18 July 2025

Free For All Friday - No. 871 by Anita

When I purchased my first Filofax back in 2009, I didn't know much about binders. I had come across Philofaxy, but didn't start to really read much until some time later. After a bit of looking around, I managed to find a cherry personal Classic for the great price of around £40 and starting to use it. Sadly after about 10 months of gentle use, I returned it to Filofax as it started to have the bubbling/cracking on the spine that some of the Classics seem to have. It was actually a blessing in disguise as Filofax agreed to replace it with a crimson Malden instead, which I realised was a model I much preferred. If I was buying my first Filofax now, I'm pretty sure that I'd get either a Kensington or a Winchester.

Would you still purchase the same first binder if you were just starting out now?

And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related. I hope that you have a great weekend.  

17 July 2025

Guest Post - Going to Personal from A5 - Zsu - Part 2

Continuing this excellent by Zsu, you can catch up with part 1 here

Back to Personal

It was not an easy decision, but a decision had to be made: I could no longer carry my planner, no matter how much I loved it. I had doubts about the smaller size, and I wasn’t sure I could do it again. And so I went back to my old Personal Size inserts, to remember from my own handwriting, how I could fit my days in that size. I leafed through the old pages and old notes to gather courage. Thankfully, I also had the help and guidance of my friends at the Philofaxy group, who helped me decide on the best planner. I wanted something in leather so it would last and grow old gracefully, and something zipped, so I could make sure I would not chunk it up beyond reason. (Hey, you can dream, right?)


The size shock this time wasn’t so bad, because I did had all those old inserts to remind me what was it like then. I did a lot of the moving of data through resizing and printing inserts and information on smaller formats, and then gave myself the chance to work with the known inserts, the ones that came in the planner, to reacquaint myself with the size. The old inserts gave me a guide to find my footing, and I enjoyed being able to use smaller bags as well. And my old crone back was really happy with the new size!

It helped that I went back to erasable pens, but also that I went with thinner-line pens, (from 0.7 mm to 0.5 mm and 0.38 mm), but also switched from M nib fountainpens to F and EF nib ones. This simple change helped me shrink my handwriting and still write “readably” – for my standard.

Once I was set, I noted some of the “problem areas” I was finding in the new size, like the lack of space for notes in my weeklies. I went to social media to investigate possible inserts and printed out several mockups to try out, tweaking them each time until I found the one that suited me better. And I must admit, it wasn’t the one I was expecting. It was by trying out and experimenting on printed out test inserts that I found the one that worked for me in Personal size: the Plotter weekly.

This is my third year back in Personal size, and it feels like I have been in it forever. Admittedly, I’m not one to change planners constantly, and once I’m in a size, I want to stay in it forever. It gives me a sense of certainly to know where to find things in a page, how to fit the planner in a bag and what I have where. Life has many surprises and uncertain things, and I don’t need my planner to be also a source of unexpected.

Closing Thoughts

Changing sizes, or even picking a size, is a personal decision. Maybe some of us are more flexible to move from one size to another, and can fit our plans in different types of inserts and sections. Some of us find it more difficult. The way to find out, however, is to try it out. But you don’t need to spend upwards of $100 or 100 € or £100 to see if a smaller size would work for you. Instead, look for old inserts, or a sample pack or just print out a couple of pages in the size you want to try out, punch them for the rings and give it a couple of weeks. Copy in them your busiest weeks, look at them, see how you feel with the size, try different pens and writing tools, and if it feels like something you can do, that it can work for you, splurge on the planner, and give it a try for real.

And if it doesn’t work for you, well, you gave it a try.


My eldest nephew is already at the university, and he loves pizza. One day I went to pick him up, and on the way home we stopped by a pizza place. He can eat a huge pizza all by himself but not me. And usually the pizzas I like, he doesn’t like. So we were at this pizza place and I wasn’t too hungry, so I asked if they had personal size pizzas. They had not, only one size (big). And then, the boy at the counter said something funny:

“Any pizza is a personal pizza, if you believe enough in yourself.”

Well, the same goes for the planners: “Any planner can be the right size of planner for you, if you believe enough in yourself”.

I did not get that pizza, not because I don’t believe enough in myself, but because I know myself. With the planners, yes, there may be a bad back, or weaker eyesight that might condition the planner size you can get, but maybe, really, you can find your way and be happy in any size you feel like trying out. 


Again thank you to Zsu for her detailed description of her move to personal, it gives me confidence that my similar move next year will not fail in week 1 of 2026!

16 July 2025

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 16 July 2025

I hope you have had a good weekend.

Now it is time to enjoy a great collection of videos from around the internet.

