14 March 2011

Quo Vadis Timer 21 (A5 Filofax) inserts from Steve!

Many huge thanks to Steve for very kindly sending me his Quo Vadis Timer 21 inserts from France!!  Thank you Steve!

Steve recently upgraded to his A4 Filofax and didn't need these A5 size inserts any more, and very generously offered to send them to me. I'm currently completely in love with my new A5 Domino, and he knew I would really like this diary insert to put into it. When he offered to send the pages to me, of course I said I would be thrilled to have them but only if he was absolutely sure he wouldn't want them.  He assured me that he doesn't need them and sent them out to me right away.

There has been much speculation in the past months as to whether the Quo Vadis Timer 21 inserts might just be my perfect planner solution: the size and format I love most (same format as my Quo Vadis Trinote planner which has worked so well for me in the past) with the flexibility of my Filofax. Could this be The One??

The Timer 21 inserts fit my A5 Filofax perfectly, after Steve went to all the trouble to punch holes to fit the Filofax rings.  He did a beautiful job with the hole-punching, and the pages are perfectly centered in my Filofax. None of the holes are close to the other holes or to the page edge, so I have no worries of tearing through.

You may remember Steve's posts here on Philofaxy and guest post over on my blog Plannerisms about the Timer 21 inserts, but if you don't here they are for your reference:

Steve's post here on Philofaxy Alternative Refills for your Filofax shows the Timer 21 inserts and explains how he did the hole-punching.

Steve's guest post on Plannerisms Planners Without Frontiers has much of the same information but more info on the company and how it got started.

In Steve's Philofaxy post All change! he talks about the 3 sizes of Quo Vadis inserts that are compatible with Filofax binders (Timer 14=Pocket, Timer 17=Personal, Timer 21=A5) and the various formats they come in.

So let me show you some photos of these inserts in my A5 Domino.  First of all, I knew I loved the weekly format like I said from using my Trinote with the same weekly format. But what I didn't consider before is that these diary inserts also come complete with loads of other excellent features.

Colored areas at the edge of the page make it easy to find specific weeks:

The anno-planning pages I love for this year and next year are very handy, and saved me from having to buy the vertical pull-out Filofax calendar for next year:

There is a page showing other Quo Vadis inserts, to tempt me!

There's a chart of wine types and years, Steve can you please decipher this one for us?

There's other cool features like international dialing codes, international info, and this perpetual calendar (at the bottom of the page):

Here is a side-by-side comparison of the Quo Vadis and Filofax pages. Click on the photo for a larger, more dramatic view. The first thing I noticed is that the ultra-white, thick, super-smooth Quo Vadis paper (left) makes the Filofax paper look not so nice in comparison.  Quo Vadis is famous for their gorgeous paper which is designed for use with fountain pens.  Another thing to consider is that Quo Vadis paper is acid-free, but Filofax paper is not which could be an issue for those of us who like to archive our pages forever.

Here's the photo of the Timer 21 layout again, and I'll discuss features of it:

As I noted before, I loved using this weekly layout in my Trinote with the Notes spaces each day and the categorized list boxes at the right. I thought it would bother me that it's in French, but it doesn't at all.  Really I look more at the position of the days across the page than the name of the day anyway, and I know my days in French so it's fine.  I love the other features too like the handy reference calendars with the weeks highlighted, and moon phases on the day spaces.

In the past, despite it working so well for me, I've been not completely satisfied with the bound-book Trinote because it doesn't have monthly pages or enough notes pages.  This is solved in my Filofax.  I have the format, features and gorgeous paper of my Trinote, with the flexibility of my Filofax! This is extremely exciting!

The only question will be, is the A5 book too big and bulky? Or will the convenience of having my ideal format and all the pages I want "outweigh" the weight and bulk of the book?

