Do you scope?

In the last eight or nine months a new or relatively new application has been spreading amongst our community known as Periscope.

Periscope is an app that runs on most smartphones that lets you live stream (broadcast) or watch streams from the people you 'follow'

So in a way it is like You Tube, but live and with interaction... so if you are watching a live Periscope you can type questions and the person doing the Periscope will see your questions on their screen and be able to answer your questions as they broadcast... or try to!

I find it is quite a simple app to use and Periscope save your video so others can watch it later for up to 24 hours on replay. You can also save your own broadcast to your phone so you can edit it and upload it to You Tube if you wish.

In some ways I prefer the freedom that Periscope gives me to do a quick and simple broadcast there's no editing afterwards or long up load to You Tube and all that stuff which if you have ever done any You Tube videos you will appreciate that to do a 5 minute video can sometimes take you may be 5 hours!

So with Periscope you might be more motivated to do more frequent broadcasts.

To date I have only done a few broadcasts, but they have been fun to do and I plan on doing some more to explore the format and use it to show people items from my collection in detail.

I put my phone on a tripod so that I have both hands free, but a tripod isn't essential.

Periscope is an off-shoot of Twitter, but you now don't need to have a Twitter account to access or use Periscope. There are plenty of tutorials on the internet on how to use the app which is still developing so I will not go in to detail here.

So whom should you follow?

• @philofaxy - Me! 
• @ritasedani - Rita Sedani
• @tweetiepiecollage - Nancy
• @plannerperfect - Jenny
• @laurynwithlove - Lauyn Orr
• @theplannerssociety - Christy Tomlinson
• @beckyhigginsLLC - Becky Higgins
• @misstrenchcoat - Alexis 
• @teddiconfetti - Teddi Confetti
• @kellymcneill - Kelly McNeill
• @AmyTangerine - Amy Tan
• @Tim_Holtz - Tim Holtz
• @BohoPaperCottage - Kat
• @carriemelvin - Carrie Melvin
• @CyninHawaii - Cyn
• @Chrissie71 - Christina
• @mypurpleylife - Jennifer
• @carrielynn - Carie Harling

And many many more. Look out for invites to watch other people's broadcasts on the app, and share ones you are watching with your followers and you will soon build up a variety of people to watch. 

We vary in what we 'scope' about so you can dip in and out of different ones until you find what you are looking for. 

I look forward to seeing more of our readers on Periscope in 2016. 

Reader Under The Spotlight - Flavia.

Today I would like to introduce you to Flavia.

Hi everyone, I’m Flavia, a 26 years old medical student from Rome, Italy. Although planners are not so usual in Italy, I’m absolutely addicted to the Filofax world and organization in general. I love watching videos on Youtube and recently I started an Instagram account (fioridiciliegiolove) and a blog (fioridiciliegiolove.wordpress.com) in which I also talk about my planners.

1. When did you buy your first organiser and what was it?

I bought my first organizer last year in July, a BCC pocket in raspberry and, only two days later, I bought an Original in Fluoro Pink.

2. What other brands have you used or considered using?

Ohh, I only love Filofax! It’s an addiction!!!

3. Out of the organisers you own which is your current favourite?

I absolutely love all of my Dominos! They are so gorgeous, resistant and you can fill in a Domino everything you want!! I love them especially because they are non leather: I’m new to the vegan world and, although I have some leather planners, I have decided to buy leather planners no more.

4. How many filofax or other brands of organizers do you own?

A5:

• Saffiano aquamarine
• Domino patent hot pink
• Domino patent turquoise

Personal:  

• Electric blue Finsbury
• Original fluoro pink
• Original patent fuchsia
• Original pillarbox red
• Saffiano springboard
• Saffiano raspberry
• Saffiano poppy red
• Domino pink
• Domino patent hot pink
• Domino patent turquoise
• Cover Story flamingo
• Aqua Lockwood

Pocket:     

• Raspberry Finsbury
• Malden ochre
• Domino patent hot pink
• Saffiano raspberry
• Saffiano springboard
• BCC
• Patent duck egg
• Willow
• Pennybridge raspberry

Compact:

• Lavander Patent
• Saffiano aqua
• Saffiano zip pear ( my wallet)

5. What is the oldest organizer in your collection?

My pocket BCC (Breast Cancer Campaign)

6. What do you use your organizers for?

My Saffiano zip is my wallet, I love it is full of pockets and it’s so resistant!

The pocket Finsbury is my “on the go” planner with a lot of plain sheets for notes, a list section (to buy, master to do, on going) and a phone numbers section.

My electric blue Finsbury is my spiritual journal in which I hold notes from my bible study and bible verses I like to carry with me everywhere.

My A5 Domino patent in hot pink is my “stay at home” planner in which I have the weekly calendar, a blog section, passwords section, meal diary section and lists section. I also have some top open envelopes in which i hold important documents and cute things.

7. How many sections do you have in your organiser and what is each section used for?

• My pocket Finsbury: weekly, notes, addresses and phone numbers, lists
• My personal Finsbury: notes,bible study, bible verses, prayer requests, thank god for…
• My A5 Domino patent: weekly, blog, passwords, meal planner, university, lists

8. What was the feature about Filofax you like most?

The extreme customization. I love to carry with me everywhere all my world and with Filofax I can have always with me photos of my dog, guinea pigs, parents and all of my precious stuff

9. If you could design you own Filofax what would it feature?

It would be a non structured denim filofax in pocket size with a large zip pocket on the left and two elasticated pen loops…very resistant and non leather!!!

10. How do you carry your Filofax?

Sincerely I don’t like protective folders for my planners, so my pocket Finsbury just gets dropped into my bag without protection.

