I received a new binder recently…
It’s A5…
It’s pale green…
It has six rings…
It has pockets and card-slots…
From a (reasonable) distance it could be mistaken for the
jade Finchley.
It isn’t a Filofax.
WHAT?
That’s right.
It isn’t a Filofax. It’s a Mulberry.
But hang on, don’t
Mulberry do all kinds of weird ring spacing that means nothing else fits in
them so you’re forced to buy their really expensive inserts?
That’s what I thought. But it’s not (entirely) true.
WHAT???
I bought an A5 Mulberry (which they call Planner size) and…
the hole spacing is exactly the same as
the personal filofax size.
I realise that this might not be news to some of you, but it
was for me! The belief that the ring-spacing was unique had put me off getting an A5 Mulberry for as long as I have thought about buying one. I then saw one on eBay that was going for a song and decided to bite the bullet. I could always get a single-hole punch if I really couldn't face buying Mulberry inserts...
Then the night before it arrived I was emailing my friend Gerard
about it and he told me that the spacing was the same as the personal filofax.
I didn’t quite believe it could be true, but then, it arrived, and he’s
absolutely right!
So, here are my initial thoughts about it.
It’s been well used. I don’t know if the previous user loved
or cherished it, but it’s pretty battered and has obviously seen a lot of work.
I don’t mind that. Despite the wear and tear, the quality shows through. It would
have been nice for it to have been in better nick (but then I wouldn’t have
managed to get it for £30! Yes, I did say it was going for a song.).
 |
| Front cover |
 |
| Back cover |
Inside the back cover there is a gusseted zipped pocket, lined with the same tartan material you can see next to the rings, with a full-height pocket behind (also lined with the tartan material).
 |
| Inside back cover |
The inside front cover has four cut-edge credit card slots
and an ID window with a pocket behind. The back of that first piece of leather
is brown leather (I think – though it might be vinyl). Behind that is another
pocket, the reverse of which is lined with suede and then a full-height pocket
behind that, which is also lined with suede on one side (the reverse of the
leather) and the tartan material on the other.
 |
| Inside front cover |
 |
| Lies flat as a bat |
It came with a few inserts, but I probably won’t use them –
they’re a bit tired looking. And anyway, the huge bonus is that I can make my own A5 inserts and use my decent
hole punch to make the holes, rather than having to use the hateful, poor
quality atrocity that Filofax produce for their A5 hole-spacing. I can even
interleave personal pages in if I want to. How happy am I??
 |
| Proof!! Personal paper in the Mulberry planner |
So, yes, it’s a bit worn and it seems to have had a bit of a
hard life, but it’s brilliant for me!
What do others think?? Like? Interesting but not for you? Dislike??
"Flat as a bat" made me laugh!
ReplyDeleteIt looks nice to me, I like the tartan, I'd be tempted to either try and clean it a bit, or see if I could get it dyed by a shoe-repair shop... but I think a used-looking binder is a good thing, and the way you can use personal-size inserts is pretty neat!
I love it, i'm thinking of buying a really used and loved worn out Filofax off ebay, a good quality one like Amazona, theres something special about a well used Filofax :)
ReplyDeleteIt's beautiful! Love the cover and that inside is divine!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful
Trac
Wow up until today I heard of this new mulberry thing is it good or just another Filofax imitation thing? Lol
ReplyDeleteWow, that's really neat. Love the tartan; I hadn't seen one before, other than the handbags. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteThis is the most useful post I think I've read about planners. I had a Mulberry agenda which I love because it's amazing quality, but when it came to getting a bigger one for work, I decided to get a Filofax because of the inserts- but found that it was quite bulky compared to the Mulberry ones, so yesterday I went to bicester village and found a cut price Mulberry planner. I'm so happy to have found that now I can just buy one of the filofax hole punches and make my own inserts- will def save money and let me make custom ones! Thanks!! By the way, I'm selling the Filofax- Kendall, perfect condition on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110909593187?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649#ht_500wt_1156
ReplyDelete@everyone
ReplyDeleteThank you for all the lovely comments and sorry to take so long to reply - I've been away with no internet access.
@Shanti
Hubby always loves the phrase 'flat as a bat' too! I may well try and clean it a bit more - there were some suggestions over on Philofaxy a while back about cleaning leaather - I will have to go check them out.
@Alison
Did you get anything??
@Vics
Thank you! Glad the post was helpful. I wish I had read more about Mulberry before I bought it (hence being glad my post was helpful!) although I would still have bought it. :-)
Which Mulberry planner did you get?
I think it's lovely & it might clean up well too.
ReplyDeleteLove the colour as many other Mulberry organisers I've seen on eBay have been brown or black, so great find :)
@Anita
ReplyDeleteI loved the colour too - I've usually only seen brown or black so seeing a pale green one was a surprise!
I'm hoping it will clean up a bit more but if it doesn't, it doesn't. :-)
Sorry, I'm a bit late to this thread. I have a Mulberry planner. It's ten years old now and still looks and smells fab (I paid the full price for it so it wasn't a bargain like yours). I moisturise my planner with Clarks shoe cream (any leather cream will do) and in the process the dirt comes off. Hope that helps. Also, I just discovered that the filofax hole punch is the same holes as the planner (after all these years) so am very happy to be able to add lots of interesting things instead of just the diary and notes.
ReplyDeleteMe again....just to let you know I've just spoken to Mulberry and they've discontinued the Planner. They will however continue with the diary and other inserts.
ReplyDeletewhoul you please tell me more about ring's size? are they 30mm?
ReplyDeletethanks
The binder's at work so I can't measure it, but I would say they are 25mm, judging by thinking how it compares to a Domino A5 filofax (30mm) and a Finchley A5 filofax (25mm).
ReplyDeleteHope that helps.
Thank you so very much :)
DeleteSo. Nice. they have Storys to Tell...A6,A5..,mullberry.
Delete