Web Finds - 8 December 2012

So this is your best excuse to not be dragged outside to do any work in the cold, or having to go and do Christmas shopping with thousands of other people... shop on line, and there's always another day for the leaf clearing/snow shovelling... tell them Steve said it was ok... 

Here are the latest Filofax blog posts from around the internet:

1. PLANNERISMS PLANNERS NOW READY TO ORDER FOR WORLDWIDE SHIPPING
2. Asprey - Filofax compatible - Cloudberry Musings
3. My Filofax Week 10 - Glossette
4. Nearly a new year so new set up time :) - Nothing's Original Anymore 
5. Dividers hacked - Monica Luis 
6. December 4 365/30 Philofaxers - Miscellany from a Filofax Fanatic
7. 365/30: New Filofax formats to try out next year - Filomaniac
8. Shall I Name It The Balmorikat??? - Vanjilla
9. Hey There, Lovely! - Friday, I'm in Love
10. New Filofax Set-Up (What, Again?) - Supply Cabinet Chronicles
11. Making your own narrow ruled personal pages - Filofaximile
12. Filofax Personal Chameleon in Raspberry! - Annie the Housewife
13. Creative Planner - Jagged Little Thoughts 
14. Video on sizing down to a personal portland filofax - The Crazy Suburban Mom
15. Christmas Filofax; Personal Cuban in Chilli - My Filo World
16. An analogue/digital journey - combining a filofax with a smartphone. - Filofax Filosophy
17. a word of warning about the Osterley range - Paperlove Story
18. Late-night realisation! - The Life of The Perpetual Student
19. Raider of the (not really Lost) Arc - The Zeitgeist of Zoe
20. New arrivals - meet Luxe, Malden, Guildford and Cuban! - I love my stationery
21. Passing fellow faxers - Filofaximile
22. Elaboration - Filofaximile
23. My stunning A5 Osterley - File of Facts
24. My New Filofax Malden - Glossette
25. Male or Female?? A Poll - Thoughts & Exploration
26. New monthly refills and cute stickers - Monica Luis
27. Random Act(s) of Kindness (RAOK) - The Storage Studio
28. Finding a Pocket Rio on eBay - The Crazy Suburban Mom 
29. Let's talk about Flex - Filomaniac
30. 2013 Planner Prep + New Inserts - Friday, I'm in love
31. Going to give my personal size a go.... Again - The Crazy Suburban Mom 
32. New binder on its way!! - Paper Pens Ink
33. Filofax shopping list - Cloudberry Musings
34. New setup for Red - Cloudberry Musings

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 Enjoy

Free For All Friday No. 212

Seems like many people are going for either smaller or bigger rings in their organizers these days.

I've read of several people who are downsizing their ring circumference to a Compact Filofax or even Slimline to reduce bulk.

On the other end of the spectrum, I know several people who have crossed over into Franklin Covey territory and are enjoying the greater capacity of 1 inch, 1.25 or even 1.5 inch rings.

Have you upgraded or downsized your rings lately?

And as always on Fridays, please feel free to discuss anything ring-binder related.

Happy Friday everyone!

Six ways Filofax and Franklin Covey are different - Guest Post - Patty

A big thank you to Patty from 'Homemakers Daily' for this guest post about the differences between Filofax and Franklin Covey.

Earlier this year I stumbled across the Philofaxy website and it changed my life!  I’ve always loved paper planners but most of the people in my life don’t share my passion.  They know I need a paper planner but they aren’t interested.

When I discovered Philofaxy, I found a community of people who LOVED paper planners the way I did.  And as I read through the articles and comments, I realized that I wasn’t alone!
I’ve been a long-time Franklin Covey user (compact, 2ppd) but have been experimenting with Filofax for several months.  As I’ve learned more about Filofax products, I’ve discovered six big differences between how Franklin Covey (FC) planners are used and how Filofax (FF) planners are used.

1.         The most popular format for FF planners seems to be some form of the week on two pages.  For FC planners, the most popular is two pages per day.  Franklin Covey does sell a lot of weekly pages these days but the day on two pages is by far the most popular.

2.       Filofax planners don’t come with monthly pages.  If you purchase the pages, they’re not tabbed and are printed back-to-back.  This makes sense when you consider that Filofax users usually have a week on two pages in their binder.  In that case, monthly pages aren’t as important.  But in a Franklin Covey planner, the monthly pages are extremely important and come with every set of pages whether the pages are weekly or daily.  The calendars are tabbed and have a blank section on the front of each month for a Monthly Index and a blank section on the back for monthly tasks.

