Some planning realisations

This summer I have no essays, just 2 giant projects: my 20,000 word MA dissertation, and my PhD application. I have barely any appointments, and my shifts at work will be straight-forward. Therefore, I was planning on using a simpler planning method for this summer. If I had so few appointments, surely a week on 2 page planner in my personal filofax, or even in my pocket filo, or EVEN a week on 1 page planner, would suffice?

Well, I'm finding the answer is no. In my boring, long summers, the days go very quickly and I find that I have done barely anything all day. Worse, all the days merge into 1, and I can't even remember what day of the week it is! Suddenly, the summer is over and I feel like I have wasted all that time, during which I had intended to do so many things I had never finished or even started. So just now I realised that I don't need a simpler planner- I need a complicated one!!

Imagine 2 types of planners: a week on 2 pages filofax insert, and a day on 2 pages insert. The first one is almost empty because I feel like I have nothing to write in it. So I don't realise I actually have things to do that day, and what's worse, because I feel like I have nothing to do, even if there are things to do in it, I don't actually check it! Then, imagine the day on 2 pages insert. It is full of to-dos, notes, reminders, and even though there are no appointments, I have structured my day. It is all colour-coded and organised, unlike the week on 2 pages which is so unstructured it is a huge muddle. Because I know there are lots of things written on it, I remember to check it a few times a day. Even though I don't get everything done on that page, I get some of them done, and that's more than I would have got done if I were using the week on 2 pages insert.

So this is my plan: switch to my A5 filo, which I am going to use for dissertation/PhD stuff anyway. Print out a few day's worth of Steve and Ray's day on 2 pages A5 insert. Test it out! If it doesn't work, no big deal, that's the beauty of filofax- I haven't wasted money on a whole planner. But I think it will work better for me than what I'm using now...

I'll keep you informed!!

A5 Domino Filofax video!!

Hiiiii!!
I just made a video about my A5 Ultra Violet Domino! I set it up today because my label maker arrived, and I'm quite excited about it because I attached a notebook to it and hacked it with post-its and customised labels!

I also made my today ruler all pretty!!

A good filofax idea from Alice Temperley??

Filofax has recently partnered with the British fashion designer Alice Temperley to produce 2 limited edition (and very expensive!!) filofaxes, aimed at London Fashion Week, but I think generally as a fashion accessory this summer too. They are SO ridiculously expensive ( £375-£399!!!!), and are designed to be fashion accessories- lace or pony :( skin, rather than a lasting, hard wearing organisational tool- that I WON'T be buying one!!!
But the lacy one, called 'The Affair', intrigues me. It's a strange format- it takes personal-sized filofax paper on personal-sized rings, but the size of the whole binder is actually around A5 I think, because it takes an A5 notebook, like the Flex- you can see more in this video:

I wonder if you could make a filofax of this format yourself, without spending £400? It is possible in theory- take an A5 Filofax with an appropriate slot for a notepad, and put personal-sized filo pages in it. But would it work in reality- would it look or feel silly to have only personal pages in an A5 filofax?

What do you guys think? Have any of you tried this?

The perfect A5 filofax notepad

I use my A5 ochre Malden and my A5 imperial purple Domino as my university filofaxes, for planning my dissertation and my essays. I have tried many different types of A5 paper in these filos, and finally I have found the perfect type!

I refuse to pay ridiculous money for Filofax-brand  paper; I use the lined paper that has already come with my filos, but I don't want to have to buy any more when I use all this up. So I have tried to find cheaper alternatives. I made my own paper using generic A4 paper cut in half, or my favourite, quadrille A4 paper cut in half- but I find that the paper quality of normal printer paper isn't very good, and my plastic Filofax hole punch tears the paper because of this.

Then I tried to use notepads or notebooks that were already in A5 size, where I could just tear the perforated paper off and punch it. The trouble is, when notebooks and notepads say the paper is A5 size, it often actually means the total size of the notebook is A5, but when you tear it away from the bound part of the notebook/pad, the individual sheet is actually smaller than A5, which means it sits badly in your filo. I tried this with the top-bound Rhodia No. 16 (unfortunately I couldn't get my hands on a No. 17 pad- maybe this would be a better size?) and the side-bound Pukka Pad A5 spiral notepad- so the height of the top-bound Rhodia is too short, and the width of the side-bound Pukka Pad is too narrow :( Although they both have lovely quality paper!! And I liked the Rhodia because it could fit into the notepad slot in the back of my filofax!

