Busy Being Filofabulous

Hey there intrepid readers!

I've had an incredibly busy week or so, what with a business trip to Las Vegas and then trying to put my house back together from my parents staying here with my kids. It's not like my folks actually have kegger parties or anything, but all the usual little stuff that we do to keep things running smoothly doesn't get done.

We're almost caught up, so I thought I'd take a minute and update here.

Las Vegas was FABULOUS. It was my first visit to Sin City and we had a blast. I did spend time at my business conference, including being a panelist on a crime writing panel, but we managed to see some of the Strip as well. My favorite bits were our time spent at the Strip Gun Club, where I got some instruct on handling a Glock and going to see Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity.

Here's me on the crime writing panel with some amazing writers (and a cop):

Anyway... on to the Filofax.

Here's week 39 (just completing today)...

 And here's week 40 (starts tomorrow)...

And here's my pictures from the Planner Addicts Photo-A-Day Challenge (I've been posting to the Planner Addicts group on Facebook, so I'm not really behind)...

Day 14 - Stuffed full

This is the personal size Malden I use as my wallet.

Day 15 - Leaning tower of planners

Is there a 12-step program for this?

Day 16 - Supplies

My supply drawers. Fairly moderate compared to some I've seen.

Day 17 - Creative

My clear dividers. I make them myself. Mighty proud of those, since I'm not really crafty.

Day 18 - By your drink

I was at the airport. That's my husband's breakfast across the table.

Day 19 - Planner caddy

Since I was in Vegas, my caddy was my carry-on and a pen case. I don't use a caddy at home. Everything pretty much stays in one place.

Day 20 - Handwriting

I've never been impressed with my own handwriting.

Day 21 - Color-coded

I don't actually color code on the pages, but I like to make my ink color coordinate with my decorations. Go ahead and laugh.

Day 22 - Post-Its and flags

I don't actually use a ton of these, but sometimes I do if it's something I need to really need be aware of. I think I wrote new bus schedules on this one.

Day 23 - To do 

I use a to do list stamper on the notes pages of my week view.

Day 24 - Brand new

This is a new-to-me Filofax Bloomsbury in teal.

Day 25 - Pockets

I stuck a Post-It pocket to a plastic FF sleeve. I keep stickers in the sleeve and recipes in the Post-It pocket. There's also a business card holder there.

Day 26 - Pen case

I have a Frixion addiction.

Day 27 - Planner charms

*snicker*

Day 28 - On the shelf

These are the three I use most... the A5 Malden, the A5 Original, and the personal Malden

Day 29 - Love

I originally shared a photo of my sprogs, but I'm not keen on putting them on a public blog. So here are some other loves. Daryl Dixon, a voodoo doll, and an alpaca that my mom got me. And books. Lovely, lovely books.

Parting shot... me and the husband at Zumanity in Las Vegas...

I hope your week is lovely and productive!!

Filofax Girl

I've been seeing lots of questions about which Filofax might be best to use as a wallet. Naturally, depending on what you need and your personal preferences, your mileage will vary, but I use my Filofax personal sized Malden as my wallet and it's working out very well.

So here (in a rather large nutshell) is my review of the Filofax personal sized Malden used as a wallet...

So, first things first... this is my purple personal Malden.

Pretty!

Here's a picture of it (I know some people assign gender and names to them... I'm not there yet... but I do name my car) in my hand for scale. I'm 5'8," so if you're petite this will be different for you.

This is the front cover. On the left are several card slots and a zippered pocket. I use the zippered pocket for coins (which I do not carry a lot of) and my lucky poker chip. Yes, I am that person. The most commonly used cards go in these slots: my health insurance card, my drivers' license, grocery store loyalty card, bank debit card, etc.

I keep a slim Frixion pen (in purple) in the leather pen loop on the right.

Ignore the odd reflection of my dining room chandelier.

There is a larger pocket behind the card slots where I keep my cash. It's deep and I feel like my cash is secure in there. You know, all those ones.

