End of Year Review

I hope you had a good Christmas.  We had a fairly quiet one this year.

So if you was expecting a podcast today fear not, Karine and I have had a week off and we will be back with the next episode next week.  We have had a great response to our request for topic suggestions, so there will be plenty of episodes coming up next year. But keep sending us your suggestions.

So this year has been more or less the same as many previous years on the blog. Hopefully 2017 will be the same but with a few changes as we go but no drastic changes.

Our visitor numbers have fallen over the last few years as more people spend more time on social media sites these days. However, we still have a core of readers who continue to visit and to contribute and comment on the various posts, and thank you all for your continued support.

We continue to welcome appropriate guest posts, and reader posts for the Sunday slots, we have run out of those at the moment, so if you would like to appear them please contact me.

All of our diary inserts are available for 2017, but I've created a new page for the past years inserts and more importantly future years.

I will be initially be creating year planners for 2018 and beyond, then I will be gradually working my way through the suite to create monthly inserts, weekly and daily inserts etc.

I hope to continue doing reviews of different brands of organisers as they become available.

We will be hosting some more meet ups in UK and Europe during 2017, please look out for announcements.

The Skype round tables will continue each month, everyone is welcome to participate and we always have some friendly discussions this last year.

Web Finds continue to be popular, although finding new posts each week can be a little variable!

On a personal/Philofaxy front I have started an experiment. Whilst I'm fairly happy with using just an A5 organiser at the moment. I wanted to try using some of our A6 inserts to make sure they are 'fit for purpose'. The easiest way to do this is to of course use them for real.

So I'm running both in parallel at the moment for at least a couple of months to see where I need more space on the page or less space. This is mainly to confirm the sizing and layout of the A6 inserts.

I hope you have a successful and happy new year. Take care

Post Christmas Blues

So today we start that post Christmas pre New Year week, it is a sort of lull in the consumer society battle!

Some people will be trawling the interwebs looking for the great deals in the sales (or may be that's just a UK thing? ) Or recovering from over-eating/drinking yesterday! But today starts the last week of the year.

This is the week I start my annual tidy up of my planner, get my new inserts for 2017 fully marked up with key dates to remember. I will also do a sort of an annual tidy up of my address pages as well.

I will also be managing my passwords this year going through them and updating them if they are more than 6 months old. So many of them these days too.

What will you be doing this week?  Nothing to do, you could always listen to one of our podcasts or consider appearing on Philofaxy with one of our reader posts or may be write a guest post for us.

Have a good week.

Having a bit of a rethink for 2016

Since writing my previous post, I admit that there have been some further changes in my binder collection! I was initially irritated that I had broken my zero spend promise, but have since realised that this process has been quite useful in helping me figure out what I want to use and keep. I am never going to own a large number of binders, so I guess this is all about me keeping the smallest number that satisfy my changing needs and for when I need a bit of variety. I'm a minimalist at heart, but it occurred to me that minimalism isn't about depriving myself and instead about enjoying the possessions I do have and using them. I read a quote recently that seemed to match how I've been thinking recently:

'The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak' - Hans Hofmann.

My new A5 arrived and whilst I could appreciate the wonderful craftsmanship, I realised that it just didn't tick all the boxes for what I want from a binder in that size. The company very kindly allowed me to return it for a refund, but I had already agreed to sell my A5 Stratford at this point. I then shared a list of my binders in a couple of Facebook groups, with the hope that someone would be interested in a swap. The swap didn't go ahead, but I was delighted when I was offered an A5 Ascot. I previously owned one and they are wonderful binders, so I realised that I didn't want to pass another one up. My new Ascot needed a bit of repair just like the other one, but I am very happy to be back in one and will write a post about it soon.

I had decided to keep four binders - my black personal Dundee, vintage Mulberry agenda, vintage red 3CL slimline and brown A5 Ascot. However, when someone expressed interest in the Mulberry I realised that I just didn't feel the need to keep it and have now sold it. Whilst I like the A6 size, I don't really want to get into swapping between the sizes, especially as I can just put A6 paper in my Dundee.

And finally down to my other changes... The vintage slimline is a lovely binder, but I'm only using it as a notebook and for me, it just doesn't feel a good enough reason to keep it. I love the idea of using slimline as my main binder, but I know that I'd struggle as I like to keep enough spare paper to scribble on and personal size is just better for that. The slimline will be sold and will be replaced with a vintage Coach planner that I just purchased from the Adspot page from a Philofaxy reader.

Despite not sticking to my promise, I'm very happy as I feel that two different personals for some variety plus an A5 for projects is perfect for me. I also have the Raydori that Ray Blake so kindly gave to me, so I am confident that I have a nice range of planners which means I won't feel the need to buy any more. I purchased the Coach planner on the 12th March, so this means that I will just be extending my zero spend on binders and planners to a year from then.

Mission Impossible - Filofax 2016 releases

"Good morning, Mr. Philofaxy.

News from Filofax has been very scarce and hard to come by in this last year, your readers want to know what to expect this year. 

Your mission Steve, should you decide to accept it is to find out what you can about the new additions to the range this year. 

As always, should you or any of your I.M. Force be caught or killed, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions. 

This tape will self-destruct in five  seconds. Good luck, Steve."

So I had my instructions... I was on a mission to discover what I could about the new 2016 Filofax range, and what would be left of the previous models as well... would the Malden survive another year or not.....? These would be the questions I would be seeking to answer.

So what did we find out....