Then I found the Staples A5 Eco-Friendly pads. These are made of recycled paper, but are of surprisingly good quality! Previous recycled paper I have used has been of bad quality, where wet ink runs straight through the paper! But this paper holds my fountain pen ink excellently, no bleed-through, no show-through!!

 It's cheap- 2 pads for £1.69!! The pads themselves fit perfectly into the Filofax notepad slot, and best of all, the individual sheets of paper, when torn off from the pad, are exactly A5 size! 

I have just bought 2 more 2-pad sets, but I love this paper so much I think I will run through them quite quickly, but I don't mind because they are so cheap, I can easily buy some more!

Home is where the Filo is...

I have been taking my gorgeous A5 Amazona to university every day since I received it, and I am worried it is starting to show some signs of wear. It's just not designed to go inside my big, full back pack! Thankfully I have my red A5 Domino that will serve as my on-campus university planner while Amazona stays at home :) Now I just have to decide which inserts I should duplicate, and which ones I will transfer over each day...

My lovely A5 Malden!

Hellooooo!

Yesterday I spent ages rearranging the set-ups of my Personal and A5 Maldens. I just can't seem to settle on a particular fixed set-up for the Personal; when I think I have finally found the perfect set-up, I read someone's blog and it gives me ideas for my filofax and suddenly I have to rearrange the whole thing! Well, basically I wanted to stop duplicating a lot of the lists etc in both of these filos. At first, my Personal held a section for me/fun stuff. I wanted to keep this in my filofax I have with me all of the time because I am trying to spend more time during term-time doing fun stuff, rather than 24/7 doing uni stuff, or else I'll crash one day because I have just had NO free time. But then when I decided to buy my A5 I wanted to put it all in here too. And recently I realised that I had a lot of the stuff in 2 places. I wanted to make some more space in my personal for the upcoming term's DPP diary (3 months), and while it was so fat with all these duplicated pages I wouldn't be able to fit it in. Also, I wanted to stop using coloured notepaper in my personal, and just use white to make it look more stylish and professional, so I would rewrite the pages and lists on coloured paper. One day I took all of the miscellaneous pages out of my filofax to do all this, which gave me a good excuse to see what I really needed in both filofaxes. Well, long story short, I rearranged both my personal and A5 Maldens. This is an overview of the new set-up of my A5 Vintage Pink Malden.

The first section is Diary. I have the rest of the year's DodoPad (used for forward planning of to-dos), the rest of 2011's WO2P diary (not using this at the moment, don't know what to do with this) and WO2P columned, which I have had to stretch across the next academic year.

Purple sparkly card

I have some lovely dividers for my tabbed section. The first 2 are beautiful sparkly purple card, but it is made of some strange paper, that almost feels like soft, smooth art paper. It is easily creased and damaged, so I am trying to be careful with it. The second 2 are made of some metallic, reflective pink card with raised raised spots.

Pink reflective card

The first section I have behind these dividers is my 'Time Management' section. It holds lots of my rotas, routines and timetables I am going to use to help organise my time etc at uni. They will all contribute to making my overall rota. I used to have these in my personal filo, but I don't really have a need to take them with me everywhere they go, so they can stay at home in my lovely A5.

Then I have my 'To-do Projects section; projects that are made up if a lot of to-dos. For example, the project 'Sorting bedroom' is made up of a list of areas to sort. My main projects (ones that aren't made up of a set of to-dos) e.g. housewarming party, are in the next section.


Lastly I have my 'fun' section: blog planning stuff, books I want to read etc. I put the divider from my personal filo in here because I love it so much!

I have tried to keep my A5 simple because I know I can really overcomplicate it if I think about it too much. I hope that it will work for me; I just can't seem to settle on a set-up for long! But the beauty of filofaxes is that they can adapt to whatever you need them to do. I may use it as my at-home thesis planner when I do my PhD.

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 :)

My MA Dissertation planner and Microsoft OneNote :)

Hullo!!

Today I am going to detail my MA Dissertation planner :). I have waited for a few weeks since I set up my planner to write this, because I didn't know if it was 100% set up, but since I haven't changed it in the last few weeks I think it will work for me :). I'm also going t o talk about how I'm using Microsoft OneNote in conjunction with it to plan my MA Dissertation!

I'm not the best person at planning research projects. I can have all the best intentions, but when it comes down to it, I either have hundreds of pieces of paper floating about my room, or little snippets of information in my rather disorganised brain. I HAVE TO make an effort to be organised for the most important research project of my life so far, my Master's Dissertation! This is why I have set up my MA Dissertation planner!

