Reader Under The Spotlight - Terri

I am a life-long stationery fiend, starting with those little locked diaries when I was a kid, usually written in green or red ink. I've always had a love of pens and notebooks and after finishing business college (the first time) I started in the work world with a leather bound diary. And so it began. I currently work from home; I have two contract jobs that I do. I love working from home. When I'm not working, I am servant to my two retired racing greyhounds, love knitting and cooking/baking. My "main" blog is here and my newly started Filo/stationery obsession blog is here. (Incidentally, I find it hilarious that my Filo blog gets 3X the traffic that my knit/greyhound blog does! Come see the greyhounds!)

1. When did you buy your first Filofax and what was it?

My first actual Filofax is my beautiful crimson Malden personal. I bought it the beginning of May this year. (And how have I lived this long without it?!) I had been experiencing "planner angst" for years. After haunting Plannerisms, I found Philofaxy and seeing all the beautiful Filos made me long to go back to a ringed binder system. I looked at many of the personal sized FFs on flickr and here on Philofaxy and was so enthralled with the Malden, I just had to have it.

2. What other brands have you used or considered using?

I have always had some sort of paper based/analog planner book - I have used DayTimer, Franklin Covey, DayRunner for ringed format, and Moleskine (always have a soft spot for Moleskine), Staples brand, Brownline/Blueline for bound book format. I have tried a few different formats for my work planner needs and that is still evolving, but for my personal needs, I am in love with Filo. In March when I decided to try a ringed format again, I bought a cheapie DayTimer binder in the personal size and figured after a few weeks that the format would work for me, so I bought my beloved Filo Malden.

3. Out of the organisers you own which is your current favourite (Style and Size)?

Well, as I may have alluded, I LOVE my crimson Malden personal. The personal size is working so well for me right now. I may consider an A5, but it would be for some as-yet-undetermined purpose so that I wouldn't be lugging it around. My bag is ridiculously heavy enough!

4. How many Filofax organisers do you own?

Aside from my (beloved) Malden, I am currently waiting for a Finsbury pocket to come in the mail. I found it on eBay. I plan to use it as a notebook for my purse/bag for those quick errands/grocery trips where I wouldn't always bring my Malden.

5. What do you use your Filofax for?

I have mine stuffed full! The first half of it is calendar/diary pages (along with tabbed monthly calendars). Since I got it in May, I've been trying different diary page formats. I think the two-days-per-page will be the winner for me. The rest of it is divided by tabs according to subject. I did a post on my blog about what I've got crammed in between the covers.

6. What was the feature about Filofax you like most?

Probably the flexibility. No, wait - its gorgeous good looks. No, wait ... its adaptability. Awww, everything! My main (ongoing) problem with bound-book format planners and notebooks was that my random notes and information was in there all willy-nilly. If I was looking for some particular piece of information, I had to rely on memory for a range of dates to start looking for the info. Very aggravating. I love that I can make the Filo do what I want, and can change it up as my needs fluctuate.

7. If you could design your own Filofax what would it feature?

I love the Malden (maybe I mentioned that before?) but I would have liked it to have another pen loop, and for the pen loops to be just a tiny bit wider to accommodate all my favourite pens. (The cheapie DT binder I was using before I got Malden had two pen loops and I quite liked that.) And maybe slightly bigger rings in the personal size as I like to cram a lot of pages in mine.

8. How do you carry your Filofax?

When I'm working (home office!) it's open on the desk next to me. When I'm not working, it's open on the end table next to my LazyBoy. If I'm away from the house, it's in my big Roots tote bag that I call a "purse".

9. Which Filofax in the current range do you like the most? Are you going to buy it?

Oh, how I love my Malden (I know, I know - get a room!). I love the looks of the zip Cuban, but couldn't deal with the non-flatability of it. Yes, I made up that word. I looked at the non-zip Cuban but thought the rings too small. But I just now looked at the UK page and I see they're the same diameter as the Malden's. Uh oh. :-)

10. What is the most you have ever spent on a Filofax? Which model?

So far my Malden personal, which was $99 US (a little less once converted to CDN). I would spend more, but would probably draw the line at the personal Finchley ($125).

11. Turning to Philofaxy, what do you like the most?

Oh, just everything! I love the sense of community and the exchange of such great ideas. I love seeing how others use their Filos and I really like seeing photos of everyone's jam-packed binders and scribbled pages. There is so much information in both the posts and the comments, I love to browse through it all the time.

12. And what do you not like about Philofaxy?

Why?! WHY would you ask me this?!

13. What was the last music album CD you bought or downloaded?

I haven't bought any music for years. We have satellite radio in my van and our car and it's always tuned to The 40s on 4 (big band and swing). I did, however, just buy a CD by The Boxer Rebellion called "The Cold Still". I heard one of the songs on an episode of NCIS and it reminded me a lot of Cold Play. I hunted down the name and bought the cd. I've never had much luck in downloading music for my MP3 player, so I don't bother with that.

Thank you Terri for agreeing to go under the spotlight.