Tuesdays seem to come around quicker these days... it might be because I'm being kept busy here in France!
But that means we get to deal with your questions and answers that bit more often. I really enjoy seeing you all helping each other out. Puts a smile on my face!
So let's have those Filofax questions.. don't hang back... step forward and fire away. May be you haven't commented before.... break your duck today with a question.
Only you guys will appreciate this. Yesterday I decided I was fed up with iCloud syncing my PC/ipad/iphone as it is not consistent and seems to choose which files and appointments it updates! So, following advice from the internet I went about removing - the result? I completely lost ALL my contacts from my PC (business and personal). Fortunately I had switched off the sync on my iphone so was able to do an old fashioned sync and get them back (albiet they need a but of editing for some reason).
ReplyDeleteNow I want to do the same with my calendar, but my nerves wouldn't take anymore - I'd had enough stress for one day!
I know you can lose your filofax (as evidenced by our discussions on this topic last week) so I suppose a belt and braces job would be the best option. Now if anyone knows how I can extricate my diary intact from iCloud - answers on a postcard ...
Oh Alison that's terrible! Did you have a backup of your contacts somewhere else or are they just gone forever?
DeleteWhat a pain! I was just thinking this morning about backing up my macbook. I'm going to try and do it routinely. Which I can make a note of in my Filofax, of course.
DeleteI back up my PC using Carbonite which has been a life saver in the past, however iCloud actually stores your data 'in the cloud' and the only thing on your PC/MAC is a temp file it uses to display the contents. So no matter how much backing up you do, it doesn't include iCloud items. This is something I hadn't realised when I started using it.
DeleteI only use iCloud sync, but I'm a Mac user so it's syncing to iCal as well. The other thing to remember to do when you start using iCloud is to turn off contact and calendar syncing in iTunes otherwise you end up in a right mess with duplicates everywhere!
DeleteHas anyone received anything from Erin yet? I'm really nervous though it's only been a week and I'm overseas.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if she mailed the Filos with tracking. Wouldn't hurt to ask. I purchased one from her as well but it's only been 3 days...
DeleteYes, received my package with a beautiful A5 from Erin within a few days. We are both in the U.S.
DeleteYes! My friend and I have both received our packages from Erin. Were both in the US, so I'm sure that is why shipping is taking longer for you. I purchased one of the Cubans and she bought the Lizard, and they are both beautiful and in perfect condition - worth the wait!!
DeleteThat's lovely to hear everyone, I can't wait to get mine!
DeleteI have been going back and forth between my Personal Kendal and A5 Kendal for the last few months. I have had the Personal in use for the last three years, so I am very familiar and at home with it. After a bit of hunting I managed to get an A5 Kendal online. After moving house I set it up and moved in. But then... I got to thinking. I like the portablity of my personal. Yet I have so much space in the A5 - so much more real estate! I am not bothered by the weight of carrying around the A5 - it came it at around 1.1kg. So after a few switches back and forth, I am back into my A5 - hopefully for the remainder of May at least. I would like to know if anyone has any advice on sticking to upsizing. I am very much a one-life-one-Filo type girl. I keep EVERYTHING in my Filofax. I would appreciate and advice or experiences anyone could offer! Thank you.
ReplyDeleteOne way around this common dilema, if weight isn't a problem, is to carry two personal sized filofaxes. Place them together and you've suddenly got the equivalent of a fax with 46mm rings, with more insert availability than you get with an A5. An alternative is to go A4, and slip your personal fax inside - a great solution if you're dealing with a lot of A4 paperwork, but prefer a personal sized fax for domestic stuff. This is what I love about filofax - there's so many options to choose from.
DeleteHi Neil,
DeleteI like your idea of two personal Filofaxes.... You've got me thinking now. I have enough personal refills to start my own shop. I could use one Filo for my Info and one for my day to day stuff. I would love an A4 but have yet to buy one. How do you Filofax?