It is in a beautiful raspberry A5 Finsbury filofax :) I spent a few weeks researching which would be the best Filofax for me. I knew it had to be A5, there was no way I could feasibly write so much in anything smaller. The Finsbury was on my short list, mainly because it had 30mm rings. It's pretty packed already, so I don't think 25mm rings would have done at all! My other possibilities were the A5 Chameleon, or the Malden, but I'm happy with the Finsbury (although it does have some damage to it, I'll talk about this in my review in a couple of weeks).

I haven't really used it that much in the last few weeks since setting it up. Therefore, it is a bit plain- it's not 'lived-in' yet. I'm sure as I use it almost daily from September onwards, it will acquire slips of paper and trinkets etc! So far, in the inner side of the cover, I only have some pink and blue Avery tabs. I'll try to fill the rest of the pockets in with lovely cute things :)
In the envelope on the inside I have a cute card from my mum, an index card with my Dissertation title on it, and my thesis-cat picture :)

The first tabbed section is 'Progress'. In here I write what I have done so far to keep track of my progress, any deadlines I have to meet, and agenda pages etc. I also have to-dos. I use some pink and purple plain card (A4 cut in half with Avery top-tabs) to divide this up. It adds a bit more colour to it :)
Then I have my 'Plan' section. I really like this section. I basically have 1 sheet of A5 paper per section of my Dissertation, giving a plan of what that section includes. I add another piece of paper as the plan for that section expands. I can move it around and add to it as necessary; this is why I like this section and prefer using a ringed planner to a bound one :) It's kind of like a computer on paper, as I can add and move things as I need!
Then I have a section called 'Lists'. This is basically a catch-all section where anything in list-form gets filed. It doesn't need to be too structured, as during the day I would think "where is the X list" I would know instantly it is in the list section! It doesn't need to be too structured because then it would get too complicated.  The main lists I have in here are lists of abbreviations of journals I need to remember, a reference list of primary evidence I am using, that sort of thing. I use the 'address' pages that came with the Filofax for this, because I definitely do not have enough addresses to ever need to use them! They are quite good for lists as they are divided into columns, and have that nice box at the top where you can label the whole list.
Then I have my 'Ideas' section. This is just a section where I write down any quick things I need to research etc. This isn't a proper section, I just need somewhere wherever I am to capture these ideas or else I'll forget them. I have a pocket notebook for this too when I am out and about. Ultimately this section will get typed up into my MA notes word document. I have to remember this is NOT the place to write notes for my dissertation- if I did that the Filofax would either be 2 feet thick (quite literally) or I would need about 20 filos! My computer is the place for proper notes. This filofax is a PLANNER. I PLAN things in it! I have got to keep reminding myself of that!!
My next section is 'Meetings', for the notes of my meetings with my dissertation supervisor. This is a good section, and one I need to keep available when I'm sitting down working, because my dissertation supervisor gives me really good ideas of things to look up and I need to keep referring back to it. I will take my Filofax to dissertation meetings, so it is good that I have access to these notes for reference purposes.
Then I have a 'Techniques' section, which is a list of techniques, methods I need to remember when I am researching and writing, e.g. "Lead with the evidence..."
Then I have the A-Z section. I use this as a glossary: summaries of articles and books I have read and am going to use; summaries of primary evidence and its importance. This is a really good section as if I have something in my mind that I am trying to remember, all I need to do is quickly refer to the right letter in the back of my Filo and it's there for me to read!

My filofax and Microsoft OneNote!
Last night I remembered I had OneNote on my computer and realised how useful it could be for using with my Filofaxes! This is because I can make the same tabs, sections and sub-sections on my computer as I can in my Filofax! I can even colour-code!
I have created a OneNote notebook to match my MA Dissertation planner! This is great because I am not going to be able to take my Filofax with me to uni every day. On an average day, I have up to 5 heavy books in my bag, and I really can't fit an A5 filofax in it, let alone 2 because I'm also going to have an A5 filo for other MA things! In February I bought a netbook in order to have all my documents with me and the ability to sit down and write some of my MA or other essays if I have a (rare) 5 minute break between lectures and meetings. This way, I have everything in a very small netbook instead of countless notebooks! And this includes my MA Dissertation planner, as a OneNote document instead of in my heavy Filofax! I will bring my filofax to uni on some days, specifically those days when I have dissertation meetings but not much else, or days when I'm spending the whole day in the library only doing MA research.

I would love to take my MA Dissertation planner to uni everyday, but I will have to settle for being able to see it sitting pretty on my shelf every day!

Unexpected love...

