Diet.....

So Christmas is well out of the way, and I see that a lot of you (on Twitter) are doing Weight Watchers and other healthy and diet type things.

We all try to lose a few pounds after filling ourselves over Christmas with mince pies, Christmas cakes, Christmas pudding and custard... all those roast potatoes... that lovely stuffing and bacon wrapped sausages around the turkey...... And then there is the boxes of chocolates that seem to hang on that bit longer in to the new year... and they all become a memory when you put the boxes out in the recycling along with other discarded boxes from Christmas.

January arrives... new diary... new goals and all that stuff and it's 'Oh I must go on a diet' 'I can't get in any of my clothes' ..... where did I put my waist band extender...

But what else do you do at New Year.....???

Yes, you suddenly grab those nice new 2013 diary inserts that you have had since August. Click open your Filofax rings.... using both the tabs of course (yes Steve...always!!) and then you slot in the whole 12 months in one go.

Then you try and close the rings... using both hands (yes Steve is there any other way!!) and then there's a problem... your Filofax has now 'bulked up' like a Michelin Man....

Time to put your Filofax on a diet too.... here are some tips...

1. Don't put in all of your diary insert, only put in as much as you need.. 3, 4, 6 months at a time. 
2. Supplement your diary insert with a Year Planner for the more distant events and appointments. 
3. Archive previous months as they pass.
4. Don't carry lots and lots of spare pages, only enough for the time you will be away from your stash of inserts and goodies.
5. How many sheets of stickers and sticky notes do you really need to carry? 
6. Do you really need to carry maps and tube maps when you have no intention of going on the tube for several weeks?
7. Do an annual or bi-annual review of all the pages you are carrying, check the names and addresses pages too. 

So, you have done all of that (nodding.... yes Steve...) But how much is too much in a Filofax? 

Good question... I don't have a definitive answer on this one.

If you open your Filofax with all the pages to one side and you can just see the join in the rings, then you are most probably ok.

Any more than that and you will start to have problems turning pages. If you are seeing the inside edge of the paper getting folded and creased that is another sign that you have too much paper in your Filofax.

If you are using Personal size, then remember you have quite a range of ring sizes from 11 mm in a Slimline to 30 mm in a Personal Zip to choose from for however many pages you want to carry.

I personally use a compact for most of the year, with a reduced set of pages I can just about manage with the 15 mm ring size. But if I'm travelling back to UK or for a few days if I am doing something different to the ordinary and I need to add in other pages etc to the set up I often go up a size to a normal 23mm Personal or to the extreme of the 30 mm Cuban Zip...

So don't be afraid about those 'other' unused Personal size organisers in the cupboard you can use them at other times of the year as you need to expand and contract your set up....

Oh and Mr Malden above has been relieved of all those excess pounds... sorry pages after the photo was taken!