12 August 2011

Free For All Friday No 143

So the end of another week and the weekend is nearly here.

I would like to thank everyone who took part in our longest ever Skype chat last Sunday, which lasted over 4 hours. Not everyone was there for the whole four hours apart from me! But as usual it was very interesting and varied in the topics we discussed.I hope more a few more people can join in the next one in September..

As it is Friday feel free to discuss anything Filofax related.

28 comments:

  1. Trying again.. and read where the keys are on the keyboard may be a good start!

    I'm just downsizing from an A5 to a new Lilac Songbird album (beautiful me thinks!) and was wondering if anyone had any hints and tips.

    I started to transfer all my essentials over, then wondered if I was doing the right thing.. so put them all back in my A5.. now I'm wondering how to work it.

    Any ideas?

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  2. To everyone - if you are interested in using your Filofax to manage your work, business or life, please join us over on http://timeandtaskmanagers.proboards.com - we like to chat about various setups and how we can massage the various well known time manager type theories to fit our lives. Also which binders work well for who! David Popely kindly manages the forum for us, so come over and join us.

    @Timeless Expressions - can you just bring over the things you use regularly and just add things as and when you need it? This could show you which things you actually need and which can be archived a bit for more occasional use.

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  3. Random: I just discovered the Mead Flex notebook, which is similar to Circa/ Rollabind. I wonder if it will give the Filofax Flex trouble with branding copyrights in the US?

    http://www.mead.com/meadstore/mwv/product/Five-Star%26reg%3B-Flex-1%22-NoteBinder-Geometric-Floral/29148?catId=&prodId=29148

    BTW I am NOT promoting the Mead product in any way, I haven't seen it in person so can't comment on the product itself. I just stumbled across the website a couple of minutes ago and the Flex in the title rang the alarm!

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  4. Good luck with your forum. It's not that the subject isn't of interest to me, I just dislike forums these days. Been there done that....

    I would have preferred say a Facebook page/group which would be a little more open and less prone to problems.

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  5. @Steve - we will miss you... Not sure what problems you have had - I've only ever been a member of few forums and they have all been brilliant! Never had any problems - probably because they were very niche. For example I am a member of The Fountain Pen Forum. I just can't be doing with loads of emails in my inbox over the top of my normal ones and I find facebook a strange interface for chat - I seem to loose the context very easily as things aren't grouped very well. I like to be able to log into a forum when it suits me and check everything. Perhaps I am missing something! (or getting old ...)

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  6. @Steve @Alison Steve I know what you mean....Personally I prefer the immediacy of the Yahoo email list - only one place to check for everything incoming (and these days it's quite a lot)...but the forum was the majority's preferred format, or at least the majority who expressed a preference. I must confess I hadn't thought about a Facebook page, but I'm not a huge fan of Facebook.....

    Alison, hope you are safely back in the Midlands now and that the training went OK, the rigours of Travelodge notwithstanding!

    Have a great weekend, everyone! I'll be relaxing after being away last weekend, playing with my new camera (!), and maybe extending the chicken run :) Anyone else up to anything 'interesting'?.....

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  7. @ all of you who have down-sized to a pocket...
    ... how many sheets and dividers can you fit in there? And what did you leave out (if anything) in order to move from 23mm rings to 15mm or 19mm rings? Did the difference between 15mm and 19mm influence your choice of pocket?
    Thanks!

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  8. Philofaxy I love you, on days when im down, you make me happy, on days when i feel fed up you make me happy, when i have Filofax problems your there, if you sold things i would promote them to everyone in the world but you dont, instead you offer free amazing perfect advice and you will always be my favorite website, i just wanted to let you know how much of an impact on my life you have made! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

    Obviously it helps to have the amazing community and all the amazingly lovely people, and the friends i have made because of this website! I do not know what i would do without you all :-)

    THANK YOU xxxx

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  9. Amanda, I just downscaled from personal to pocket, both Malden ranges and I have everything I had in my personal in my pocket and it works fine. I think the Malden is 19mm rings. So it can be done!

    Good luck!

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  10. @Sharon
    Thanks! I currently have 19 dividers (including 13 A-Z) and 120 pages in my personal. It's already hard to put any new pages in near the start or end without all the other pages falling off the rings and I'm finding it hard to imagine being able to fit them all in a pocket. (Tbh though, it's taken me most of my life to cope with the smallness of the personal so a pocket could be pushing it anyway!).
    How many pages do people actually have in their pocket ff?
    Just curious...!

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  11. @Amanda Ref your 'how many pages' question.

    If it gives you some clues, I did this for a slimline Q11 of the FAQ page:

    How many pages can you fit in to a 11mm diameter ring Slimline? I tried this out myself, 100 pages will go in comfortably, 120 pages I would think is the limit, above that and the pages become difficult to turn. This was tried using diary insert pages, no dividers or other pages.

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  12. ATG - Apex range... what would you like to know? Not very popular compared to say the Domino range, but it's down to personal choice I guess.

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  13. @Amanda, I have 170 pages in my personal Malden, so I'm surprised you are struggling at your 120 pages, but I suppose I do only have 5 dividers. When I look at it side-on, I feel as though I want to put a lot more in it because it's relatively slim and I want it nicely stuffed, but I think I would really struggle with the rest of my diary in it!

