Van der Spek Advent Calendar

24 days of Give-Aways, Discounts, Fast Shipping, Offers, Freebies and more...

For the details of each day, go to https://blog.vdsshop.com/advent-calendar-2023

• 1 December | Win 2x VDS Gift Card of € 100,-
• 2 December | Special Leather available: Rainbow Noël
• 3 December | 30% discount on all Touch Me Planners and Touch Me Pen Pouches
• 4 December | Fast Shipping on ALL custom made planners in ALL stock leathers
• 5 December | Win a planner --> Special Nomad in JL Brown
• 6 December | All orders above € 150,- will get a FREE 'Bagusbag by Petra' brown wallet
• 7 December | Win a planner --> Codex Standard Mega in Nubuck Écume
• 8 December | Order up to 10 FREE leather samples (no real ostrich) and only pay for shipping
• 9 December | All Custom Made planners that are ordered today will include the VDS Embossed Logo
• 10 December | Fast Shipping on ALL custom made planners in ALL stock leathers
• 11 December | Free Chunky or A4 Clasp with a Custom Made Planner
• 12 December | Win your exact same VDS planner for a friend
• 13 December | Free Nomad Layout with a Custom Made Planner
• 14 December | Win the planner that Petra is holding on the picture of December 1
• 15 December | 15% discount on JL Leathers for Custom Made Planners and Bags
• 16 December | Win a Custom Made Bag
• 17 December | Win a Facetime talk with Petra
• 18 December | All orders above € 350,- will get a FREE 'Bagusbag by Petra' Grey Shopper or Big Shopper
• 19 December | Win a planner --> VDS Collector's item: Senior in Fine Grey Croco + Brown Nappa
• 20 December | 20% discount on all Touch Me Stock Leathers for Custom Made planners and bags
• 21 December | All Custom Made Ring Planner orders (except Mini an B6) will receive a Touch Me Planner in the same size
• 22 December | Win a planner --> Custom Made A5, inside leather = TM Mauve
• 23 December | Free Squared Corners with a Custom Made Planner
• 24 December | Win a Real Ostrich Full Quill Burnt Pink Junior size planner

That’s it! We wish you all a Very Merry Xmas and a Wonderful New Year! 🎄🎁🧑🏽‍🎄

Thank you for your support and enthusiasm.

The VDS Team.

Further Information.

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

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 29 November 2023

I hope you have had a good weekend.

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. Mail time | unknown vintage slimline personal binder - Flatability
2. Setup my Planner for Christmas - Planner Mumsy
3. Flipthrough of my VDS pocket rings - EraizzaPlans
4. Daily Plan With Me in my Pink Vintage Aurora! - BuySellPlan
5. Plan With Me || Franklin Classic Trillian Binder || Nov. 27 - Dec. 3, 2023 - Sandra Dahl
6. Filofax Design Your Own Clipbook - Filofax
7. Setting up my Franklin Covey Tyler Binder - Samantha Gibson- Choose_Your_Planning
8. Gillio Compagna XL (November 2023 UPDATE) - Kerri Pouliot
9. NEW Filofax Rings Setup!! My FAVOURITE personal rings cover! - MomYePlans
10. Plan with Me! Week of November 27th in my Pink Vintage Aurora - BuySellPlan
11. Gillio Firenze Unboxing | Tote Bag Toscana Gold | First impression - keri_plans
12. Franklin Haul || 2024 Planner Inserts Show & Tell - Sandra Dahl
13. Filofax Compact Saffiano w/ Hobonichi Weeks - Moniki Plans
14. #2024 #hobonichiweeks setup Part 1 + #Filofax malden zip organizer review | Home management planner - Snippets and Scraps
15. DIY Christmas Tabbed Dividers! Personal Wide size for my planner. - BuySellPlan
16. Best 2024 planning system: Essentialism | Plan More, Do More ft. Midori, passport TN, Filofax BuJo - PaperJoy PH
17. Filofax and Letts of London Haul | Finally sharing part of my new lineup! - Kimberly | Kimi's Desk
18. Herbstdeko im Filofax | Goodbye Autumn | - plannerandotherthings _
19. DIY Transformation: Adapting My Filofax Domino for B6 Stalogy + Creative Cover Makeover - TUTULORA
20. Training your Filofax Malden Zip to lay Flat - Papyrophliac
21. Move Into My Christmas Planner With Me | DIY | A5 6 Rings Planner - SheDoesTheMost
22. Craft with me | Setting up my new Christmas Planner | Agenda 52 A5 Ring Planner - Planning With Eli
23. Plannercon 2023 - cloudieontheroad
24. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know. (steve at philofaxy dot com) Alternatively ensure your video contains 'Filofax' or 'Rings' in the title or description. 

