25 February 2011

Free for All Friday No. 118

While using my one Personal Filofax for several years now, I was recently faced with a long weekend of traveling for a work conference. I realized that I need a separate Filofax to hold all of my reward cards, reservation slips, and so on. I ended up making the trip carrying my usual Personal Filo stuffed with information I need for permanent reference, but which isn't very helpful while traveling.

The next time I travel, I'll definitely have a dedicated Filofax, including all of my travel documents, rewards program numbers, maps, and so on.

Does anyone else use different Filofaxes while traveling?

31 comments:

  1. I am going to have a personal Filofax with the travelogue inserts and my normal Filofax pocket next time I go abroad. I think it definitely makes sense!

    On a different note I'm thinking of buying a pocket Deco for everyday use. Can anyone tell me how hard wearing it is? I've been to all the stockists in my area but none of them have one I can actually see in real life. I'd have to buy one online!

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  2. I always use a pocket sized Filofax when travelling within the UK. I use a Panama for conferences and my butterfly for tutorials or short courses. I have a personal travel pack to use in a domino for overseas travel. I will probably take my pocket spots as well for planning places I will visit and to use daily as a diary.
    I have too many Filofaxes! :-)

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  3. I use my Lavender Personal Domino as my Traval-Filofax. Perfect! We usually stay in one place, so I make a list of daytrip-destinations and events beforehand and print and punch it to fit my Filo. During the holiday I collect interesting Brochures and Flyers. I take my hole punch with me, so that I can punch and file the flyers. The usual format (A4 folded in three) is a bit too long so it sticks out at the top and bottom, but it really doesn't bother me that much.
    I also insert the weekly pages for the duration of the trip, for a brief record of daily events. Love it, and wouldn't be without it!

    I might switch to an old battered Personal Urban that I have but never used, because it has that neat zip-pocket on the outside, and that way my Travel-filo could also double as a wallet. Hey, that's actually a cool idea! (If I may say so myself ... ;-))

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  4. @Jojte my personal Domino overseas travel filofax is also lavender. I think our filofax families are related!!

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  5. I've mentioned this here a couple of times in the past but I wanted to mention it again: I use a Personal Domino in Grape specifically for Scotland travel. I have tabbed sections for each region of Scotland, and also tabbed sections for Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London (because we go through there on our way to Scotland). I have a section where I record the details of where we stayed for each trip, so if we want to stay there again I have the info handy.

    I need to convert my Personal Urban to an other-destinations Filofax so it's ready to grab and throw in my bag when traveling. As of next month I'll have a whole new part of the world to explore! In my Urban I'll put the usual travel stuff like emergency numbers, addresses of people back home (for sending post cards or in case of emergency), my frequent flier and hotel points numbers, and destination information. I have the Travel Pack from Filofax and it has excellent packing lists, currency conversion pages and lots of other useful things so those will live in my Urban too.

    I love the flexibility of using a Filofax for travel, because you can take only what is relevant for that particular trip, add and remove pages as needed. And, I always use the pockets to stuff in tickets, itineraries, and little things I pick up along the way. :)

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  6. Soraya, I have a personal Deco and I think it would be very hard-wearing. The leather is thick and substantial. I use mine gently though because I am so worried about messing up its beauty!

    You can look at my Flickr photostream of my Deco for lots of interior photos:

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/plannerisms/sets/72157622672507897/with/5281087764/

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  7. I'm planning on taking a dedicated travel filofax with me when I go to South America in the summer. I won't want to take my regular Deco so I'll be on the lookout for a cheaper, Personal sized one to take instead.

    Since it's FFAF, I have a question. Did Filofax ever make a Filofax specifically for kids? I'm sure that in the early 90s I had one which had stuff like homework planners in it, and lots of funny pages and brightly coloured stickers you could put into it. But I might be imagining it, or it may have been something other than a Filofax.

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  8. @Soraya
    I too have the Personal sized Deco in ivory. This thing is built like a tank, it is easily the most solid of all my filo's. I have been using mine since Xmas and it has not a mark on it, it doesn't even look like its ever been used, let alone opened numerous times a day and lugged around with me everywhere. I can pack loads into it too, it really does hold a lot.

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  9. @ Soraya, the Deco is extremely tough! My pocket one rattles around in my handbag all day and it's fine. Although it is the Amethyst so it's quite dark and I don't need to worry so much about it getting a little dirty/dusty - I guess you might struggle with the Ivory (I don't have one so can't say for sure).

    The cover is quite thick and very rigid, and the clasp is very tough and much more likely to stay put than some of the poppers on the other ones.

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  10. @Baby D

    I stand corrected then - sounds like the Ivory Deco is just as hard-wearing as the rest of them. I guess it helps that it's such a shiny material - it's not going to stain very easily even if you do get makeup or something on it.

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  11. @Alex and all those lucky people with Decos, you are making me jealous!

    I should probably just get one but I am trying to be strong. Plus our car died on us today so I shall need to be good!

    Green eyed........someone needs to put me out of my misery.
    ;-)

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  12. Hi, Soraya:

    I have an ivory Deco that I use daily (i.e. it's in my purse) since late 2009. It isn't dirty or has scratches.

    I put crystals on it (leather and rulers), and they hold up well in my purse and with the daily wear, too.

    Here are some pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/filofaxdecobling/

    Hope that helps! :o)

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  13. I always use a slimline for traveling I have several, all with 1/2 rings. The difference is the duration of the trip, and if air travel is involved. In those cases if I plan to be away more than a week, I will pack a cheap binder with the extra sheets I might need in my checked baggage. With the airlines propensity of losing things, I am not about to entrust them with one of my good Filos. Shorter trips of just a few days, I can get everything I need into a slimline.

