30 April 2012

Video Web Finds for April 2012

Some Filofax videos from April.


























Enjoy
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29 April 2012

Filofax Address Book Software - New Version...

As you might recall I've been using this software for a little while now. I finally got to grips with it last year to keep my contacts pages up to date in my A5 Filofax.

At that point I didn't alter too many settings. However a few people have commented about how small the writing is on my contact pages and I have to admit it's not easy to read some days.  So I thought I would look in to the settings.

One thing I noticed straight away was my pages were set to 9 contacts per page, this would be ok on an A4 page, but on A5 I think 7 or even 6 per page would be better. So the software has the option of changing the number of contacts per page, but if I changed it from the default value, whilst it made the text bigger and the number of contacts 'on' the page changed, the excess sort of over flowed beyond the page, which was a bit odd.

I checked what version of the software I was using and it was version 4.762, I then emailed Filofax UK to see if there was an update or if they knew what the fix was for this problem.

I was pleasantly surprised to get a reply within a couple of days thanking me for reporting this issue. A new version is out which cures this problem and a few others.

To get the updated version of the software you just log in to your account on Filofax UK and click on the link to download the software again.  Make sure the software isn't running, then reinstall it. It will install the new version over the top of the old version. But it preserves your data files, I store these in Dropbox anyway now to make sure I have a back up.

Starting the new version and checking what version it was (Help, About) it is now up to version 4.802 and then checking to see what happened when I changed the number of contacts on the page. Bingo the issue has gone and I'm now able to reprint my contact pages a bit bigger!

Before I do though I want to run through them and make sure I have added in all the hand written ones out of my organisers.

Sadly Filofax are no longer able to support this software, you can download version 4.802 here
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Date For Your Filofax 6th May 2012







New York


London


Paris


Jakarta





We are going to run another conference round-table voice chat using Skype.

I'm sure we are gradually getting to know each other's voices, but I will make a point of going 'around the table' to get everyone to introduce themselves this time.

So...When, Where, What, Who and How?

When? - Sunday 6th May from 10am (US East Coast time), 3pm London time, 4 pm Paris time etc.  See the clocks at the top of this post to see roughly what time you should be on line.

Where? - an on-line chat using Skype.

What do I need? - just a micro-phone and some head phones(in ear phones work fine) and a free Skype account. Using headphones reduces 'echo' on the call.

Who - All of you... connect up with Philofaxy and we will attempt to get as many of us linked in to the audio conference as possible.

How -
  1. Connect to Philofaxy by firstly searching for Philofaxy in Skype, I will then add you as a contact.
  2. Then  'Start Chat',  I will then add you in to the chat room. 
  3. Then if you request it, I can add you to the audio conference as well. But if you just want to chat via keyboard that's fine. That way it's slightly less hectic for me! 
Come and join in the fun, even if you only pop in to say hello...

As with previous round-tables there will also be a parallel text chat room going at the same time as the voice conference.

If you need any assistance setting up Skype, please pop a comment in this post and I will try and help you get one line. Skype is free for computer to computer calls....

Here is my post on how to improve your Skype audio with headphones or a headset.

Hope to be chatting with you on Sunday 6th May 2012.
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28 April 2012

Web Finds - 28 April 2012

So another busy week for me and in the world of the Filofax blogs, and some new blogs we haven't featured before, so we can sneak up on those and say hello/bonjour... and boost their stats just a little!
The grand Filofax sale is still going on over here at Philofaxy, don't miss out on some great organisers. Please also scroll to the bottom of the page and look at the Wanted Ads too. 

Enjoy
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27 April 2012

Free For All Friday No. 180

For folks in the northern hemisphere, summer is just around the corner!

Those of us who are parents with kids in school are starting to realize how busy the next month or two will be. The end of the school year is always a flurry of performances, class parties and assessments, and fitting it all into our already-busy schedules can be a challenge.

These next couple of months will be very busy for me in another way too: in June we are moving back to Scotland, so my Filofax is working overtime with preparing for the move, sorting out logistics, and planning lots of fun things to do when we get there!

Are you using your Filofax to schedule your very busy May? Are you starting to make plans for this summer? Will you travel, head to the beach, work in your garden or just generally enjoy the long warm days?

And for the folks in the southern hemisphere, are you making your winter plans?

As always on Fridays, feel free to contribute any Filofax-related questions or comments.

Have a great weekend everyone!
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26 April 2012

How do you - Freelance?

I'm glomming onto Steve's excellent How do you use? series to ask the freelancers in our Philofaxy community, how do you use your Filofax to keep track of it all?

I'm on the verge of having multiple freelance opportunities (hooray for me!) and I want to be organized about it all right from the beginning.

I'm thinking of using my A5 Filofax this way: A tabbed section for each client with content ideas, notes and records of conversations; a month on two pages calendar to track blog posts and other deliverables (color coded for each client), and maybe a day per page diary to keep a record of what work I do each day, record billable hours, phone calls and other communications, etc. again color coded for each client.