I've learned the hard way in the past not to change planners while I'm preparing to move, so I'll keep using my Quo Vadis Minister planner for the rest of the week. The movers come Thursday and Friday, and our going-away party is Saturday so by next Monday all the moving preparations will be finished--which means starting a new planner is fair game! One week from today I'll officially move into my A5 Domino with Timer 21 inserts. But as we all know, preparation is required so I'll be filling in upcoming events etc.

And finally, let me just say this: I know I'm emotional right now with all the moving upheaval and all, but Steve's thoughtfulness and generosity in sending me this makes me a little bit teary!  Thank you Steve!

13 comments:

  1. I must say, these look like possibly the perfect format for me. Are they only available in France? Can they be ordered via the web?

    Good luck with the move Laurie - hope all goes well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Amanda.
    Yes these are mainly available from France only.

    But you can order them in UK as well.

    See here:
    http://www.quovadis-diaries.co.uk/acatalog/TIMER_17___French_.html

    You can also order them from Amazon France:

    See here:
    http://www.amazon.fr/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=Quo%20Vadis%20Timer&index=blended

    Although their prices are considerably higher than what I paid in my local newsagent for the inserts. May be I should go in to the export business!

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  3. I'm very pleased that Laurie is going to try out the Timer 21 inserts. I hope it proves successful for her.

    If you have seen Laurie's blog post on Plannerisms, the Timer 17 will be up against some stiff competition... bring it on!!

    http://www.plannerisms.com/2011/03/upcoming-planner-battle-filofax-vs.html

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  4. Thanks Steve! Had a quick look on the first link - is it the refill that I should get (when 2012 one comes out)? There are no pictures or anything to be able to tell, but I'm guessing the others (Vlub and Soho) include binders? And on Amazon, is it the timer 21 planning (rather than timer 21 prestige)?
    Sorry for all the questions!
    Many thanks,
    Amanda

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  5. Hi Amanda
    The Timer 21 Planner and Timer 21 Prestige are slightly different in content and layout the Prestige is more a cotton cream in colour and rather than the different notes boxes on the right hand side it has one large note box.

    I will try and find some links to show you the differences..

    Steve

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  6. Ah... one large box would be better than more, smaller ones... and cream? I may well end up in heaven...

    What's your export charge??
    :-)

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  7. Here they are:

    http://quovadis.eu/site/page-collection/agendas/organiseurs/

    Steve

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  8. And places to purchase on line if you don't live in France:

    http://quovadis.eu/infos-pratiques/ou-acheter/

    Steve

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  9. Thanks Steve... Ah, now I look at them, the appointments bit is too small for me on the presige, but I do still like the "planing"

    Sunday sure is a day of rest in France, huh?

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  10. Sunday (dimanche) is certainly a day of rest here, no shops open, apart from the bakery in the morning, but it's very different to UK in terms of shopping. A lot of shops close for two hours for lunch. Although our local supermarket is open all day.. but not Sundays! Alot of businesses if they open on Saturdays they don't open on Mondays.

    I've got used to it now, but it can be frustrating when you first come here!

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  11. I've spent many a happy holiday in northern France and remember the utter lack of activity on a Sunday! We arrived once and needed to fill up with petrol on a Sunday... not a chance! Good job we weren't needing to go any further that day! There used to be a great ferry service from Rosyth (near Edinburgh) to Zeebrugge which was our way of getting to France (indirectly) with the least hassle (and coming home we were an hour and half of the ferry, rather than a day's drive through Britain).
    Loved my vacations in France!

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  12. Filling up with fuel isn't a problem, you can use your bank card 24/7! But there used to be problems with non-French cards at petrol stations, I'm not sure if this is a problem still.

    We are in Deux Sevres, south of the Loire.

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  13. It was quite a few years ago and 'petrol pump says no' when we tried to use bank or credit cards! This was in rural Brittany. The last time we were there (when the £ to euro made it more viable and the Rosyth-Zeebrugge ferry still took passengers...) it was okay.

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