11. Which Filofax in the current range do you like the most? Are you going to buy it?

I’m in love with the new release “denim dots” in pocket size. Domino patent aubergine spots in pocket and personal are also in my wish list.

12. What is the most you have ever spent on a Filofax or other brand of organiser? Which model?

I spent 79 Euro for the Original in fluoro pink and also for the Finsbury in electric blue, but the most expensive amongst my planners is the Lockwood in aqua which I bought for 120 euro.

13. What’s your favourite Filofax tip or hack?

I’m in love with cute planner charms and magnetic bookmarks.

14. Turning to Philofaxy, what do you like the most?

I like the free inserts and all the articles about other planner lovers like me!

15. And what do you not like about Philofaxy?

Oh, Philofaxy is perfect!!!

16. What was the last music track you downloaded or bought?

“Hello” Adele

17. Have you ever attended a Philofaxy meet up? If not you intended to one day?

I have never attended a meet up before but I would love to attend one so much!!! Maybe in Rome? (it would be fantastic!)

18. What was the last movie you watched?

Disney’s Pixar “Inside Out”

19. What was the last book you read?

“Nemesis” Agatha Christie.

Thank you Flavia.

As you know we are always looking for new people to appear in our 'Reader Under Spotlight feature, you don't have to be 'well known' or a long term user to be considered to appear in this 'spot'.

So please contact Steve philofaxy at gmail dot com today. Thank you.

Web Finds - 29 December 2015

So I hope you have had a good weekend.

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of blog posts and videos from around the internet.

So here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.

1. Setting up my 2016 Planner - Palestblue
2. A5 Filofax Domino/Heidi Swapp Planner Related - My Life Re-Organised
3. Planner set up happy planner in my filofax - Karyn Bennett
4. Filofax set-up - Lifestyle Forever
5. Filofax Saffiano Compact ZIP Organiser/Agenda Aquamarine - Sylia
6. Filofax | Divider & Co | Do It Yourself - Sabrina von Sphingidae 
7. Filofax Wochendeko Personal Bridle - Lumimi
8. FILOFAX | JAHRESZEITEN DIVIDER | DO IT YOURSELF #2 - Sabrina von Sphingidae 
9. FILOFAX KIKKIK Set Up, Inspirationen, Aufbewahrungstasche - Violetta Kanal
10. Filofax Wochendeko KW 53 - Happy New Year - Yourshadowstouch
11. Gillio Pocket Compagna Planner Setup - BGDino
12. Gillio Compagna Flip Through (Yes I was nervous) - Heather Thomas
13. VDS senior planner and how I'm using it. - One Fantastic Find!
14. Plan with me ❤️ Filofax Week 52 | Amy's Planner Studio - Amy's Planner Studio
15. Filofax Set Up 2016 Teil 1 - Leni andstyle
16. Filofax Set Up 2016 Teil 2 - Leni andstyle
17. Filofax Planner Set up 2016 {[English]} - Filophile
18. Vi presento la mia filofax♡ - Micaela's creations
19. La mia prima agenda: Filofax Saffiano A5 Aquamarine. (Decorazione agenda) - Francesa Piombino
20. Plan With Me! Personal Filofax, Kikki K, Color Crush Planner - Couture By Krystal
21. Filofax Comparison: Finsbury vs Original - randompastimes
22. Filofax: what I do to prepare for next year - Life Happens
23. Filofax Malden Personal Setup - Tuddel Kram meets Planner-Liebe
24. Filofax Compacts Malden and Holborn Review - JMansay art-dsgn 
25. [Unboxing] Weihnachten für den Filofax - YasminLowe
26. Planner Update | How I Use My Filofax as a Bullet Journal - RhomanysRealm  

• For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
• Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 

My Week Posts

1. My Week #51 (2015) - Joanny White
2. Filofaxing: Last week - Olga Plans
3. My week #193 - Paper Lovestory
4. My Week #52 (2015) - Joanny White
5. My Week #53 - Polkadot Paradiso 
6. December daily 2015 - Lucy Wonderland

And if you didn't manage to complete all of the crossword from last week, here is the answer sheet.

Enjoy.

Free For All Tuesday No. 256

M2 Diary Inserts

Filofax have discontinued diary inserts for the M2 organiser size for 2016.

The M2 size is similar in page size to Mini but in landscape format rather than portrait.

We are making the two designs available today as ready to download and print sets for 2016. These come as Word documents or PDFs. If using the PDF files be sure to set it to print at full size as explained here.

But if you want to use these layouts as a starting point for your own personalised creation, then you'll need to download the base Word file and the Excel data source. When you've made all the changes you like to the template, you can perform a mail merge to create your own insert for any period you like. Check out our Free Diary Inserts link if you want more information on how to do this, including videos.

M2 Week on Two Pages - Horizontal.

You can download and print finished versions for this year from our diary inserts page.

Download source files: Word file and Excel file (you'll need both)

M2 Week on Two Pages - Vertical. 

You can download and print finished versions for this year from our diary inserts page.

Download source files: Word file and Excel file (you'll need both)

Once again a big thank you to Ray at 'My Life All In One Place' for his hard work and co-operation with helping to create and support us with all these inserts.


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.

Reader Under The Spotlight - Rick

Today I would like to introduce you to Rick. 


My name is Rick.  I am a Practice Manager for a group of Physicians working outside of Boston, MA.  I am a single dad with two teen-aged boys who are interested in acting and musical theatre.

1. When did you buy your first organiser and what was it? 

Bretano’s bookstore in NYC 1993 - a black College Personal Filofax that is not made of leather

2. What other brands have you used or considered using?

A small ring binder from the office supply but that size paper isn’t fountain pen friendly so it’s Filofax all the way.

