Friday's Filofax Poll #3

Hello dear friends,

I have been unexpectedly away last week, but have missed this world very much!

I have some drafts prepared to post in the next few days, it's funny: many things can stop, but things considering my Filofax keep developing all the same! And I'm sure I'm not the only such case?

So, as it is Friday - next poll question!

Have you ever ruined a Filofax beyond repair? (Yikes, I hope not!)

Friday's Filofax Poll #2!

I often hear people like some certain Filofaxes from a certain era; be it because of the quality of the binders, their design, the atmosphere and memories they bring back... and other aspects of course as well.

How about you?

Please, take a part in today's poll - and I'd love to hear more!


UPDATE:
2 DAYS LATER - AND THE RESULTS ARE HERE!!!

A big thank you to all of you who took your time and joined my poll!
Well, the numerus of answers wasn't that big this time, but on the other hand, you answers were almost as one: you prefer Filofaxes from the newer ranges!

Yay, good news for Filofax!  :-)

The Thing With The Chameleon...

My fully crammed personal Finchley got quite heavy in the meantime, so I began to search for the ways to make the load lighter. 

Downsizing to Pocket seemed the first and obvious choice (even more so because I had it in the same style and colour and Finchley's teal is such a beautiful colour!).

Well, I already told you how my first Pocket experiment turned out, and so my second option was to try Compact size. And along it came, in a Raspberry Compact Chameleon, with SNARLing being such a great inspiration for it.

I haven't set it up yet, but I wanted to share my first impression.

First, naturally, the size (I chose to compare it to a Personal Finchley, a model I'm sure you're all familiar with):

I stuffed Chameleon more than full here, but see how it still appears much thinner!

I find it hard to exactly describe the feel of the compact size - it only comes to my mind that it feels, well - compact.  There's no redundant bulk and the spine with the smaller ring size feels nice, the (full) binder on the whole feels more defined, sharper (oooh, I wish my English was better than that!).

Maybe the picture above explains it better: in the Compact, there's no space left between the paper and the cover, while in the Personal one the space between the cover and the paper is bigger.
Is it just me or the ring curve of the Personal size takes up more additional space and cannot be used in full  compared to Compact?

Therefore, the verdict: it really feels beautifully compact and sleek, I fell for this format immediately! It is also much lighter, even when full - another bonus!

Please note: the Chameleon comes with only one (elasticated) pen loop which is on the left (which feels quite unusual to me... and a bit impractical, too, being right-handed); I have another pen loop because I used the Leuchtturm pen loop sticker on the right - I wouldn't want the photos to mislead you!

Now on to its leather.

It feels very smooth, the pattern actually feels like a lizard's skin indeed, it's soft and very pleasant. I do find it similar to Finsbury, apart from the feel of the pattern relief - and the Chameleon doesn't lie flat either, well, not for now. 

The only thing that I'm not so sure of for now is the pattern and the finish of it.

I find those cute darker "hearts" in the pattern too big and too dark compared to the background, it feels the pattern is pulsating, and I find it a bit too agressive.

I saw the green and aqua Chameleons (not in Compact!) in person as well, but they, on the other hand, the  seem a bit too muted  because of the muted background and the big proportion of the darker part of the pattern.

The other thing is the wear of the pattern; the Chameleon I got has been used before, and the discoloration that came with the use is clearly seen on the clasp:

Seeing photos of other people's Chameleons, I'm starting to believe it could be a collective problem of the Chameleon range.

There was a damage to its front cover as well, in the two pictures above the last one you can see the discoloration that was area without a colour at all in the beginning; I believe there had to be a price label or a sticker there that a previous owner took off and some of the colour peeled off with it.

I took a purple Staedtler pen (it looked the best colour match, and I was a bit impatient already, you see!) and coloured it; it worked well on the damaged part of the surface (you almost cannot see it with your eye, well, the camera is merciless, though), but to no avail on the clasp where the ink kept rubbing off.


So, here are my concluions about the Compact Chameleon:

1. I definitely love the size,
2. I also love the leather very much, the feel and quality of it.

But!
I'm not so sure about:
- the pattern itself,
- the fading of the pattern colour through simple use and
- one pen loop, and that being placed on the left as well.