Hi SE - I haven't upsized but what has helped me stay happy and compressed into my current Filo is to convert as much as I can into to computer-printed pages: Addresses, personal info, and pages that get frequent use (such as my travel info page w/ frequent flyer numbers, travel insurance details etc). I update details as needed in handwriting on the printed pages (changes of address for instance) and then every so often update the computer files and print fresh pages.
DeleteThis helps me get more info on each page, as my handwriting is big and hideous. In turn, that keeps the number of pages (and thus weight) down a bit. I can even laminate pages that get tons of use. It also looks neat (as I said, ugly handwriting) and makes me happy to look at, so that keeps me satisfied w/ my set-up, even when I see all those lovely, lovely A5s with their wonderful big pages.
I bought the special pre-perforated FF paper so I could do this for my personal, but it would be so much easier to do w/ an A5, since you could use normal A4 paper and just chop in half. (And this is what tempts me to switch out to an A5...)
@ Silver_Elixir08 - that's exactly what I do (ie one or more faxes for info and another for day to day stuff. Look for GTD on Philofaxy and you'll see some of my videos that Steve kindly posted.
DeleteAlthough there are several advantages to using an A5, one thing that often occurs is that we write with more of of a flourish, rather than squeezing more writng onto the page. With two personal sized faxes, we not only end up with far more (albeit smaller) pages than a single A5 fax, but we also have room for lots more dividers (and we all love dividers, don't we?). Two standard ring personal faxes will hold over 300 sheets and 20 dividers, you won't need to change all your paper. Of course, if you like the idea of using quality A4 sheets cut in half, then you could always go for two A5 faxes instead.
I'm firmly in the one-organiser camp, and it's my personal Malden. After a *lot* of trial and error last Year (and the year before!) I've got it down to a GTD system which I can run entirely on plain/lined paper (cotton cream throughout)and which will cover work *and* personal between one set of covers.
DeleteI have recently upsized from a personal to A5 Malden. It's very early days, but I've already made a definite decision to stick with it. To encourage this I'm in the process of selling the personal binder & pretty much all of the inserts/accessories. Hopefully it'll help me to not be tempted to go back, as I'd need to purchase items again! :)
Delete@ David Popely. I'm with you on the plain paper. If I hadn't got such a huge stash of white paper I'd be using the cotton cream, cos it sort of matches my moleskine paper (I use 140mm x 90mm moleskine paper and Frixion blue 0.7 in my day to day pocket fax, plain or lined white filofax paper and Pilot V5 in my personal sized master index faxes, and 90gsm printer paper and fountain pen in my A4 Lyndhurst. Like you, my own GTD system has evolved over time and, for paper based systems, filofaxes are ideal in my opinion.
DeleteLast night I switched out my two weeks per page for a day per page, but now need a month to view for that necessary overview, but discover filofax don't sell them in A5! What's that all about??
ReplyDeleteWhat diary/calendar combos does everyone use?
I have a Personal right now and use a day per page + week on two + month on one. It's a bad combo for me as I never write on the monthly and barely anything on the weekly. I'm thinking of changing that to a day on two and week on one.
DeleteI really like the look of Day on Two Pages.
DeleteI use the A5 TM week on two pages and a month to view for a quick glance at what I'm up to. I printed the month on two pages from here!
Deletehttp://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2012/02/free-monthly-2012-diary-sets-to.html
Filofax normally sells a month on two pages diary insert for the A5, maybe they are just out right now.
DeleteDo they? Hmm... Might have to have a go at printing some then.
Deleteweek on two pages (Personal) - cotton cream...thoughtfully FF only do the standard layout in Cotton Cream, so that's what I'm using, but it's OK and I can manage
DeleteI was using the personal week on two pages, with my appointments on the left 2/3 of the day and tasks written on the right 1/3 ( with a line to divide them) because I like to see a whole week at once. HOWEVER, it's just not enough space, so I bought the day-per-page for everyday and week-per-page for an overview and will try that for awhile.
