In Search of the Ultimate Inserts

My Search for the Ultimate Inserts

I have been on a quest lately. A quest to combine my work planner (currently an A5 Red Finchley Filofax with the Time Management Inserts -A week on 2 pages) with my personal planner (currently a personal size Orange Osterley). I began this quest because I love the portability of my personal size planner and was afraid I was double booking things as I am not one to go and put my dates in to both planners.  Here's a photo of my A5 pages:

So, the first thing I figured I would need to do was get a personal size planner with larger rings so I could include things in the personal planner that I normally would have kept in the A5, like projects, meeting notes, etc.  Surprisingly, it did not take very long to locate one.  I posted that I was in search of a Cavendish or a Portland Grand on the Filofax and Pens for sale site on Facebook and on the Sell Swap Source page on Facebook.  I was fortunate to have a "friend" that found one on the UK eBay site pretty quickly and it was even listed as a Buy It Now. So I snatched it up and waited patiently for it's arrival.

It was perfect!  A deep Navy Blue Cavendish with 30mm rings!  I could fit so much stuff in it.  Now to search for inserts.  The next step was to find the perfect inserts that would allow me to combine my work and personal lives into one.

First I tried to go to a day on two pages with notes.  It had a column for appointments, a column for tasks/to do's and a whole page dedicated to notes.  However, I found that having a week at a glance was really important to me so I could see upcoming important deadlines.  I kept having to put out fires rather than be proactive and prevent them from the beginning.

The next set was a brand made by the lovely Piaric (on Facebook). They are simplistic but I found there wasn't much space to decorate which I missed from the original set that Filofax  includes with their planners.  Here is a page I used to decorate.

And here is a picture of one of the Piaric week's. As you can see here, it had a column for work, personal and home.  In the home section, I would include chores and meals.  Personal would include birthdays and personal appointments and of coarse, work would have my work appointments.  There is also a section for to do's. What I found was that I really didn't like having my work life intertwined with my personal life and there wasn't really any room to decorate. With only the hole reinforcements as the only thing I could really dress up.

So, then I decided to go back to a more personal style but one that could be prettier.  So, I tried abowlfulloflemons.blogspot.com rainbow planner.  Although, it has very pretty paper, it gobbles up ink to print it yourself and it's almost too much color going on.  Distracting me from my actual schedule.  It has columns for To do's, chores, menu and reminders.  I put birthdays in the reminder section, and all the rest are pretty self-explanatory.

Again, too much color going on here to suit my needs.  I've also tried the Gillio inserts.  They have the cream colored pages and are lined, similar to Filofax brand cotton cream inserts.  I like the lined pages as I like order in my writing.

The last set I would try would be DIY Fish from Etsy.  You can buy a complete set that includes monthly calendar pages, a week on 2 pages, daily pages, To-do pages, Income and Expense Tracker and more.  Colorful in a grid like pattern.

 

I am really hoping this set will do it for me.  However, if worst comes to worse I can always return to the original set I started with - the Filofax brand week on 2 pages and start decorating again.  As far as my work planner goes, I am back in my A5 Red Finchley for now. It just seems to work with the amount of space for notes, keeping track of appointments, etc.  Maybe I am just a stationery addict and should just admit the fact that I will always be in search of a better insert, a better planner and so on.  Oh well, on to the next insert for now.  I hope that one of these inserts might be the one you are looking for.  Until next time, take care!

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In Search of the Ultimate Inserts

Life so far with my Filofax

Well, it's been a little over a month since I initially purchased my first Filofax.  And it has been an exciting month, getting familiar with all the abundant tools, suggestions and ideas I have received.  Trying things that work and then things - not so much!  But that's okay!  That's the beauty of my Filofax.  You can change it as many times as you see fit to make it work for YOU!

I currently use three different Filofaxes.  One A5, which is my primary work planner.  In it I track my multitude of projects, take detailed notes and manage my daily and weekly To Do's.  I don't have time to decorate her at all.  The most I ever use for any type of decoration are colored pens to help make things POP from the page. I currently use the Time Management Filiofax pages found on the Filofax UK website.  I love the pages because they use a week on two pages format, however they also contain sections to write down Priority Activities, a Phone, Write, Fax, Email section, along with an Expenses section, Personal and Delegation Reminders and a large section to write Next Actions or To Do's.  Perfect for my Project Management role at work.  Since I primarily work from home, the A5 planner (nicknamed Rachael Berry due to the Raspberry color) never leaves my desk.  I also use her to do my personal bill paying - so I keep my checkbook and finance pages are held in the back.  Blog ideas are sometimes held in here as well.

I use a Personal Crimson Malden as my EDC (everyday carry) and it is where I spend the majority of my time (at least when I am not working).  I would say I use my personal planner, more as a diary more than a schedule planner/organizer.  Yes, I have my birthday's and major events in here, but I typically use my days in the calendar to document daily quotes, what the weather was like or anything exciting that may have happened that day.  I also use it to document my grocery shopping, my fitness and food journal, my lists for products I want to try, recipes I have found, gift ideas for various members of my family, plus addresses of other Filofax "friends", personal info, etc.  I really, really love holding her and dressing her up each week using washi tape and stickers and making my own dividers.  Isn't she a beauty?

The last one I use all the time is my Compact Metropol in Red.  I do not use this as a Filofax, rather as a wallet.  I have all my credit cards, store reward cards, gift cards and the lot all inside her.  I even included a small keyring attached to the rings at the bottom with all of those miscellaneous miniature store cards for easy flashing at the register.  I agree, that the weight of carrying both a personal Filofax stuffed to the gills and a Compact Filofax stuffed with heavy debt-laden credit cards can do a number on my back and elbow from carrying these in my bag while I am out.  The only benefit is I am not out that often or for that long to really be a bother to me yet.

I did just purchase three pocket sized Malden's (crimson, ochre and purple) to try to use that as a wallet instead of the compact.  I actually am waiting for the doorbell to ring from my friendly neighborhood UPS delivery man as we speak.  A follow-up post will follow, you can be sure of that.  In the meantime, grab yourself a cool drink - sit back and enjoy the view of my lovely family of Filofaxes and stay a spell.  Until next time......

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Life so far with my Filofax