• 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. 
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit
• Follow Philofaxy on BlueSky

Enjoy

Free For All Tuesday - No. 669

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 post a question. If you are commenting as 'Anonymous', please include your name in the text of your comment. 

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

A date for your diary - Sunday 3 December 2023

We are going to run another 'Virtual Meet Up' everyone is welcome.

When? - Sunday 3 December 2023 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: 

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:  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 3 December 2023.

Silent Sunday

 

Journal pages - thank you to Daniel

Web Finds - Saturday 25 November 2023

It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, 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 18 November 2023
2. Silent Sunday
3. Paper Sizes
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 668
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 22 November 2023
6. Using an A4 organiser on a daily basis
7. Free For All Friday - No. 785 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. Spreadsheet of filofax dimensions? - Reddit Filofax
2. Get Ready to Stuff Your Planner + Elevate Your Personal Development | The Charmed Shop’s Annual Holiday Sale is Coming! - Strange & Charmed
3. Lessons In Thankfulness - FranklinPlanner Talk
4. Using ChatGPT to create a travel itinerary – time saver or waste of time? - All About Planners
5. Diary inserts - what do you like? - Reddit Filofax
6. Make this Christmas Noteworthy! - Filofax UK - BLOG
7. Episode #234: Setting Priorities - Getting Things Done
8. 3 Productivity Tools to Pick Up During The Charmed Shop’s Black Friday Sale - Strange & Charmed
9. set up of my 2024 planner - part 4 - StickersSwissMade
10. Which one to get? - Reddit Filofax 
11. What’s coming up? -  Lime Tree Fruits
12. The Franklin Five: December 2023 - FranklinPlanner Talk
13. What's in my bag - Klaudija - This Bug's Life
14. Link Love: The Gift Guide Season Has Arrived - The Well-Appointed Desk
15. Web Finds – 22 November 2023 - Travellers Notebook Times
16. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.

• 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. 
• Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit

Enjoy

Free For All Friday - No. 785 by Steve

'I had forgotten I had that' !!! Do you ever say that to yourself when you are looking through your storage cupboard of Filofax and other stationery goodies? 

Well you are not alone I'm sure! I was looking through some of my storage boxes the other day and came across quite a few things I had forgotten about! 

What is your latest 'forgotten find' ? 

Naturally it is Friday so please feel free to discuss anything related to Filofax or other ring bound organisers.  

Using an A4 organiser on a daily basis

Could increasing the size of your organiser and therefore using fewer pages reduce the weight of the organiser compared to the A5 organiser you have been carrying around all year? 

It might seem a bit of a bizarre suggestion, but think about it. 

Filofax A4.. I realise this isn't a popular or common size for a lot of our users, but I thought I would look in to the pros and cons of the size.

• Big - yes but that might be an advantage if your hand writing is difficult to read on the smaller sizes As they are so big they will take up a lot more desk 'real estate' compared to an A5;
• Paper commonly available, well in Europe that is;
• Templates already in this size, I create my templates in A4 format and then reduce them to A5;
• Limited selection of diaries and inserts, for some people this might be the 'show stopper'. However, all of the Philofaxy A5 diary inserts are created in A4 size, so these can easily be used;
• Common hole spacing ISO838? The 4 holes are 8cm apart. Four hole punches are quite cheap;
• Possibly thinner than an A5 so less bulky. If you are used to using a Week on Two pages inserts, then with the increase in page size you might easily be able to use Week on One page in A4 size;
• Price wise they often come up on offer, so may be about the same price as an A5;
• Lots of card slots! But I wouldn't suggest using one as a wallet!!
• Not available in the US, mainly because of the paper size I suspect?
• A lot of people in business carry A4 folders around, so an A4 Filofax won't look too out of place.