When I bought my A5 Domino it was because I had this desire to fill a filofax full of important information, planners and fact sheets for my course/future career in Egyptology. I had asked my mum for an A5 Kendal, but as a graduation present so I wouldn't be receiving it until June or July. I had read that the Domino was a good A5 filofax because it was much lighter than leather filofaxes, so I thought it would be good because it would be easier to carry around campus, and also I could use it between then and when I receive my A5 Kendal. But I seriously didn't think I would like it that much. I really love leather filofaxes, and wouldn't consider buying a non-leather personal filofax unless I had to use it for a messy job like travelling etc; also I didn't like the colour of the material on the inside covers. But when I received it I realised how great it is!
It's really quite an impressive little filofax! HUGE rings, only the Finsbury and now the Malden rival it. The elastic closure is quite useful for holding down papers while on the move, although I haven't used it for this yet. And it can take a knock, and is easily cleanable if it gets something messy on it.
Ok, so it isn't the most glamorous of things, but I don't want anything too serious and professional because I am still young (21, almost 22) and I don't want to grow up yet! I already have a glamorous filofax, my pocket Malden, and I wouldn't want to get a beautiful leather one damaged, as I imagine it could shoved in the bottom of my backpack. So the Domino is perfect :)
To be honest, I haven't used it much. I've been to busy to really use it as a planner or put any important information or fact sheets in it. But yesterday I received my new Dodo Pad A5 refill, and I'm trying it out, so the Domino gets a good try out too!

A normal-looking Domino you say? Well, it's what's inside that counts... :)

In the envelope inside I have a lovely card from my mum and a Pink Lady sticker from an apple I ate yesterday :) (If you've seen my room or wardrobe, you'll know how much I love pink!)
I haven't put anything in the pockets yet, but when I take this to uni I'll put my student card etc in it, and when I go home in the summer I'll take photos of my dog and cat and put one in the photo card slot :)

This week from my new dodo pad diary :) I only got it yesterday, so I haven't filled in Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday. I usually fill my diary in the night before, so I don't really know what I'm doing tomorrow yet until I finish all my work today.
I use a cute little arrow paper clip as a page marker. I think the filofax ruler page markers are annoying and get in the way. I'll use this paper clip to clip a copy of my timetable on an index card to once I start having lectures again. I'll do a new one each week just in case something changes. I don't need a proper copy of my timetable because I memorise it pretty quickly, but I do like to have a columned-appointments diary page to view next to my list of jobs/tasks etc. The main reason is because I can then see the gaps in between lectures/meetings/shifts, and therefore I can work out how much time I can spend in the library researching, or if I have time for lunch (which I usually don't). I need a changeable one, i.e. one that I can add to, rather than a timetable of fixed recurring events which lasts a whole term, because I often have extra shifts at work or meeting/appointments to add. I couldn't afford a whole square on the grid on the right to this; instead, if I have something extra to add, I will just write "meeting" which will remind me to look at the timetable on the left!
I'll do a review of the dodo pad another time, because I need to use it more and I also think this post is too long already!

Then I have my time-planners. These are 1 day to 2 pages refills I made on Word and printed out, which is easy-peasy because they are A5- just chop A4 paper in half! It's also really easy to print double-sided, something I don't know how to do with personal pages.
On the left, if I have any appointments I write them on there so I don't forget them when I'm in the library bogged down with books. Then I write to-dos, e.g. "print essay" etc.
On the right I put down the instructions for work I have to do that day- e.g. "Read X's book. Make notes and make list of references to chase up. Then compare to X's article"
At the bottom I record what I've done so that I know how far I've progressed, and also feel a sense of accomplishment :)

Here is an example :)

I haven't really filled up the rest of the filo, but this is the sort of thing I want to fill it with, things I would otherwise forget but need to refer to. This is a project I intend to do over the summer. And for you, some of my research techniques for free!

I store my old time planners and notes for previous projects in here too, but will probably move them out when it becomes too full. I put personal and pocket sized pages in here too :)

I don't use the address alphabet tabs for addresses, but I will use it for a glossary of Egyptology-related things: information about sites, historical events, Pharaohs and other important ancient Egyptians, information about excavators, also reviews and summaries of books :) I like making use of these alphabet tabs, seeing as how I don't have enough addresses to fill them! I'm going to use the tabs in my pocket to put my French and German vocabulary notes in order :) I think that is quite a good idea, if I do say so myself!

I put a Staples A5 top-bound notepad in here :) I refuse to pay filofax prices! It cost £1.80 for a pack of 2, it fits almost perfectly in the notepad slot and you get twice as many pages! I've started punching holes on the pages with my little single hole-punch (also refuse to pay £30 for a filofax punch!)

