Australian Made Personal Organisers

When I think of Australia at this time of year, I think of the hot 'summer' sun, Christmas on the beach in shorts. I'm not sure I could adjust to all my seasons being the opposite to what I've been used to for many years....

With different seasons for the months of the year compared to us in the northern hemisphere comes the problem of your diary is going to be very different to say a UK or US one. Different national holidays, school terms being very very different... your summer holiday (vacation) with Christmas in the middle of it!.

However, it is not a problem, because there is a local company (Poco Profile) that has been producing some very nice personal organisers and diary refills since 1989, these days they are all typeset and printed in house. The size is the same as Filofax Personal and Pocket. Victoria at Poco Profile kindly sent me a couple of samples of their personal week on two page diaries in both bright white paper (70 gsm) and in 100% recycled paper(80 gsm). I have to say at first I thought I had two exactly the same until I noticed the difference on the front sheet.

The recycled paper is very very slightly greyer than the non-recycled version, but not noticeable to the naked eye.

I quite like the layout of the main part of the diary. It groups Saturday and Sunday together, which gives the 'working' week quite a bit of space for each day. It's only in English so there is plenty of room to write in each day. The diary also boasts over 350 events listed, they don't get in the way as you will see in the picture below.

It also includes a monthly date calendar for the current and next month in the header to the pages.

Another great set of pages are a year in month pages, for birthdays and anniversaries I guess, although you could use these pages for other uses.

The refill in full contains the following:

• 2011 calendar
• 2010 / 2012 calendars
• Public Holidays - Important Dates for Australia and individual states
• Government School Holidays 2011
• Phases of the Moon for Australian Eastern Standard Time
• Month pages (as mentioned above)
• Important Contacts (see picture below)
• Personal information, including Organ Transplant permission. (see picture below)
• Conversion Factors
• Dairy starting 23 December 2010 through to 4 January 2012

Now before you ask, am I going to use one of these in my personal Filofax? I have friends in Oz so it will be useful to know what the public holidays are there so it help with knowing if they are going to be about during 'the day' However,  it would be a shame for the other one of these to sit in my desk drawer for the year. So would you like to win one of them? Here is a question for you to answer:


What public holidays occur in Australia on 14th March 2011, the winner will be the closest to the correct answer.

The winner will receive the refill of their choice (non recycled or recycled) by post, although I suspect it might not arrive before 1 Jan 2011. Winner will be declared on Friday 24th Dec at 12 noon (French Time). Please email your answer to p h i l o f a x y at g m a i l dot c o m (reconstructing the address in the usual way)

But before you dive off to Google in search of the answer!! Go and take a look at the Poco Profile website and see their full range of organisers, refills and other leather goods. They offer delivery to overseas addresses at cost price. Overseas orders do not attract local sales taxes etc. See their On-line shop for full details.

One of their own accessories I quite like is the 'Today' page marker with a sleeve for your own notes to be inserted. Their everyday pages are also very contemporary in design and will of course suit any Filofax Personal or Pocket organiser. 

Poco Profiles obviously have a great following in Australia judging by their suggestions page

Again thank you to Victoria at Poco Profile for the samples.

Alternative Refills... yet another update!

OK we have discussed these alternatives may be a little too much for some people's liking. But in case you are still interested... or curious.

Sara as in @DIYSara discovered some refills in the Barnes and Noble on line store and although they don't say Filofax anywhere, she has checked out the Personal Size and they are a perfect fit and only $7 (USD), like how cheap is that. May be Sara can comment on the quality of the paper..

There is also Pocket size for $5.35 and Mini size for $4.45, I couldn't see an A5 size in the on-line store, pity really.

And if you are interested in the Quo Vadis range of planners and loose leaf refills then Amazon France stocks them, being Amazon the delivery costs are quite sensible.

Two Pages Per Week

I've been happily using my Quo Vadis Timer 21(aka Trinote) for a few weeks now, pictured below. It does more or less everything I want for an A5 planner. The only niggle I have with the design is that Sunday is pushed in to a small box down in the corner where it is easy to miss.

Click on the picture to view it full size.

So the other day I started to 'sketch' how I would improve on the design. The one thing I wanted was to see all of the days across the page, but also retain an area for notes and to-do lists. What could be simpler!

It proved harder than I thought. But in the end I managed to come up with a compromise in the design that I think would work reasonably well. Again click on the picture to see it full size.

This is the prototype shown in undated format, but with space for you to be able to write the dates in next to the days, and the days next to the days of the month on the right hand edge. Does anyone know a Excel genius that could write a suitable macro to date the pages in a suitable way, so that a complete year could be created on double sided pages?

From the experience of the QV Timer 21, I've learnt that if I have more than 5 things on my to-do list then a lot of them don't get done! So I've limited it to just five, and if I have more than five I will use a separate list for that particular project.

