So today is a fairly significant day for me. It is my last day in the office. I'm now on leave until my wife Alison and I move to France in a couple of weeks time.
I packed my spare Filofax pages and inserts and my unused organisers in to a single box last night. It is very well labelled! I want to be able to find this box very soon after we arrive!!
I still have my A5, Slimline and Pocket to use between now and the move, so I will not be totally without my Filofax organisers, infact they are very much part of the planning of our move.
This is a big project and a major change in our lives so I've been using my A5 to keep all of my lists and notes together.
But as this is Friday... what have you been up to with your Filofax lately, do you have any big projects planned this year and how are you using your Filofax to plan them?
Steve, congratulations!!!! Have a great last day at work!!
ReplyDeleteI've made some big Filo changes recently. Since the introduction of my iPad to my organisational life, I've been using my trusty Zipped Finsbury (A5) as a project file for the project I'm working on. Has been working really well and have made a bunch of great new dividers from it.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I realised this week, that far from the iPad/ Filo combo making things easier and my bag lighter, I'm now travelling with the iPad, A5 Filo and A4 folder with all the print outs, music etc I need for meetings and presentations - madness! Still having to carry a laptop bag about, but just no laptop.
So yesterday I invested in an A4 Zipped Metropol portfolio - it's like a Zipped Metropol A4 Filo, but has extra pockets inside, a meeting pad at the back and 2 handles so you can carry it like a briefcase. It's great. So now, I just have my A4 Filo briefcase (which my iPad slots into nicely - and handbag. Finally - a way to have everything I need and be able to travel light!
Spending today transferring everything over to A4 pages...at least it's easy to have everything on A4 sized paper! Funny to thing I've moved up nearly the entire range in the 8 or 9 years I've been using Filofaxes - started with a mini and worked my way up gradually to an A4!
Laurie: It felt quite strange to be leaving today after 4.5 years there. I know I will adapt and get used to it. Mean time lots of packing to do!!
ReplyDeleteFrancesca: Interesting how you are using both together. So Filofax should be prepared for a surge in A4 folders.. I will do a post about what is on offer!
And from me... an article in the New York Times earlier this week: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/09/magazine/09FOB-medium-t.html
Congratulations Steve,
ReplyDeleteEnjoy France, and are there any French organisers particular to them?
Hope you'll still be posting as much because us fellow Filo fanatics need as much support & interaction as we can
Kind regards
Andy
I am currently trying to get my Filo into a position where it will work well for me. Currently it is not. I want my Filo to be my main source of information. Where I keep lists of books to read, wish list, home info, school info, movies I have got and wish to get, lists of books read and movies seen. I am unsure of how to sort my info. I am tempted to get 2 lots of A-Z tabs and put everything I want in alphabetical order. This idea really appeals, but I know that using 26 tabs takes up a lot of room that could be used for paper. I also like the idea of keeping like information together - like my authors list, books read and books to get list. Or my home information or info regarding my son including school info. I could even file my Goals under G, but I want a separate section for my budget and shopping lists. They don't feel right to be put in the A-Z section. Does anyone have any suggestions I might try? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSteve, what a great article!!
ReplyDeleteThanks Laurie, it was being retweeted quite widely the other day so I had to add it here...
ReplyDeleteOf course Andy I am going to continue to contribute here. Although obviously I'm going to be a little time constrained for the next couple of weeks or so as we get packed and the move happens.
As for French organisers. I've not as yet come across any... but you have set me a neat task to try and discover any and of course I will report back.
Filofax of course have their own .fr site and Filofax UK for deliver overseas so I will most probably pick and choose where I buy from. Although the French site does have some things not available here in UK... watch for a future post on this topic.
Thanks for all your good wishes.
Steve
Steve, Congratulations!!! Looking forward to reading a post from you on the French product line! This has been a very busy month for me with longer than usual hours at the office. The Christmas A5 has finally been getting a work out that it was intended for! On Tuesday, I leave for a 8-day business trip to Las Vegas that I have been making lists for and setting up as its own section in the filo. I've also purchased a large pocketbook that allows me to easily fit and carry on the plane both filos! The A5 will stay in my hotel room, while the pocket is with me constantly. Anways, have to run and start ironing and packing! See you all in a few weeks and Happy Mothers Day to all the moms out there!
ReplyDeleteSilver-Elixir - I read quite a bit so my "to-be-read" list and others are pages and pages long, too long for me to keep in my Filo. I keep various lists (movies to watch, books to read, tv shows to record, music to download, etc) on a spreadsheet on my computer because they are so long. Plus, I like to keep my lists alphabetized for easier reference - if I tried to do that in my Filo, I'd be constantly updating and rewriting, which would cost me tons and tons of time due to the length of the lists.
ReplyDeleteYou could also keep these types of lists in a separate Filo altogether. I know it doesn't solve the problem of keeping everything together, but then you also don't have to worry about your tabs taking up too much room.
Another idea is to make separate sections in one Filo (reading versus movies, where your reading section contains books to be read and books that you have read and authors you like, each heading on separate sheets of paper). But that could get overwhelming too, depending on how big your lists are.
Hope this helps - good luck!
Good luck with the move, Steve.
ReplyDeleteI've been reorganising my Personal Filo recently to help me with my writing... all sectioned off according to the different things I write and who I write for :)
Francesca, it is incredible how much information can be cramped onto a single personal size Filofax page. Just write small. Use an edding profi pen 1800. It is 0.1mm and it was designed for architects to write on plans.
ReplyDeleteMy personal size black bridle Filofax has only five sections "Tariqa, Notes, Diary, Projects, Lists and Addresses". Within each section I use different colors of paper for different projects. And I use different pen colors for different aspects of my life. Green: Tariqa, blue: Family, black: Education, red: Work. For this I use a Japanese Pilot Feed GP4 1.0 Pen. Cheap, durable and very useful.
@Silver_Elixier: It also depends on your current filofax size, or if you have more than one? My A5 stays at home. It has a tab labelled Ideas ("Lists" would have been another option), where reading-, movie- etc. lists go. If you have a pocket (or whatever) size that always travels with you, you can enter new ideas/list items on the fly, and transfer them in the "big book" later at home.
ReplyDeleteI have been thinking more about what to do regarding my Filofax and keeping all my lists and info that I want in it. I love the idea of having things alphabetized so that they are neatly organized, but I know that the 26 tabs I would need to have each letter available would take up heaps of room. I have thought of a few other options, like using a plain white Filo page with a sticker or stamped letter in the corner to define the sections. This way the pages wouldn't take up so much room, and could even be used to write on themselves. To further define these pages as 'dividers' I thought I could used coloured textas to colour the edge of the page to give them more definition.
ReplyDeleteKanalt, Thank you for your ideas. I understand what you mean about keeping your lists on the computer to keep the in alphabetical order, but I kind of really want them with me. My lists aren't huge, but I am trying to work out a page format where I can have one list, but use notations or a colour code to incorporate the info I would have used to make another list. For example I could have a list of books I have read, and I could highlight the author as one I want to read more of, instead of having a separate author list, if that makes sense.
Jotje,
I have a personal size Kendal Filofax. I have an A5 City one which isn't in use at the moment. I have a commonplace book that I have made that I keep a list of older books in, but I really want to try and keep everything in my Kendal, which is proving to be a challenge!
HP Fuchs: Still use a personal Filo as my 'Home file' from general house info that doesn't need to be carted around, but the A4 portfolio actually cuts down on the amount I have to lug around - the personal size would mean carrying the iPad, an A4 folio for meeting agendas, sheet music etc, AND the personal Filo. So in thia case, seems bigger is better!
ReplyDelete