Free For All Friday No. 686 by Anita

Wow, it's the final day of 2021!
In some ways, I'm wondering where the year has gone, but it's also felt like a long one too as it's been a challenging time for many, including myself.

December turned into a busier month than expected, so I haven't gotten around to my planned clear out of my Filofax, so I will be doing that today as it feels like quite a good way to finish off the old year and prepare for the new. I've been back in my Kensington since January 2020 and as I have no plans to move out, I think it's time for me to start rehoming some of the others shortly.

Which planner will you be using in the new year?

And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything organiser related. Wishing you and yours a safe, healthy, and prosperous new year.

'We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day' - Edith Lovejoy Pierce.

A date for your diary - Sunday 9 January 2022

Given the success and the number of people that took part in the recent  'Virtual Meet Ups' we are going to run another one.

When? - Sunday 9 January 2022 at the following time:

• Los Angeles 8:00 am, 
• Denver 9:00 am
• Dallas 10:00 am, 
• New York 11:00am, 
• Moncton 12:00 noon,
• London 4:00 pm 
• Paris 5:00 pm etc.  

Do not worry if you aren't available at the start of the session each one lasts 1-2 hours, so pop up when you are available and say hello.

Where? - an on-line chat using Skype. with voice and video (if you wish)

Join the chat here: https://join.skype.com/A85fEyS7HPUP

What do I need? - just a micro-phone and some head phones(in ear phones work fine) and a free Skype account. Using headphones or earphone reduces 'echo' on the call. Video is optional, but a most of us will be on video as well.

Who - All of you... Join the chat here: https://join.skype.com/A85fEyS7HPUP  Come and listen if you don't want to chat.  What do we talk about? Filofax stuff... but anything else as well. It's like long lost friends meeting up for coffee and a catch up.. but don't worry if you have never joined in before... you are an old friend too!

If you have any questions you want to ask then please let us know in the group or before we start.

Come and join in the fun, even if you only pop in to say hello... but don't be afraid to join in the discussion.

If you need any assistance setting up Skype, please pop a comment in this post and I will try and help you get one line. Skype is free for computer to computer calls....

Here is my post on how to improve your Skype audio with headphones or a headset.

Hope to be chatting with you on Sunday 9 January 2022.

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 29 December 2021

So I hope you have had a pleasant Christmas holiday.

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. Filofax Notebook Review - Graham Rhind
2. Byebye Gillio, hallo van der Spek - Planyourthing
3. VDS Planner Unboxing - rledzn
4. 2022 Planner Setup // VDS Personal Rings - nic.lol.e plans
5. VDS TM Unboxing | Stardust Croco | Personal Size Planner/Wallet - BestKeptPlans
6. Setting Up My Personal Planner | VDS Stardust Croco - Planning With Coon
7. Plan With Me Christmas 2021 / December 2021/ Minimalistic and Functional / VDS A6 Planner - Brittany Plans Life
8. Haul | stickers from Buffystickers | - Planner mother of 3
9. Talking out of Turn Unboxing! - BuySellPlan 
10. Pocket Plus Setup on Moterm Regular Pocket Rings - chamiecreates
11. Who's Ready for 2022? - All the Write Stuff
12. I made side-loading cash pouches for a discbound cash envelope system - The Unplanned Life
13. Weekly Update: B6 Hobonichi, Pocket Rings, & A6 Stalogy - Monique Smith
14. December 2021 Personal Rings Setup Flip | LittleRachPlans - LittleRachPlans
15. Making my Day-On-2.6-Pages for January 2022 for my discbound planner - The Unplanned Life
16. Plan with Me! My 2022 Goal Planning Process. - BuySellPlan
17. Мой планер на 2022 год/Filofax original nude/Покупки канцелярии - Sneshka Plan
18. Plan With Me KW52 / Bujo im Filofax / Wochendeko / deutsch / PWM - Sissi Oberste Schublade
19. システム手帳】filofaxマルデンM5開封＆セットアップ【忘年手帳】 - こみくぅサブちゃん【ネイル・コスメ・紙モノ・手帳】
20. Filofax Personal Para 2022 - Rodesita Stewart
21. Vergleich Filofax Notebook vs Clipbook | gabelschereblog - GabelSchereBlog
22. Bucketlist | Plan 2022 with me (1/3) + Filofax Vorlage - Anna von Eigensinn
23. 2022 Planner: Filofax Kendal - All the Write Stuff
24. Planner Stickers | Filofax Personal Malden Organizer In IRIS |Unboxing & Review - Shirley Joss
25. Real time Weekly Planning | Silent - chamiecreates
26. Ich hab eingekauft | Möhrenkunst | Dani Peuss | The Washi Tape Shop | Deutsch - Lorelei Lee
27. 2022 Planner Set Up| MakseLife Goals & SOS Planner - Antonisha La'Shay
28. #WNW New Releases // 'Planner Peace' Collection // planner stickers - Rachel Blundell
29. Plan with me for January 2022 + the beginnings of a supplemental binder for planning - The Unplanned Life
30. Franklin Covey Weekly PWM || Planmas Day 22, LAST VIDEO! || Dec. 27 - Jan. 2 - Sandra Dahl
31. December 2021 flip through featuring Gillio medium xl Compagna in chestnut ostrich X - Mod Plans