3. Out of the organisers you own which is your current favourite (Style and Size)?
   
Light brown Personal Malden

4. How many Filofax or other brands of organisers do you own?

2 Personal College Filofax, 3 Slimline, 1 Pocket, 1 Personal Epping (my first leather one), a brown Personal Kendall, the brown Personal Malden and my newest is a purple Personal Malden - for a total of 10.

5. What is the oldest organiser in your collection?
 
The black Personal College.

6. What do you use your organisers for?

• Brown Personal Malden is the main go-to for my calendar, to-do list and inspirational quotes etc.
• Purple Personal Malden sits on nite-stand for “middle of the nite” ideas and such. 

The others are for storage of reference materials; 1 for finance and economics, 1 for management & performance review forms, 1 for books read, movies/music, 1 for travel.

I like to copy articles from newspapers and magazines, reduce them on my copier and cut to Personal size.  Some examples are: study tips, how to write a footnote, a sort of innovators toolkit, managing change, tips on leadership, how to analyze a company’s financials, an example of the use of game theory, moving checklist, custom formats for spreadsheet dates & times, and of course lists such as 20 ways to stay creative, conceptual blocks that inhibit problem solving, time management and productivity tips.

7. How many sections do you have in your organiser and what is each section used for?

First sheet is left fold out full year school calendar, right is monthly calendars-current and next month, then sections; Priority, Contacts, Templates, Reference, Paper and Notes.  Priority is for current projects,

• Contacts is phone #’s, passwords and URL’s, 
• Templates is for bills paid, travel info (Philofaxy template), lined sheets of different spacing to place behind unlined paper to keep my writing in line, and various work related pages,
• Reference is for conversion charts, lists (25 docs you need to leave your kids before you go) travel security tips, frequently misspelled words, and positive “get out of this rut” type quotes of which I have several pages, 
• Paper is mostly my own using a paper cutter including Clairefontaine, Tomoe River and some Filofax brand papers. 
• Notes section is for a few poems and articles from magazines that I copied to a Personal size 1 page memo (Philofaxy template) I use with an old fashioned typewriter font – I liked the one you use on “Free for all Tuesday” and found my own.

8. What was the feature about Filofax you like most?
   
Personal size is small enough to carry yet holds 100 sheets including 6 dividers comfortably.

9. If you could design your own Filofax what would it feature?

Pen loop on left side only so I can use the back slot pad in Malden without the loop crowding.  I would also like a trifold or pullout section but the pen loop is in the way.

10. How do you carry your Filofax?

I only carry it for travel otherwise it sits on my desk

11. Which Filofax in the current range do you like the most? Are you going to buy it?
   
I often think about an A5 but am presently content with my Personals.  I do like the zip up gold-brown leather Malden Personal you showed on Philofaxy awhile back.
   
It’s the one that has been discontinued I think.

12. What is the most you have ever spent on a Filofax or other brand of organiser? Which model?
   
I think I paid close to $200 for the Epping which I bought at the Filofax retail store in Stamford, CT in 1996.

13. What's your favourite Filofax tip or hack?
   
I use tracing paper as a front sheet to-do list as it is see-thru to my calendar and fountain pen friendly.  Got the idea from the Filofax onion skin papers I still have.
   
I also like the Filofax two page memo template with the pink second sheet that is like carbon paper. I occasionally use carbon paper still for memo’s I want to keep a copy of.

14. Turning to Philofaxy, what do you like the most?
   
The “Web Finds” posts are brilliant! And it’s nice to know that I am not alone in my choice of organizational tools.

15. And what do you not like about Philofaxy?
   
What’s not to like? I noticed a post about pens and since I am a fountain pen fan, maybe just a very few more posts on pens that fit the non-expandable loops.

16. What was the last music track you downloaded or bought?
     
My teenagers are into musical theatre so we bought the cd of the current Bdwy show “Alexander Hamilton”- good stuff.  I checked out a batch of fantastic Charlie “Yardbird”
     
Parker CD’s from the local library. I play guitar at a local coffee shop open mic and the last song I worked up was by The Police.

17. Have you ever attended a Philofaxy meet-up? if not do you intend to one day?
     
No, I would have liked to have attended the one in Boston but spend most of my time chauffeuring my boys to rehearsals. Next time, I’m in.

18. What was the last movie you watched?
     
The original version of LeCarre’s Tinker, Tailer, Soldier, Spy with Alec Guiness, Bernard Hepton, Anthony Bate, Michael Jayston, et al.  The absolute best spy story.

19. What was the last book you read?
     
I just finished David McCullough’s “The Wright Brothers” and got chills reading his description of their first attempts at flight.  A great read-highly recommend it!

Thank you Rick.

As you know we are always looking for new people to appear in our 'Reader Under Spotlight feature, you don't have to be 'well known' or a long term user to be considered to appear in this 'spot'.

So please contact Steve philofaxy at gmail dot com today. Thank you.

Web Finds - 26 December 2015

So I hope you have had a good week.

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of blog posts from around the internet, so grab a drink and make yourself for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

1. Readers Favourite Organiser - Leilani
2. Year Goals
3. Free For All Tuesday No. 255
4. Web Finds - 22 December 2015
5. New Filofax releases
6. Philofaxy Christmas Crossword - 2015
7. Free for All Friday No. 371 By Steve, Nan, Laurie and Anita

So here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.

