Users Favourite Organiser - Kate - Part 2

Continuing on from last week's post from Kate. 

Can you please tell us about your set up in your favourite organiser. 

This is my one and only main organiser, which I use. This is beautiful.

First I want to point out that I believe that the calendar should be clear and functional. Not necessarily beautiful. It is a tool for planning and time management. Therefore, I do not decorate pages and do not use stickers, stamps and washi tape.

The only thing I don’t like at the moment is a different pages size, which I use. By this interior it feels chaotic. But it will be only for the next two months. After purchasing a calendar for 2017 I want to adjust other pages of the same size. So I hope the whole will be more coordinated.

I write everything one color pen - the one that I have at hand (usually black or blue). Since November I use a simple color code system (highlighters):

• green - matters related to finance / expenditure, the date of purchase of a new public transport ticket, the date of payment for phone, cable, internet, electricity, car insurance,..
• yellow - work, eg. deadlines for reports, projects, training
• orange - sport, training, weightloss, fitness
• pink - private matters, eg. a meeting with friends, events, cinema etc.
• blue - unusual things that require attention - for example: doctor visits, beautician or hairdresser

The content of the organizer is a mix of pages print, cut to size and punched by me:

• annual calendar – photocopy of personal size calendar filofax 
• month on two pages - printed from http://philofaxy.blogspot.com/ 
• weekly calendar - cut to the size from the calendar attached to the newspaper; November and December are WP2P from WHSmith, which I got with Malden 
• notes, projects, information, contacts – cut of from old notebooks 

Content of the order:

A. Left pocket:

• some coins - a few 
• more money - not much, about 5 GBP, just in case • glasses wipes

Sometimes I put there

• ATM card 
• ID 
• driving license 

but rather I try to have them in yet another case. I've heard of cases of theft of calendars - I do not want to lose then all the cards and ID.

B. Rings 1. dashboard - diy with my favorite quotes from Supernatural and 23th Psalm

2. ICE – my family’s phone numbers, my blood group

3. Month on two pages - from Philofaxy. I saving the dates of the reports at work, leave, training, bills to pay, birthdays, parties, visits to the doctor - a general overview of the month. I can see when and what happens. When I have more free time, and when I am very busy. I try to use color code. Sometimes I stick an additional information on sticky notes pages.

4. Week on one page + notebook (like Moleskine) or a week on two page. From June to October I used the week on one page plus page on notepad. Next one – November and December – I received from the previous owner of Malden. That is week per two pages from WHSmith,.

In both cases, I write here information from the monthly calendar and a few additional details (eg. deadline hour to the report, more about the trainings, medical clinic address, birthdays dates, gift)

5. Day on one page – DIY during the test. Under every date I enter events and 3 priorities. I follow the amount of water I drink. There is a ‘To do list” and space for other notes. I hold 8 weeks until the end of 2016. If this method will not work, probably I’ll be back to the 1WPP + page for notes (like Moleskine).    

6. Annual calendar – this is a photocopy from pesronal size Filofax year at a glance. I check there my annual leave days and public holidays eg. National holidays, Easter, Christmas, etc.

7. Projects – I tracking bill payment, my 52 weeks of saving challenge, books I read, movies to watch, training days,... There are things that I can keep track of progress. Things that are certain events start and end. There is also a list of things to do "someday", like GTD method.

8. Information - passwords to office computer, my make-up color information, clothes size, dimensions of the blinds on the windows, wish list (my, my family and friends), some recipes,.. Other stuff that are not projects.

9. Notes - clean pages, which I cut from old notebook. I have lots of them. Sometimes I am planning there future events (this is the place for braindumb) or I scribbling. Often I write here a weekly grocery shopping list, which I cast out after shopping. I do not have to think about a nice handwriting, because I know that I throw away these pages.

10. Contacts – every single phone numbers from my phone.

11. Top open pocket – I keep 10$ and a ticket for public transport

C. Back pockets 

• Sticky notes and Filofax notepad

D. long pocket – it is usually empty. Sometimes I put there:

• medical receipts 
• notes on A5 and A4 pages 
• my phone if I don’t want to take my handbag 

I do not keep separate tabs for the work stuff. And I do not write down things that are obvious. I saw a trillion calendars, in which the entry on the day was, for example - bath. I do not need to remember or keep track of that kind of information.

Accessories

• pens – Rystro Kropka, BIC (blue, black, green, red), sometimes I use Pilot Frixion 0.7, or Pilot Super Grip (F). Brand is irrelevant. What is important to me - pen should wrote thin, not stuck the card and do not smear under hand or under highlighter. 
• punch – single one 
• corrector in the tape 
• scissors 
• sticky notes - usual format of 7.5 x 7.5 cm 
• pages from a notebook and printer paper 

A great inspiration for me are:

• Jotje – I read guest post at least a few times 
• Zandranna (youtube) 
• Alexis aka MissTrenchcoat – The Essentials of Functional Planning | 3 Roles of a Complete System Planner.

Thank you Kate, I'm sure if any of you have any questions for Kate, please leave them in the comments below and I'm sure she will be happy to answer them. 

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