My new DIY dividers

Hello for the second time today!

Recently I've been using Paperchase's own version of the Filofax dividers, which are unlabelled and in pretty colours. But I wanted something more fun and personal. I've been buying some pretty card to make my own dividers, but it's all plain because I haven't been able to find any flowery card. So I when I went to town and still couldn't find some perfect card, I had an idea: postcards! No, not 'Wish you were here' types, but pretty fashionable ones! I found some really pretty ones in Clinton Cards, which were 50p each, so I bought 5 different types. They are typical postcard size, which is wide enough to be a filofax personal-sized divider, but not tall enough. However, I wasn't bothered about this, they still do their job and look lovely!

Here are some pictures of my new dividers!

This is my favourite postcard so I put it at the front! Behind it is 1 sheet of notepaper for quick notes and my rotas/timetables and diary :)

My to-do/project section divider. "Keep calm" when you see how much you have to do behind it; "carry on" should actually say "get on with it!!"

My 'me/fun' section, with fun stuff like stuff about my blog, books I want to read etc behind it. I like this card because not only is it beautiful, it reminds me that in the midst of all my crazy uni-filled days, sometimes I have to stop and smell the roses (or blossom) :)

My 'ongoing/lists/finance' section divider; no reason I have this one here, it's just pretty :) Shoooess!!! lovely!!

My reference section :) But I suppose that if I ever have a hobbies/crafts section, I could use this divider for that, because it is a nice patchwork Union Flag :)

All I did to make them was punch them with my new Rapesco punch (which I will review soon) and cut a part of the right-hand side out, leaving only the tab remaining. Easy!

Pen loops!

A while ago I said I would do a post on ways to hold your pen in your filofax. Here it is!!

As far as I know, every Filofax binder comes with 1 pen loop attached to the binder itself. On average, these tend to be very slim (especially on the smaller models, personal and smaller) and therefore not very accommodating! It is very difficult to find the perfect pen or pencil that will both suit your needs and fit into the pen loop! I did an experiment of how well (or badly) some of the common pens I use fit into the pen loop of my personal crimson Malden, which is the normal type of pen loop I have come across (although there are different types, see below).
The pens I used were: A Zebra Z-grip medium pen (of average thickness, with a rubber grip); a Pilot V5  pen; a Pilot Frixion 0.7 pen; a Uniball Signo jell pen; a Bic 4-colour pen; a Staedtler Elance pen (with a plastic grip); a Lamy Safari fountain pen; a Lamy Safari pencil; a Sharpie permanent marker; a slim ball-point pen with a medium-thick rubber grip (sorry, don't know the brand); a highlighter pen (don't know the brand).

• Pilot V5- as I mentioned in my review, the Pilot V5 pens fit easily in my pen loop. Unfortunately, they slide in (and out) so easily, I lost one yesterday (my black one) when scrambling around in my Filofax for tickets in a rush for the train :( This is a disadvantage to such slim, sleek pens.
• Pilot Frixion 0.7- this much-loved erasable pen (not my favourite, I must admit) doesn't quite fit into my pen loop. The barrel is quite thick and about 8mm of the top of the pen sticks out the top of my filofax. The 0.5 variation is thinner though (although I've never tried it in my filo) and they make a special more professional-looking slim version too.
• Lamy Safari fountain pen and Lamy Safari pencil- my beloved writing tools! Unfortunately they don't fit in the pen loop, as they are very thick-barrelled.
• Bic 4-colour pen- the barrel of this pen is quite thick because it has to accommodate 4 biro ink refills. It doesn't fit into the loop properly, it only comes out of the bottom of the pen loop about 4mm (see photo below)
• Sharpie permanent marker- doesn't fit in at all, it's very thick.
• Highlighter pen- the same as the Sharpie, doesn't fit in at all.
• Uniball Signo- ironically is actually too slim for the pen loop! It just slides right down through the pen loop and only the lid of the pen stops it from falling through. It would slip out and be lost very easily.
• Staedtler Elance- similarly, this slips through too easily as well. It has a plastic grip area instead of a rubberised one, but this doesn't help it grip inside the pen loop and stop falling through, only the clip does that.
• Zebra Z-grip- the rubberised grip means that it doesn't slide into the pen loop at all. When I took off the rubber grip, it still didn't go into the loop, as I think the pen is slightly too thick in general.
• Non-brand slim ball-pen with rubber grip- although this pen is quite slim in itself, it didn't slide in because of the rubber grip.

