So we have just gone past the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere, I expect the children will soon be breaking up for their long summer holidays.
So are you decided on your plans for a summer holiday yet? What part does your Filofax play in planning your holiday?
However, as it's also Friday you care of course free to discuss anything else that is Filofax related.
Kids in the US have already been out of school for a couple of weeks, those poor children in the UK still have until July yet!
ReplyDeleteWe are enjoying our "summer," it's summer weather all the time here so for us it's just a change in schedule. It's nice to have the kids at home but difficult to come up with fun things to do. Most of the expat kids are spending the summer in their home countries so there's not many playmates around.
I'm very curious to know how parents are using their Filofaxes to schedule summertime activities!
Hi Everyone. I don't have kids so don't have to plan for them. However I do have some lists for holidays in my filofax - things to take and things to remember to do before I go.
ReplyDeleteAlso we have recently bought a cheap and cheerful little touring caravan (for some weekends away and short breaks) I am now starting to create lists for that purpose also.
My big dilemma continues to be what to keep where. I have a 'household' A5 binder which I use for menu planning, shopping lists for food etc, flylady (a recent addition which I am playing with) etc. I plan to have a 'happiness/goals/me' binder aka Caribbean Princess. Now I have to decide if I have a work and personal binder or pull these two elements together. I'm leaning towards keeping these together as there is no way I am going to carry around more than one binder. I work from home so don't leave one 'at work'. My thinking is still a bit muddled around this.
@Alison - I completely understand your dilemma, it is hard to get across the problems of working from home. The down side is the feeling like you are 'on call' 24/7 so for me I have two separate binders, for sanity if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteI try and stick to my work days and not look at my work binder unless I am actually working. The Zip feature helps for me, once zipped up my work is finished for the day. I found if I have work items in my personal Filofax then my mind gets drawn back to work and I am not properly focused on family/personal time or properly focused on work either for that matter. The draw backs to working from home, you don't 'leave' the office/work for the day or weekend which is why I separated the two.
I too have been looking at the Flylady site I just wish they would simplify it, there is too much waffle to read through. I like easy 'to do' dot points not paragraph after paragraph to wade through. Would love to hear how yours is going.
I have also toyed with the happiness binder (need to justify some of my purchases ha, ha) but don't know where to start, any suggestions?
How are your silver dividers in you Swarovski pocket? Would love to see them.
@Saffy - I take your points on working from home - I have workaholic tendencies so perhaps I really need this through a bit more!
ReplyDeleteI so agree with the flylady thing - I really want a simple list as well! I've had to work away quite a but this week, so I have shelved this until next week.
I'm going to model my happiness binder on the one CB showed us - although mine won't be an aqua finsbury as I really have to use one I already have! I have downloaded the book into Kindle so the plan is the skim read the book to get a real feel for it, then I'll go back and cherry pick the bits I want to focus on. This is partly to make me concentrate on what I want out of life and stick to some goals - I tend to get bogged down with work and chores and forget to look at the long game.
My black and silver tabs are lovely - I'll see if I can do some pictures next week and link to them.
The first 3 weeks were half scheduled, half free time. With Scout day camp ending today, I now realize that I need to structure their summer in a similar fashion. Flylady has Camp Wanna Fly which is a kid-scaled version of "cleaning and routines are FUN." And necessary!
ReplyDeleteLists are my lifesaver in the summer. I create master lists on the computer to scale down and print for the A5 Domino. I have camping checklists by kid, menus, shopping lists, lists for mess kit, etc. We camp, and many don't, but lists for any length holiday help me to not recreate the same list over and over.
Multiple binders only work for me when I clearly label the contents within each. I separate work, grad school, and home things as one binder simply can't do it all for me. I tried that route, failed miserably, and gave up on Filofax for a short time.
Flylady printables are handy if the site is bogging you down. DIYplanner.com has some templates others have made with her ideas.
I had to rewrite my diary. I had a week to a view in pocket size but I filled up four weekends in a row with bits and pieces and then had no space! I invested in a page a day for 2011 it was a shame that I had to pay for half a year when I'm not going to be using those pages - at the same the 2011/2012 academic diary starts in August :(
ReplyDeleteHoliday wise it's now got space to write in the route and places to visit when my OH does Land's End to John OGroats in September
Today is the last day of school for kids in the Northeastern US. But that doesn't apply to me since I'm no longer in school nor do I have children. I do have a few projects planned for the summer and my Malden has been a great help in keeping everything organized and up-to-date. Now, if only his pages will remain blank and allow me some much-needed R&R. =)
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ReplyDeleteOoooh, I SO wish I could have and afford a holiday this year!! Does the odd strawberry Mivi ice lolly in the Park count I wonder????
ReplyDeleteRe:The Happiness Project.I have reached a decision to take one step and one resolution at a time before introducing the next. Was going to do a binder,but not sure I've got the time for new stuff....my happiness big time would rest right now in securing a job!!!!!!!!
My daughter is in a preschool that also runs a year-round daycare, so no true summer break for her, poor kid. But lots of mini-breaks scheduled for the summer. I'm still testing out my 2-Filofax system (an A5 Chameleon for the workweek and a Personal Piazza for the weekend, which only holds weekend dates/appointments as well as notes/lists/etc.) so I'll have to see if I can maintain the upkeep.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you also maintaining 2 or more binders in which you keep work and home separate, what do you do about personal appointments (like doctor appointments)that crop up during the wor week? Do you record that in your work binder so you don't forget, or do you keep both binders on view simultaneously?
No summer vacation for me this year, but that's because we're taking a vacation in the fall, to Korea. Mr. Stirwise has a couple of crunch times at work during the summer, and October is supposed to be a really lovely time of year to visit Korea. We'll be spending 16 days there, I'm so excited. My Filo is doing double-duty as both a trip planner and a language tool, while I try to acquire some elementary Korean to help us get by. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm based in the UK with a 5 year old, so it's our first proper "summer holiday" this year. (6 weeks is long enough!) I usually use a week to view (vertical columns) in mini size diary, but for holidays I add in extra diary pages. In particular I've added a 4 week summary page (big grid of weekdays) so i can just keep an idea of how the weeks are shaping up with child-based things, and see where I need to concentrate on adding more. As I put my extra page in (maybe more to come), I felt so glad I use a filofax and can add it in so simply!
ReplyDeleteNo summer vacay for us here. We have always gone in September/October when it's cooler and the pace is a little slower.
ReplyDeleteLast week I booked one part of our vacation and printed/punched and stored the confirmation into my FF in the appropriate month's space. Love it!
I see the new Osterley is up on the UK Filofax site. Has anyone seen it in real life?
ReplyDeleteI have a question on the "two days per page" Filo format. does anyone have this and can you tell me if the Saturday/Sunday spaces are the same size as the rest of the weekdays? Thx.
ReplyDeleteTerri the answer is yes, because Sunday shares a page with an equal-size space for Notes. (In my opinion I'd rather have the Notes space above Monday, but they didn't ask me did they? ;D)
ReplyDeleteSo the pages are set up thus:
Monday and Tuesday on left page
Wednesday and Thursday on right page
Friday and Saturday on left page
Sunday and Notes on right page
@Laurie: thanks! Enabling me yet again!! ;-) I'll get this all figured out some day! (Again I ran out of space for today and had to extend my Sunday with a Post-it.)
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