But is this the best way to go about it? Do you freelancers out there do things a different way?

And I still haven't figured out how best to track billable hours, deliverables and especially invoices and payments separately for each client, to make sure I'm meeting my quotas and getting paid on time.

I would love any suggestions!
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25 April 2012

Free Print Your Own Diary Inserts for 2013

[Update: For the latest versions of all of these files please visit our Diary Inserts Page]

Ray and I have had our gang of little people diary makers busy in the office these last few weeks assembling the full set of 2013 inserts for your pleasure.

In this post we will list all of the formats available, please refer back to the original articles for the details on each format and also to the source files if you fancy coming up with a format of your own, or just a variation on one we already have done. Anything is possible!

We will not be laying off the little people just yet.... they will have a rest during the summer and we will put them back to work again in the New Year to get them to produce the 2014 inserts.... if there is the demand of course... we have no idea how many of you are using them.

Anyway if you have any suggestions for improvements or comments about how you are using these inserts we would love to hear from you and we will pass on the comments to the little people.

A4/A5 Format inserts for 2013
Personal on Personal Paper
Personal on A4 Paper
Pocket on A4 Paper
Please report any broken links to philofaxy at gmail dot com

Creative Commons License
This work by Philofaxy is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Please download, adapt, use, share, but don't charge or use commercially.
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24 April 2012

Free For All Tuesday No. 64

Once again we find ourselves on a Tuesday with those burning questions you all want to ask... so fire away...
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23 April 2012

New York City Philofaxy Meet-up

There are still spots available for the NYC meet up on Saturday, June 16.  
We will meet at Sam Flax (900 Third Ave. - between 54th & 55th) at 1:00 p.m.  After shopping, we will head to Le Pain Quotidien (937 Second Ave. - between 49th and 50th) for a late lunch/early dinner.  
If you are interested in attending, please contact Susan at kanalt17 [at] gmail [dot] com.

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Dodo Pad - Universal A4/USA Letter Size Acad Pad Review

[Full Disclosure: Dodo Pad have sent Philofaxy this sample to review free of charge, we did not pay for it. However we have not let this 'free gift' influence our review of their product.]

You might already be familiar with the Dodo Pad inserts and diaries, Laurie has reviewed them several times before. I will try not to repeat what has already been said about them.

This however is a new format of the Dodo Pad diary which is now available in a new 'Universal Size'. It's almost A4/US Letter Size, but not quite... it is in fact US Letter height (11 inches) but European A4 width (21cm), sort of a best of both worlds I suppose.
So inside it's like any other Dodo Pad, just bigger...

Each right hand page is a week per page, with a grid of five columns and the left hand facing page has room for notes etc. with a quote and artistic design like this:


The grid stays the same throughout, but each week is different; with different cartoons/quotes in different colours - all printed on high quality paper.

Here's a sample of a week filled in:


There are of course several ways of using the five columns; for instance use it for a family diary and have each person in a different column, great for Mums and Dads with kids that need to be at different places at different times etc. Or it works just as well for one person who wants to fill the columns with different times of the days or make task lists.

This particular sample (Acad-Pad) is for the academic year so it runs from August 2012 to the end of August 2013. There will also be a conventional January 2013 to December 2013 Dodo Pad in this new ‘Universal’ size that Lord Dodo tells me will be available in June.

In addition to the weekly sheets there are year planners included with monthly pages for this year and the following year and a timetable page.

As much as this product is a serious planning tool to help you remember important things to do and record things you have achieved, there is a definite fun element running through the whole design. To do's, planning, appointments etc don't have to be boring.

One of the things you will also notice is all those holes! 7 of them to be precise. Now, there's a bit of a story behind why it has so many holes, and it goes something like this.....

One evening Lord Dodo called me up on Skype and after the usual initial pleasantries we got in to discussing the A4 Filofax…

LD: Do you have one?

SM: Yes of course!

LD: Do you think that a Dodo Pad would work in that size?

SM: I guess so, there is no reason why not, more space in each box etc. 

Then came the crunch statement...

LD: We want to sell it in the States....

SM: You know that Filofax don't sell the A4 Filofax in the USA…

Silence...

LD: OK, so they can use an ordinary 2 ring or 4 ring binders instead....

SM: They don't sell those either... in the US... only 3 ring binders... but the spacing is different

LD: Ah ok.... what is the spacing...??

At which point I declared myself the 'Filofax Hole Spacing Standards Expert' a rather boring skill set as you can imagine. But in the world of stationery if the holes in your paper don't match the spacing between your rings then you have an incompatibility issue....

Anyway the long and the short of it is, that this special Universal format has two sets of holes, 4 holes for 2/4 European Rings (including A4 Filofax) and 3 holes for the US 3 ring binders. The compromise on paper size ensures it will fit either binder.

