13 September 2012

Diary Insert for 2013?

So have you picked your diary insert for 2013 yet? Or does the thought have having to decide give you shivers.... well don't panic help is at hand.

Some of you might recall the marathon series of posts I did about the different diary inserts for different size Filofax organisers last year:
Some of the options in the above posts might have changed in the last 12 months, but I think essentially the choices are more or less the same. 

Since those posts where published this time last year there have been some additions. We now have our own series of inserts designed by Ray and myself to choose from. You will find them on our Diary Inserts page.

These are available for most sizes in designs that reflect your requests. Naturally you have to print them yourself. But you at least get to choose the colour and quality of the paper this way.

Additionally Organised Mum have started producing their own Personal Size diary inserts and other matching inserts. We haven't been able to get hold of these inserts to do a review, but one of our readers has done a review and you will find the posts here:

So if you are considering changing format, first of all decide if you are going to stay in the same size Filofax organiser or not. Then may be do a mock up of a page for that size with the page divided approximately to the size of the grid on a diary insert and test drive it with your own writing. Is there enough physical space for your normal notes and reminders etc.

Still got any questions? Put them in the comments to this post and we will do our best to answer them. 

28 comments:

  1. I've picked up several! As follows....

    Personal size DPP
    Wo2P Personal (the Cotton Cream option for when I'm in militant CC-only mode)
    Wo2P A5 vertical columns (because at some stage I'm going to have to use the A5)

    I'm also waiting for Charlotte to send me(or give me, if we can arrange to meet, as she's also in Swansea)the remainder of this year's Wo2P TM inserts, and if I can make them work for me at the second attempt (I gave my first set away), I may buy the full TM dated daily and weekly refills in A5 as well.

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  2. Im going to try Wo2P with a week of the dodopad inbetween the 2 pages. I havent tried this yet so im not sure how it will work out. If not, Im going to go with either standard Wo2P or week per page + notes if I can figure out how to print it out easily lol. Im going to be alot less busy in the new year so no need for the 2DPP (i hope)!

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  3. I am getting anxious just to think of 2013 set up. LOL I wonder if I will have my second year using Filofax will be just like the first one: totally undefined.
    I was thinking of pocket because it worked well. Then I remember Compacts are great. Then drool over the roomy pages of A5s. Cant make up my mind on the size for next year.
    The calendar then.....DodoPad? personal/compact or A5 then, no pocket. Good old weekly cotton cream? Pocket is an option again. Day per page? all sizes back on the run again!
    Gosh, really, I am having a 2013-planner-fail before it even started. I guess the only thing I am sure is that 2 days per page really are unnecessary for me. That is the only thing I know for now! All the other options, size, design, layout, etcetc, totally open!!!! so very hard to decide.

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  4. For Australian Filofaxers, the Kikki K 2013 medium planner insert is now available (and fits the personal FF) and is really beautiful: it has cream paper, attractive fonts, faint rulings without appointment times, and the added bonus of red-font for Sundays (an attractive feature of the danish inserts). To my delight (as, yes, I've already bought one) it also came with a month-per-view section included. Very nice. Haven't written on it yet so I can't comment on the paper quality. They're also 1 or 2 mm taller than Filofax branded inserts.

    I also bought the 2013 dodopad insert for my workplace (compact) FF and as a first time user I'm delighted by it!

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    1. Oh I really want to try the Kikki K inserts! I emailed them asking if they'll budge on the shipping price to the UK but they never replied to me :( Either I'm going to have to spend $175 or was it $150 to get free shipping, or I'll just never try them unless I go to Australia myself. I've only ever heard good things about them :)

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  5. Already decided and printed off my 2013 A5 TM Steve and Ray diaries. Strangely it is my to do system that I have started to tweak at. Steve and Ray's format has ensured I get more to dos done than ever before, but I am still experimenting with various methods. At the mo I am using a personal oyster sketch, picked up cheaply at Home Sense. Just a gorgeous colour--- purely for GTD... projects,someday maybe and future to dos. Then I decant the smaller to do steps into my A5 diary at my weekly review... I check over too every so often in between. So diary sorted.... but GTD and to dos still in mid tweak mode.

