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!