I managed about a week and a half in the Holborn but then today I cracked and swapped the Holborn contents with the navy Portland, so now the Portland is the day to day binder and the Holborn has the goals to projects to next-action sheets in it.
I’ve never used the navy Portland as a day to day binder and from the stiffness of the card slots, I don’t think anyone else has (or certainly not used the card slots, at least!).
I weighed the Holborn before I emptied it and it came in at 530g. Once I’d swapped everything into the Portland, I weighed that and was amazed that it also came in at exactly 530g! I would have thought it would be lighter as the Holborn has the extra layers to make all the pockets.
So what was wrong with the Holborn? It is a glorious colour, it has all those card-slots and pockets... why was I itching to be out of it? To be honest, it was the leather. It may well soften up with more use, but it is stiff at the moment and not super-floppy the way the Baroque and Portland binders are. I also don’t like the contrast stitching (never have. Took brown leather polish to the stitching in the brown Holborn I hated it so much...). I know others have Holborns and love them, but I was just not happy.
Instead of immediately fleeing back to the Baroque though, I thought I would have a play with the Portland (variety being the spice and all that). I also realised that although I bought the Holborn for all those pockets, I only used the same number as I do with other binders: the card slots (the Portland has the same number as the Baroque and the Holborn), the zipped pocket for other cards and the vertical pocket for paper money. I didn’t use the two inward-facing vertical pockets in the Holborn, or the outward-facing pocket at the back with the zipped pocket inside. I just used the outward-facing one at the font and the zipped one at the back. Therefore there was no real reason not to have a play with the Portland, even though it has one pocket fewer than the Baroque.
I am (just about!) still avoiding scratching the “let’s shift to a pocket” itch. Maybe at some point, life will change enough to move to an A5 on my desk and a pocket to carry around.
Showing posts with label Portland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Portland. Show all posts
Saturday, 1 March 2014
Saturday, 15 February 2014
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:
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?
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.
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.
Thursday, 26 December 2013
Getting ready for 2014
Ooh... I feel all prepared and organised. Well, somewhat! After some interesting, inspiring and fun discussions with Shadow Wolf over email, I became enthused about getting set up for 2014 so have spent a couple of days preparing things.
Despite still not being 100% sure about my goals and next actions (yep... still working on them), I did know that I needed monthly sheets and weekly sheets and that my weekly sheets needed dividing into ‘next actions’ space and ‘to do’ space (in my head, ‘to do’ are things that need doing like buying stamps, writing to a friend, getting the dry-cleaning, doing the housework, whereas ‘next actions’ are the things I have to do to progress my projects and hence approach achieving my goals). This year I have struggled a bit with ‘to do’ beginning to swamp me and ‘next actions’ getting forgotten and I am determined that this won’t be the case in 2014!
Whereas my homemade week + notes is designed around me and would have been a perfect set-up for 2014, I am also getting annoyed with myself for buying perfectly good diary pages and then printing up my own anyway, so I have decided to stick with the Paperchase week to view (which I reviewed here) and amend it slightly.
My set-up (and I am really hoping that despite all the siren-songs from Red shiny people, I may stay in it!) therefore runs like this:
In detail
1. Goals to Projects to Next-Actions
Still a work-in-progress at the moment but I am hoping to map them out over the next few days!
2. Monthly sheets
Still also somewhat a work-in-progress as the next-actions are nowhere to be seen yet. However, the rest has been set up.
I have used lavender-coloured paper and a separate sheet for each month. The month is written across the top then there is a space for writing in all the next-actions and any month-specific to do (like renew the car insurance, etc.). At the bottom is a reminder of all the birthdays that month (covered up in the photograph). You can see November in the picture (fewest birthdays to hide!) and a few things in on the monthly list (but not many! It is for November 2014 after all).
The reverse of these sheets just has ‘Review’ written across the top and will be where the monthly review gets written up.
3. Weekly sheets
These used to work so well for me and I don’t understand why I let them slip. They are effectively the ‘+ notes’ part of the week + notes format, only with space for the weekly review on the reverse.
