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03 August 2012

Free For All Friday No. 194

Whilst waiting for my car to be serviced, I had a nice filofax sighting in the building where I work. I was sat reading my Happiness Project book with my filo alongside me to take notes, when I noticed that the gentleman at the next table also had a filofax on top of his paperwork. I admit I found this quite distracting and kept taking sneaky looks to see if I could work out what model it was! Maybe I was a bit obvious as he eventually looked up at me pointed to my Malden and gave me a big grin.

We had a lovely little chat and he said that despite enjoying his iPhone, he wouldn't want to be without his black personal Portland and hates leaving it at home. I mentioned Philofaxy to him and said he would have a look, after showing some interest in the Malden in black or grey.
Have you had any recent filo sightings?

And as it's Friday once again, please feel free to discuss anything filofax related or ask any questions.

90 comments:

  1. Saw one on The desk of a coworker today- probably a day runner or FC. Leather, with the cover rounded over a fat bunch of papers. Clearly very personal, so I didn't ask about it. I sure noticed it though!

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  2. I have been feeling disillusioned with filofax for the last year (I don’t really like their foray into fashion or their lack of inserts) so have not been hovering around the counters as I used to and been sticking to my Mulberry planner and various notebooks. Decided a few days ago to set up an A5 Filofax for a health project because I don’t work linearly and have so many notebooks half scribbled in. I have a brown Kendal, Brown Amazona, bronze Domino Snake, Orange Finsbury, Black Metropol and a brown Siena all in A5 so thought I could use one of those. But then I thought - a grey Malden! I want one! Off to the shop and I was so shocked that all the shops I went to had downsized their filofax selections so much - they had easily less than half the stock they used to and one had stopped selling them altogether. Apparently they are not selling well. The alligator, lizard, ostrich were all 70% off - to be honest the black alligator looked like a cheap knockoff of the Amazona. Who would have paid 1500 quid for that? And the range of inserts was pitiful. It’s always been terrible for A5 but now it is even worse! I keep thinking Filofax don’t seem to know where they are going.

    In the end I got a Cappuccino Siena in A5 for 70% off because I think the leather was better and is less floppy than the Malden. I already have one but I couldn’t resist. I did feel the Malden love though. Ooh the smooshy squashy leather. And the big rings. And the gorgeous grey!
    and then on the way home I bought a proper hole punch and a paper cutter so that I can make my own insets and dividers.

    Off to search Philofaxy for inspiration. Filofax sure didn’t give me any today! Thank heavens for Philofaxy!

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    Replies
    1. janet I've also become more and more disillusioned with Filofax over the past year or so. Despite us telling them exactly what we want, repeatedly, for years now, they seemingly completely ignore us. I'm not impressed with their focus on fashion, and I keep hearing about the poor quality and production problems with new binders.

      What's most frustrating to me is they probably wonder why their sales are falling. If they would just pay attention to us, their brand advocates, they would know what to do!

      Contrast this to other brands, Quo Vadis especially comes to mind, who communicate directly to customers via blogs and Twitter to specifically ask what customers want and they do everything in their power to make it happen.

      Doesn't it make good sense to ask what your customers want, and then make it???

      To be completely honest, if it weren't for this wonderful Philofaxy community, I probably would have given up on the brand already.

      Delete
    2. Hi Laurie, I agree absolutely with you on this. I've more or less given up saying it, as I've said it so many times it becomes repetitive, but I think Filofax are making a really serious business error by putting all their efforts into the fickle fashion market. When that carousel begins to turn again (as it will) they will be left with nothing, having alienated their core customers along the way.

      Quo Vadis are brilliant - I ordered a 2012 diary about a year ago and it arrived the next day. Plus, as you say, they make a real effort to find out what their customers want and then to give it to them, which seems to me to be a fundamental of business success. Filofax's continued and consistent refusal to listen to their core customers on subjects like refills, paper quality, and now the advent of more serious and regular production problems with binders (presumably as a result of cost-cutting) means they are almost inevitably destined to go out of business sooner or later, unless something changes, and quickly.

