11 December 2010

Continuous or Distinct?

Your year, that is.

Do you add future diary pages throughout the year and remove old ones? Or, do you keep only one year of diary pages in your Filofax all year, then replace them at the end of the year?

One of the many things I love about Filofax is that I can have a perpetual diary system.  I like to keep at least 6 months (and more if I have space) future in my Filofax, and a couple of months past for reference.  Periodically I remove and archive the older pages and put in future pages. 

This has the huge advantage, especially this time of year, of always being able to see several months ahead.  People using bound planners this month either have to carry this and next year's planner with them, or otherwise somehow capture next month's appointments.

I wonder if there are any Filofax users who keep only the current year in their Filofax and then change it out at the end of the year?

11 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Dear Laurie,

    I actually change the diary once a year at the beginning of October. I transfer all birthdays, anniversaries, and mark all holidays.

    It's quite useful for me since I have to note things for the coming year already. So I always have 14 months in the diary - October till December of the coming year.

    It's true that it lacks a real reference, but since I archive all diaries, I still can have a look 'at some time'.

    I'm curious what others can say about their 'changing routines'.

    Kind regards,
    Tommes S.

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  3. Hi Laurie,

    I keep the full year in there. Because I started my Filofax in July, I had half of 2010 and all of 2011 in there. I like to be able to look over the whole upcoming year and think about things. I've removed some of the earlier months now (July, August and September) because I want to make room for some new inserts, but otherwise my system is to keep as many months as possible in there at one time!

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  4. I have 12 monthly pages for DH's working schedule. (if the new refills aren't available yet, I make do with a DIY print until they are). A month gets archived the minute it's over.
    I have about 8 months worth of weekly pages. In the rare event that I should be able to make a later appointment, I have some horizontal month sheets of a different brand in my planner (they look like a year planner on loose pages).
    Weekly pages get archived at the end of the week.
    Regarding the 2PPD inserts: I usually carry about 3 weeks worth of daily pages. They get archived at the end of the week aswell.

    Reason of the frequent archiving: the pages have no purpose after the date is expired. Todo's that didn't get done are still on my Todo pages, ready to be assigned to a different day and time.

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  5. In a 2PPD format, I keep the past month, the current mont and two months ahead, so right now I have Nov., Dec., Jan., and Feb.. I find myself referring back to the previous month fairly often, but then they are archived and kept in a book case by my desk. I have complete records going back to 1982 and partial records back to 1971.

    I look at it as my foot prints through life.

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  6. I'm currently carrying 16 months in my Pocket, but I think I will slim that down to make turning the pages a little easier and may be only keep 6 months in total, say the last couple of months and say the next 4 months.

    It's not often these days I have to plan something more than 4 months ahead. A year planner is quite useful for those far in advance type things.

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  7. I only keep 3 months in my slimline filo (past, current and next) because if I keep a whole year in it there's no room for anything else!
    I also keep a year planner in it, this way I have a view of important events and dates throughout the year.

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  8. I go the distinct route and start anew each year. In fact, it is my New Years Eve ritual (or New Years Day if I happen to be out partying NYE...) to remove EVERYTHING from my planner and start fresh for the new year.

    That means diary pages (I am still undecided on my format, but if I use WOTP I will carry the full 12 months for the year & if I go with DPP I will carry 6 months) and everything else.

    I copy all my quotes to my Commonplace Book and put in clean note pages, update the address section on fresh pages, re-think my tabs (taking out ones I don't use, replacing them with ones I think I will), etc.

    I like to start the new year with a clean slate, both mentally, physically and Filofax-ally!!

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  9. Until now I've put the whole coming year's WO2P in when I've bought them (usually about October), so I've had a maximum of 15 months' pages in the binder, and then I take them out and throw them away (I don't archive) as the weeks go by. However, this is quite restricting in terms of the amount of space taken up by the diary, so I'm planning to limit myself to about four months' WO2P from now on, and do the rest on a yearly planner (I already have 2011 and 2012 yearly planners, and will get a 2013 when it becomes available. I couldn't manage only looking two months ahead, because my business commitments require me to be looking 5-6 months into the future minimum.

    Of course, if I move to the DPP or the DO2P, I'll have to take out the weekly pages for the immediate future and replace them with the DPP....but I'll only keep 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks maximum in the binder, and I'll keep bringing them in on a rolling basis.

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  10. I'm using a combination of year on two pages with tabs and page-per-day sheets, so I generally have a continuous flow, with about 14-16 months of tabbed montly sheets in and about 2 months back, 3 months forward of the page per day. I'd like to keep more in there, but it just won't fit. I'm also thinking about adding the fold-out horizontal year planner for more at-a-glance planning.

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  11. I keep a year's worth of pages in my planner at all times, but I switch them twice a year. July is when the next year's refills come out, so I order them and when they arrive I add the first six months of the new year to my binder. So then I have July through June. On New Year's Day I take out the second half of the just-ended year and add the remaining new year, so January - December of the new year is in the binder. The only reason I switch half-way through the year is because in the fall, things start popping up for the new year and I need the sheets to make those plans.

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