Organiser diet

We are coming to the end of the first quarter of 2018, how are those New Years resolutions going? OK you can ignore the ones about personal weight loss for today, I want to talk about reducing the weight of your organiser, make it more manageable, less stuffed!

Back in January you all printed or bought a new diary insert ... 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 did you do at New Year.....???

Yes, you suddenly grabbed those nice new 2018 diary inserts that you have had since August. Clicked open your Filofax rings.... using both the tabs of course (yes Steve...always!!) and then you slotted in the whole 12 months in one go.

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

Time to put your Filofax on a diet too.... here are some pro 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 investigated this in some detail a few years ago. Basically between 4-6 mm less than the internal ring diameter.

As a simple guide though, 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.

The problem is that the paper that ends up on the inside of the rings tries to force the rings open if there is too much of it. This is not likely to happen on a normal Personal size organiser, but on a Slimline with the small rings I have had this happen my self. They don't require as much effort to open those small rings compared to the 23-25mm rings.

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 to choose from for however many pages you want to carry.

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!