Last week, we talked about choosing a diary setup for the new year. I know I'm still tweaking my setup!
Does your setup include more than one calendar in use at a time? Perhaps a fold-out year or a monthly diary for an overview with Wp2P for the weekly details?
Do you find it easy to keep track of two or more calendars at a time? Or does it create as many problems as it solves?
I use three: monthly, weekly, and daily. All in increasing amounts of detail. I modified DIYfish's Life Mapping Vol. 2. It works for me. So far. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Jen
DeleteHow do youcombine these diaries in the binder? Presumably you have a full year of monthly pages, then a certain amount (detail appreciated of weekly, and similarly daily. I used to work on a full year's monthly, plus 2-3 weeks of weekly, plus a week of daily. Do you keep these in *different* sections? Do you have them arranged so that you can see all three at once, and if so, how? Sorry for so many questions, but I'm really interested in the 'nuts and bolts' of this. If you'd rather go off-list I'm on davidpopely (at) googlemail (dot) com
I am also using DIYfish v2. I keep all 12 monthly pages, then the current month of weekly/daily. So I have the complete January month in with the complete11 monthly pgs behind. When I get into the last week of January I will add in February. I keep mostly the monthly calendar, then Sunday night I fill in the weekly page, each night I fill in the next daily page. sometimes I add detailed items to daily pages in advance because I need that room. Does that make sense?
DeleteSorry for the late reply; other side of the pond and all. I'll try to post something on the FB group, but I'll try to describe it. I'm in an A5. The design has the month fold out. Imagine a full size A4 paper. The left 2/5 of the page is the month, the next 1/10 is the week, and the rest is the first day of the week. In this case, Monday. The holes are on the right. This becomes a "folder" for the rest of the month. Each week is then printed and trimmed to is lies over the week on the full page. The days are further trimmed so they fit over the first page of the week. The original design has part of the week page folded, but I've redesigned so that doesn't happen.
DeleteI plan on keeping the full year of months in my planner; then previous, current and future months with their dailies in their folder.
I fold the month back because I don't like writing on it unsupported. I'm sure someone has pictures but I'll see what I can do.
Right now I'm using month on two pages and day per page combined with week on two pages (I was inspired by WeekDate planners, then realized they were exactly like Raine's inserts just swap the beautiful graphics with boring grey lines). I'm currently toying with the idea of using a yearly fold out but I'm just not sure if I'll ever refer to that ever. I've only been using it for a week so I don't have any strong opinions about it yet.
ReplyDeleteI'm on that arrangement as well but I'm afraid Filofax monthly inserts are barely acceptable ( sorry but 'rubbish' springs to mind) , so I'll probaly upgrade to Philofaxy reprints as soon as I conquer my printer! I like the day to a page and that gathers my day in its detail and when needed the week on 2 pages keeps my week in order and it's useful to see my coming week at a glance. Monthly is where the forward planning occurs. I'm trying Personal this year, after years of A5 and so all the inserts replace the A5 space. Until I can find the perfect binder quality in B6 ( see www.diarylovers.com for my ideal size!),then I'll be happy enough with personal size, but we always need a dream don't we?
DeleteRiding in 2014 on a completely different horse.... Ditching the standard week on 2 pages, and moving my journaling into the oversized Flex notebook and Moleskin note books for individual interests. My 2014 binder is my Temperley Affair, which has more than enough room for all three note books, and a Week on A Page diary as an index to my life and the notebooks. Really looking forward to a bound journal at the end of the year on my self instead of storage binders....
ReplyDeleteBest diary combination I *ever* used (and I used it for years) was the Time Manager combination of monthly, weekly and daily pages. Complete detail at one end of the scale, combined with a monthly perspective situated out to the left. Sadly the user manual is no longer in my possession, but for old times' sake I have posed one of my own photos of the layout at
ReplyDeletehttp://www.picpaste.com/14d7a91ca084190e0dfff1a11723fc70.jpg
I'm very interested in combining different formats in the same binder (although concerned about how *big* a binder that will need to be, so any further examples greatly appreciated.
Wow, that looks darn near perfect! *thinks how to recreate it in Folio*
DeleteThis is really similar to the DIYfish layout.
