As you all know I had a competition to win a Domino Personal Filofax a few months ago!
Well here is a guest post written by the person who received this wonderful prize, I wanted people to see how she has got on with it and what she is using it for.
A few weeks ago I was really surprised and happy when Imy told me that I had made first place in her filofax competition.
Soon afterwards these lovely things arrived in the post: I got a Personal Domino, some cool stickers and a Frixion Pen, Yay
I love travelling but as I’m a broke student it will be some time until I can afford to travel more frequently especially overseas. But until then I can at least dream, right?
I like taking a cheaper binder with me on holidays so that I don’t have to change the setup in my main one and also not to mess it up when I’m out and about, on the beach for example.
In the past this has been a green personal Apex that I have also won through a competition (yes really! can you believe my filofax winning streak?) but for some time now I have used the Apex for a different purpose. So when Imy’s Domino arrived I knew at once that it would make a perfect new travel filofax. I also really like the colour, it’s a very rich purple (unfortunately the screen doesn’t really do it justice) and it looks more grown up than the Apex.
The Filofax actually serves double-duty. I constantly use it at home to plan or dream about future vacations and to archive the information on all the places I have already been. When I actually go on a trip I take out all the pieces that are irrelevant for this particular trip and take the binder with me. I then add all kinds of useful information and data such as hotel addresses, phone numbers, reservation numbers, train schedules etc.
But as I’m not going away at the moment I decided to show you my set up that I use when I’m at home.
I really enjoy making my filofaxes look pretty and personal. For this one I couldn’t decide and made 2 cover pages. For the first one I used a picture from an old calendar that I got in Ireland when I was there a couple of years ago. I still had a movie brochure of the film “away we go” and as I thought the saying fit quite well I glued it on.
The second cover is simply made of pretty cardstock
The dividers are also made of old calendar pages (I think old calendar pages are ideal for making dividers as they are often sturdy but not too thick.
Now let’s have a little tour. Behind the cover there’s a contact sheet, including my address and ways to contact me should I ever lose the Filo. It also contains some emergency contacts.
Behind the first tab, there is my wish list of places I want to go someday which is quite long!. Some destinations are very generic, but some get more specific over time when I add cities, regions etc.
Next we have a section dedicated to Munich. It’s the next real city from my hometown (about 2 hours) and there are still lots of things I want to do there. Places to go, Restaurants I want to try, Shops I have heard of…
The third tab contains more concrete plans for the next trip that is coming up.
I do my real planning here, adding new information constantly and writing down ideas that cross my mind. At the moment this section is used for a trip to Cologne for a friend’s birthday party on New Year’s Eve. As I have never been there I’m going to combine the party with a short city trip and explore the place for some days, yay :D
The fourth tab is reserved for checklists. I have a huge holiday checklist/packing list that I always consult before going away for a longer time (more than 2-3 days) so I don’t forget anything. I now have a permanent copy stored in the Domino which will come in really handy in the future and will save me the trouble of always printing a new one.
Lastly, there’s my holiday wish list. It’s for all the things I would like to buy abroad. One of my favourite things to do on holiday is to browse the supermarkets of the place I’m at. So interesting and fun to find all these new sweets, drinks and national dishes that we don’t have at home. So I make sure to keep a record of the things I liked best. (Mint chocolate and orange jelly from the UK how I miss thee :D)
But it’s also for all kinds of other stores that I would like to go to. (Paperchase!! Everyone has made me so jealous with their hauls :D)
The next section was actually inspired by the alphabetical tabs that came with the Domino. Behind each letter I store the information on places I’ve already been to. At the moment this is only Barcelona under B and Scotland under S because I have been a Filofax user for only one year yet. But over time this could get a lovely reference library. After each trip I also write down my highlights of the holiday and things that I didn’t have a chance to see and really want to include should I go there again. I think this will also be helpful when a friend asks me for advice before going to that same place.
At the very back I store maps that I printed off or cut out
And finally there’s a small plastic envelope for stamps or little scraps of paper
Woops, this got really long (awful tendency of mine)
Thanks to the Philofaxy community for giving me so many ideas for my binders and just for being such nice and helpful folks
p.s. the cool stickers Imy sent along also found a new home (in my main filofax)
I am signing a declaration to show that I will stick to one Filofax for the whole of 2013 from now on and not change inserts etc, I can add pages etc but that is it.
I have decided that I will only change inserts if I moved to a job where I needed a day to a page.
Here is my declaration (if you want to join me email me at filofaximy@live.com I will email it to you!).
And here is the Filofax to which this declaration will be used upon!
The Layout...
The dividers for all 12 months....
Sorry it was brief, I have had to schedule two posts and this quickly!!!
Miss you all and I am sorry for my lack of blogging!!!
I have started to use the Midori full time now, and I love it to pieces I love how old it looks, how used, but I love most how the inserts work! It just feels absolutely amazing when it is in your hand, and there is no rings to come apart, I cannot really see anything that could go wrong with it other than an elastic breakage!
I created a Youtube video on Monday showing the "basics" of how a Midori works, I tried my hardest as showing you how to remove and add inserts was very difficult! Take a look...
This just really shows you how you put inserts in, what inserts I have and a brief showing of what they look like inside!
I wanted to show you how I am making my Midori's diary work for me, as I have been using it for 2 and a half weeks now I thought it was time to show you the little things I have used to make it work to its best standard for me!
Here is the obligatory picture of the outside which most of my posts seem to start with..
The pen on the cover is a Frixion 0.5mm clicker, it has blue ink in but I wanted a pink barrel, as I am cute.
My book mark charm as it makes me feel happy!
I will show you my current week diary from Sunday when it was empty and only had a few different things on and show you how after two days it has changed!
Sunday:
As you can see, not much going on!
From this morning! It looks so much busier! (No I am not going to Exeter, cannot afford it nor get the afternoon off work)
As you notice I have included a lot of stamps, now I shall explain as to why the stamps are there....
The cute little teddy holding balloons and the dots surrounding him is to show my overtime, to make it a bit more fun and happy!
The Bird with the trail and small flower is to show when I am car sharing with my boyfriend or father!
The little cat in the basket is to write in when I watch a TV programme which I usually watch, if it is isn't written down in the diary then that means it must be caught up on using 4OD or BBC iPlayer. I do not really watch much TV, I usually just put a Family Guy box set on and just listen really.
You can also see how I have filled out the box with overtime in has been filled out! I did 30 minutes! I know that does not seem like a lot but all added up at the end builds up! YAY!
The little face teddy kind of is a mood thing, if I am happy I use one of the happy ones, or if I am not I use one with a different mood.
If you noticed I have the Overtime stamp in EVERY DAY! Because I want Christmas off work!
Another thing you can see I do is use cute stickers to make life seem a bit more fun! And on quieter days I use some washi tape or something to brighten up the day a little.
On the side of every page you can see a little pink heart that is counting down until CHRISTMAS! How exciting and motivating is that!
You can see I also try to record when I fill up with PETROL!
To remember TV programmes which are on (I do not look at the TV Times) I use arrows pointing Left! No idea as to why left but they always have to point left for TV.
An arrow pointing right usually means it is something to do with blogging or other things, but an arrow with anything else written on will always point right! I am strange I know!
I also use Washi Tape to mark important things, at the top you can see it is only 6 week until Christmas this week (I think it is).
I also try to record as much information in it as possible, the paper delivery company didn't deliver the papers one day! tut tut.
I also put my Eden stickers in whenever I go, which will be a lot now as Ice Skating is back on!
That was how I organise my diary! I hope you enjoyed it!