3.       That brings me to the next point which is that Filofax users usually have an entire year of weekly pages in their binder (hence the reason the monthly page isn’t as important).  Franklin Covey users usually only have two or three months of pages at a time.  When a month is complete, that month’s pages are moved to a storage binder.

4.       Filofax users tend to store their used pages in boxes or throw them away.  Franklin Covey users store their used pages (and unused pages) in a storage binder.  When the year is complete, the storage binder contains a permanent record.

5.       Filofax pages are pretty plain so it gives Filofax users the freedom to personalize with color and design (which they love doing!).  Franklin Covey pages are already colorful so there’s no room for creativity.

6.       And this is the biggest difference, I think.  Since most Filofax users use weekly pages, there’s not a lot of room to write anything but appointments (although I’ve seen pages that held a LOT of info!).  So Filofax users rely heavily on the tabbed sections at the back.  That’s where all the good stuff is.

Franklin Covey users write nearly everything on the daily pages and use the tabbed section at the back for short-term projects or certain types of information.  For example, I have my financial information in the tabbed sections.  It wouldn’t make sense to keep that on my daily pages.  If I’m working on a project, I would put it in one of the sections.  And I have reference information in one of the sections.  But everything else goes on the daily page and then the important information is recorded on the Monthly Index sheet for easy future reference.

I found it interesting to see the differences between the two systems.  It also helped me figure out why I was struggling to switch from Franklin Covey to Filofax.  Even though the two systems look very similar, these are pretty major differences.

And thank goodness.  None of us are alike and nor do we do things the same way.  I love the fact that there are so many choices.  We get to pick the system that works best for us.

Now . . . if I could only decide.

Faber-Castell organiser review

In this previous post, Steve discussed other brands of ring bound organisers and I found that I hadn't heard of most of them. As mentioned on my own blog, I have recently agreed with Cult Pens to write some reviews for them and I jumped at the chance to receive a Faber-Castell organiser to cover for Philofaxy. Wikipedia says that the company is one of the world's largest manufacturers of pens, pencils, office and art supplies, as well as high-end writing instruments and luxury leather goods. I'd only heard of the brand due to browsing lovely pens and pencils online (normally out of my budget range) and had no idea that they made organisers as well. More details can be found here about the company. Thank you to Cult Pens for supplying this review sample free of charge for me to post about.

This model is the pocket organiser in orange patent Italian calfskin leather, and it also comes in other colours and sizes. The first thing that I noticed when removing the organiser from the box is the colour! I love the intense orange, but I'm aware that it might not be to everyone's tastes and it may be more aimed at female customers.

I was trying to think of how to explain exactly what the colour is like and then remembered we had some oranges:

These organisers lie flat out of the box as the spine is made from a separate stitched piece, and I think this is something that Filofax could consider more in their design process as 'flatability' makes a big difference as you're all aware. The brand name is embossed into the leather and on the press stud, and the clasp feels bigger to me than on most Filofaxes, but I like it. The spine and the interior are made from non-patent black leather, and I like the contrast as it may have been a bit much all in bright orange.

On the left there are six credit card pockets (cards fit in vertically) with a full-length pocket behind. and the left-hand side has one pen loop which will accept full-size pens! (yes, you read that right)

One thing that struck me when opening this was that the paper size seems small in comparison to the size of the organiser. I think this is as more space is needed to accommodate the larger sized pen loop. For a comparison, the dimensions are 110mm x 155mm, compared with a pocket Malden at 115mm x 147mm.

And onto that pen loop... I searched through all my pens, trying different ones in turn and they all fit including my Lamy Safari fountain pen! This may be a bit of a revelation for any owners out there trying in vain to squeeze their favourite pen into the normal skinny Filofax loops. You can see that the extra space means that my Lamy fits well and doesn't poke out of the bottom or the top.

Inserts included are a transparent flyleaf, a ruler, year overview calendar, 2 pages to the month diary, address book (ruled A-Z sheets) and ruled paper.

I have small writing but think that 2 pages to the month would be too limiting, so I picked up a cheap Collins week on 2 pages and that looks much more usable. The paper size is 81mm x 120mm, so normal pocket Filofax refills will fit.

I could see the Faber-Castell working well as a wallet-organiser combo with the inclusion of a zip-lock envelope or pouch and maybe an additional credit card holder insert. My only concern is how well the patent leather would cope with being chucked into a bag regularly or being used on a daily basis. I like the styling of this organiser which feels modern with its simple lines, and that it lies flat out of the box and can accommodate any pen in the loop.

Free For All Tuesday No. 96

Tuesdays are your chance to ask any Filofax related questions you might have.

So fire away and we will collectively try to answer your questions or offer opinions.