I have just the one A4 Filofax, an A4 Classic. I have used it a few times, but I find it a bit too big to leave open on my desk.

Our friend and fellow A4 user Neil aka 'Flatability' has recently shared an excellent video about his A4 Lyndhurst Zip organiser: 

Also Graham has also done an A4 Filofax Domino review here. 

You will find plenty of other videos about A4 Filofax organisers here.

Are men more likely to use an A4 Filofax? 

If you have used an A4 already we are of course interested to hear your views in the comments.

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 22 November 2023

I hope you have had a good weekend.

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. Personal Moterm Rings Flip - Moniki Plans
2. DIY Tabbed Dividers for my 2024 Wellness Journal - BuySellPlan
3. Pocket Planner Set Up | Nov 2023 | VDS Planner - allyssa nicole
4. November Planner Flip ft. Filofax Croc in Personal Compact - Laila K.
5. Filofax Malden Compact Zip Review - Sam Plans
6. 2024 Filofax Holborn Rings Setup - Callie Plans
7. Filofax Collection - Mini Rings - Finchley, Finsbury & Malden - RosiesPlanners
8. Mail Time | unusual wooden binder - Flatability
9. VDS - How to order a Custom Made Leather Bag on our webshop - vdsshop
10. Plan With Me || Franklin Classic Trillian Binder || November 20 - 26, 2023 - Sandra Dahl
11. Plan With Me! Week of November 20th in my Pink Vintage Aurora - BuySellPlan
12. Planner DESTASH! A5 + Personal Rings, Filofax, Aura Estelle, Moterm and more! - MomYePlans
13. Unboxing my pre-loved Franklin Covey Tyler Binder - Samantha Gibson- Choose_Your_Planning
14. Gillio Compagna Epoca Yellow (30mm gold rings)planner flip- There’s a big problem with this cover - Everything Marmie
15. 2023-24 Medium Gillio Compagna Planner Flip - ShesGottaPlan
16. first ever Gillio! - true unboxing // Medium Compagna Yellow - crystalplans
17. Filofax Personal Size Rings Planner The Original and Setup - MichelleB Plans
18. The experiment continues: personal rings, new paper, and the archive - lindseyscribbles
19. Planner DESTASH! A5 + Personal Rings, Filofax, Aura Estelle, Moterm and more! - MomYePlans
20. Планер на кольцах Filofax | Moterm|Распаковка|Планирование|Как я веду ежедневник - madamplans
21. Filofax Malden Organizer Planner Pink Pocket Size Rings Unboxing for 2023 2024 Use - MichelleB Plans
22. Reference Planner Setup | Filofax Personal Rings | 2024 - NatalieWritesPlans
23. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know. (steve at philofaxy dot com) Alternatively ensure your video contains 'Filofax' or 'Rings' in the title or description. 

• 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. 
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit
• Follow Philofaxy on BlueSky

Enjoy

Free For All Tuesday - No. 668

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 post a question. If you are commenting as 'Anonymous', please include your name in the text of your comment. 

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

Paper Sizes

With the announcement by Gillio that they are bringing out an Organiser in 'HBxA5' size, which isn't a totally new size, it has existed for some time but mainly in Japan. I thought it was time to revise and update my paper sizes chart!

I often refer to my chart of Popular Paper and Page Sizes, I've updated it and you will find links to it further down this post. 

It wouldn't be so bad if you used this information every week, it might become second nature, but for most of us it is information we only use once or twice a year. 

So let us start with a picture. 

The three different sizes shown A5, B5 and A4 are common sizes. I've added the dimensions to show their actual sizes.

A4 is twice the area of A5, A5 is twice the area of A6 etc. Similarly B4 is twice the area of B5, B5 is twice the area of B6 etc.

