My Personal Sized Filofax Set-Up

My Personal Sized Filofax Set-Up

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I’ve had (and enjoyed) so many planning systems and diaries over the years however for whatever reason I keep coming back to my old-faithful brown Ranger personal-sized Filofax. I’ve had this particular Filofax for years and adore it. The only other Filofax I own was the product of an ill-advised Ebay purchased of an A5 identity which I use as a storage binder as it’s too big and bulky for anything else!

Filofax
My old-faithful much-loved Ranger Filofax in brown leather

Seeing as I continually swing back to the Filofax I decided to embrace it fully and really make it my own.

New Dividers

What I’ve been looking for has been some new dividers and I was thrilled when I spotted these free printable Gorjuss dividers  on Pinterest from the fabulous Lucy Wonderland (who also has an Etsy shop). All I did was print these out (they are double sided), laminated them, cut and used my single punch with an existing divider as a template to finish off.

The end result….. fabulous!

Even better these are top tabs and a little different to the norm as you can see.

gorguss, dividers, filofax

 

Staying Organised

I’ve tried so many different ways of keeping on top of my weekly schedule, work, the family, appointments, home and everything else. This is by far the best (and most simple) to date.

I use these fabulous week to view inserts from Mrs Brimble’s Etsy shop for forward planning, schedules, reminders, appointments, school dates and upcoming everything (cute aren’t they?).

Mrs Brimbles, Etsy, Week to View

For daily tasks, work and basically anything that needs doing I use graph / squared Field Notes (cherry wood) and the bullet journal system which I tuck into the back of my Filofax. These 48 page notebooks (coming in a pack of three) are fabulous to write on and to say that I’ve been more productive since starting to use this system would be a huge understatement.

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Other Filofax Bits and Pieces

I will at some point in the future start doing YouTube walk throughs and video reviews that I can include here however before that I need a much better camera and a tripod so for now you have to put up with my blogging such things!

People often ask “what do you keep in your Filofax”. Right now I have an address section which is for addresses, phone numbers, passwords etc, a client section with rates information and general notes, logins and more, the diary (the week to view), notepaper for scribbles, blog pages for ideas (etc) and finances.

My finance section is not a tracker of spends, I’m pretty good at keeping a check of what I/we spend, it is simply a payment tracker and reminder where I write down all direct debits and ad-hoc payments (including those niggling PayPal payments for Netflix and what not that come out at silly times of the month) so that I can keep an eye on what goes out when and how much it was.

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These bill stickers came from my lovely planning friend Dani who doesn’t have a shop but should!

Stickers – I always have stickers as they work as a visual reminder of some things however I don’t tend to go crazy. I do use washi tape but don’t keep that with the Filofax as it needs to be be portable. I keep some in a zipped Filofax clear envelope and have punched in or coil clipped in others. I do of course also have sticky notes!

Stickers from Alexia Claire's The Stationery Box, some leftovers from my Erin Condren life planner and more from my friend Dani.
Stickers from Alexia Claire’s The Stationery Box, some leftovers from my Erin Condren life planner and more from my friend Dani.

I’m really happy with the set up as it is right now because it works, it isn’t too bulky and it looks good! The only thing I’m considering adding is a year at a glance foldout that I can use to mark upcoming school holidays and what not. I’ll see.

So what do you think? Does your Filofax look anything like this? Do you have a genius planning system that you want to share? Do comment as I love to hear from other Filofax / planning fans!

 

This Freelancer’s Summer of Self-Love

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I love this time of year as I have both boys boys at home (when they haven’t abandoned me in favour of the local holiday playscheme and all that they offer!). We have breakfasts in bed (mine usually), run down hills screaming, walk, paint, play and simply enjoy quality time together.

The flipside of this glorious coin is the fact that I am a full-time freelance copywriter with a number of regular clients as well as ad-hoc projects ongoing and needing my attention. With only twenty-four hours in a day shoe-horning everything in (otherwise known as the school holiday juggle) may be tough however I’ve always relished the challenge and haven’t dropped a child, a client or anything else yet.

This post isn’t so much about the juggle though, it’s about adding something else to my already busy week and making sure it gets done. This is my self-love time. Working for myself I don’t have sick days, don’t have properly defined (and never company paid) holidays and have a tendancy during the busiest periods to go a bit mad and over-work myself. As I refuse to give any less that 100% all aross the board real burn-out is a real thing and I’ve got very close to the flame a few times.

My self-love focus works two ways, firstly I make sure that there is time in the week just for me, to read, to take an extra long shower, to blast music for ten minutes and dance, to go for a walk (on my own); whatever I want or need to do which enables me to kick back and enjoy myself. The second part of my self-love summer pledge is to take better care of myself. I’m organising my time better and taking proper breaks.

I’m taking half an hour to eat lunch in the garden or at the dining table rather than throwing something down my neck at the desk, I’m getting up at 4am to take advantage of the quiet work time but I’m making sure I have a decent bedtime with fresh bedding and comfy pjs. I’ve made a hydration pledge (this makes me feel better and is important for my health) and overall I’m simply ensuring that I take more care of myself.

I’m important, I matter and I can’t afford to get lost underneath paperwork, deadlines and the sometime downright nuts schedules that parents try to squeeze themselves into.

And you know what? I’m feeling fantastic. I’m much more relaxed, more productive, unrushed and am thoroughly enjoying my summer. Self love summer looks set to become less seasonal and more of a conscious and ongoing intention to ensure that I look after myself.

What’s even better is that me taking more me time is something that my family completely support and have been pushing for (for some time!).

Do you make sure you take time out to look after you? You should!