One thing?

What is the one thing that would improve your favourite Filofax organiser?

Or the one thing you would like to have in your organiser that would make you use it even more than you do now?

Answers in the comments please....

What's In My Filofax - Kristin

I've attended enough Philofaxy meet ups to know what joy can be observed when two people who have never 'met' before in real life, get to sit next to each other and share their Filofax contents with each other. It is a real joy to see the smiles and joy on their faces as each page or section is turned.  So when we get a 'What's in my Filofax post offer.... we always say 'yes please' And thank you to Kristin for sending in her contribution this time. 

Hello everyone!

I feel so honored to be able to write a 'What's in my Filofax' post!

As I'm sure you can all guess, I'm obsessed with all things Filofax. My obsession started out with general office supplies, notebooks, and pens. Then I moved onto planners. In the past year I have used a Staples planner, an Erin Condren Life Planner, a Franklin Covey zip around binder with a Jean Chatzky insert, a Filofax Personal Finsbury, a Filofax Pocket Finchley, a Fillofax A5 Finsbury, a Filofax Personal Finchley, and a Filofax Personal Chameleon. I have finally settled into the Chameleon and absolutely love it (although it's only been two weeks, so who knows what can happen).

I found this website while searching for planners on-line and on You Tube. Imy from Imysworld came up on You Tube and I started watching her videos. They led me to Kate, The Perpetual Student's blog and her videos, and then my Filofax obsession grew. I must go through Filofax blog posts and videos at least a hundred times in one week. I can't explain why, really, because I've seen them all a thousand times already! I guess I just love seeing how others use their Filofaxes and I love copying their ideas on organization.

I should mention that it's taken me a very long time to settle into my current Filofax. Living in the US, it's not easy to go out and pick up a Filofax. I don't like ordering on-line because I'm so picky, and I need to see and feel the item before buying it. I have returned four or five Filofaxes in the past month.

With that said, here are some photos of my Chameleon in Raspberry.

I love this Vera Bradley pen, and how it matches the Chameleon so well.

Inside I keep my bank cards, my license, and some post-it notes in the pockets. I love the set up of the inside cover, and I love the full length pocket. Holding my daughter's picture on the inside is a Tartan Oli Magnetic Paper Clip from The Container Store. I have two of these and love them! They hold things together for me and don't bulk up my Filofax. Under the fly leaf (with Mickey stickers from our recent trip to Walt Disney World) are the Filofax sticky labels and post-its. I keep the fly leaf over them because they were starting to stick up and bend a bit.

I use lots of tabs and move them around all the time. I'm currently planning my daughter's first communion so I have a lot of labels under that category. This helps me find what I'm looking for very quickly, like when I'm on the phone with the caterers and need to open up to the 'food' section.

Next is the month on two pages, which I love because I need to see the month at a glance. I couldn't do without this, ever!

Here's the week on two pages in cotton cream. I wish they made the monthly calendar in cotton cream- I love it so much more than the white paper. At first, I did not like that the week starts off with the 'this week' box. I was very confused and would start writing things in that spot thinking it was the 'Monday' box. Now that I'm used to it being there, I love it. I love jotting things down at the top of the page so when I need to make a quick reference of the week I can see my important events at the very top. I use little stickers for special dates and events, also purchased from The Container Store. No one around me sells the Filofax stickers!

I have the map that came with the Filofax, as well as a zippered sleeve, a top opening envelope, and a credit card sleeve. I use all three of these constantly. They're great for receipts, coupons, photos, and keepsake items.

Here are some of my pens- I have quite the collection. I love my Bic 4 Colors Fashion pen, and my Pilot pens. We don't have any stores that sell the famous Pilot Coleto multi-colored pen that I see almost all of you using. I wish I could get my hands on one of those! I would also love to purchase some of the pretty dividers that I often see in these posts. They look beautiful.

And lastly, here is my beautiful Filofax standing up. I love it! Thank you so much for reading! Also, I'd love some tips on organization or some blog links on how to better organize your Filo. I feel that mine is a bit sloppy and I'm always looking to tidy it up a bit!

Thank you Kristin for your excellent post, love the photos and I'm sure fellow Philofaxy readers will love it too.

'What's in my Filofax' - Nikki

You will remember Nikki and I met up in Poitiers just before Christmas on a very wet and windy day! 

Anyway we had a great time exploring a nearby stationery shop. But you will recall the interest in Nikki's A5 Hampstead... well all will be revealed..

I have almost "got there" with my organisation for my lifestyle and my filo, and thought I would share with the site, as it has given me sooooooo much inspiration to truly make my Filofax my own!!