1. Rainbow custom Van Der Spek binder - This Bug's Life
2. My Planneraddict' Solution for 2016 Filofax Planner Pages! - My Summer Touch
3. How to Plan for a Multi-Day Event - Giftie Etcetera
4. Week on 2 Pages - Test Drive #2 [printable] - Planner Fun
5. Making Dividers part 1 - A Random English Life
6. Last 2015 update for the VDS undyed binder – 13.5 months! - This Bug's Life
7. 10 Things You Could Do Before the Year is Over - Time Management Ninja
8. Making Dividers part 2 - A Random English Life
9. Note Paper [printable] - Planner Fun
10. Filofax domino patent: elogio al planner - A little trip in Flavia's world
11. Top Ten Planner Posts of the Year: Post # 7 - Giftie Etcetera
12. New series in 2016: Themed month reviews - Quo Vadis Blog
13. Grade Sheets for Homeschoolers - dated & undated [printable] - Planner Fun
14. Which Filofax to use in 2016? - My Summer Touch
15. My Filofaxes: Mini Black Baroque - A random English life
16. Three Tips for Choosing a Planner - Five sixteenths blog
17. Traditional Jazz in a Mini Filofax - Playing Traditional Jazz

• We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. Do not forget to give your posts a title... 
• Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• For some general tips on Filofax Blogging, please see this post

We are on the look out for more people to take part in Reader Under the Spotlight. If you would like to appear in this feature then please contact Steve : philofaxy at gmail dot com  Thank you.

The videos and 'My week' posts will appear in their own post on Tuesday.

I hope you all have a great Christmas, I'm not quite sure what you will get to see this time next week... who knows!

Enjoy.

Free for All Friday No. 371 By Steve, Nan, Laurie and Anita

We would like to wish you all a merry Christmas and all the best for 2016.

From Anita

I seem to have had a busy and varied time this year with my binders. Looking back, I managed to purchase seven in the year (quite a lot for me), but have since sold four of those. Rather than buying and selling more like I normally do, my plan for now is to keep a small number of planners in different sizes for my changing needs and for when I fancy a change.

Therefore Santa won't be bringing me any binders. I'm currently using my black personal Dundee as my main binder, and a red vintage slimline as a notebook for some of my current projects.

From Laurie
For the past 6 months I've been using my A5 Boston Filofax with my own format printed pages. The A5 Boston is so much slimmer and lighter than any other A5 binder I've ever used, I'm actually able to take it with me in my bag (which I wasn't able to do with other A5 binders due to the size and weight).

My plan was to switch to a slim and lightweight bound planner for 2016 in an attempt to streamline my planning and lighten my load. I thought I could be more efficient by only using weekly pages. That lasted just a few days. I found myself referring to my Filofax over and over: the monthly pages, the info pages, my tabbed sections, etc. I decided to just stick with what works! Turns out it's simpler to work my existing setup than to try to minimize, which actually ended up being more complicated to use. So now I'm looking forward to another organized year with my lovely Boston!

From Nan
Comfort and Joy -- words of the season, and that's what my organisers are to me! I started out the year using 4 Personals: My main planner with 1DpP diary (Cuban), my fitness planner (Apex), a work planner/notetaker (Fusion), and another book for lists and projects (Original) (but mainly ended up being storage!). After a job change, I found the Personal was too small for work, so now I'm back to A5 (Classic) for work, and it's working really well. For journaling, I use large Moleskines.

For 2016, I'm toying around with integrating the fitness, lists, and projects into the main diary by using monthly tabs and carrying few daily pages. I'm also hoping Santa will bring a little extra Christmas money that I can invest in my first Van der Spek!

From Steve
For the last year I've continued to use two organisers an A5 and either a Personal or more recently an A6 size organiser. The A5 remains on my desk, rarely carried around although it did travel with me around the USA/Canada in Summer.

The A5 has been my Van der Spek A5, nice large rings, the complete opposite to Laurie's approach!  The carry around Personal has been a variety of different ones from a Filofax Cavendish, occasionally a Gillio Medium Mia Cara or my Van der Spek Touch Me Standard. More recently I've been using an A6 size as my portable organiser. I am loving this size although I do have occasions to want to go back to using Personal size...

Inserts wise in the A5 the same as I've been using for the past few years The Enhanced TM insert off our own Diary Inserts page... it works for me. And in Personal/A6 a Week on One Page + Notes, again it continues to work for me.

Journal wise I'm still using a bound Quo Vadis day per page planner, I love the paper and it works well with my fountain pens. I'm doing the QV 2016 Page Per Day Challenge next year.

We would all like to wish you all a Happy Christmas and all the best for 2016, thank you for all your continued support during 2015.

Oh did we forget.... it's Friday... so if you want to you are free to discuss anything ring bound organiser related....

Philofaxy Christmas Crossword - 2015

So just a little bit of Christmas fun, no time limits no competition. Just enjoyment. All the answers are Philofaxy or Filofax related and an answer grid will be made available if you need one.

You can download the file here, print it out and fill it in between mince pies, glasses of wine and the odd bit of chocolate.

New Filofax releases

Filofax UK have released four new models just before Christmas. Each is available in Pocket and Personal size.

We see a 'Denim' model returning after so long too...

Order from Filofax UK today.

Web Finds - 22 December 2015

So I hope you have had a good weekend.

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of blog posts and videos from around the internet.

So here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.