Here are some pictures to show how it fits in either variety of binder.



If you want to discover more about Dodo Pad products then visit their website to see the full range of planners and other fun products.

Thank you again to Lord Dodo for letting us see this new product.
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22 April 2012

GTD with your Filofax

I discovered these video's on You Tube created by Neil. Take a look I quite like his approach. Here is an introduction by Neil himself. 

I'm a fifty year old ex squaddie, living in the UK, enjoying life as a grandfather, and I've been a Filofax fan since the late eighties. And of course, I'm now a Philofaxy fan too.

I think my fascination with "getting things done" must have started when I was very young, because I distinctly remember cutting down a school exercise book to fit in my blazer pocket and writing out the timetable with my newly acquired fountain pen, in addition to games of "battleships", football league tables and my feelings of true love for our French exchange teacher. And since those early years I've been using some sort of paper based system almost on a continuous basis although, alas, "Mademoiselle Talbot" no longer appears on my "some day maybe" list. Anyway, here are some brief thoughts to accompany the videos of my simple GTD system, which I like to describe as "GTD Lite".

In my humble opinion, in order for a GTD system to work, it must be easy to understand, be able to cope with "projects" of varying size and not be so complex that I spend more time running my system than actually getting things done in the first place! It's so easy to fall off the GTD wagon, isn't it?

So, not withstanding the fact that using a Filofax is an undoubtedly tactile experience, my GTD set up is deliberately basic and designed keep the number distinct procedures (and that includes hand and foot movements), to an absolute minimum. And of course, lower cost (no expensive filing cabinets and dividers), improved portability (your whole "office" compact enough to fit into a rucksack) and reduced paper usage, may have some appeal too.

Briefly, my system encompasses:
  • Storing multiple documents together, referenced via a Filofax based master index, which also records things I have done and information I have obtained.
  • Using a separate filofax as both a diary and a binder for a series of simple, contextualised or project specific "to do" lists.
  • An A4 zipped Lyndhurst, for use as an in box.
  • A small Moleskine that fits inside my diary filofax, but can be removed and carried on Britain's mean streets where Filofaxes fear to tread.
Steve has featured my four main Filofax based videos here(3-6), but Philofaxy fans may be interested in a series of further videos that look at aspects of this fascinating subject (how to eliminate the ubiquitous "someday maybe" list, for example), which will appear regularly on my You Tube channel. I use the term "Filofax Filosophy" (note the spelling) in the title, followed by a sequential number, so it is easy to separate my Filofax videos from others on my channel.

Anyway, that's enough from me - thanks in advance if you watch my videos.

















Thank you Neil, look forward to future videos.
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21 April 2012

Web Finds - 21 April 2012

So once again we have been scouring the interwebs for those illusive posts about Filofax....
And coming soon... 2013 inserts from Ray and yours truly! Out next week....

Enjoy
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20 April 2012

Free For All Friday No. 179

Looking at a few posts and items on line this week there used to be quite an industry making and selling Filofax Add-Ons. Not just paper ones either.

What would you like as an add on for your Filofax if you could get it made these days?

But as it is Friday you are of course free to discuss anything Filofax related.
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19 April 2012

Reader Question - Filofax/Stationery 'Obsession'

A very interesting question from Sirpa-Kaarina in the last Free For All Friday...
A Filofax question: How do your hubbies / partners feel about your passion for Filofax organisers and stationery?
As Nan observed: 
Wow...this one could use a post of its own.
So here it is..... I can see people scurrying to change their user names before responding!!  Honest answers please...
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18 April 2012

Lord Dodo goes 'under the spot light'

It was a great pleasure to track down Lord Dodo this week and confront them with some questions.

1. How long has the DodoPad been around?

The original Dodo Pad desk diary first came out in 1966 and so, incredibly, it’s now been around for almost 50 years – quite an achievement in an increasingly digital age…although the interest in Filofax hasn’t waned in all those years so I guess I should not really be so surprised!

The Dodo Pad is the original family planner – so many ‘me-too’ copies have sprung up in its wake – but I think part of its charm (aside from the obvious humour, artistic design and planning space) is that it’s not ‘prescriptive’ or overtly ‘family’ focussed. So it works just as well for one person planning their life as it does for a family or even a group of up to five friends sharing a house.

2. When did you get involved with the company? 

I worked in advertising for many years and aged 40, at the end of 1995 at the time of the Saatchi & Saatchi break up, found myself redundant and coincidentally pregnant for the first time. I had a very financially attractive offer to join the new Saatchi agency which would have meant going back to very full time work with a tiny baby left in the arms of a nanny. My son was just three weeks old when a good friend asked me to give the then Dodo Pad designer/compiler half an hour’s worth of advice on how to save and market this diary that had been dropped by its publisher’s of 30 years. I’d been given a Dodo Pad way back, aged 13, and thought it would be more fun than going back into advertising and so I took a gamble and here I am 16 and a bit years later!

