Still in the Holborn...

...but I suspect it won't be for long. I may try and use it for the whole of April but I'm already contemplating moving into the turquoise Baroque, or possibly try out the binder I have just bought off eBay (ahem).

Okay, one by one...

Why am I not loving the wine Holborn? It has all those pockets, it's red (ish) and with the full-size rings it has space for the whole year of diary (and therefore I have removed the month to view pages as I genuinely never look at them and can never work out what is supposed to go in them other than birthdays which are in the WO2P anyway).
I think it's all the pockets that's the problem as the covers feel bulky. The pen-loop always makes the back pocket be slightly sticky-outy and that's making the rest of the pages stick up too. The inward-facing pockets are difficult to access and so I hardly use them and the zipped pocket is also a bit tricky so just holds the cards I don't need easy access to and I keep coins in a zipped plastic pencil-case. [So basically the only pockets I am using are the ones I would have available in a Baroque: one for paper money and a zipped one to hold infrequently used cards. Which makes me think, "Oh, just move into the Baroque!"]

And what's all this about buying another binder on eBay??

Well, I like my compact de Villiers but it's getting damaged (see my last post); I like my compact Cavendish but it doesn't quite lie flat enough (and it's probably going to a friend). Basically, I like a compact that has a lot of card slots on the inside cover and preferably has a pen loop and another pocket for keeping non-essential but useful cards in. I saw such a binder on eBay, made an offer and it is now on its way to me. More details once it is here.

Still in a compact?

Answer = yes, but not the Cavendish.

Ah, the colour pop. I knew it would get me in the end! I have moved back into the de Villiers after a brief foray into the teal Baroque! The Baroque looked as skinny as hell, even with the whole of 2015 WO2P in there and two lots of monthly planning pages, but that’s because they are mostly the Tomoe River paper versions and take up almost no space. It was more brick-like than either the compact Cavendish or the de Villiers, but then, I’ve not been out and about so much these days to realise it’s more brick-like. Anyway, after looking back through old posts, I realised I missed the de Villiers and shifted back into it yesterday (using one of the zipped wallets from Paperchase to hold a few random things).

As for planning... that’s just a disaster zone at the moment as some days I get up and feel (half) full of energy and can get on and do stuff and other days I crawl out of bed and can focus on almost nothing. I daren’t plan anything because I’m pretty sure it won’t get done and then I’ll be more stressed, but a wide-open diary with sod-all in it also freaks me out. I’ve been off for over three weeks and I can barely tell you what I have done in that time. I’ve done a bit of writing (book 6 is going to get renamed “Mr Blanding’s House” pretty damn soon!), a bit of reading, been trying to walk each day, been to counselling... but nothing like what was on my ‘plans for end of November to December’ lists. I’ll be doing well if anyone gets anything for Christmas to be honest. Mind you, we generally give Oxfam Present Aid gifts or Good Gifts anyway, so there’s no traipsing around shops to be done.

But, the red de Villiers colour pop is cheerful. Even if it is less of an ‘organiser’ and more of an ornament at the moment, at least it’s a very attractive ornament!

Shortest filofax change ever?

Following on from my last post, where I started to hum and haw about whether I could use a pocket Holborn, I thought I would switch the contents of my Baroque into my wine Holborn, just to remind myself about the leather and the feel of the thing.

I haven’t quite moved back yet, but I was itching to, only seconds after moving in. Although the leather in the Holborn is beautiful and supple, it isn’t the full-on floppiness of the Baroques!

This might be the quickest in-out (shaking it all about) ever for me! I might not stay in it for an hour, never mind any longer...

Pocket Holborn...?

Oh, Shadow Wolf has gone and done it now...! Between her saying how fabulous her pocket Holborn is, me having looked and looked and looked at the pocket Holborn over time and eBay having a new one for a good price right now... enabling!!

So, in an attempt at sane rationality, I’m going to compare and contrast the Baroque and the Holborn. Hopefully, I will find that the Holborn is no better than the Baroque I already have and so there is no point buying it.
[This is also known as the null-hypothesis and we all know that that’s actually what you’re trying to disprove!]

Shadow Wolf assures me of flattability, so we needn’t compare on those grounds, which leaves pockets, rings and colour.

