Open your planner every day. Even during those times when you feel stressed or feel like you don't have anything going on. When you get bogged down with life or stressful times and you don't feel motivated to use your planner, still use it. You can re-purpose it for a moment to write things or save things that are encouraging and uplifting, or write good memories that can help you regroup and re-focus. There are many great uses for a planner, not just for scheduling appointments.
This is such a perfect piece of advice for me, and I'm sure many others will find it useful too! I sometimes find it difficult to actually use my planner when I'm over-busy, or tired, grumpy, or feeling lazy! Or sometimes I feel like I just don't have anything to write in it! So this advice is great, and will help me use my planner more, and better!
I love this comment, but random.org picked her too!
Thanks to everyone who entered! You left loads of inspiring and useful tips, which I'm sure will be really helpful to loads of people! I'll definitely be using lots of them to help make me more productive! Thanks for taking part!!
If you read my post Introduction to my A5 Aqua Malden... you'll know that I accidentally got sent two A5 Aqua Maldens from Filofax UK!
I've been in contact with Filofax, who have agreed that I could give away one of them as the prize in a competition!
*** COMPETITION!!! ***
So today I'm giving you the chance to win this gorgeous Filofax!!
The A5 Aqua Malden is made of antiqued buffalo leather, has 2 pen loops, 30mm rings, on the left a zip pocket, 3 credit card pockets and 3 larger pockets and a full length slip pocket, and on the right a notepad pocket. The A5 Malden is worth £105!
The binder you would receive if you win is the one you can see me unboxing in this video!
To enter:
Leave a comment on this blog post to answer this question:
What is your best piece of organisation/time management advice for using your Filofax personal organiser?
Rules:
The competition runs from 1st August 2013 (today) to 15th August 2013.
1 entry per person. Any additional entries will be ignored and won't count.
This competition is open worldwide.
If you would like your piece of advice to be featured on Filofax's Facebook or Twitter page in their organisation advice series, please write (Yes) at the end of your comment. If you DON'T want your piece of advice to be featured, write (No) at the end of your comment. Filofax and Ideas Network have the right to choose which Filofax tips they wish to post on Facebook and/or Twitter, and may not publish all of them.
If you are part of the Facebook Philofaxy group, or if you've watched my unboxing video on youtube, you will have seen my A5 Aqua Malden! If you haven't, there are lots of juicy photos here!!
I think this one's really special because I believe it's the first Aqua Malden to be released in the UK- read below why!
Since I learned last year that Filofax were going to be making an Aqua Malden, I knew I had to have it! I love the Malden range, and in the past I've had quite a few, although my collection has decreased a lot recently! How would I get my hands on one? :)
For the last few months I have been in contact with some people from Filofax UK about replacing a couple of faulty Filofaxes. I swapped one for my A5 Wine Holborn I picked up from the Filofax shop in March at the Philofaxy meet-up! I asked for the replacement for the other faulty Filofax to be the Aqua Malden, and they said they would send me one as soon as they are released! The original release date was mid-June, but in the end it was delayed until 24th July. I heard from Margaret Rennie at Write at Home that she would be sending her stock to their new owners (bought through pre-order) on the 24th, so I guessed mine would be sent from Filofax HQ then. Actually, it was sent from Filofax HQ early, even earlier than the retailers were allowed to dispatch theirs, so I guess I was the first person to receive an Aqua Malden! The post man came earlier than I thought, at lunch time on the 24th... the only time that week that no-one had been at home!!
I had received one of the dreaded "You were out" cards from the post man! My long awaited-for Filofax had been sent to a local Post Office! And, even worse, it said I had to wait 24 hours to pick up my parcel!! Well, I couldn't wait, knowing it was only a few streets away!!! I phoned up the post office, and the lovely lady there said I could pick it up that afternoon!!! I walked there with my dad and my dog, and finally the box was in my hands!!!!
I knew you guys were as excited as me to see an Aqua Malden, so I filmed an unboxing video...
And loaded lots of photos onto the facebook Philofaxy group!!