So Lord Dodo is really Lady Dodo......

3. In that time what changes have you seen with the products and with your customers? 

Goodness – massive changes in just about every way! When we started we had one “almost extinct” product – the original Dodo Pad desk diary. Its long heritage and very loyal base of customers who would go to enormous lengths to find a copy meant we started with something almost akin to a ‘club’. We are talking pre internet and there is a tale of two long standing customers virtually fighting in Harrods for the last copy one Christmas Eve!

We had to build our customer list from scratch as Harper Collins (the previous publisher) did not have any notion of what is now understood to be a the very heart of customer marketing – knowing your customers! Now we have almost 40,000 customers all over the world on our database, our diary products come in a wide variety of formats including three Filofax compatible versions and we’ve developed the brand into a series of quirky, fun organisers including ones for recipes, planning a wedding and caring for your precious pets amongst others.

Customers now have a wide choice of methods to choose from as to how they buy Dodo Pad products – from shops (high street and virtual), our own website (where we sell quite a few things not available elsewhere) and thankfully we still get people who call us on the phone. It is one of my greatest pleasures talking to our customers – we’re lucky I guess; we get few grumbles but it’s almost always better to speak to a customer and sort out an issue.

4. Do you have any really long standing customers?

We certainly do. From the original mail order list we compiled in 1996 of customers who had previously bought from Harper Collins, a good number of them had been buying the Dodo Pad for every one of its 30 years of existence. The Dodo Pad is quite addictive (thankfully!) and so once people start using it and like the layout and format they tend to stick with it. We hear people over and over again ‘I can’t live without my Dodo Pad’ or ‘I just can’t imagine being organised in any other way’. People tend to keep their Dodo Pads too – as archives of life and their family’s growth and milestones. All my son’s childhood ‘milestones’ were jotted down in our Dodo Pad as that was the handiest place to note them down. And we’re definitely not alone!

We are currently gathering up stories for our upcoming 50th anniversary from customers who’ve kept their copies over the years or have amusing tales to tell about their Dodo Pad. One of my favourites is from a customer who was being driven somewhere via the M25 and had to stop on the hard shoulder for a minor emergency. Her Dodo Pad must have fallen on the ground. She realised she’d lost it sometime later and tracked back to where she last remembered having it. The following day she stopped at the same place on the hard shoulder and amazingly, despite having tyre marks on the cover it was still there and inside, totally unharmed!


5. How do you promote the product which is really a fun but also serious product in the age of the electronic diary.

I used to say that the pen is mightier than the mouse… but these days you are as likely to use your finger on a touch pad or touch screen in your digital dealings.

Here’s a fact. Whilst you can carry your electronic diary around with you and put in reminders for appointments etc., it is almost impossible – due the small screen size – to get a feel for how the overall day or week looks. Compound that by x% if you are organising a family!

I think the iPhone and electronic diaries are great for setting ‘must do’ reminders (I use my iPhone for exactly that) but they operate on ‘tunnel vision’ rather than easily providing the broader peripheral view. And they need charged up batteries. Even worse, if you rely on a cloud based diary like Google, internet access.

It is pretty hard to ‘creatively’ personalise an electronic diary. The very nature of the Dodo Pad (and indeed Filofax organisers) is that you can do exactly that. Which is why I think bringing the Dodo Pad into the Filofax sphere has worked so well. Also, I am a closet Filofax fan of more years than I intend to admit here – put it this way, my first Personal Filofax literally fell apart about 10 years ago after many years of loving use. I still use a Personal size (Slimline Cross) as an extended wallet. I’ve had a Deskfax since the 1980’s and have just treated myself to a new A5 Raspberry coloured Chameleon in which I use the 2012 A5 Dodo Pad diary!

6. Have you ever considered a DodoPad app for say the iPad or iPhone. ?

WIP - or ‘Work in Progress’ if you’re not into acronyms. Yes, yes, yes – but we’ve spent quite a bit of time pinning down the right developer to work with. My view is that if we are going to make the sort of investment it’s going to require to make it work properly, stand up to the other calendar apps out there, be different and be ‘wanted’, we have to get the right development partner. So watch this space….

7. What is your best selling product?

The original Dodo Pad desk diary is the biggest seller and it has the most distribution – that is of course partially to do with its long time in the market place.

However the mid year Acad-Pad desk diary (which runs from August – September twelve months later) was launched in 2006 and it already sells almost 70% of the Dodo Pad desk format. Because it’s targeted to a different audience we seen almost no loss of sales as it grown.