So I introduce my overstuffed A5 Hampstead in brown

Inside I made a personal page inspired by illustrations from an old 'book of hours'. I am not particularly religious, but very inspired by medieval art, which you will discover as you walk through my filo :)

Small note pad and a few leaflets tucked into the side pockets, and a credit card calculator ocupying one card slot!

My first divider is Finance. Book of hours art work, (all pages are printed on Claire Fontaine 100grm ivory paper) and the tabs are covered in sticky back plastic, to make them a bit more durable.

First I have a clear wallet I cut down from an A4 plastic wallet to hold receipts and bank RIB's etc.

I bordered the edges with a pattern I liked and taped it. This makes the hole punching much easier, and looks pretty too :)

Next is a printed page of my estimated monthly expenses. Characature of Louis Phillipe at the bottom for fun :))

The a self made printed bills outstanding page, when due, when paid etc.

Next photo is a separate sheet I devised for each bill I get regularly for services/taxes etc. this gives me an overview of when I can expect a bill to come in, and how much it is likely to be. These will be hand written from now on, but I went back to the first bill since I moved into this house, and typed in the information up to date.

The photo is SOREGIES, my electric supplier. It includes all the information of this company, where to send payments, telephone numbers for breakdown, changes etc. ,account number, and then a list of every single bill I have received from them, how much it was, invoice number, when and how I paid it. I made a small lined section to include any notes. I find this section so usual for budgeting, and keeping track of unpaid bills etc.

Bank account self made pages to keep track of my bank balance on a daily basis.

This completes the finance section for now, but I tend to add a few more bits to it. I need a secretarial pocket for my outstanding bills to be paid, and, I will also add a page for my direct debits each month, and the date they go out.

Next tab is Info Book of hours illustration. Self explanatory, size charts, kids shoe measurements, my house room measurements etc etc;

The next tab is MEDICAL. this is quite an important section...... front of tab is Leonardo da Vinci, and the reverse is a book of hours illustration again :)

Contains general medical info, blood group etc. then a list of doctor/hospital/specialist appointments. Brief description of outcome, and any drugs prescribed. This is useful to track your last mammogram for example, and I have found that here in France, the doctors do not really keep notes for you, and often ask what they prescribed to you on your last visit!! Includes any X Rays (broke my nose last September!!!) specialist visits (had to see an ENT specialist for this as my sinus got filled with blood!!! yuk!) etc.

Notes tab, a pretty page frame I found on the internet, then put a lovely drawing of a horse into it, and added the "notes" in the appropriate box :) then hand coloured the border after printing.

Computer Info tab illustration I found on line and hand coloured. reverse is a colourful aAfrican art picture I found cheerful, and colourful :)

Here I have made a page for computer maintenance. I found I was not de-fragging etc. often enough, and it was slowing my old laptop down, so now I have a log of scanning, de-fragging, empty cache and all that malarkey, and do it at least once a month now. I know you can set the computer to do it, but I prefer to do it manually, then I know it is done, and what the results were.

Also in this section, is basic instructions to use my mobile!!!!!!!!! Yes I know, I have been living in a cave for a long time, and I find my new phone a pain in the ***. This is why I have a Filofax lol
Also have Steve's wonderful home network setting page, WWW pages. then I have notes for my printer setting etc, for printing these sheets for my filo.

Obligatory picture of my beautiful little girl to remind me how lucky I am :)))))))) on the left, and HORAIRES tab on the right.

Again, pictures I found online whilst looking at medieval art. In this secton, I have printed out the opening hours of all the places I visit regularly, like the local Tresorie and tax office, Créche for my daughter, town hall, dechetterie etc, and contact details. I refer to this ALL the time, as the opening times in France seem to be totally random!! All typed and interspersed with little medieval illustrations, I like :)

Next is maps, with an old illustration of Roman Britain, with a simple scroll border. My maps are mainly "stolen" from an old post office calender. They have great maps for you local area in there.

Next is diary tab, more medieval influence, hand coloured after printing. I use a day per page here with appointments, and then notes for the day/shopping needed/my thoughts or whatever really :) Then I have made a monthly page, that I have tabbed for the beginning of each month. This gives me an overview of the month with any appointments, and birthdays/anniversaries coming up.

My final section is addresses and A-Z

The first page I have printed off just phone numbers for quick access, and then I have the address etc. in the A-Z.

These pages are all printed from the Filofax address book software I bought a long long time ago for my pocket filo, and never used, as I found the writing in the pocket too small to read easily.

At the back just holds a few business cards, and a note pad.

My home made today marker.

I would like to add, to thank Ray at "My Life All in One Place" for the diary pages. I love to browse his site for ideas.

And also, that even on a very low budget, I bought an empty bargain filo on ebay, and now have it full of "my life" for the cost of a bit of printer ink, and a packet of paper. Filofax, can be done on a budget :))

Hope you all enjoyed the tour into my slightly less chaotic life :)

Thank you for a very detailed tour of what is in your Filofax. 

