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13 June 2024

Fill 'Er Up: Nan's Daily Pages

So, I've got my A5 organizer ready to switch to. (See my previous post here.)

For me, the thing that makes it hard for me to switch right now is that I had so many forms and inserts in my previous half-letter size. Here are some examples: 



To use my new A5 organizer effectively, I'll need the following: 

  • Diary insert: two pages per day is a must for me. I always need space for notes and supplementary information. 
  • Project tracking forms
  • Habit tracking forms
  • Monthly and Yearly calendars
  • List forms (to do, to read, to buy, etc.)
Luckily, Filofax USA was having a sale, and I got an A5 One Day on a Page diary for 2024 at a reduced price (I'm starting with A5 on June 1, 2024). To make it two pages per day, I can add a sheet of blank lined paper in the middle as needed. 

I also like to design and print my own forms, so I created the two-pages-per-day insert of my dreams and printed it on pre-punched A5 paper. 

I took inspiration from a variety of sources in developing this two-page diary:

  • Daily page designs sold on Etsy
  • Ryder Carroll's Bullet Journal Method
  • Commercially available journals such as The Goal Crazy Planner and the Full Focus Planner. I often buy these not to write in but to get ideas from. 
My reason for using the 2ppd format is that it gives me the best snapshot of what was going on in my world and in my mind on a given day. The things I write jog my memory and inspire my future endeavors. To make it work even better, I added my own touches, shown by the icons at the top of the right-hand page:
  • 🌞 (sun) Today's weather
  • 🌎 (globe) In the current news
  • 📅 (calendar page) Today's personal events (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.)
  • ⌛️(hourglass) Today in my life: a memory or milestone from my personal history


Let me know what you think in the comments!

7 comments:

  1. I love your 2ppd insert! What a great way to capture what works best and is most meaningful for you, plus you can tweak it as your needs change.

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  2. Looks good and if it works for you, even better.
    Eliza

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  3. I like this Do2P layout, and I use (on and off) something similar in that I have a current set of TimeSystem daily plans until the end of 2024 (whether I'll buy 2025 is up for consideration right now, because they have the WORST administration, and everything comes in Dutch or German and I have to put it through a translator to work out what's being said!).

    Ray Blake's 'Daily Dashboard' inserts do something similar, but I can't remember whether the appointments and tasks are on the right or left hand side......Great functional layout though.

    One question - how much of this do you put in your binder at any one time, and what do you do about planning beyond that time range?

    I guess you're left handed? Hence the appointments and tasks on the left? One of the frustrations I've had with the Franklin Covey inserts is that all the really functional stuff is on the eft hand page, and as a right-hander, the (usually large) rings get in the way.

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    1. I'm right-handed--I'm just used to this setup also from having used Franklin Covey previously! My main reasons for switching away from FC were that the rings are so bulky and the paper so thick. It's just the way American products are manufactured. Also, the FC forms have too much wasted space with the illustrations and colored margins. You'll note that my own design maximizes writing space, which also makes it easier to get my writing hand around the rings!

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  4. Hi Nan. Where did you get your dividers? :)

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    1. They are Filofax dividers in the Norfolk color scheme. I used a Brother labelmaker to label them. It's an indispensable tool for me!

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    2. Interesting......I've got sets of blank dividers myself, but I usually just add an index page at the front to identify them, which saves me from having to write on the tabs, and I can then change their uses as many times as I wish.

      I do agree, though, that a label-maker is indispensable in all sorts of ways. Mine is a Dymo Letratag and I own two - one for home and one for the office

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