25 July 2010

Does your partner also use a Filofax?

As the title says... Does your partner also use a Filofax? Tell us about it if they do... do they read Philofaxy as well?

My wife Alison has a Filofax, you might have seen pictures of it on Flickr, it's an old 1980's one, but she doesn't use it quite as much these days. When I did my collection photos the other day I noticed most of the notes in it are from when she was studying for her history MA (she's the brainy one!!) so that is a couple of years ago.

She naturally takes an interest in Philofaxy, because I relate stories to her about the people and things we are doing. She proudly announces herself as 'the hand of Philofaxy' She posed for the photo you see at the top of the blog!!

Do any of you have a hard time explaining why you need more than one Filofax? I think I have the obsession under control.... at the moment! But there's great delight in looking for that 'next purchase'.   

Do any of you just announce, 'Oh I've just bought this' or is it sneaked in under the cover of a plain brown wrapping to your den to be enjoyed in private? Then hidden from general view and then it generally gets guest appearances some months later 'Oh that looks new' "Oh not really I've had it a few months now" I'm sure there are some amusing tales to be told... it's ok you are amongst friends on this site!

So I wonder how many of your partners also use a Filofax... or another planner even? Or if not your partner what about a brother or sister or any other family member? Do you try to keep a note of each others appointments?

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17 comments:

  1. I don't know anyone else who uses a filofax unfortunately. Back when I was using a Palm, I didn't know hardly anyone else using that either (even though I used a palm for 10 years!) A few years ago I worked at a place that had some Franklin planner users. Mostly I see people just trying to remember stuff, or writing a note on some scrap of paper or post-it. Occasionally someone has a little monthly view calendar or they try tapping something into their phone. I don't know how people can manage without something like a filofax to keep everything in one place.
    I chuckled at your description here of slowly introducing a purchase ... "oh, I've had it for a while" sounds so much better for some reason than "yes, got it yesterday" - sounds much less returnable :)
    My partner upgraded to a spiral bound weekview planner this year, but I still don't have much hope she will join the filo fold anytime soon.

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  2. Tonight's or Tomorrow's To Do:
    Share in here how I converted my partner to Filofax!

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  3. Look forward to that Oni... some tips for the rest of us!!

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  4. One of the joys of being single is that I can buy as many Filofax as I please, whenever I fee like it, never have to sneak them in or hide them and if I ever want to spread all my Filo's out on the floor in a big pile and roll around in them, there's no one to see it & have me committed : )

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  5. My partner and I don't share the same obsessions but whenever he says "You bought another . . .?!" I respond "51 fishing rods" which ends all discussion.

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  6. My husband doesn't use anything planner related. I created a family filo (a personal domino) where I would enter my appointments and various other information so that he would be aware of them but he never opens the thing. The only time he does is when he needs an address. That's something at least. Then I shared my Google calendar with him (I enter everything in here too so that it's accessible on my iPod Touch). I thought this would be easier - all he has to do is click on his calendar and it shows up. But he doesn't do that either. Basically he just relies on me to tell him what's coming up, and even then he doesn't always retain it. His method of "organizing" is writing appointments on our refrigerator wipe-off board and stacking pieces of paper in various bins. He then has a purge day (which indeed takes all day) about once a month.

    A good friend of mine is obsessed with planners, just as I am. And while she has a Filo or two, she doesn't use them, at least as far as I can tell. She's been using other brands. We share our Google calendars too, so it makes for easy planning.

    Yv - It would be easier for me if I were single, speaking in terms of Filofax.

    My husband has never told me "no, don't buy that," but I do know he wishes I didn't spend so much money on them. I usually tell him when I'm going to purchase one - I'm not good at hiding information from him. Plus which, I get so excited about them that I have to talk about it. He's a good sport about it all. He doesn't "get it," but he accepts that there is no changing me.

    BR - I wish I had something like that to hold over his head. It would make my purchases much easier to write off.

