I should just bite the bullet, right?

I've been running two systems alongside each other for a few weeks - my Adelphi slimline which is acting as wallet, diary and address book alongside my Traveller's Journal which has my home-made week + notes in it.

The Adelphi is great as a wallet and carry-around diary (and addresses though I don't use them much) but what I am looking at to see what I'm meant to be doing each day is the Traveller's Journal week + notes. The TJ isn't coming out and about with me, but it could. I have the card-holder insert and the zipped pocket insert from Midori and it would be a piece of cake to move money and cards over. The inserts are in fact IN the TJ already, just empty.

So why am I persisting in running the two alongside each other?
Because I have my Filofax already set up for the year with all the dates written into the diary? True - but I have the diary in the TJ too and seriously - it would be a half hour job to check that the same info is in the TJ as I have in the Filofax diary.
Because it's too easy to leave it all as it is and have the TJ open on my desk and the Adelphi as a carry around? Hm. It is, but I've already spotted that I've written something in the Adelphi that I didn't transfer across to the TJ and running two diaries? That way madness lies! And missed appointments.

The fact is, I am not looking at the diary in the Adelphi and I've begun to not actually like it either. I am basically using the Adelphi as a wallet and no kind of planning tool. I've noted some appointments in it when I've been out at Rotary and things have been arranged, but for actually working out what I'm doing with my day/week, I am only looking at the week + notes I made myself. And yes, it's in the hateful Moleskine (still!) but no, I can't be bothered to make another one for what's left of 2015. The Moleskine is working okay (as long as I don't want to write in ink!). If it all goes well, I can change to the Rhodia version in 2016.

I should just bite the bullet and move the money across and see how it goes, right? The fact I've written out the dates on the Tomoe River diary in the Filofax shouldn't be the reason I'm not moving into the TJ. Right? Right??

What do people think?

Slimline scarlet Adelphi

I saw a scarlet slimline Adelphi on eBay and had a ponder. Would it work for me?

Colour pop? Check.
Personal-size paper? Check.
Small rings? Check.
Card-slots? Check.
Other pockets? Check.

And so I bought it...

I've been trialling it for a few days and am happy so far. Let me walk you through it.

Cover:
The outer has a quilted effect embossed into the leather. I didn't like this when it came out (and was never interested in owning an Adelphi, partly because of the quilted effect) but I actually really like it now. I think it looks more interesting than the plain covers - more classy maybe? Anyway, there is a smooth edge (front only) and then the quilted-effect area. It's more scarlet than my picture shows.

Front cover

Inside left:
On the inside left, there is a covered pocket with 6 credit-card slots with a full-height pocket behind. I had intended to keep coins in the pocket as well as cash plus a few other bits and pieces, but I prefer to see my coins so I know if I have enough or if I need to break a note, so they have stayed in the zipped pencil case that is punched and on the rings at the back of the binder. It takes up a bit of real estate on the rings, but I prefer it. The popper on the pocket holds everything securely contained.
The next two pictures show the colour much better.

Inside: Covered pocket. You can see the zipped pencil case
peeping out at the back

Pocket opened. 6 credit card slots plus a full height pocket behind

The card slots are the simple cut type, rather than ones with a turned edge. I prefer the turned-edge versions and these were a bit of a wriggle to get the cards in but they might not have been used much by the previous owner.

Rings:
There are oval rings with a 13mm diameter in the widest plane (left to right). I couldn't cope with 11mm rings and 15mm are easier, but the 13mm are okay.

Inside right:
There is a full height slip pocket in the back cover.

The pen loop:
Well. It has a diameter of about 3mm! I think (think...) it is designed so that just a pen clip fits in it - the loop is 1/4 down the cover rather than mid-way. And tiny. I can just get the clip of my Zebra Sharbo diary pen/pencil duo in there.

What I have got in it:
Sometimes it's hard to judge how much stuff you can fit on rings so let me try and give you an idea of what fits easily in there for me. At the moment I have:

• paper money plus air mail labels, 3 books of stamps and 3 small cards in the front pocket
• 6 cards in the card slots
• card divider labelled 'notes' (acting as a sheet protector and hiding the sheets behind)
• 4 sheets of standard Filofax (FF) paper for notes
• 1 sheet of pink FF paper with monthly goals on
• 6 months (Jul-Dec 2015) Tomoe River WO2P diary (27 sheets)
• 3 sheets of quadrille paper tracking various things
• 8 sheets of (random) information
• 15 sheets of addresses
• A FF card holder with 6 cards in it
• The zipped pencil case for coins
• [nothing in the back cover as yet]

I've been using it for a few days and so far, I'm really liking it. The colour pop is great and it's small and light but yet holds everything I need at the moment. The pen loop is a bit irritating but I'm getting used to hanging my pen clip on it and trusting that it will stay where it's put. It doesn't have quite all the pockets that the compact Holborn has, but it has the colour pop I seem to need!

[p.s. thank you for all the kind thoughts and good wishes after my surgery. All went well and I might even manage to get back to running soon!]