Cat's Corner

A while back I invested in a hole punch for my work A5 Filofax and I use it constantly to punch new sheets of plain white paper for meeting notes, etc.  More recently I’ve set up my ‘real life’ organisation in a personal size Filofax (see here) and I’ve been wondering what I could do with a personal sized hole punch!  A very generous donor obliged and gave me a fantastic metal punch so that I could experiment – you know who you are – thank you!

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own Filofax pages:

• A punch to fit your binder size (you can find the Filofax personal online here or perhaps try a cheaper alternative here)
• A used sheet of paper to fit your binder size
• A pair of nice sharp scissors
• A pack of paper of your choice (I used PaperMania Colossal scrapbooking paper)
• Any older notebooks or diaries that you might be able to re-use in a Filofax (maps, etc)

Using the used sheet of paper as a template, cut your paper to size (adding little tabs if you want to), punch and voila – you have your very own home made Filofax paper

You can also use old notebooks, maps, etc – whatever you fancy!  Here’s a sample of my pages:

So I finally succumbed to the infamous Malden Filofax!  If you’re reading this because you like Filofaxes, this is no revelation I’m sure, but I think it may actually be the perfect binder!!

I wrote in November about my new setup and hole punch in personal size (here), which really opened my eyes to how useful a binder for social/home use can be.  I was also looking to use it as a purse, so the obvious choice was the Malden.  Fortunately just before Christmas it went on sale on Filofax UK and I snapped it up at half price!

My setup was fairly well worked up and had been serving me well to keep a track of my social life, birthdays, to-do lists, etc so I haven’t changed it too much.  I really feel like for the first time that my personal life is organised and having my purse in the same place helps me to keep on track of my budget too.  I even planned out our hectic Christmas – presents, hosting, cooking, ordering food, etc, and it worked a charm!

How am I using it?

Take a peek inside…

I’m still using my Paperchase postcard as a cover and the little owl tabs too – I thought I was being so original and then saw both on other blogs within days of getting mine, doh!  I recently found a matching pen with the owl design so I snapped it up – it even fits in the pen loop!

First I have two sheets of card inserts, then a plastic wallet for my shopping vouchers and stickers before we move into section 1, maps.  Section 2 has my week on one page diary, which I’ve tabbed month by month using sticky flags (from Muji) and inserted my to-do list next to it using pastel paper.  I’m also using diary stickers from hubby’s Moleskine because he didn’t want them and they’re so much easier to lift off the backing than the Filofax ones!

Section 3 holds my other to-do lists (I have a lot of those!) and then section 4 has my blog notes and plans.  Section 5 has my personal finance and work expenses sheets as well as a plastic wallet for my expense receipts.  That just leaves section 6 for my birthdays pages (WHSmith ones) and addresses, which I’ve recently rewritten using a Frixion pen, so that I can rub out and make updates when people move.

2012 planning = sorted!

Why do I love the Malden?

• You can feel the quality, but it feels workable, not precious (in a good way)
• It lies flat from day 1 – whoop!
• It has a zip coin pocket on the front and four card slots
• The rings are a decent size to fit LOADS of pages in!
• Space for a pad in the back (or a moleskine notebook, as I’m planning to try)
• The colour – although I hear there will soon be a PURPLE version (my fave colour!)

In summary, I love, love, love the Malden – can you tell?! 

Grab a bargain Malden on Amazon UK here

Well it’s been a while since I last updated you with my Filofax news, so here it is!  As you know, I’ve been using a slimline Amazona (you can read about it here) and I’ve been loving it, BUT although I’ve really tried to be frugal with my pages, it’s just really not quite big enough.  Pair that with the fact that my beloved Mulberry purse (which you can see on Imysworld here) is massively heavy and you have a dilemma.

My solution?  To use my Filofax as a wallet as well!  So I headed off to WHSmith on a lunch break and picked up a couple of card holder inserts to increase my 6 card slots to 12.  Then I popped into the charity shop next door and found another vintage English-made Filofax from the 80s!  Priced at 99p, I snapped it up and I’ve spent the past couple of weeks getting the setup just right!  Here’s the binder:

In the back cover it says ‘Filofax Made in England Real Calf 2CLF 7/8′ and in the front, company name ‘Serco’ is stamped so I guess they were made for a company time management initiative?  You can just about make out the logo in the bottom left of the picture below:

No slots for cards, so I’ve stuck them in the cover for now, they seem to be holding up ok!  Sadly the leather is old and stiff and the first time I put inserts in, it cracked the whole way down where the rings attach   I don’t think it will last very long, but I have a plan B (more on that later!).  Today I popped to Paperchase and spotted the gorgeous postcard you see here in the front, so I snapped it up and added it as a cover page!