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  6. I've spent a fortune on diary inserts over the last 3 or so years and I guess I'm more or less tried everything going. However I am very drawn to the Franklin Covey compact inserts (which fit into a personal binder - Laurie you have a lot to answer for!!!) - but they are wide (another 1/2 inch) - and it is this extra width that attracts me. I find the personal pages too narrow and have been using an A5, but I never take it out with me as it's too heavy with all my other paraphernalia, which is a shame. I've just ordered some current years FC inserts that are pretty seriously reduced, and if I like them will get the 20123 ones. This way I can take my diary and current todos out with me and I'll probably use them around the house more as well.

    If I don't like them, the jury is out - but I also quite like the TM week to 2 pages by both FF (time management series) and Ray and Steve's version. so it will probably be one of those.

    I will probably set up my A5 for on the desk checklists and other info. I'll also be looking to reset up an A5 as a home/health/menu planning binder - but I haven't decided on this yet. I'll probably want a diary format for this to record my menu plans and what I actually ate, so not sure yet which format I'll go for.

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  7. PS - I've also tried the day timer inserts this year - but I didn't like the week to view layout (far too cluttered) the line spacing on the notes pages is mad (far too close together) and also the paper quality was not great.

    One thing I will say though is that although we all bash FF they have the biggest variety of layouts of anyone for diaries - colour schemes etc are all pretty basic, but if you look at FC and D/T their layouts are all more or less the same. It's just a shame they don't sell the layouts across all of the sizes.

    One more thing - if you love cotton cream type diary pages and lot of the continental FF sites have a bigger range of cream diary inserts - or just offer different ones.

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  8. After YEARS of trying and failing to use a personal Filofax as my diary (page size just not big enough) I am having tons of success with the 2PPD Franklin Covey pages. (Sorry Alison! :D ) Two pages for every day finally gives me enough room for everything I need to write. Just when I thought I was done trying with this size!

    But yes, the sticking-out is a bit annoying, and a larger ring size would be nice. Zoe is very generously sending me one of her unused FC binders to try out. If it works well, and the difference is significant enough, I might invest in a leather FC binder! I'm told the quality of the FC leather binders is outstanding. Which is good because I'm not buying any more Filofax binders until they improve their quality and production issues (rings etc.).

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    1. Good to know it's working Laurie. I'm going to try and use it (when it arrives!) in either my Panama which is pretty open, or a Domino for the same reason. Like you if it works well, I'd be prepare to sell some of my FF binder stash and get an FC one. At the end of the day what matters to me is functionality. I really spend far too much time debating the pros and cons of all this and not enough time actually getting some work done!

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  9. Sticking with your overly brilliant Personal weekly TM template - I've been adding birthdays, holidays, etc. to it in Word in preparation for printing in the new year!

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  10. I'm going with Philofaxy's Enhanced TM Week Per View. I printed off the last 5 months of it and really love the layout. It works perfectly for me at the moment. I also seriously considering printing the Day per Page diary to use as my journal. It will encourage me to write every day and keep track of health issues too. My memory is so bad I really need to write everything down. Maybe I should keep a health diary too, but one without the dates on as I wont be keeping that every day. Philofaxy diary layouts are just brilliant.

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    1. ahh, maybe not, just noticed that the DPP had times on them.

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  11. For the weekly diary I'm all set. I'm already using the repunched pages of Organised Mum Family Weekly Planner for my A5 Filofax. Daily: well, it's gonna be 2PPD. Have been using the Filofax TM inserts until I started using (and repunching) the Circa Balanced Life Planner pages by Julie Morgenstern. Lovely heavy paper quality, rubbish ink! Everything rubs off and smears when you use pencil or Frixions. But the layout of the pages works great, I've been experiencing a true productivity boost!

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    1. Jotje - thanks for the heads up on JM. I have one of her books on de-cluttering and found her ideas very useful. I like her concept of organising from the inside out. Do you have a blog on how you are using it?

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  12. In my A5 I'll be using weekly and daily TM, for my slimline personal i'll stick with week on two pages or maybe week on one page with notes!!