I have split each week into ‘to do’ and ‘next actions’ as explained earlier. And yes, I have drawn up all the weekly sheets needed for 2014 and in every single one I have written ‘weekly review’ (as well as ‘monthly review’ and ‘quarterly review’ where appropriate). Shown in the photograph is a sample week (with not a lot to do in it yet!). I was going to write all of these out on nice cotton-cream paper but then found a heap of quadrille paper and thought I would use it up (yes, it was Time Manager paper and I trimmed it and re-punched it to fit). In the monthly review, these sheets will get filled up with ‘next actions’. I have put in all the ‘buy card and present for x’ reminders over the whole year too, as well as ‘post card and present to x’ (yes – that level of reminder is needed!)
4. Paperchase Week to View Diary
These pages live in the turquoise Baroque (current day-to-day binder). Since the week to view has to cover both appointments and tick-lists and since my Virgoan/OCD-squeakiness makes me not want to mix these up on the page, I have split every day into two, with appointments to go on the left and tick-lists to go one the right. (This might have taken less time if the lines weren’t all precisely a Today-ruler’s width from the edge of the lines...)
I also realised that I need to make a bit more effort over some habit-tracking. If things aren’t actually written down on a day, I won’t necessarily do them. However, my Virgoan/completer-finisher/OCD-squeakiness makes me determined to tick something off if it appears on a day! Hence, on each day, I have either got ‘core’ or ‘rowing’ (by which I mean rowing like rowing a boat, not rowing like having an argument!) and on Sunday I have to do both, so have both written in, with a small square to tick. No, I’m not joking. All 365 days of 2014 have one or both of these written in.
I became sloppy about doing my weekly reviews last year – probably a major reason why my goals slipped and non-goals-busyness took over. To try and avoid that this year, on every Sunday I have ‘review’ written and there are also indications of when I have more than one to do (monthly and/or quarterly), so I get to tick them off on the day and on the weekly sheets!
Since I am incapable of turning a page to look at the weekly sheets, I will also have their lists on Post-It notes on the weekly pages too. I know – why have the weekly sheets at all if I’m not going to look at them? I don’t know. I need them when I plan the month and I like to have them for the weekly review, but I’m just hopeless at looking at them in the week itself and if I allocate tasks to specific days I tend to overload myself and get frustrated by a lack of flexibility, so I have tasks on the Post-Its and throw them away at the end of the week.
The only other thing I have done to the diary, is the minuscule amount of washi tape you can see. Although I love the idea of washi tape and have a fine collection myself, I can never cope with it on the days of my diary, any more than I really can cope with stickers. Whereas I love seeing what others are doing when they decorate their pages, I think I am too much of a ‘clean-line, no clutter’ person in my diary. So, my concession to washi tape in the diary is to put a little bar of it along the top corner, coded to indicate the month. It makes the page (a little) more interesting but doesn’t swamp the point of the WO2P of showing me what and when I am doing things.
Anyway, that’s my set-up. What about everyone else? Are other people as bonkers as this or am I the only one who finds sitting down and prepping the year like this soothing and reassuring?
Despite still not being 100% sure about my goals and next actions (yep... still working on them), I did know that I needed monthly sheets and weekly sheets and that my weekly sheets needed dividing into ‘next actions’ space and ‘to do’ space (in my head, ‘to do’ are things that need doing like buying stamps, writing to a friend, getting the dry-cleaning, doing the housework, whereas ‘next actions’ are the things I have to do to progress my projects and hence approach achieving my goals). This year I have struggled a bit with ‘to do’ beginning to swamp me and ‘next actions’ getting forgotten and I am determined that this won’t be the case in 2014!
Whereas my homemade week + notes is designed around me and would have been a perfect set-up for 2014, I am also getting annoyed with myself for buying perfectly good diary pages and then printing up my own anyway, so I have decided to stick with the Paperchase week to view (which I reviewed here) and amend it slightly.
My set-up (and I am really hoping that despite all the siren-songs from Red shiny people, I may stay in it!) therefore runs like this:
- Goals to Projects to Next Actions (held in the navy Portland)
- Monthly sheets (all bar the current month held in the navy Portland; current month’s sheet is in the day-to-day binder)
- Weekly sheets (all bar the current month’s weekly sheets held in the navy Portland; current month’s weekly sheets are in the day-to-day binder behind the current monthly sheet)
- Week to view (whole year in the day-to-day binder)
In detail
1. Goals to Projects to Next-Actions
Still a work-in-progress at the moment but I am hoping to map them out over the next few days!
2. Monthly sheets
Still also somewhat a work-in-progress as the next-actions are nowhere to be seen yet. However, the rest has been set up.
 |
| sample monthly sheet |
The reverse of these sheets just has ‘Review’ written across the top and will be where the monthly review gets written up.