DeleteI recently acquired a Slimline and am not sure if it takes all Personal-sized inserts. I'm making some dividers "in anticipation" but wasn't sure how big to cut them.
ReplyDeleteI actually meant "in anticipation" of its arrival. I haven't received it yet but am already planning how to use it.
DeleteThanks in advance.
@Doris - the slimline does take personal size paper. The difference between the two is the ring size. Some slimlines are also a little narrower as far as width goes, but I believe they still hold the personal size paper without a problem. If you're making some inserts you should be fine making them the same dimensions as the personal inserts from Filofax.
DeleteThanks kanalt! They're done except for punching the holes cause I wasn't sure about the width. Happy to know all personal inserts will fit. Regards.
DeleteHopefully someone here will understand the problem.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently using a Personal but will switch to an A5 soon.
Here's how I want to use my Filofax:
Year calendar has got holidays and days when I'm not at home - this is the thing I look at to know where I am geographically at any given time. I also schedule in any important dates that I constantly have on my mind - exam dates, back to school day. This is also the place where I have my Year Goals and my Personal Overview in which I decide what areas of my life need improving/changing, etc, this is where I brainstorm, using categories and questions (I got inspiration for that when I read Laurie's post about the Woman's Success Planner).
Monthly - I don't really use the calendar pages (only for tax days, birthdays, Bank holidays, appointments and tests for my students so I know I'll live on no sleep for 3 days while I grade the papers) but this is the part where I have my monthly goals, my review of the month, my monthly quotes, my project management breakdown which is basically my monthly goals flushed out, my fruit and veg in season and my finance sheet.
Then is the weekly, again the calendar has appointments, Bank holidays, books due back, my sports schedule of the week and housekeeping stuff that I do weekly like laundry and change towels. It also has my shopping list, my menu plan for the week and my skincare routine for the week so I know where I am.
Finally, the daily, which has basically my timetable for the day, my to do lists and lots of journaling (regular, food and exercise and a separate one for tea)
Ok so now that I've explained all of that, here's my problem : the pages all have the next day/week/whatever behind each day/week, so I can't add much. What can I do?
Let me explain again. Take today, which is Tuesday 8. I have all of my timetable on the one page but then I run into the problem of I can't add more sheets behind Tuesday for Tuesday journaling and to-do list and general things that belong to Tuesday because behind it is Wednesday. Does that make any sense? I should probably say here that I'm using the day on a page insert so I don't know how it is for the day on two, for example.
Same goes for weekly. My Filofax is turning into chaos because I can't have everything I want for one given day/week in one place.
Is there any solution to my problem, apart from designing my own pages with a blank page behind each day and a blank behind each week so I can stick things there?
I didn't mean for this to be such a long post, I'm so sorry!
have you thought about putting a blank pages inbetween monday 7th and tuesday the 8th so you would have one extra side of paper for each day and basically work as 2dpp? so on monday you would have blank paper on the right and tuesday you would have blank paper on the left, if that makes any sense
DeleteI have been using filofaxes for over 20 years and find the standard templates too restrictive. Plain paper is the way to go, imho.
Delete@Missus, this is a good idea in theory. Frankly I'd rather look at my schedule first and then all the journaling/whatever second but until I make my own inserts I suppose this is the best solution, thank you!
Delete@Neil, exactly. I'm thinking of having just blank sheets of paper for everything and customise as needed. My planner should work for me, not the other way around.
Agreed about plain paper (or lined).....that's how I can keep with cotton cream throughout.
Delete@ Ruby - if you would prefer laid out sheets (as opposed to blank) - have you thought about printing Steve and Rays time management diary sheets? As they come as PDFs you could print out specific months, weeks, or days - Possibly even in a coloured paper to differentiate between calendar/planner and other pages. There are various versions of these planners they have developed so you can choose which one suits you best. You could just print them out a few at time and see if it works. Hope this makes sense.