DeleteMonthly and weekly for me, although I'm considering going to monthly and daily. I tried DIYfish month-week-day format and found I didn't use all three at the same time. I've also tried the fold out year-at-a-glance in the past and didn't refer to it often enough to justify buying one again.
ReplyDeletehi Kate. Once again, my question is - how do you work this? Are both diaries in the same section? Different sections? Do you use 'top tabs' to separate them? As ever, it's the nuts and bolts and not just the principle in which i am interested. Many thanks in advance!
DeleteI'm using both MO2P and WO2P, it's working perfectly for me! :)
ReplyDeleteFirst section in my planner is my month at a glance, followed by the yearly pull-out, followed by the week on 2 pages. The monthly is just for quick reference. I only use calendar and reminder stickers here since there isn't much room to write; the yearly is for work only, where I record meetings, training, time away, such as sick or vacation days, and overtime (which I'm working a lot of these days);the weekly is for all the details, scheduling and tracking. My system is simple and works quite well
ReplyDeleteI have modified my layout this year. I am using Ray and Steve's 5 line time management diary still, but have printed the week per view pages back to back and am inserting a month' s worth of the task pages in between printed back to back. I have simplified these into 2 columns - home tasks and work tasks and e.mail/phone-5 lines and daily tasks-2 lines and coming up-1 line at the bottom. The weekend has 1 box- only disadvantage to my system, but I tend to not need 2 boxes of space. Works for me.... as work and home stuff centralised in one place. I also use monthly pages for a work overview.... currently job apps, a full year's worth and then 1 page for my daily overview.... but only use daily when life is getting frantic and needs more planning hour by hour. My yearly pull out is again work based is for days worked on supply, school holidays, INSET training and any sick leave absence. .
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone have any experience of the Original so far as whether or not it lays flat is concerned? I'd like to know how both the Personal *and* the A5 do in this respect (more on this another time!). Many thanks......
ReplyDeletePersonal:
Deletehttp://www.plannerisms.com/2013/05/the-original-personal-size-filofax-in.html
A5:
http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-original-review.html
Both lay flat, the leather is thick enough to provide a firm writing surface (stiff enough) in your hand. Unlike say a Malden, which is uber floppy!
Thanks Steve - much appreciated! As you say, the Malden is indeed uber-floppy, and the Cuban a little too inflexible for me, hence it's rare appearances in the wild! Might find its way onto Adspot soon........
Deletejust got an original (Fluro pink personal) arrived this afternoon and lies flat for writing:)
DeleteI only don't use the daily format, since I dont need such a detailed daily planning.
ReplyDeleteI use weekly on 2P (I finally found the a5 professional week! And think it's he best format for me!) for everyday life & work, I use the monthly on 1P just to take quick notes or recurring events or monthly deadlines and use the year planner in order to oragnize vacations during the year :)
I have a full year of WO2P in the binder and I have in the past also had a week of DPP in, but found they had too much space sometimes as my days are largely broken into reasonable chunks of time rather than zillions of things that need planning time-wise to fine detail so this year I think I will experiment with the Philofaxy 2 days per page diaries.
ReplyDelete@DavidP - I will have a today marker in the WO2P and another in the 2DPP sections. In the morning I will look at the WO2P and weekly task-list and plan out the day on the 2DPP sheets. I have all year of WO2P, no monthly sheets (can't ever work out the granularity of things to go in them). Appts that arise while I have the relevant 2DPP sheets in will go straight into the right day. Anything further ahead goes into the WO2P sheets. In the weekly review, any firm appts would be copied into the appropriate 2DPP sheets and the rest of the tasks planned around them. Does that make sense? Happy to liaise off-board if easier?
What great detail - thank you! Yes, that makes perfect sense tome. I agree with you about the monthly sheets, I have the same issue with the yearly planner. 'd use a 2015 yearly though, just for outlining business trip dates etc......Thanks again!
