Can I downsize to 15mm rings??

As I said in my last post, I have bought a red pocket Portland with the somewhat significant drawback of it possessing 15mm rings. Can I downsize to move into it? I am currently using a 23mm ring personal Baroque, so it’s a tough challenge!

The main things on the rings are the diary, addresses and card-holders. The amount of space I have for notes is relatively small. So, can I move to smaller versions of any of these?

Diary:
Well, this is always a bit of a nightmare for me. I like to be able to see a week at a time, otherwise I don’t have an overview and I’m just lost. BUT, I also have to have my to-do/notes page for the week visible when I open my filofax, because even if it only a page away and marked really, really clearly, there is some part of my brain that just ignores it and I don’t look at it. The upshot of that is, that I really need a week + notes format. Can I manage that in something as small as a pocket? That’s the bit that remains to be seen. I know I can cope with a pocket week to view, size-wise, as I have done it before. The week plus notes by filofax wastes far too much real-estate for me to get it. I’ve said before that my diary needs are pretty simple. I need the date range across the top and the day and date on the day space. I don’t need the mini-calendar thing, I don’t need umpteen languages, my work doesn’t recognise most of the UK Bank Holidays so I sure as heck don’t need to be reminded how many OTHER people in the world are on holiday each day. I can tell what the moon looks like by looking at it and couldn’t care less whether it is full or not (photographer hubby does!).

I’m also pretty handy with word-processors and mail-merge stuff so I could make my own diary. I normally prefer my week per page to be lined, but a week per page pocket would be too small for this.
I’ve also realised that I don’t actually need the notes pages in more than a month ahead, so I could duplex-print the diary and just insert a lined page between the weeks at the start of the month. Anything needing noting more than a month ahead could go in the coloured monthly pages I have for advanced planning. I don’t mind that the week changes sides each week. For a full year, the diary section could then be:
26 pages of week per page (52 weeks, duplex-printed)
12 pages for monthly planning
2-3 pages of notes for the weeks, inserted between the weeks (again, these can be used on each side)
1 page for ‘beyond 2013 planning’
Total: 41 pages

Card-holders:
As I like my binder to be wallet and planner, being able to carry cards easily is essential. The Portland has four card slots in the back cover, but I generally want to carry a whole heap more than that and this is where the 15mm rings might struggle. Each card-holder can hold an additional four cards. I need two more card holders and they take up a LOT of space on the rings.

Addresses:
This might be less of a problem soon as I am about to buy a smart phone (yes, as in I haven’t possessed one before now). Until then, I could use the address book that came with the Flex as it could tuck in behind the card pocket in the back.

The project notes and capture notes are fairly small in number – maybe 20 in total, so in theory, this is all feasible.

But, as I said in my last post, there is the significant danger that trying to squeeze into a red Portland will only trigger me to move back into the red Mulberry.... it’s red, it has the same number of card slots as the Portland but it has a bigger page size and a better page format.

Watch this space!