3. Weekly sheets
These used to work so well for me and I don’t understand why I let them slip. They are effectively the ‘+ notes’ part of the week + notes format, only with space for the weekly review on the reverse.
 |
| sample weekly sheet |
I have split each week into ‘to do’ and ‘next actions’ as explained earlier. And yes, I have drawn up all the weekly sheets needed for 2014 and in every single one I have written ‘weekly review’ (as well as ‘monthly review’ and ‘quarterly review’ where appropriate). Shown in the photograph is a sample week (with not a lot to do in it yet!). I was going to write all of these out on nice cotton-cream paper but then found a heap of quadrille paper and thought I would use it up (yes, it was Time Manager paper and I trimmed it and re-punched it to fit). In the monthly review, these sheets will get filled up with ‘next actions’. I have put in all the ‘buy card and present for x’ reminders over the whole year too, as well as ‘post card and present to x’ (yes – that level of reminder is needed!)
4. Paperchase Week to View Diary
These pages live in the turquoise Baroque (current day-to-day binder). Since the week to view has to cover both appointments and tick-lists and since my Virgoan/OCD-squeakiness makes me not want to mix these up on the page, I have split every day into two, with appointments to go on the left and tick-lists to go one the right. (This might have taken less time if the lines weren’t all precisely a Today-ruler’s width from the edge of the lines...)
 |
| sample week to view |
I became sloppy about doing my weekly reviews last year – probably a major reason why my goals slipped and non-goals-busyness took over. To try and avoid that this year, on every Sunday I have ‘review’ written and there are also indications of when I have more than one to do (monthly and/or quarterly), so I get to tick them off on the day and on the weekly sheets!
Since I am incapable of turning a page to look at the weekly sheets, I will also have their lists on Post-It notes on the weekly pages too. I know – why have the weekly sheets at all if I’m not going to look at them? I don’t know. I need them when I plan the month and I like to have them for the weekly review, but I’m just hopeless at looking at them in the week itself and if I allocate tasks to specific days I tend to overload myself and get frustrated by a lack of flexibility, so I have tasks on the Post-Its and throw them away at the end of the week.
The only other thing I have done to the diary, is the minuscule amount of washi tape you can see. Although I love the idea of washi tape and have a fine collection myself, I can never cope with it on the days of my diary, any more than I really can cope with stickers. Whereas I love seeing what others are doing when they decorate their pages, I think I am too much of a ‘clean-line, no clutter’ person in my diary. So, my concession to washi tape in the diary is to put a little bar of it along the top corner, coded to indicate the month. It makes the page (a little) more interesting but doesn’t swamp the point of the WO2P of showing me what and when I am doing things.
Anyway, that’s my set-up. What about everyone else? Are other people as bonkers as this or am I the only one who finds sitting down and prepping the year like this soothing and reassuring?
Sunday, 8 September 2013
Putting off planning
Putting OFF planning? Huh? Isn’t the whole point of planning, to, um PLAN?
Well, yes. But I’ve been where I am now, before. Where I am now, I’m not sure of my goals. Not really. Which makes progressing towards them a bit difficult.
This happens to me regularly and always when I get really busy. I don’t have enough time to think. All I do is stagger from one thing to the next and my to-do lists get filled up with ‘stuff’. Stuff that needs doing (but in all honesty, maybe not now and maybe not by me). But I get so busy doing all the ‘stuff’ that I don’t have time to plan my things properly. So then my to-do list gets emptier of my things and then there’s more space for more ‘stuff’ so I fill up my time with ‘stuff’ and before I know it, I haven’t looked at my goals for ages and I feel like I don’t have time to sit and think, especially when there’s all this ‘stuff’ piling up around my ears. And then when I do have time to look at my goals, they seem alien and maybe not up to date.
That’s where I am right now and although I could shift things from my goals to tasks sheets onto my monthly and weekly lists, is there any point if the goals generating the tasks aren’t right?
So, it’s time to step back, start saying no to things and focus on my aims, values and (ultimately) goals and projects. I’m going to spend some time thinking about where I am and where I want to go (and therefore how to get there).
I’m going to use my new-to-me (vintage) navy Portland for all this. Before I even get to the goals and projects sections, I’m going to have a section where I can spend a bit of time on ascertaining my aims and values (effectively life-coaching myself) and only then will I review my goals and projects.
