There are a few times per year when I especially appreciate the flexibility of a Filofax: now, and at the beginning and end of each school year.
Being able to roll over pages from year to year, instead of having to start all over again in a blank planner, is so helpful to me. There were years of my life when I was excited to start over in a fresh, blank planner. Now I just have too much stuff to roll over year to year. And honestly, I don't have the time or energy to start a new planner all over from scratch.
As I wrote in my previous FFAF, there are several reference and info pages that I print to put into my planner. During the years when I used a bound planner, I had to reprint and tape the pages into my new planner every year. Now, the pages stay in my Filofax indefinitely. If I need to change or update something, I can quickly print the page and hole punch it. No more cutting to trim, taping, and deciding which pages in my bound planner I could afford to have covered by a different page for the entire year.
I don't have to carry two planners around with me at the end of the year. Because I rotate my planning pages through my Filofax throughout the year, I always have 12 months of planning pages with me.
I don't have that transition period, which I always found frustrating and stressful, of closing down one planner and moving into the next one. It always made me feel like a hermit crab moving shells. I found myself still writing some things into my current planner, but as it got closer to ending, writing more and more often in my new planner, while still having to rely on my old one at the same time.
Now, the pages that are in my Filofax are all in frequent use. Anything I don't currently use gets archived. Some pages are in my Filofax permanently. Some are in there for a year or more, after which I will no longer need them and they will get archived. Some pages I need for only part of the year, or less. And as I wrote in my previous post about notes, some pages get moved to someplace else as needed.
Do you start over with all new pages in your Filofax each year? Or do you rotate through pages as the year goes on?
By the end of the year my organiser always look a bit tired. So having decided what size organiser (often plural!) I’m going to use, I take all leaves out, give the leather a polish and then update and reprint and punch all of my information pages. Packing lists, health data, bank holidays, wi-fi codes, passwords etc. etc. I also set work and personal goals for the new year and print these off to keep in my organiser (broken down into monthly goals). Coupled with a new yearly planner and new blank notes pages, I aim to be ready before New Year’s Eve! My biggest dilemma (for 35+ years) is always which size organiser to use!
ReplyDeleteI turn over & refresh my Project pages (GTD inspired, but not purist) about every 3 months and Inbox about every 2 weeks, meanwhile some Reference pages are in for several years (I use coloured cartridge paper for visibility and durability) so it's a mish-mash, but like Tim Edwards I do a thorough strip-out and tend to everything about once a year, ideally with festive telly or some music.
ReplyDeleteSome pages (in different sections) are more or less ‘permanent’ (they are used longer than one year) but most of my inserts don’t last more than four months. I think this is the beauty of a ring bound notebook: the contents are, in one way or another, always temporary, but the organizer itself is an object that can be used for a very long time. I do not archive anything: when it’s no longer relevant it will get trashed.
ReplyDeleteTransition for me is generally in September/October, I add my inserts for the next year about that time. I sometimes swap to a larger ring A5 organiser at the same time.
ReplyDeleteOver the next few weeks I will start archiving the early weeks of the current year, I'm then be able to swap to a smaller ring size again.
For my journal I use a bound planner, so I will order that in September ready for the following year.