Planner crisis (part trois)

So after many a rambling blog post about my trials with converting to a pocket size and converting back to personal. I'm now dithering again - this time between 3 (yes 3) different planner systems....

Option 1 - the current personal sized week on one page with notes diary format in my Magenta Adelphi
Option 2- a city dweller diary week on one page with spangly notes diary format in my Personal Raspberry Chameleon
Option 3 - week on two pages/day on one page hybrid in my Pocket Deco

Hmmmm. While I have spent many a happy hour this week of an evening transcribing my diary contents into the City Dweller diary format much to the chagrin of Mr P I'm still not sure about which of the three could be a winner so I'm going to run them in tandem for a while and see how I get on. Insane yep, but worth a go surely?

Pocket vs Personal - the challenge continues

So quick recap - I've been a diehard Filofax fan for AGES and especially of the Personal size. Plenty of room, flexible, lush range of inserts and binders.

But on the cons, heavy, bulky and do I really need to carry everything around with me?

So I splurged (in the sale) on a Pocket Deco in Ivory. It is stunning, gorgeous. BUT IT'S TOO SMALL.....

It's not easy to write in the spaces, note pages are difficult to use too (in comparison with the Personal) I miss my week on one page/notes format diary, the Day Planner pages, the proper sized stickers, my coloured dividers.....

Help I'm wavering. How do you use your Pocket? Is it really going to work for me? Shall I admit defeat and revert back to the Personal and if I do what on earth can I use the Deco for?

Aaaah......

My Filofax Family

So there I was the other day chatting away on Twitter to CP and SM who I have met through the blog site Philofaxy and we were talking about our Filofaxes (funny that!) and I got to thinking about how many I own, I thought about 5....until I thought about it some more and counted up and realised the actual total was 11. Not many compared to some Philofaxers but quite a few none the less.

So then I went on the hunt to get them all together and revisit each one (apologies in advanced to any non Filofax fans you may want to stop reading now!) and here they all are (can you tell I have a passion for the red/pink ones??) so how did I end up with so many? And do I use them all?


Any guesses to my favourite colours?



My Filofax Family

One of my first Filofaxes was a gorgeous Pink pocket sized one, unfortunately this was in my handbag when I was mugged living in Croydon one October. The loss of all my addresses, notes and diary was shocking and made me use back up systems at home in case of a repeat disaster.

Her replacement came in the shape of another Pocket Classic in red courtesy of my lovely Mother for Christmas that year and many a happy time were had. But after a while it became evident that a Pocket just wasn't big enough, I then trialed several Personal sizes, some have been donated away or lost in transit (I have moved several times over the past few years (I particularly miss a red Personal Domino that I was given as a leaving present from one of my former jobs several years ago that has gone AWOL). The Finsbury in the orange was one of these tests to see if I could use one planner that was portable enough for every day but large enough to contain everything, however the orange colour just wasn't for me and so the hunt for the perfect planner began in earnest.

My Personal Dream Team - Chameleon, Finsbury and Adelphi

At this time I was working again in London and my diary was chaotic so I decided to upscale to an A5 Finchley in red. A gorgeous Filofax, roomy, luxurious and every time I whipped out my planner in meetings it gave me that added extra wizz of confidence. But, I travelled with that job. A lot. And my gosh the Finchley was heavy, so I started looking at other alternatives for an everyday planner that I could have on me with the Finchley relegated to desk use only.

A5 Tastic with Finchley and Domino

That's when I went back to the MIA Domino personal in red. And the 2 binder system worked well, separating my work and my home meant I had portability and space. Result!

And then my life changed. I split with my partner of 9 years and decided I wanted a new life. I quit my job, I left London and retreated home to Somerset before moving 2 months later to Dorset to work at my current position (you know the amazing firm that gave all its staff FREE iPads. Still can't quite believe that!! Amazin). Anyhoo I digress...

So new job, new home, new set of friends, new social life = ?

Yep new Filofax. This is when I decided I needed something smaller/lighter and more portable. And I found the Adelphi Slimline in Damson. Lots of space as it was Personal sized pages, but light because the small rings meant you couldn't get as much in it. I loved the Adelphi she was gorgeous, however the slimline is never going to work for me as I just can't get enough in it. Even though I was still using the red A5 Finchley for work.

Super Slim Adelphi

And then Filofax bought out the Adelphi in Magenta. OMG it was love at first sight. Large enough to hold a week on one page with notes format diary for a whole year, notes, addresses etc and it was such a gorgeous pink colour. My every day planner was sorted. Well for a few months at least.