There’s really no point following the map if it leads you somewhere you weren’t still wanting to go to.
Well, yes. But I’ve been where I am now, before. Where I am now, I’m not sure of my goals. Not really. Which makes progressing towards them a bit difficult.
This happens to me regularly and always when I get really busy. I don’t have enough time to think. All I do is stagger from one thing to the next and my to-do lists get filled up with ‘stuff’. Stuff that needs doing (but in all honesty, maybe not now and maybe not by me). But I get so busy doing all the ‘stuff’ that I don’t have time to plan my things properly. So then my to-do list gets emptier of my things and then there’s more space for more ‘stuff’ so I fill up my time with ‘stuff’ and before I know it, I haven’t looked at my goals for ages and I feel like I don’t have time to sit and think, especially when there’s all this ‘stuff’ piling up around my ears. And then when I do have time to look at my goals, they seem alien and maybe not up to date.
That’s where I am right now and although I could shift things from my goals to tasks sheets onto my monthly and weekly lists, is there any point if the goals generating the tasks aren’t right?
So, it’s time to step back, start saying no to things and focus on my aims, values and (ultimately) goals and projects. I’m going to spend some time thinking about where I am and where I want to go (and therefore how to get there).
I’m going to use my new-to-me (vintage) navy Portland for all this. Before I even get to the goals and projects sections, I’m going to have a section where I can spend a bit of time on ascertaining my aims and values (effectively life-coaching myself) and only then will I review my goals and projects.
There’s really no point following the map if it leads you somewhere you weren’t still wanting to go to.
Portland Festival!
I was both delighted and dismayed when a couple of weeks ago, I saw that The Crazy Suburban Mom had spied four Portland filofaxes for sale. Delighted because I LOVE my green personal Portland and have always kept an eye out for more Portlands and dismayed because, with all that advertising, they were not going to go for the small sum that I got my green Portland for, a few years ago.
However, I needn’t have been too worried because it turned out that there aren’t that many other aficionadas in the world (or at least in the UK) and I snagged my red pocket Portland for a song and then I bagged a blue personal Portland for another song.
I’ve already reviewed the red Portland here. Let me now walk you through my blue one. In essence, it’s just like my green one but blue, but hey, it’s new to me and some of you might not want to go flicking back through old reviews.
The Portland is a very well made binder. It’s leather – both the exterior and the majority of the interior are a soft leather: only the linings of the pockets are in material. It also has two pen loops (all leather; no elastic; smallish pens only (though nowhere near as tight as the Baroque!). And of course, it lies flat as a bat! No training, no persuasion. Just unsnap the clasp and open. Ta-da!!
The interior layout:
On the inside left, there is a zipped, gusseted pocket which makes getting coins out of it a breeze, and because it is at the front, doesn’t rumple up all the pages (which, if it was at the back, it would). The back cover has six credit-card slots with a full-height pocket behind. The zipped pocket is lined with fabric, as are the pockets at the back. Rings in both of my personal Portlands are 23mm (all perfectly aligned), but there was a Portland Grand with 30mm rings produced (which now seem rarer than hens’ teeth!).
Now, if you read my review of the red pocket Portland, you may remember that I said the flap of leather covering the zipper was different in the red pocket than in the black pocket Portland (which hubby now has). The same is true between the green Portland and blue Portland in personal size. The green version has the cover as an extension of the pocket, whereas the blue (like the red pocket) has a flap that comes from above the zipper. I prefer the extension-of-the-pocket format, not least because the flap-from-above-version can get bent (as it has in the blue version). Does anyone know why and when they changed the format?
So, what will I use this filofax for? Hmm. I’m not sure. I bought it because it was blue and a Portland (which is at least one more reason than I bought the green version)! I think (think) I will use it for more detailed planning of my goals, which would allow me to remove those pages from my main carry-around binder. After all, I don’t really need to carry all that around with me – I just need to have looked at it at the weekly and monthly review sessions. I could also easily swap into using it as my carry-about planner if and when I want a break from the Baroque(s).
However, I needn’t have been too worried because it turned out that there aren’t that many other aficionadas in the world (or at least in the UK) and I snagged my red pocket Portland for a song and then I bagged a blue personal Portland for another song.
I’ve already reviewed the red Portland here. Let me now walk you through my blue one. In essence, it’s just like my green one but blue, but hey, it’s new to me and some of you might not want to go flicking back through old reviews.