To conclude, I think the "hardware" part of it is actually great - the size, the overall quality, the feel of it; the details that I maybe don't like must be the thing of an individual's taste and preferences, I guess.
So, yes, I'd definitely recommend and buy again the Chameleon in Compact, but next time I'd probably choose it in black colour, check it out on the video link above, it's so stylish, sleek and glossy, mmm!

"Friday's Filofax Poll" Results!

Thank you, friends,
for participating in the poll, I really appreciate it!

There was 30 of you which means I could use the statistics for a small group without a problem, yay! :)

So, your answers to the question about how much time do you daily spend online on the search for one or more Filofaxes were as follows:

* 33% of you spend up to 30 minutes,
* 43 % of you spend between 30minutes and an hour,
* 20% spend from 1 up to 3 hours and
* 1 participant (3%) spends more than 4 hours daily.

I didn't take part in the poll - you know, 'just standing in the corner and looking', hehe - and besides there even isn't a category to describe my Filofax-searching obsession habits!

Anyway, given that 76% of you spend daily only something between 0 and 60 minutes, I'd just say - wow, I really must start practicing some self-control real soon!

Based on these results, the obligatory further research suggestion is as follows:
if only 3 percents (or so) of us is glued to the web regarding Filofaxes-to-be-bought, how come do I always get outbid on eBay?! :-)

Thank you again for sharing, and do remember to come back this Friday for the next Poll!
 ***

Pretty Little Things #5

                                                  (Handmade ceramic base for hot dishes with a traditional lace relief;
                                                    made in the small town I originally come from...)

Filofax: Am I ready to go Pocket?

My first Filofax ever was a pocket sized one; according to the Filofax Buyers Guide, I guessed it would be the most practical one, and the proportion of the pages seemed more natural than the narrow personal sized one.
I used it for a year, but was a bit frustrated by it: I needed more space. So I got my Personal(s) and never looked back again.

But the drops were slowly falling: Jotje cast my first shadow of a doubt. Then there was Onigiri-sama!. And Amber. And then the final hit came from Doris - don't you just love what she manages to make out of the pocket size? I couldn't believe it when I saw it and she was an immediate inspiration, combined with my need to take some weight off my bag and the fact that summer handbags are smaller as well. So the decision was clear: into the Pocket we go!

Design-wise the transfer was easy: from Personal Finchley in Teal - into Pocket one of the same kind, so none of its loveliness would be missed, and it eased the pain of having to rewrite (yes, I did!) all the essential pages: I cannot imagine wandering about without my vital and also  unvital to-do's, lists etc!

1. HARDWARE

We start from here...

... and land in here:

 

The trouble is, where do I put all my cards?! 

And what do I do with the two narrow pockets?

And how will I be without all of my cards??...

 The mesh pocket in the back made less problems, however: I only used it for decorative means anyway (although I didn't like having to part with some of my trivia):

As pictures 2 and 3 suggest, the setup remained basically the same in the Pocket: I'd figured up to now I'm best off with 5 tabs - Diary, Me, Lists, Daughter, Info. I only change these visually and add top tabs when needed.

Now, how about the diary?

I didn't have the standard FF Week- On - Two - Pages one, which I'm completely satisfied with (FF inserts are extremely difficult to get around here - or at least the ones you'd suddenly want, and I'd have to wait for 5-7 days to get any online ordered ones), and I was very tempted by Steve and Ray's TM Pocket Diary (a thank you to both for making those inserts, I so appreciate their work!), so it was not really a question what to do:

  And, here we go: the trial use starts! Can't wait!


2. SOFTWARE

My first question: how do I write?? (Meaning the rings getting in the way all the time, deforming my already awful handwriting.)


My second question: where do I write on a pocket size page??
The space is just so small!
(Meaning trouble with my naturally large handwriting, until now spoiled with Personal-sized space as well).
The result were awfully disproportionate notes, starting Xbig and ending in the size of an ant.

