Jun 6, 2012

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: 

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!!!! :-)

20 comments:

  1. Hi Doris!

    Absolutely LOVING your slimline. I sooooo want one, of the non-black variety though! It will happen soon! Thanks for sharing x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @LucyLastic: You're welcome. I'm sure you'll find one soon enough. They're a little hard to come by, but I'm sure one will pop up somewhere that has your name on it. Good luck with the search. I do love mine.

      Delete
  2. Hi Doris, it appears we have very similar taste. I too have the Baroques in both colours and the Classic personal and slimline in pink.

    I avoided the classic for a long time due to having a pocket (camel coloured Cross) size as my only filo for around 6 years and it never laid flat.

    Then one day I found the pink slimline in Rymans for only £20.00 and just could not leave it there so home it came with me 'on apro' ;-). Obviously I eventually did succumb to that lovely shade of pink and it got its approval, it is now my computer companion and sits next to my PC with all my logins and bill reminders. Of course, I then just had to hunt down a personal pink classic and used it for 3 months in which time it nearly learned to lay flat, with training they both will.

    The leather of the Classic is softer than my old Cross which felt more like a vinyl / plastic and I have not had the plastic film problem that others have spoken of.

    Really enjoyed reading about your satellite filo, something I have done for some time for exactly the same reasons as you and your top dividers are fab. I wish Filofax would produce blank top tabs.

    Thanks to Vanjilla for inviting you to write such a lovely post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Saffy! Yes, we have very similar taste don't we! (: I'm happy to hear the new Classics have better leather, and don't have that plastic film problem you mentioned. I hesitated for a long time because of those exact same reasons! I obviously took the plunge anyway, and got it. Now I love it.

      Thanks for your comment!

      Delete
  3. Doris, do yours both already lie flat?
    I, too, found the Classic too conservative and stiff (I imagined the leather is real hard to the touch?), until reading your post; I couldn't imagine using it, and now - hey another temptation!

    And those blank dividers, are they from FF?
    (http://www.filofax.co.uk/store/paperessentialsdetails.asp?productId=153)

    (Just the first round of questions! :) )

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Vanjilla! Unfortunately, neither of them lay completely flat when empty. I was lucky to get both of them fairly new. As Saffy above mentioned though, they will with time.

    However, since they're both stuffed to the gills, as my filofaxes tend to be, they lay flat when open, even close to the front or back (does that make sense?). And the Slimline's front cover has cards so that weighs down the cover significantly. I have no problem writing in them at all though, if that's your concern. (:

    But oh, I don't suggest doing bootcamp training on these babies. I tried "forcing" the Personal open and the leather will show some creasing if you do that. I suggest just easing them into laying flat with use.

    Conservative is a good word to describe them, especially in black or brown. The pinks and lavenders and mints and blues are an entirely different story. (: I hope they bring back those colors, they're so pretty.

    And yes, those are the blank dividers. I wanted those for a long time but they were never described properly anywhere. City Organizer has them too. It's the code 131624 that will identify them properly. (I got this from a Philofaxy reader, not my discovery, ha ha.)

    Hope that answers your questions. Regards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Doris, my questions completely answered, thank you! :-)

      Delete
  5. Doris, Vanjilla is right, you must start your own blog, I love reading your posts. I too am lusting after a pink classic but was worried about the plastic coating, you've put my mind at rest now, Dawn x

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm with Dawn, please, Doris. When will you get your own blog? Really enjoyed reading this post. I am searching for a smaller filofax set up to use as a purse. I will keep looking! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @Dawn and @AngelJem: You are too sweet! Thanks for your comments!

      Delete
    2. Doris, that makes three of us and more to come, yay!!!

      Delete
  7. Great post, I'm glad you like the dividers Doris! If anyone else wants me to send them some, drop me an email at charlotte@stwcreation.com :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can't thank you enough for them! Glad you were able to see them in action.

      Delete
  8. Lovely post, Doris! Thanks to Vanjilla for requesting it! I love the idea of a satellite FF! And you've sold me on using a personal size for a wallet! Right now I'm using a personal Holborn as well as a pocket Chameleon. The pocket is my wallet. I have found that my bag is soooo heavy with both of these and I'm noticing that I'm not really using the ring feature of the pocket for anything. I've got paper in it but I don't use it. So, after reading about your slimline, I'm moving my wallet into my Holborn. Only problem now is that I want a slimline!!!!

    Thanks for sharing your beautiful Filos!!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Dem, the Holborn will make a great wallet with all those pockets. Ummm, I don't have a Holborn! (: Thanks for your comment.

      Delete
  9. Beautiful. I love the post. I love the pictures. I sort of have a satellite filo myself I suppose, I leave my main A5 at home unless I am going to a meeting or appointment, and I have my compact in my purse at all times and use it for most lists and notes. Great post.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Steph! I'm tempted by the Compact as well. What kind do you have?

      Delete
  10. Doris I think you've sold the Classic slimline to me, been considering a slimline or compact for a while now, I love all the pink, gorgeous!!! I'm also longing after a Baroque, can't tell you how many times i've had a personal one in and out of my basket on Filofax Fr lol, not sure how long I will resist :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hi Alison! It's the pink that sold me to the Classics. (: The Baroques are also lovely aren't they? I almost ordered from France too but held out cause I wanted the pink more. Thanks for your comment!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Vanjilla, Doris, thanks for linking to my slimline post. LOVED reading your post here, and the concept is great! Thanks for an interesting read :)

    ReplyDelete