DeleteI use an A5 zipped Holborn, which contains a year planner and MO2P, WO2P vertical and DO2P inserts. They all have separate sections in the order above. I keep a year of each section except for the daily inserts, where I only keep a month at a time. The year planner is at the front of my Filofax and contains birthdays, doctor / dental appointments, holidays and the short-circuit racing dates as my husband is a flag marshal. Behind that is a year's worth of monthly MO2P inserts - this is an experiment as I haven't felt the need to use monthly pages before, and I worry this might be unnecessary duplication. Behind that is a full year's worth of WO2P vertical, which is the key to my planner - this is the section I use the most, planning work and personal appointments with lots of colour-coding. And behind that is one month of DO2P (Time Management), which I use for daily planning, task management, focusing on my goals, as well as a bit of journaling.
ReplyDeleteEach day I check the WO2P, then update the daily pages with tasks, daily actions to reach my goals, and appointments for that day. I also do a regular weekly review to keep everything in sync.
It does work for me as it doesn't take much effort to keep the different sections in sync, and I always know that the WO2P section is totally up-to-date. I will probably abandon the monthly planner as it feels like unnecessary duplication for very little benefit.
It makes sense to me. I think all the different Do2P, Wo2P, Mo2P options work as long as they don't duplicate information. Nothing wrong with having more than one Mo2P either, one for travel, one for steps stepped, one for Birthdays, one as blogpost planner.
DeleteWhat a great suggestion. Perhaps I could use my MO2P to track my goals instead of duplicating what is in my diary.
DeleteI'm using Midori as my day-plan.
ReplyDeleteI have a Bullet List of *everything* at the back of one booklet, from buying hen food to booking a table for lunch to ideas for possible blog posts.
I use the MTN sideways not vertically, so on the upper half of the spread I have a Mind Map for my day and on the lower half I have a review of that day which I do the following morning.
My morning starts with the review, I make a C/F (Carried Forward) list and do these things first, if they aren't important enough to be done first they go back on the Bullet List for another time.
Then there is a -ves list. eg, should have done x first, worked too late to go for a swim.
Then a +ves list eg. I followed up email from A means opportunity to meet Mrs Big next week, blog stats increasing, accounts up to date.
Finally I note down the one thing I really want to get done today (remember today is on the next page).
I turn the page and Mind Map my day. Diagrams, colours, aims, people, goals. I don't tick things off at all, it's just a visual representation of the patterns and how task A is linked to task D.
This could equally be done in an A5 FF but I tried it in a Personal and it was too small and the rings in Landscape got in the way. I do it in MTN because it's not as huge as A5 to carry.
I also have my Mo2P booklet in Midori because it's what I carry around.
I also use an A5 Filofax each day, this is my "desk". I use the TM Wo2P and each day I log sales numbers, bank balance, invoices paid. This gives me a financial view over a week. I'm not an accountant, so a spreadsheet doesn't work for me as an overview and actually writing the numbers down with a pencil makes them more real.
I use the flip out Monthly Overview which comes with the TM set as a Time Tracker, and colour the boxes according to what I worked on. Parcelling up goods and posting is red, dyeing time is green, admin is navy, blogging is purple etc. I can see at a glance how much time I am spending on each area of the business.
I use other sections of the A5 to keep receipts (in Ray's expenses envelope), to archive dye recipes so I can reproduce colours, and a section for stock control for dyes, yarns, postage paraphernalia, labels etc.
I tried doing it all in MTN and I end up going back through them to find a recipe, or to see how long ago I bought pink dye and how long it's lasted, it was cumbersome, the FF sections work much better for this sort of information retrieval.
The A5 is more of a record keeping device but it allows me to add photos or other inspirational things and to store them easily.
I tried very hard to use one system, but it just didn't work for me.
I'm using three this year; one week's worth of two-pages-per-day (Daytimer), one year's worth of two-pages-per-week (filofax, ruled), and six months worth of month-on-one-page (tabbed, Daytimer). The months are interleaved in the weekly diary to help me flip to a certain month quickly and give me space on the backside for a monthly to-do list, plus a quick reference to use to plot due dates and track things like pay-days, time off, all-day events. The weekly pages handle all my scheduling and forward tickler items. The day pages are slotted in ahead of the weekly/monthly combined diary, and I use two today markers, one clear (which is much thicker) and one frosted which I can differentiate by feel. The day pages handle all my dayplanning - time and task management. After years of compulsively carrying around EVERYTHING in my planner, I have divvied out my reference information into a Franklin planner kept at home, so only my diaries and a slimline address book with phone numbers, account details, and password hints and a few alphabetically filed bits of essential information (staff roster with contact info, master work schedules, a timemap) are in my daily carry. This has resulted in a massively slimmed down planner.