      Like you, I would have abandoned the brand completely a while ago if it wasn't for this fantastic community, but it's sad that it often seems to be a community of support in the face of FF's indifference, rather than a brand celebration. We deserve better.

      Still, no-one from FF will be reading this, and if they are, no-one will move from their fashion-fixated business 'plan', so what's the point?

      Delete
    3. ... and another reader in agreement!

      My local stationers has also cut right back after sales have plumetted - all sizes, all ranges. The drive to become a catwalk fashion accessory is alienating men of all ages (just look how few men - especially younger men - are joining Philofaxy) and traditional users of both sexes.

      There's no doubt that tablets such as iPad have had a very serious impact on Filofax business - especially among gadget-loving men. My family has just bought me an iPad 2 for my birthday and I am frankly staggered at what it does and how useful it has already become (when I can prise it from my children that is!). I still love paper but it would be very easy to go completely digital.

      Filofax is trying to hold on by introducing iPad holders with built-in Filofax, but there are much better iPad cases out there and I suspect it will be "too little too late".

      I hope I'm wrong but I predict a drastic pruning of the range in the next few years.

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    4. I think I'm in line to be a recruit to the iPad army when my laptop becomes obsolete - which will probably be next year some time, I guess. I'm also staggered by what they will do....I had a very interesting conversation with one of their staff in Cardiff, and I'm very impressed by how knowledgeable they are, and how low-key their sales [itch is. basically, they say, "this piece of kit will do all this....don't you want one?"!

      Tim, do you use your iPad with a PC or with a Mac? I'd be intereted to hear from iPad/PC users on how the setup works for them

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    5. David - Although I'm now a 100% Mac user, I used to use my iPad 1 with my PC and it was absolutely fine. Everything is done through iTunes which is very windows friendly. Even adding documents, etc, to the iPad is fine via windows as again, you can do it through the app settings on iTunes.

      If you want to know anything in particular, just shout.

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    6. Oh, and I meant to say, I agree with the OP too. It does seem bizarre that there's a whole community here of willing, vocal, advocates of Filofax yet they don't want to pick our collective brains. Why not see what the people who are actually spending MORE than the cost of a Temperley per year actually want!!

      It's truly baffling!

      Delete
    7. Thanks Babs, that's really helpful. I don't think I will be joining the Cult of iPad for a while yet, but I certainly will be in due course, so it's helpful to know it interfaces with the PC......thanks again

      Delete
    8. David
      Because the iPad/iPod Touch can now sync via Wifi, it is less dependent on being tied to a PC/Mac as they used to be.

      I'm not sure if PC users can use iCloud or not for syncing? But with iCloud keeping stuff in sync is very simple and easy.

      I think I can count the number of times I've ever connected my iPad to my Mac on one hand!

      Steve

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    9. Another agreement here. Just comparing the quality to Mulberry binders shows you the gulf of space between a modern Filofax and a Mulberry. The two aren't mutually exclusive - you can still produce beautiful, high-quality leather binders that will last decades, while producing fahsion ranges too. You only have to look at the number of posts this year here, from people who have sent binders back for being rusty, bent rings, creased leather, etc. Its great that they are so helpgul, but from a profit-making perspective, its disasterous. But they don't listen, so why waste the words. I'm far happier with vintage ones from 20+ years ago, as I know they will still be working long after I've departed this life.

      But to address Janet's post......I only recently moved down from A5 to Personal, after using A5 for at least 5 years. Having given up long ago on FIlofax's own A5 inserts, I hamfistedly made my own. Until I found this site. 90% of my inserts came from Steve and Ray's excellent repository of files, and I tweaked a few for my needs. I bought a guillotine from Staples for £9 on a trip to UK, I have the beast of a Rexel 420 punch, and I never looked back. Of all the binders, I think the A5 is the one that lends itself most easily to customisation (outside the USA, I guess), due to the A5/A4 paper ratio. And the ability to fold over an A4 piece of paper, and use the plastic punch to carry it is brilliant. I know people rant about them, but they are fine what they are designed for, punching an odd piece of paper after a meeting or similar.

