31 March 2021

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 31 March 2021

So I hope you have had a good weekend.

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

Here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.
  1. 2021 A5 Planner Flip Through - Maddie Manansala
  2. VdS junior Touch Me review - Random Pastimes
  3. GTD Calendar vs Next Actions: What's the Difference? - spellbound notes
  4. VDS Stardust Croco Planner Setup | Junior Van der Spek Flip (Pocket Rings) - amanda leigh
  5. Afternoon Plan With Me - Franklin Covey Compact & Standard Stalogy - Monique Smith
  6. Planner Collection Update - Planner Mumsy
  7. Moterm Pocket Planner Review - Sort Stuff Out
  8. Unboxing: Custom Vds Planner | Stardust Velvet Matte Croco | Half Letter Planner | Martin-Made TV - Martin-Made TV
  9. Первые попытки ... перехода в personal planner Filofax original - Lisenok Li
  10. Filofax KW 9 | Wochendeko | bricksonpaper - bricksonpaper
  11. Personal Rings Set Up Filofax Soft Domino - Planner Brittany
  12. Wochendeko KW 12 filofax finsbury mini // kathiyala - kathiyala
  13. Filofax Wochendeko KW 10 | 2021 | planningcat - planningcat_
  14. [Wochendeko] Filofax Domino Woche 12 - bulletjournal_bapho
  15. Q1 Filofax Malden Flipthru - The Organized Miss
  16. Recording my ink samples in my mini Filofax - Lola Mitchell
  17. Top 7 Amazon Favorites| Planner Edition - Q U E E N M A R Y B E L L A
  18. My Scheduling System|| Personal Rings / Pocket Rings|| Extension Planner - Life With MJB
  19. Moterm Pocket Plus-New Frosted Dividers - Planner Mom Of 6
  20. Moterm A5 Luxe and Pocket Versa Unboxing | Litchi Pink and Black | Ana Jolene Printables - Ana Jolene
  21. Moterm Pocket Planner Review - Sort Stuff Out
  22. Gillio Personal Wide Updated Setup March 2021 - Peaceful Pensieve
  23. Gillio Gold Medium XL Unboxing // Pink Planner Girl - Nicola PinkPlannerGirl
  24. Comparison between Gillio personal size, personal wide and medium XL with Franklin Covey Compact - Peaceful Pensieve
  25. April planner lineup, gillio A6 , B6 and malden pocket. - Mermaid Kitty
  26. Plan With Me Week of Mar 29-Apr 4, 2021 - Gillio Compagna PW Planner & Compact Size Weekly Layout. - My Moxie Dreams
  • Please leave a comment on any of the videos you enjoyed and mention you saw a link on Philofaxy. 
  • 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. 
Enjoy




30 March 2021

Free For All Tuesday - No. 530

So what questions or discussion points have you got for us today?

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a more experienced user of organisers, we want to hear your thoughts, questions, opinions etc.

We are here to answer your questions.

Make today the one day you post a comment or a question.

It is Tuesday after all so fire away with any questions and comments.


29 March 2021

Filofax Expressions review by Laurie


Many thanks to Filofax for sending me these samples to review! These are from the new Filofax Expressions Collection

This is the Filofax personal size Expressions organiser. This is the Mint color but for some reason my camera makes it look more blue. This is a non-leather organiser with a playful paint splatter pattern.

 The inside of the cover has a contrasting white with a colored paint splatter effect. 

The inside of the back cover has a horizontal slot pocket for a note pad, and an elasticated pen loop to fit any size pen.


The inside of the front cover has multiple slots for cards, and a full length vertical pocket for papers. 
This organiser comes with tabbed dividers, a dated weekly diary insert, colored note pages, to do pages, and other pages.

I was also sent several coordinating accessories from the Expressions range. Below are the Expressions pen, and zip pouch.

The Filofax Expressions pen is really nice. It has a printed metal barrel so the pen has a nice weight to it. It has a twist mechanism, and the ball point can be refilled with standard Cross ballpoint pen refills.

The Filofax branding on the metal clip is a really nice touch!

The zip pouch fits on the rings of the personal size organiser, and it would also fit on the rings of an A5 Filofax organiser. It's a great place to store extra pens, stickers, or sticky notes.

I was also sent samples of their new sticker and sticky note accessories!