ReplyDeleteI really only use one calendar in the Personal malden, but I am trying to use 2 as I have an A5 with a 2014 calendar (and a Mini as well). To be honest, i like to keep everything simple and concise. I've been using the A5 to plan finances, but I use it as much as I also use spreadsheets for that. My life is not busy enough to warrant two calendars and I hope it never is!
ReplyDeleteIt's very likely that I will leave most of my A5 and Mini calendars unused.
In my personal Malden I use a fold out year in view for 2014 (in front of all the rest of the calendars), a 2014 two page per month and then my 2014 WO2P. My WO2P for each month goes immediately behind each monthly calendar. Then a fold out 2015 (behind all the rest of the calendars),
ReplyDeleteI hope that makes sense!
I'm trying Kanban, using week on one page, plus a Filo pull-out 2014 for appts.
ReplyDeleteI'm currently using MO2P and WO2P. I had monthly pages last year but didn't utilise them, and this year I'm determined to stick with them. They're just easier for deadlines, and other important notices that are upcoming. So far it's working quite well! I have my monthly pages coming before the weekly. Last year I had the monthly pages at the back which I think stopped me from using them.
ReplyDeleteI use a Franklin Covey compact binder (a black Aurora with 1.25" rings) and carry FC tabbed monthly (12 months) and FC 2 page per day calendars (1 month), with simple mead note pages as weekly task lists slotted behind the monthly page. The calendars are at the back of the binder. In the front are five tabbed sections: Notes/In, Writing (subdivided with flags by WIP), Projects (personal stuff, subdivided), Work (subdivided by project) and Unscheduled. Aside from the FC monthly/daily pages, all I use in this book are Mead note pages, which are Filofax sized. Using two sizes of paper doesn't bother me as all the wider pages are at the rear. Just bought a compact Pennybridge to hold my shopping section, which used to make the binder too big. And as the page size is the same as my main planner I can jot a list while at work and transfer it directly to the Pennybridge before I go shopping. Have sorted out my Uncalendar as a health tracker for the year, and it's working very well in that capacity. So far this arrangement actually seems to be working for me!
ReplyDeleteI have 3ish months worth of Dodo Pad (A5) in my Filo at any one time, I store the previous months in a sleeve for reference. I use the Dodo yearly planner included in the pad for any far off dates and birthday records.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I would like to operate multiple calendar views in a really synced way, I think I would struggle to get into the habit of transferring information. I keep a limited amount of months as I use a 15mm custom binder mechanism in a Flex, so I don't have much space - it keeps the weight and bulk down.
OK a funny to share since it is "free for all Friday". My daughter flew out last Friday. On her third flight she ran into a big hiccup, long story short her luggage was lost. Today they called her and asked for her to name items to make sure it was hers, the identifying items were the new filofax inserts!! Just another reason to always keep it with you :)
ReplyDeleteHello! I have been following Philofaxy for quite a while and enjoy reading the posts. I checked out the Filofax website yesterday and saw that they were very low on stock. Does anyone know when they start increasing their inventory again? Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteI bought the Franklin Covey Classic weekly leadership refill. I don't have a Franklin Covey Classic binder but I have a Filofax A5 Boston. I thought about not keeping the Filofax A5 Boston and buying a Franklin Covey binder. Then I would not have to trim and punch the pages for the Filofax Boston. And the Classic leadership refill is pretty massive because it includes the month and week pages, about 30 notes pages, dividers, etc. Also there is an extra notes page in between each week. So I was ready to buy a FC Classic binder but I decided against it. I bought two Filofax binders in the past 6 months, some planner accessories, and several inserts. It is too much stuff. The other deterrent was that if I buy a FC binder then I have to continue using the corresponding inserts the next year. I don't have a FC hole punch for the Classic size and I won't buy one. Thus, I can't punch different inserts for a FC binder. The leadership refill has a very nice layout with a column for tasks on the left and a column for appointments on the right. I don't prefer the notes page in between each week because it is too much extra paper. It would be good if Filofax made a refill with a similar layout. The writing space has no color or design. There is some color on the top but it is subtle. In the end I trimmed and punched the leadership pages for my Filofax A5 Boston. It was easy and did not take too much time. I placed the entire month calendar, 8 months of weekly pages, and the FC dividers in it. I removed all of the Filofax materials except the clear sheet and top loading envelope. None of the times were affected by punching because the appointment column is on the right. The leadership pages look great in my Filofax A5 Boston, a stay at home planner. However, after I use this refill I probably won't buy a future one because of the excessive paper and the duplicate dividers and pages that accompany each pack. For the next time I will buy a simple refill without the extra notes pages. For my main planner, I am using my compact Luxe. For a brief time, I was using my personal planner with 1.2 inch rings but it is too thick. In my Luxe, I have my same setup and the month and week pages. Even though the Boston and Luxe have smaller rings they are great binders for a streamlined system.