      If I had a different job and a different lifestyle, I'd move back to A5 without a thought. But at more than 2Kg filled, it wasn't practical with my current job.

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    10. I found cloud sync with my PC, iPhone and iPad very flaky - I often ended up with loads of duplicate entries/calendars etc. I've now extracted myself from that and just sync via iTunes - at least I know it works!

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    11. The Duplicate calendar thing is caused by selecting both the calendars on the device and the ones in the cloud. If you select cloud-only then it'll be fine. If you google then you'll see it's an easy setting to change which should sort out the problem.

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    12. Hi David et al - I never trusted iCloud (big corporate giant having control of all my data etc), so I only ever synced my iPhone to my PC (iTunes, Microsoft Outlook 2003 etc). However, with my new iPad I've taken the plunge and am keeping everything on iCloud. I admit to being very impressed! I hadn't appreciated that iPads aren't dependent on a laptop these days! I can make a note or an appointment on my iPad and seconds later it will also have appeared on my iPhone! It's not supposed to be compatible with my old version of Outlook, but it seems to cope well enough. There are a few iCloud things I can't do with a PC that could if i had a Mac - but not many! There are fewer and fewer things I'm using my laptop for as a result of this change.

      It really has to be synchronise through iCloud OR PC though. As Babs points out, you get duplicate entries if you do both. Easy to change through settings on iTunes and your iPhone/ iPad

      Delete
    13. Forgot to ask ... has anyone seen any of the new leather (lizard print) of leather-look Flex binders? City Organiser have been showing them as in stock, but not Filofax of course, who are still trying to shift First Edition models with 25% off!

      The iPad/ iPhone issue has certainly got to Filofax. As well as the new iPad binders (Pennybridge, Malden, Flex etc. Dig out Steve's post from a couple of weeks ago), I see that the new leather Flex binders will only have two business card slots instead of six, but come with an iPhone (3/4/4S) pocket instead!

      Would you keep your smartphone in a Flex binder?

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    14. Babs - thanks for the tips, however I tried the settings as you suggested (I googled the problem and did quite a lot of research before I moved away from icloud) and still had problems. I also found that on occasion it didn't sync appointments that I had added to either my iPhone or Outlook. In addition I lost a lot of functionality in Outlook contacts and it did weird stuff with my addresses. I'm sure I'll dip my toe in the water again at some point.

      Tim - I certainly wouldn't keep my phone in a flex binder. I also had a good look at the Pennybridge, but to be honest, whilst I like the idea, the binder is nowhere near as good or functional as my current iPad case, so I'd be loathe to loose that. I do like the idea of a really slim A5 though - which they would take these and offer a leather version.

      I haven't totally gone over to an iPad yet (I still sort of use it as an expensive toy come entertainment centre!) as there is a lot I can't seem to do that I can do with my laptop. Also I don't have a printer that sync with it yet. Some of the software just doesn't work as well - for example wtih email you can't have folders within folder to organise your mail.

      In my (humble) opinion it doesn't come even close to replacing a laptop. However this may just show my ignorance and I may need to go on an iPad training course!

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    15. Tim - so now FF expect us to give up business cards in favour of an iPad? Just what sort of business world are they living in?

      Still I suppose it won't matter to the mythical fashion-obsessed 'model customer' their barmy focus group has provided them with.

      I despair.

      Delete
    16. Tim - You get duplicate entries trying to use Google Calendar with a Blackberry on wireless sync in any case, thanks for the hint.

      I don't think any of these wireless apps are as clever as they like to think they are.

      'm using Dropbox for document sync and it works great - highly recommended.....