The stickers packet has two pages each of three stickers designs with functional and decorative stickers, dots, and designs in the Expressions color schemes.



In the photo below you can see how the multi-fit pages are hole-punched to fit on the rings of your Filofax organiser or in a Filofax notebook.




Here they are on the rings of the Filofax personal size organiser. Also here you can see how the Filofax Expressions pen fits perfectly in the elasticated pen loop.




Below you can see the Expressions sticky notes, which come on a card dashboard to fit the Filofax personal size rings and the Filofax notebooks.


Below you can see the sticky notes dashboard on the rings.

I decided to play around with the stickers and sticky notes on the diary pages to see how they would look. They are a great way to enhance your plans, create reminder spaces, and add fun to your planning!










You can find the Filofax Expressions Collection at Filofax.com

Many thanks again to Filofax for sending me these samples to review!

28 March 2021

Filofax Lifestyle Refills

Filofax have recently announced a new series of inserts in A5, Personal and A5 notebook sizes. 

They are available in three different designs and each one comes as a pack of 56 sheets. 

Shown below is the Project and Goals insert. Set goals and prioritise to-dos with our Personal Projects & Goals tracker refill, a great aid for speeding up the workload.

For those of you that plan your meals at the start of the week, the Meal Planner insert looks perfect to be included in your organiser. The grocery list on the reverse side is a great addition. You could have a selection of these that you could reuse every few weeks and you would have the basic essentials prepared for all the meals planned. 



The Wellness Goals insert includes space to record various things for each day of the week. With a diary type space on the reverse for each day. This insert would form a great addition to your organiser for a health section, or as part of a dedicated health organiser. Like the others it is available in Personal size and A5 size for rings or the Filofax A5 notebooks. 



You will find these inserts available at Filofax UK and other local outlets. 

Silent Sunday

 

Photo kindly provided by Max - Winchester 4CLF 5/4



27 March 2021

Web Finds - Saturday 27 March 2021

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

Here are some Philofaxy posts you might have missed this week:
  1. Web Finds - Saturday 20 March 2021
  2. Silent Sunday
  3. The Philofaxy Guide to Press Studs
  4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 529
  5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 24 March 2021
  6. Time Management and Retirement
  7. Free For All Friday - No. 646 by Anita 
  8. Van der Spek announce an addition to their Touch Me range. 
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. Planner Quote: March 22, 2021 - FranklinPlanner Talk
  2. Episode #96: Sharing GTD with Kids - Getting Things Done
  3. Planner review: Giglidoro Intimo - Random Pastimes of a Restless Mind
  4. DIY Fun Project - Planner Fun
  5. Refills for every Lifestyle! - The Official Filofax Blog
  6. Templates to download - QuoVadis 1954
  7. Episode #98: History Interviews David Allen - Getting Things Done
  8. Black & Gold weekly spread in the Personal Planner - All About Planners
  9. RESTOCK: Medium Compagna XL - Blog | Gillio
  10. Discover the Productivity Pyramid - FranklinPlanner Talk
  11. Sunday Notepaper Download - Planner Fun
  12. Be right back! - Just Eclectically
  13. Web Finds – 24 March 2021 - Travellers Notebook Times
  • Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
  • 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
  • Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans

Enjoy




26 March 2021

Van der Spek announce an addition to their Touch Me range.


After consulting with their fans on Facebook and Instagram, Van der Spek announced today the details of their additional model for their Touch Me Range. 

The New Touch Me model will be: ⭐️ Standard Wide ⭐️ (compatible with Personal Wide paper + side tabs) 121 x 172mm with 25 or 30mm Krause rings. 

This new model will be added to the Touch Me ready made collection at the end of this year. 

For this introduction the Standard Wide will only be available in the colours TM Noir and TM Parme leathers.

Planner Size:
Height | 194mm | +/- 7.64 inch
Width (closed) | 172mm | +/- 6.77 inch
Width (flat open) | 362mm | +/- 14.25 inch
Depth | 46mm | +/- 1.81 inch 

The Standard Wide will join the other models in the Touch Me Range which include A5 Manager, Standard (Personal), Senior (A6), Junior (Pocket). When in stock these are all sold ready to ship within 5 days of your order being received. 

They represent great value for money and are well designed and well made. 