The Portland is a very well made binder. It’s leather – both the exterior and the majority of the interior are a soft leather: only the linings of the pockets are in material. It also has two pen loops (all leather; no elastic; smallish pens only (though nowhere near as tight as the Baroque!). And of course, it lies flat as a bat! No training, no persuasion. Just unsnap the clasp and open. Ta-da!!
 |
| Flat as a bat |
The interior layout:
On the inside left, there is a zipped, gusseted pocket which makes getting coins out of it a breeze, and because it is at the front, doesn’t rumple up all the pages (which, if it was at the back, it would). The back cover has six credit-card slots with a full-height pocket behind. The zipped pocket is lined with fabric, as are the pockets at the back. Rings in both of my personal Portlands are 23mm (all perfectly aligned), but there was a Portland Grand with 30mm rings produced (which now seem rarer than hens’ teeth!).
 |
| Inside left |
 |
| Gusseted pocket |
 |
| Inside right |
 |
| Extension-of-the-pocket zipper cover (compare with the blue version above) |
So, what will I use this filofax for? Hmm. I’m not sure. I bought it because it was blue and a Portland (which is at least one more reason than I bought the green version)! I think (think) I will use it for more detailed planning of my goals, which would allow me to remove those pages from my main carry-around binder. After all, I don’t really need to carry all that around with me – I just need to have looked at it at the weekly and monthly review sessions. I could also easily swap into using it as my carry-about planner if and when I want a break from the Baroque(s).
Friday, 6 September 2013
DID I downsize to 15mm rings?
No.
Moving on...
What, you want the gory details?
Oh... Alright then.
The card holders did for me. They always do. By the time they were on and the cards were in the slots and the duplex diary with notepaper interleaved were in, it seemed pretty full. The address book would have fitted well in the slot behind the cards, but then the back was getting a bit bulky and then I couldn’t find anywhere sensible to put vouchers... and in rummaging around in the bottom drawer of the desk where the massive filofax party has been going on for MONTHS, I saw Red and then I was tempted to move back into her, since she started bleating on about, “well, if the card slots are filling it all up and you’re only using it because it’s red, then what about me?? What about ME???”
So I shifted everything back to the Baroque. If I ever move back to a planner plus wallet system, I would use the Portland in a heartbeat, but to try and combine the two functions in a 15mm ring binder seems beyond me.
Oh, and I've also recently acquired a navy blue Portland in personal. More on that soon...
Moving on...
What, you want the gory details?
Oh... Alright then.
The card holders did for me. They always do. By the time they were on and the cards were in the slots and the duplex diary with notepaper interleaved were in, it seemed pretty full. The address book would have fitted well in the slot behind the cards, but then the back was getting a bit bulky and then I couldn’t find anywhere sensible to put vouchers... and in rummaging around in the bottom drawer of the desk where the massive filofax party has been going on for MONTHS, I saw Red and then I was tempted to move back into her, since she started bleating on about, “well, if the card slots are filling it all up and you’re only using it because it’s red, then what about me?? What about ME???”
So I shifted everything back to the Baroque. If I ever move back to a planner plus wallet system, I would use the Portland in a heartbeat, but to try and combine the two functions in a 15mm ring binder seems beyond me.
Oh, and I've also recently acquired a navy blue Portland in personal. More on that soon...
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
Home-made WPP diary in pocket size
In an earlier post, I wrote about designing my own diary for the pocket filofax. Here’s a quick summary of it.
As I have said before, I don’t need much from a diary! I need the date range across the top of the page and I need space. I don’t need lots of information about holidays around the world, five different languages or the mini-calendar thing taking up real estate. I need all the days to get equal billing as I can be just as busy at the weekend as I am in the week.
So, armed with Open Office (because I know how to define the format of the result of the field entries in the word processed document using that programme and I haven’t worked that out in Word yet) and a source file for the dates, I produced my own minimalist version of a week per page (WPP) pocket diary.
When I say minimalist, I’m not kidding. I set my page size to pocket filofax paper size, + 5 mm all round (see sneaky trick below for why). I set my margins to 5 mm top and bottom and outside edge, 10 mm for the inside edge and margins mirrored. The actual diary part was extremely simple: basically a table of eight rows and one column, with the date range in the top cell and the days in the other seven.