• 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

Free For All Tuesday - No. 569

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.

Van der Spek - Standard Wide - A new size in the Touch Me range.

A lot of people asked Van der Spek for a Touch Me 'Personal Wide'. After some thought they have brought out a 'Standard Wide' version in their popular Touch Me range of ring bound organisers. 

Petra asked me if I would like to review a sample from the first batch that went on sale about a week ago. Of course I said yes. 

I'm not particularly keen on 'Personal Wide' as it's a size that was invented, it's almost ISO216 B6 size. To me using B6 size makes more sense because it is easier to scale inserts to that size. 

B6 is 125mm x 175mm whilst 'Personal Wide' is 121 x 172mm. The additional height of B6 is less of an issue and it's only 4 mm wider than 'Personal Wide' 

Obviously trying B6 or Personal Wide in a normal Standard even with 25mm rings isn't going to work, the pages stick out beyond the edge of the organiser! With 30mm rings the B6 paper pushes hard against the clasp!

The line at the edge of the B6 paper is where Personal Wide would finish, not that much different, but it just confirms that normal Standard size just isn't wide enough for every day use with the wider paper in 'Personal Wide' or B6. 

Standard fitted with 25mm rings

Now it is time to try out B6 in the new Standard Wide Van der Spek Touch Me. 

I'm pleased to confirm that even with 30mm rings fitted to the 'Standard Wide Touch Me, B6 fits perfectly and Personal Wide is 4 mm narrower, so no issues with that size either.

The Standard Wide Touch Me has been made generously sized to cope with being fitted with 30mm rings or 25mm rings if you wish.  

I used a stack of normal personal size inserts either side of B6 size paper to make sure that the B6 stack was in the middle of the rings, the peak of the arc of the rings and therefore at the widest point. 

Standard Wide fitted with 30mm rings

The rest of the design of the Standard Wide is the same as the normal Standard Touch Me, they both feature:

• Full width back pocket for larger sheets of paper
• Two pen loops, 
• Two full height secretarial pockets
• The inside front cover has a vertical slip pocket and also a full height zip pocket and a card pocket. 
• The inside back cover has 6 horizontal card slots on the front of the secretarial pocket.

Standard Wide in Stardust Velvet Matt Croco Leather

  

It should be noted that the inside leather goes the full width of the organiser, it's not cut out like on some other brands. The inside of the full width back pocket and the reverse side of the secretarial pockets are finished in a synthetic leather like material. 

The Standard Wide is also available in Noir(Black), Parme, Beige Croco and Stardust Velvet Matt Croco leathers. 

The Croco leathers are slightly more expensive because they take the trouble to line up the pattern on the interior and exterior leather covers as well as the clasp. Even at this price point Van der Spek go that extra distance to make sure your organiser looks perfect. 

