29 August 2014

Free For All Friday No. 302

This week I was pushed in to action with regards to ring fencing some dates in 2015. I thought it is about time I got my inserts printed for next year. I have the paper, Filofax Cotton Cream for my personal size inserts and some Clairefontaine 80gsm A5 paper for my main A5 desk planner.

This year though I will be looking to update my other A5 inserts, and reprint my address book section too, it is looking a bit untidy with numerous changes in it.

So have you decided what formats you are using yet in 2015?

But as it is Friday, please feel free to discuss anything Filofax or ring bound organiser related. Have a great weekend.

35 comments:

  1. If I had more patience and technological know-how/ability, I'd love to print out the Philofaxy year planner, Mo2P, and Wo2P. Probably for ease, I'll order the Filofax CC yearly planner, grid-style Mo2P, and CC Wo2P. Of course, I will need to contact Filofax and find out which colour ink they use, as I'm not sure I'm a big fan of the blue I've seen in some binders.

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  2. Hi Steve, hope all is well over there in France. I'm now in receipt of my FF Personal Wo2P lined diary for 2015, and my 2016 year planner. I already have a good few dates ring-fenced for various purposes through to November 2015 (December is always too difficult to predict to accommodate really log-distance planning), plus all of my London business trips outlined.

    Is the Clarefontaine 80gsm A5 super-smooth like the QV diary pages? If so, do you know if it's available in the UK? The Ryman offering is decently priced but poor quality, while the Conqueror I buy from the local stationers is superb, but much heavier.

    Finally, do you have a post somewhere on the site about how you use your main desk planner and your 'portable' together, in terms of syncing diaries etc? If not, I'd be really interested to hear from you about that - off-list oif you think it more appropriate.

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    1. Clairefontaine paper is generally recognised as utterly scrumptious, although I'll be honest and say it tends to be a bit too slithery for me; I prefer Rhodia, which is slightly less slithery and is made by the same company. Either is extremely good with fountain pens, although CF particularly being so slick can cause FP ink to take a while to dry.

      CF bound notepads are quite easy to come by in retail stores - I've found them in Bristol and London quite easily. What I normally do however is buy the 'R by Rhodia' A5 notepads which are staple bound at the top, which are microperforated. I do lose a bit of vertical page size that way, but I can live with it. I order them in bulk from Bureau Direct, who it appears also stock Clairefontaine loose leaf sheets - probably worth giving them a call as, even if something isn't a stock item, they can probably get hold of it. www.bureaudirect.co.uk - no affiliation, just a satisfied UK based customer.

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    2. Hi Paul

      I too am a fan of Bureau Direct, an use the Rhodia A5 pads myself, usually with a Pilot V-Pen, which is just about my optimal writing experience. I'll try BD for the Clarefontaine paper - thanks for the suggestion.

      I use a range of Rhodia pad sizes from A5 through A6 and down to the really tiny ones, which are a great carry-around and £1 each!

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    3. I buy these from BD too - great service and great paper!

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  3. Hi,I'm a long term lurker rather than a poster. I notice that FF no longer make a personal sized slimline organizer (11mm rings). Although I'm really interested in a flex-style folder that could accommodate true personal sized pages and a thin diary or note book. I use a WH Smith slimline WTV diary. Does anyone know if these exist anywhere?

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    1. Filofax UK have only just phased out the last Slimline binders and one may yet reappear on the "last chance" page. The Slimline Holborn has been listed off and on and was listed there in both black and brown until a couple of weeks ago at 40% off. It is the nearest to the Flex layout of pockets together with an oval (11-13mm) ring mech. I've been using mine with a homemade Midori- style closure that secures my iPhone 5 to the front cover without the organiser itself bulging. Good luck! Tim

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    2. Yes, very frustrating that the remaining slimlines have 13mm rings; 11 is not much smaller but the difference in overall size is significant. An 11mm slimline can slip into a jacket breast pocket. 13mm often cannot. I've not tried a flex.

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    3. Have you tried the European Filofax sites? Filofax.fr has slimline Guildford and Metropol binders which both have 11mm rings. Might be worth looking through some of the other sites too?

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    4. Also if you can wait until near Christmas then TK Maxx will have loads of binders in then bound to be a slimline or two!