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  7. I detest how everything is a "itis" these days - you know - the whole therapeutic issue. But... I thought I was the only one obsessed with planners - or not satisfied with one, and then switching to another...

    is there a name for this, really?
    (and no, my wife is not obsessed. just me.)s

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  8. My partner is almost physically attached to his smartphone, which he syncs with Google calendar; this is an excellent way for him to share his calendar with me, other family members, and his business partners.

    I've never had to justify or explain my devotion to paper planning to him, but he has many times sung praises for the Blackberry. I don't hide my new purchases (there's nowhere to hide anyway, we work in the same room, in full view of one another!), though I don't exactly declare them, either. I've been "testing out" new planning systems this year, and these were quickly shuffled out of their packaging and put straight to use; eyebrows have been tented at me whilst I enter info into new forms and I shuffle and reshuffle pages and tabs (it looks to non-planner-obsessed people, understandably, like a huge waste of time, energy, and perhaps money), but he trusts I would not spend exorbitant amounts on planning. If I were to purchase a spendy new binder (like the beautiful Malden, alas not available in the US!), however, I would consult my partner first.

    (I haven't used the "oh, this old thing?" ploy in years and years, since I still lived with my parents and sister! I had to hide and slowly unveil everything, nice notebooks, not-crap pens, any book or lit journal or magazine. Oh, what an excellent ploy.)

    My friends sometimes tease me about the planner obsession. I started using a Filofax during my sophomore year in high school. I used to buy friends Filofaxes (and briefly, during my own brief dalliance, Franklin Covey planners) with all the fixings, but after the initial thrill, the promise of a newly organized life with new and organized accessories, the planners would disappear. Too heavy to carry, too onerous to update, too tedious to write in recurring appointments, &c. It's odd that I perfectly understand every single criticism, but I still find paper planning is what works best for me.

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  9. @BR: That's priceless, I wish my husband had something like that I could call him out on!
    Anyway, he doesn't use a Filo or any real organizing system, he mostly taps out notes on his computer and saves them as emails to himself.
    Like Plaiditude, I used a Palm for 10 years and turned a number of people on to them during that time. Currently I haven't turned anyone on to my Filofax, but I've seen my coworker eyeing it and occasionally she asks some questions. She currently uses an academic spiral-bound planner, so perhaps she's thinking of making the ring-bound leap.

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  10. My boyfriend is a typical IT guy, who uses only electronic devices, but he understands that for my job is necessary and much quicker to write stuff down. And for my private organizing...I explained him and I think he understands, that is so much nicer to open and feel leather filo than just type it to the mobile :o)

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  11. My husband doesn't use a planner at all. At work, I believe he uses Outlook or whatever his company uses, and at home he apparently sees to reason to organize his life! Once, when he was running his own business, he bought the smallest size spiral-bound Day-Timer. He had a lot of trouble deciding what to get, asked me for advice, and seemed to feel bad about spending money on it. Definitely not a planner type of person!

    He used to complain about my fountain-pen collection, which I've stopped adding to. "Why does anyone need more than one pen to write with?" he'd ask. I tried to explain that it was just the enjoyment of having them!

    He knows about this blog, and doesn't seem to mind my Filofax purchases. Perhaps it's because I've used a planner of some kind ever since he's known me. He's used to it. So I've stopped sneaking them into the house.

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  12. I use a Classic Personal while my wife uses a F-C 2 PPDay system with a large planner cover. She been thinking about going to something smaller in January- maybe a GTD Coordinator.

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  13. Here another DH with a Post-It-habit. Those sheets stick all over the place (his pc monitor is plastered with those yellow paper bits). I'm running the business planner, and all other calendars in the house, so he strongly relies on me telling him where to go. He does take an occacional look at the family planner in the kitchen.
    I got him a lovely Pocket Piazza and all the inserts that DH thought he'd need. Until today it's all sitting neatly on his desk, untouched and unopened, because he first has to figure out HOW exactly he's gonna use it and suit it to his needs ... (sigh).

    Lucky for me, he doesn't have an eye for detail. A new bright pink A5 Finsbury that suddenly sits on my desk? He never noticed. Same with all the other Filo's. Fine with me, because that way I don't need to elaborate on my purchases ... ;-) (and in my defense: they all were real bargains on ebay anyway!)