Other than the choice of leather and the size of the rings it's not possible to customise the Touch Me range, but they are 'ready to ship' within 5 days of ordering subject to them being in stock. 

They come boxed in a black box featuring the company logo and were well packed and shipped by FedEx to my door within a few days of despatch. 

The Touch Me Standard Measures:

HEIGHT	194mm | 7.64"
WIDTH (CLOSED PLANNER)	146mm | 5.75"
WIDTH (FLAT OPEN PLANNER)	310mm | 12.2"
DEPTH	46mm | 1.81"

The Touch Me Standard Wide Measures:

HEIGHT	194mm | 7.64"
WIDTH (CLOSED PLANNER)	172mm | 6.77"
WIDTH (FLAT OPEN PLANNER)	362mm | 14.25"
DEPTH	46mm | 1.81"

See the full Van der Spek Touch Me range here. 

Thank you to Petra Van der Spek for making the samples available to me to try out. 

Now the exciting bit......

Win the Van der Spek Standard Wide featured in this post. 

To win the organiser you need to answer the following questions: 

1. In what year was Van der Spek Leather Goods first established?

2. What is the title of Steve Morton's new book that will be released on 3rd January 2022?

3. What is the name of the plannercast (podcast) that Steve co-hosts with Karine Tovmassian? 

Answers to all questions are in this post or recent posts on Philofaxy.

Please send your answers to philofaxy@gmail.com the competition will close at 23:00 GMT Monday 3rd January 2022. Please title your email 'Van der Spek' or similar so they can easily be filtered. 

Again a big thank you to Petra Van der Spek for her support. 

The boring but essential bit....

Terms and conditions of the Van der Spek give-away:

1. Only one entry per person.
2. Last date for entries 3 January 2022 at 23:00 GMT as specified by the United Kingdom National Physical Laboratory at Teddington. 
3. Entry is open to anyone on planet earth.
4. The number of prizes available is 1, the only colour available is as shown in the post. There are no alternatives.
5. The winning entry will be selected by a pseudo random generator more complex than Ernie the Premium Bond machine. 
6. The Judges decision is final.
7. No cash alternative is available.
8. No correspondence will be entered in to.

Further Information.

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

Silent Sunday

 

Personal Kensington with my regular December dashboard

Web Finds - Saturday 25 December 2021

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

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

1. Web Finds - Saturday 18 December 2021
2. Silent Sunday
3. Thirty Five Years Ago...
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 568
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 22 December 2021
6. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Plannerverse - Episode 121
7. Free For All Friday - No. 685 by Steve

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. File of Facts by Steve Morton…. A Book Review. - Orangecoffee69
2. The Power of Reflection - FranklinPlanner Talk
3. Always expect the unexpected – Filofax - Alison Morton 
4. Van Der Spek A5 Manager Touch Me in Beige Croco - This Bug's Life
5. Converting a monthly calendar into a weekly spread using the TUL planner - All About Planners
6. Planner Quote: December 20, 2021 - FranklinPlanner Talk
7. 2022 Word of the year - Random Pastimes of a Restless Mind
8. 2021 Holiday Gift Guide - Decorator's Voice
9. Get Organized in January with the Organize Like a Boss Challenge ~ Sign up Now! - I'm an Organizing Junkie
10. Why Regret Is The Last Thing You Should Ever Worry About - QuickBooost
11. Episode #134: Integrating the Higher Horizons - Getting Things Done
12. The difference between Van Der Spek original undyed leather and Van Der Spek undyed Janet Leather - This Bug's Life
13. Link Love: Looking Forward, Looking Back - The Well-Appointed Desk
14. 20 Christmas Vintage Ephemera Printable Sites, Kits and Collage Books - Kerrymay
15. RESTOCK: Medium Mia Cara & A6 Appunto - Blog | Gillio
16. Web Finds – 22 December 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. 
• 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

Free For All Friday - No. 685 by Steve

Has anyone put a Filofax or other brand of organiser on their Christmas wish list? 