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    5. Thanks for these ideas everybody, you've given lots of possibilities to investigate.

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  4. Hi, I've been lurking here for a while, and thought I'd finally ask this. I've thinking about getting a Clipbook to fight my notebook problem: I need to carry with me a calendar, a scketchbook and a regular notebook for writing. Can the Clipbook hold that amount of pages? Id like to keep with me the whole year's worth of inserts, and at least 20 sheets each of scketching and notebook paper, and stick in some misc paper and other things, too.
    So has anyone tested the capacity?

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    1. Amy - if nobody else replies first, I'll test the capacity of mine when I'm back home later. The Clipbook will certainly take a fair few pages (about 15-18mm) but you have to allow for the covers in the 25mm rings. If you overload, the covers won't pull apart correctly to open the ting mechanism. If you're a WO2P person it'll be fine, but font think of a full year of day pages!

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    2. I reckon 90 pages or 80 plus a few dividers (which Clipbook isn't designed for) or a couple of card holders.

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  5. I'm strongly leaning towards moving back to Personal size for 2015. The A5 experiment has gone really well but I am growing tired of using a gigantic planner. I think I'll do ruled week on two pages but I might buy the DaVinci undated weeklies to get better paper and more capacity. I've not decided yet.

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    1. I've tried the undated weekly DV sheets (thank you Cloudberry), but I just can't get on with them. The theory is great, but there's something for me about the diary section which cries out for printed, dated sheets. Plus the DV weekly sheets have Monday to Thursday on the left hand side, Friday to Sunday on the right, whereas the 'normal' Wo2P I'm used to has Monday-Wednesday on the left and Thursday-Sunday on the right. It sounds like a small difference, but it throws me off every time.....

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    2. Yes, I also need more space on Monday-Friday than I need on Saturday and Sunday. Thanks for the feedback, David. I will probably just go with the ruled weekly from Filofax then. Their paper is also quite thin.

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  6. Sticking with my pocket for 2015; I'll order my Wo2P and my Mo2P soon. Last year I used the cotton cream, but my eyes seem to "process" the white pages better. I need to re-do a few pages and add some updates: passwords lists, info, project pages. The project pages are really just last actions, but some of them date back to September of last year.

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  7. Does anyone know where I can get the day on 2 pages three language personal size diary they have on the filofax France website in the UK please? It looks like the ideal set up for my daily pages and would love to find one for the remainder of 2014 to try out as well as ready for 2015 bit can't seem to find these in UK. As an academic I tend to work my new year from September and have my weekly diary sorted but not my daily pages.



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    1. Order direct from FF France....they ship to the UK and it only takes a few days. I don't know if you'll get the remainder of 2014 though.......

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  8. I am retired from work and have at last finished my art degree, so I no longer require a log for this, a journal for that, lists of my day schools, etc. that the family have to know about, lists of deadlines, on line sessions, essays, exam timetables....... The least I could get away with was three sets of organisers. Yesterday I turfed out all my desk drawers and was staggered at the amount of stuff I had accumulated and a lot of it was in triplicate!

    So out goes my lovely old leather portfolio, sort of quarto size and of unknown manufacture which lives in my bedroom desk and holds all the housekeeping papers, my very fat A5 Kendal Filofax which I keep in my sewing room for art and textiles and design work (needlessly fat because of triple thickness dividers I decorated with decoupage one wet afternoon) and my only portable organiser a Personal sized LEFAX which I carried about in my briefcase, now handbag.

    I ruthlessly culled all my papers and am hoping to squeeze the indispensable remainder into a lovely new A5 Gillio Mia Cara. I'm trying hard not to dwell on the expense of it, this has got to work, so any advice from those of you who run a completely streamline organiser which doesn't take an hour a day to maintain will be very very welcome.

    The Gillio comes with a full set of papers including a week on two pages diary (I may be pinched for room in that format) and I will have to complete the rest of this year with one of your Philofaxy diary formats. I think page a day will be most suitable for me as I'm trying to get into the habit of keeping a diary open and writing all important information down immediately in anticipation of senior moments which will undoubtedly come my way ere long. I think the minimal narrow ruled version seems favourite. Can anyone recommend a thin but strong paper to print it on that will take a fountain pen without bleeding through? I've been watching review videos of the Gillia organisers and the paper inserts look a lovely quality, but who makes that paper I wonder?

