06 January 2012

Free For All Friday No 164

So the end of the first week of 2012, I hope you have recovered from the holidays and festivities.. Taking down the decorations and the tree tonight this being '12th night' So that is Christmas done for another year..... But it's the start of another exciting Philofaxy year.

Have you made any changes to your Filofax set up this year? Tell us about it or volunteer to write a guest post for us....

But as this is Friday please feel free to discuss anything Filofax related.

30 comments:

  1. I had an excellent Christmas, thank you. Santa was very kind and brought me a Scanda to replace my Finsbury.

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  2. Does anyone know of a good monthly plan template for forward planning? Any advice appreciated.

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  3. Bargain alert: there are Filofax insert-compatible sticky index tabs for £1.20 at Tesco: http://mylifeallinoneplace.blogspot.com/2012/01/bargain-filofax-post-it-tabs-and-hack.html

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  4. as Gerard started talking of templates...Does anyone have a personal size template for monthly and yearly budgeting? Or is there a precious link somewhere within this blog about budget sheets that i missed? :)
    BTW, as a newbie I am getting tons of useful information from this blog's post and the readers comments! Thank you so much!

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  5. @JY11 - you're looking for this: http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2011/12/budget-planner-template.html

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  6. Ray beat me to it!

    Download them and you can change them for your own headings if you wish.

    Steve

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  7. Hello,

    I'm still new here, but I have a question. I bought a used light blue Mini Finsbury on eBay last week and it is in pretty good condition, except for the fact that it smells awful. It seems to have come from a smoker's home and I am not exaggerating when I say it smells like it has spent the last months inside an ashtray. I have tried a couple of things already: hanging it outside for a day, spraying it with Febreeze (don't kill me!) and I also tried the Nivea trick, but nothing worked so far. Do you have any tips for me? I would really like to use it as a wallet, but I don't wanna carry it around THAT smelly :( Thanks a lot beforehand!

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  8. @Scoot: Thanks for sharing this "anti-smell" methods!
    I´m just trying it out on a binder and a mobile phone holder I won on ebay - hope it works. For how long would you recommend the vinegar-treatment?

    @Anke: I know the problem quite well, and if you are a non-smoker the smell is really bothering..... my binder is not too bad, but I think the mobile phone holder comes from the home of a cigar smoker - so it´s really smelly ;-). Well, they´re both sitting under a plastic bag around a saucer with vinegar now - we´ll see what will happen...

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  9. hello all and happy new year! (if i haven't said so already)

    i am wondering if anyone has ever used the family organizer sheets and what their thoughts are on them. i imagine i could always make my own inserts with our lovely section of templates but i've yet to order my ream of a5 paper (in the us - why is there a difference in size of paper, us letter size 8.5x11 vs a5 size btw? does anyone know?) any insight would be most helpful! thanks!

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  10. @Snarling: A5 is a metric size used throughout most of the world. It is half A4 size and twice A6 size. Its dimensions reflect the Lichtenberg ratio which gives it certain interesting properties as you can see here: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/iso-paper.html. US Letter paper is a little more arbitrary.

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  11. @SNARLing the US Junior Legal size looks quite close to A5, slightly narrower but a few mm taller:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_size

    Steve

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  12. Hello, this is my first time commenting. I hope this works.

    I own precisely one Filofax, last used in 2005 because it's too small for current needs & wants. I think it's a Winchester, as it's stamped fILOFAX, MADE IN ENGLAND, REAL CALF, 4CLF 7/8. I can't imagine ever getting rid of it, but now I want an A5-sized Filofax. I won't need to tote it to many places, if any.

    Ideally, I want it to be in a beautiful color, and -- VERY important! -- I want the pages to remain flat when I use it. Not too fond of brown and do not care for grey. Black is elegant, but I highly prefer color.

    Opinions wanted on the Osterley, please! I'm in the U.S., so my color choices are limited to black, wine, and one other I believe. Has anyone seen it in wine? And, does it stay open?

    Should I consider something other than the Osterley? I do want many pages for a variety of uses. Not that I've quite figured out what those uses might be. I also like the idea of a diary/calendar large enough to fit lots of entries on.

    Sorry to be so vague about function, but I've not used a Filofax in so long. The idea is that it will enable me to (finally) get organized.

    I have a few more questions, but let's wait for later for those. Many thanks, everyone!

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  13. Happy New Year everyone!

    I'm a little new to Filofax, just got one as a late Christmas present to help me stay organized. Trying to get rid of my tendency to write appointments and due dates down in notebook margins.

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  14. Does anyone know if filofaxusa/LettsCanada accepts returns if there is no damage? I got an A5 Holborn which is ok, but I don't personally like the penloop very much and I really should stick with the personal size so I want to return it and make use of the current 25% off any malden which expires tomorrow. Problem is I haven't been able to get an answer to my email to Letts Canada yet and really don't want to be stuck with both.