Here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.
  1. MeePlus Slimpad | Minimal Design, Maximum Versatility - MeePlus
  2. Episode 5: Vision - Franklin Planner
  3. Unboxing a MeePlus planner - Lethbridge Paper
  4. Favoritos de Medio Año - Planes y Diarios
  5. Struggling to Finish Tasks? Try Time-Based Productivity - Carl Pullein
  6. A6 rings flip. Van Der Spek - Planner fun and inspiration with Melissa
  7. Mee Plus Pueblo leather | Personal size - Hitchand Hitched
  8. This week's releases & restocks (week of July 14, 2025) - Gillio Firenze
  9. Franklin Planner New York Minute - Franklin Planner
  10. 6 sections in my planner that keep my life together. I’d love to know what yours are! - Buy Sell Plan Inc.
  11. Let's talk pens and planner inserts - Planner fun and inspiration with Melissa
  12. Planner Problems | DETAILED Flip Thru | Part One | Gillio Amica | FCC Compact Inserts - My Moxie Dreams
  13. Summer Setup & Shop Update - VDS, Moterm and Filofax Malden Comparison - Personal Ring Planner Flip - Sort Stuff Out
  14. Personal Rings July Plan With Me - Sam Plans
  15. Cloth and Paper Haul July 2025 - MyLifeReBranded
  16. Episode 5: Productivity Pyramid - Franklin Planner
  17. work planner setup for the second half of 2025 | personal rings, take a note - Katie Bassoon Studio
  18. July Theme Setup | Matte Brown Croco Amica | Fc Compact | 2025 Planner | Chatty - My Moxie Dreams
  19. Plan With Me || Franklin Classic Alivia Binder || July 14 - 20th, 2025 - Sandra Dahl
  20. Episode 5: Urgent vs Important - Franklin Planner
  21. Time Blocking Isn’t Enough: Here’s What Actually Works - Carl Pullein
  22. Planner Problems | DETAILED Flip Thru | Part Two | Gillio Amica | FCC Compact Inserts - My Moxie Dreams
  23. How I Recap my Week and Set New Goals for the Next | Real Time Plan With Me - Buy Sell Plan Inc.
  24. Episode 5: Purpose - Franklin Planner
  25. Setting up a Large Cloth & Paper Folio with A5 Rings - MyLifeReBranded
  26. Why I Love this Vintage Filofax - Flatability
  27. The thing they don’t tell you about planner peace….  - Beverly Plans
  28. Unboxing Filofax Mini Malden / ITA (sub FR) - verytina
  29. filofax malden personal | reveal & plans - Nicole Marie
  30. Configuration estivale et mise à jour de la boutique - Comparaison VDS, Moterm et Filofax Malden - Sort Stuff Out
  31. Planning next week in my filofax personal organizer; July 14-20 - Susan Pepper
  32. Going Back to Analog as a PhD Student | Filofax Pocket Graphite Unboxing - Mariam Plans
  33. Filofax Wochendeko KW 29 - allesaufpapier
  34. Flirter avec les bagues personnelles Filofax | Système quotidien - dollycreating
  35. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know. (steve at philofaxy dot com) Alternatively ensure your video contains 'Filofax' or 'Rings' in the title or description. 
  • Please leave a comment on any of the videos you enjoyed and mention you saw a link on Philofaxy. 
  • For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
  • Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
  • Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans
  • Follow Philofaxy on Reddit
  • Follow Philofaxy on Threads
  • Follow Philofaxy on BlueSky
Enjoy

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MeePlus

15 July 2025

Dates for your diary 19 & 20 July 2025

We are going to run some more 'Virtual Meet Ups'.

When? - Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July 2025 at the following time:
  • Los Angeles 8:00 am, 
  • Denver 9:00 am
  • Dallas 10:00 am, 
  • New York 11:00am, 
  • London 4:00 pm 
  • Paris 5:00 pm etc.  
Join in on both days if you wish. 

Do not worry if you aren't available at the start of the session each one lasts 1-2 hours, so pop up when you are available and say hello.

Where? - an on-line chat using Signal. with voice and video (if you wish). If you aren't already in our participants list you need to contact Philofaxy before you come on line on the day of the chat. You can do this at any time. Please try to ensure that your Signal user name is the same as your actual name this will greatly assist in us being able to add you to the group. 
 
Because of unwanted people we are no longer able to give out a join here link. 

What do I need? - just a micro-phone and some head phones(in ear phones work fine) and a free Signal account. Using headphones or earphone reduces 'echo' on the call. Video is optional, but a most of us will be on video as well.

Who - Serious organiser users only.  We are no longer able to allow just anyone to join these chats due to the disruption caused by fake profiles on previous chats. You also need to be known to us in some way or other before we will permit you to join the chat. 

If you need any assistance setting up Signal, please pop a comment in this post and I will try and help you get one line. Signal is free for computer to computer calls....

Hope to be chatting with you on Saturday 19 & Sunday 20 July 2025.



 

Free For All Tuesday - No. 754

What questions or discussion points have you got for us today?

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a more experienced user of organisers, we want to hear your thoughts, questions, opinions etc.

We are here to answer your questions.

Make today the one day you post a comment or post a question. If you are commenting as 'Anonymous', please include your name in the text of your comment. 

It is Tuesday after all, so fire away with any questions and comments.

If you are commenting below, please include your first name at the end of the comment. Thank you. 


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MeePlus