Delete@Ruby Scarlett I print the TM weekly insert from Philofaxy but NOT back to back. That way I have a blank page before the week for my tasks for that week and a blank page at the end of the week for my week review notes. I use the printed task side to keep track of the active projects for the week -- not as a daily task list.
DeleteMaybe the same can be done with the daily page -- don't print back to back and you will have the back side for overflow. Of course, that will make for a thicker calendar/diary.
Does anyone know the exact size of A5 and slimline Flex refills? The binder sizes are everywhere but I can't seem to find the size of the refills.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone!
Tracy
The standard filofax size guide is your friend! :)
Deletehttp://www.filofax.co.uk/sizeguide/
Is it the same for flex?
DeleteThe Flex slim is different in size to Filofax Personal. A5 is the same.
DeleteThis link will help
http://www.filofax.co.uk/flex/about.asp#sizeguide
Oh shoot, I saw that page yesterday and thought the sizes were for the binders! Just re-read it and realized it's the inserts. Now I feel just silly...
DeleteTracy
Can't remember who it was, who asked about Frixion ink, but my friend is sitting on a beach in Turkey as I write this and the Frixion ink in his moleskine is disappearing after 30 minutes direct exposure to the sun. I asked him to perform this experiment for me while he was away.
ReplyDeleteWow. I keep looking at the frixion inks, but I had wondered about heat/sunlight issues. I live in Southern California and dealing with heat and sunshine is a real issue here. Maybe I'll stick to my fisher space pen!
DeleteHi, all, my Bank Holiday weekend shopping trip produced two finds that I had to enable, I mean share with you.
ReplyDeleteFirst, these adorable 'to-do' sticky notes from Muji, ideally sized (10 cm long x 4.5 cm wide) for use in any size FF, http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1&Sec=14&Sub=61&PID=4964. They also have a version with several 'frame' per page. Both come with a plastic slipcover, so you could even anchor the pads in a credit card or notepad slot with no trouble at all.
Second, the Trafford Centre John Lewis has the personal-size index dividers with plastic tab slots/colour paper inserts, the kind where you can write, insert, replace your own tabs? (Is there an official name for that style?) I think they must have dug them out of storage. Well, I bought several packs because I never see them any more, but I left a few packs for other Northwest Philofaxers...
Oh, and the Muji sticky note to-do pads also fit perfectly into the zip pocket section of a personal Malden, or just behind the zip pocket. It is as if they were designed specially for us Philofaxfolk.
DeleteI've been dying to buy those dividers for a long time. The only place I've found them was on ebay UK, but they don't ship overseas! I checked the John Lewis site but they don't have them online. What's a girl to do? (:
DeleteCity organiser have some similar ones
Deletehttp://www.cityorganiser.co.uk/acatalog/6_Blank_Subject_Tabs__coloured__-_Personal_Size.html
doris98, I'd be happy to help you out, I can see if I can get some and ship them to you if you like? Email me at charlotte@stwcreation.com :)
ReplyDelete@Lostwithoutyou: Really!?! Yes, please, and thank you!!! I'll email you. (Your user name is so appropriate, ha ha ha.)
Deletedoris98, I just checked the reference number (131624) and they are the same ones as City Organiser has, so you could order those.
ReplyDeleteBoy, do I feel DUMB. I never realized the ones at CO were the type with changeable tabs you could insert, which I had never seen in the shops before. It's very hard to tell the detail from the picture and description on their and FF UK's websites. I always thought the ones they have in stock were the kind where you write *on* the actual tab itself, and thus are pretty much stuck with what you write on them. (I've had those kind before.) But then again, if they'd been described more fully on CO's or Filofax UK's website, maybe they would sell better...
You're right, they're not described properly at all, and the photo is misleading. The tabs should be clear plastic, and the labels colored. Thanks for the heads up!