We found that there would be some new 'Pocket Slim' models in the Lockwood and Nappa models, by Slim I'm guessing 15mm ring size, or may be 13mm.

In the Pocket size there are some new lower price models that we already know about and have seen, but coming out later in the year a 'Classic Croc' range in three colours.

In the Compact size the 'Classic Croc' model again and a new one called 'Heritage' it will be curious to see what that one looks like.

Another surprise return in a way... 'Personal Slim' for the Lockwood and Nappa ranges, again I'm guessing 11 or 13 mm ring sizes

The Personal size has the most changes to it. New colours for the Original, Lockwood models, as well as the Malden in Fuchsia and Kingfisher Blue. The Holborn gains a Nubuck Brown finish at a slightly higher price than the existing ones.

New models in this size include the Heritage and the Classic Croc

In the A5 size we will see new colours for the Original, Lockwood, Malden, Holborn.  And once again the Classic Croc and Heritage get mentioned.

The Classic Croc is quite an expensive model, priced at a level that had been left vacant this last year.

Nothing new in the A4 size, with just the Metropol and Finsbury mentioned and no Mini organisers listed at all now.

The Clipbook A5 will be out in three new colours Navy, Orange and White.

No pictures as yet... dangling from a zip wire through a sky light is difficult at my age, with a torch between my teeth and an organiser and a pen.. I'm sure you will understand!!!

We will share pictures of these as soon as we know when the guard dog is asleep and he's been fed...

Mission accomplished.... roll titles and theme music...

Zero spending on binders in 2016

I don't normally have a large collection of binders. Over the years, I've bought and sold a fair amount, but I usually only own two or three at a time. In the past, I've enjoyed being able to add some variety by purchasing something new and then selling the one that I had been using.

My 2015 acquisitions:
1. Oxblood personal Winchester - sold
2. Black A5 Hamilton - sold
3. Vintage Mulberry Agenda - given away, but got it back and money spent on repairs
4. Black personal Kensington - sold in 2014, repurchased and sold again in 2015 (face palm)
5. Tan ostrich print A5 Time/system - purchased when feeling a bit sorry for myself and I immediately had buyer's remorse! (to be reviewed here and rehomed)
6. Black personal Dundee - my main planner in use
7. Black A5 Stratford - given to me, to be rehomed
8. Vintage red slimline - purchased from Philofaxy reader gmax and used as a notebook
9. Oxblood A5 from Cordwain Higgler - awaiting delivery.

For those of you with larger collections or for those just starting out, it might be that nine acquisitions in a year sounds fairly reasonable. However, I'm a minimalist at heart so I feel slightly horrified by this (for me personally)... therefore I have decided to not spend anything on binders in the coming year.

Looking through my past posts here, I know I have a tendency to say something along the lines of, "I'm so happy in this, I won't be buying any more, I'm done etc." Rather than repeat this process, I've decided to spend a whole year using what I already have and to slowly sell any unwanted ones. I've felt quite fickle and muddled with all the binders and it certainly hasn't helped with my planning, which in my opinion is the main reason for owning one.

My current plan is to keep these four:
1. Mulberry Agenda - I do like the A6 paper size, but still have quite a bit of personal paper left so it makes more sense to be in personal right now. I may consider removing the rings or turning it into a Cabriolet
2. Dundee - after selling my personal Ascot, I realised just how much I love croc print binders (why I sold my Winchester). I repurchased my Kensington at the same time as buying this and the Dundee won
3. Red slimline - it's a great size for taking notes from books or when out and about, and I may use this as my main binder with the A5 for projects
4. A5 from Cordwain Higgler - despite my attempts to abandon the A5 size (why the Hamilton went), I have come to the conclusion that it is a useful size to have. I had planned to use the Stratford, but realised that I actually don't like it very much! It might have been free, but I've decided that I deserve to own an A5 that I like.

I am behind with some posts for Philofaxy, so will be writing about the Time/system, Dundee, vintage slimline and Cordwain Higgler A5 soon.

So...
I, Anita Lim, promise to not purchase any binders or planners in 2016.
I swear by Philofaxy that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth!

PS
After writing this, Steve asked me the following tricky questions!
1. What if you are sent something for free?
Technically speaking, this wouldn't be a purchase, but it would have to be something very special for me to accept. For example, I'm not looking for a red personal Ascot or Dundee, but I would find it very hard to refuse a free one and would sell one of the others. I think it's very unlikely that I will receive any for free anyway.  
2. Are you allowed to trade one for one? 
No, not for the rest of 2016. I may consider relaxing this after the year is up, but the idea is to stop the crazy-making buying/selling cycle that I feel I have gotten into which I'm no longer enjoying. 

Losing weight

As we approach the end of August, we start on to the last three months of the year and the usual seasonal festival of retail madness.... we won't mention the C word!

I would think a few of you will be starting to get appointments and events starting to crop up in 2016. Ray and I have done all the inserts for 2016 for you to download and print, I've not printed mine yet [Adds it to his to-do list!].

I was sorting through my 'man bag' this morning and it is rather dominated by my faithful and trustee Van der Spek 'Touch Me' Standard (personal) organiser, which I have been using continuously since April.

During the last 4-5 months it has led a hard life and as you can see it is rather stuffed! However, with 30mm rings it was rather asking to be stuffed! It has lots of additional notes and information in it from our big trip during June and July. It has various notes and things I was given stuffed in the pockets!

I need to sit down and sort through it and it is time to start archiving a few items to lighten the weight and to make room for some 2016 inserts....

What about you? When do you start thinking about the next year?