Personal Filofax musings, and a sneak peak of my Midori Traveler's Notebook!

Hi everyone!

This is just going to be a bit of a rambling post!

Over the past couple of weeks I have happily been using my Midori! I have nearly finished setting it up, so I will be showing it to you soon in a video! But here's the first photos of it, for you to have a quick peak!

I love it! It's amazing! The best thing about it is not to be scared of damaging it- both of scratching the leather, and of the rings breaking! I will do a proper review of it soon :)

But recently I've been feeling a bit of Filofax envy. I read Philofaxy's Web Finds and watch Filofax videos on youtube, and I love seeing other people's Filofaxes! Everyone is so creative, and have beautiful Filofaxes!
And although my Midori is brilliant and working so well for me, I do feel like I want to use a Filofax like all of theirs. I am using my A5 Filofaxes for my projects and hobbies, but I'm getting envious of people who use a Filofax as their actual planner, with their pretty diaries and list pages etc! Not because of any practical reason- not because Filofaxes are the perfect planner (which, with their faulty ring mechanisms problems, they aren't!), or because a Filofax would work better for me (the Midori is working great), but just because other people's Filofaxes are so beautiful!!
Most people use a personal sized Filofax, which was the size of Filofax I used for my daily planner- so therefore, when I see other people happily using their personal filofaxes, I miss mine! And other people have customised their filos so wonderfully, and you just can't customise a Midori Traveler's Notebook to that level! E.g. putting a to-do list in the middle of a WO2P layout, which I find difficult in my Midori, and using different coloured and different formatted (lined, squared etc) paper in your sections. And another thing, which is for a practical reason- Filofaxes (most leather ones, at least), lay flat, and their pages behave so well- while the pages in my Midori notebooks want to close on their own (although the leather cover itself lays flat!).

BUT, I know that this is just jealousy rearing its ugly head! I am finding ways to make my Midori easier to customise (mainly using washi tape!!); I have found a way to use different coloured paper in it (more on that soon!), and I'm hoping that the notebooks will learn to lay flat soon!

Overall, the Midori wins because... it has no rings!! Yes, I know, it's the one thing that prevents the Midori from being as customisable as the Filofax, BUT I'm so happy not to have to worry about the ring mechanism breaking, which was a constant concern when I was using my personal filofax on a daily basis! Every time I tried to use my filofax out of the house I couldn't put it in my bag for fear of it getting squashed and damaged, and at home I was worried because my dad has a tendency to not look where he's going to sit down, and sits on all sorts of things! If my Midori got sat on, I really don't think it would have any problems! And the worse thing that could happen to my Midori in my bag would be the leather getting scratched, which just gives it more character!
So if I were to draw up a pros and cons list, the Midori TN would win outright!!

But I still kind of want to use a personal filofax, maybe in tandem with my Midori! I don't really know how this would work... I use my purple A5 Malden for my projects and hobbies, and am transferring my to-dos and other lists over to my Midori... so I don't really know what sort of role my personal would have. I know that it definitely wouldn't leave the house! I think that I might use it as my Current Tasks filo- the place where I keep my 'next actions' for all my tasks and projects that are currently on my mind, as well as a brain dump... although I don't want my Purple A5 Malden (my projects filofax, among other sections) to become redundant!