1. Unboxing: Malden FiloFax - LipsticknCoffee
2. Filofax Setup December 2015 -SerenDIYpity
3. December 2015 Filofax Setup for work and life - Lisa Rides Again
4. Kikki-k / FiloFax Comparison - Sweet Kawaii Design
5. A Sneak peak at My FiloFax Lockwood!! - MissVickybee
6. Agenda filofax + Cose - Tina Medio
7. What's in my filofax. ... updated version - Jui Baliga
8. Alternative to filofax? Balmoral Collins planner/organiser personal edition - Miss Oz
9. Collins Paris Planner/Organizer | Filofax Dupe/Alternative - Seval
10. Filofax set up - Dorina Page
11. New Personal Filofax Malden Setup - Nicole Smith
12. Filofax Setup: Malden & Jack - LadyMalfoyB
13. My Filofax organiser - Bluetech7753
14. Filofax | ● Geburtstagsgeschenke ● | - Anni_FiloFaxing
15. 5 Способов украсить Filofax | DIY Filofaxing Tips - AliceTheFox
16. Filofax Update |#X-mascember - Katianiz
17. 🎄 Filofax Christmas Setup 2015 🎄 (Deutsch) - Yourshadowtouch
18. Filofax Pocket Malden Zip Setup - K. Perry
19. My personal Filofax original -set up - Christina Weber
20. Planner Walkthrough 3-in-1 (Filofax, Plum Paper, The Happy Planner) - Plannerific_crafter Ashlee
21. A5 Filofax Setup and Planner "Evolution" - Rebecca Frazer
22. December planning with two planners: TN and Gillio - Nancy Zarroli
23. Gillio Compagna Flip Through (Yes I was nervous) - Heather Thomas
24. Van Der Spek Touch Me with Franklin Covey Inserts - Erinnplans
25. VDS senior planner and how I'm using it. - One Fantastic Find!

• For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
• Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 

My Week Posts

1. Christmas Planner decorating with Stef - Mrs Brimbles
2. My week #49 - She's Eclectic
3. SUNSHINE - Letters in November
4. Gold Color Crush - Stationery Starlet
5. My week #192 - Paper Lovestory
6. My week #50 - She's Eclectic
7. My Week #52 - Polkadotparadiso
8. WEEK FIFTY-ONE IN MY MTN - Letters in November
9. Decking out your planner all Christmassy - Mrs Brimbles

Enjoy.

Free For All Tuesday No. 255

Year Goals

When I worked a few years ago I used to be terrible at setting my own work goals for the forthcoming year, I could do them for the members of my team that I managed, but not myself... odd! I think my approach was wrong... anyway too late to worry about it now!... or is it....

As we are getting very close to the New Year, so may be it is time to sit down and plan out your goals for the forthcoming year, yes me included.

These goals can be anything such as lose 30 lbs or kgs in weight, learn to speak a new language, sort out your digital photo collection. Anything that is personal to you.

Having them in a chart in your planner helps you tackle these goals and helps you achieve them without exhausting yourself!

To help you chart your goals Amanda sent us her own templates to help you chart them. She says:

I like to write maybe just one or two big goals in each quarter-year, then use the month and week bits to 'project-manage'.

The weekly goals then get slotted into the diary/planner (so they have half a chance of getting done!).

It's not foolproof, but it might help some. I have found that just writing my goals down isn't enough for me - I then need to do a bit more to make them happen!

The files are now on-line in the Files page:

• Year Goals - .pdf,  .xlsx 

The files are set for A4 but they will 'Z fold' in to an A5 without any problems.  Thank you to Amanda for sharing the files.

Readers Favourite Organiser - Leilani

Today we continue a new series on Philofaxy about readers favourite organisers. Thank you to Leilani for sharing the details of her favourite organiser. 

1. What is your favourite organiser (Make/model/size)?

My favourite organizer is hands down my beloved life partner, Loki the Filofax Compact Regency in a rich Godiva chocolate brown. It's like a chocolate bar and if you look at it long enough, you'll get the endorphins minus the heightened A1c levels.

2. How long have you owned it?

I bought Loki off of a fellow Philofaxer in late 2011, so we're coming up on our 4-year anniversary. I've exchanged glances with other planners and moved into a "cuter" planner for a hot second (cough Kate Spade and LV cough)but at the end of the day, needs trump wants. I need to be more productive and Loki has by far the best combination of features to help me achieve that.

3. What is it that you like about it so much?

Everything! It truly is my ideal planner aesthetically and in terms of utility. For starters, I love exotic and textured leather. However, since 2010 I made a commitment to no longer purchase new exotic leather items as a promise to one of my godkids. (After a field trip he became obsessed with ostriches, crocodiles, and snakes. He asked his mom and me to please stop buying his 'friends' skins'.)The Regency is one of my compromise (the other one is holding onto my existing exotic leather items). In any case, the Regency is a nice, shiny-but-not-glossy faux ostrich that looks like it took a long, luxurious bath in a Godiva chocolate tub.

Despite being compact and sleek, Loki can still fit a lot. The Zeitgeist of Zoe aka Yvonne can attest to Loki's muffin top-liciousness. Loki is my planner, my secondary wallet, menu planner, and my "on-the-go shopping with coupons" buddy. There are card slots in front, which I use to store the cashback credit cards and loyalty cards I use most. The full-length pocket that faces outwards is where I put the smaller bills; the inwards facing pocket is where I put the larger ones.  I use the little pocket in the back to store a photo of my late dad. The outwards facing full-length back pocket is normally empty, but it's where I stick letters to be mailed. The inwards facing back pocket is where I put receipts I acquired throughout the day.

The size itself enables me to be more mindful of what I put in. Though I have some washi-licious dashboards and photos in front, it is first and foremost a productivity tool, not an outlet for creativity.

4. Do you use it all the time?

Yes! Loki truly is my life partner. Loki's been with me through graduate school, a TFA stint, the beginning stages of starting a non-profit, 2 Philofaxy meet-ups (Boston and New York), volunteer work with refugees/immigrants/human trafficking survivors, and he'll be right next to me when I start my second graduate program next year :)

5. Do you think the design could be improved in any way? How?

I wish there were 6 card slots up front instead of 4; I wouldn't have to use an extra credit card holder that adds slight bulk. However, the design is ideal for me as it stands.

And some photographs of my organiser.

Thank you Leilani. 

If you would like to share with us the details of your favourite organiser, please contact steve @ philofaxy dot com 

Web Finds - 19 December 2015

So I hope you have had a good week.