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  13. I'm using the cotton cream week on two pages. Nothing special really but I'm excited nonetheless.

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  14. I just designed my own layout for 2013 based on the TM format with my own customisations to bring my goals back into my line-of-sight.

    For business, I’ve used A5 TM for years as it was the best match to my needs, but even so there were some compromises..... Now having downsized to Personal, I took the opportunity to design the TM layout to suit my needs precisely. I want to reach the point where my format is 'invisible' in supporting my to do my job.

    For personal life, I’m going to use the Organised Mum. The 5 column grid is perfect to use as a food/exercise diary! Their Pocket Life book is also FF personal size and has an interesting layout, but it would need to be re-punched.

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  15. I'll be continuing with pocket week on a page, Snoopy calendar set from Sanrio. They're available, but I'm waiting for them to come out from Amazon. Since the set includes month on two pages as well as a couple of yearly views, I may try those out too. These are just a few millimeters taller than Filofax pages; they're actually intended for Louis Vuitton binders, which have matching ring spacing. I've never tried those.

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  16. At work (A5 Mulberry) I have produced my own vertical week to view, based on the Philofaxy diaries (I blogged about it: http://paperpensink.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/new-work-diary.html).
    For my personal, carry everywhere Mulberry (agenda size - A6) I have created my own version of the TM week + notes from Philofaxy, by printing 4 weeks of week per page onto A4, flipping the paper and printing 4 pages of to-do/notes sheets, cutting to A6 and punching.
    You can see that on my blog at: http://paperpensink.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/setting-up-mulberry-agenda.html
    In addition, for day to day planning, I have bought a cheap (£1) DPP A6 diary, pulled it apart, punched it and have a month at a time in the Mulberry agenda. The paper is actually probably better quality in the £1 diary than in a filofax one!

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    1. Very Jelous of the A5 mulberry there, I'm still (and think forever will be) saving for my Mulberry Bag :). x

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  17. I got a bargain on E-bay, The business day on a page A5 for 4.99, I think I am going to use these, and then also try the month on two page. What is the difference, sorry to ask, between tabbed and un tabbed (this may be a silly question). I love your TM daily inserts :). Jess xx

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  18. My Franklin Covey 2ppd run through July, so I'll almost certainly be using those until then. After that I will probably order more FC 2ppd, but perhaps in a different design. My life should be about the same as it is now (juggling work, grad school, and family life) so I'll need the space! I don't think I'll be going back to a wo2p anytime soon - it just doesn't give me enough room and I *love* my daily to-do list...

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  19. My Franklin Covey 2ppd run through July, so I'll almost certainly be using those until then. After that I will probably order more FC 2ppd, but perhaps in a different design. My life should be about the same as it is now (juggling work, grad school, and family life) so I'll need the space! I don't think I'll be going back to a wo2p anytime soon - it just doesn't give me enough room and I *love* my daily to-do list...

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  20. I treated myself to the Mulberry Agenda last year only to find that from next year they are not doing any timed diary inserts, unless I can find another manufacturer that makes timed inserts to fit my Mulberry is now useless to me. Does anybody know of a replacement insert?

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    1. I emailed Mulberry about the planner size (they are discontinuing the binders in that size - A5) and the lady said that they would do the paper and diaries for probably 10 years. As far as I can see they are still selling the agenda size binders (at least in the UK) so I can't imagine they would stop making the inserts. Or is it one specific insert they are stopping?
      Even if they do, you could always (as I do) use the excellent range of diaries available here, print them 4 to a page (or pre-cut the paper to get the back to back printing working properly) for agenda-size (A6) or 2 to a page/booklet print for the planner size (A5). A Rapesco punch will punch holes easily for either size. It's why I have pretty much moved lock, stock and barrel over to the Mulberry!

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  21. Can someone help me figure out how to switch the layout on the persinal TM week on 2pgs layout by Ray and Steve? Ive found one other blogger that figured it out but I never got a response when I contacted her?Any advice?

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    1. I might be able to help.... What exactly is it you are trying to do?

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