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  15. Hi Everyone,
    I too own one Filofax a Personal size Red Metropol this does lay flat all the time. The only point I'd like to raise is that writing on the left hand side can become a little tight when the writing comes close to the rings. I like mine a lot and just beginning to customize the pages and layout. After the suggestion/recommendation by Steve I have just ordered a Rapesco 66P six hole punch. The price at Amazon yesterday £9.35 the price has come down from £15.29A Happy ans Peaceful New Year to all our readers

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  16. Hi Everyone,
    I too own one Filofax a Personal size Red Metropol this does lay flat all the time which I'm delighted with. The only point I'd like to raise is that writing on the left hand side can become a little tight when the writing comes close to the rings. I like mine a lot and just beginning to customize the pages and layout. After the suggestion/recommendation by Steve I have just ordered a Rapesco 66P six hole punch. The price at Amazon yesterday £9.35 the price has come down from £15.29A Happy and Peaceful New Year to all our readers

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  17. My apologies for the duplicate entries and typos just getting the hang of leaving comments. Will do better next time.

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  18. Well, I've been trying to decide on what setup I want next year. I've had 'stuff' going on which means I've not been giving my full attention. However I've I think I've come to a momentous decision! I've decided that not only have I got far to many binders, but also that I just don't need a load of space so am going to try a Personal size instead of my A5.

    I seem to make a habit of making life much more complicated than it needs to be!

    The upshot is that I will putting a few of my filofax collection up for sale.

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  19. @Anthony Mark - good luck with Letts Cda. Their customer "service" sucks so hard. I have returned a Filofax to them because it took way too long to arrive and they were very vague when I questioned when it was shipped and such.

    If you look on the Filofax USA site there is a form you can print for the return. And send it to the Letts Canada address:

    Letts Filofax Group
    1885 Clements Road
    Unit 239
    Pickering, Ontario
    L1W 3V4

    You can try emailing Tina Jennings directly to make sure they'll accept the return. tjennings (at)lettscanada(dot)com Any CDN emails to Filofax USA get routed to her for reply, etc.

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  20. At my local Tesco tonoght they had WO2P diaries for the mini at 56p. Nothing else startlingly cheap... but maybe useful to someone?

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  21. Thanks terriknits. I've always had good service from Tina, the only problems have always been how long it takes to get product, not specifically their fault as they often have to get stuff from the USA first and then it sits at the border crossing for days, and then it goes to our not so speedy canada post. I think I may just hope for the best as a Malden for $75 is hard to pass up.

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  22. Hi everyone! does anyone know where I can get a 2012 A5 week on 2 page non-appointments insert? it's for my friend who loves that format, but she doesn't want to spend too much- around £8ish :) Thanks!

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  23. @ Anthony: I order the Rapesco 66P six hole punch as well thanks to the recommendation of Steve. I am anxiously waiting for it! :) I want to try a timetable like Jotje did on her planner ( http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-post-task-and-time-management.html ) but couldn't find a template. I did some of my own on excel, printed out and now just need to whole punch them. And of course need to whole punch all the other fun stuff I have been finding and printing out from here :)

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  24. @TPS I have a spare A5 W2P non-appt version going free. Just send me an SAE and I will send it over.

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  25. @ Gerard. I'm working on a monthly planner now. It'll be on my blog soon, but if you (or anyone else) would like a copy of the propotype, let me know.

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  26. @The Liar: that's fantastic!! could you please email me with your address and I'll give it to my friend to send you the SAE, to bernasconiray at hotmail dot com
    Thanks so much!!

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  27. @Jy11
    I've just received confirmation today that my Rapesco punch has been dispatched. I've some coloured sheets that I'd like to insert into my Filo.

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  28. Hello folks! I'm a newbie and am debating between purchasing the Malden Personal vs. the Holburn Personal.

    On the Malden, what are your thoughts about the thickness of the front and back covers -- are they on the thick side, or are they "puffy"? I am leaning toward the Malden, but I also really like the thinness of the Holburn covers. Thin covers are important to me as I want it to fit nicely in my purse. For example, I was at a store today, and I found the Classic and the Finchley covers to be on the thick side.

    Unfortunately, the store didn't have any Maldens, but they did have a Holburn Slimline. They also had a Aston Personal, and that fit in my purse nicely. But I am thinking the Malden's covers are really no thicker than the Aston? Is that fair?

    I love the thinness of the Holburn Personal covers, but the only thing that's keeping me from getting it is that it doesn't have a horizontal pocket inside the back cover so I can put a note pad there like you can with the Malden. Is there a way around that?

    Thank you for helping me as I make my way into this lovely cult of Filofax!

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  29. I received a Malden for Christmas! I love it except for one thing...the paper catches on the rings. Not badly, but enough to be annoying. I compared the rings to my Finsbury and they are not as round. They seem to be slightly flat in the center. Are all the Maldens like this or this actually a defect? I appreciate your help in advance. Thanks!

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