Thank you to the team at Van der Spek Leather Goods for sharing this news with Philofaxy. 

Further Information.

Web Site: http://www.vdsshop.com
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/VDSleathergoods
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/vanderspekorganiserfans/

 

Free For All Friday - No. 646 by Anita

Whilst seeking inspiration for today's post, I discovered that 26th March is Purple Day: - 
'Purple Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26th annually, people in countries around the world are invited to wear purple and host events in support of epilepsy awareness. Last year, people in more than 85 countries on all continents participated in Purple Day! Canada is the only country in the world who officially recognizes March 26th as Purple Day through the Purple Day Act implemented on June 28, 2012'.

Filofaxes are an ideal way to keep medical information together, so I thought that I would share this information as I'm sure that we have some readers that have been diagnosed with epilepsy. I've certainly found that my Filofax has been indispensable when attending medical appointments with my Mum, as personal size is so handy to have in my hand ready for when we see the doctor.

Have you needed to update any medical information in your Filofax due to the COVID pandemic? 

And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related. I hope that you have a great weekend. 

25 March 2021

Time Management and Retirement.


I have been retired now for over 10 years, I officially stopped drawing my monthly salary in June 2010. It was a major change in my normal day to day life. 

I started work soon after leaving school at the age of 16; for the next 35+ years I worked the normal Monday to Friday work life style with the exception of doing shift work for a few years in my early 20's. 

Working shift work taught me a lot of things actually, I had to adapt my life to my shift patterns. 

My pattern was based on a five week repeating shift pattern of 7 nights, four days off, 7 days, 4 days off, 7 evenings followed by up to 7 days off and then start again on nights. I say 7 days off, there was two short days to make up your hours in that 7 days off, I would often book those as annual leave to get the full 7 days off, before recommencing nights on the Monday night.  

On night shifts I had to move my sleeping pattern to during the day, have a semi normal evening before going to work for 23:00. Evening shifts shifted my going to sleep time to later than normal because I wouldn't get home until about 23:30, but I could sleep in the following morning and have the day to myself. I used to hate day shifts! It was the one week when I was travelling to and from work with everyone else, and the rest of the day staff were around including the bosses! The evening and night shifts we much more relaxed. 

I used to keep my shift pattern on a wall calendar, so I could plan holidays and other social occasions, I guess these days there are apps for plotting shift patterns. If I was working shifts now, I would no doubt use some form of monthly diary insert to plot my shift pattern as a quick reference planner. 

For quite a few years I used to work 'Flexi-time' this might be different company to company. Generally, there is normally a 'core-time' when you are expected to be 'at work' Core times are hours in the morning and afternoon, and generally apply Monday to Friday. But you are free to decide your start and finish time and your lunch time break outside of the core hours but with a requirement that you take at least a 30 minute break for lunch. 

With Flexi-time you were allowed to build up a credit or debit of hours every 28 days and either take that time off without booking annual leave, or in the case of excess credit book it as overtime. I mastered this scheme, working slightly longer hours each day to avoid the rush hour on the roads and then taking the time off in conjunction with annual leave to maximise the time we could spend at our house here in France. My colleagues always wondered how I managed to take so much time off, I left it until my last week to tell them the secret!!! 

I was using a simple spreadsheet to record my start and finish times each day, this would then calculate the credit or debit hours for me for each 28 day period. I was able to micro-manage my work hours to maximise the time I could take off! Without realising it I was planning for time off and making the most of work/life balance

When I retired I thought that would be the end of regimented time keeping and managing my time, how wrong was I. In some ways it has continued, but in a much more flexible pattern than before. There are elements of shift work with a huge amount of flexitime to go with it. Almost the best of both worlds I guess. 

There are regular things I do each week, so they form the sort of 'shift pattern', these tasks can be ones I do for Philofaxy, some of the domestic tasks (bins, clothes washing, shopping etc). 

The flexible tasks I include fitting in tasks for my other voluntary job with the Radio Society of Great Britain (RSGB) these can consume full days some weeks, other times it can be just a few minutes in the day, but I need to keep on top of the admin on that 'job', otherwise I suddenly find I have a backlog of applications to deal with!. 

One thing I don't have to do now that I did do during my working life is record my actual work day tasks. Previously I would have to record in 15 minute intervals what project I was working on against an accounting code. 