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  14. Stephanie - which glue did you use to stick the crystals on your filo and ruler?

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  15. hey does liz lemon use a filofax? possibly an a5? it is on her desk at the 15:08 mark here is a link

    http://www.hulu.com/watch/218968/30-rock-tgs-hates-women#s-p1-so-i0

    does anyone else see it? can you identify it?

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  16. Thanks everyone! Looks like I will be getting a Deco after all... And I'll be looking at those pictures later! :) xxx

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  17. Since it's FFAF, I noticed that FF UK has personalized photo diary inserts available -- has anyone tried them? Franklin Covey recently discontinued theirs, and FF USA doesn't have any either.

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  18. Another FFAF Q
    Does Filofax ever start reducing the price of the diary inserts (since we have now only 10 months of 2011 to go)? Do they drop in price and if so, when? Or do they stay the same price all the way through the year?

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  19. I have a question, since it's ffaf. Has anyone ever received a damaged filofax? Because I've just received a second damaged Finchley. I don't even know now if I should bothr returning it to whsmith again, just to risk getting another damaged binder, but I don't have anywhere local that stocks the Finchley.

    Also @Alex, I'm pretty sure they used to make kid orientated filofaxes, but if I remember correctly, they were called 'funfax'. The inserts you could get for them were educational with fun facts about history, geography, science and stuff like that. I think there were also things like puzzle packs and other general fun kids stuff. I used to want one so bad, but we could never afford it as a kid :)

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  20. @Alex and @Annie I had Funfaxes they were AWESOME. Particularly the Spice Girls one and the Spy one...
    x

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  21. Hi, Alison:

    I used E9000 glue. If you haven't tried it, it's thick. I pull some out of the tube with a flat toothpick, dab some on the crystal back, then position the crystal with tweezers.
    The next time I redo the rulers, I'll so a mix of pink & white crystals and flat-back pearls. I saw the combo - beautiful! :o)
    Bling'ing the Filofax & rulers didn't take much time at all, too. Easy project. :o)

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  22. In reply to the question about reducing the price of the inserts. I guess this would be up to the retailer, but it is not very likely, in our store, round about April time, Filofax count what diaries we have left, this then gets credited to us as a discount of the next years order, meaning there is never a loss to the retailer for marking them down, as we get full price credit. Once Filofax has done this, I guess the retailer could reduce them, but we keep selling them all year through, we had at least 10 customers who wanted to buy the 2010 inserts in December 2010, and paid full price, Very strange but true.

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  23. Oops - E6000 glue to glue crystals onto rulers and/or leather Filos.
    E6000 works well on leather. In the 1+ years my Filo has lived in my purse or school bag, only a handful of crystals have fallen off.

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  24. I wonder is anyone at FF will take notice of my latest comment on their Facebook Discussion page....

    "How about going slightly retro and offer the same size of organiser but with different ring sizes like the Winchester was available in 2 or 3 ring sizes back in the 1980s"

    A5's in thin, normal and large, Personal in Slim, Normal and large....

    Look at the pictures of the old Winchesters with 1¼ inch rings... (32 mm approx) and lots of pages...

    A thin A5 although promised has never been produced yet.

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  26. A different subject here, but as it is FFAF.... here goes!!! I had to give an educational presentation lecture last week, a minor part of which involved discussing learning styles and the way individuals approach the world. There are bags of free quizzes on the internet which you can do,to help you find your learning style. Mine, although I am a musician, is a mixed learning style, but with a visual predominance. No accident then that my Filofax is decorated with stickers, has colour coded tabs, that I use colour coded pens, bags of clip art stuff on my home made pages, love photos, post its etc. All visual. Soooooo..... are you an auditory learner, do you need to carry your i- pod in your Filofax, is your style mathematical and you need data, charts, a calculator and numbered tabs, are you a kinaesthetic person and learn from touch, so love the feel of good quality soft paper and leather, and also love to tap into an electronic diary, do you learn from nature and need pockets for your National Trust Cards, garden plans and seed packets?? Maybe take a learning style quiz for fun, and adapt you Filofax and Filofax purchases to the way you approach the world. By the way, all the original research on this was done by Gardner at Harvard.

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  27. Butanben do you have a link for the learning styles website? I have to do it for my certificate in teaching and learning in higher education and the reference they used in the teaching was very dated! From that I had a mixed learning style but I would be interested to use another quiz. Thanks :-)

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  28. @Colie: no idea, since that video is restricted to US only. Can't see it.

    You know what else I can't see? All those Sneak Previews of new Filofax models on their facebook site. Because they have RESTRICTED IT TO UK-VISITORS ONLY!!!! Why, is totally beyond me, and I'm very hurt!

    @Annie, like I said on Flickr: return it! And keep on doing so until they get it right! That said, if they manage to return a third faulty Filofax, I would complain at Filofax directly.

    @Amanda, you could try Ebay for some cheaper deals on Filofax inserts. Some people buy the wrong size, or switch planner size/style during the year (nah, I don't know anyone who does that ...) and thus let go of their refills.

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  29. @stephanie

    Have you seen my blinged out ruler? i used pink and clear rhinestones w flatback pearls! :)

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/app1eg/5453634414/in/photostream/

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  30. it sounds from above that the deco is very tough! I really want one in amethyst, but i'm going to have to wait till i graduate and get a job to be able to afford it.

    I love the idea of producing filos in different ring sizes! I bought a cuban zipped personal because it had a 30mm ring that other personals didn't, i used it for a while but went back to my pink finsbury cos i hate that it looked so monotonous! It would have been great if we do not have to be restricted to certain models if we wanted a specific ring size!

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  31. @app1eg

    It appears to be the exception rather than the rule!!!!

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