Saturday 2 May 2015

Stamford Traveller's Journal thoughts

I know, I know. I'm already all set up for 2015 with the Holborn filofax, but I'm thinking about how to use the Stamford Traveller's Journal instead... 2016 at the earliest though! I am all set for 2015.

For it to work, it would have to be able to function as both a planner and a wallet.

Planner:
The page size is big enough to have a good-sized week plus notes and I've been playing around with the squared Moleskine cahier, not because I will use it for this, but to get some ideas about a possible layout, to then use in a booklet with proper paper.
After a bit of playing, I think a 16-block spread would work - 8 blocks on each side.

Week to view
effectively week + notes

The left hand side would use 7 blocks for Monday - Sunday and use the 8th block for a tracking block.

Left hand side - weekdays + tracking

The right-hand side would use two of the blocks for 1) key things this week and 2) key things next week. The other six blocks would be to note the next-actions/to-do in 5 life-areas, plus one labelled 'other'. I've just put 'Life area #1' etc. because my life areas are my life areas!

Right hand side
to-do/next actions split into life areas

I don't know which notebooks I would use - possibly a Rhodia cahier (though I've not road-tested them yet). Almost no potential books would have the right number of pages to be able to have the whole year in, so I would probably remove the staples, add in enough extra pages to be able to do the full year, replace the cover with some nice card, sew the pages back in (rather than re-staple probably) and then trim the whole lot up to 12.5cm width.

I am also still doing well using a 'day-page' with time-blocking down the left side and the right side as a list/scratch-pad area. This has morphed from a reporter's notebook and A5 filofax diary (see here for details) into just a reporter's notebook, one page per day, divided vertically. The reporter's notebook is about the same page size as the Traveller's Journal booklets, so a simple lined booklet would suffice for these and I could therefore have my week+notes booklet and a day-book in the TJ very easily.

So, that would sort out the planner side okay, but I also carry an address book and a few information pages. These could fairly easily be moved into another booklet if I thought I needed them with me, but to be honest, I'm questioning that. If I need contact details I have them on my phone which is always out and about, and if I'm at home, then my filofax will be nearby (even if it's on a shelf rather than open on my desk) and easy to refer to.

Wallet:
As well as being my planner, my filofax is my wallet and a shift to any other system would have to encompass that too. The all-in-one aspect is too ingrained in me now to think about having to grab more than one thing when I leave the house! I wouldn't cope with having to find planner and wallet.

Obviously, filofaxes come with zipped pockets and card slots and what have you, which the Traveller's Journal doesn't. I would need to be able to carry cards with me and also money in a zipped pocket. Thankfully, Midori do inserts that allow both of these. Sadly, The Journal Shop was out of stock of the credit card insert, but I did order a couple of zipped pockets to try out and I found an alternative source for the card inserts. I'll review both of these when they arrive.

Overall, depending on a) finding notebooks I want to use in the cover at a reasonable price and b) the card insert and zipper pocket being okay, I think this could work pretty well as planner + wallet. How many others do this? And how have you set your Traveller's Journal/Traveler's Notebook up?

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