I didn't stop work every 15 minutes, it was something I would do at the end of each day, looking back through my notebook and recording my time on as a note at the end of the day with a time sheet being filled out at the end of each week. 

Should what you spend your time on each day in retirement be as important as managing that time and planning my week? 

I think planning and managing my time is as important now as it was when I was working. Retirement has loosened the shackles a lot, I no longer have to worry about core time or credit and debit hours. I get to choose when to move away from the computer and when I can lounge around and read or when to relax etc. 

One thing I always tell people who are still of working age is to plan for your retirement. The change from a regular working week to not having a regular week in retirement can be quite a mental shock. 

I never intended to be a person who worked until they were 65 or older, I aimed to stop by the time I was 55/56 I beat that self-imposed limit by nearly 5 years! 

Try to think about what you will be doing in retirement. The first few weeks are just like a holiday, but there is no end to it! 

Philofaxy and my work for RSGB has given me some things to focus on each week, which is essential. The last thing you want to do is just sit around every day wondering what to do. There is a big difference between what I do for RSGB and Philofaxy and that helps balance things out. 

My planning requirements changed I've gone from needing to plan meeting appointments to planning medical appointments! Such is progress!! I'm more task focused now than before. Some of them are time dependent, but a lot of them are a lot more flexible. I am noting them down so I don't forget about them. 

Back in 2010/11 it took me a while to realise this change and being able to find a diary insert that worked for me. Along came Ray Blake to the rescue with his own diary inserts and the method you are now used to seeing with all of our diary inserts. I worked for a few weeks to perfect a diary insert for myself and I've been using it more or less since then. It has slowly evolved over the years, but essentially the current version is very similar to version 1.0 

Retirement isn't the only reason to review your planning methods, any change in your life can bring about the need to change. 

Doing a review of your planning needs when ever there is a change I now think is essential. The changes you make might be small, just a slightly different layout of insert might be enough. It is important to evolve your planning style, one step at a time. 

Have you ever faced a major change in the way you plan? How did you change? 



24 March 2021

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 24 March 2021

So I hope you have had a good weekend.

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

Here are a selection of the latest Filofax videos for your enjoyment.
  1. March 2021 Pocket Planner Flipthrough - GanchiPlans
  2. Productive Planning Tips + Ideas | MadyPlans - MadyPlans
  3. BuJo Index Hack for Ring Planners #shorts - GanchiPlans
  4. VDS Junior Parme VS Sakura Croco - YusVogue Plans
  5. Planner Comparison: Van der Spek Pocket Touch Me vs Gillio Pocket Compagna XL - Random Pastimes
  6. Van Der Spek TM Poussiere Unboxing! | First Impressions - Faith Champion
  7. A6 Custom Van der Spek Thoughts - A Life by Angi M
  8. Unboxing my Custom Van der Spek - theschizy witch
  9. Pocket Moterm Versa to Personal Rings || On the go Planner Flip - Life With MJB
  10. Planner Insert Love: Feat. Puffin Pages Co - rledzn
  11. Plan with Me | Personal Rings | March 22-28, 2021 #notiq #plannerkate - Michelle Miller
  12. Purse Planners This Week - Moterm, Franklin Covey & Print Pression - Monique Smith
  13. My Daily Planning Process - Brandy Michelle Plans
  14. Allie Ryaz Franklin Covey Compact Setup & Flip - Mod Plans
  15. Plan with Me! March 22 - 28 in my Franklin Covey Vintage Aurora! - BuySellPlan
  16. Plan With Me Week of March 22-28, 2021 - Franklin Covey Classic 5 Choices Weekly Planner Layout. - My Moxie Dreams
  17. BUSY WAHM EASY DIY PLANNER SETUP  || A5 Filofax Duck Egg Malden Walkthrough - Work Life Glue
  18. Organisation Classeurs budgétaires & Filofax - Sténia BudgetLife
  19. Moterm Luxe pocket croc Taupe/Filofax Patterns Floral/Обзор - SK. Planners
  20. Cloth and Paper Subscription box : March & Filofax Malden Navy Setup - Hitchand Hitched
  21. Tableau pour débuter les enveloppes budgétaire pour le filofax - La vida De laety
  22. Wochendeko KW 11 Filofax Finsbury mini // kathiyala - kathiyala
  23. mein neues STATIV & unser ONLINEPLANERSCHNACK | KW 10 im FILOFAX - dekoRIAt
  24. Ambasadorský balíček Pentel, novinky Filofax, nákup na Yuppi a Craftelier! | Papírenský haul - Míša v Šálku
  25. Best Deal Filofax Classic Croc Print Pocket Size Leather Organizer Agenda Calendar with DiLoro Ball - Tressa Hermiston
  26. [wochendeko] Woche 12 Filofax pocket - bulletjournal_bapho
  27. Unboxing FILOFAX | Malden - Rainey’s World
  28. 5 Things to Consider When Buying a Ring Planner - Rana Plans
  29. Current Louis Vuitton GM Agenda Ring Planner Set Up office - Kathy Tamburri
  30. Print Pression B6 rings planner set up! - Planning Inspired
  31. LOUIS VUITTON GM AGENDA UNBOXING!  | HOW I GOT IT + DECIDING ON THIS SIZE! - SimplyGlammed
  32. Moterm Personal Rings - Planner Mom Of 6
  33. Pocket Moterm Planner Flip March 2021 - Roxxy Vega
  • Please leave a comment on any of the videos you enjoyed and mention you saw a link on Philofaxy. 
  • 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. 
Enjoy