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of blog posts from around the internet, so grab a drink and make yourself for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

1. Readers Favourite Organiser - Deborah Jane
2. How to choose the right size organiser for you.
3. Free For All Tuesday No. 254
4. Web Finds - 15 December 2015
5. Agendio custom refills for Filofax, Day-Timer and Franklin Planner
6. Philofaxy All Stars Tour 2016
7. Free for All Friday No. 370

So here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.

1. 
   

We are on the look out for more people to take part in Reader Under the Spotlight. If you would like to appear in this feature then please contact Steve : philofaxy at gmail dot com  Thank you.

The videos and 'My week' posts will appear in their own post on Tuesday.

I hope you all have a great Christmas, I'm not quite sure what you will get to see this time next week... who knows!

Enjoy.

Free for All Friday No. 370

Are you a keeper or a culler? Do you sell binders that you're no longer using, or do you pack them away and treasure them?

Do you keep previous year's diaries -- even ones that you never used -- just in case you find a use for them?

Here's an idea: If you haven't finished your Christmas shopping, you can use them to make lists!

Of course, if you'd rather talk about planners than either plan or shop, this is the place!

Philofaxy All Stars Tour 2016

The All Stars Tour is about to happen again. The last time we ran a tour was in August 2013.

The All Stars Tour is where we get a group or team of bloggers from within our community to tour around other blog sites and they provide guest posts for those sites. In exchange everyone gets some new content and hopefully some extra visitors to their site.

Anyone can join the tour, there's no pre-requiste to join the team. The only thing is you agree to is if someone guest posts on your site you offer them a guest post for their site in return.

All of these posts will be added to webfinds as they happen so that will ensure the sites are getting a boost in publicity.

If there are 20 people in the team, you don't have to agree to guest post on every single one.. 3 or 4 is a typical number sometimes more.

The subject of your guest post doesn't have to be planner or Filofax related, you just agree with the blog site host what your post will be about and away you go. So if you have an in-depth knowledge about bee keeping with may be a brief reference to records you keep in your Filofax that will be fine, but so would a blog post about how to write a great CV for a job application.

We have run this tour the last couple of years, but I'm sure/hoping that with so many new faces on the blogging circuit we can encourage some of these new people to join in as well.

I will also be posting about the tour on Travellers Notebook Times, so hopefully we can get some 'cross-pollination' between the two groups. Essentially we are all pen and paper users, how the pages are held together is effectively the only difference.

How do you sign up... simple email steve at philofaxy dot com and make the subject of your email Allstars. All I need to know is that you are happy for your email address to be shared with the rest of the team and the address of your blog.

The intention is to start in the new year.

Thanks for your support.

Agendio custom refills for Filofax, Day-Timer and Franklin Planner

Agendio.com is a new website that went live a few weeks ago. They make custom planners that you create (from their vast array of templates). They now also have refills for Filofax, Franklin Planner and Day-Timer.

If you are unfamiliar with how Agendio works, please read my intro post on Plannerisms for the full explanation of how it works and all the available features. It's a lot of information, so to avoid repeating it all please go read that post and come back. If you would like to see a finished result, you can see my review of the bound planner I created with all the customized features. Ready?

They also make inserts with all those same features. You can customize the layout, choose fonts and colors, and add your own holidays and personal events. You can choose which month to start your planner, and even which day of the week you want your weeks to begin with. You can look here to see all their available features.

One of the most interesting and useful features is Divisibles. These are areas that you can divide and label, and structure how you like with lines, checkboxes, etc. This allows you to create categories that are directly relevant to you. You can label them for work or personal, individual projects or family members, however you like.

They have Filofax A5 size, Franklin Monarch and Classic size, and Day-Timer Folio and Desk sizes, and tomorrow they are launching Compact size inserts too. You choose your size and brand, and they punch the holes to the correct configuration.

Filofax A5

Franklin Classic, Day-Timer Desk

All photos copyright Agendio.com.

They have a variety of layouts available including days as vertical columns, grid (as shown above) or horizontal. You can choose weekly and monthly pages, just weekly or just monthly. You can see their refills here.

Agendio is in North America and they do ship internationally but not to all countries. You can see their shipping rates and where they ship here: https://agendio.com/faq#shipping  Since each planner is custom created and individually printed, they cannot do rush or overnight shipping. Turnaround time on the planners varies, and since this is an especially busy time of year I would give them at least a couple of weeks.

The customizer takes a few minutes to get the hang of, but once you've got it figured out it's very addictive. It's fun to try different layouts and see what they would look like as your planner!

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Agendio in any way and I do not receive commissions on any sales. For more information, contact Agendio directly at: https://agendio.com/feedback

Web Finds - 15 December 2015

So I hope you have had a good weekend. We have restarted web finds on Tuesdays, this week just for videos and My Week posts.

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of blog posts and videos from around the internet.

So here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.

1. 2016 Planner Setup: Filofax Patent Pocket - MeMaw Plans
2. UNBOXING: 2016 Filofax Patent Compact Organiser in Duck Egg Blue -PANDAMONIUMPINK
3. Filofax A5 Plan With Me Christmas theme - Charlotte
4. Cindy`s Filofax - Filo Foxi
5. Tidy up My Filofax - Katrina Wade
6. Filofax Malden December 2015 - Stacy and Kelly
7. Set up Filofax Retro Bloom - Kreative und so
8. Filofax Setup - Retro Bloom in Personal - YasminLowe
9. Filofax Purple Malden Personal Size ~ Dec 2015 Update - Michel Watson
10. My Filofax МОЙ органайзер - Liliya Osadchaya
11. My Filofax Finsbury Setup! December 2015 (Kelly) - Stacy and Kelly
12. Personal Filofax Setup with Sew Much Crafting Inserts - Nikki Cotton
13. Plan With Me! Personal Filofax, Kikki K, Color Crush Planner - Couture by Krystal 
14. Filofax Organiser Lockwood Aqua A5 - Agenda ad anelli - Sylia
15. Filofax - Crazy Nelli

