14 April 2015

Free For All Tuesday No. 219

26 comments:

  1. Quiet here today...
    Okay, I have a question: What DO people use the MO2P for? Surely all the information on them is repeated on WO2P (and/or DPP)? So why would I look at the MO2P? I can never get the granularity of these right and end up just marking birthdays and holidays, but that info is also on my WO2P (along with a lot more info that wouldn't fit on the MO2P) so I never look at the monthly pages.
    It doesn't greatly bother me - I work perfectly well off WO2P - but I am curious how others use them!
    Thanks!

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    1. The sun is shining ;)

      I use a month on one page, purely for planning blog posts and keeping track of blog related things. In A5 format which is the size I use, there is enough space in each daily box to put in quite a bit of information.

      Naturally I use the inserts from Philofaxy, so I also add in standard information for each week before I print it out.

      One of two items each month get duplicated on to my own Week View in the same organiser, but these tend to be me specific things I need to remember to do.

      I have today markers in my Week per View and Monthly sections so I can quickly flip between the two.

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    2. A month is a great length of time to get something fairly substantial achieved and for me is the ideal planning period. For example - trying to lose weight - some weeks may be great and other weeks not - however, a month is long enough to see results. Equally, if things don't go to plan, there's always next month to catch up! I plan a month of fitness activities (swimming, cycling, gym etc) and set out what I want to achieve. I use Ray Blake's Monthly Planner pages to decide my goals for the month and significant events I need to plan for. I then set aside time at the end of the month to review how things have gone, modify my goals and plan for the next month.

      Equally, a lot of things happen in the same month each year - birthdays, anniversaries, tax returns, car insurance etc. By using monthly views, these can all be properly planned for and made to happen when due! For me, monthly views give overview that weekly pages alone can't achieve.

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    3. I use monthly pages for advance planning. I don't have September's weekly pages in my planner, but I can book a party of fifteen on the 21st on the monthly page for September.

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    4. I also use the monthly inserts for forward planning. I use a compact so the number of daily sheets I can carry is very limited. I keep the current month of daily sheets and everything else is planned using the monthly sheets. When it comes time to add a new month, I do transfer the information from my monthly sheets to the daily sheets, but it's not a lot, only my appointments and events. All details are kept on the daily sheets.

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  2. I've got a question:
    Where in Europe can I get personal-sized paper for printing the personal templates from Ray and Steve on?
    I usually use the A4-templates and cut them to personal size but there are some files I'd like to use which are only personal-sized....
    Any ideas? Haven't found one shop so far, at least not in Germany.

    Thanks :)

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    1. Either make your own or order pre-punched from Filofax Germany 100 sheets for €6.50 http://www.filofax.de/white-plain-notepaper-value-pack.html

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    2. Ahhh thanks.. I was blind :-)

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  3. I like to see the month in one glance and draw a line for events on a particular week. I am using my month on one page diary and week on two pages insert that I designed. I do not have the month calendars for my pocket binder this year. I created the calendars but decided not to use them because of all the paper. Also I do not keep the entire year of my insert in my binder. The month calendars could be useful for writing notes and future items for the pages that are not in the binder.

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  5. Hi everyone at Philofaxy! I really need sage advice on how to not let my obsession over finding the perfect planner and perfect planner setup get in the way of my main mission which is to declutter my mind, reorganize and get stuff done? I find myself more often than not tinkering on my planner and trying so many different things that it is actually taking time away from getting stuff done! Also I have always been a planner but always find that executing it very difficult for me. I guess I would like planner advice but also more general advice on how to get stuff done.

    Any advice would really help :)
    Thank you so much!
    Tenzin

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    1. Hi! Firstly, I would say, is don't join the facebook planner groups! They are wonderful, but the members are enablers and will make your problem worse! Remember that this is a hobby, which is fun, so don't feel like you're being naughty by playing with your planner! But if it's taking over your time with tinkering, think about it like any other hobby- you should only do it after you have finished your work, housework, dinner etc- after that you can sit down and play! Start a list in your planner of things you want to change in it, so you can do them later, not now, but don't forget about them.
      I totally know what you're going through! It's ironic because a planner is supposed to make your life easier and help you save time, but this hobby is so much fun it takes up lots of time, especially if you join the facebook groups! Good luck :)

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    2. Hello Tenzin! I recommend reading this post, it's really good :) http://kentfromoz.blogspot.se/2015/03/stop-being-so-decoranal.html

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    3. Don't worry about perfection. I don't believe in it and even if you achieve perfection, likely circumstances will change and it will no longer be perfect!

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  6. Oh and also thank you guys at Philofaxy for supplying those Diary Inserts I love them and really helped soften the blow on planner expenses :D! Thank you so much!!!

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  7. I keep about 2 months of WO2P and the rest on MO2P (I find anything that advanced doesn't have too much detail). I use the WH Smiths MO2P as I find it's got plenty of room for notes.

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  8. Bit late, but interested to know how people are using their Mini or Compact binders?

    Quite surprised at myself being interested in these small binders now, as my recent struggle as noted in other recent posts has been about whether I could transition from A5 down to Personal size and survive using it as my planner....doing OK on that front after forcing myself to stick with it for a few weeks.....
    For some reason now the idea of having a pocketable planner is very intriguing to me either a my go to planner or a satellite to my Personal or A5 binders.....

    So, interested to hear your thoughts if I'm crazy or not to use a small planner for work purposes....

    Thanks!

    Mark

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    1. Mark,
      I have used a compact binder for a few years and prefer it over a regular personal size. It allows mw to pare down what I carry. The reason for the switch initially was because I was carrying inserts I didn't need with me just to fill out a personal binder. I do have other binders that house other information, though, and without that I couldn't use a compact. You can read more about what I carry in my compact in my latest blog post: http://wellplannedlife.blogspot.com/2015/04/cappuccino-my-first-van-der-spek.html

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    2. Beautiful binder, thanks for sharing.....but that's a slimmed down personal size, which as noted I'm using now.....

      Would like get input on reducing to even smaller size such as Pocket or Mini size binders.....

      Thanks,

      Mark

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    3. Oh sorry, I thought you were asking about compact binders in addition to pocket/mini. I'm afraid I can't help you with that. I could never get a pocket size to work for me, even though I like the size of it.

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    4. No worries.....and appreciate your input and sharing your lovely vdS binder.....I'm actually waiting for my vdS binder now.....should be done (hopefully...) by Friday or early next week at the latest....can't wait to see it.....

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    5. Oh, nice! Waiting is the worst! :)

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    6. You've got that right......it's been about 2 months since I first contacted vdS......but about 5 weeks since I placed order.....

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    7. Yeah, mine took just about a month to ship, then a little over a week to arrive. I knew they were backed up though so I tried my very best to be patient. (Not that it worked...)

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  9. Ok, I am posting my question a couple of days late as I didn't have my question on free for all Tuesday! my question is...How can I get my hands on the German month on two page ( or ein monat , zwei seiten) for A5 with tabs. I found it on the German filofax site but they don't ship to an American living in the UK! Me so sad, they are perfect! And short of trying to duplicate the format in Microsoft office, I want them so bad. Any suggestions on where I can look for this version from a place that will ship to England?

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  10. Ok, I am posting my question a couple of days late as I didn't have my question on free for all Tuesday! my question is...How can I get my hands on the German month on two page ( or ein monat , zwei seiten) for A5 with tabs. I found it on the German filofax site but they don't ship to an American living in the UK! Me so sad, they are perfect! And short of trying to duplicate the format in Microsoft office, I want them so bad. Any suggestions on where I can look for this version from a place that will ship to England?

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