ReplyDeleteGreat discussions today folks. This is why I enjoy Philofaxy so much !
ReplyDeleteI bought a diary with a week to a view on a page, and the second page for notes. This works well in my A5 Malden which is my main Filofax, I got the rainbow diary from an Etsy seller, Kiddy Qualia, https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/KiddyQualia I have the planner from Filofax of a month over two pages, and I see that Kiddy does one that is similar.
ReplyDeleteI use the diary as a day to day, with notes for what I need to do for that day. The planner is good to see what is happening and birthdays for a longer time than a week.
I also use the finance pages to record what I spend and make for my business, which is useful when I'm at events, with the computer as a full record.
I also have my glaze recipes, I have them in a note book too, they are really important to my pottery business.
I also have knitting notes, and just random things in a separate note section.
The set up is almost the same as last year, and it seemed to work well, so this is my second go at it.
I also have a Personal Malden that tends to go out with me, with the same planner as in my A5, and plenty of room for notes. It's a cut down version of the day to day version in my A5.
I'm thisclose to hopping on the Filofax train but in my search of trying to narrow down whether I want a Personal or A5 (please chime in with more help!!!), I found what's called Lucrin. Has anyone else have heard of the brand or ever bought one of their organizers? They have TONS of colors, some which are more appealing than Filofax, and I'd love to get mine customized with my name. Any feedback or thought on Lucrin would be appreciated!
ReplyDeleteI can only speak for myself but I went from Pocket to Personal to A5 in the course of my Filofaxing - My writing is quite big and spidery and my organisation of information is visual rather than linear. I also get given lots of pieces of A4 or A5 paper and I have found A5 to be easier to keep these bits and pieces in (though they can be folded to fit Personal) and I love the extra space for writing and 'mapping' my thoughts.
DeleteI still use my Personal for taking on holiday as its more portable for that purpose and I like keeping travel information seperate.
And check out another for comparison, Aspinal of London.
ReplyDeleteI use 2xmonthly + weekly + daily. Probably sounds like overkill but I use them all. I've got two everyday binders - my Slimline which is my wallet and goes everywhere with me has a years worth of month to view - this is the family calendar as I'm a housewife and mother.
ReplyDeleteMy at home personal binder is a Franklin Quest compact with huge rings. I'm a fan writer and heavily involved in fandom, and have two years worth of month to view which is my writing/fandom calendar because I plan quite far ahead for events. It was actually a stapled booklet calendar sent to me by a friend in the states, but is the perfect personal filo size, so I removed the staples, cut on the fold and punched :D Very pretty pages, too.
My week to view I keep 6 months to a year in my binder depending on what else I have going on that might take up space. That takes family + fandom stuff so I can prioritize. It's another bound planner pulled apart and hole punched. I think it cost me $2.50 ;)
Then I have my day to page. This mostly gets filled in the day before and has All The Detail. Whatever I'm writing at the time and need to continue, moderator duties for that day, plus family stuff like Hubby's shifts, whatever the kids are doing, housework reminders etc. I also use it for a bit of journalism. The daily pages are the only ones I keep once the date has passed as they're a record as well as a tool.
I need all these things because I have the WORST memory. I wouldn't be able to do as much as I do without my filos <3
Journaling. Not journalism. Damn autocorrect!
DeleteI love my Personal Mo2P and Wo2P, although I have to ask myself, 'How on Earth did you get through 2013 without a Mo2P?'
ReplyDelete