Our Filofax diary refills (and we’ve no plans to produce anything other than diary refills) came out first in 2010 and the A5 size has gone from strength to strength. In response to demand from Personal Organiser users we introduced a Personal size in 2011 in both Dodo Pad and Acad-Pad date formats. It was a trickier size to make work as the hand designed nature of the Dodo Pad means you can only increase or decrease ‘in pro’ – which in English means in direct proportion. We ended up with tiny squares – not big enough to use. So this year (2012/13) the Acad-Pad took a break in the Personal size while we sorted out another way (with the fantastic help of some committed Filofax ‘hackers’ – you know who you are!) and I’m ‘dodelighted’ to report that the new bigger squared Dodo Pad will soon be on sale for 2013.

8. Tell us about 5 unusual facts we might already know about Dodo-Pad
  1. There are Dodo Pads in use in at least two royal residences in the UK (that we know of) and in over 77 countries (that we know of).
  2. After seven years of production, the Dodo Pad was not produced in 1973 due to its compiler’s belief that it had ‘had its day’ and was no longer of interest to its users. There was an outcry from the loyal fan base and its been produced every year ever since. There’s a little film on You Tube that charts every cover from 1966 to 2012 when it got its first real design makeover in 20 years.
  3. ‘Dodo Towers’ – that impressive stately home you see on the website is, in reality, a converted stable block on the top of a hill overlooking the Atlantic coast in Cornwall.
  4. The company has never borrowed money – preferring to grow organically, bringing out one or two new products each year in addition to the new editions/formats of the Dodo Pad and Acad-Pad.
  5. Our newest 7 hole UNIVERSAL diary refill now on sale in the Acad-Pad 2012/13 edition, will fit any A4 or USA 3 ring binder. We designed the paper at a special compatible size (you have no idea how tricky it is satisfying Pan-Atlantic requirements…but we try J) and had a special cutter tooled up that is quite unique.
  6. I am cheating here…a 6th fact you may or may not know…hidden on our website are 13 little ‘Easter Egg’ videos of Lord Dodo doing something unusual around the house…if you mouse over the relevant pixel, the video pops up to entertain you. Why they are known as Easter Eggs is explained here. Hint – mouse over the little dodos….
9. How many countries are DodoPad sold to.

Ah – I was ahead of you on that one…!! 77 (that we know of)

10. When you talk to people what is their first reaction when you tell them about DodoPad

It ranges from ‘What?’ (never heard of it) to “WOW! – so you’re Lord Dodo! I absolutely LOVE the Dodo Pad” or “I’ve had a Dodo Pad for as long as I can remember” or words to that effect….

And there is one thing that I am absolutely convinced of….only Filofax and Dodo Pad share the same kind of ‘love’ that their users invest in them. And for that reason, if for no other, they are perfect partners.


Thank you Lord Dodo for that detailed look behind the scenes... There will be a review of the new A4 Dodo Pad coming up on Philofaxy soon.
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17 April 2012

Free For All Tuesday No 63

Well it's Tuesday, time to ask those niggling questions that you have been looking for the answers to...those 'now where did I see xyz in A5 size' or any other Filofax related questions.
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16 April 2012

Filofax – The Ultimate Justification - Guest Post - Helen

Thank you to Helen for this Guest Post

I know our justifications for buying new binders, inserts, stickers, pens and other widgets to satisfy our stationary cravings know almost no limits, but in the spirit of community well being I would like to put forward the justification to end all justifications: Filofaxes, and associated purchases, are good for our health.

Yes, it is true. Google the health benefits of creativity and you will find articles on the positive effects creativity has on ageing, mental health and self esteem. As fantastic as all this is, what has it got to do with Filofax?

Over the Bank Holiday I was feeling a little frayed around the edges, and I spent a couple of happy hours designing some inserts for my Personal Amazona which had become a little neglected. Now I am not a natural artist, but I can set up a nice Word template and decorate it with clipart. I admit that this is not the cutting edge of modern artistic endeavour, but then it isn’t supposed to be. It allowed me to be creative, to relieve my stress and end up with something nice to look at in my binder when I am in the office. 

The Delightful Mr F had noticed my stress rating drop whenever I sat down to “optimise” my Filo, or update my Book-o-Fax with notes and pictures, and I wondered whether other Philofaxers had noticed the same.

Whether it is the fantastic diary inserts designed by Ray and Steve or my little experimentation with clipart, I think it is all positive. Go on, be a bit creative, it will make you feel better. Honest.


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15 April 2012

Notes Pages - Guest Post - Jane (Butanben)

Thank you to Jane for this post, it is a great example of taking one of our existing templates and adapting it to your own needs, we fully support this sort of thing. 

Whilst looking for colourful masking tapes to divide up my filofax notes pages, I was becoming increasingly frustrated at the cost of these, pretty though they are. The tapes also seemed to be quite thin.

Then I had a brainwave! Why didn't I use Steve's squared graph paper to design my own pretty page dividers, using my computer's paint and fill tool.

And hey presto! Some pretty note pages, with divided sections,and without the expense of masking tape, or indeed the worry of sticking it on in a straight enough line.