These three sizes are all ISO216 paper sizes, ISO216:2007 specifies three different series of paper sizes, A, B and C. One thing in common is that the ratio of height against width is the square root of two. So if you multiple the width by 1.4142 (the square root of 2) you will magically get the height to within 1 mm. Alternatively multiple the height by 0.7071 and you will get the width of the page.

Because they follow this pattern we can easily scale from one size to another when printing. So for instance if you have a Word file that is set to A4 size to print it on A5 paper you scale the page by 0.7071, or more conveniently 70.7% or 71% if you can't input a decimal number.

Note that the reduction between each size is not 50% even though the smaller size has half the area. The scale factor for reduction is calculated by dividing the longer edge of the smaller size by the longer edge of the larger size (or the shorter edge of the smaller size by the shorter edge of the larger size).

Using that rule we can devise how to go from A4 to B5, so we take 250mm and divide it by 297mm to get 0.841 or just 84% should be close enough. 

What is the significance of B5 size you might ask.... B5 is Deskfax size, whilst Filofax have discontinued this size years ago, it still remains a popular size, although printed inserts for this size are difficult to come across. With the knowledge of the scaling factor of 84% you can take any of the Philofaxy diary inserts intended for A5 size and print them at 84% and you will have Deskfax pages.

All the Philofaxy diary inserts for A5 are in fact sized to A4 this is so if you use the 'Booklet' print facility available on some printers they will be printed the correct size on A4 paper (two pages per side) If you are printing the files directly on to A5 paper you have to scale the print to 71%. 

To help you remember this information I have created an 'aide memoire' which you can either put on your notice board or print out and put in your organiser. 

• Popular Paper and Page Sizes (notice board version) - .docx  or  .pdf
• Popular Paper and Page Sizes A4/A5 version - .docx  or  .pdf

If you have any questions pop them in the comments below.

Silent Sunday

 

Personal Kensington

Web Finds - Saturday 18 November 2023

It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, 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 11 November 2023
2. Silent Sunday
3. Gillio Meet Up - November 2023
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 667
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 15 November 2023
6. Making Filofax Personal Size Your Everyday Organiser
7. Free for All Friday No. 784 by Nan

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. 2024 inserts are in! - This Bug's Life
2. Set up of my 2024 planner - part 3 - StickersSwissMade
3. Episode #233: The Value of Writing Things Down - Getting Things Done
4. Personalisation Station - Filofax UK - BLOG
5. The Grand Finale: An Ode to Paper Planners - Planner Fun
6. Whats in my bag – Van Der Spek La Grande tote - This Bug's Life
7. Pen loop on personal compact - Reddit Filofax
8. PLOTTER YOUR WAY: Using PLOTTER as a Journal - PLOTTER USA
9. The Ultimate Guide to a Functional Planner Setup: Your Roadmap to Organized and Productive Living - Strange & Charmed
10. GILLIO MEETUP 2023 - the replay 13 November 2023 - Gillio
11. Simple Tips for Goal Success Using Your Planner! - Planner Fun
12. Creating Your Holiday Game Plan - FranklinPlanner Talk
13. My first filofax! Finsbury Pocket "Coral" - Reddit Filofax
14. Link Love: Without Comment - The Well-Appointed Desk
15. Web Finds – 15 November 2023 - Travellers Notebook Times
16. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.

• 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. 
• Consider joining our Facebook group - Filofax for Philofaxy fans
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit

Enjoy

Free for All Friday No. 784 by Nan

 The early bird catches the...Filofax? 

I've spend most of this year using a Franklin-Covey 7-hole Classic size planner. While I thought many times about switching to a different size and brand, mostly to find a more lightweight, portable system, I never could because what I doing with the 7-hole was just working too darn well. 

Once I figured out a way to easily switch to Filofax A5, I found that I could wait no longer. I've started using the organizer I planned for 2024 in November 2023! And it's working even better than I could have predicted!

Can you relate?

As always on Friday, all discussion of ring-bound organizers, or anything else on your mind, is welcome.

Making Filofax Personal Size Your Everyday Organiser

A lot of people use Filofax Personal Size, most probably more than any other size in the range of sizes available. 