In summary, you can see that (at least in my personal crimson Malden) the thick pens have no chance of fitting in the pen loop; the slim pens would slip out too easily; any rubber grip on a pen stops it sliding in at all; and only a few pens are able to slip into the pen loop, and then they are so slim they might actually slip out! I would suggest, if you are afraid of this, I wouldn't buy a very expensive pen you are scared to lose!

Strangely, some of these pens fit better into the pen loop of my personal ochre Malden (which, buy the way, has a piece of fabric coming loose from the inside of the loop :S ). For example, my fattest normal pen, my Bic 4-colours pen, fits quite well!

My fat Bic 4-colour pen in my personal CRIMSON Malden 

Bic 4-colour pen in my personal OCHRE Malden

I guess the pen loops stretch a bit with use, at least on the leather binders (I'm not sure about the non-leather ones). Or maybe it was just made slightly bigger; I haven't used it as much as the crimson Malden, and to look at it, the pen loop of the ochre looks bigger in comparison. Maybe it's because I bought it from the US?

Some Filofax binders come with 2 pen loops, e.g. the Kendal. Some binders' pen loops are elasticated in part, e.g. the Kendal, or completely made of elastic, e.g. the Domino (unfortunately, while I am in Plymouth and those Filofaxes of mine are in Liverpool, I can't show you pictures of them!). These are very useful because they theoretically will house any thickness pen easily. However, it is still difficult to get pens with a rubber grip in properly as the rubber pulls on the elastic as it goes in.
The pen loops in the A5 (and I guess A4, which I've never tried) are slightly bigger, and I think most come with 2 loops, at least I know the Malden, Finsbury, Domino and Kendal A5s do, and I'm sure many others too. If in doubt, take your favourite pen(s) down to your local Filofax stockist and do your own experiment!

So what are the alternatives to using the Filofax pen loops in the traditional way?

1) You could slip the clip of your pen through the pen loop.

Pen with just the clip slipped into the pen loop.

This works really well with the Lamy!

However, you should only really do this if your pen clip will hold onto the loop quite tightly so it doesn't slip out. Also, a problem is that if the pen is long or the clip is quite far down the barrel, it means that your pen is positioned quite low in the filo and might stick out of the bottom!
2) You could put your pen in the rings, by pushing the clip over the rings and the barrel of the pen in the middle of the rings.

However, I think this is what damaged the rings of my raspberry Finsbury (my first filo), so I don't do it now.
3) If you have a notepad pocket in your filo, you could use the clip of your pen to fix it to there.

4) If your pens are slim enough, you could fit them into the notepad pocket of your filo.

5) You could even fit a small pen in the zip pocket!
6) There are some good DIY projects- e.g. http://www.drawpilgrim.com/2010/12/to-diy-for-filofax-hacks-the-pen-case-pattern/
7) and some you can buy- http://www.etsy.com/listing/69859546/adjustable-velcro-bandolier-birds-and
8) Quiver- http://www.quiverglobal.com/products/Double%252dPen-Quiver-for-Large-Notebooks.html
9) Leuchtturm 1917- http://www.leuchtturm1917.com/en/content/pen-loop. I have 2 of these, and I find that even though they are elastic, they don't accommodate a thick barrel, and trying to push a pen in is very difficult. Instead, I just push the clip of my pen through the loop, and leave the rest of my pen hanging on the outside. The glued area is very sticky and I suggest using it on a business card insert or top-opening envelope instead of on your actual binder.

Business card insert with a Leuchtturm 1917 pen loop

If you have any alternative ways to house your pen(s) within your filofax, please tell me in the comments!!

*Update: I think the reason my ochre pen loop accommodates a thicker pen is because the leather of the loop is coming away. The stitching is loose, the thread is coming off, and the leather is coming away from my actual filo. I will be sending it away to Filofax UK to get it fixed soon, and I will do a post about that soon.

My personal filofax set-up!

Hello!

Here is my personal filo set-up post, as promised! I did a video for it!! Please watch it on youtube :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6cFOvjAqhY

Thank you!! I'll put some photos up on flikr of my new set-up, I know how you guys like to drool over things like that :)

Please watch out for my next posts/videos which are related to my filofax set-up, my overview of how I use my personal DPP inserts and my time management system!