After struggling with the design in various word-processing applications I resorted to doing the design in a spreadsheet, which is far easier to control the placing and sizing of columns and getting it to fit the page etc.

I will give this design a try for a couple of weeks to see how it works out.

You can download the page yourself it is in our files area. As it's intended for an A5, print out the page, cut it in half and punch in the middle of the page as shown above, not at the edges.  I will also make the Excel file available if people would like to modify the design at all for their own non-commercial use.

All change!

Those of you that have seen my (growing) collection of personal size organisers in photos on the blog and on Flickr. I'm starting to find a use for them.

I've recently started going to French conversation classes again here in France. The classes are good, only 9 people in the class including myself so we get lots of practice and it's very light hearted and a great way of learning. When I lived in UK, I attended evening classes and dedicated my old Winchester Filofax for my French learning notes.

I also have a fairly new Finsbury that I bought on Ebay at a bargain price, but until now has remained unused, still in it's box. I am thinking of using this organiser as my journal next year, but it's also good for trying out different ideas as well.

Yesterday, I bought a Quo Vadis Timer 17 refill for the Finsbury. I quite like the format of these refills and they fit the Filofax organiser perfectly and of course I can buy them in my local newsagent here in France.

Here is a scan of the pages (click on the picture to see a full size version):

As you can see it's a week on two pages with a notes column on the right. They also do a slightly different format with boxes for phone calls to be made, things to do, emails to write etc, I have this format in my A5. But the notes format suits the personal size better I think.

I noticed another bonus with this particular QV Timer 17 refill, it's in French and English!....were as the Timer 14 (Pocket) size in only in French. 

As the QV refill is a 16 month format, I've transferred the last four months of the Finsbury diary fill to my Winchester, so I have a calendar I can refer to in my French classes.... result.

The French QV refills are available on the UK website which took a bit of digging to find as well as the European website.

Just to recap on the sizing of the QV range.

• Timer 14 - fits Filofax Pocket size, hole spacing correct
• Timer 17 - fits Filofax Personal size, hole spacing correct
• Timer 21 - fits Filofax A5, but pages need to be re-punched to fit. 

I did a post for Laurie on Plannerisms about my previous QV purchases, which you might find of interest, it's similar to the post I did here on Philofaxy

The main Quo Vadis line I think is in bound planners rather than loose leaf, this is born out by my local stockist devotes more shelf space to the their bound range and the loose leaf refills need to be searched for!

There are some real interesting finds if you look around the shelves. At this time of year it is all about new calendars for next year. Their range of other inserts covers address pages, notes pages, and quite a range of other indexes. The paper is excellent quality and it is lovely to write on with a fountain or gel pen, the paper is so smooth.

I have seen some pages in their bound planners and notebooks that I might turn in to Filofax suitable templates or my variation on them that is....

As you can see on their website the binders include leather and faux leather and plastic binders. The two shops I've visited in this area haven't had any of the leather binders in stock so I can't comment on their quality compared to Filofax, but I wasn't that impressed with the ones I saw in faux leather and cheap plastic.. which I suspect are aimed at school children and students.

Alternative refills for your Filofax - Update

If you also read Laurie's Plannerisms blog and you should be if you don't... you will no doubt have noticed some of the other formats available by other planner makers in other countries. Not all of these other formats are available in loose leaf format, so not all are adaptable to the Filofax.

However, looking around a local stationary store/newsagent here in Thouars, I noticed a few diary refills that looked as if they would fit the Filofax ring system. So I noted down the details and when I got home I started looking around on the internet and also emailed Laurie to see what she knew about these alternatives.

In the store where:

• Oberthur
• Exatime
• Quo Vadis

Oberthur have quite a range of organisers and pens and other desk accessories. The best thing to do is to look at their webpages their binders look very swish. The refills page is here which is a pdf file.

Laurie tells me Exatime and Quo Vadis is part of the same group of companies, a bit like Letts Diaries being the main company that Filofax is in.

You will find details of Exatime here with their 'recharges et accessories' also.  I thought this was quite a comprehensive range of organisers and refills.

Finally Quo Vadis themselves, I was even more interested to see what they had on offer especially after such good reviews of their Tri Note by Laurie, who tells me that the range of organisers aren't available in the US? The UK side of Quo Vadis source from France and the US, and the European part of the business from the French parent company I believe.

So today I purchased a couple of Quo Vadis refills, one is pocket size and the other A5 size. Well almost... the pocket is in fact 2 mm narrower and 4 mm taller, but effectively the same size and importantly the ring positions are the same as a Filofax Pocket.