Next up are the extra card sleeves. I have four and each one holds up to six cards. In these, I carry the cards I don't use as often, like the sprogs' health insurance cards, a couple of credit cards, and an insane number of gift cards that we haven't gotten around to using yet. I like this because I can actually see all the gift cards instead of shoving into the recesses of another wallet where they hide and I forget I have them. I also have a couple zippered pouches in here for odds and ends, like my emergency twenty, my motorcycle license (I haven't had it officially printed on my regular license yet, but that will be soon) and a Valentine my son gave me while we were at Children's Hospital.

Behind the card sleeves is my calendar. I carry only the month view and only keep things like appointments and other time obligations in it so if we're out and I have to schedule something, I have it all here. I usually sync this with my A5 home binder once a week, just so they're both up to date.

And this is the back. There is another large pocket on the back and a sleeve where a notepad can go.

Before I moved into the Malden, I was using this Coach large wallet. I do love it. But I had a terrible time keeping track of appointments and whatnot while I was out and inevitably made a hair appointment for the same time my sprogs had a dentist appointment or something equally irritating. I didn't want to carry a separate planner, and I was kind of frustrated with how most of my stuff was jammed into the wallet, and I had to drag all the gift cards out to find the one I wanted, and that was if I even remembered I had it.

Here's another view of the wallet and the Malden. Sorry for the lighting. This was just before Mother Nature dumped buckets on us.

And here's a side by side comparison of my checkbook, just a standard, regular old checkbook, next to the Malden.

So my transition into the Malden-as-wallet has been really easy. It does make things simpler for me in the long run, and while it does take up a little more space in my bag, it's completely worth it.

You're So Filofax (Photo Challenge and Weeks 36 and 37)

Hey everyone! I'm back with days six, seven, and eight of Toni's Planner Addict challenge and a weekly update.

First up, the challenge. I've been having a blast with this and sharing my photos in Toni's Facebook group. So many wonderful, like-minded people, and a truly positive bunch.

Day 6 - On the Go

My personal Malden and my bag in my car.

Day 7 - Workspace

I use my writing office for my planner space, too. This is an alcove at the front of our house, off the living room. We call it the sunroom because it's eastern facing and gets a ton of beautiful morning sun. There are floor to ceiling bookshelves on the right and left and a comfy chair and ottoman to the left of where I'm standing for this picture.

Day 8 - Sticky

I'd been talking on the phone with a close friend of mine who had several bits of interesting news. I took notes while we talked and the post-its ended up in my planner.

 

And that catches me up with the photo-a-day challenge!

Here's the end of week 36... it ended up being comfortably busy.

The week on two pages with notes format is working out so well for me. I love having space for each day to journal a little, just the basics of the day and some reminders, and the notes page for the to do stamp. I have a lot to do during the week, but usually nothing is set in stone for a particular day. It's really ideal for me to keep one giant running to do list for the week that my husband and I can both refer to and check off as we can finish something. There are a few things we always do on the weekends (my son cleans out his hamster's cage on Saturdays, bedding gets changed on weekends, school uniforms must be washed on weekends), so I simply write those in the bottom right corner of the to do section.

And here's the upcoming week...

We're headed into the fall term for our sprogs, so we will be crazy busy. Elder Sprog plays soccer, with games every week and he's on his school's FLL Robotics team, which has a ton of practices up until the regional competition in December. If they do well enough, they'll go on to the national competition in January, which means more practices. Younger Sprog isn't quite so involved yet, so for now it's really just running one of them around.

I have a writing deadline in October and a novel release at the beginning of November, so I'm going to be busy writing, too.

Wish me luck and have a great week!

Smells like Filofax

So I guess I had my weeks a tad off last week... today marks the end of week 35 and tomorrow is the beginning of week 36 in my week-on-two-pages-with-notes.

That's what I get at the end of the summer. It's like a sprog stupor or something. I had a fairly busy week, for all that my kids went back to school. Lots of finishing up last minute things, cleaning up from them being here all day and reorganizing everything for them to get the year started on a good note. I spent time finishing up around our family room desk area and helping my younger son with his desk (although he does his homework in the kitchen where I can prod him), plus trying to get my own work back on track.

Here's the end of this week:

Weekdays on the left, notes on the right behind the clear divider. I use a checklist stamp (but not the Muji one that is so popular... I'm such a rebel!) on the notes page. It's covered here by a card on which I write our weekly menu on one side and the grocery list on the back. The red bit peeking out underneath is an apple-shaped post-it on which I've written my kids' bus numbers and times.