Pockets:
a) Baroque
There are four card slots plus a curved pocket that can be used for cards.
There is a full-height pocket behind the card-slots, then a zipped pocket, then another full-height pocket behind the zipped one and another full-height pocket behind that.
In the back there is a note-pad pocket.
There is no full-width pocket along the back.

b) Holborn
There are three card-slots and a curved pocket that can be used for cards.
There is an outward-facing full-height pocket behind the card-slots. There is also an inward-facing full-height pocket behind the card-slots.
In the back cover, there is an outward-facing full-height pocket (and I think there is a zipped pocket inside here - Shadow Wolf can you confirm or deny?). There is also an inward facing full-height pocket.
There is a full-width pocket along the back.

Rings:
a) Baroque
19mm

b) Holborn
15mm

Colour:
The Baroque I have is black. If I had a turquoise or pink one, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion! The black is okay – redeemed by the embossing inside, but nonetheless, black.
The Holborn on eBay is wine. The wine-red personal Holborn I have is a gorgeous colour. I could certainly live with it in pocket size.

The crunch is the pocket layout I think. If I work through what I would put where, maybe that would help?

a) Baroque
In the past I have had 4 cards in the card-slots, stamps in the pocket behind, other cards in the zipped pocket, in the full-height pocket behind the zipped one I put vouchers and the other full-height pocket was too tricky to get things in and out of so I didn’t use it. In the notepad pocket in the back I put paper money. Coins went into a zip-loc bag at the back and there was one card-holder on the rings.

b) Holborn
Since I have never held one, I will have to predict how I would use the pockets...
4 cards in the card slots. Other cards in the zipped pocket at the back. Stamps in one of the full-height pockets (probably the front inward-facing one as there is never a rush to get to them!). Vouchers in one of the other full-height ones (probably front outward-facing for easy access).
Paper money and receipts would go in the full-width pocket along the back; coins would go in the zip-loc bag.
Now, this leaves me an inward-facing pocket and an outward-facing pocket still to assign things to! I have a pocket-size address book which I got with the Flex which I could probably slot into the inward-facing pocket at the back, which might (might) free up the rings so that 15mm ones would be okay. The other 15mm ring versions of filofaxes always fail because I have to carry the cards on card-holders on the rings which leaves no space for paper contents.

Hmm... Shadow Wolf – if you’re reading this, will the Holborn work how I think it would??? Because if so, I may just succumb!

Pockets, pockets, pockets

Well, I gave myself a stern talking to after the last yearning and convinced myself that I should stay in a personal size and that if I really, really needed a change of scenery with it, I should move into the pink one or into a Holborn.
But the pocket “itch” is still there! The thing is, I think I know what the ideal pocket layout would be and I don’t think it exists in any binder.
I want:

• At least 4, easy-to-get-things-in-and-out-of card slots
• At least one other pocket for things like stamps
• A zipped pocket (for the other cards that don’t sit in a card-holder or in the card slots)
• Flat-as-a-bat floppiness
• 19mm rings
• A back pocket that runs across the full width of the binder to put paper money in

Other pockets would be good as long as I can get things in and out of them reasonably easily.

So how do my current stash of pocket-sized binders fare?

Model	No. card-slots?	Other pocket(s)?	Zipped pocket?	Flat-as-a-bat?	19mm rings?	Back pocket?
Aston	4	1 full-height	yes	no	yes	no
Baroque	5	3 full-height plus note-pad pocket	yes	yes	yes	no
Cavendish	4	2 full-height	yes (on back)	no	no – 15mm	yes
Classic	4	2 full-height	yes	no	yes	no
Mulberry (Loki)	4	2 full-height	yes (but v small)	mostly	no -15mm	no
Portland	4	1 full-height	yes	yes	no – 15mm	no
Urban (possibly)	4	1 full-height plus note-pad pocket	yes (on back)	?	yes	yes

You’ll see added to the table an Urban, which I don’t actually have as yet, but am bidding a miniscule amount on, on eBay. It might have the layout and functionality I want (I would need to see how flat-as-a-bat it is if I win it) but will I love it? It’s not leather and it’s a bit dull-looking. I suppose if I win it, I could potentially decorate it so that it looks less drab.

Oh Baroque, how I love thee!

I don't know why I bother switching in and out of different filofaxes. It seems that I always, always end up coming back to one of the three Baroques I have. If life is normal, it's one of the two personal size ones I have - either the pink or the turquoise. Current squeeze is the turquoise one. If life is a bit quieter (ha... when??) I manage to downsize to a Baroque pocket.