The A5 is also the same size within a mm or two but I was wrong about the hole spacing. The three holes are the correct spacing but the two groups of three are a different spacing between them... more in a moment a picture will explain it better... I need to go back to the shop with my personal slimline to check to see if the hole spacing is different on that size as well or not..

So the pocket refill I bought is their Timer 14 horizontal which is a week on two pages starting on Monday or to be correct Lundi and this is what it looks like (click on the picture to see it full size):

Yes it is in French, not a problem for me! And in some ways very handy because it has all the local bank holidays or Fete Nationales which are of course different to UK ones. It came in cream paper which is very smooth, not tried it with fountain pen yet, but it is ok with ballpoint and pencil.  The refills run from September 2010 through to December 2011 so I have already transferred across to this one for the remainder of the year.  The corners are perforated so you might be able to do away with a 'Today' marker.

Being a week on two pages compared to my previous refill being a week per page has obviously meant that there were more pages to accommodate in my Filofax pocket, but I was able to thin down some of the spare pages and pages I wasn't using out of my organiser and everything is back as it was. Already I'm loving the extra space that a week on two pages gives.

At the back of the refill is a year on two pages year planner for 2012 and other French information pages.

The A5 I went for is the Timer 21 "Planing" and this is what it looks like:

As you can see it's again a week on two pages, but with a smaller entry for Sunday, remembering not a lot happens in France on Sundays (shops are all shut!).

The right hand page has spaces for tasks spilt in to telephone calls, letters, Emails, To-Do with a Notes section for each day and each day has timed appointment slots from 7am through to 9pm There are also small monthly calendars at the top of the right hand page.  There is a week number tab that moves down the edge of the right hand page.

Again the refill runs from September 2010 through to December 2011, but before I can use it I have to re-punch the pages. Here is why:

On the left is an upside down Filofax page, on the right a Quo Vadis page, if you look closely you can see the holes are half a hole spacing different! Fail!  But with an A5 Filofax punch it's easily corrected:

Here's the fly sheet that I've punched and labelled which holes are which! It should be ok.

Again the refill comes with lots of useful 'French' information, like holidays, phone numbers etc. Also the same high quality as the pocket version, but in white with blue lettering.

The stockist in Thouars also stocked quite a selection of other additional pages from the Quo Vadis range too. It's nice to look at things in person and not have to pay postage.

Now I'm not expecting you to all be rushing out to buy these, but if you live in France like I do there are certain advantages to having a local product. I suspect the French Filofax refills also contain the French holidays, but there are limited in formats available.

The French refills are available on the UK site if you dig around a bit!

[Update]
I went back to the stationary store today with a Personal size Filofax Organiser, my Slimline infact... and looked at the Quo Vadis Timer 17 planners.

They are the same 170 mm high, but they are 5 mm wider at 100 mm, but importantly the punched holes are exactly the same spacing as the ones for Filofax, so both Pocket and Personal size are compatible with QV inserts...  I don't think the extra 5 mm would cause too much of a problem.

I think the lady thought she had another sale, but I disappointed her! More research as what format I'm going to use in my Personal size first...although their Agenda format looks interesting:


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Refill Mystery

OK clever people do you know the answer to this one? Judith contacted me this morning with this question:

"I was wondering if you could help me with an A5 refill mystery.

I’m using Time/System A5 inserts in my A5 Filofax, in the 2 pages per day format.

While I was investigating my options for next years refills, I made a strange discovery.

All UK and US suppliers of 2PPD inserts (Franklin Covey, Day Runner, Day Timer) have the notes page on the right-hand side and the timetable/Todo’s on the left-hand side.

While German suppliers (Time/System, Chronoplan, Zeit&Plan, Bind) have the notes page on the left and the timetable/Todo’s on the right.

I was wondering what might be the cause for this? Should be a simple copycat-syndrome, or is there actually a more profound reason behind all this?"

To illustrate, here is the Time System page:

And if you got to the Franklin Store you will see the difference.

I was wondering that in publications important information is always put on odd numbered pages. So the appointments would always be on the right hand side

So what do you think the reason might be?
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Filofax Compatible Page Inserts?

It is quite interesting to see the 'Dodo' calendar inserts that Laurie wrote about. It got me wondering about other Filofax compatible inserts.

You will know I 'grow' a lot of my own pages for my A5 Filofax, but the other sizes aren't so easy to do without either special paper or a lot of messing around!

Myself and a few other people remember the days of the huge variety of Filofax inserts from a by gone era, Nan found quite a few for sale as 'end of line' bargains. I've recreated some of these for A5 sizes and they are available on DiY Planner. The list is here. But I'm sure a lot of us would love personal size pages already printed. 

So have you come across any other makes of Filofax compatible refills or inserts? May be ones that aren't duplicate of ones supplied by Filofax themselves even?

Please post your discoveries or thoughts in the comments.

