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09 February 2011

Filofax Organisers, how many do you own?

It is always an awkward question to ask. There is always a pause whilst the person is either thinking up an excuse for why they have so many, or they are doing a mental recalculation in their head to reach an accurate number, or they might be thinking 'do I admit to that many, and do I count the three that are on order....'

It is always difficult. It is a bit like asking a woman how old she is... it's just not the thing you should be asking really....

So with a flash of inspiration from Caribbean Princess this morning we have devised a new unit of quantity that has been scientifically researched and developed. This unit will be known as the 'Philofaxy' It is a new standard unit of measurement for how many Filofax Organisers you own.

It takes in to account what size your Filofax organisers are and therefore adjusts the number you own proportionally. So if your collection is predominantly small ones, then they are quite low value, so in terms of Philofaxy's you don't have as many as you thought you had....confused?

It you take the page area as the unit size of your Filofax then taking an A4 as being one Philofaxy, an A5 is half a Philofaxy, a Personal is equal to a little over a quarter of a Philofaxy, a Pocket is about a sixth of a Philofaxy and a Mini just under an eighth of a Philofaxy.

So if you have 8 Mini Filofax Organisers, you only have One Philofaxy. So say in my case I have 1 A4, 1 A5, 3 Personals, 2 Pockets and 1 Mini which is 8 Filofax Organisers in the traditional measurement terms... but only 2.7 Philofaxy's, OK I will be generous and round it up to 3 Philofaxy's, but you have to admit 3 sounds better than 8????

Now to make it easier for you to calculate the number of Philofaxy's you currently own, I've created a simple speadsheet. All you have to do is put in the numbers of each size of Filofax Organisers you own (best do this when no one is looking over your shoulder!) and the spreadsheet will recalculate this in terms of Philofaxy's that you now own, this is your new 'public' figure of how many you admit to owning...

Hold your head high and be proud!!! No it's not April 1st!!!

[Update: I've now added Slimline and Deskfax sizes. For the Slimline I've adjusted the value calculated by the fraction 15/23 which is the ratio ring size for most Slimline/Personal binders!]


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48 comments:

  1. Robin09 February, 2011 01:02

    This is surely presumptuous, but I think each unit should be dubbed a *Philo* because each organizer is a little piece of love.

    C'mon - sometimes you've just got to get your cupid on! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Unknown09 February, 2011 01:10

    I am fairly premature when it comes to the Filofax. Although I've had one for years...I haven't started expanding my collection until just recently when I got sick of my horrible yearly diaries I'd started using, and went back to an old faithful Filofax.

    So believe it or not, I only have 1.833 Philofaxy (1xA4, 2xPersonal, 2xPocket).

    Sigh, if only I could up it over 2 Philofaxy when I one day find a good deal on a Pocket Ivory Deco!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Femke09 February, 2011 02:07

    I have 1.5 Philofaxy (four personal, 1 A5).

    Love this!

    ReplyDelete
  4. caribbean princess09 February, 2011 03:03

    I have 3.5 philofaxys!! Now I need to convince my husband of that. Haha!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alison Reeves09 February, 2011 03:50

    I have 2.937 Filofaxes!

    (1xA4, 2xA5, 3xPersonal, 1xPocket).

    So far ...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Steve Morton09 February, 2011 04:01

    I agree with your abbreviation Robin, as with all units of measurement there is an accepted abbreviation for it and 'Philo' seems appropriate in this case.

    I was wondering this morning, if the US and Canada needed a different measurement scheme of 'Philos' due to the A4 not being sold there. Their unit would be based on the A5... A bit like US Gallons and Imperial Gallons...

    But then I thought no... we should have a World Wide Standard for the measurement of quantity and the Philo it is!

    I need a rest..... too much thinking!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Laurie09 February, 2011 04:01

    I love this very scientific measurement!

    3 A5s and 6 Personal sizes gives me a Philofaxy value of 3.063.

    But I'm wondering if approximate volume of blank inserts should be included in the value? I have a drawer full of blank insert pages (notes of various colors, extra page markers and envelopes, etc.) that represent a significant outlay of money. I think I should add a value of 0.5 on just for those!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous09 February, 2011 04:36

    I'm a looser..my number is only 0.521 :o) But beautiful pocket finchley is on the way. Then I`ll be 0.677.
    BTW...does slim counts as personal?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Steve Morton09 February, 2011 04:57

    Yes I decided that Slim counts as a personal, same area... although I'm open to suggestions that it might be considered as a fraction of personal in the 'revised issue of the standard, issue 1.0.1.2 or similar!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anita09 February, 2011 05:16

    I only have 0.634 Philofaxy (2x Personal & 1x Mini).
    Love it :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous09 February, 2011 06:34

    I have an economical 0.76 Philofaxies. However, as my A5 is broken (I dropped it and the mechanism was bent) and no longer easily usable, I feel I should be entitled to a discount from this figure. Should the spreadsheet calculator not be adjusted to take account of less-than-100% perfect Filofaxes?

