Filofax Problems #1 Rings, Scratches & Laying Flat

Okay so these problems may not affect everyone, or might not be a big issue for people with these problems, but for someone it could be a very upsetting problem. I have just recently received my first Filofax scratch from one of my kittens. It was an accident and is only small, but it's so noticeable to me and it feels like this perfect and beautiful Filofax is now ruined :( I think I'm overreacting a little, I'm trying to forget about it, but does anyone else feel like this?

These are the rings in my A5 pink Finsbury, they don't have any big gaps and the only problem I have with them is sometimes the pages get caught slightly, but I'm aware of that and try to be gentle. I have seen some horrific rings on Flickr and the Facebook group which has slightly made me nervous to buy anymore Filofaxes.

Another problem which I have lucky not had experience with is training a Filofax to lay flat. I have heard a lot of Filofax owners complain about certain designs that won't lay flat and they have to put heavy vases and boxes on them to 'train them'.. I don't know why that is, I've personally never had to train my Identity or Finsbury, so maybe I've been lucky. I don't know whether it's just the personal size which suffers from this problem because I've not seen any A5's being trained. If I had to train my Finsbury, I think I would lay it face down and put something heavy on both sides for a few days, if that didn't work I would send it back and request a new one.

Let me know your Filofax experiences and any other problems you've ran into :)

My Week #30

I missed last weeks (week #29) as I have been so busy and I don't have a constant internet connection and have to wait until I go over to my boyfriends to post anything. This week I've not done much, I went to London on the Monday to watch The Smashing Pumpkins with my boyfriend, we stayed overnight in this awful hotel called Euro Wembley Hotel (read my review of it here). Again I didn't use much, just my usual pen (shown on the right), masking sticker set, Paperchase stickers, heart stickers from Asda, star sticker from eBay, and post it notes (from Asda and B&M). I write the highlight of the week at the top on the masking tape.

My Week #28

I had a slightly busy week but nothing too interesting. I went to the dentist and had a blood donation. I had a Welcome Workshop and Save A Life course at the Red Cross on Friday, and on Sunday I had the Selection Day at Samaritans. This week it's been super hot, it's been 27-30°c all week. 

Here are photos of the kittens if you're interested!

Siamese kittens, one seal point and one chocolate point

Persian kittens, one blue and one apricot

Meet Oki the Moustache Cat!

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I would like you all to meet Oki! He is an orange Persian cat with a white moustache. He loves boxes and plastic bags, he likes to nap a lot and eat. He is super cuddly and lovable. 

Oki has regular videos uploaded on his Youtube page, along with photos on his Facebook and Tumblr. He loves meeting new people and making new friends, so you can tweet him!

He recently had his fur shaved because his winter fur wasn't falling out and he was overheating. He feels a lot more happier and playful.

If you like cats or moustaches, make sure to subscribe, like, tweet, and follow for more moustache cuteness!

My Week #27

This week has been a little quiet, I've finished college and haven't been able to get any overtime at work so far. I also wasn't feeling great all week, I had a temperature and had zero energy. I didn't go to the gym and my clean eating started to slip.

What I used:

I also used the yellow and orange sticky notes, and the yellow arrow sticky notes

A look at my monthly Filofax pages and how I decorate them

When I bought my pink A5 Finsbury, I had to also buy month on two pages refills for 2013. I bought them at the start of June, so I couldn't use the first half of the year. What I decided to do with the ones from January - May was to experiment with different decoration ideas. I searched on Flickr, Instagram, the Philofaxy Facebook groups, and various Filofax blogs to get more inspiration on how to decorate my monthly pages. I'll talk you through the pages I've already done, what worked and what didn't.

This is the May month which I went back to fill out the days I went to the gym, when I worked and got paid, and any other events I needed to remember. I decided I wanted to cross out each day with a simple line as it looked neat, but the main thing was what to do with the extra days. I tried out colouring the days in which were the end of April and the start of June. I really like this idea, and I think I will do this for all of my monthly pages. It looks colourful but not harsh on the eye, and my focus goes on the white pages not the filled in ones which is what I wanted. I also used the star stickers I found on eBay to mark the days I went to the gym, and these heart stickers I found at my local Asda store for 50p for 5 sheets! I'm trying them out for the monthly colour coding - this is the only thing that seems to be working right now (I'll go more into detail with these in another blog post).