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Sex and the City Planner

That's not me in the video. It's a review from another user published on a YouTube channel that Filofax Ltd has opened. —Inky

My City Dweller Lifestyle Pack arrived from Filofax UK about a month after I ordered it. What made it worth the wait -- it's different from any Filofax product I've ever seen! Like all Filofax products, it's thorough, high-quality, and well-thought-out, but that's where the similarities end. I'll go through what's in the pack one at a time.

* 6 blank tabs (white)
* 1 clear plastic pocket, top opening
* 1 Personal Information page (double-sided), and 2 more for family information.

Here's where the departure begins. These pages are English-only, and instead of black text and lines on white, these have light gray blocks to write in, labeled with tiny type in slightly darker gray. I like the idea of writing on blocks rather than between lines. I don't have to stay between the lines! On the downside, you need young eyes to read the tiny gray-on-gray type.

Which brings me to the next departure: This pack is targeted to a very specific customer, as you'll see as I go through the rest of the pages -- one who's female, young, looking for Mr. Right, and in possession of ample amounts of spending money and free time. I'm reminded of Carrie on the TV show Sex and the City. In London, they used to be called Sloane Rangers.

Here are the rest of the pages, all of which are double-sided unless specified otherwise.

* Party Time (3). Room for guest list, budget, menu, drinks, and so on.
* Home Sweet Home (1). Gas, Electric, Window Cleaner information, and so on.
* Pet Information (1).
* Sports and Clubs (2). Because we all have a personal trainer or two and belong to sports teams, don't we?
* Budget Sheet (4). Here's where you can compare what you planned to spend on each category with what you actually spent.
* SOS (1). Medical and other emergency info. It's printed with England's emergency number, 999. In the U.S., it's 911.
* Travel Itinerary (4). Flight, Visa, Hotel, and Travel Agent info.
* Dilemmas (4). A 2-column worksheet for comparing the pros and cons of situations. Let's see, would that be whether to go to an art gallery opening or get a mani-pedi?
* Birthdays and Anniversaries (2 sets). I love this one! Each month gets a half-page to help you remember all the important dates in the lives of the people in your life.
* Expenses (4). With this kind of lifestyle, you'll probably have more expenses than this.
* www (3). When you hear about a website that you want to visit the next time you're at a computer, now you have a place to write it down.
* It's a chore (4). A chart for dividing tasks among roommates or family members. We used to call these "caper charts" in the Girl Scouts.
* Shopping list (8). Like the classic Filofax shopping lists, these are divided into Meat/fish, Canned, Fruit/veg, Clothes, and so on.
* Addresses (10). Mobile and email in addition to the basics. Reserve a tab for these, because the Lifestyle Pack contains no A-Z tabs.
* To Do (5).
* Blank and ruled notepaper (5 of each). Nice blocks for a subject and page number at the top.
* Commuter games (5 assorted). In case your BlackBerry or iPod breaks down on the train, you won't die of boredom. Variations on "Battleship," Naughts and Crosses (Tic Tac Toe), Squares (which I forget how to play), and Tea Time (a word game which I believe to be what we Yanks call Hangman -- you have to guess the opponent's word letter-by-letter before a drawing of a tea kettle is completed).
* Top Takeaways (2). Who has time to cook when you're playing Naughts and Crosses?
* Outfit Planner (3). These pages have a drawing of a mannequin to draw clothes upon. I used to do this all the time...when I was 9. These pages also have a place to record the dates of your beauty treatments.
* Personal M.O.T. (2). Not sure what the letters stand for, except that the first one is probably "Medical." It's a medical appointment and medication record, with places to record weight and body measurements, and sleep patterns on the flip side.
[Edit: Steve tells me that M.O.T. is an annual automobile inspection in England. So these pages are like an M.O.T. for the body!]
* Fitness Plan (2). Exercise, location, time, and calories burned. Very useful, except you get enough for 4 workouts!

Here's the piece de resistance: the Little Black Book. Ingeniously, this is enclosed in a piece of heavier paper, twice as wide as the Personal paper, folded back on itself, so that the organizer's rings keep it closed and private! It even has "Shhhh" printed on the front. Inside, you get to record a prospect's name and age and whether he's "Friend," "Fling," or "Marriage Material," as well as rate him on a scale of 1-10 stars. (No wonder you have to keep it hidden.)

From here on, the traditional Filofax begins. There's an 18-month calendar (July 2009 - Dec 2010), Notable Dates, Religious Festivals, International Information, World and Time, and so on.

Then there's the 18-month diary: week on 2 pages, with the week on one page and spaces for tasks and notes on the other. Some of the blocks are labeled live, play, and work. I'm interested in seeing what it's like to use this format.

I've added some scans to the Philofaxy set, but they're not very clear. You can tell from the scans how faint the type is.