Chameleon, Finsbury, Adelphi

However having both planners on my desk made my eyes hurt. Red and Pink together - clash central. And then I read this guest post on Philofaxy by Jess and I loved it. So I ordered the same A5 binder, pink and bronze do not clash thankfully.

A couple of months after this in June I was in Paperchase in Exeter (a stationery lovers emporium) when I spotted a Pocket Domino in the most gorgeous shade of blue. Now while I am not normally a blue person this cornflower gorgeousness could not be left behind. I figured she would be perfect for my "onthego" filofax at events such as Glastonbury Festival and while going to gigs in London. Large enough to have phone numbers (in case of dead/lost mobiles) and travelcards and set lists etc but really light and not holding all my most important (and secret) stuff like the Adelphi.

The original Pocket rockets

So now to the Autumn and I noticed that my poor Adelphi had started to look a little rough on the corners where the soft leather being tossed about in my handbag was starting to wear. And this was bad, she is pretty and lovely so I started considering trialling another Personal sized planner, which is when I spied on eBay a Raspberry Chameleon (BNIB) and got her for a steal :) and so I moved over all my contents to the new Chameleon with her gorgeous insides of pastel dividers and frosted ruler. And all was well for a couple of months...

At the same time I visited Staples who were selling off lots of Filofaxes very cheaply which is where I picked up the patterned Indie and a mini Urban - the Indie remains in the collection while I gave the Urban to a dear friend as a leaving present when she moved jobs recently, well what else would you give?

This leads us to now and the current experiment to downsize to a Pocket Deco....

The latest Pocket addition

Now there is a lot more I could (and probably will in future posts) say about my (obsession) Filofaxes but for now at least I am loving my little family, although a Purple Finchley in A5 really would complete the set no?

So what does your Filofax family look like?

Things on my mind or flutterby Wednesday

So today has been another one of those days that involved an early start, a fair bit of travelling, tons of waiting around, a large amount more travelling and therefore all in all achieving very little. Grrr. I know it can't be helped but some days you just think eesh can something just go my way for a change? And that was just the traffic getting out of our little seaside town!

However all this alone time in the car gave me some time to think, well actually I did have Mr P with me but he has this knack of going straight to sleep in the car when I drive us anywhere - either he a) feels so comfortable with the smoothness of my driving he is calmed into such a serene sense of relaxation he nods off or b) the sheer terror of being in a car with me while I drive initiates the conk out escape clause!!

Key topics for today's thinking?

1. What to wear to work tomorrow? Lame perhaps but as we have important people in whom I may be meeting requires looking slightly more well put together than normal. We have a so casual it is virtually student like clothing style in my office (I blame the large number of young people hehe) so a typical day's outfit is jeans, boots, vest/t-shirt and cardigan (it's chilly at the moment). Very unexciting. However tomorrow calls for something reflecting my stature of Manager (well something clean, ironed and not clashing would be a start!). I'm thinking black long jeans (these are new so I'm excited to give them their first airing) with a black blouse and my new purple patent shoes. The red heart print scarf will add some colour and some simple silver jewelery to set off the look. Combined with my grey check bracelet sleeve length jacket should look smart but hopefully media style trendy.
2. The 1 million work things I needed to achieve this afternoon/tomorrow. Big tick on being productive as working from home means virtually no phone calls or anyone to gossip with and therefore a chance to mow through the marketing plans, schedules and outstanding emails. Tick tick tick on the To Do list hurrah and a good place to start with a fresh list tomorrow.
3. Blog posts - I have a list of about 10 new blog posts that I am keen to crack on with this weekend. They involve lists, photos and some of my favourite things so I think you'll love them! So I needed to get them down on paper as a list before I forgot all my inspired new ideas.
4. Capsule wardrobes...I have written before about my wardrobe rut here and how I was trying to overcome this with focusing on key items/looks/words to reflect "my style". I have been doing lots of research in this manor and been following some great blogs of people who snap what they wear everyday - amazing inspiration. I especially love What Would a Nerd Wear,and Ephemera for these types of posts with Musings of a Caribbean Princess and SBV for really fab Fashion blog posts on what they wear/love. But then I read on Paper Rush Blog about a capsule wardrobe challenge for February inspired by a post on Make Do Style. What a fantastic idea. 5 days, 10 items of clothing/shoes, 5 accessory items (scarves/belts etc) A complete wardrobe snapshot which would make me wear my clothes in a different way (perhaps) so I read on and ended up on The Small Fabric of My Life where the challenge idea began. And then I read and read and read...a fantastic blog, really well written, witty and fab pictures which makes me feel all inspired to work through my wardrobe and see how I can start wearing some of those lovely pieces I have that never get to see the light of day! Could I manage the 5 day capsule challenge - that is one to think on for a while as I wear more than 10 pairs of shoes a week let alone with clothing thrown in...
5. Lastly and probably most consuming today has been the Personal vs Pocket Filofax debate. I'm having a wobble on my planner size change!! I have covered at length previously the Pocket Deco, but to recap: I LOVE my pocket Deco; she's classy, gorgeous and so much more portable. BUT I miss the personal size Chameleon. More room to write on the pages, the week on one page with notes diary which is my favourite format (I have the same in my A5 work Filofax), what feels like double the ring size to cram in all the information and the jolly Raspberry colour. I miss the larger sized stickers I use in it, the Day Planner pages, the decent sized To Do list pages.....will I ever be able to downsize totally? Have I made a massive mistake? Should I revert back to the Chameleon (But if I did OMFG the amount of money the Deco cost - bad girl!!) A quandary to be sure. Before I make any rash decision however I am staying calm and trying to bear in mind that new habits take 6 weeks to bed in and this is only week 2. A bit like starting a diet I guess I need to stick at and not cave and binge on personal sized planning just yet......