It was like switching from a family car to a coupé.
How do I put in all my info?
How do I write neat and tiny with the rings in the middle of it all?
How do I record all my daily data (for example, what my child learns new on a certain day, how much I weigh, when my new Filo was shipped, which special tea did I drink an so on and on)?
See how crowded it got in my pocket (and this is far from being the worst page yet, but others contained so much personal data!):

The frustration was growing bigger and bigger while on the go, trying to put down any info spontaneously as it came, just to meet these new limitations and waste time fiddling about the new size of the pages and spaces.
And in all this time, I never really abandoned my Personal; not only it still contained all my info, not only I copied every entry into it - I even continued to carry it around with me almost all the time, actually referring to it more than the Pocket one - yes, this bad I am!

So after a short week of an self-imposed agony - enough, back to Personal we go, I just miss too much all that I have put in and crammed into it in the last 5 months. And the lovely Pocket Finchley will go to a better home, the one it deserves. :-)

Not that I am relieved, though.

I mean, I have used a Pocket size for a year once, without any trouble, just not being accustomed to the Personal size, so why couldn't I do it again?
And on those two days I managed to go out with only the Pocket one in my handbag, a weight literally lifted and I was able to hoist around my handbag again (a voice from my DH, carrying my handbag on a Friday afternong, having my both Filos and the wallet one and the rest of my daily bag's contents in: "I mean, what is this? You trying to deform yourself?).

And, of course, those lovely chunky Filos from the links above kept popping into my mind randomly and regularly: it has to be possible!

So despite moving back into my Personal, the saga is not over yet, I promise, I do have plans B and C, you know. :-)

So do come around soon and check on the turn of events!
Thank you for reading!

New Feature: Friday Filofax Poll!

Good morning, buttercups!

Long - term observations of my Filofax condition lead me to the idea of establishing Friday Filofax Polls on my blog. Out of curiosity, to help me decide on some matters, for the sheer fun of it AND as a reality check from you, my inmates! ;-)

So, the first poll in the row is asking you: how much time do you spend browsing the internet in search of the Filofaxes?

(And don't ask me where the question came from, he he!)

I'll appreciate it if you take part with your answers, and the comments are very welcome!

A Special Treat, Guest Post from Doris: MEET MY (CURRENT) FILOFAX TEAM

I'm sure you have already met Doris: her guest posts on Philofaxy amazed me (I wish I had a counter of the times I reread them!). If you haven't already, check her work here: 

- Philofaxy Reader review - Filofax Malden - Doris

- Philofaxy: Meet The Baroques - Guest Post - Doris

- and on her Flickr page

I was harassing her regularly to start a blog on her own and share her fab ideas, beautiful Filos and a great read with us.

Well, she didn't melt about it yet, but what I did manage was make her write a post here! :-)

And boy what a post she wrote!

Last night as I was merging her text with the photos I just couldn't stop staring at it: a masterpiece.

Doris, thank you - I'm so honoured!

When Vanjilla asked me to do a guest post on her blog, I was so excited.  But I also wanted to show you, her readers, something that you might find interesting.  I don’t know if I did that with this post, but here it goes anyway.  (:

A few weeks ago, I was inspired by Neil’s videos on Youtube of having Master & On-the-Go Filofaxes.  I write anything and everything in my filo, I have list upon list, not to mention those cute accessories we just have to have, all of which make the filo fat and hefty.  So the idea of a “Satellite” filo occurred to me.  My philosophy, if you will, was to be able to enjoy my filos and use more than one at a time, so this was the perfect solution to my dilemma.

I am an advocate of the Pocket size.  But I wanted to enjoy the Personal size as well since I hadn’t used one for years. With this in mind, I started using my pink Personal Classic (thanks Erin!) and enjoyed the additional space it provided.  I loved it so much I thought I should try to upsize my Pocket purse.  I’ve been curious about the Slimline and Compact sizes but never tried them before. When a matching Slimline Classic, again in pink, (Vanjilla knows my penchant for pink) showed up on ebay, I knew I wanted it to be the Personal’s little sister. I thought they would look good together, the pink is bright and cheery, and the Slimline would be light enough to use in my bag. And I knew Personal inserts would fit from this post by Cat and this by Steve.