I got lots of comments, questions and likes! Most people said it was lovely and they couldn't wait to get theirs, some people said they actually didn't like it now they've seen one, lots of people saying the creases are too wrinkly, and some comments on the colour!
The colour is very difficult to capture on camera! It looks MUCH bluer on the camera/monitor than it does in person! Actually, I would describe the true colour to be a spearmint or jade green!
Closer to the true colour, although this photo doesn't show the depth of the colour.
We had to bribe Chloe to take this photo, by putting cat biscuits on top on my Filofax!
That evening I set up my Aqua Malden by moving the contents of my A5 Raspberry Chameleon over. Fortunately, the dividers match perfectly!
I was busy at work last week, so I wasn't able to play with it much :( But then on Friday (2 days after I received the Filofax), I got an interesting email from someone at Filofax with whom I have been in contact...
"Further to my recent email I am pleased to advise you that we have today sent you an A5 Malden aqua organiser by Royal Mail Recorded Signed For delivery." At first I was confused, and then I laughed... they had accidentally sent me 2!! I had been in contact with 1 person about my replacement Filofaxes, and then I think my case was handed over to a second person, who didn't realise that the first person had already placed an order for an Aqua Malden, so she unknowingly sent a 2nd one! I knew I would have to reply and send one back, but I realised something... when I received the 2nd one, I could open it up and compare the two Filofaxes, and keep the one I preferred and send the other one back! The leather on Maldens tends to vary between different binders- some are more crinkly, some are smoother- so I was glad I had the opportunity to compare them! When the 2nd Aqua Malden arrived, I was pleasantly surprised!
1st Malden on the left, 2nd Malden on the right! The 2nd Aqua Malden is much smoother than the 1st! Everyone on facebook agreed how much better the 2nd Malden looks!!
I'm happily setting up my Aqua Malden, adding new sections and striving to improve my time management and organisation techniques. As soon as I'm happy with the set-up I'll make a video and/or do a blog post!
So what will I do with the Malden I'm not keeping? Well, I was happy to send it back to Filofax, but I thought that I could ask them if they would let me keep it to give away as a prize in a competition on my blog... and they agreed!!! So TOMORROW I'll be launching my competition to win the A5 Aqua Malden!! Stay tuned!!!
Sorry I've been neglecting my blog in the past few weeks, but I've been making some videos! Finally I bought myself a tripod for my camera!! Previously I tried to make videos using my webcam- poor sound quality- or my phone- very wobbly- so now I'm happy that I can make better quality and steadier videos!
Here are the videos I've made recently!
Artbox haul!
July set-up of my Filofax: A5 Raspberry Chameleon!
How to dissect a notebook for your Filofax (although this might be updated at some point!)
My set-up of the notebook/diary I use on-the-go/around the house!
And finally: Unboxing of my A5 Aqua Malden!
I will be telling you about my Aqua Malden in my next post on Wednesday :)
It's A5 size, 100% recycled, really cute, and only £7.99, but even cheaper online! All of the pages are hand-drawn with really cute designs by an artist called Julia Rothman- you can see the individual pages in the photos on the amazon page.
I'm really into how-to and creative solution/hack videos at the moment, so I decided to share with you how I dissected this notebook to put inside my Filofax! Here is my video below! :)
Today's post is how I organise my youtube playlists- mainly the Filofax ones!!
I love watching youtube videos! About fountain pen advice, Sims 3 house building and game tricks, scrapbooking techniques... and FILOFAXES!!! I watch them all the time, and in the last few months I've been watching them more and more, even instead of watching TV! I like to keep a 'collection' of the youtube videos I like- just like people collect matchbook cards or postage stamps, I like to add to my collection of videos! And it can all be done so easily nowadays with youtube, I don't have to have a bookcase full of homemade VHS video tapes!
I use Youtube's playlist function to organise my videos. It isn't as customisable as I would like- I wish I could organise sections within each playlist, but this isn't possible. One day I might figure out a way to organise them better, or I might dedicate several pages to them in my Filofax, but for now I'm focussing on adding videos to my playlists rather than searching for a particular video, so at the moment I'm not concerned if they're not so organised within the playlist.
