Planning my 2013: Part 2- Filofax

Hello!

This is Part 2 of my 'Planning my 2013' posts, about how I am using the planners/organisation tools to plan my life for this new year! If you haven't read Part 1, please do so now! :)


Part 1 is where I discussed how I am using my Plannerisms planner to plan my recurring tasks (monthly), and, most importantly, forward planning my weeks. The next stage of my planning is where my Filofax comes in!

I got a lovely Plum Osterley personal Filofax for Christmas! Yes, I know I said in a previous blog post that I would try to stick to my Orange Osterley... but I have a good excuse! My mum was desperately trying to find a big present for me for Christmas, and I couldn't think of anything, except for the Plum Osterley that I had been in love with for about a year and a half! I had found a good deal on amazon, and a few times I had come close to buying it myself! So I asked for the lovely Osterley, and received it for Christmas!! I had been worried about the rings being terrible, and although they aren't perfect, they're not too bad, and they function ok, so it's all good :) I'm sure I will do a review on my Osterley soon :)

I have put together my diary system for my 2013 Filofax set-up very carefully. I have been going through Planner Fail for a long time, so I need a system that will work perfectly! It took me a lot of thinking and much back-and-forth decision making, but I have finally decided on, bought, and started using, my diary :)

Firstly, I have the 2013 Filofax vertical-format year planner. I don't know what I will use this for, but I hope that I will find a use for it soon!
Then I have my diary proper, which is composed of several parts.


I am using 2012's Day Timer Flavia month dividers. I am reusing the ones I got last year with my Day Timer diaries, and I don't mind that they're out of date, because I never used the month grid that was printed on them anyway. They are so pretty, and very useful! I have the dividers from January-July in my filo, and I will put the rest in later in the year.

Then I have my 2013 Franklin Covey Monticello MO2P. Unfortunately, the DPP didn't work out for me, but the MO2P are great. The paper quality (well, actually it's more like cardstock!) is excellent, and the boxes are much larger than Filofax's grids, and are lined, which helps keep it all neater. The month pages that came with the FC diary go right up to June 2014, and I have them all in here. January-July 2013 go immediately after the month dividers.

Then I have my DPP sheets. I decided on Filofax DPP, rather than the Franklin Covey DPP, for several reasons, which I will do another post on, but the main reason is because I like how plain the Filofax pages are, and how I can customise them to my own needs. I only have the current week of DPP in my Filofax at any one time.



Immediately behind the current week of my DPP, I have this week's DodoPad 2013 personal-sized insert. The DPP inserts sit spliced between this week's DodoPad pages- the notes page on the left, and the diary page on the right. I also have the rest of the current month's DodoPad inserts, but no more than that, to save on space.

So this is how I am using my Filofax for 2013 :)


I use it in conjunction with my Plannerisms Planner, which you can read about it Part 1!

After I have finished forward-planning for the coming week on Sunday nights, I should have a lovely weekly page in my Plpl!

Updated (read: finished!) since my last post!

I copy the important things from my Plpl current week over to my DodoPad Filo insert. I don't take my Plannerisms Planner out with me, so this is here in case I want to check something about my week when I am out and about. I try to make it fun, with lots of colours and doodles!

Then, the most important part- My Day Per Page inserts!

Every night, I sit down and plan for the next day. I use the daily column in the WO2P of my Plannerisms Planner to give me a picture of my day.
Firstly, I write down my daily focuses, which helps give me an idea of what I should concentrate on during the day.
Then I use the basic scheduler from my Plpl to give me a picture of when I should do things during the day. I write them into the appointment slots of my DPP insert. Of course, I write in time-dependent things first, like work shifts, and then I fit in other things from my scheduler, like tasks that will take a long time, or to-dos that have to be done by a certain time during the day. I use arrows to show the length of time things should take.
On the right column of the page, I write my to-dos, notes, info, anything I will need for that day. At the bottom of the column, I draw 8 boxes where I put crosses to record how much water I have drunk that day (I think my record is 6 glasses, I never drink enough!!)
I make sure I write in everything from my Plpl daily column into my DPP. I actually really like that my 2 planning tools are in separate books, because I love that I can have the two sitting side-by-side, rather than having it all in my Dilodax and having to flip back and forth in copying from WO2P to DPP!

I colour-code everything, because it makes it easier for me, but also because it looks pretty!



So that's my Planning for 2013 :)

Retail Recommendations and Product Review: Dodo Pad!!

Hi everyone!

Today I made a video reviewing the 2013 Dodo Pad insert for Personal-sized Filofaxes! So this video is a product review, and a review of the fantastic Dodo Pad company!!

Let's all do the Dodo!!