How was I able to do that?  Thanks to a very generous friend and ex-colleague who spotted on the blog that I was after a personal sized hole punch!  He had one from the 80s, which is adaptable for use in a Time Manager system – not only did he give me this (thank you thank you thank you!), he also gave me his Time Manager binder and inserts!!  That deserves a whole post another time, but for now, back to the setup…

As I mentioned, I bought two sets of credit card inserts, so these are at the front, followed by a plastic envelope, which holds my shopping vouchers!  Then I have my maps, diary and birthdays sections – then notes.  Notes are basically lists – to do, finances, xmas pressies, things to fix in the new house, things to buy for the new house, etc!  I’ve marked my three most used pages with some very cute owl marker stickers, also purchased in Paperchase today (see 3rd pic above – click the image to see it full size).  I’ve also hole-punched the first set of these, and put two more in the back pocket with my stamps (see last pic above). 

I’m using a freebie pen I got at a conference, because it’s the only one I could fit in the teeny pen loop – were pens smaller in the 80s?!  Anyway, I’m loving the setup like this and am looking forward to adding more to it, which I can do now that I have the space and also the hole punch – yay!

I mentioned that the spine is about to give way, but now I’ve got my setup right, I really want to keep using it and not go back to the slimline.  So the plan B I mentioned earlier?  Yeah, I finally gave in and ordered a MALDEN!  There, I said it, I blame you guys over at Philofaxy!  The personal in crimson is currently on sale on Filofax UK here - how could I resist?  It has a coin pocket and everything

I have to wait for Christmas for it though, but not long to wait!!  So what do you think, did I make the right choice?

Cat

As part of the Philofaxy All Stars project, I’ve posted on two other blogs:

What’s in my Bag?  A peek in my Mulberry Alexa Hobo (in Trippy Tiger raffia) – on Imysworld

What’s in my Filofax?  A peek in my A5 Balmoral Filofax – on Deligted

And you can read all the guest posts written for Cat’s Corner here.

Enjoy!  Cat :O)

Here’s another fantastic post from the Philofaxy All Stars team – this time from Femke, who’s allowed us a sneak peek into her gorgeous Malden Filofax:

Hey everyone, I’m Femke from Deligted

Cat kindly let me do a guestpost about what’s in my filofax, as she did one for me too. This one is inspired by Jotje’s post on Philofaxy!

I’m using a crimson pocket Malden (before this I used my crimson personal Malden. I’m switching between the two at the moment).

Front of the Malden. It’s so gorgeous!

The inside, a picture of me and an Abercrombie & Fitch model and a picture of my man.

The almost famous tabs.

I then have my year planner. Here I write down my sick days and my days off, plus some things I need to remember. I still need to write down the birthdays in there. Oops.

Then I have my week on two pages (from the same manufacturer as the tabs), in which I write down my appointments and sometimes reminders and things to do.

Then I have my days per page, only two months worth of it. Here I write a more detailed plan of my day. This day isn’t that busy but since I’ve been on holiday, I haven’t been that busy yet (luckily)!

Behind this tab I have my lists. B = for blog, P = for personal and L = for lists. The blue tab on top is where I have my to do list.

God knows why I start my to do list halfway on the page, but I was cheap and didn’t order to do lists yet.

And since I go to the movies quite a lot, I keep my tickets in my filofax too, because I like to keep them!

Hope you enjoyed my filofax, thanks Cat for letting me post on her blog!

Thanks so much for sharing Femke, I especially love those tabs!

As I recently mentioned in my Philofaxy interview a few weeks ago, I had not one, not two, but nine Filofaxes - oops!  It didn’t seem right to have such an odd number, so it wasn’t long before Filofax number ten came along!  It was my birthday recently and I took the day off to go into London with hubby, who of course I dragged along to the Neal Street Filofax store.  I couldn’t persuade him to come in, although that turned out to be a bonus, as he couldn’t vet my purchases haha!

The thing I love most about going to the proper Filofax shop is the clearance section at the back – there’s usually rows of tantilising bargains, and it’s inevitable that I’ll leave with something new!  I managed to side-step the Malden stand, which I must admit, held a lot of appeal – it’s a very tactile cover, I can see why many have fallen for it! 

Lurking at the back of the store was a beautiful red Slimline Amazona, which I snapped up immediately at half price!  What a lovely replacement for my sadly broken red Balmoral Mini!  Now I know I only recently bought a Slimline Finsbury, which is a bit of a shame, but it served its purpose for finding out if the slimline would work for me.  I’m sure it will go back into use at some point!