Delete@lululucy: I wrote both CO and FFUK to ask if they are indeed what you think they are (not that I don't believe you). I'll let everyone here know what they say.
DeleteNot dumb at all, when their description is misleading. I myself would never have thought they were what I was looking for if you hadn't pointed it out.
Both CO and FFUK have already replied, and they have confirmed that it is indeed the same dividers/tabs. For everyone's info. (:
DeleteRuby Scarlett
ReplyDeleteive ordered from overseas and it can take 2to 3 weeks to receive. Please be patient. Your Fill will be there soon!
Erin
No problem Erin, thanks for replying, I guess I'm just overexcited!
DeleteHi All. I've enjoyed philofaxy for ages and have been using Filofax
ReplyDeletesince the 1990's. I've grappled with Filofax sizing for ages. from
Personal slimline (the first) to zipped personal, to personal, to A5
to zipped A5 to personal to personal slimline to pocket and then back
to personal and my current setup is Cuban zipped A5 and a (now
resting) Guildford Pocket.
Now, it is sacrilege I know, it seems that I have found what may be
the perfect size. Marketed by www.diarylover.com, the make slimline A5
and also a version they call 'A6'. Not really A6, but 142mm x 173mm
(A5 is 148x210). It is about personal plus a half. Ring spacing is
perfect for filofax inserts and my hole punches and accessories don't
go to waste, but the main feature is the large writing space. Not
quite A5 but as good as any journal writer needs. (Actually I think
the size may be based upon Louis Vuitton or somesuch planners).
Quality is about as good as low end Filofax, main thing is a
satisfying 'click' on the 20mm rings. They don't appear to have a high
end product but I'm doing a bit more investigating so if I get an
answer I'll let you know. I don't know if they ship overseas, but if
you have a friend visiting Bangkok you can buy them there.
No doubt I'll end up with filofax again, once they make a decent
slimline A5, but for the interim I'll be happy enough with this new
setup. Paper is of filofax quality, so if you wished to upgrade then
you'd have to go to Staples and have then cut down and hole punch a
ream of your chosen paper quality. You could also print your own of
course.
Please Filofax I want you to make this 'A6' size. It's almost perfect
- only problem is it's not a Filofax.
In case anyone is interested:
ReplyDeleteI was in Tesco yesterday and they have some A4 and A5 notebooks that are from £7 to 87p and £5 to 61p respectively (might be a couple of pence out can't remember exactly). I bought quite a few as I quite like the paper inside -lined cream. At this price it is a bargain. I'm not hugely fussed by the A5 paper becoming a bit smaller once cut and punched, but the A4 is so cheap you could cut that down to make exactly A5 if you so desire.
Hi everyone
ReplyDeleteI'm having a major crisis and need some help!! I have a Malden in vintage pink and tonight when putting he pen back in the loop I have accidentally drawn on the leather!!! I thought the pen had been closed!
Does anyone have any suggestions as I have scrubbed it for about 30 minutes now!!
I've read that hair spray works on removing ink on leather. Dampen the qtip with the hair spray and lightly rub the ink stain. Try to test is somewhere first though, and rub very lightly so you don't take too much color off. Good luck with the stain.
DeleteBaby wipes have removed all marks I've tried them on, standard pampers seem to work best.
DeleteI haven't tried them on anything leather or precious (apart from baby) though.
I've used hairspray for ballpoint/biro ink on *fabric* before and it did work for me - but thankfully haven't had to try it on leather. If you try hairspray/alcohol, I'd do so with a Qtip and just at the end of the mark, very carefully, then wait and see what it does to the colour of the leather before doing the whole mark
ReplyDeleteMost web sites say actually to use isopropyl alcohol, which doesn't have all the other chemicals that hairspray does. (hairspray apparently works because it has a high alcohol content)
If the mark is from a gel pen, who knows. Is that ink different chemically?