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    17. Tim - I have just ordered one of the new leather Flexes. When it comes I'll post some photos.

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    18. Thanks Nellie - did you go for the vintage (vegetable) tan leather or lizzard print?

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  3. I had a recent filo sighting - wanted to take a photo but was too shy. It was a drugs rep in the pharmacy who had an A5 turquoise Finsbury. It was stuffed to the absolute gills and showed signs of good use so she really used it. I was well chuffed to see it.

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  4. Good morning, everyone. Can anyone recommend a good hole punch for A5 size Filofax? I have Filofax's own brand but am not impressed.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kate
      This post might help: http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2012/01/reader-question-which-punch.html The KW Trio is a popular choice, I don't have one myself.

      I'm still using my A5 Filofax one, which does need the paper 'chads' cleaning out after every use but it carries on working after over 8 years of continuous use.

      Steve

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    2. Thank you, Steve. I missed this post, probably because I was so busy reading the All-Stars roundup you posted yesterday.

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  5. Hello there!
    I´d like to ask for a favor. I´m interested in the weight of a A5 Malden. I´m making a communication binder for my son, calendar incorporated ( as well as seasons, weathercards, emotioncards etc etc ) and so far I´ve stacked his pages on a regular A5 binder. The size really couldn´t be any smaller since I need to make re-attachable symbolic pictures with velcro and he´ll need the space to draw pictures as well. The thing is, he´s set his heart on a brown leather Malden. My beef here is, is it terribly heavy? This little guy needs to be able to haul it to school and he can´t carry anything heavy. But he´s also very set on all things Filofax and ( even as I type now ) hovers behind my back like a vulture ) wants me to translate every post written here. Last time we went grocery shopping he noticed some Time binders and his world stopped right there on that isle. Have you ever tried to negotiating with an autistic, when they´ve reeeeeallly made up their minds? Have you? So I ended up buying him a plastic binder and( I refuse to use such a fancy word as a faux- leather or pleather. Plastic is plastic. End of a sad story ) pocket´ish size time management system inside it. It is too small for him, but he loves the fact that he too now has a " Filofax " but before he further ends up on the dark side, I´d like to rescue him with an authentic brown Malden, which he swoons over. But now I´m concerned, how much does the binder itself weigh?
    I myself have been using the same Balmoral ( A5 for two´ish decades now- and BTW, am eagerly awaiting the brown Osterley but that is another storyline ) and it does weigh a bit. I can live with the happy thought that if necessary, I can use it to knock a jerk unconscious or make irreparable damage to uncivilized individual´s reproductive organs with it, if necessary but the weight would be too much for my tender offspring. So, if anybody with A5 Malden could do me this huuuge favor and weigh their binder, I´d be ever so peachy!

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    1. I just wanted to come back and apologize for weird output at the point of when I started to write how he hovers behind my back every time I come by to read Filofaxy and is glued to computer screen if I should happen to watch FF something from You Tube. I actually ended up in a middle of a conference call in the middle of all that yabberage and the result left much to wish for.

      Wishing everybody great week end!

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    2. Hi
      Take a look here:

      https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AhlmQ-9jjqX0dERzQ2pvMlo1NHBqMjlucHl3LW9qVWc&hl=en_GB

      Steve

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    3. THANK YOU, STEVE! Just what I needed to know.

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    4. It wasn't in our files list.... it is now..

      Feel free to add to the details if you have a few minutes to spare.

      Steve

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    5. I have a trip pen´d down to early Nov. during which I´ll get the Osterley. If anybody else hasn´t updated on the part of O. then I´ll be happy to scribble my contribution then.
      Once again, thank you!

      Delete
  6. Hi all,

    I just wanted to share that I have just achieved a Zero Inbox for Email. This is after adopting GTD around 3 years ago. Wow being "clear and current" is a definite buzz and leaves me clear to focus on my Next Actions all housed in my A5 Kendal.