My sneaky trick, because my printer whinges about small margins and it can be tricky to make them small enough to make the best use of the paper, is to set the page size of the file to 12.5 cm height (the filofax paper is 12 cm) and width 8.5 cm (rather than 8). Then it gets printed closer to the edge of the paper. I used filofax pocket paper (bizarrely, dated 1997 - I must have got it in a second-hand binder!) and manually duplex-printed.
Here’s the result: (click to enlarge)
I did say it was minimalist, didn’t I?
Let’s see if I can downsize into a 15 mm ring pocket by using it.
As I have said before, I don’t need much from a diary! I need the date range across the top of the page and I need space. I don’t need lots of information about holidays around the world, five different languages or the mini-calendar thing taking up real estate. I need all the days to get equal billing as I can be just as busy at the weekend as I am in the week.
So, armed with Open Office (because I know how to define the format of the result of the field entries in the word processed document using that programme and I haven’t worked that out in Word yet) and a source file for the dates, I produced my own minimalist version of a week per page (WPP) pocket diary.
When I say minimalist, I’m not kidding. I set my page size to pocket filofax paper size, + 5 mm all round (see sneaky trick below for why). I set my margins to 5 mm top and bottom and outside edge, 10 mm for the inside edge and margins mirrored. The actual diary part was extremely simple: basically a table of eight rows and one column, with the date range in the top cell and the days in the other seven.
My sneaky trick, because my printer whinges about small margins and it can be tricky to make them small enough to make the best use of the paper, is to set the page size of the file to 12.5 cm height (the filofax paper is 12 cm) and width 8.5 cm (rather than 8). Then it gets printed closer to the edge of the paper. I used filofax pocket paper (bizarrely, dated 1997 - I must have got it in a second-hand binder!) and manually duplex-printed.
Here’s the result: (click to enlarge)
 |
| Two weeks of WPP |
 |
| Close up |
I did say it was minimalist, didn’t I?
Let’s see if I can downsize into a 15 mm ring pocket by using it.
Sunday, 1 September 2013
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!
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!
Wednesday, 28 August 2013
Review of the red pocket Portland
I had a black pocket Portland a while back, but I gave it to hubby in the great ‘convert the uninitiated’ scheme (he’s still using it!) and I had expected my ‘new’ red Portland to be identical to the black Portland in everything except colour.
Wrong.
I’ll get to the difference in a bit.
General walk-through:
Cover
It’s a nice red leather. There are a couple of marks but nothing serious and nothing a bit of polish and a quick brush-up won’t remedy. The leather isn’t as ‘grippy’ as the black version (but the black one may have been the one that’s different and all other Portlands are more like this one). This one feels much more like my green personal size version.
Inside
The left-hand interior has a gusseted (great word!) pocket, which is where the difference from the black version is. In the black one the edge of the pocket makes a cover for the zipper, but in my red one, there is a flap to cover the zipper. I wonder when and why they changed? Does anyone know.
The pocket is lined with red material ‘watermarked’ with the filofax f.
The right-hand interior is the same as the black version – four card slots with a full-height pocket behind. The interior is lined with the same red material as the zipped pocket.
There is no full-width pocket along the back (unlike in the Cavendish).
The rings are 15mm (I almost weep as I write this because we all know deep down that I will not be able to make this work as a planner and wallet combined). They are quite stiff, but I’m fairly sure the binder hasn’t had a lot of use. All of the rings are perfectly aligned.
It came with just a few things – a week on one page 2014 calendar, a today marker, a set of post-its and two top-opening clear pockets (one crystal clear, the other the softer, slightly opaque plastic).
I have made a week on one page diary for the remains of 2013 for it – I will post about it soon!
Wrong.
I’ll get to the difference in a bit.
General walk-through:
Cover
It’s a nice red leather. There are a couple of marks but nothing serious and nothing a bit of polish and a quick brush-up won’t remedy. The leather isn’t as ‘grippy’ as the black version (but the black one may have been the one that’s different and all other Portlands are more like this one). This one feels much more like my green personal size version.
 |
| Front cover |
 |
| Back cover |
The left-hand interior has a gusseted (great word!) pocket, which is where the difference from the black version is. In the black one the edge of the pocket makes a cover for the zipper, but in my red one, there is a flap to cover the zipper. I wonder when and why they changed? Does anyone know.
The pocket is lined with red material ‘watermarked’ with the filofax f.
 |
| Inside |
 |
| Flap covering zipper |
 |
| Card slots |
The rings are 15mm (I almost weep as I write this because we all know deep down that I will not be able to make this work as a planner and wallet combined). They are quite stiff, but I’m fairly sure the binder hasn’t had a lot of use. All of the rings are perfectly aligned.