My Set Up for 2012

I've been doing a bit more on my set up for 2012. However, before I get stuck in to describing the new set up, please realise that I'm not advocating that this is the perfect configuration for everyone. We all have different requirements and needs in our Filofax configurations; this is just my own personal set up. It is really a development of what I've been using this year, but with some differences. One of the advantages of Filofax is you can tailor the contents to your own personal needs.

So where to start... OK well the organiser I am going to be using is my Malden A5 with the 30mm rings. You will see why the larger size Malden has been brought out of its tissue lined box to be pressed in to service, when I get in to the detail of each section of the set up. Then you will see how much paper is going to be in this organiser, which would be a struggle for the 25mm one, which I've been using this year.

Why A5? Well my organiser is mainly used when I'm at home in our home office, I don't go to meetings or travel around a lot or need to take my main Filofax everywhere with me. So my own preference to using an A5 is great, as I can create pages for it easily and there is plenty of room to work in it.

I'm using 6 standard cream blank dividers, which I've labelled up myself with my Dynmo Letratag labelling machine. I left these blank when I was sorting out the sections and put them in to logical places when I was dividing up my content and thinking about how I work. However, even now there's one section that might just get moved, I will have to see how it works out in the year.

So first up, my first section, is my Notes In section, this is a fairly thin section, it starts off with a year planner, that I printed off myself. It is the same format I've been using for about 6/7 years now.

I created it on Excel and it prints nicely on to A4, which I then 'Z fold' to fit in to the A5. I use this year planner mainly to highlight trips and holidays, also visitors etc and a handy first reference for dates etc. I normally have another of these stuck on the wall next to my computer because I'm terrible at working out dates!

Also in this section I have a few sheets of lined paper and a couple of to-do list pages. I have found that if I'm away from my desk with my Filofax and I need to make a quick note of something, then the Notes In section is the quickest way for me to gather information for processing and then writing it neatly in to the main body of the organiser later on.

My next section is my Planner section, for this I'm going to be using a Filofax Time Management Week on Two Pages diary insert. This has spaces for notes/action points, priority activities, phone email etc, and appointments.

This is a new insert to me, but as I don't have a huge number of appointments each day then I think this will work out ok for me. The Day per Page A5 insert I have been using this year I've really liked because it keeps my to-do's in front of me all the time. The difference with the Week on Two page will be that I will have less to carry forward each day, I will be able to see things more clearly and I will be separating tasks in to different 'zones' much better.

The next section is my Journal section, this is a standard A5 week on two page diary insert, but in English only. So each day has equal space, it's plain and it's simple. I'm not a big journal writer, but I hope to improve this coming year. This year I've been using a personal size week on two pages diary but the multi language one which doesn't have equal space for each day.

To keep my 'place' in both diaries I'm will be using two 'Today' markers, one in each diary insert to indicate the current week. So I will be able to flick between each one fairly easily.

I then have a To-Do section, this will only be a few sheets, it is really to capture long-term stuff, like in the 'next 6 months' or 'Future Purchases when I'm in UK'. The more detailed week on week tasks will go in to the planner section.

After the To-Do section I have a Notes section, which consists of lined paper and square graph paper and some plain blank paper. If I'm doing some website design or any alternations to a website or blog I like to jot down the things I've changed for future reference and this section comes in very handy for recording that type of detail.

My Information section is mainly maps, ones I've printed off myself, including my A3 size London street map, these have nearly all been transferred from my current A5, but I will have a review of them and source more up to date ones in the next few weeks.

I will also be adding my reading list page to this section. I like to keep a note of the books I've recently read, so I don't mistakenly buy the same one again!

The final section isn't labelled as such, but it is my Address section, in it I use the two letter A-Z dividers, and I have a page for each letter of the alphabet. I've printed off the sheets from the Filofax address book software, the sheets are printed on to A5 paper and then punched.

Note: The populated pages have the address details printed on to them.

I interleave these two sheets in each divider with an 'internet site information' sheet, I had these in my personal Malden this year, but Filofax don't do them for the A5, so I created my own. On these internet sheets I store user-names and coded password details for various sites,  this has been working well for me in this last few months and I will be transferring the info across from my personal in to the A5.

I will continue to use my Pilot Frixion pens, these have been a real boom for me, the allow me to alter appointments and changing things I've entered in the year. 

That is more or less the bulk of the set up. Of course I know it won't remain static during the year, one of the joys of Filofax ownership is the ability to adapt and change during the year. I suspect you are the same, adding and changing pages as your requirements change.

And if you are wondering, I put it on the scales and it weighs in at 1.3 kg!

Here are some of the things I used to put my set up together.