If you are not using Personal Size here are some things to consider that might get you to change your mind about using it or changing to it.  

• It has been available for the longest period of time of all sizes, so there are plenty of organiser designs and styles available. 
• Ring sizes from as small as 10/11mm to a whopping 30mm. The smaller sizes being slim enough to fit in to a jacket pocket or take up very little space in your handbag/purse
• A large range of inserts are available including pre-printed ones from a large range of suppliers. 
• Price range of organisers is vast, from a few £ € $ to hundreds, but you don't have to spend a lot of money to get an organiser that is perfectly functional. 
• Vintage organisers.... true vintage as well are available.

As with all sizes, you should test out the page size with just some sheets of paper (95x171mm) to see if your typical week in your own hand writing is going to work or not. Also this will help with what sort of diary insert you are going to need. 

The most common size of rings is between 23-26mm, in those sizes you will find a vast range of organisers to choose from both in clasp closure and zip closure. Mostly they will only have one pen loop, some have two pen loops. 

The larger 30mm ring organisers in Personal Size if you fill them up can become quite bulky. With the Gillio Mia Cara with 25mm or in the case of Moterm Versa 30mm rings you can have a two part organiser, with an outer 'jacket' and a separate inner organiser. These can carry a lot of supplementary paper work, but they are much bigger and heavier, but they both still use Personal Size pages. These are not the sort of organiser you can easily put in your pocket!

Gillio Mia Cara (Medium/Personal Size)

If you have been using an A5 or larger organiser, adapting to the smaller page size might take a while, but don't give up, give it some time, a week or two at least. 

One disadvantage for me is that Personal Size pages aren't in the same height/width proportions as the regular ISO sizes (A4, A5, A6 etc) this means that a Personal Size page has to be specifically designed for that size, not just simply scaled down from a larger size. Also printing Personal Size pages on that size paper can be tricky if your printer is a little fussy about the smaller size pages. 

Have you considered changing to or back to Personal Size? 

Video Web Finds - Wednesday 15 November 2023

I hope you have had a good weekend.

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. Three English made vinyl binders | Filofax | Lefax | PMS - Flatability
2. Galen Leather Leather Balm - fountain PENdulum
3. What's in my planner bag - Planner Mumsy
4. Reference Binder | Original Filofax vs. VDS A5 Manager - Just Scribble
5. Gillio Meet Up Nov. 2023 | Vlog and Unboxing - keri_plans 
6. Gillio Meetup 2023 - livestream - Gillio Firenze
7. MUST have Planner Supplies from Amazon... that I use DAILY! - MomYePlans
8. Experimenting with personal rings (and loving it), a filofax flip | lindseyscribbles - lindseyscribbles
9. Flatability Podcast Episode 19 - news | updates | comments | opinions | philosophies - Flatability
10. Plan With Me! || Franklin Classic Trillian Binder || November 13th - 19th, 2023 - Sandra Dahl
11. Meal planning when you have no idea what to cook - Tonya Plans
12. Plan With Me! Week of November 13th in my Pink Vintage Aurora. - BuySellPlan
13. Battle of the Planners - Filofax Saffiano vs Malden Personal Compact Zip - RosiesPlanners
14. Flatability Coffee Break | organiser handling | tab orientation | YT Premium | Atoma change | paper - Flatability
15. This week s releases & restocks week of November 13th, 2023 - Gillio Firenze
16. Filofax Croc Cherry Planner Personalrings Unboxing - kti. plans
17. Was ist NEU bei den weekview Business Einlagen 2024 mit Filofax Lochung? - weekview
18. Planner Lineup for 2024 | Filofax and Hobonichi - Mariane Cresp
19. Plan With Me: November Week 2 Reset | 2023 Filofax Planner - Brittany Vasquez
20. Plan With Me | Gillio Medium Compagna | PaperTess Designs | Personal Ring Planner - Nessie Plans
21. Your YouTube video could appear here. If you have a YT channel that features Filofax organisers or similar, please let us know. (steve at philofaxy dot com) Alternatively ensure your video contains 'Filofax' or 'Rings' in the title or description. 