It came with just a few things – a week on one page 2014 calendar, a today marker, a set of post-its and two top-opening clear pockets (one crystal clear, the other the softer, slightly opaque plastic).
I have made a week on one page diary for the remains of 2013 for it – I will post about it soon!
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Why have I just bought a red pocket Portland?
Do I actually read my own blog? It would seem not as in previous posts, I have said:
I've tried a 15mm pocket and I just can't fit all my stuff in there
I've begun to realise that however close other binders come to being 'as good as a Baroque', they aren't Baroques
So WHY have I just got myself a pocket Portland?
Are the answers: “It’s red” and “It’s a red Portland and they’re not all that common, you know” and “I gave my pocket Portland in black to my hubby and I miss it” good enough?
No, I thought not.
So, why do I think I can get on okay with a 15mm ring pocket now when I never have before? I mean, I have a 15mm pocket Cavendish with a better layout than a Portland in some ways (see the review I did of it comparing it to the Aston and the Portland that hubby now owns, here) and I’ve never used it.
Well, of course, I won’t get on with 15mm rings! Who am I trying to kid?
Whilst it ticks several boxes for me: bright colour, lies flat-as-a-bat, has several card slots...
...it has a highly significant flaw in those 15mm rings.
But I’ll try. I’ll try.
And then the “I want something red, but a bit bigger than this but not as big as a personal filofax” will kick in and I will be back in Red. And then I won’t be able to get all the cards out of the slots easily enough so I will be back in the Baroque.
Plus ça change and all that.
I've tried a 15mm pocket and I just can't fit all my stuff in there
I've begun to realise that however close other binders come to being 'as good as a Baroque', they aren't Baroques
So WHY have I just got myself a pocket Portland?
Are the answers: “It’s red” and “It’s a red Portland and they’re not all that common, you know” and “I gave my pocket Portland in black to my hubby and I miss it” good enough?
No, I thought not.
So, why do I think I can get on okay with a 15mm ring pocket now when I never have before? I mean, I have a 15mm pocket Cavendish with a better layout than a Portland in some ways (see the review I did of it comparing it to the Aston and the Portland that hubby now owns, here) and I’ve never used it.
Well, of course, I won’t get on with 15mm rings! Who am I trying to kid?
Whilst it ticks several boxes for me: bright colour, lies flat-as-a-bat, has several card slots...
...it has a highly significant flaw in those 15mm rings.
But I’ll try. I’ll try.
And then the “I want something red, but a bit bigger than this but not as big as a personal filofax” will kick in and I will be back in Red. And then I won’t be able to get all the cards out of the slots easily enough so I will be back in the Baroque.
Plus ça change and all that.
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
It started with a kiss...
…but that’s another story. ☺
This story
involves me converting my husband to
using a filofax!!
Yes, you read that right. DH, the man who teases me
mercilessly about my filofax habit, is now using a filofax!
It started with him wanting a little book to keep track of
shares and I suggested that a pocket filofax with a set of A-Z indexes and
lined notepaper would be perfect.
He grudgingly agreed.
I retrieved the pocket Cavendish out of The Drawer of Filofaxes
and Inserts and set it up with A-Z dividers and notepaper and he was happy.
Then, our work-place decided that they would no longer
provide a diary for the staff, leaving hubby searching for a small pocket-sized
academic diary.
[Hmm… I think you can all see where this is going…]
I suggested an academic, week to view diary for the pocket
filofax (we both work at a university). He hummed and hawed….
…and grudgingly agreed.
Then he wanted something to mark where the diary started. I
offered a diary divider but he was eyeing up my Today marker in the Holborn so
I found him a Today marker for the pocket from The Drawer of Filofaxes and Inserts.
Then he wanted something that lay flat as a bat. He
doesn’t want to use the filofax as a wallet, so he didn’t care about the pocket
along the back of the Cavendish, or the zipped pocket on the back cover, so I
gave him my pocket Portland instead.
He loves it.
Well, that might be overstating it a tad and I don’t see him
voraciously reading Philofaxy any time soon, but, he does see the appeal of
small, leather bound organisers where you can move paper in and out and keep a
diary in there.
I keep telling him it’s a slippery slope but he just laughs.
Let’s see who is sniggering in a year…
☺
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