Alternative Filofax Uses

Hello everybody, welcome to my first post as a Philofaxy blogger! Long time commenter, first time blogger. I’m going to be offline for a couple of weeks and wanted to be sure to post before I leave for my vacation in glorious Scotland!

Speaking of Scotland, last December before my holiday trip to the Highlands I posted about my conversion of my retired Personal Buckingham into my self-made Scotland Guidebook. You can read some details about that on the Free For All Friday for December 5, 2008, here.

To update: I spent the holidays in Scotland and also in March I took a trip to London for the first time, and am happy to report that my Filofax UK Guidebook (to include London) is great. I have tabbed sections for all the regions of Scotland as well as the cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and now London. I have maps, sections for notes, lists (places yet to see, websites about Scotland, books to read about the area and history, etc.)

One of my most useful sections is a record of trips I have taken. I write the details of my upcoming trip on the first page behind the tab: Flight details, where I am staying and how much it costs, reservation numbers, rental car details, and the current exchange rate. When I am on my trip and checking in at the desk of the airline/ rental car/ hotel, I have all of my reservation info right there, including the dates of when I paid online or over the phone, and all of my reservation numbers. This is obviously very useful while I am on the trip, but it also makes a great record for future reference. When I take another trip, I add the new info page on top of the old one, so this section contains a reverse-chronological record of every place I stayed, how much it cost, and what the exchange rate was during that trip.

In my regional tabbed sections I write places I visited, how to get there, restaurants that I would like to eat at again, things I did not do but want to do in future trips, etc. The accumulation of information in each section is very useful on subsequent trips, and a wonderful record of past trips as well.

My Filofax UK Guidebook was inspired by the Moleskine city books, which are fill-in-yourself guidebooks for various cities around the world. They have maps and tabbed sections for restaurants, accommodation, sites, etc. But the classic problem with Moles is, what do you do if a section fills up? This is where a Filo excels. The flexibility of the refillable binder, tabbed dividers, and even different colors of refill paper make classification easy. And you never have to worry about a section filling up. I think it would be fun to make a guidebook for the city where you live, to record things to do, restaurants you have enjoyed, delivery numbers, museums, or other attractions in your area. This would be especially useful for guests to borrow when they come to visit.

Using Filofaxes as DIY guidebooks makes me think of other possible uses for Filos. Another use for a Filofax which I haven’t tried myself but sounds like a good idea is as a wine journal. Again, this is where a Filo would be perfect, because you could classify your wines any way you want. There could be tabbed sections for classifications such as Red/ White/ Rose/ Sparkling, or by type such as Merlot, Cabernet, etc. or even by place such as French, Californian, Chilean etc. Then you could subdivide your tabbed sections using the different colors of paper. For example in the French section you could use a different paper color for areas like Bordeaux, Alsace, etc.

This is just an example to illustrate the ways a Filofax can be used. The combination of the refillable binder, tabbed dividers, various colors of paper, forms, accessories, and even computer software result in infinite possible uses for this system. Do you use your Filofax(es) in ways beyond the usual planner/ address book? Tell us about it!

Hope you all have a good two weeks and I will post again when I get back!