Have a relaxing Christmas everyone and I hope you have a great weekend. 

From all of us here at Philofaxy we wish you a happy holiday. 

 

The Hitchhikers Guide to the Plannerverse - Episode 121

Tips To Feel Healthier At Home (and how to plan for them)

We have all been spending much more time working and being at home in the last 18 months or so. Today we discuss how to improve your life/work/living at home by developing simple routines to improve your daily life. 

Thank you to all our Patreon supporters in helping to bring you this episode.

If you have ideas for future episodes, please send them to podcast at philofaxy dot com

Show Notes (timings approximate)
00:00 - Introductions.

01:00 - Thank you to all our Patreon supporters.

02:00 - Hello Habits - Fumio Sasaki.

02:30 - 87 ways to feel healthier at home article.

04:00 - Working/Living at home. 

05:45 - Have a notebook/notepad close at hand.

07:30 - Last thing at night ideas. 

08:30 - Vacuum for 20 minutes. 

09:45 - Develop habits and routines. 

12:00 - Check your smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms once a month.

12:45 - Check and change your air filters on a regular basis.

14:00 - Set up a routine to change your bed linen and changing your bathroom towels. 

15:00 - Use a Month Per Page diary insert to remind yourself when to change. 

17:00 - Work from home bag. 

18:45 - Yoga.

20:00 - Empty your bag and sort the contents. 

22:00 - Self care kit

23:30 - Check your back-ups of your computers and your websites. 

25:00 - Scan important documents. 

26:00 - Eat outside your home (weather permitting!)

27:00 - Set up smart music playlists to 'recycle' your music.

30:00 - Read the article for all of the tips.  

Links:

• 87 ways to feel healthier at home - Apartment Therapy
• Hello Habits - Fumio Sasaki 
• Come Ti Organizzo -  Maria Clelia Talo
• Le Ricette di Cle - Maria Clelia Talo
• Steve's Smart Playlist

Become a Patron! 

Please support the podcast via Patreon by doing so you will be helping us with the making of these advert free podcasts. By being a Patreon supporter you will gain early access to each podcast episode and be able to download the show notes. We also aim to introduce other benefits in the near future.

A direct download is also available here: Episode121.mp3

• Amazon Music Podcasts 
• Google Podcasts
• Spotify

Presenters - Steve Morton & Karine Tovmassian

Editing and production - Steve Morton

Our Websites:
Karine: Plannerology, Throat Punch Resumes, IG: Karine Tovmassian
Steve: Philofaxy, Travellers Notebook Times,  IG: Mr Philofaxy, Steve Morton

Naturally we would love to hear your feedback on the podcast. If you use iTunes please gives us your rating or reviews of the podcast.

If you want a quick link to all the podcasts remember: https://philofaxy.com/podcast/

Remember if you have liked this podcast, don't forget to like it, subscribe to it and share the podcast.

Previous Episodes:

2021

120 - Analogue Tools in our Digital World

119 - Real Life vs Planner Life?

118 - Guest Interview - Jena Peebles - The Pixel Artist and Her Planner

117 - Habits

116 - How To Turn Any Planner Into A Franklin Covey System Planner

115 - Developing Values for Advance Planning

114 - Habit Tracking

113 - Update and Tasks (short episode)

112 - Turning any planner in to a productivity planner

111 - The Pocket Planner - The most underrated size?

110 - Your Life All in One Place

109 - Project Planning: From Start to Finish

108 - How to Plan for 2021 despite 2020

2020
107 - Questions and Answers Session for Steve and Karine.

106 - Practical ways to get yourself out of a funk while using your planner.

105 - Time Management for those that are being managed by time.

104 - Planning for a medical emergency.
103 - Trust the process.

102 - The Return.