So, why do I keep coming back to them?? Here we go. Read the list and weep, all of you poor souls who aren't fortunate enough to have one.

• They lay flat as a bat. No training, no persuading with heavy books and kitchen weights. Just open and BAM! Flat. As. A. Bat.
• The personal sized version has six credit-card spaces in the front cover. As I like to use my filofax as a wallet and organiser this is invaluable. There is also a zipped pocket there which I could use for coins, but I don't. Not because it's too fiddly, but because I prefer to use the pencil case hack.
• The pocket size has five credit card slots (though the zipped pocket is too fiddly for coins). The leather is supple enough to make getting cards in and out easy too. 
• There are 2 vertical pockets behind the card slots in the pocket and one vertical pocket in the personal size, always useful for paper money etc.
• The colour. Yeah, they did them in black (and I have one in pocket size) but my favourite is the turquoise. The pink is stupendously good too.
• Ring size. Okay, the personal size Baroque comes in standard 25mm rings, but the pocket version has 19mm rings. I've tried a 15mm pocket and I just can't fit all my stuff in there.
• The embossing. The outside is smooth, fine-grained, supple leather. The inside is a riot of embossed leather.
• Both the pocket and the personal sizes have a notepad slot in the back cover. Not that I have ever used them as that, but it's a really useful pocket for keeping receipts and so on.

I've begun to realise that however close other binders come to being 'as good as a Baroque', they aren't Baroques. And so, I am seriously considering breaking up the massive filofax party that has been going on in the bottom drawer of my desk for years and selling some of them. Most of them actually. Because however close they get, however much I hope they will work for me the way the Baroques do, they just aren't Baroques.

Phew! Life is a TINY bit calmer... and I've changed filofax. Again.

Hello everyone! I am SO sorry that I have been AWOL. We went away on holiday and I decided to take a 'digital-holiday' too - i.e. do nothing digital - no blogs, no Twitter, no email and so on. Anyway, when we came back from holiday, life exploded with busy-ness and I didn't have either time or energy to write any posts.

Anyway, although life is still ridiculously busy, I am going to try and get a couple of blog posts a week written. I have a zillion things to post about - new filofax diary inserts, a filofax flex on its way, more purchases from The Journal Shop and some pen and ink updates!

Right now, as half of you might easily have predicted, I'm back in a Baroque. At times like this, I think I should just sell all the other filofaxes I have because however much they almost work for me, I always, always end up back in one of the Baroques. It's the turquoise one this time. All I did was shift everything, lock, stock and barrel from the wine Holborn to the Baroque, but then, as the Baroque is a bit narrower than many of the personal size filofax binders, the zipped pencil case I use as a cash and vouchers holder stuck out too much. Simple fix, I bought another of the cheap pencil cases (60p from Tescos), sliced the sealed edge off at 10cm width, re-sealed it with washi-tape, punched holes in it and put my cash and vouchers in it. Voilà!

I know you've all seen a zillion pictures of my turquoise Baroque, but here we go - here's another to show you the amended pencil case.

Doctored pencil-case. Works a treat!

I realise that in the picture above it looks like the pencil case, despite being trimmed in its width, is hugely taller than the binder, but it's just the angle I've taken the picture I think. Here's one of the binder closed - the pencil case is invisible.

Baroque closed.

See, no sign of it!

Anyway, my apologies again for being away for so long. Back soon!

Back in a pocket-size

The title says it all really… Do I need to do a blog post?

Oh, okay then. I’ll do a why I chose the pocket and a walk through of what’s in there!

First up, it’s the Baroque pocket, not Loki, or Miss Aston (or indeed the red classic that’s winging its way to me… ahem, ahem… More on that another day!).
The 19mm rings, the four card slots and the multitude of (admittedly sometimes daft) pockets made it an easy choice. That and the nagging voice in my head saying that I had yearned after it for long enough, I really should use it. The downside is of course that I prefer colour and the Baroque is black.

So why did I go towards the pocket and not the Holborn?