Have a lovely Friday!! xx

My colour-coding and review of Pilot V5 pens

This is an overview of my colour-coding system I use in my daily filofax, and a review of the pens I use :)

Because I use DPP refill in my filofax, I write a lot of things on one page and it can look very busy and cluttered on the page, especially if I don't organise it with colour-coding. So, I decided I needed to sort out my colours once and for all!
My earlier attempt at colour-coding came from the 4-colour pen I have, which is black, blue, red and green. I assigned black to appointments, blue for to-dos, red for uni work and green for recording things.

In my new attempt, I wrote a list of the common type of things I write in my daily diary. Many of these were the same as I used to have, but then there were some new things or new systems for things. Here is a picture of the list I made and the colours I assigned to them, which I will explain further below.

I use black for appointments because they are concrete events that I must do- a hard, black colour, kind of the opposite of "pencilling it in".
I use red for university, either for uni to-dos or daily goals like "FINISH ESSAY" (written at the top of the page in capitals), or just for time-blocking between appointments. The red colour just shouts at me: DO THIS!!
I use green, purple and turquoise for to-dos. I group my main to-dos that I want to do that day by the place where they need to be done- at home (green), on campus (purple) or other places (turquoise), rather than by subject. This is so that when I'm in a particular place, I can see everything I need to do there before I leave, instead of getting home and realising I have forgotten to do something on campus or in town!!
Pink is for fun things because it's my favourite colour- social events, TV programmes to watch, time-blocking for hobbies etc :)


I use Pilot V5 rollerball hi-tecpoint pens for colour-coding in my filofax.

I really like these pens, the ink is very smooth and doesn't run, fine lines at 0.5mm, and works great in my filofax- most importantly, it doesn't bead on the paper!! The pen barrels are thick enough to hold properly (I find it uncomfortable to hold thin pens in my hand when I have long nails), but not too thick- you can actually fit one into the pen loop of my Malden!! They are relatively inexpensive, about £2.50 per pen- which is OK if you are going to use them a lot, but you can buy them in multi-packs (turquoise, pink and purple; black, blue and red) which are about £5.50, saving you £2!

Unfortunately, they don't make a lighter green colour. I wanted to use that for at-home things, and the darker green for recording stuff like a log book, but unfortunately I can't do that and just use the dark green for home things.

Something I don't like about using multiple pens in my filofax (although I don't think I would be as organised if I used just 1) is the fact that when I need to write in a specific colour, I have to fish around in my bag/pencil case for the right pen. I have tried to overcome this by just writing my to-dos in black and underlining them in the corresponding colour when I have my pens out later. But I think I have come up with a solution:

They fit perfectly in the notepad pocket of my Malden!! The clips hold them on really well and they don't slip out! This is good for when I am out and about, and need access to my pens quickly, but not in my pencil-case.

However, this is only a temporary solution as they make my filofax quite fat, as you can see in the photo below. When I finish setting up my filo, I will have loads more stuff on the rings, so I don't think I'll be able to close it properly when the pens are in it! 

Skinny filo! (Minus the pens ;b ) Don't worry, I'll be fattening it up soon!!

A promise...

I promise to write a post (or maybe even make a video!) detailing my personal filo set-up by Sunday 7th August 23:59 at the latest.

The reason I haven't yet written a post about the set-up of my personal filofax is because I haven't finalised it. I'm not happy with it, it's not working for me yet. But I feel like I'm getting there, I'm trying new things all the time and I'm crawling to the finish line. I aim to find a perfect solution, live with it for a couple of days to make sure it's right, and post about it, by next Sunday. That means I will force myself to work it out rather than sitting around complaining about it! 

Watch this space!!

First look at Filofax 'One Day on a Page' 2012 dairy

I just bought my new 2012 diary refill for my Filofax. I'm going to be using the DPP again because I love the large space it gives you and the appointments spaces, which allows me to see my day chronologically. This year I bought my DPP diary from WH Smith's own brand, because I was in WH Smith and it was cheaper than Filofax's own brand. But for next year I thought I would have a change.