101 - The Mighty Little Checklist: The Unsung Hero of Success
100 - What do we use every day?
99 - Some Day May Be
98 - Transform Your Productivity
97 - Getting out of Stuck

2019

96 - Minimalist Planning.
95 - How to take your planning to the next level.
94 - Mission and Vision Statements
93 - How to plan your year in advance
92 - Workflows
91 - How to plan in a week that is already a busy one.
90 - Avoiding mistakes in planning
89 - Refocus
88 - When Your Plans or Goals Don't Work Out
87 - Decluttering Your Life - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
86 - Accessories for your Planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
85 - Journaling -  A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
84 - Workflows - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf

2018

83 - Routines - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
82 - Productivity 201 - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
81 - Planner Sizes - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
80 - Do you have too many planners? - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
79 - Improving Your Planning Productivity - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
78 - Ten reasons why you have stopped planning - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
77 - Letting Your Planner Take The Strain - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
76 - The Franken Flex - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
75 - Decluttering - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
74 - Engagement - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
73 - Reflection and Review - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
72 - Organisation - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
71 - Clarification - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
70 - Capture - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
69 - How to do nothing - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
68 - Changes - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
67 - Tones versus Pulses - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf

2017

66 - Planning and Execution - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
65 - The Power of Habit - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
64 - Planning for the end of the year - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
63 - Planning For Unexpected Life Events - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
62 - Staying in two sizes of planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
61 - Staying in one size of planner. - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
60 - Functional Planning - Macro and Micro Planning - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
59 - PlannerCon Europe - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
58 - Speeding up by slowing down - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
57 - To Do Lists and Diary Pages -  A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
56 - Hints and Tips on making planner videos - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
55 - Keeping up to date - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
54 - Interview with Jennifer Powell at PlannerCon - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
53 - Conferences and Meet Ups - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
52 - The Magic of Contextualising Your Life - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
51 - Guest Interview - Rose Orchard - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
50 - Organising your significant other - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
49 - Creating the ultimate planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
48 - Getting past New Years resolutions - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
47 - How to understand being a planner newbie - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
46 - Buying and Selling 101 - A5 docx pdf Personal docx pdf
45 - A5 or A6 - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
44 - End of Year - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf

2016 

43 - Digital Planning vs Analogue Planning - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
42 - Planning vs Organising - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
41 - Short and Long Term Planning - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
40 - Good and Bad Planner Habits - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
39 - Tackling Planner Size Change - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
38 - Self-Improvement or Personal Development - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
37 - What is productivity anyway - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
36 - The Planner Community - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
35 - Wellness Planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
34 - Listeners Question - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
33 - Pens and other writing instruments - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
32 - Proper storage, care and shipping of planners, rings etc - A5 docx pdf Personal docx pdf
31 - Guest Interview - Louise Umeki - Plannercon 2017 - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
30 - Form Following Function -  A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
29 - Seasonal To Do Lists - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
28 - Making and keeping annual goals - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
27 - Organising the family - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
26 - Guest interview - Theresa Hall - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
25 - Guest interview - Ray Blake - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
24 - Defining the important things from the urgent things - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
23 - Guest interview with Rita Sedani - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
22 - Printing your own inserts - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
21 - How to derail your planning system by over thinking - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
20 - Digital devices/services and your analogue planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
19 - What To Keep In Your 'Others' Tab - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
18 - Zombie Apocalypse Preparation - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
17 - Managing Finances In Your Planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
16 - Planning for those of us who actually can't live without planning, with guest co-host Carie Harling - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
15 - Automation Nirvana - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
14 - Work Life Balance and Your Planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
13 - GTD Productivity And Using Your Paper Planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
12 - Job Seeking and Keeping - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
11 - Planner Fail -  A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
10 - Planner Hacks - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
9 - Planner Planning - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
8 - Choosing Inserts - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
7 - How do you carry your planner - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
6 - Planners on the go - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
5 - Why would you pay more than the price of a Filofax? - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
4 - Using Your Planner To Create Permanent Habit Changes - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
3 - Getting on with two or more planners - A5 docx pdf Personal docx pdf
2 - Where to start your planning journey and why - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf
1 - What size and why....  - A5 docx pdf  Personal docx pdf