• For tips on how to improve your videos, please see this post.  Also this video too Webfinds 
• Your Filofax/Organiser Videos could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 

My Week Posts

1. My week #191 - Paper Lovestory 
2. SUNSHINE - Letters in November
3. My Week #50 (2015) - Joanny White
4. A pastel Christmas! - Mrs Brimbles
5. My Week #51 - Polkadotparisdiso
6. Joyful-echoes: novembers almost over, onto... -  TheresaJOI
7. WEEK FIFTY IN MY MTN - Letters in November

Enjoy

Free For All Tuesday No. 254

How to choose the right size organiser for you.

If you are a recent convert to paper planning (not just ring bound organisers) there are so many different sizes to choose from, even more so in bound planners.

So how can you pick one that will work for you? Where do you start?

Here are two simple rules.

1. Do not buy an organiser until you have tried out the page size for that size of organiser you ..have to/need to/would love to buy... Now I know the temptation is often too great.

2. Use loose paper of the size you are considering to evaluate it for at least a week.

What are the sizes?

Size	H x W (mm)	Rings
A4	297 x 210	4
Deskfax	250 x 176	3 x 3
A5	210 x 148	2 x 3
Slimline/Compact	171 x 95	2 x 3
Personal (Medium/Standard)	171 x 95	2 x 3
A6 (Senior)	148 x 105	2 x 3
Pocket (Junior)	120 x 81	2 x 3
Pocket Slimline	120 x 81	2 x 3
Mini	105 x 67	5
M2	64 x 103	3

They are all 'portrait' format with the exception of the M2 which is 'landscape' format.

Finally, the organisers in the photo from the top to the bottom are:

• M2 - Filofax Portobello
• Mini - Filofax Malden
• Pocket- Filofax Holborn
• A6 - Van der Spek Senior Touch Me
• Personal - Filofax Malden
• A5 - Filofax Belmont
• Deskfax - Filofax Richmond
• A4 - Filofax Classic

Readers Favourite Organiser - Deborah Jane

Today we continue a new series on Philofaxy about readers favourite organisers. Thank you to Deborah Jane for sharing the details of her favourite organiser. 

1. What is your favourite organiser?

• A5 Malden in ochre.
• Name Imogen-Kate Buchanan-Morton

2. How long have I owned it?

Almost 5 months. After about two years of shall I, shan’t I? Then I found one at the price I wanted to pay.

3. What do I like about it?

I am very fussy about leather and how it’s coloured. The look of the leather has to look right, according to me and a lot of the coloured leathers don’t always look right. I saw quite a few Aqua  (when they were being produced)  and the Purple Malden’s and it was very much hit and miss somehow the grain looked wrong or the looked badly creased, just let’s say I wasn’t a huge fan. 

When they got it right in my opinion they looked awesome. However I was going to purchase it unseen and I hadn’t seen an Ochre model I hadn’t liked.

To me this is what I call leather. The Ochre Malden is the colour I expect leather to look like. To me Leather needs to age and show it scars. I also love the grain on the Malden .The Ochre Malden is renowned to scratch very easily and the most scratch prone of all the Malden’s. I like a leather that tells a story of how it’s used. I love the floppiness of it and as I use it at a desk 95 % of the time it’s perfect. I am not precious about my planners but some of you will be relieved to know I don’t use this one as a coaster.

I love the functionality of it. I love that you can stuff it to the gills. Also you can take half of it out yet still looks great. I love that it has the right amount of pockets and I love the zip compartment.

I also like the fact the Malden would equally as good on a modern desk as it would on a 100 year old bureaux. I like the timelessness about it

4. Do you use it all the time?

It’s my work planner so pretty much 5 days a week every week…

5. Do you think the design could be improved?

An element of me wishes it wasn’t as floppy because then I would use the planner as my personal/home planner. Also I wish the pen loops were just a tad bit bigger. 

However right now I am using the Malden as a work planner and other than that I really wouldn’t change at thing.

And some pictures of my A5 Malden. 

Thank you Deborah Jane. 

If you would like to share with us the details of your favourite organiser, please contact steve @ philofaxy dot com 

Web Finds - 12 December 2015

So I hope you have had a good week.

So now it is time to enjoy a great collection of blog posts from around the internet, so grab a drink and make yourself for our weekly round-up.

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:

1. Readers Favourite Organiser - Bonnie
2. Philofaxy at 10 - Van der Spek
3. Free For All Tuesday No. 253
4. Web Finds - 8 December 2015
5. Filofax - Press articles in The Scotsman
6. Filofax France 1989
7. Free For All Friday No. 369 - Steve

So here are the latest Filofax and other brand blog posts from around the Internet. Don't forget to leave a comment on the posts you enjoyed reading, all bloggers enjoy getting comments.

