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

Organize Your Schedule

Hello everyone!  I thought I'd do this next post about how to organize your schedule.  For me, that was difficult to do and I needed a starting point.  So, I have gathered my best tips and suggestions and hope you find them useful as well.

By organizing your schedule, you are choosing to spend your time wisely and in doing so will reduce stress, you’ll feel more fulfilled at the end of the day when you can look back on what you've accomplished, and be able to spend more time on the things you want to do, rather than the things you "have" to do.  Take charge by taking back control of your schedule.

Things left undone will only linger in the back of your mind.  Constantly trying to remember things is exhausting.  Make a To Do list to free you from forgetting what needs to be done.  It'll also help you plan your day, so you have enough time to complete them.  

☐    First, buy one daily planner to use for both work and your personal life.  Using more than one leaves room for overlapping appointments and confusion.

☐    Sit down with your family and plan your week or even the month ahead so you can:

• Divide errands
• Divide chores
• Plan meals
• Schedule a babysitter as needed
• Plan for driving arrangements for activities

 ☐    Gather all your To Do items from calendars, sticky notes and scraps of paper (including the ones you have in your head!) and create a To Do list that you will keep in your planner.  Make sure you make this list as complete as you possibly can.

☐    Sort your To Do list by:

1. Tasks that must be done today (pay gas bill, schedule doctor visit).  Schedule these in your planner.
2. Takes that must be done this week (Mail a package, call to schedule Tune-up).  Schedule these in your planner.
3. Tasks that you would like to get done, but do not have an immediate requirement.  Something that needs to get done in the future (organize yard sale, lunch with friends)

 ☐          Once you’ve sorted your To Do’s into one of the categories listed above, number the tasks in each group, in order of how they should be completed.  That way, if you get all the Tasks in Group 1 (Today’s) finished, you can begin working on the list in your 2 group (This week).  If you do not finish everything in you’re a list, make sure they have top priority in tomorrow’s list of To Do’s.

☐          Schedule all of your Doctor’s, Dental and even Veterinarian appointments for the next year.  Try to schedule doctor and dental appointments back-to-back so you won’t have to make as many trips.

☐          Keep a small pad of paper or notepad on your nightstand for those times when you think of something while your mind is trying to wind down for the night.  Make sure you transfer them to your To Do list in the morning.

☐          Use a page of your planner for a Master To Do list.  This could include cleaning routines (daily, weekly, monthly, semi-annual and annual), gifts that need to be purchased for upcoming birthdays’, books you want to read, movies you’d like to see,  This frees you from having to remember later.

Some Tips:

• Don’t put more tasks than you can realistically accomplish in one day.  I typically draw a line -that is my indicator that this (above the line) is what I can accomplish today and anything below the line is for the next day.  All new incoming items are then added to what is below that line.
• Schedule meetings with a beginning and an end date.  Account for the time it will take to prepare for that meeting or time it might take to get to the meeting.
• Schedule your errands based on where you’ll be to avoid wasting time driving to different locations.
• Whenever possible, schedule appointments for first thing in the morning.  As the day progresses, there is greater chance for cancellations and/or delays.
• Break down projects in to smaller, easier tasks.  For example, instead of putting a To Do of “refinish table”, write down every step needed to accomplish this task – buy tools for refinishing table (sanding paper, paint, primer, rags, etc), clean table, sand and prime table, paint table, put second coat, seal the table.  Then put a deadline for each task and work to complete each one, accomplishing one each day if needed.

Staying Organized

Once a month

☐          Pick a task from your group 3 tasks (future tasks) and schedule it in your planner.

☐          Schedule time to take a break if you find that you are always on the go.  We need time to     refresh.

☐          Schedule dates with your partner, children and the people who are closest to you.

Every 3-6 months

☐          Review your C group tasks and set final deadlines for To Do’s that have been left undone since your last review.

Once a Year

☐          In September, write down everything you did not accomplish over the summer but wanted to.   Add these to your new planner, when you’ve ordered the new one for next year.

☐          When you receive your new planner, transfer all birthdays, anniversaries and appointments to the new one.

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Organize Your Schedule

Filofax, really????

I think I have been on a quest to find the one thing that will keep me organized for as long as I can remember.  Being the Techy type, you'd thing my choices might revolved around an iPhone, Blackberry, iPad, Macbook or something in the same category.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE TECHNOLOGY!  Innovation especially!  I can spend hours upon hours, reading various technology stories being published on Cult of Mac and Pad Gadget, etc.  But, as I'm sure I am not the first to say it - My brain requires that I write things down in order to continue and maintain order in my life.

Whether it be a running to do list, or keeping a full on calendar - I always have some system that is always being tweaked in one way or another.  A couple of weeks ago, I was reading Flipboard on my iPad mini, when out of nowhere, I entered a search for Filofax.  Well, that one search opened the flood gates.  I have been obsessed with them ever since.

I loved that no matter where I turned, there was someone showing off their Filofax.  I would go onto Pinterest and there would be hundreds and hundreds of people showing off their setup of their Filofax, or even as simple as people posting video's of opening the box when they received theirs.  At first, I chuckled.  I thought maybe these folks might have lost a few marbles along the way.  But, the more I continued to come across these "obsessed" people in Youtube, Pinterest, Blogs, etc the more I realized these people knew what they were taking about.  These were not those currently fascinated with the newest trends, but people who were die-hard, devoted Filofax users.

Well, after what felt like an eternity (it was only a few weeks), I had determined that I had to have one and even decided on the model.  Remember, I had a lot of suggestions, reviews and video tutorials to help me make my decision.  I purchased my first one from Pensandleather.com, and it was a beauty!  An A5, Raspberry Finsbury.  I was so excited when I got the email a few minutes later confirming my order.  But, it was short lived.  At 3am, I received another email that the order was on a short wait while they retreived  it from their warehouse.  Oh, ok, that shouldn't be too bad.  By 9am, I received another  email alerting me that the order was on backorder and was not expected until the first week of May.  That meant I would have to wait another few weeks!  Ugh!  I didn't let that stop me.

Through a newly found Facebook group, I mentioned my desire to purchase one and found a seller quite quickly!  Within a week, I had my new Filofax!  This Filofax was beautiful!  And the seller even included some of her own hand-made dividers for me!  They were gorgeous!  Well, that week I also purchased a personal size Crimson Malden from a local store here.  Now, I use the personal Malden (nicknamed Maurice) for things like grocery shopping lists, cleaning schedules, school related items and inspirational quotes and such.  I use the A5 Finsbury (nicknamed Rachael Berry) for Work related items and for my Finances.  I like keeping them separate and since I work from home, I don't need to worry about carrying around two FiloFaxes wherever I go.

I've also purchased a personal size Kendal in brown and a compact Metropol in red, along with two pocket Domino's (one in ultra violet and the other black).  Just think, a few weeks ago I had none and now I have more than I can handle.  And I still want more!  Heaven, help me!  Here are a few pics of my Filofax Family!

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Filofax, really????