And what next week looks like for me so far:

I did actually go back and stamp another purple checklist on here. Having only two was wishful thinking on my part. Hey, a girl can dream.

I will move my clear "week" tab into place tonight.

This Filofax (my purple A5 Malden) is strictly my home planner, and it's mostly housebound. I do take it along when I travel, but I carry a personal size Filofax as my wallet with just basic information that I might need while out and about. So this one has all my home stuff and my husband has access to it (see post below wherein I discuss the reason that I bought my first Filofax...). Each of the three binders is different, with different sections and purposes.

This is the set up for my home binder. I make all my own dividers and tabs and accessories. I use the checklist stamp (mine is probably double the size of the Muji one I've seen on other sites) and I use washi tape and stickers just for fun. I rarely use any of the decorations so that they cover writable areas, because I do use my planner for planning.

Top tabs: month, week, home, family, me.

The tabs on the top are for easy access to the bigger sections. The "month" and "week" tabs are clear so I can see both pages. Behind the "home" tab I have lists of information that comes in handy (I just added the model information for the filter I need to replace the water filter in the fridge... I can never remember that one). I also have business card holders here for companies we like to use. Just yesterday we had a locksmith in to match all the door locks in the house and I kept his card.

Side tabs: next year, to do, sections for both of my kids, and a health tab.

The side tabs open into the larger tabbed sections. The "to do" tab opens to a page in the "home" section where I have lists of things that need to be done around the house. The kids' tabs both open into the "family" section and I keep information about school and sports behind their tabs. The health tab is part of the "me" section, and includes a food diary, wellness journal, and a lists of current meds for reference.

Front page!

I keep this little decorated page in the very front. There's a picture of my husband and I, one of the boys and our dogs, and one of my cat, who died on July 3. It just makes me happy.

My younger son decorated the back of my family page. It also makes me smile. The plastic sleeve on the right is a top-open sleeve. I have a laminated list of important phone numbers taped to the front of it and a pen holder on the side for an extra pen. There's also a cervical cancer awareness sticker... I lost a good friend to cervical cancer just yesterday.

After the sleeve, I have my year planner. I use the vertical arrangement. On this, I put all the holidays, any days my husband has off work, and all days that my kids are off school. This helps when planning for vacations or when I go out of town.

After my year-at-a-glance, I have the months. This is September, which I decorated with a travel theme, since I'll be traveling. The divider is clear in the middle so I can see both pages when I open it.

Do you like it? This works really well for me.

Next time I'll show you my wallet-binder!

Have a great week!! Happy Labor Day to my US friends!

End of week 33 and going into 34

Hi everyone!

This morning my sprogs went back to school. My older son started eighth grade, and the younger is a fifth grader. They're both now the oldest classes in their respective schools (middle and junior schools), "big men on campus," or so to speak, so I anticipate a year of ego. Whee!

The last few weeks have been very busy, with trying to get the house reorganized for school and getting the sprogs ready. Each of the boys had a chore checklist for the last two weeks, and I've got to admit, they did well. I was surprised. The 13-year old took on the responsibility himself and I didn't really have to remind him to do much. The 10-year old needed a little more prodding, but that's how it goes.

Here's what my completed week 33 in my A5 Malden looked like:

I know, crazy, right?

I love to look at pictures and videos of Filofaxers who decorate like crazy. Their planners look so pretty! My planner, even at A5 size, doesn't seem to have room for me to do much decorating. I use the week on one page with notes, because we often have to do lists with mostly items that need to be done by the end of the week, not necessarily by a set time, so I find it helpful to just make a master list of the week's chores, rather than assigning them to a particular day. The page with days serves as a reminder for appointments and a casual diary.

Here's this week (week 34):

Yay for back to school!

My boys and I spent most of yesterday cleaning and reorganizing the computer area in the family room. Both boys use the desktop for homework, although the older one has more to do on the computer, so I wanted to make sure the space was ready for homework. I didn't take a before picture (I'm kind of glad I don't have to admit what it looked like before we went at it), but here's what we ended up with...