Size really. Red was feeling like a brick and my hubby has been using my his pocket Portland a lot recently and I started to covet the small size. I’ve also downsized what I’m carrying a little as it struck me as unnecessary to be carrying all of my planning around, rather than just the outcomes of the planning. I don’t need, on a minute by minute or even day by day basis to see what my bigger goals are and how these are converted into next actions. I just need the next actions alongside my schedule, right?
Also, the day per page sheets were just not getting used. Half the days I’m at work (and didn’t use them because I don’t have my filofax open as all my work stuff is planned using the green A5 Mulberry); the other half of the week I’m not at work and wasn’t in the habit of using them. I’m also frequently caught between planning my day and ending up feeling too constrained, and not planning my day and feeling like I’m not getting anything done. Sometimes a weekly list split into ‘must do’ and ‘nice to do if time’ gets me out of that (which is what I’ve been using more recently).

Walk-through:
First up, the pocket Baroque (like all of my Baroques) lies as flat as a bat, immediately. Even with all the weight of the insides on one side, it lies flat. Major plus.

Flat as a bat

In the four card slots are my bank and credit cards plus my Waterstones card (read in to that what you will. Every pun intended!). Tucked into the pocket behind are books of stamps. In the (less than ideally placed) zipped pocket behind that are other cards I like to have on me but don’t need easy access to. This zipped pocket is utterly useless for change as any cards in the card slots make it too stiff. In the pocket behind are vouchers. And in the last pocket of the inside cover there’s nothing as it is too difficult to get things in and out of it.

On the rings are other vouchers, then there are 4 sections:

1. Notes:
Blank paper for, um, notes. This is the ‘in-box’/capture/whatever you want to call it.

Notes - not much on my mind!

2. Diary:
In order – list of monthly goals and things to remember for this month (birthdays, car tax etc.), list of weekly goals for this week with a page marker, weekly review check-sheet, weekly goals for the rest of the weeks of April (page per week), monthly review check-sheet, list of monthly goals (and things to remember for that month) for the rest of the months of the year (page per month), forward planner for 2014, forward planner for 2015 (basically a lined page with 2014 or 2015 written on the top – used for remembering when my vaccinations are due!), 2013 week to view diary (in Italian as the Baroque was from the Italian sale).

Not that I've nothing to do... just haven't filled it in yet

LHS - back of the weekly plan sheet; RHS - review check-sheet

Italian LINED week to view (hoorah!). 'Festa' = holiday

In general, I have tried to set up yearly goals (planned elsewhere, not in this filofax), from which stem quarterly, monthly and weekly next-action/goals lists. In the past these have also trickled down to day lists but then I can start feeling over-planned so I am sticking with the weekly list for the moment and trying to split it into ‘must do’ and ‘nice to do’. It’s working okay so far.

3. Lists:
Lists of things I’m waiting on, lists of OS maps we have, lists of books to keep an eye out for… stuff like that.

List of waiting on...

Lists of OS maps I have

4. Info:
A note of the car insurance number, travel insurance number, other random things like that, then addresses.

Right at the back, after these sections, is a card-holder with bank card, donor card, and a couple of store-cards I use reasonably frequently. Then there is a mini-zip-loc bag for loose change. I keep paper money in the pocket in the back cover.

Pooh Post-Its just to hide my cards

Money in the 'notepad' pocket

Total mass: 380g for the Baroque against 530g for Red.

What do people think?

Here we go round the Mulberry bush

Choices, choices.
I have before me four different organisers and I’m not sure which one to use. I have:
Red (A6 Mulberry)
Loki (pocket Mulberry)
Pocket Baroque
Personal wine Holborn

Clockwise from top left: Wine Holborn, Red A6 Mulberry, pocket Baroque, Loki (pocket Mulberry)

Logic says I should be in the Holborn. Or the Baroque.
Heart says I should be in one of the Mulberry ones.

What’s wrong with Red? I mean, I’ve been in that longer than any of the others…

Red is heavy and a very stiff binder. She’s short on card slots and pockets so the ones she has are a bit jammed full and it’s difficult to get things in/out of them. I thought she was lighter than the Holborn but I’ve just weighed them (filled) and she’s not.

So why not just move into the Holborn…?

I may well do that. The Holborn has card slots and pockets galore and is a much softer binder. I suppose what’s been holding me back is the rewriting of diary entries (and the aspect ratio of the page always winds me up after a bit), but I have some time this weekend so I could do that. I also hate the filofax diary, but I could just re-write to the end of May or June on the filofax one and get the 18 month Paperchase diary for after that.

What about pocket Baroque and Loki?
Well, Loki has teensy rings and however much I adore him, he’s a bit small. And suffers from the stiffness, lack of pockets and card slots issues that Red has.