Things I Love Friday....

So it's Friday evening after yet another hectic and stressful week with travelling, work and general stuff getting in the way of the serene and calm lifestyle I wish to adopt (who am I kidding eh!). And as Mr P is napping on the sofa - I am making him watch girl programs to be fair - I got to thinking about the things I love/am grateful for this week. So here they are:

1. My new Brita water filter - nerdy I know but I've never had a water filter before or really seen the point in one. After a request from Mr P I sourced a new one in the sale in Debenhams and now we are a filter family. So after a rocky start with the filter (I mean you have to piece it together, flush it out so many times, work out how to turn on the magic water measuring thingamy etc it is not a quick process) I wasn't at first able to really tell the difference from tap water. However I am enjoying have ice cold water straight from the fridge while feeling mega virtuous - surely filtered water being the epitome of health fads means the consumption of chocolate orange is nullified yes?

2. The Philofaxy meet up - I am so ridiculously excited about this. With twitter conversations with other meet up attendees and emails from potential train buddies for the journey up to London town I am embracing my inner stationery nerd and have already started my shopping list for the visit to Filofax Mecca.

3. Sarah Millican - comedienne extrordinaire. Her self depreciating, real life comedy just tickles my funny bone to the core and watching her on Graham Norton tonight with Vince Vaughan and Diddy (Puff Daddy/Sean Combs or whoever he is now) was just ace. Poor old Diddy just didn't know what to do during the curry/fart/sex segment. Here is hoping I can get some tickets to see her while she is on tour as I think that will be a right old giggle.

4. Worse than my Filofax obsessions this week has been my excitement at finally collecting my gorgeous new handbag - the Fiorelli Black Loretta supplied courtesy of Mr P (another free iPad guilt moment hehe). I am loving this bag - it is large enough to fit all my daily clutter, plus with the 3 main compartments it means the iPad has a safe, clutter free location to reside when travelling out and about. There is the short shoulder/elbow crook handle and then a lovely long strap that does the long shoulder/cross body thing so well. I'll accept it is a BIG bag - I could probably fit a good mid week Tesco shop inside it for example, but it still looks (I think) sleek and lovely. Therefore a more than suitable accessory for the new glamorous and well put together me inspired by owning the mega classy Deco I need to up my fashion game to match her good looks so I don't let her down in public. A whole post dedicated to handbags may be looming!!!

5. Another highlight this week was Mary Portas Secret Shopper. The Queen of Shops excelled herself again illustrating that fast fashion comes at a price far higher than we realise. Don't get me wrong I love a good Primark rummage (strictly during the non busy periods however as I do not do jumble sale Saturday Primarni if I can help it) but as Mary so clearly showed being able to receive good customer service makes shopping so much more pleasurable instead of being a chore, plus we spend more because we feel valued.....simple lesson huh retail peoples? I also love Mary for her unflinching style and dress sense - while I can't afford her Louis Vuitton scarf my Warehouse equivalent rocks just as hard!!

So there are my loves this week. How's your week been? Anything really tickled your fancy or driven you to distraction by it's gorgeousness?

Lx

Couple more shots of the yummy new bag with Deco and iPad plus a Frixion pen for fun :)

The Downsizing Experiment Continues - otherwise known as how do I cram my life into a Pocket Deco?

So I am coming to the end of week 1 using my beautiful Pocket Deco in Ivory as my main Filofax. You know the one that we have surgically attached to us, have panic attacks about should it be out of sight for more than 15 minutes and that should we ever suffer the misfortune to loose it our lives would be over (or at least a mystery as we wouldn't where or what we were doing).