 Quite thick already even though I've not really put anything in it! Oh dear, I might need another one, maybe Ultra Violet this time?!

In conclusion, I love my little Domino! I think I may even change my mind on buying the A5 Malden! It's fun, kooky, it doesn't take itself too seriously, light-weight, and I'm not afraid on getting it a bit messy!
But I'm not sure how often I will be able to take it to uni, I often have lots of books to take and quite honestly, my personal Kendal is much more portable. But on days when I don't have many books, Rufus (my Domino's name!) will accompany me :)

Can I wait...?

I might be going to London with my family this summer, so will DEFINITELY have to visit the filofax shop (or both... ;b) for a good look. I imagine my mum will be as bored as when I take her around Egyptology museums! But I will be in my element, running around like a little kid in a sweet shop, naming all the filofaxes "Oh look, there's a Finchley, isn't it pretty?! Ooh, a Cuban Zipped, yumm! *Strokes the filofax, knocks the display case over*"
I would like a nice A5 filo, a reeeallly nice one!! I have an A5 Domino in red, but it just not luxury... I've ummed and erred during the past 2 days deciding what to ask for for my birthday... a Finchley? well which colour, red or purple? A cuban? but it doesn't open flat! A chameleon? will I like the pattern?
Finally I think I've settled on a Malden A5! But learning from my past mistake, I will definitely have to see it in person before I ask my mum to buy it, hence the visit to Conduit St!
I like it because a) it lays flat :), b) I know the leather is gorgeous, c) I like the clasp, d) I like the zip pocket on the front, e) thanks to Steve, 30mm rings!!!
and I know I've forgotten a reason, but I think 5 is enough to justify it!
But deciding between the vintage pink and the ochre... hmm... that will take some thinking! And a visit in person, maybe a couple of visits over the course of our city break :)
P.S. what is your opinion, is it better to bite the bullet, decide on the filofax you want then and there in the shop and go home with your new beloved filofax in your bag, but risk making a wrong decision because you haven't slept on it, or spending some time thinking about it, going home and ordering it online but walking out of the filofax shop empty handed?? Dilemma!

My first post... just a load of waffle really!!

So this is my blog... let's see how long this lasts! Very bad timing, seeing as how I have to finish my dissertation in 3 weeks and I have an essay plus 3 exams before the end of May, but this blog will be a nice distraction from my work... or a bad distraction!!

My blog will mostly be about filofaxes because I am OBSESSED about them at the moment! Also I might throw in some stuff about my life as a student...

I currently have 4 filofaxes, and 2 more are on the way from ebay :)

• My first is a raspberry personal Finsbury, her name is Violet and she's gorgeous, and holds my personal stuff, lists etc, plus my diary, but I will move that soon to another one- I'll talk more about that later
• My second is my red A5 Domino, called Rufus. I plan my uni work in it, with instructions for each essay I have to write in it, progress lists and most importantly my timeplanners, which are custom day to 2 page diary sheets, undated with an appointments and to-dos on one side, and notes and a journal section on the other. It's really useful to plan in, but I've been too busy to do it by the time my essays are looming! But it should be extremely useful during my MA and PhD to keep on top of everything and plan :)
• My third is my pocket crimson Malden, called Ruby, and she is absolutely beautiful and elegant, I can definitely see myself using this when I am older. I think if I ever move permanently to the pocket size for my everyday, on-the-move diary/notebook/list filofax this will be it :) So professional looking, but cute and gorgeous at the same time :) She holds my day planners, which are actually miniature versions of my time planners that I write in Rufus, but small so I can carry it around campus and use in the library when I have tonnes of books to carry. Actually, my time planners aren't on proper filofax paper, or even a structured table printed out onto paper, but blank pocket-sized paper I cut and punched from normal A4 paper!
• My fourth is my caramel Finchley mini, she is for shopping lists and a reference diary so that when I go around town I can write anything down I need to without having to take my personal with me

My new ones should be coming from ebay in a few days. I bought 2 Kendal filos, 1 in personal and 1 in pocket in one transaction, they were being sold together. I've seen an A5 Kendal which I LOVED and now I've seen a pocket, but I haven't yet seen a personal, so I hope it's as great as I imagine! I think I might sell the pocket on, I think having 5 filos is enough! I might use the personal to put my whole year's (day to a page) diary in it, because I can't fit that in my Finsbury at the moment because it has other papers with lists etc on!
But the beauty of filofaxes is that they are completely flexible! I can adapt them as I want!

Soon I'll put pictures on flikr :)

Now, back to dissertation writing!