    Sorry.....truly my pedantry knows no bounds!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Unknown09 February, 2011 08:01

    I'm currently at 1.521 philo's with another 1.029 philo's on the way!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Katie09 February, 2011 08:15

    I only have 5/12ths of a Philofaxy, so I think I'll just tell people I own one!

    ReplyDelete
  14. SNARLing:09 February, 2011 08:15

    heh heh. awesome.

    4 personal (incl 1 slim)
    +
    2 pocket (incl 1 slim)

    =

    1.354 for me:

    gonna try and make it a 2 this year (allowing myself at least 1 slim & 1 pocket ... no more than 3)

    ReplyDelete
  15. Unknown09 February, 2011 08:29

    Omg that has made me feel so much better about the ones i have

    I have 1.177 Philofaxy

    1 A5
    2 Personal(but one is a slim line so does it still count?)
    1 Pocket

    I want More :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. caribbean princess09 February, 2011 08:31

    Note that I am too embarrassed to give my actual counts! hahaha :-) 3.5 philofaxy is fine with me......

    ReplyDelete
  17. Jotje09 February, 2011 10:26

    Oh my! My issue is even more serious than I thought. I own 6.3 Filofaxes. Well, one is a slimline, so I'll round it off to 6. I do need a proper explanation for my DH why there's such a huge lineup in my cupboard ...

    ReplyDelete
  18. Anonymous09 February, 2011 10:38

    What is a 'Deskfax worth?

    I have one of those, not counting that, I am setting at 5.20 Philos.

    ReplyDelete
  19. shepcraig09 February, 2011 10:53

    I have an A5, a Personal, a pocket and a Mini, therefore I have 1.029 Philofaxy, However to be really really sad, I have on display in my shop, 153 organisers, meaning we display 43.263 Philofaxys, (not counting conf folders, bags or accesories. Do I work in heaven or what??

    ReplyDelete
  20. Jotje09 February, 2011 14:08

    Craig, you do!!! But you were already aware of that, weren't you? You just had to rub in it ....

    ReplyDelete
  21. WellPlannedLife09 February, 2011 14:10

    I'm at 3.634 Philofaxy (1 A5, 11 personal (including 2 slimlines), 1 pocket and 1 mini). Believe it or not, all but 3 of them are in use (most are storage binders)...

    ReplyDelete
  22. Steve Morton09 February, 2011 15:51

    I think we will set the Deskfax as being the same as an A4 for the purposes of assigning it a value. Can you send me an accurate measurement of the page size and I will include it.

    ReplyDelete
  23. shepcraig09 February, 2011 16:00

    Lol, Yeah I did know and wanted to rub it in. You are all free to come in and visit my little piece of heaven..

    ReplyDelete
  24. Jeff Abbott09 February, 2011 16:25

    I am impoverished by Philofaxy terms in that I only have .5 Philofaxy (I have just one A5). My count might go up if I ever figure out which one is supposed to make a good wallet+notebook.

    ReplyDelete
  25. bernhardS09 February, 2011 17:40

    1.542

    This is without my Finsbury A5 Folder which I snatched for 20 Euro and without my Chronoplan Midi which has Filo Personal format but is in comparison something like a heavyweight champ - maybe I should introduce this product here later as "The Big One".

    ReplyDelete
  26. Anonymous09 February, 2011 17:59

    So sad... I only have .26 Philofaxy. Hmmm, seeing it this way, I think that number needs to go up!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Nickie O'Hara09 February, 2011 18:14

    1.021

    ReplyDelete
  28. Strong Stiff Scotch...09 February, 2011 18:21

    I feel slightly guilty... I have a philofaxy of 12.831!!
    Thats 7 A5, 33 personals (!), 4 Pockets and 1 mini. Guilty, but rather proud!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Anonymous09 February, 2011 21:44

    I came in at just a hair over 5.
    Mostly personals.
    Only 2 A5's.
    All purchased used off of Ebay.

    For those binders in actual USE, the number drops to 1.5

    Now... the problem I have with this system is a Slimline is treated as being the same as a Personal. Just aint so...

    ReplyDelete
  30. Robin09 February, 2011 22:49

    OK, now I feel really bad for starting off the comments - all the while knowing I just have a lone pocket. Ah well, such temerity! :-)

    Steve - Muchas gracias! Love the site!

    Jeff - I'm experimenting with using my pocket Finsbury as a wallet. It's actually working out great because I don't carry too much with me in terms of cards or cash. It does fit a passport, though, so it's a good multitasker.