    I know this is very self indulgent but I wanted to share as I know it can be a challenge and seriously, if I can do it, anyone can!

    Iain

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    1. Fantastic job Iain, well done!!!!

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    2. Well done, I'm a firm believer of keeping my in-boxes as empty as possible my main one each week the others at least once a month.

      Steve

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    3. Congratulations. I dream of a zero inbox, both personal and work. Do you think it was mainly down to GTD, or a copmbination of tools and techniques?

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    4. Congrats! It can take a while to achieve (unless you 'cheat'!) but once you're there life becomes so much simpler. My boss is one of those people who lives in her inbox and has thousands of emails there... I just can't operate like that. At various points I have been sending and receiving more than 100 *useful* emails every day for weeks on end - I would drown! So my inbox has been zero more-or-less for about the last 3 years, and I try to ensure that it's zeroed at the end of each day by deleting irrelevancies, filing most stuff and moving anything which I personally have to do something with to an 'Action' folder. The latter is the difficult one, at the moment there are 42 emails there - but at least I can see the size of the work backlog and it's all in one place and can be sensibly morphed into actions in my todo list where an email becomes a baby project. The last couple of days before a holiday are usually spent forcing myself to work through every single 'Action' email getting every monkey off my back, in the sure and certain knowledge that more monkeys will happen while I'm out of the office!

      Now if only I could apply the same to my personal inbox, life would be a breeze!

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    5. Please forgive my ignorance but what is GTD ....? I've been tryin to work it out for a week now....!!

      Cheers,
      Tamarah :0)

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    6. Getting things Done - after the eponymous book and task management system by David Allen

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    7. Oh man, I'm so jealous! My inbox has gotten out of control- I am afraid to tackle it (not to mention don't have the time- how ironic) so I dream of the day when I start a new job so I can clear EVERYTHING out!!!

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    8. Well done, I did a post about clearing mine last night
      http://filo-obsessed.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/clearing-my-inbox.html
      it's not completely empty but it's getting there :)

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    9. Thanks everyone for the supportive comments. Re: the question of process, I have adopted what Paul describes and been blown away with seeing a small number of actionable emails that compliments my "to do's" in my Kendal!

      Btw I found that practising on my personal email account very helpful. I found it developed my ability to quickly decide "what is this", "is it actionable" & "what's my Next Action". Once more confident I bit the bullet and tried it for work! Never going to look back :)

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    10. Iain I think you've hit the nail on the head.....it's about the thought process behind the actual management, not just the management of the email/task itself. Perfectly put, and the reason why a lot of people don't 'get on' with GTD - they expect the system to do it for them, whereas it's the mental discipline which does it, and the system just supports that by giving it a track to run on. Bravo!

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  7. I've been buying a few A5 Filofax lately and a lady on my blog asked what uses we can use them for....Here's my list, feel free to add! lol

    Black Holborn - Spiritual Awareness
    Red Chameleon - Blog posts and ideas
    Rasp Chameleon - Goddess Workbook (http://leoniedawson.com/shop/kits/2012-goddess-year-workbook/) This cost me £6 ($10) and it is fantastic. You print it yourself.
    Purple Malden - Memories Journal ( found a huge list of topics to write about online, most of it is about childhood)
    Ochre Malden - Household Planner
    Zipped Wine - Next years Journal
    Purple Finsbury - (not sure yet)

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  8. I'd just like to say thank you to Philofaxy in general, and Vanjilla in particular, for the 'Nivea Creme' trick. I'm in the process of moving back to an A5 filo from a bound book system based around a Rhodia Webnotebook (lovely paper, but bound books just aren't flexible enough for me). The vintage A5 Pimlico in red leather which I got never-used off eBay had obviously been sitting in a drawer for nearly 10 years. It almost creaked when I opened it, was extremely stiff and wouldn't even think about lying flat.