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  14. Well, my DB has never used a planner. He's not the type of person to write stuff down, mainly because his handwriting is terrible! Even for quick notes, he'll just open a .txt (Notepad file). Sometimes he will scribble things onto various forms of paper lying around, like newspapers, receipts, envelopes, post-its...but then he NEVER checks them again. Which simply drives me MAD when I have to tidy up and can't even throw away an opened envelope because I don't know if the info there is important to him X_X

    About my planner obsession, he's never been worried. I always liked stationery, paper, etc. And it's only recent that I've actually become more focused on Filofaxes, so he doesn't mind, mainly because he likes to see me so into something (I get easily bored...) for such a long time. And also because he knows I'm not the type of woman to spend money on other superfluous things.

    Regarding his conversion to Filofax: he's started a new job just last week. It's going to be a very demanding job, where he'll need to catch up and keep up with the whole company. So, using my best snake-like powers, I explained to him how having a planner, rather than just a plain notebook (his barely used Moleskine he's had for the past 3 years...) would come in handy for him.
    Because he'll need to keep all information ORGANISED, by dates, names, places, etc etc. He'll also be travelling quite often it seems, so he'll need somethin portable. His laptop might run out of battery on the plane.
    And my last argument was that it would look VERY professional to carry a decent and elegant planner!
    I already owned an unused Personal Kendal (bought from a second hand store here), so I offered it to him. On my birthday, I also got him more inserts for it. So now he's all setup. He's used it not too much, since he's only been to work three days, but he does carry it with him and because he loves me dearly, is making the effort of using it.

    I am so proud of him! (although we both don't know if he'll get used to using it or not XDD)

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  15. My DH just can’t understand why on earth I would want or indeed need another Filofax. I bought him one (an A5 brown Finsbury for a new job) and he simply told me to take it back because he felt he only needed his (£10.00), A4 day to a page Collins academic diary which he barely writes anything into anyway. He does get quite upset with my obsession, wish I had the fishing rod or similar to come back with. I did take the (bargain priced) Finsbury back, it nearly killed me handing it over.

    Since that incident I have hidden a new Filofax (pink A5 Finsbury, again at a bargain price) in my daughter’s bedroom waiting for the justification to bring it out. I would get it out and flip through the pristine pages in private wondering what I would use it for. Finally I had a new job and ‘voila’ a justifiable reason and out it came!!! Only took 3 months to make an appearance, he, he.

    My sister says I am in an 80's time warp and that no one uses them anymore. She also just buys a cheap little $5-10.00 diary which is considerably cheaper and lighter but is a 'nothing' diary to me.

    My Filofax obsession started way back in the mid 80's when as a young 19 year old I set off from Australia to backpack around Europe basing myself in London. It was at the height of Filofax obsessed Brits carrying them on the tube and flipping their pages and writing in them during their journey. So prevalent was the Filofax in hand person that Jonathon Ross and other comedians/radio presenters of the time would joke about it.

    I always wondered what people wrote in them while on the tube? Every week I would go and obsess in Ryman's about finally buying one. Trying to decide what ring size I would get. There was a much larger choice back in the 80’s. Then, one day my boss gave me her old maroon Harrods Filofax. Little did I know that it would start a lifelong love of Filofaxes.

    For a time in a job back in Oz I did get converted to Franklyn Covey and still today prefer their standard 2 pages a day as a work diary. I wish I could get the inserts for my A5 Finsbury. I noticed Filofax has a similar ‘time management’ system that is quite pricey. Has anyone test driven their version? Despite converting to FC for work, I was never without a Filofax for personal use.

    Now back living in the U.K. I have been able to access some of the serious bargains which kind of justifies being able to buy a new one every now and then, even if not appreciated by those close to me.

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  16. My Dad used to have a filofax, but it's long since disappeared, and I think I've managed to convert my Mum and Sister recently!
    There's more info on my blog: http://explorerephemera.blogspot.com/2010/08/filofax-family.html
    if any one wants to know more!

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  17. I hope you have them all reading Philofaxy as well....

    Steve

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