• 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. 
• Follow Philofaxy on Mastodon
• Follow Philofaxy on Reddit
• Follow Philofaxy on BlueSky

Enjoy

Free For All Tuesday - No. 667

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 post a question. If you are commenting as 'Anonymous', please include your name in the text of your comment. 

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

Gillio Meet Up - November 2023

This last weekend saw me travelling to Brussels to take part in the Gillio Meet Up, ten years after the first meet up led by Mella, that one was held on 30 November 2013. There have been many since then of course. 

I knew a lot of the people attending, but we hadn’t seen each other since 2019 at PlannerCon Europe, so it was wonderful to see each other after so long. 

The event was to ‘reveal’ a lot of new/revised products. The event was ‘live streamed’ using a professional company to provide as many people as possible to be there in a virtual sense and get the news about announcements as quickly as the people there. 

The event was held in a former paper-mill powered by a water wheel or steam engine, which I thought was very fitting considering the products revealed at the event. 

You can watch the recording of the event in the video at the foot of this post.  

I hastily wrote down the details of what was announced. 

1. B6 Slim Appunto notebook cover.

2. The Gillio Cat Collection, three colour combinations, in three models (Medium, Pocket, Appunto A6) two fly leaves with cat paws on them, and the face of a cat on the other. Square shaped clasp with a cat paw imprint. 

3. Crocodile leather prototype…. Very much in the early stages of development. Not calf leather, but actual crocodile!

4. Bags have returned in a big way, five different designs, some similar to previous designs, but with improvements such as removable/adjustable straps etc. 

5. The Vintage Collection leather re-visited with more colours and a new quality leather, again in development. This is a link to the original Vintage Collection from February 2019

6. A new size of ring planner to the Gillio collection HBxWA5 this is for a page size that is 172mm (6.76 inches) high by 148mm wide. This equates to Personal page height, but the width of A5. So think of Personal Wide on steroids!! Personal Wide is 26mm wider than Personal Size, HBxWA5 is 27mm wider than Personal Wide, so you end up with a much squarer page but without the height of true A5 (210mm) 

If this format sounds familiar, it is because Gmax did a post for us back in 2015! And there is part 2 as well.

Availability of all of the above outside of the ones that were for sale today is variable with no definite release dates as yet. 

For full details on any of the items, please skip through the video to get the full details as mentioned by Mella, I was just scribbling down notes in a notebook whilst the presentation was going on so I hold me hand up if there are any errors or I mis-heard something!

It was an excellent event, people had the chance to buy some of the items and see some of the yet to go in to production samples and prototypes, some of them had only arrived from Italy on Friday morning!

A big thank you to Tom Van Harlem and all the team at Gillio Firenze for putting on the event for all the fans. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait four years for the next one!

Silent Sunday

 

Gillio Pocket Mia Cara

Web Finds - Saturday 11 November 2023

It is time to enjoy a few blog posts from around the internet, 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 4 November 2023
2. Silent Sunday
3. Guest post series - 'Filohax' No.8 - Paul
4. Free For All Tuesday - No. 666
5. Video Web Finds - Wednesday 8 November 2023
6. Specialist Diary Inserts
7. Free For All Friday No 783 by Laurie

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. The Great Paper Planner Fiasco: A Comedy of Organizational Errors - Planner Fun
2. My A5 Finsbury is too big and heavy - what alternative? - Reddit Filofax
3. Mission Statements – Business, Family, and Personal - FranklinPlanner Talk
4. Episode #232: Paper vs. Digital - Getting Things Done
5. PLOTTER as an Everyday Tool with a Leather Card Case - PLOTTER USA
6. The Great Paper Planner Renaissance: A Sequel of Organizational Escapades - Planner Fun
7. What dot grid size is best for bullet journaling? - All About Planners
8. New to Filofax - Reddit filofax
9. Set up of my 2024 planner - part 2 - StickersSwissMade
10. Introducing the 2023 Advent of Productivity Calendar: Unwrap 24 Days of Functional Planning Tools for Your Perfect 2024 Planner Setup! - Strange & Charmed
11. Link Love: Is it Black Friday Already? - The Well-Appointed Desk
12. Web Finds – 8 November 2023 - Travellers Notebook Times
13. Your blog post could appear here. Please let us know if you have a blog that features ring bound organisers.