Pocket Baroque has some daft pockets, but does at least have pockets (and 4 card slots). And I am hankering after being in something smaller (but, realistically, I possibly carry too much stuff to make that feasible!). I did work out of a pocket Aston for a long time. I’ve also realised that I don’t need to carry all the notes about my goals around with me – I just need to have lists of next-actions lined up for the day/week. Oh, yeah, and the day-per-page diary is just not getting used, so I could abandon it and then I could possibly work out of the Baroque.

I think it’s time to have a play with them all and see where I land up. Advice??

Updates

Just a general update on what I’m using at the moment. I’m quite sure that you ALL will have guessed anyway, but the planner du jour is…

…Red.

I know. I know. I know.

I moved into Loki, I genuinely did. But the tiny rings were too tiny to just ‘duplicate set-up, open rings, insert set-up, close rings, away we go’ – I will need to have a think about the set-up as although the rings did close, it wasn’t pretty. And I’d made new dividers and everything…

So, as everything was all ready to go, I then moved it all into the pocket Baroque, which has 19mm rings and lots of pockets and slots and things. And to be honest, I was all set to go with that.

Oh, but then that siren that is Red called to me, and I moved my cash and my cards back in and I’m still with her.

I know that some of the reason is the diary in the pocket. The Baroque came with an Italian diary, which is generally fine (especially as it is lined!), though it does have ‘festa’ watermarked across all the Italian holidays. Which would be fine and dandy if they were the same as the UK holidays, but they’re not (I realise the one in the picture is...). I could buy another, but I need the lines, and the UK filofax ones don't have them and Paperchase are out of stock with theirs.

Red of course has the fabulous Mulberry diary, which is just gorgeous. As is Red herself. I can’t believe I was so ambivalent about her at the start because I absolutely adore her now!

As for the Moleskine Diary that I loathed…

… well, I still loathe it, but I’m still using it. I’ve stuck a Leuchtturm pen-holder into the back so at least I can attach my pen properly. I’ll not buy another though.

The Five Year Diary…

… still amazes me daily with the appalling paper quality, but I am still using it and have settled on the Herbin rollerball with bleu pervenche ink. It still bleeds through like crazy, but the colour is fantastic.

So, there we go, though I’m sure none of you were hugely surprised by any of it…

Pros and cons of all my binders

Well, not all my binders. That would be daft. And a massive, massive blog post. I’ll just focus on the “usual squeezes”: the Baroques, the Cavendish, the Holborn(s), the Mulberry agendas, the pocket Baroque and the pocket Aston. What do I love about them? What do I want to change about them? Will I sell them (daft question. We all know the answer is going to be no, possibly stretching to a mmm, maybe I could sell it… maybe…).

Binder	What do I love?	What would I change?	Will I be selling it/them?
Pink and turquoise Baroques	Colour Interior embossing 6 card holders Full height pocket behind card slots Notepad slot in back	Add another full height pocket (like the Malden) behind the notepad slot	Don’t be daft
Brown Holborn	All those card slots All those pockets	Contrast stitching (um, actually I did change it) The full-height pockets nearest the rings are tricky The zipped pocket is a bit tricky too	Hmm… maybe?
Wine Holborn	All those card slots All those pockets	Contrast stitching The full-height pockets nearest the rings are tricky The zipped pocket is a bit tricky too	Jeez – I’ve only just got it! No…
Black Cavendish	The 8 card slots (yes! 8!) The 1.25” rings (yes – 1.25”!!) The pockets in the rear	The colour – black’s a bit… dark and lacking in colour The zipped pocket on the cover’s a bit pointless	Ha ha ha ha ha!  No
Pocket Aston	The size The colour	More card slots The zipped pocket wasn’t that useful	No
Pocket Baroque	The size The card slots The embossed interior The notepad slot	The colour – pink or teal would be better… The zipped pocket is pointless	No
Indie (brown Mulberry agenda)	The size The quality The beaten leather	More card slots The vertical pockets to be a little further from the rings or have the shaped edge	Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!  No
Red (red Mulberry agenda)	The size The quality The colour	More card slots The extra slip pocket that Indie has Not to be so shiny (?)	Er… no… maybe…? No… Don’t know…

I have come to the realisation that I like:

• lots of pockets
• lots of card slots
• colour

At least that’s good to realise so it might curb my binder-buying habits.

[ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… who am I kidding???]

Maybe it will help me decide which binder to start 2013 in...