I also upgraded my new purchase to next year’s diary and bought some cotton cream notepaper, which has a lovely quality to it.  When I mentioned I was treating myself as it was my birthday, the lovely lady who served me also gave me a pack of trial inserts, including the little black book, which I like as a cover page (no secrets within it, I promise!).

I’ve changed the last tab in my setup now, from ’sketches’ to ‘expenses,’ as I’m finding that keeping receipts in my purse means they don’t always make it into my work Filofax (an A5 Balmoral, in case you were wondering!).  Now they’re centralised in a plastic pocket (also bought at Neal St), and I’ve inserted a Finance sheet to keep a track of my mileage – much more organised!!

Now that the sketches section has disappeared, perhaps I could use the Finsbury as my planned Filofax sketchbook!

Anyone else using a Slimline?  How do you get on with it?

Cat x

PS  The pen is from Swarovski – an xmas pressie last year!

If you’re a Filofax fan and by some miracle you haven’t come across Philofaxy – go check it out now!  It’s the place to be for all the latest news, reviews, ideas and resources from Filofax fans from all over the globe.  The site regularly interviews its readers about all things Filofax – today it’s my turn! 

Read the interview in full on Philofaxy here
Read all my Filofax posts here.

As usually happens around the mid-year mark, I’m bored of my everyday diary… time for a new Filofax! 

Last year I was using a vintage personal sized Filofax and the paper size was perfect, but I found the weight a bit much for everyday use (see it in this post) .  Previously I’ve also used a mini size and loved it, but sadly the rings came away from the binder and it couldn’t be fixed – hence my switch to the bargain vintage one, which I thrifted from a charity shop!

Anyway, I saw a post about Slimline Filofaxes over on Philofaxy a while back and was intrigued – the paper size of a Personal Filofax, with the depth more akin to a pocket notebook – and it can double as a wallet!  I’m surprised I’ve resisted for so long, but now seemed to be the right time; I ordered a Slimline Finsbury in black.

A couple of days later, however, the plot thickened… I popped up to the charity shop near my work one lunchtime and lo and behold in the bric-a-brac corner was a brand new Filofax Finsbury Mini in purple, my favourite colour!  Guess how much?  The grand price of £1.50!!

So now, a quandary – which would I use?  Well, the slimline arrived and it wasn’t love at first sight…at all!  It was black and shiny and nowhere near as appealing as the cute little purple mini.  Left confused, I decided to leave it a few days.  I asked my Filofax friends on Twitter and concluded I’d set up the slimline and see how I felt. 

It wasn’t long before I was in love, it’s perfect for my needs.  Not too heavy, a paper size I can cope with, it lies flat and even has a few card slots for the cards I carry, but don’t need access to at all times.  The quandary is not completely settled yet, as I still love the mini, but I’m thinking perhaps that will do for next year’s everyday planner.  I’m not sure how I’ll cope going back to the tiny paper size though!

Do you have a mini?  I’d love to hear some views on what you use it for and how you get on with it – please leave a comment on the post!

Find a Filofax bargain on Amazon UK here.

Read all my Filofax posts here.

Just a quick post to show off my newly skinny A5 Balmoral Filofax!  This is the filofax I use every day and over the past couple of years it’s got to be rather chunky.  I’m about to move to a new job, so I thought it was about time to have a clearout!  I’ve pulled out all my project related notes and previous diary pages, plus some of the business card holders and to-do list paper, as I rarely use it.

Now I can even close it on the first popper (wonder how long that will last?!)…here it is, ready for a fresh start:

I’m also pleased to say that my Filofax posts now have their very own blog category!  Read all my Filofax blog posts here. 

To see more pictures of this Filofax and my others, check out my Flickr set here.

I’m always interested in finding new ways to use my Filofaxes and this year even more so, since my ‘everyday’ Filo has been put aside while I use the gorgeous Paperblanks diary I was gifted at Christmas (don’t panic – I’m still using my trusty A5 Balmoral for work!). 

Last year I customised this vintage Filofax as my everyday diary and this included a section of plain paper for impromptu sketching:

I’m still using this organiser at home for the other sections, but what I really miss is always having the sketchbook with me out and about.  I do have other sketchbooks, but the spines always get tatty in my handbag, whereas Filofax protects the inner pages much better – plus I don’t have to keep a pen and pencil loose in my bag as there are two handy pen loops.

Soooo…this is my plan – to convert this organiser into a multi-use sketchbook! 

I, like many other sketching types, tend to use a variety of media – pencil, ink, watercolour, pastels, etc and this often means lots of different requirements of paper type.  But what if you could get every type of paper in one place?  All it would take would be to trim the paper required down to the right size, use a Filofax hole punch and then separate using dividers! 

All I need to do now is get a Personal sized hole punch – I’ll let you know how I get on!!

Read all my Filofax posts here.