This is the June month which I am quite embarrassed to show. I tried the washi tape idea for hiding the extra days in the month before and after, but it didn't work out. I don't have any proper washi tape, so I had to use the ones I had in the pastel washi masking tape stickers set but they were too small and didn't cover the whole area. It looked messy and not pleasing to the eye, so I ended up colouring the rest in to hopefully make it look better... it honestly looks awful and I couldn't wait to get into the July month! I started putting the washi masking tape on the top of the month to make it look prettier and less boring, and then at the end of the month I wrote down what was the biggest highlight of the month (in this case it was mine and my boyfriends first holiday, and seeing Blondie live!).

This is the July page, which I decided to try out another idea and use the round stickers in the pastel washi masking tape stickers set to mark off the unused days. It works okay but doesn't work as well as the colouring pencils in my idea. I still see the empty days and therefore it makes the month look longer. I still cross off each day with a simple line, and use the coloured heart stickers from Asda to colour code certain events. I used the washi masking tape idea at the top again as I did in June to mark a big event in the month (I've already done this month as it will be seeing Smashing Pumpkins live). I used another idea of putting sticky notes with little memos on the today ruler.. I won't be doing it all the time, but this was just something I could keep on the ruler until the next year refills arrive.

 Overall, I think I will stick with the colouring pencils for filling in the extra days from the month before and after. This works best personally for me, and makes it look more colourful and interesting. I will also stick with using the washi masking tape at the top of the pages to record big events throughout the month, and also using the coloured hearts for monthly colour coding. Hopefully the next few months will look better and cleaner/more organized now I've had a play around and know what works best for me.

What works well for you? What do you do in your monthly pages? How do you colour code certain events? Leave a comment and let me know!

An updated look into my filofax and things I use

So my last Filofax blog was from a while back and since then I've changed a few things and added in some new things. I'll walk you through my set up, and what I use. I own an A5 pink Finsbury which I adore. It's my second Filofax (my first being an A5 black Identity). I've always been into the A5 size, I couldn't handle anything smaller. So when you open it this is what you see:

I use the business cards to hold appointment cards and sticky notes; and behind that is my gym timetable and then all the general Filofax papers and information such as contacts.

In the front zip pocket I keep these in there for easy access.

After all the personal notes starts the calendar. It's at the front because it's the thing I use most and is easily accessible being at the front. I start with a yearly pull-out calendar, then the monthly calendar, and then the daily week on two pages from Paperchase. I will do a separate blog post for the monthly and daily calendars.

This is the start of my calendars. I use the round stickers from the pastel washi masking tape stickers set to mark off each month

I use the horizontal year planner to mark every time I go to the gym or attend a class. I bought these star stickers from eBay in order to make it stand out more, but they're a little too big for the lines.

When I bought this Filofax I also bought the Avery note tabs. I originally wanted the Martha Stewart tabs but they were no longer available practically anywhere :( But regardless, these note tabs are fabulous and very durable. There are 10 of each colour (red, yellow, green, blue - you can also get another pack which have pink and purple).

These are my tabs, in order: Calendar, finance, college, health, food, to do, reading, notes, film, projects.

These are my finance sheets which I made myself. I tried to copy the Filofax finance sheets which I thought weren't available but it seems they are. So I copied this photo from Imy. I just put the date, expense, cash/card, what has gone in or gone out, and the amount remaining. I have recently found the Filofax finance sheets in my local Ryman store, and I was quite shocked at how bad the quality was and decided to keep my own as it works well for me. I just write down everything and highlight my pay days so it's easier to keep track (you can download my version here).

This is my health section which I write down my weekly weigh in's, goals, measurements, and inspirational quotes. I also have a graph of my weight and the first 14lbs to lose, which was inspired by Emma's post on Filo Dieters United Facebook page.