    So after reading about the trick on Philofaxy, I got some Nivea creme and a plastic carrier bag. Slathered the binder with the cream inside and out, with particular attention to the area around the spine on the outside and either side of the rings on the inside. Wrapped it in the plastic bag and put it to one side. After 24 hours I had a peek - not much visible change, so I left it a bit longer. At 48 hours some of the cream had visibly absorbed into the (quite thick and heavy) leather, so I persevered.

    It took about 5 days for all the cream to be absorbed. A thorough wipe over with a cloth, and the binder now behaves completely differently. In particular its flexibility is much enhanced and it will now lay flat. Chalk up another win for the Nivea Cream Filofax technique! :)

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    Replies
    1. I'm thinking I should go back to using Nivea cream on my skin as it is so good on leather binders!

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    2. Hello everybody! This is my first comment and i am a bit nervous ;-) my english is not really good.
      I have a brand new grey Osterley and i absolutely love ist. But the leather is not really smooth and i was thinking about the nivea trick. What do you think?

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    3. Hi Chrissy - you could try using Nivea inside the back cover to see what happens. There is a comment on the Filofax UK website stating that the Osterley leather should be protected from water, so a test area inside the back cover which won't usually be seen would be the best way to start. I think the smooth panels inside the Osterley may be plastic rather than leather.

      Delete
    4. Thank you, Paul, for the positive feedback - I'm really glad you saved your binder! Regards!

      Delete
  9. Thanks David....I can now spend my time obsessing over Filofaxes rather than an achronym....!!

    Cheers,
    Tamarah :o)

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  10. Oh happy day! Along with my wife's return from holidays, she has brought with her my copy of Filofax Facts, and my Lefax Personal binder with the oversized leather flap. Can't wait to get the leather cleaner out and clean it up. The leather is beautifully smooth, and in mid-tan. Really looking forward to the book too, after reading Steve;s review (http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2011/01/book-review-filofax-facts-ian-sinclair.html). Just seeing some of the 1980s inserts in there is great. Oh happy day :)

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  11. Photos uploaded of Lefax Chelsea :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/burjmax/

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  12. Paul B's post reminded me to have a search for "Filofax Facts" which I've wanted to see for a while. I found one on Alibris for a little under £15 including P&P which seems to be a good price. They have another for sale at £19.99 in case any other Filofaxers are tempted!

    Grr. The iPad won't let me paste a link but the site is www.alibris.co.uk

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    Replies
    1. Look on our suppliers page in the Amazon ads and there's a link to the book there all the time. Currently one going for £12

      http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/p/filofax-suppliers.html

      Support Philofaxy too!!

      Steve

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    2. Oops - I didn't see that Steve. I suspect the £12 one is the one I've purchased (£12.03 plus P&P).

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  13. Hi! Thanks to this site I am now a proud owner of an A4 Metropol black filo... A4 seems to be uncommon around here but mines designated to be used for uni notes and info so anything smaller would've been pointless. My boyfriend was at first a bit taken aback that I wanted one, but I think he's coming round to the idea and even likes it now (even though I've only had it a day or so!) - may be another convert in the ranks, ahah. This site is fab and I'm so looking forward to customising and playing with my filo :) x

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    1. I'd consider A4 if they did them in more colours, not sure how much chance there is of that though!!

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  14. Just received my Personal Malden in Black and the A5 Aqua Chameleon will arrive this afternoon. First impressions: Not as excited about the black Malden as expected. Good news: the rings are perfect and it lays flat out of the box. It's also very flexible and unstructured which is nice for a change. Also, at half price, should I even complain? The downside as compared to my Pocket Malden in Grey: the black smells funny, the grey smells like lovely leather. The black is way more dull and wrinkly and feels more 'pebbly'. The grey is super smooth, sleek and shiny and was hoping the black would be the same. (Sure appeared that way on the web). It is also filled with that awful white paper diary and inserts vs the cotton cream which is another reason why I wish you could buy just the binder and your choice of inserts. So now I have a 2013 diary that I won't use.