1. Who wants to try out my new Filofax personal inserts? - My Summer Touch
2. Plan with me using Happie Scrappie Goodies - Happiness is Scrappy
3. Personal Size 2015 Monthly Calendar with a Monday Start [printable] - Planner Fun
4. Planner Anxiety: Inspiration vs. Influence - The Weekend Wife
5. New to Me: Woven Bookshelves Planner - Tales From A Polk County Girl
6. Do i? - A ska loving geek
7. Planner Sections and How To Use Them - Giftie Etcetera
8. 2016 Personal Sized Future Pages - Planner Fun
9. 2016 PLANNERS - Letters in November
10. Dodo Pad still holds the crown as King of the Diaries! - Dodevoted
11. #filofaxfriday: December 2015 Month Planner - Planning with Printed Portal
12. Undated Daily Page in Personal Size [printable] - Planner Fun
13. Christmas Planner Set Up (Process, How to & Tips!) - Mrs Brimbles
14. Budget planning in my Filofax - Polkadotparadiso
15. Choosing a Ring bound Planner - A Bowl Full of Lemons
16. Switch Up Your Sleeping - Day Timer Blog
17. Using Your Planner on Sick Days - Planner Fun
18. Using a Planner to Thrive in Survival Mode - Giftie Etcetera
19. Unboxing a new Planner {pretty close to perfect!} - Lime Tree Fruits
20. What to get the Planner Addict / Stationery Lover - Mr B's Christmas Gift Giving Guide! - Mrs Brimbles
21. My Mulberry December 2015 set-up - House of Lotte
22. Rethinking my life - From Chaos to Order
23. Mead Flex Binder Product Review - Tales From A Polk County Girl
24. Podcast #10 – Improving an Organization with GTD - Getting Things Done
25. Top Three List [printable] - Planner Fun
26. One Book December - The Velvet Filo
27. Why I Don't Want a Planner for Christmas - Giftie Etcetera
28. What is Essential for my Planners (Filofax, Midori Traveler's Notebook, Bullet Journal)? - My Summer Touch
29. My Filofax Set Up For University - Joanny White
30. The Perfect Planner Tag - Tales From A Polk County Girl
31. Filofax: Getting ready for 2016! - A random English Life
32. Battle of the Metallic Planners! (Comparisons / Show & Tell) - Mrs Brimbles
33. 3 Day Menu Planner [printable] - Planner Fun
34. Planner Friday: Stickers 101 - Dianne Sylvan

• We monitor over 400 blogs and sites, your Filofax/Organiser blog posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• We can not guarantee people will read your posts, but we know there is a higher chance of people reading your posts and returning to read other posts if you make them interesting with pictures and good hints and tips. Do not forget to give your posts a title... 
• Your Filofax/Organiser posts could appear in this list, just contact philofaxy at gmail dot com to be added to our monitoring list. 
• For some general tips on Filofax Blogging, please see this post

We are on the look out for more people to take part in Reader Under the Spotlight. If you would like to appear in this feature then please contact Steve : philofaxy at gmail dot com  Thank you.

The videos and 'My week' posts will appear in their own post on Tuesday.

Enjoy.

Free For All Friday No. 369 - Steve

Where is your favourite place to sit with your organiser or your journal and plan out your next day or week, or write up your day?

However,  as this is also Friday you are of course free to discuss anything ring bound organiser related.

Have a great weekend.

Filofax France 1989

Today we are going back to France in 1989. Thank you to one of our readers in France, Bertrand who kindly shared the scans of this catalogue with me to add to our archive of previous catalogues.

The content of this post is the intellectual property of Filofax Group Ltd. The scans are reproduced here with the full permission of Filofax Group Ltd for educational and research purposes only.

As this is a picture heavy post, there is a break after the first image, please click 'read more' to see the whole post.

Filofax - Press articles in The Scotsman

The history of the company makes interesting reading going back over the last 15 years or so. One of the most reliable sources is the newspaper The Scotsman who seem to keep a close watch on the company and also good at mentioning them in articles.

Here are links to the stories going back in time:

• BoS casts a light amid the gloom - The Scotsman - 28 July 2001
• Letts counts the days until digital diary paper launch - The Scotsman - 10 May 2003
• Weathering the storm during turbulent times - The Scotsman - 10 June 2003
• Small may be beautiful - but unusable - The Scotsman - 20 November 2003
• Red-letter day for Letts - The Scotsman - 15 December 2003
• Design for life - filofax - The Scotsman - 30 April 2004
• Hanging up on pocket assistants - The Scotsman - 10 June 2004
• Dunedin is ready to cash in on upturn - The Scotsman - 24 June 2004
• Letts Filofax sketches in plans for making acquisitions - The Scotsman - 8 January 2005
• Dear Diary, nothing much happened - The Scotsman - 5 January 2006
• Letts enters a £40 million takeover deal in its diary - The Scotsman - 6 February 2006
• Wolfson's tops - The Scotsman - 4 May 2006
• The filofax - The Scotsman - 18 November 2006
• Phoenix snaps up Aberdeen oil industry rental group - The Scotsman - 23 June 2008
• Diary factory is hit by fire - The Scotsman - 25 June 2010
• London Olympics 2012: Running rings around Scots - The Scotsman - 19 November 2011
• French firm in the frame as diary maker Letts goes up for sale again - The Scotsman - 23 September 2012
• Scottish Business Briefing – Friday 2 November, 2012 - The Scotsman - 2 November 2012
• Letts profits halved as diary maker admits tough trading will continue ...  - 2 November 2012
• Stationery veterans buy Letts Filofax - The Scotsman - 20 April 2013
• Filofax bought out by chief executive - The Scotsman - 21 April 2013
• Diary publishing firm Letts changes hands again - The Scotsman - 22 April 2013
• Charles Letts, diary firm executive, dies at 49 - The Scotsman - 17 June 2014
• Obituary: Charles Letts, businessman - The Scotsman - 20 June 2014

What of the future for the company?

Well one thing not reported in the Scotsman was the departure of Gordon Presly, who stepped down as CEO of Filofax earlier this year after 27 years. I believe his departure/retirement was planned over two years earlier when he joined Harolde Savoy in partnership to form HSGP Investments Ltd to buy Filofax Letts Group in April 2013

He remains in place as a Non Executive Director and shareholder of HSGP Investments Ltd and FLB Group for the foreseeable future.