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  14. @TPS
    It might well be the plastic wallet at the front and the credit card holder at the back that's adding to the fullness of it all! The A-Z dividers might be adding to it too.
    I'm just curious as although the concept of downsizing appeals, I'm not sure I can do it practically!
    Thanks for the info!

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  15. Hi all. First post as I'm fairly new to the world of filofax - and beginning to wonder how I got by without one, or two etc, for so long. I've got lots of useful info from this site so I'm hoping someone can help me to track down a5 punched pockets that will fit the rings on a filofax.

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    Replies
    1. Hi JT
      Did you ever find some A5 compatible punched pockets for A5 Filofax??
      This is exactly what I am looking for!

      Delete
  16. Hi JT
    Welcome to Philofaxy.

    Which country are you located in? That might help us with your question...

    Steve

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  17. Laurie: I've looked at the Mead Flex in the stores and it's not a disk binder, it has rings, but they are plastic and flexible.

    Overall build quality feels very cheap.

    I did invest in Rollabind/ARC (Staple's name for disk binders) and even bought the outrageously expensive full page punch. But as heavily as I use any notebook, the pages wear out on the punches much too quickly.

    Metal ring binders (Filos) are still first pick if you want your pages and information to last.

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  18. Hi all. I am interested to know if I am the only one who buys a lot of stuff for my Filofax and then decides that it doesn't work or my fantasy about how i was going to use it didnt materialize etc. Here are my examples: I used a personal for just under a year. I bought meeting note paper - used one sheet and the lines were too narrow. bought colored paper, then became really OCD that if I start using a color for something I will feel compelled to always use that color so i stuck to white/cream (2 packs unused). Bought different 2011 Diary insert. Bought zipper envelope (didnt like the zipper lumpiness). In fact pretty much the only thing I used fully was the WO2P (professional) and to-do pages.

    I then decided my whole set up was failing and went back to pocket (last week). its started off fine but I dont want to get complacent, nor do I want to head out and buy 15 different inserts that I will use one page of each.

    Does anyone else have this problem? I see on the flickr that sometimes people have a large mail order of filo inserts - am I the only one who needs to try it and actually see if it will work for me before buying 30 sheets!

    So the question is: what should I do with all this stuff now?

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  19. Ah yes - good point. I'm in Scotland. Been trawling the www but no sign so far of filofax-compatible pockets - am figuring they must be out there though.

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  20. @SSA - Philofaxy has a page called Adspot where we can all buy and sell Filofax related goods. Why don't you put together some of the stationey you don't want to use and sell it to someone who would be happy to use it? You could make up some bundles and list what is in each. I'm sure if you priced it reasonably you would have takers.

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  21. @SSA - I do the same!! Keep buying things to see if it'll work then deciding yay or nay. I really must find a cheaper, less perfectionist way or working!!

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  22. @Sharon:
    I went from Personal to Pocket a few months ago. I tended to keep the Personal binders relatively svelte, but the Pocket is small enough that I don't mind some extra girth. I currently have no dividers, about 170 note and calendar sheets, 9 tabbed month pages, 2 horizontal yearly planner pages, one top-opening PVC pocket, one CC holder, a world map, and a notepad (25 sheets) in the back. That should give you an idea of how much the 19mm rings will hold. When I use my binder with 15mm rings I have to cut down on the calendar and notes sheets by about 25% to keep things turning smoothly.

    @SSA
    ALL THE TIME. The only plus I've found is that there are far fewer options for the Pocket size. I have boxes (literally, boxes) of Personal-sized sheets and accessories I no longer need, many I never used. Perhaps I'll sell some of them here.

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  23. @SSA @Stirwise I'm the same as well - I also advise to keep your cast off stuff. I have box full of refills (of various sizes), indices (probably the most useful set of options to have out of them all) and general Filofax ephemera, and it enables me to reconfigure very quickly, in either A5 or Personal, which I really appreciate. Don't ditch the stuff, you may find you need it sooner than you think!

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  24. @JT Not sure what you mean by "punched pockets". I use the Time/System binders in the Business A5 size, which are supposedly hole-compatible with Filofax A5. I've equipped my binder with paper Expense Envelopes, transparent plastic open top plastic pockets for photos, and even a transparent plastic zip-lock pocket for storage, all with holes to fit the rings of the Business A5 binder. The main website is www.timesystem.com, or you can go directly to www.timesystem.co.uk
    Hope this helps.

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  25. How many cards does the credit card holder for the pocket hold? Not as in 'how many people can you fit in a telephone box' kind of way, but how many does it hold - one card to a slot? Is it double-sided the way the personal ones are?
    Thanks!

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  26. @ Amanda the pocket credit card holder holds 4 cards. 2 on each side. However the cards are stored vertically and so they over lap a bit in the middle making it a little bulky. Plus the top cards stick out the top by 5mm or so. Its not as streamlined as the personal one but it does the job.

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  27. On another note.. My Maldens arrived! I love love love the soft leather! I spent the whole afternoon making new tabs for my personal since they are all now visible ( I came from a zipped up filo)
    I also had to hide my pocket Malden away secretly since the husband didn't know I bought 2! :p

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