WH Smith DPP 2011 refill

Filofax DPP 2012 refill

The reason I bought Filofax's own brand was because I liked the layout of it when I saw it on other peoples' pictures- there is a line break through each line on the page, which gives the illusion that there are two separate sections on the page, the section to write your appointments on the left and a section to write other things on the right. This is good for me as I have just started putting my to-dos on the right side on each DPP (I'll detail this in my forthcoming post about my daily Filo); because the WH Smith DPP don't have this gap, I have to draw a line down the page, which kind of clutters it, but the way the Filofax brand pages have it is a lot more subtle and it means you can either divide the page up as you need or write across the whole width of the page.
Comparing the other features of the 2 versions, at the moment I don't know which I prefer. The WH Smith version has time written every line, e.g. 8, 8:30; while the Filofax version has the hour and a colon e.g. 8: and no time written on the half-hour lines. The Filofax version has slightly smoother paper than the WH Smith, but to be honest I thought it would be as smooth as the WO2P regular diary refill I got with my Malden. It isn't that smooth, but I'm not that bothered, but it would have been nice. I just like stroking smooth paper ;D
The colour of the paper on the Filofax refill is slightly more creamy-yellow than the WH Smith, which is more obviously white. I don't think it's cotton cream, but it's not white-white and it's much nicer than the whiter refills and looks gorgeous in my ochre Malden where I'm storing it at the moment.

I think overall I prefer the layout of the Filofax refills- it's less cluttered on the page than the WH Smith refills, so there is more space at the top for me to write things because it doesn't have the days gone/days remaining at the top of the page like WH Smith does. Also, I prefer the font, I think it looks nicer than the WH Smith version! At the bottom of the page there are 2 blank lines, which I guess are supposed to be the notes section but it doesn't have the word 'Notes' written there like the WH Smith one does, which is a bonus because I might use these for 9 and 10pm, ('Notes' gets in the way when I try to do that in the WH Smith). I also prefer the month layout at the bottom, it's better than the way WH Smith do it in a long line across the page.

When I write it all down like this it makes me see that I think I'll prefer the Filofax inserts! But time will tell! I wish I got to use it now, I can't wait to get some appointments for 2012 to write in!!

My new Filofax!!

I just got my Antique Rose A5 Malden!!!

I decided to buy this as a graduation present for myself, after a little enabling :) I bought it from the Filofax website through the philofaxy link for the Cancer Charity Donation 2011 :), a brilliant idea as Steve, Laurie and Nan are donating the commission they earn from the Filofax website link on their website to a cancer charity. If you are going to buy anything from the Filofax website, PLEASE do it through the link on Philofaxy, it's for a great cause!! I figure the percentage of money earned for charity through this is around 8% because the Malden was £100 and the total had gone up by around £8 after I bought it :) It's worth every penny for a good cause!!

I ordered it on Thursday at around 7pm, so after everyone in Filofax HQ had gone home. I figured, they will send it off on Friday, it will be in transit on Saturday, stationary on Sunday- no post on Sundays :( - and then should arrive on Monday morning! When the postman arrived this morning with a package I got all excited, but it wasn't my filofax!! I was annoyed, but thought it would come tomorrow! But it arrived this afternoon through a courier service! I didn't know Filofax had sent it like this, but I'm really glad they had because now I've got my hands on it and I don't have to wait until tomorrow morning to get it and until after work to open it! Another tick in Filofax's box!!

At first I just wanted to look at it and take it in, and get my first impressions of it. I have the crimson and ochre in other sizes, but I've never seen the A5 in person (I think I was too overwhelmed in the filofax shop to spot it!) and I wanted to see what that was like and whether I actually liked the pink colour or not. I prefer hot pinks, but I think this colour is subtle enough to be quite lovely.

It's very difficult to get the camera to take a picture showing the realistic colour. My advice is go to the filofax shop and see it for yourself!!

As soon as I opened it (once I had decided I was going to keep it, not return it!), I started pulling the inserts apart. "You're mad!!" you might say! But I have a reason.
A few weeks ago, my friend told me she wanted a filofax! Woohoo, I have started my plan of world-wide filofax conversion!! She had already been on the filofax website and decided she loved the aqua Finsbury... which has now stopped being made!! So I'm going to send her my A5 aqua Finsbury- I'm not really using it, and she would use it so much more than me! It cost me only £20 (RRP £75) and I owe her £18, so it's OK. And I really don't need ANOTHER filofax now I've got my new one!
So I started pulling out all the fresh inserts from my new filofax, rather than putting all the battered ones I had taken out. I put in all the standard refills, but I will tell her how to customise it herself :) I also put in a little note to her in the front, and a picture of me and her and our other housemate at graduation last week in the ID card slot :)

My new A5 is going to be for the more fun things, hobbies etc. I'll write a post on the set-up soon :)