2015 Diary Planning - A5 Flex by Filofax Option

Today I will go over the basics of my idea of using a Flex by Filofax, which would have to be in A5 size due to none of the other sizes working with other notebooks other than the Filofax notebooks which could get costly.

This is the cheapest idea of all of them due to all I would need to buy is a Diary, I have loads of unused A5 cute notebooks and plain ones too which could all be used as part of my plan!

Today I went in to TK Maxx to see what binders they had on sale and I saw a Flex cover, I thought what a PERFECT time to buy it as I can use it to see if it would work as a bound planner. I wouldn't of bought it if it was expensive as it is only a test, it was £7.99.

Here is what I bought:

This is what the two notebooks look like:

I will use the Things To Do notebook as a To-Do list, of course just as part of my test, to see if I can use it instead! I am not sure how much I can move to  a bound diary.

All the reasons are the same as the Midori as to why I would go for this idea as a Diary, except they are held together differently!!!

Here are some of my previous posts on the Flex:

Guest post on Plannerisms 

Ways I could use the Flex when I was in a Planner Quagmire

Size Comparison

An unboxing video I did a long time ago!

Here are some other photos:

I will be back soon with some other possible options!!!!

This Quagmire is getting Boggier.....

My bog continues, and during my bog I saw that Plannerisms posted a post called Planner Quagmire (hence why the bog references and the title).

Yesterday lunch time I went to look at the Flex by Filofax cover again to see if my Cahier notebook would fit.... they do...

A5 Flex by Filofax

Slim Flex by Filofax

I then today decided I should answer Lauries Questions...

From this I decided for the temporary time being I would use my Cahier Moleskine for notes!

My heart is telling me Midori Travelers Notebook...........

Possible Solution!

I met up with my friend Andrew at lunch (I feel sorry for him, we never actually had lunch) and I had to post some things first, then I thought I should have a quick look in WHSmiths and Waterstones at the diaries to get some ideas, there wasn't much in WHSmiths, other than a Colins Elite diary which I have used before but it was too restrictive as all you could have was the diary and that was pretty much it.

We went in to Waterstones and this is where things got picture heavy and interesting.

I bought the Filofax Flex back when it first came out because of the hype, but the diary that came with it started in July, and it was beginning to mid June, therefore it was unusable for a month, in this time I completely lost any care for it as I never used it, I made a list or two but that was all!

I decided I should have a look at the sizes as I was considering using a Slim as my new diary, I thought it was bigger, oh how I was wrong, I have taken a photo with all three sized on top of each other, the Slim and Pocket are virtually the same size. HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!

It was hard to balance therefore Andrew had to hold them!

You can see little Lexie looking all pretty!

As you can see the difference is minimal!!!

I asked Andrew to borrow his Filofax (which upon seeing it I was horrified you shall see why in a minute)

He has a Pocket Metropol by the way!

Slim comparison with Pocket Filofax (I would of thought Slim to be Personalish sized)

To my horror he has written on the front of his Filofax (yes I "gently" persuaded him to buy a Filofax on day over Facebook)

It would have to be A5 for me!

I looked at the diary, as I already have a 2012 diary I could start using now!

The format has not changed by then it came to my mind... I could use ANY DIARY, so I had a look upstairs at Moleskines!

I quite like this week to view diary!!!!

I ran downstairs thinking, I should compare the size to see if it would fit, and to my amazement the standard size fits!! The larger would not!

The Cahier note books are quite cute as well, and if it was a little wide I could trim down the cardboard!

They come in a variety of colours and styles too so it means they would be a good option.

When I got back to my office I remembered that Paperlovestory did a blog post about some notebooks that she used for her Affair, which was like a Flex but had rings, Artbox Haul, Review of Artbox Notebooks. As they are cheap they could be an alternative option for the Flex!

Next thing I thought was I have my Papelote elastic band for an A5 notebook, which would work perfectly with a Flex, and finally, if I needed an extra place to put notebooks (as I am only going to use thin ones) I could always use an elastic band Midori Travelers style.

I am thinking of buying a Leather Flex cover as it will be more Flexible and also I really love the Blackcurrent Leather cover.

So that is my possible resolution to my whole issue as I could use a huge range of different notebooks/diarys all in one cover and it would be leather and still the Filofax brand.

What do you think?

Remembering the whole reason I am moving away from Filofax is due to the rings, and I can use sticky notes so I can move things around and paperclips and bulldog clips, as Tracy (Icclewu) knows I have lots of Bulldog clips!