23 March 2021

Free For All Tuesday - No. 529

So what questions or discussion points have you got for us today?

It doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a more experienced user of organisers, we want to hear your thoughts, questions, opinions etc.

We are here to answer your questions.

Make today the one day you post a comment or a question.

It is Tuesday after all so fire away with any questions and comments.


22 March 2021

The Philofaxy Guide to Press Studs

The press stud or snap fastener or popper on your organiser performs a very vital function in keeping the organiser closed. There are alternatives such as zipper closures or elastic, but the humble snap fastener is the one that seems to have the dominate position for ring bound organisers. 

The snap fastener has been around since the late 1800's, before the ring mechanism came along.  

It comes in two parts, each part is made up of two halves that are riveted together. 

We consider there to be a male and female part to the press stud. The female part has a small spring inside it which 'grips' the male part when pressed together. 

Which part goes on the strap and which part goes on the cover seems to vary, even any looking at the same brand. Filofax doesn't seem settled on which part should go on the strap, on some it is the female part on others it is the male part. 

Starting with two Filofax single popper fastenings, the first is a Holborn, that has the male part on the strap and the female part on the cover. 


And this is a Malden in the opposite configuration. 


It is less critical with single press stud compared to multiple ones. Although to my way of thinking putting the female part on to the strap is better because if the spring fails it is easier to change it on the strap compared to changing it if was on the cover. 

Some organisers have 'multiple popper' options to allow for adjusting the length for the strap depending on how full your organiser is.

This is a Launer organiser from the 1980's more details here. The female parts are located on the cover and quite widely spaced apart. 


On the 'longest' option for the strap the other popper does show. 


On the shortest it is covered over by the strap. 


A Filofax Belmont, again two poppers but much closer together. Notice the slight dimple on the strap next to the popper from being pressed against the second popper on the cover. 


On the long fastening, the strap still covers the other popper.


As well as on the shorter fastening. 


With the majority of organisers you get what they have made for you, there is no choice about how many poppers there are and where they are located. Unless you buy a Van der Spek Custom, then you can choose not only the length of the strap, but also how many popper there are if you add an extra 12mm or more. 

On my Dark Brown and Yellow A5 organiser, I asked for a slightly longer strap with double poppers. 

On reflection though I think I should have requested it to be male on the cover with the females on the strap not as it is now. 

With the two male fasteners on the strap, it results in a slight 'dimple' in the cover of the leather. Not a big deal just noticeable under the bright studio lights used in these photographs. Although, I suspect the same might happen if it had been the opposite way around as the leather is so soft. 




On organisers that have the cap of the press stud exposed on the outside strap, like early Filofax Winchesters, the cap can often suffer damage from constant use. Early ones only had a plastic cap which often cracks and falls off. 

Alan Marshall perfected a great repair for these which you can read about here

Poppers, Press Studs, Snap Fasteners, simple things I know, but quite essential for every day use of your organiser.