• Please leave a comment on any of the blogs you enjoyed reading and mention that you saw their post mentioned on Philofaxy. Thank you
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Enjoy

Free For All Friday No 783 by Laurie

I've been using my Mental Health Journal Filofax for about a month now, and have been able to evaluate how it's working. October was a very challenging month, so I'm really glad I set up the journal when I did, because boy did I need it. Here's what has worked so far and what didn't:

There are monthly tabbed sections which contain:

Good Things That Happened This Month: My favourite pages, where I jot down any good things as they happen so I have a running list of good things to look back on. I'm really glad I write these down, because in challenging times it's so easy to forget the good things!

Challenges This Month: As I predicted this has turned out to be extremely valuable. I write challenges or worries as they come up, and then (most importantly) I write what actions I took, or how they were resolved. This lets me see that these roadblocks or worries turned out fine/ I was able to do something about them. This lets me feel less helpless and will be a great reminder of how I have overcome specific challenges.

Monthly Journaling Pages: I haven't used these as prolifically as I thought I would, but the things I have written down have been helpful in revealing thought patterns.

Using a Filofax for this journal has been great, because I have done a lot of moving pages around and am starting to settle into specific tabbed sections. For example, in my month section I wrote down specific challenges that were ongoing and took detailed notes. As they went on I realised I needed each of these challenges to have their own tabbed section for ongoing records and notes. This has worked very well.

Something I quickly abandoned was written weekly evaluations. It was too much re-writing of what I had already written in other sections. I decided to just to a weekly review where I look back over each section and how things have developed in the past week. 

I also did a month review where I looked back over the entire month in each section to see what has been resolved, what is ongoing, what worked and what didn't.

I'm sure my use will continue to develop and change according to my needs at the time.

As always feel free to ask and/ or discuss anything ring binder organiser related!

Specialist Diary Inserts

From the very early days of Filofax/Lefax (1920's-1930's) there were a lot of Army Officers and Clergy who were Filofax users. There was a lot of specialist inserts available for them to use as well. 

During a discussion last weekend on the Philofaxy Virtual Meet-Up, we wondered if the clergy still used a Filofax in any form, differently to ourselves. 

With a little help from Mr Google, we discovered that there was in fact a Church Desk Diary available, and a loose leaf version is also available for an A5 Filofax. 

Unfortunately the web page doesn't show the page layout, but from the description (shown below) we can see it is a page per day diary and a double page for Sundays and other major religious days. 

Compare that to a normal Filofax insert that reduces the space available for Saturdays and Sundays! 

The Canterbury Church Book and Desk Diary 2024 A5 Personal Organiser Edition

This A5 loose leaf edition of the bestselling church desk diary provides a whole page per day and a double page spread for Sundays and major feast days, making it ideal for service planning as well as day-to-day working and notetaking.

It is hole punched, loose leaf, and designed for the 'personal organiser' Filofax size.

Readings from the Common Worship and BCP lectionaries are listed for each day and on Sundays, Holy Days and major saints' days, the Common Worship collects, post communion prayers are printed in full.

Its many extra features include extensive national and diocesan church information, lists of organisations, table of fees, accounts section, a two-year planner, sunrise and sunset times, plus ample space for recording personal information.

Publisher: Canterbury Press Norwich
ISBN: 9781786225078
Number of Pages: 512
Published: 31/07/2023
Width: 14.8 cm 
Height: 21 cm

From the size given we can confirm that it is A5 page size.  

I'm not a religious person as such, but it was pleasing to see that there are such specialised diary inserts available for those people that are.

You can find the full page for this diary at the following address: 

https://canterburypress.hymnsam.co.uk/books/9781786225078/the-canterbury-church-book-and-desk-diary-2024-a5-personal-organiser-edition 

The also do a hardback bound version as well.