This is nowhere near ground-breaking, but I have set both up in such a way that I can run out the door with the Slimline and it would have everything I would need.  If I needed something from the stay-at-home filo, I’d just add them in there and I’d be good to go.  (The beauty of Filofax at its best.)


MASTER FILOFAX

The Personal Classic is fat and full, and is my current everyday, at-home filo.  I previously thought the Classic was boring, but I take it all back!  They’re actually quite structured and “classic”.  The leather is super soft, smooth, and forgiving so it can be stuffed quite full.  It doesn’t lay flat yet, but it will someday.  The only thing I would change is a notepad slot at the back instead of the zipped pocket. To prove how much I love it, I have a new Finchley and I can’t make myself move into that, yet.

The inside front cover is empty as I don’t need cards in there.  As with all my filos, I print a personal info page first, followed by the registration page.

The tabs are as follows:  Contacts, Notes, Lists, Diary/Planner (I use a Dodopad and some stickers to pretty up the pages), Petit Blanc (my business), and Personal.  I received these tabs from a great Philofaxy reader (thanks Lostwithoutyou!) who very kindly sent them to me cause I couldn’t get them anywhere near me. I love them because you can label the tabs as you wish. I just printed off the topics I wanted, cut them out and inserted them. I prefer the look of simple, cohesive tabs.

I did make homemade top tabs on pastel paper, and they’re hand-written.  (Yes, I have a section for my filo.  It contains refills and accessories I need/want to buy, registration codes for each of my binders, things I want to do to tweak my setup, etc.)

 At the very back are jot pads which I love for short notes, and a few photos in a self-locking plastic envelope.

The pens I use are two 5-barrel Pilot Coletos (with Uni inks) which have 8 colors, pencil and eraser, and I love them.  I color-code diary entries and lists to make them fun and colorful.  Not original at all, but so much fun.  (I need to wean myself from multi-pens, I can’t write with just one color anymore.) 

SATELLITE FILOFAX

This was my first foray into Slimlines.  I knew they would be too slim as an everything-in filo, but to use it as a purse would be ideal.   It’s super soft and feels sturdy, I’m loving it already!  The 11mm rings would also prevent me from stuffing it too full and keep it light for my bag.  (It’s actually a glorified shopping and to-do list, but who cares, right?) 

Behind the front cover are a 3-color pen, debit/credit cards and my most often used store cards.  

I was decisive and only used 4 tabs:  Emergency and Important Contacts only, for in case my phone conks out while I’m out;  Notes, which has post-its and colored blank pages (the pastel paper looks pretty in the pink filo);  Personal, with shopping lists by category and a top tab for my business; and lastly, Diary, with 2 weeks on 2 pages to save on ring space.  

Beyond the Diary section is where the purse function begins:  2 credit card envelopes have IDs, more store cards, and business cards.

There’s a clear envelope for photos, a decades-old Post-It envelope called “Tach-It” has different sized sticky notes, a clear flyleaf with a small Midori pocket for paper, a hacked pen loop (I need another Leuchtturm pen loop!), and a Muji 6-color pen.

I was wracking my brain on how to include a coin purse so I made a homemade clear envelope with a brad closure for coins.  I didn’t like it though, it worked ok, but it looked wonky, so I tried the Pocket size zip lock envelope, and it fit perfectly.

And finally, the back pocket holds paper currency.

I have also included a photo of how snugly it fits in my bag, it doesn’t take up that much room at all.

I tend to “match” my filo choices (pink Baroques!).  There’s no rhyme or reason to it except that it’s fun.  I was using a Mini or a Pocket as a purse before I got the Slimline.

Finally, here are parting shots of my Filofax Team!  They serve my OCD organizational purposes quite well (:  and look pretty doing so (if I do say so myself).  Imagine waking up each morning to all that pink-ness!  (Unless you hate pink, of course!)  (:  

What I haven’t done yet is name them.  Any ideas?  (:  Thanks for reading!

(Thanks to Vanjilla for asking me to post on her blog.  I’ve been admiring her Filofaxes and enjoy her posts and I’m glad she’s been posting again recently.  Cheers!)

Doris - a big hug for you!!!! :-)