Each boys has an after-school checklist hanging on the message center to the right. Our family calendar is hanging above. Having the desk area mostly clear and ready for homework made me feel good, but they didn't seem quite so thrilled. *snicker*

In another post I will explain further about how I use my Filofax for writing, which is my job. I use an A5 Malden for my home organization, a personal Malden as a wallet, and an A5 Finsbury for work.

Have a great week!

She's Filo Dependent

 So who knew that when I bought my first Filofax I would find such an amazing online community of like-minded people?

Hi! My name is Nikki and I can't function without lists. Is there a 12-step program for that? There should be.

There should probably also be a 12-step program for people who love Filofaxes. I mean, there are worse things I could be addicted to, I guess... like maybe black tar heroin, but there's a recovery program for that, right?

Just kidding.

For the last ten or twelve years I was a heavy Levenger Circa user. I have all my old planners archived and up until last year they were all Circa. It worked for me, clearly, but I found that by keeping all my information (read THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE) in my personal binder, I was the only one in the house paying attention to them and I really wanted a system more accessible to everyone in my house (or so I thought).

So I went electronic. For more than a year I kept all our family information in shared notebooks in Evernote. I hated it. There's no delicious paper feel to the computer, no real personalization to be done, nothing to caress while you sob over your uber-long to-do list...

...but I digress.

And really, no one (read MY HUSBAND) was paying any more attention to the lists in Evernote than they did when I wrote it all down. Now, this isn't a cut on him, I promise, I love him more than anything and he's the best hubby on the planet, no joke. It's just he's not a list-oriented person. He also has a job in the computer field and as he mentioned to me several times, he'd rather jam bamboo skewers in his eyes than have to check another computer once he comes home from work.

I can respect that.

And I don't want a blind husband, so I (rather gleefully) accepted that the Evernote option wasn't going to work for us. So I gave myself permission to return to paper.

Except I really wasn't interested in going back to Circa. It's just not customizable enough and I'll admit the ring thing started to annoy me in the end.

I searched for a new planner, and almost immediately I saw the purple Malden.

I looooove purple. Like my powder room is painted purple. So is the front hall.

I knew this gem had to be mine.

I started with a personal size, but quickly realized it was too small for my day-to-day. I record a lot of information, including activities and appointments for myself, my husband, and our two sons, and the pets, plus keep lists of things that need to be done (for everyone to reference). I was also hoping to track my work hours, so the personal size just wasn't big enough.

Personal Malden in purple.

Enter the A5, naturally, in purple. I was very lucky to find a Malden for sale.

 

A5 Malden in purple.

 But the A5 is too big to carry around in my purse.... dilemmas, dilemmas... so I found a compact zipped Malden in.... wait for it.... purple... to use as my wallet.

Compact on top with just general appointments that I might have to reference if I am out plus my wallet contents. A5 on the bottom that I use as my personal diary and house binder.

Unfortunately, the A5 was waaaaay too stuffed with the regular house items and my daily stuff for my work items, so I opted for another A5 for my work information. I'm a writer and I work in my house, so I don't have to drag these binders around with me, and I certainly don't need to drag around my work info to appointments. In this binder I keep track of work hours and what project I'm working on along with notes like reviews I'm waiting to formalize and business contacts. 

The inside of my A5 Finsbury in black.

 So I have three binders that I use regularly... a compact zipped Malden that I use as a wallet, an A5 Malden that is my home and personal binder, and an A5 Finsbury exclusively for work. It seems to be working really well for me, and it's taken me a little while to get to this point.

 I do enjoy personalizing them, and I use mostly stickers and pens. I have a to do list stamp for the notes side of my week-on-two-pages with notes, and that works well. I also don't color code anything because it kind of makes me crazy to see 10 zillion different colors on one page. Just personal preference. I don't go crazy with the decorating because it takes up too much space for planning, but I do like to make personalized dividers. If anyone would like to see those, let me know.

This is my little bag with decorating goodies.

And here is the family. A5 Finsbury in black, A5 Malden in aqua, A5 Malden in purple, compact zipped Malden in purple, personal Malden in purple, and pocket Malden in gray.

It wasn't until I started searching for the aqua Malden that I realized what an amazing web presence Filofax has. I'm looking forward to meeting other Filofax fans! Leave me a comment.