You can see some of my playlists here: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC73oD0faPI1eI4uEFbE-GdQ/videos?view=1
You can't see all of them because several are private- e.g. the playlists I am currently sorting out and not ready to make public yet.
These are the playlists I have:
Public- Filofaxes, Filofaxes 2, Filofaxes 3, Crafting.
Private- Filofaxes Videos- to sort, Favourite videos (default youtube playlist)
Also: Watch Later list
I have playlists for my main hobbies- Filofaxes (obviously!!), and crafting- this is a new playlist, with only 14 videos in it, mainly scrapbooking techniques, but soon I will add videos about knitting, crochet and cross-stitch. I'm also thinking of making a playlist for fountain pens etc. Any videos I like which don't fit into these categories mainly go into my Favourite videos playlist.
Ok, now here's what I wanted to talk to you about: How I organise my Filofax videos!!!
I have 3 playlists of Filofax videos- Why? Because youtube limits each playlist to hold only 200 videos, so when that playlist fills up I have to make a new playlist. So in total, those 3 playlists hold... 590 Filofax videos and counting!!! Well, actually some of them are Midori Traveler's Notebook and Franklin Covey/Day Timer videos, but you get the point! These playlists are growing everyday and soon I'm going to have to make a 4th playlist! I made my playlists public so anyone can look at them and watch videos from them! :)
I find most of my videos fromPhilofaxy Video Web Finds! Twice a week Steve posts a list of the most recent Filofax videos. He doesn't add some of them- vertical videos are a big no no!!...
... and he doesn't usually include many unboxing videos, hauls or decorating videos. Mainly he includes videos which you can learn something from, or which show you something you may not have seen before.
I also get links to videos from facebook and twitter, people's blog posts and suggested videos on youtube. Occasionally I search for 'Filofax' on youtube, arranging the search results by 'most recent' etc to make sure I haven't missed any new videos!
I click on each link and press the 'Watch Later' button at the bottom of each video. This adds the video to my 'Watch Later' list.
With all of these videos added to my Watch Later list (which can also only hold 200 videos, and they can quickly add up to this number!), I start watching them!! This is the fun part :) I love most Filofax videos, but I generally don't watch unboxing videos, because I already know what the Filofaxes look like from photos etc. I know some people like unboxing videos, it feels to them like they are unboxing a new filofax themselves, but as I have so many videos to watch, I have to narrow it down somehow! I also don't watch many hauls or RAK (Random Act of Kindness) videos, because most of these videos come from the US, and they have amazing craft shops over there with stationery bits I can't buy here, so I get really jealous!!
After I have finished watching a video, then I have to sort it into a playlist. If I know I haven't watched it before, I add it to my latest Filofax playlist. These playlists are my vaults for my Filofax videos!! :)
When I made my playlists a few months ago I added videos to them randomly, with no organisation. When I looked through them I realised I had dozens of duplicates- it took me hours to sort through and delete the duplicates! To ensure that I don't create any more duplicates within the playlists (and with 3 separate playlists, this is easy to do!), I have to take precautions- this is why I have my private playlist 'Filofax Videos- to sort' playlist. If I think I might have watched a video before (I watch so many it's hard to remember!), or if it's older than a couple of weeks, I add it to this playlist. When this playlist gets quite full (100 videos or more), I first sort through the playlist to make sure I don't have duplicates within it- I rearrange them by name or length etc, so that duplicates go together, and then delete any duplicates that I find. Then I open up my 3 Filofax playlists in different tabs on my internet browser, and do ctrl+f to search for the name of each video from my 'To Sort' playlist. If I find that I have a video in one of my playlists already, I delete it from my 'To Sort' playlist; if I find that I don't already have it in a playlist, I add it to my current Filofaxes playlists, then I delete it from the 'To Sort' playlist! It takes quite a long time to do this, but it's fine by me if it works in the end!! I love having my collection of Filofax videos!
So after a very long blog post, the moral to this story is...
I make these Filofax playlists so you don't have to!! Please feel free to use them as resources to watch Filofax videos!!
Follow the links I posted above and save them to your favourites in your web browser! :)