Here are just a few of my samples.



I am sure that you can think of many more and can be extremely inventive in your designs.

Those of you who sew patchwork quilts will be able to design some fabulous 'tape type' dividers I am sure.

The uses are endless too:
  • Work to dos and Home to dos, 
  • Shopping food and Shopping family, 
  • Travel out and Travel return,  
  • Books read and Books to read, 
  • @Computer and @Phone calls, and so on. 
Of course the pages can also be divided into 3 or 4 sections, using smaller strips, and some of you may wish to add horizontal strips to divide your notes up that way.

I  have used only the first page of Steve's Philofaxy A5 Graph Paper here- (see files section,) as the first page has a handy labelling box at the top.

Enjoy designing your own tape dividers! I hope this proves to be useful to some of my fellow Philofaxers.

Thank you Jane
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New to Philofaxy

Welcome to Philofaxy.

If you are new to the site or you have been here for a while, this post is a way to show you around so you get the most from the site.

As you might have seen there is a lot of information on here and you might have problems remembering where everything is, so we hope to be able to help you out with how to find things to get the most out of the site.

So looking at the Home page you are on now, below the banner you will see: Home, About, FAQ etc

Home: Takes you back to the start page from where ever you are on the site, clicking on the banner does the same.

About: How to contact us at Philofaxy and some background on the contributors.

FAQ: This is a good place to look for the simple often asked questions. We try to up date it from time to time to reflect the current topical questions.

Files: This the home for all our downloadable template files which you are welcome to customise to your own needs or just print them off as they are.

Links: Links to lots of blogs and other Filofax related sites. 

Suppliers: Looking for a Filofax or inserts or accessories, then this page is a good place to start.

Ad Spot: This is our readers advert page, you can place a wanted or for sale advert for your Filofax goods here free of charge. However, we do recommend donating to one of our favourite charities, but it's based on an honesty system, we don't check up on who has made donations and who hasn't.  This page is great because you are buying from people that do understand the Filofax range unlike some Ebay sellers...

All Stars: The Philofaxy All Stars... a group of readers who have done guest posts on each others blogs not all Filofax related, but a great read anyway.

Flickr: An overview to the Philofaxy Flickr group where you can share pictures of your Filofax and there is a small discussion group there too.

Searching Philofaxy -  With in excess of 1000 posts on Philofaxy spread over six years, finding exactly the information you want could be quite a task... however we do have some tools to help you:
  • Search - Pop a key word in to the search box in the sidebar and the search tool will find all of the posts with that keyword in it.
  • Labels - Further down the sidebar you will find the label cloud again this will find all the posts with those labels on the posts. We try to label all posts, although some of the earlier ones are unlabelled... another job still to be done!

Subscribing to Philofaxy
  • RSS - You can add Philofaxy to your favourite RSS reader such as Google Reader.
  • Email - If you want to receive each post by email, pop your email in to the subscribe by email box  and follow the instructions. This service is provided by Feedburner. They will send you a verification email which you have to click a link in to confirm your email address in the usual way.

Philofaxy on the Web
  • Facebook - You will find our Facebook page here
  • Twitter - We are very active on Twitter as @philofaxy and our experimental newsfeed @philofaxynews
  • Flickr - As mentioned above there is a Flickr group for sharing your Filofax photos and ideas
  • Linking back to Philofaxy - If you would like to link back to Philofaxy from your website or blog we have a 'badge' with the exact code which you will find at the bottom of the side bar.
Regular Posts on Philofaxy
  • Free For All Tuesday - Questions and Answers on any Filofax related topic
  • Free For All Friday - General discussion, open house for anything Filofax related
  • Webfinds - Each weeks round up of other Filofax related posts on the web
Other Philofaxy Events
  • Skype Roundtable Voice and Text Chats - once a month we have a Skype voice conference, this is open to anybody to join in. It is an open agenda and we don't only get to talk about Filofax things. People taking part can be spread around the world, so it can be quite educational as well as good fun. Look out for announcements on the blog about when the next one will be. Generally they are the first Sunday of the month, but they can move slightly if this conflicts with public holidays or Steve's travel arrangements!
  • Meet Ups - We have held several very successful meet ups, they vary in size from as little as two or three people up to twelve people, these have been held in London, New York, France, Holland, with other ones planned for other countries around the world.
    Although meeting 'people off the internet' can sometimes seem a little odd, we all have at least one interest in common and everyone I've met at all the different meet ups have been great people to sit and chat with. 
That was a bit of a lightening tour around the site and some of our activities. Please do add a comment on to posts, we love to get feedback and we do read all the comments.

