binders though.

    I also use a mini domino to carry when my personal is too big. I only put appointments and phone numbers in there though, as well as some occasional notes, which can easily be transferred and placed into my personal sized.

    Madlywriting - I believe (if I can remember correctly offhand), the mini domino has 3 or 4 pockets on the inside, so while you can carry some credit cards, I guess it would depend on how many you're looking to carry. There are inside pockets on both the font and back cover where you could possibly put your cash. I've never used it as a wallet, so I don't know how well that would work. I also have never used an A5 so I don't know how the mini pages would fit into it, but I know that mini pages can go into the personal, so maybe.

    Lovely-Rose - I don't have a lot of appointments to move into a calendar several months ahead, but this is what I do: I keep a year's worth of calendar in my Filo at all times - Starting in January, it's a Jan - Dec version. Then in July, I buy my refills for the next year and I make my Filo July - June so that everything kind of overlaps. Then I keep one sheet of note paper specifically for upcoming events that don't require a specific date (like things I want to remember for a certain month or year, books to be released but don't have a publishing date beyond "Spring 2010," Defensive Driving for 2012, etc). I don't know that this method would work if you have many upcoming appointments that specifically need a place to be scheduled. And every once in a while (like the beginning of the year) I go though all of my lists and notes and update anything that needs it, write clean, fresh notes for anything that looks messy and unruly.

    Hope this helps - Happy Organizing!

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  5. I'm going strong with my slim personal cross. i'm debating whether to buy filo refills for '09 or continue with muji and numbering everything myself.

    I've reopened the A5 notreallyafilo as the 'at home' planner for things I don't really need to schlep everywhere so i'm back in the A5 vs. personal conundrum.

    Add to that I'm using the multi-ring (japanese style) A5 from muji for class stuff ...

    I'm curious to see how it all plays out as 2008 draws to a close and what happens with the A5.

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  6. Thanks for answering my questions. Now I know how to strat organizing my filo.

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  7. I bought a Classic size week on two pages Gallery Leather planner for 2009, but I'm also busily setting up some undated pages in my Pocket Filofax for the rest of the year to see how practical it is. I'm putting in a week to one page and a blank notes page between each agenda page, so I'll have a facing page for notes. I hate to change mid-year, tho. Probably will try to keep both my old and the Pocket Filo going for a while to see how I like it.

    I dread this time of year, but at the same time it's fun to re-think things.

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  8. First time commenter here, by the way!

    I've just made the move to an A5 Filofax, on the basis that I'll need more space for planning things in my upcoming rather fraught final year as an undergraduate. I'm still using the Pocket size one in my handbag, though. I'll also be making the change to cotton cream paper where possible, as I'm told it's much nicer, although I have no issues with the normal paper.

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  9. I recently resurrected my black Personal size Buckingham (out of production) and updated all of my contact and reference info in it to put into my emergency evacuation bag. I realized that if we had to get out of here immediately, I wouldn't have time to search for my A5, nor would I want to carry that much weight along with our other important stuff, emergency bags and 2 little kids. So I spent a couple of hours yesterday writing in all the info I'd need to take with us if we suddenly had to leave and not come back. Always good to be prepared!

    I wrote about this in another post, but I recently got a new purple A5 Finsbury. I got a green one this spring, but never loved the color. Then when the purple ones came out I just had to have one because purple is my favorite color!

    I also changed the format of my calendar pages for the rest of 2008 and also for 2009. I had been using the week view with days as columns across the page. I switched to the week + notes format to give myself more room to write my lists each week. I hope it works well for me. My new purple A5 came supplied with a 2009 week view with the days as columns, so if I decide to go back to that format for some or all of next year, I already have it.

    Rose, for future planning I love the fold-out year pages. I have ones for 2009 and also 2010 already, so that I can write in long-range things.

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  10. First of all, I would like to say: Yay! Inky's back. Everything's normal in the world again :-)

    As for my Filofax life, I'm still using my brown personal Bromley as my central planner. But I am also thinking of purchasing a black Domino mini as a mobile reference and capture device.

    If it wasn't so expensive, I would probably buy a pocket Guildford Extra Slim and make that my mobile device. I personally feel that other pocket Filofax models are too thick to be stored on a pocket.

    My initial problem with the mini is the paper size - its hard to find generic paper of that size. Until I found out that you can actually fold a letter size paper in half 3 times to produce 8 rectangles of 2.75" x 4.25". That size is very close to the mini's paper size (2.625" x 4.25").

    So if I do decide to get myself a mini, I can still easily make my own pages.

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  11. Gee, Joffrey, now that I'm responsible for "normal" I'll have to be a lot more careful! :)

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  12. Thanks everybody for your great comments, and a big WELCOME to our new commenter Take the Key!

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  13. @Madly Writing - I've also tried the one-day-per-page and have had the same problem. I can't see enough at once.

    I think you can put a Mini page into an A5. You may have to fold a bottom corner a little, as with the Personal pages. I know you can put Pocket pages into either a Personal or an A5 without a problem, because of the way they're punched.

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