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    1. hi Kath, Davinci paper is definitely your best bet for thinness and strength, plus minimal bleed-through. Available only from www.jetpens.com, with attendant humungous shipping costs, so far as I know, but well worth it, especially if you've already spent so much on your Gillio.

      If you want to discuss streamlined set-ups drop me a quick line at davidcpopely (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll be happy to natter. It would probably help to know the ring size on the Gillio.

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    2. Kath has written the best Philofaxy comment I've read in a very, very long time. Should win a prize. Brilliant.

      Seriously, streamlined setups that don't take an hour a day to maintain sounds like a sort-of holy grail.

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    3. Thanks to you both David and Josh for all your help and kind words. It was a bit of a ramble but that's maybe because I'm not out of essay writing mode yet!

      The paper culling goes on - chunky dividers consigned to the bin along with redundant card pockets, print outs of 'useful' info which has never been looked at since!, etc., etc. I am left with indispensable stationery, pens, markers, etc., which will go in the popper pouch of the Gillia; a small quantity of A4 sheets such as paperwork to take along to upcoming appointments, entry forms for art exhibitions, etc., which will fit into the large back pocket and a small quantity of writing paper, envelopes and stamps for the vertical slip pockets of the outer folder. I now have a considerably smaller pile of A5 papers which will be filed into the sections of the Gillia organiser itself. I will need up to twelve dividers which will be rebranded as Inbox, Calendar, containing only year planners for birthdays and holidays, all other appointments will be on my phone; To Do; Shopping List, this may be relegated to a vertical FF Flex pad over the business card slots; Rough Book, a very important section; Home; Art and Textiles; Garden; Hens and Bees; Car; Books and Music and finally Reference. I may buy two pen loops for the organiser for when it is used separately.

      I have had an order acknowledgement for the Mia Cara from Gillia but no word on an expected delivery date yet. I will write again when I have put it all together satisfactorily.

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  9. Have been using 2pp/day in my overstuffed Franklin Covey Classic binder...thinking about 1p/day for 2015. In a thrift store I found a 2009 set of 1p/day pages which you can use next year as the days/dates match 2015.

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  10. Hi all, is it possible to get plain pocket dividers do you know?

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    1. The German FF site has some labeled ones, but I've not seen any plain ones. Unless you make them from card stock and get a 'tab punch' http://www.amazon.co.uk/s?ie=UTF8&index=blended&keywords=tab%20punch

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    2. I think I will have to resort to using A-Z dividers and printing labels to suit. I think making my own is not something I could do at this time. Thank you for the link Steve.

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    3. Another option is to look on ETSY, there are a lot of creative types on there that make Filofax dividers may be contact one of the sellers to see if they can make some plain ones for you.

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  11. I was just looking on etsy, wheni saw your reply Steve. Ty

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  12. My main personal planner will, once again be Qimmis week on one page with notes layout as it works perfectly for me, lots of to do's very little in the way of daily tasks so only appointments. 2015 I have gone for Peony rather than Skyline and i LOVE it.

    I now have a clipbook for work and have got the A5 time manager week to view pages in there which are already working amazingly well (i got the 2015 inserts, loved them, kept looking at them, and splurged on this years asmwell due to the fact i had nearly run out of clipbook inserts) If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

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  13. I already have DIY Fish Life Mapping inserts through June 2015. They're working really well so I'll probably just keep using them.

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  14. I will use a lined week on two pages insert next year. I have a 2015 Mo2P calendar but the paper is very thin. I don't prefer thick paper but it is too thin. A while ago I sketched designs for my own inserts but I have not done much on them since. I hope to have a finished calendar at some point. I have a clear Kate Spade ruler that is long like the Filofax one. I can turn to the page from the top or bottom of it. However it is pretty wide. I cut off about 1/4" and punched new holes with my Franklin Covey punch. It punched the holes cleanly but I would not recommend it. It sounded like my hole punch broke but it is okay

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    1. My Franklin Covey hole punch is broken. : (

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