Sunday 28 August 2011

The advantages of switching between multiple Filofaxes

Some people may say that you only need one Filofax. I know a lot of people who use Filofaxes for multiple purposes; for work, for home/Fly Lady, for family, for medical things, for projects etc. But here I'm talking about  your daily Filofax, which contains the normal things you need every day: your diary, lists, to-dos etc, which you take everywhere with you. Filofaxes are designed to last years, and therefore, theoretically you only really need one Filofax until that one dies.

BUT I don't agree with this. Personally, I think that having more than one Filofax at a time to switch between is a good thing.

I have two personal-sized Maldens, a crimson and an ochre. I love them both! I loved the Malden range as soon as I saw a picture of them on the Filofax website. Looking at pictures of them on Flikr, I fell in love with the ochre colour, and thought it would be perfect to use as my daily Filo, so I ordered it for my birthday. I had to get it from the US because it was no longer available in the UK. I am a very impatient person, and couldn't stand the wait while it arrived from America and got stuck in customs. So in the end, I bought a crimson personal from cityorganisers, which was about half-price! So finally when my ochre arrived, I had 2 Filofaxes to use as my daily Filo!

The Malden siblings :)
There are a few bonuses to using 2 Filofaxes to switch between. Using 2 means that 1 doesn't get used up (i.e. damaged) over the years as quickly; in fact, if you use them equally, they will both take double the time to die! (yes, I do personify my Filofaxes :-) )

I think the main bonus to switching between 2 Filofaxes is that it means that if you get a bit tired of looking at one, you can switch to the other. When I was using just one particular filofax as my daily one (first my raspberry Finsbury, then my Kendal), I quickly got bored of it. I then found myself on ebay and other websites, searching for my next Filofax, which I believed would meet all my requirements and forever be my perfect Filofax, relieving me of the need to buy another one. But, the thing is, I never found the 'perfect' Filofax; even if Filofax made a filo that met all of my requirements and I loved, I would get bored of it eventually. I'm just not the sort of person who can settle with one particular Filofax, or anything else I am looking at everyday. I quickly crave something new and DIFFERENT. I couldn't afford to keep spending all this money, I'm only a poor student!
By buying the 2 Maldens, I accidentally found the solution. If I use the crimson for a few weeks, and then get a bit bored of the look of it, when I see the ochre I find that I see it as a truly beautiful Filofax again, and vice versa. I love them both! But at any particular time, I love one above the other, and then at another time I love the other above the one. For me, the Malden is almost the perfect Filo. Because I have used them for approximately 4 months as my daily Filo, I just can't use any other Filofax for this purpose; the Malden just represents my daily organisation now! Even though I would love, for example, a plum Osterley or a raspberry Chameleon, I just don't think they will work for me. The Malden IS my day!  I wouldn't say no if someone gave me one, and I would love love love one, but I just don't think I could use anything other than my Malden(s) any more. So now I have solved the problem of having to keep trying to find my perfect daily filofax. (The only way I would buy another, is if Filofax brought out the Malden range in new colours, wink wink nudge nudge!) And by being able to switch between the two Maldens, now I never get bored of my daily Filofax! This is the perfect solution for me. But... I would LOVE a deeper pink Malden!!

And, to be honest, for the next couple of weeks, I need an alternative daily filo, because I am going to have to send off my ochre Maldenz to Filofax UK because the pen loop is breaking :( and I need to get it fixed!

Although I have found my perfect daily Filofax(es), this doesn't mean I won't be buying more and different filos for different purposes!

5 comments:

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  2. Hmm... this is a hard question to answer, it is just like trying to explain why I love the colour pink or love the taste of raspberries... because I just DO. I think for me, the first time I saw it, I loved the clasp. It was different to everything else I had seen on pictures of filofaxes on the internet- I really love the button on it, the pointy shape and the bit of extra leather it sits on. For me, that made me fall in love with it. Everything else is extraneous, but makes me love it even more. The leather is so supple and gorgeous, and therefore the filo lays flat, which is a big bonus compared to other filos which try to close when you don't want them to. Personally, I don't really like the interior- I'd prefer if it looked like the interior of the chameleon. Actually, this is the only thing I would change about the Malden. I only use the zipped pocket to put paperclips in, so it's not a huge bonus for me. And personally, I don't like the layout of the card slots- I would prefer them to be ones where you put your cards in downwards not sideways, but that's just personal preference. But I just love the Malden on the whole, it's gorgeous in my eyes!

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  3. I really love the look of the Malden. I have a crimson personal and a black pocket. Last week I needed to order an A5, but instead of the Malden, I chose the Cuban (non-zip). I didn't find the Ochre attractive, but seeing your photo here makes me rethink that. It looks much nicer here than other photos I've seen on the Filofax sites, etc. However, if they DID come out with some new colours for the Malden, I'd likely buy another one!

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  4. @Terri, the ochre A5 looks so gorgeous on Kathiza's blog it nearly made me buy it! But I mustn't!! I really hope Filofax come out with more colours, there is definitely a market for them! *hint hint*

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  5. i have the malden personal in vintage pink and i love the colour. i am still toying with the idea of a cheeky purchase of a mini malden to use as a wallet. i must admit after seeing your post i do like the look of the ochre, but as i have seen the grey may go for that one. :)

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