Panama Planning: The Birthday Filofax Reveal...Part 3

The birthday Filofax haul - aren't they gorgeous?

So I've written at length about my stunning birthday present Filofax the gorgeous Amethyst Deco here and here BUT I was lucky enough to also receive a second leather bound, 6 ringed beauty!

The very lovely AJ (who it has to be said while new to Filofax addiction has outstripped me already with a haul of around 20 different binders!! Hopefully she will start taking some pictures as her self-designed A5 diary and notes pages are super fabulous!!) emailed me regarding the Philofaxy mention of the Great German Train Robbery where so many stunning binders were on sale for just 9 Euros (yep 9!!!!!) and asked if I would like anything for my upcoming birthday - you can see why I think she's fab - such a great enabler lol.

So after browsing though the vast number of binders on sale I spotted the Personal Panama on the site...I've been obsessing about this particular binder since Caribbean Princess featured her pocket size in a blog post here . It just looked so sleek and posh especially with the gold rings! So once I'd saw it was part of the promotion it was an easy decision!

Isn't she lovely - and very regal!

The lovely gold clasp opened up

I really do love the different closure of having the leather loop over the gold coloured clip. Do I worry it might tear/break/scratch - only a little bit. But if I know one thing about Filofaxes it is that they are mightily more durable than you would ever think!

However as you know I do have 1 or 2 Filofaxes (ahem or possibly a couple more...) but one this lovely needed a purpose and it just so happens I had the perfect task for her. The Chartered Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing study Filofax. As I wrote about here I've started a new course which will take the next 18 months or thereabouts to complete and with the amount of reading, home working, assignments, exams and the like I need to keep on top of a dedicated Filofax was necessary. Now I was planning on using my Personal Grape Domino (currently unused, lies flat, wouldn't worry if it got bashed too much in a school bag) but as soon as the Panama arrived it was clear that she would become my grown up school planner!! I'll just need to make sure I'm careful with her ;0)

Now I've been reading lots of posts by other Filofax bloggers on the art of setting up a successful study planner - Caribbean Princess, Imys World and  Life of the Perpetual Student being particular faves as well of course the huge wealth of information on Philofaxy which is always my first port of call for information on all things Filofax.

So here is how I've set up my planner - now this is bound to change as I'm only 1 week into the course but I had to start somewhere:

And she lay flat virtually straight away too - winner!

I really like the open pocket and the credit card slot layout in the Panama. It will be really handy for using with clippings, post its etc in the future.

It's the week on one page again...

This Filofax arrived with a Cream week on one page diary for 2011 as well as a week on two pages 2012 diary. As I've mentioned many a time my favourite layout is the week on one page with notes so I've hacked my own version here inserting in a cream to do page in the centre of the two weeks - and it seems to work really well. The diary is really only used currently for logging when I have to be on site for a class or when the assignments are due etc. It is the list of to dos that is key for me - as you can see from this week I've added the topic name on Monday - External Environment and on the to do page the list of activities (read the slides, listen to podcasts, what I need to be reading etc etc) so I can tick off as I've done them.

With a different topic each week and different tasks (and an assignment plan due on the 28th October) keeping on top of the workload is going to be paramount to whether I succeed at this course or not!

The next week and to do list...

2012 week on two pages

Now this is the week on two pages diary. Yes it is in German - but even I can work out what the days of the week are! I love the fact that it has lines under each day (hello UK Filofax stores could we not have a format like this?) This week in January shows when my first assignment is due (gulp) the pink lines indicate that I will in fact be away in Canada skiing then (double gulp) so being extra organised to get the assignment in on time is CRUCIAL.

I really like this layout but I don't think it will work for me as well as the above hack week on one page - this does mean of course I could move it into the Deco which is my everyday planner for a trial in 2012! We'll see how we get on in the run up to Christmas on that me thinks!!

Super cute lined days of the week plus a little top notes section!

Handy zip pocket

The handy little zip pocket is currently empty but will no doubt end up full of passwords or trinkets!

Look at that gorgeous leather...

So that's my current student layout in the Panama. What do you think? If you have any suggestions on planners for studying or tips do let me know!!! But I really should do some instead of just blogging about it I guess...

Lx