If there's something you haven't understood or there's a topic we haven't covered that is Filofax related please get in touch with us and we will do our best to respond to your email within a day or so.
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14 April 2012

Web Finds - 14 April 2012

We love discovering new Filofax blogs... or blogs that contain Filofax content to share with you. I'm sure some of the blog writers don't notice that we have featured them on Webfinds... although I'm sure if they took a look at their stats, they would see an increase in their visitors!

So if you are visiting a blog for the first time and you like the post, pop in a comment and mention you saw the post mentioned on Philofaxy.
Can I give a shout out to two of our readers who are fund raising for Cancer Research UK. Alison and Sharon are both doing their own 'Race for Life' in June (different dates). Click on the links and give your support to them if you haven't done so already.

Another hectic travelling week for me, so I apologise in advance if I've missed any bodies posts out...

Enjoy
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13 April 2012

Free for All Friday No. 178

There will be elections for president and other national and local offices in the US in November of this year. I've already begun to use my Filo to record voting dates, registration deadlines, and even notes on the candidates themselves. I also use it to remind myself of other government deadlines...like driver's license and auto registration renewals. I write these directly on the day in my Wo2P diary, with a reminder a week earlier (in the "this week" box).

Does anyone else have a reminder system for official matters?
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12 April 2012

How do you? - Studying

This weeks 'How do you' question comes from reader Graham who asks:
I am about to commence some Open University first degree studies and wondered if there are other followers who are currently carrying out such studies and who use a Filofax to plan and coordinate their studies who would be prepared to share just how they do it?
I certainly recall a few people setting up Filofax organisers specifically for their studies, and there are plenty of students amongst our readers.

Dredging back through my very vague memory, I recalled the following posts:
And I'm sure there are many others I'm sure... so please step forward and post some links people...

Thank you. 
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    11 April 2012

    Meet The Baroques - Guest Post - Doris

    A big thank you to Doris for sending us this detailed post about her Filofax Baroques.

    (Thanks to my daughter who very kindly lent me her black Personal for this photo. And a warning: picture-heavy but not great photography.)

    It was love at first sight with the Filofax Baroque. I just had to have one after I saw the gorgeous embossing, which I thought was so unique. I at first thought it was made of PVC, but after I found out it was leather, I was hooked.




    I first held one in my hands after I bought my daughter a black Personal for Christmas. I hoped she’d like it, and she loved it. Next came my turn to hunt for one for myself. Knowing it was discontinued almost everywhere didn’t make it any easier. How providential that I looked on Adspot on Philofaxy and Leilani was selling her Pocket in turquoise. Perfect, I tell you! The waiting was agony, but a few weeks later, it was mine! (Thanks Leilani!) And because I wanted to round out the Baroque family, I got the Rose mini during the Italian sale. (I’m a sucker for pink.)

    The Pocket

    I moved into the pocket as soon as I received it. I simply emptied out the Malden so the setup is practically the same. The only new things are the Filo tabbed MO2P, and one tab for quotes that I put in my handmade cards. I made dividers to match the turquoise and was already using them in the Malden so it was a quick and easy move. I sometimes get tired of color though, so I’ve since used the standard dividers in cream. Clean and simple.






    The Malden and Baroque seem to be the most similar in card/pocket layout of the models I’ve seen online, which is probably why I have both. There are a few subtle differences, however, in both size and configuration.



    1. The left hand side. The Baroque has the more common credit/business card pockets vs. the Malden’s more ‘static’ layout . I put some cards into the pockets so you can better tell. The zipped pocket on the Baroque is bigger and seems easier to get to than the Malden. It’s probably due to the softness of its leather.



    2. The right hand side. Both have notepad slots which I love. The Baroque, however, doesn’t have the extra pocket behind it which the Malden has.



    3. Floppiness. If you think the Malden is a floppy Filofax, the Baroque is even floppier. It can double up on itself if you let it. This may be a deal-breaker for some who write on their Filo on the go, in a queue, while walking, etc. I myself don’t mind. The Malden doesn’t, and has never, lain flat.



    4. External full-width wallet pocket. The Baroque doesn’t have one. I didn’t know this at first, and if I had intended to use this as a wallet/purse, I would have been disappointed.

    5. Size. The Baroque is about the same size width-wise as the Malden, but the Malden is about 1 cm taller.



    6. Capacity. Although they are virtually the same, with the same size rings, the Baroque seems to be able to hold more paper-wise than the Malden. However, the Baroque’s side tabs are closer to the edges when it’s closed, so if you intend to keep two pens there, it’s a tight squeeze. I can do this with the Malden with a little bit of wiggle room. I can’t explain this, sorry, but it is so. (Could it be the size of the spine? or the soft, soft leather?)



    Verdict: Dare I say it?!? I think I love the Baroque more! There’s something about it – it’s sooo soft, smooth, squish-y, and very simple on the outside, but the embossing inside is so pretty. I’m glad there are only three Baroque colors or I’d be in deep, deep trouble.