    There's not much difference between the grey color and the black color and though I'm not a big fan of grey in general, my Pocket grey Malden is gorgeous and I would have preferred a grey Personal size after all is said and done. But I was wooed by the half price offer.
    Maybe I should have gone with the black Holborn. We'll see!

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    1. Of course today the Holborn is $63 whereas yesterday it was $45. That's the other thing that cracks me up about Filofax. If they are discontinuing a color or line, why they don't just put them half off till their gone like other retailers is beyond me. If they are just have a 'special reduction' for a few days on a particular model that's understandable. But if the model or the color is going away why offer if 50% off for a few days then hike it back up to regular price or change the offer to 30% off the following day? I always found that strange. Oh well, don't mean to sound like a complainer. It is Friday after all, all is well, looking forward to more Olympics, the arrival of the A5 later today and a girl's day out tomorrow. Happy Friday all!

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    2. I am expecting my Vintage Pink Malden tomorrow. I am so excited! I probably won't use the Filo inserts either. I am still waiting on my A5 Domino ( thanks to a mix up with USPS. It will have the Family inserts though so they will get used.

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    3. The aqua Chameleon colour is really pretty, by the way. I hope you like it!

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    4. Yes well things got a bit busy today, but anyway I did receive the A5 Chameleon in Aqua (I have the Personal size in same color) and it is perfect (well except for the crummy diary!); it lies flat out of the box and smells yummy. So wish I would have also ordered the brown while half off. Jury still out on the black Malden, but I'm real pleased with the new A5.

      Delete
  15. I received my yellow Finsbury A5 from Pens & Leather (US retailer, I'm in CA, USA) yesterday. I guess the colour was quite off on my monitor because it looked like a lovely bright yellow and it's really quite orangey yellow. But no matter, I love yellow and I'm keeping it.

    One thing I am quite delighted about is that it lays flat straight out of the box. I was worried about that. I have a personal Chameleon (my first new Filofax) and it definitely doesn't lay flat.

    Unfortunately the Pens & Leather people only included a 2013 calendar diary in there so I e-mailed them about the missing 2012 and they will be sending it. I was planning on using a Family Organiser Pack for 2013 so I really don't need that 2013 calendar anyway.

    Ah... delayed gratification. I was really looking forward to filling in the rest of my 2012 calendar this weekend.

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    1. If you read my post above yours I clearly understand! Mine is just a tad disappointment over my black Malden vs delayed gratification but same general feeling. Anyway, enjoy your new purchase! The color sounds lovely!

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    2. Oh yes! I also wish that we could chose our inserts, if we wanted to. They could still sell them the way they do, but if they had a personalisation option (even charging a little extra for any insert that's pricier) that would be fab. Ah well...

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  16. I'm having a complete revamp (don't ask!). I need to sit down and set some goals and then set up some projects and tasks to get back on track. I have a million things to do and I'm just sitting here panicking about it all.

    Can anyone offer advice or link me to some good blogs or videos about setting up goals and projects in my filofax?

    The inbox Zero thing would be nirvana to me. Mine is probably full of junk anyway! I might have a concerted effort this evening to clear it down - I do have a habit of keeping emails (which are mainly general info rather than actual action tasks), planning to read them later and never getting back to them!

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    1. hi Alison!

      I know I'm a broken record, but what about going through the TMI User Manual and the Key to Personal Effectiveness again? If you're sharing the Dropbox folder they're both in there - or I could email you.....

      I don't find David Allen to be that strong on goal-setting, so maybe TMI is the way to go? :)

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    2. I would love to see these articles. Any idea on where I can find them?

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    3. I got a lot of great ideas for projects from OrganizedlikeJen on Youtube. Here's the URL to her project set up in her filofax: http://youtu.be/KMMvUBVYZBM

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    4. Alison, I use Ray's goals for the month sheets. They are just marvellous! I downloaded them from his blog.