So the story so far, I have been a committed Personal size Filofax fan for many, many years to organise my personal life (my work Filofax is A5 - nothing smaller could cope with my list making/project writing/note taking OCD) and until recently this was working out really well - I was happily in love with my Chameleon in Raspberry and she came in my handbag everywhere with me. And here was my problem, I carry about so much stuff in said handbag that it was starting to need it's own heavy load sticker. And then Filofax emailed their Sale newsletter just before Christmas - and there it was. The Ivory Deco half price. And an idea formed - maybe by treating myself to the most gorgeous Pocket Filofax I could start to downsize. After all how much did I actually need to carry around with me 24/7? And so with the threat of discontinuation nudging me almost as much as the enablers commenting on my blog about the indecision see here I bought the Deco. In Pocket size. And thus started the Downsizing of Loulou.

So how have I set up the Deco? (I LOVE reading about how other Filofaxers set up their planners so here is hoping my description lives up to the posts by Caribbean Princess and Plannerisms - very unlikely it will so I recommend that you should check their blogs out for inspirational planner set ups).

So a couple of shots to show how gorgeous she is...as always the photos are taken with my iPhone, in the kitchen so the quality isn't brill but you can get the idea......



How gorgeous is that clasp!!

And here is the clasp open...

And here she is open - I have some pretty business cards for jewellery sites in the card holders (left) and then a photo of my favourite building in the world - The Chrysler Building in New York so it makes me smile every time I open my filo up :)

Close up of the gorgeous suede interior with the business cards/stamps etc. Note the zipped pocket - I keep my secrets in here (well I would if had any!!)

So if we flip over the clear pocket containing New York you can see I keep vouchers behind the Chrysler - currently a discount voucher for Oasis. Then on the right is a business card holder insert - currently showing the business card of the lovely Mr P's band Hybrid.

Then we have the ESSENTIAL post it notes, so cute!!

And so to the diary layout...in my Personal and in my work A5 I favour the week on one page with notes format where I can record all meetings/events in the diary page on the left hand and then have notes/to do's/things to remember on the notes page on the right. However with a Pocket the size I think would be just too small to have this format so I am trialling using the standard week on two pages. And so far it is working out ok....

The cream diary that was supplied includes a little notes section at the top of the left hand page - so essential to do's can go in there. I then use coloured pens to distinguish between what the notes/appointments are. For example all social events like Hybrid gigs are in purple (or a reminder that the new Mary Portas show starts tonight - love her!) PM in blue refers to a work meeting taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. And things to do with appointments are in pink. I favour the Pilot Frixion pens as they are lovely to write with, come in fab colours and are erasable - so when plans change you can rub the pen notes out. AMAZIN!!

Close up of the diary in action (cue dramatic music) dum dum dum

I am currently using the standard sections of Diary, Notes, Information, Financial and Addresses...

Under Notes I have 2 clear dividers I love these as they help to mark out my sections nice and neatly. I have in there Randoms - notes just taken while on the move, Lists - of movies, books, blogs, to do's etc and then Fashion - lists of things I'd love to buy, outfit combinations that work etc.

Next is Information which currently contains all the important information on a special project - timings, contact details etc etc. Plus my London Underground map .

Then we have Financial where I am aiming, in conjunction with the Spend Free app on my iPhone, to track all my expenditure each month with a view to working out how I can save more.

Then we have the Addresses tab - where surprisingly I have people's addresses (shocking!!)

We then reach the back of the Pocket Deco:

Here you can see my stickers (love them for brightening up the diary pages) and the suede popper pocket which currently looks after my Oyster card for when I visit London town.

So that is my set up and so far it seems to be working well. I have to admit I am missing my personal size filo purely for the amount I could get in it and store within it BUT I am loving the portability of the Pocket size and the gorgeousness of the binder more than makes up for the lack of size that I am used to.

Let's see how we get on next week though.........how do you organise yourself, please do share

Lx

The downsizing of Loulou's life

Well it has been a hectic couple of weeks to say the least. And with big life things comes planning and list making - 2 things that my Filofax is indispensable for. I mean seriously my life would free fall without my trusty side kick - key example came this week when I realised I don't even know my home phone number without it!!!

So this probably isn't the best time to try and downsize from a personal size Chameleon to the lovely new pocket Deco - but what the heck.

I figure keep the Personal as a catch all life planner (particularly good for reference, blog planning, Resolutions maintenance etc) and the Pocket my essential take everywhere/contains my life in it planner. So while Mr P is having a nap on the sofa and I'm trying to be quiet so as not to wake him and with a handy glass of vino on the go - here goes wish me luck!!!