    Weekly/Monthly sheets. I’ll take this opportunity to show you some pages to the Diary portion that helps me see at a glance what I need to do for the day, without cluttering up my WO2P. I handmade two monthly sheets to capture (1) birthdays/anniversaries with one box per month, and( 2) a by-day sheet to capture recurring monthly events like bills due and monthly chores. Bills that come on different times of the month get written on small white sticky labels so I can move them around. Others get written in pencil. I also made a weekly sheet to write down TV shows I watch on a regular basis. I flip to these pages first thing in the morning so I know what I need to do during the day. They’re all right next to the Diary tab.




    Speaking of Diary. I’m using Steve & Ray’s pocket 2012 Enhanced TM Weekly view and I’m liking it so far. It forces me to “check off” my to-dos for the week so I don’t have to rewrite them the next week. With the moveable flyleaf list, I knew it was easy to move it week-to-week so I wasn’t forced into actually doing them. Lazy much? (:



    Now, onto the Mini

    These posts (http://paperpensink.blogspot.com/2011/02/mini-baroque-filo-purse.html and http://vanjilla.blogspot.com/2011/12/great-mini.html) helped me decide whether the mini would work for me as a wallet. I got a ‘test’ mini in the Portobello on eBay for $7, shipped, but it was black, and the coin pocket is a little stiff, and near the pen loop. (Any excuse!). Hence, the mini Baroque.



    The mini’s setup. Since its main purpose is as a wallet, I first made sure that I could fit in all the cards I need in the Portobello. So when I moved into the Baroque, the set up was the same. I use the left side pockets for bank cards. At the very back of the rings are four side-opening plastic envelopes for loyalty cards, photos and receipts. I didn’t know these were just side opening, so I snipped off the top so I could access the contents easily. I hesitated at first (sacrilege!) but I’m glad I did. I put notes/cash in the notepad slot or behind the zipped pocket and coins are in the zip.



    However, this is, after all, a Filofax, so of course we need to fill it up -- inserts, tabs, pagemarkers, blank sheets, etc. I made tabs to add even more color to its already hot pinkness. Not a lot of blank sheets though to lessen its heft.

    Notes: just some sticky notes stuck on the divider (more on how I use Notes below)
    • To Do: long-term items only, short-term to-dos are in the Pocket
    • Shop: categories on each page and a shopping wish list, and
    • Lists: top tabs for (1) Media (books, movies and websites) and(2) Home (around the house to-dos)

    Finally, a MO2P for when I don’t have my pocket with me. It still closes, yay! I treated myself to cotton-cream paper for my mini and I love it.



    A short explanation on the Notes section in all my Filos -- all I keep in it is a few sheets of sticky notes to write on. It keeps me from making a mess and wasting Filo paper. I then re-write it neatly later in the right section, or just toss that sheet out when I’m done with it.




    All in all, my systems work. I keep the pocket nearby and the mini in my bag. The only duplication is the Home to-dos but I want those in both so it works. However, nothing is perfect. I’m debating moving my Media lists to the Pocket.

    Bigger pen loops please. As with most Filos, the pen loops are never big enough for the pens I like to use. Since I carry around 2 fat Coletos in the Pocket (8 colors, pencil AND eraser), one is clipped to the notepad, and the 2nd in the rings, but I’d prefer if it wasn’t there. The Leuchtturm pen loops solved that problem. I keep the 2nd pen in that when it’s not closed and my pens always have a place. I only have 1 pen in the Mini but it’s still fat so I clip it to the notepad slot as well.



    On a pen hack note, I recently did a hack on my Pilot Coletos. I discovered that Uniball Style Fit inks are waterproof (love!) but the barrels were too fat for my fingers and they were slipping because of the lack of a rubber grip. I was able to put the Uni inks in my Coleto pens and I am now a very happy camper. If you’re interested in the hack, drop me a line.

    So there you have it -- my Baroque family and how I use them. I now have one in every size and every color (though technically, the black Personal is my daughter’s), and although I’m happy with them, there’s a plethora of models out there (and the Amazonas called to me, but that’s another review). I’m so glad the Temperley is nowhere near my price range! Maybe I can re-create the Flex/Filo combo myself. Hmmmm -- project!




    This has turned out to be quite a long review. I apologize if I bored you to tears. If you’ve read this far though, a BIG thank you!

    (I also want to credit some bloggers for some of the ideas that inspired me to use and pimp my Filo. There are quite a few so if I missed anyone, I apologize. Here goes: Whimsicality, PaperPensInk, Vanjilla, Zoe, Jotje. Whoever invented the top tabs, thanks a million. Another lifesaver is the transparent flyleaf as dashboard/weekly to-do list/post-it holder. There are many, many more, sorry if I can’t list everyone. So, a blanket “Thank You” to Filo fans everywhere who have fanned the flames of my obsession.)

    Thank you Doris, great to see how you are using the two sizes in tandem and the details and comparisons.
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