    CP - You've got me laughing again!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Jeff Abbott09 February, 2011 23:23

    Robin--please let us know how it goes with the pocket Finsbury as a wallet. I do need to carry some cash and cards, though.

    Scotch--You are the Personal Emperor. What do you do with 33 of them?

    ReplyDelete
  32. Iris10 February, 2011 07:51

    My name is Iris and I have 13 Filos (12x Personal, 1x Slimline), which equals 3.3865 Philofaxy. There - I said it!

    ReplyDelete
  33. Anonymous10 February, 2011 15:51

    HeHe - "But Honey, I only have 4.020 philos! Really! It's the absolute truth, Sweetie Pie!"

    This is what I will tell my DH the next time he asks ... of course, the game's up if he actually opens the cupboard holding my filofax organizers and Coach agendas ...!

    ~AspireToBe

    ReplyDelete
  34. Strong Stiff Scotch...10 February, 2011 19:06

    Jeff, check out my flickr photos of the collection- I'm in the filofax groups there as Strong_Scotch - I'm just an avid collector and filo-fan! (i also use them to store nearly 20 years worth of diaries!)

    ReplyDelete
  35. Steve Morton10 February, 2011 22:14

    Deskfax and Slimline now added in, see note at the end of the post. Therefore my own count has now reduced to 2.6 having changed one of my personal binders to slimline.

    Well you need to calculate it accurately!!

    ReplyDelete
  36. Amanda Fleet11 February, 2011 14:19

    At risk of upsetting everyone, isn't the first stage of admitting to an addiction, facing up to the facts and not downsizing it?? ("I drink 8 bottles of wine a day, but since the bottle is smaller than an oil tanker, that's actually only 1/1000th of a tanker-unit a day...")
    :-)

    Anyway, my Philofaxy number is 1.873 (3x A5; 1x personal; 1x mini), though I suppose I do have three more personals in a drawer not being used (making the total 2.655).

    ReplyDelete
  37. Steve Morton11 February, 2011 14:42

    Although you are not likely to die from a Filofax addiction.. unless the pile of boxes falls on you!

    May be I forgot to put the 'tongue in cheek' warning on the post ;-)

    Steve

    ReplyDelete
  38. Amanda Fleet11 February, 2011 14:45

    Oh, my tongue was firmly in my cheek in my comment!!
    :-)

    Been ill and away from the site for a few days and it's been really great to catch up with it all again!

    ReplyDelete
  39. Steve Morton11 February, 2011 14:48

    Get well soon. As you can see it's been a fairly busy few days!

    And some interesting stuff to discuss in the next few weeks too.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Amanda Fleet11 February, 2011 14:52

    @Steve
    Thanks! Getting there slowly!

    Last time I had looked was Tuesday! Looked again today and wondered if I'd actually been confined to bed for a week!

    Great site - love it. Look forward to all the posts.

    ReplyDelete
  41. Alexandra27 May, 2011 16:00

    Im soon to have 1 philofaxy (just waiting for delivery!) Can I ask a question. Say if you have 6 personals or whatever do you change them according do your mood? i,e im in a tan leather mood today or a red mood or a black mood etc etc? or do you buy one...use it..it gets worn..you buy another one and start using that instead but you keep hold of all your old ones? im just asking so i can use this as evidence when i try to convince the OH I need more than one because everyone else does!! ha x

    ReplyDelete
  42. Steve Morton27 May, 2011 17:01

    Sounds like a good question to pose on Free for All Tuesday... I'm not sure how many people are subscribed to the comments to be able to see them on earlier posts like myself.

    ReplyDelete
  43. Anonymous01 November, 2011 13:59

    ugh...that's math. i don't do math.
    i'll just happily own up to my seriously obsessive count of "over 50" non-math Filofaxes (or, however we ended up agreeing to denote Filofax in plural).

    @alexandra: i often switch in & out of binders for mood or fashion. like shoes or handbags. you have more than one pair of shoes right?! do you have more than one handbag? then there is your justification for having more than one!!

    ReplyDelete
  44. Cheryl20 May, 2013 16:27

    4.972 That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

    ReplyDelete
  45. acupofrosetea07 August, 2016 18:46

    1.8 sounds so much better than 7! (1xA5, 3xPersonal, 1xCompact and 2xPocket).

    ReplyDelete
  46. Unknown07 August, 2016 20:06

    14.746 I have been thinking about having a clear out, I think this confirms I ought to. Love this idea though.

    ReplyDelete
  47. Josephwellhausen10 August, 2016 08:22

    I own at least 10 of them filofaxes

    ReplyDelete
  48. Carol12 June, 2018 17:20

    So I have 6.295 philos. That doesn't sound so bad. :)

    I like this too much. :)

    ReplyDelete