This is my food journal. I got these vertical week on two pages in this Filofax but didn't want to use them for my normal weekly pages, so thought they would work out for jotting down what I eat everyday. It is working so far, however some days I forget to write down everything which kind of defeats the whole purpose. I use different colours for each day in order to make it look prettier and more interesting. I try to make sure I drink enough water everyday, but this layout doesn't help out much with that.

I am quite happy with my Filofax at the moment, I feel more 'close' to it than my first one. It's more brighter and interesting to me, it makes me want to open it up and use it all the time! When I first got into Filofaxes I wasn't interested in colours or makes such as the Chameleon or Finsbury. I had the black Identity for a few weeks before I started to barely use it and lost interest, and looked around for any other Filofaxes I liked. I then found the Finsbury which was the only make I liked, and the pink looked the best in my opinion. I finally bought it from Amazon on May 31st after I had my appendix removed as a little treat to myself.

This was my latest colour coding scheme which again isn't working. I've decided to just stick with colour coding my monthly's with the coloured stickers.

 I've tried different colour coding methods but nothing has seemed to stick. I learned before hand you had to be careful with what pens you use on the Filofax paper as it easily bleeds through. I attempted to use different colours for different things for example, using a blue pen for college and a green pen for pays days and work days. I just couldn't keep up with using all different colours all the time, especially being away from home. It took up a lot of time and I felt that the pages looked messy and un-organised... Defeating the purpose of having a Filofax in my opinion. Since then I've decided to just use a black pen for all my writing, and use coloured Paperchase stickers for the monthly events. I sometimes use a highlighter to mark certain things at the end of the week if I feel it will look better. 

From left to right; pink stabio boss highlighter from eBay, 5 Bic brite liner from eBay, and a pack of Zebra Z-Grip ball point pens from Asda but available from eBay. 

Middle top to bottom; matching pen and mechanical pencil from Warner Leisure Hotels, pastel coloured bulldog clips from eBay, clear 15cm Oxford ruler which was apart of a Geometry set from Asda but is available on eBay, and a Helix eraser again from Asda but available from eBay (they are latex free as I'm allergic).

An introduction to my A5 Pink Finsbury!

Hi everyone! This is my beautiful pink A5 finsbury Filofax which I completely adore. Before this, I had my first Filofax which was a black A5 identity. The colour just stands out and makes me fall in love with it! I don't have a name, nothing seems to fit, but that doesn't really bother me. I bought her from Amazon for roughly £60 on a Friday night, and it arrived Monday morning. I have never felt more stressed and excited to receive a parcel in my LIFE!! So anyway, one it arrived I practically moved into it right away, but changed a few things as I wasn't happy with the layout of my old Filofax. I wanted it to be fun and colourful with some "personality". 

 This is what the inside looks like. The open-top envelope on the left holds my local gym timetable, then starts the calendars. Seeing as these photos were taken a while ago and I've altered certain things, I will do another blog post detailing my tabs and an 'update'. At least you can see what it looked like before, and what I've currently done to it. But my main tabs include calendars, finance, college, to-dos, reading, film, notes, and projects.

It took me a long time to find the right pens, pencils, and highlighters to use. I was aware of the bad Filofax paper quality, so I knew I needed something which was 'light-weight' and wouldn't run out super fast. I chose to use one of my favourite pens which I originally bought a few months ago to use for college. I also chose to use a mechanical pencil mainly for the reason you don't need to carry a sharpener or rubber with you (this one had a rubber on the top). I have recently changed my choices as I found a matching pen and mechanical pencil which my mom's partner got from her work at Warner Leisure Hotels. They fit perfectly in and I am in love. I will do a more detailed blog post at all my stationary which I currently use, and what I recommend :-)

I am also going to post my week and what I used (inspired by filocuteness). Please keep in turn, and also let me know anything you'd like to know what I use, how I use my Filofax etc. I have more Filofax related blog posts coming up soon!