The thrill and satisfaction of setting up a new calendar, filling it with special dates and plans of things to come, has always been something I've looked forward to. Add a new planner to the mix, a personal Ochre Malden, and that's perfection.
Welcome to the January 2014 edition of...
Francine and I are happy to have you drop in for another Filofax Friday as we share our love of planners, planning, organization and organizing! Oh yeah, and downloads. Francine even has a Planner section in her Etsy shop that you'll want to visit.
OCHRE MALDEN
I {finally} received the Ochre Malden that I ordered in November and have been in the process of moving in and moving around, making it fit me and my needs. The rings are a bit smaller than the yellow Finsbury I love so, so much meaning that I've had to make some decisions about what to include in the rotation and what I can live without.
Moving In
Fresh out of the box...the leather is supple, smells wonderful and could be stuffed, if I were a stuff your planner kind of gal.
Getting Organized
I'll be keeping the original Filofax dividers for now, but I added some washi tape to the pages for fun. I'm not really into decorating pages, other than washi tape, but admire the pages of those people who do. I don't like writing on my page from the back side of where the sticker was stuck down. I have my issues, and that's one of them.
I do use sticky notes, though. When I have my hair colored, I count ahead 8 weeks and place a sticky note, just so I can judge the growth of my hair and decide whether to make another appointment to cover the gray or move it forward one week. Because I use an erasable Frixion pen, I can change the 8 weeks to 9 weeks when I move it forward and reevaluate those pesky, wiry grey hairs at that point.
I'm loving the lined pages this year and have stuck with the Week on Two Pages layout. It works well for me with just enough space. Typically, the second line is where I note what I plan to post on the blog for that day. The bottom 2-3 lines are reserved for appointment times for events and activities we might have. I color coded in school holidays and such and those notes go on the same line as the date.
Seeing Double
In my Finsbury, the rings were a bit larger and I had more room for dividers, so I had a thick plastic divider with a tab at the bottom right for my Monthly calendars. I liked having it at the bottom of my Filofax, near where the daily divider was. When I was moving things around from the Finsbury to the new Malden, I realized that I could de-bulk by using two Filofax page markers. I now use one for the current week on two pages and the second marker is in the middle of the month on two pages layout...no searching for top or side tabs for me.
DIY Girl at Heart
You know how I love a DIY and this one was so easy. Found at the Target Dollar Spot, these sticky notes didn't fit into my side pockets so I rarely used them. Lightbulb moment...we have 5 family members, so why not just trim off the last flag with the number 6 and then maybe, just maybe, they'll fit into one of the front pockets.
Ta Da, they do fit in the pocket and now I can jot a quick activity note for the appropriate family member and place it on a date until I can make it more permanent. Or not, depending up on the event.
You can't see it in the photo for some reason, but that red tab says, In Case of Emergency, and is attached to my husband's business card. You know, just in case.
Follow Along
Follow me on Instagram, where I share loads more Filofax tips, tricks, hacks, ideas and DIY's that never make it here to the blog. Oh, and there's an occasional giveaway there as well.
Have some planner tips and tricks of your own? Share in the comments, I'm nosy like that and want to hear what works for you.
i love your filofax pictures. the new malden filofax is so pretty and your customization is even prettier.
ReplyDeletei am so not a filofax girl, it is a bit too bulky for me. i like the fact that you can add pages to the filofax but still... it's just too big. i need a small/thin pocket calendar as i always carry my notebook around with me too. so i usually go for the moleskine soft cover pocket weekly notebook planner. it has the week on the left page and a lined page on the right. so i have my appointments/birthdays/dates (ha ha) on the left and my weekly to do list on the left. and everything else in my extra notebook. that's what works best for me. but silly me bought a totally different planner this year because they where out of the one i mentioned above... it looks nice but it's a bit bigger and thicker and has no note page but the whole week on two pages... and i have to say, i already hate it and will get my usual one as soon as i can. actually i kind of already knew it when i bought that one but well i thought let's try it maybe i'll like it. nope, not at all. back to the usual for me now.
I like the idea of the moleskin planners, too, and that you can still personalize them a bit with washi tape and colored pens. I just really love the idea of having binder rings so that I can change things around...maybe because I'm also using mine as a blog planner as well as keeping track of business expenses and to do items. I began with a Pocket size, while a really great size if I didn't have the business info to include, the Personal size really works for me and still fits into my purse on a daily basis.
DeleteI'm like you, though, and am a creature of habit and would have to go back to the notebook I was used to, Eeny! I'd love to see how you're using yours if you ever decide to do a blog post!
i might do a blog post when i get my moleskine planner.
Deletemy blog stuff is in my extra notebook and not in my planner. i don't have a blog schedule right now, that's why i am kind of neglecting it a bit again. so i should really start planning out blog posts and have an actual schedule and first and foremost stick to it. for that purpose i like to use a monthly view calendar and i usually have it on my white board next to my desk with everything on post-its so i can move things around.
Oh my, that Malden is seriously drool worthy! So will you be using them both now? And if so how? ;)
ReplyDelete