I just came from a skype chat with the CEO of Dodopad Rebecca Jay, Imy, Steve, Tracy and Joshua, about making the Dodopad more suitable for the personal-sized filofax! Yesterday I hacked my A5 dodopad to fit into my personal filo, and lots of us talked about it on twitter, which led Rebecca to talk to her designer to mock up a bigger grid for the personal-sized filo!
She said she didn't want to cut off one column like I did, so it would be a case of shrinking the grid to fit better on the page. This would be bigger than the current grid, smaller than the A5 or deskpad grid, but the same size as the mini dodopad grid (which is popular and totally works for many people!)- the squares would be 14mm square each, which I think is better than the current square size in the personal-sized filofax dodopad- I can definitely see myself writing in these boxes.
Unfortunately, a tiny bit of the drawings might get cropped a bit on the sides of the page, but I'm not too worried about that! Rebecca sent us some PDFs of some mock-ups, but they are secret!!
Obviously this is a work-in-progress, and it takes 4 months for the new dodopad to go from the drawing board to the printing press, so these new versions of the personal-sized filofax dodopads won't be available until 2013, but I think it will be worth the wait!!

In other news, I suggested the Day-on-2-pages Dodopad again to Rebecca, whether it's in filofax format or not- and she said she'll discuss it with her designer when they meet in a couple of weeks, so hopefully that will come to fruition!!

Isn't it great when a company really listens to you? Fantastic!! :D
Thank you, Lord Dodo and Rebecca!!

A5 Dodopad for personal filofax!

After a brief flirtation with an A5 filofax, like many others in the last few days, I have realised the A5 size is unsuitable for me. It's heavy and bulky, and I'm already happily set up in the much smaller and more portable personal-sized filo. The more I fiddle around with the set-up of my planning filofax(es) [as opposed to my information filofaxes], the more I realise I am definitely a 1-life, 1-planner girl!!
I love my personal-sized filofax... although I haven't posted about it here because it's constantly evolving. I have a day on 2 pages Day Timer Flavia insert for the current week, which gets changed out every Sunday, so the old week gets moved out and the new one gets moved in, and I have a Day Timer week on 2 pages Flavia insert for forward planning, that stays permanently in my filofax. But I struggle to plan which university work to do when on these sheets. Last September I bought this academic year's Dodopad insert for my A5 filofax, which is brilliant, and it works for me (although I can't use Dodopad for normal planning/organisation of my time, I use it well for organising when to do which piece of homework). Because the dodopad is so good for me, I want to use it all the time, but I don't want to have to take my A5 filofax everywhere with me. I need to use it in my personal-sized filofax.
Dodopad makes a personal-sized filofax dodopad insert, but it is a scaled-down version of the larger dodopad, and so the whole page is shrunk, meaning the individual boxes are just tiny!! At this size, they would be very difficult to use.

I considered just buying this insert, but I know it would end up being too small, and I already have a dodopad in A5 size for the rest of this academic year. So I thought, would it be possible to make the A5 dodopad into a personal-sized dodopad?

I took an old page, and laid a piece of filofax paper over the grid of the A5 dodopad. It fit vertically, but horizontally it was at least 1 column too wide.

I hope you can see the personal-sized flyleaf over the grid, showing the boundaries of the page.

I was willing to lose 1 column from the grid; I work left to right, and rarely reach the 5 box of the day.

Here's the sheet I cut and the rest of the paper, showing what was cut off.

1 column at least gets chopped off

On the back, some of the lovely designs and writing that make the Dodopad so unique and cute get chopped off :(

Depending on where you cut, some of the holes go through the dates on the left of the grid.

Sorry about the shadow :(

I'm considering doing this with the rest of March's pages- I think this could be brilliant for my 1-life 1-planner!! 

What do you think? Will you do this yourself?

Dodo Pad review

Hi!

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I've been very busy with essays and exams! One down, 2 to go!

So this is my review of the Dodo Pad. I tried a dodo pad for my first year at uni (2008) and it didn't work for me then. I didn't know what style of planner really worked for me at that stage, but I found out after a couple of weeks that it didn't work. I don't know what it was; I guess I just didn't know how to use it.

I'm afraid to report that the Dodo Pad still isn't working for me on the second attempt, at least at this stage. I really need a different format! In fact, since I received it and put it in my Domino Rufus, I don't think I used it. I might have looked at it a couple of times over the next few days, but I didn't write anything in it! I initially divided the days/columns into several sections: Uni work (essays etc I was going to focus on); Important things to do at uni (jobs, appointments on campus); Important things to do at home; Misc/other/extra; and Home (things that I needed to do at home; what I was going to do for dinner; general evening things). I filled this in for 1 day, the day after I received it!

Maybe it just doesn't work for ME. According to the reviews on the Dodo Pad website http://www.dodopad.com/pages/dodelighted.html LOTS of people love it! But I don't agree with their statement that once you go Dodo, you Dodon't go back (see what I did there!). It just doesn't suit my needs. The little boxes are good for some things; if you don't need to write a lot of information down, if you need to divide your day into a lot of sections, it's perfect! It would be brilliant for families as everyone can have their own box! Of course the designs are really cute and funny, definitely more interesting than my boring WHSmith day-to-a-page refill in my personal filo! But I can't use this format! I a) need to have a space big enough to write EVERYTHING down; b) need to have a structure where I can put my appointments in time order and see the gaps in between them; and c) prefer to see things in a vertical (reading down not across) format. I hope it works for other people! It just doesn't work for me! Maybe it will work better during the summer, when I don't have uni work to do, appointments etc; I'll just have my own little projects and to-dos to write down.

Sorry Lord Dodo and Miss Peabody!

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 :)