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    5. I got a lot of great ideas from OrganizedLikeJen on Youtube. She has two videos about how she uses her A5 Filofax as a calendar and for project planning. Here's the project planning part: http://youtu.be/KMMvUBVYZBM

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    6. David - good idea - I'll dig that out and have another read.

      Andrea - I'm a big fan of Jen as well - I'm sure I've seen these in the past, but would probably enjoy seeing them again, so thanks!

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    7. Oh and Butanben - I'll check out Rays blog for the goals sheets - thanks!

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    8. Alison - after 25 (+) years, I still follow Time Manager (TMI) principles every day in my life - and it still works (usually!). I've never found anything that comes close (not even GTD!).

      A lot has been replicated (even improved upon) by others, but for readers not familiar, here's a link to find out more about the philosophy:-
      http://www.timemanager.com/timemanager/uk/webmenu.nsf/framesets/About+Time+Manager

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  17. Aprilquilts, you can join the time_and_life_management Yahoo group and they are in teh files section - or you can ask David Parker to include you on the Group's shared Dropbox folder. Send me an email and I'll invite you. davidpopely (at) googlemail (dot) com

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    1. Thanks. I sent you an email, and I accessed the yahoo group, but it says I need permission to view the dropbox site? Thanks again for your help.

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    2. Hi April, Dave Parker is the Master of the Dropbox, I'll try to get him to email you an invitation for it. You'll need your own Dropbox ID, can you confirm to me whether or not you have one? If not I'll send you that invitation first

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    3. I do have dropbox. Thanks Dave. Sorry for the mistake.

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  18. Are the A5 holes the same placement as Franklin Covey Classic?

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    1. Page size is similar, but the hole spacing is different to Filofax A5, you would need to repunch the pages to fit Filofax.

      See this post for the details

      http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2012/01/great-organiser-hole-spacing-conspiracy.html

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    2. Wow! Awesome post and it answered my question. I love the photo of the classic size comparison especially since I am so visual. That post must have been a lot of work. Thank you.

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    3. Yes it took quite a few days to put together that one!! I recently had to revisit it and up date some of the information that was in error because of wrong information sent to me by one of the customer service departments of one of the companies!!

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  19. Does anyone else get niggled with the amount of Personal filos that are listed on eBay as being A5! It drives me up the wall.

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    1. And Personal's that are in fact Pocket... I've given up trying to put these people right after one of them said 'And how do you know you are right' I almost spilt my beer!

      Also when you see a fuzzy photo of a personal or an A5 which you can't scale against anything it's not easy to tell them apart!

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    2. And "leather" that is actually leather-look (ie: vinyl plastic)

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  20. I've recently discovered Philofaxy (fantastic) while searching for a larger filo to use for my postgrad teacher training course which starts in a fortnight (I currently have a grape pocket domino). In an ideal world - the one where I have endless funds - I would quite like a Malden or Finchley. However, thanks to a very nice lady I found in Adspot, I should be in possession of a personal size lavender Domino next week, which will be just the thing to keep all my Uni stuff in check.

    The only downside I can see to Philofaxy, is that I've spent an awful lot of time perusing the site that I should be using to finish some pre-course work instead!

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  21. I'm a new poster here--but like so many of you, I'm a big fan of all things Filofax! I have a question for anyone who can help me...

    Have any of you ever purchased on a Filofax international site, where you don't know the language? If so, which one--and how did it work out?

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    1. Filofax France more than once. Their service is excellent. I am in the US and received an order from them quicker than from Filofax USA.

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    2. Thanks so much!!!!
      I just ordered from them this morning, and as you, I'm in the US also! How long did it take to get your package?

      Do you speak fluent French?

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    3. I emailed Filofax France in English, with a Google Translate French translation (and apologising for the iffy translation), just in case.

      They replied in English. :)

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  22. Six days and English only.

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