Thursday 25 September 2014

My Personal Saffiano Set-up!

Before I move into my A5 Raspberry Saffiano I wanted to share my Personal set-up (warning, picture heavy post).  I've been using my Personal Aqua Saffiano for quite a while now and I love this Filofax, it's worked really well and i'm more than happy with the set up.


The only reason i'm moving into my A5 is that the Personal is so stuffed and right now I feel that I need more space.


When you first open the Filofax the Saffiano has three credit card slots and a secretarial pocket and a pen loop.  I don't keep credit cards in my Filofax as I use a separate purse.  I just have a Debenhams Beauty Club Card, a Medical Card and my National Insurance Card, i'm not sure why as I memorised my National Insurance Number years ago.

At the moment I have two Pilot Frixion Pens, one in the pen loop and one clipped onto the secretarial pocket.

I have the odd paperclip and a page marker.  At the moment i'm loving these Arrow page markers which I purchased at Waterstones.  They come in a pack of about eight, in bright colours for £1.99 but can also be purchased from Amazon.

I have the flyleaf where I clip a shopping list which I bought from Levenger, (i'll go into more details about these in my Stationary Post) with a cute paperclip which I purchased at the stationary department of Tesco about a month or two ago.

I have one of the apple stickers on the flyleaf that you get when you purchase an iPad or iPhone.  I love my apple gadgets.




Next I have a piece of scrapbooking paper which I cut down and punched.  This is about as far as my decoration goes.  Here I have another Arrow page marker and a post-it note with my stationary shopping list.


On the back I currently have a note that I left for my partner on the fridge so that he'd see it as he was getting his food for the week.  He's a HGV Driver and goes away for four days at a time, travelling all over the country (soppy, I know lol).  I also have a picture that one of my Twins drew for me, then my Paperchase Planner Stickers, which I love and would highly recommend.




In the Filofax Credit Card Wallet I just keep an old card for the hairdressers for contact details and opening times, a McDonalds Loyalty Card, Post-It Flags which I use a lot and a picture of a Minion which came on one of the Twins Pencil Case.  He's Minion mad.



I have recently added a Focus Section.  It's basically more card stock, cut down and punched.

Each month i'm going to Focus on four areas of the house.  This month it's:
  • De-cluttering the Living Room and Dining Room.
  • Organising my bookcase.
  • De-cluttering my bedroom and re-arranging my Dressing Table.
  • Go through Twins clothes, charity any that no longer fit and make a list of what they need.
This has worked so well, it's now the 25th September and all I have left to do is re-arrange my Dressing Table.

I tend to have random Post-it's here and there.  I was watching The X Factor and a young lad, Paul Akister sang Jealous Guy, you can find his audition here.  It made me want to download the original by John Lennon once i'd finished crying so this is just a reminder.  Take a look at Paul's other audition "Let's Get It On' here he really is an amazing singer and I know i'll be backing him this year.




Anyway back to Filofaxes, I got a little side tracked there lol.  You then come to the Diary Section, i'm currently using week on two pages and my calendar is from Paperchase for around £4 July 2014 - Dec 2015, the paper quality is good and in my opinion a little thicker than Filofax Calendar Pages.  I don't decorate my pages but use lots of Post-It Flags, hi-lighters and the odd Martha Stewart Dew Drops so that things stand out.

I'm using another of the Levenger cards this week as my to-do list.




My List Section starts with my Edward bookmark which I punched as i'm a massive Twilight Fan.


My List Section contains:
  • Reading - current reading list, book wish list and books to look into.
  • TV/Movie - movies I have watched with my partner, movies i've watched alone and a wish list.
  • Beauty - my current hair colour, lipstick colours (Revlon Lip Butter), my favourite right now, Maybelling Colour Tattoo's that I currently have.  Should an offer come on a Boots or Superdrug I know what colours I currently own and a wish list.
I also have a Home Section, which is just items I want for around the house, a Planner Section, with pen colours I own, my weekly and monthly planner review notes and a list for 2015 and a small Blog Section, I used my A5 as my main blogging section but it will be combined into my main planner once my A5 is all set up.

I have recently added a Health Section but this is a work in progress.  My List Section is the only place where I decorate slightly with Washi Tape and the odd phrase.




My Finance Section is still a work in progress and i'm testing out a few ideas to keep on top of my finances to see how they work out for me.  I log everything I spend, i've struggled to do this in the past either forgetting or giving up but so far i've kept it up for nearly a month now which is a record for me.



Lastly I have a Filing Cabinet Section at the back where I file random information.  I just use the standard dividers that came with the Filofax as I have no patience or motivation to create my own but i'm fine with that.  I have never got round to labelling them but over time I remember where each section is and if I need to change things around, its no big issue.


In my next YouTube video and Blog Post i'm going to share my Stationary Pouch and what I store in there.



I will post my accompanying YouTube Video if you'd like to check it out or visit my Channel Planner Geek.

Thanks for stopping by.  I'd love any comments below if you have any questions or just to say Hi!

Tuesday 23 September 2014

Introduction to my YouTube channel and my Filofaxes.

My First Post! Where My Filofax/Planner Journey Began!!

Welcome to my blog and my first blog post.

My Filofax/Planner journey started quite a few years ago.  I'd previously owned a black leather Personal sized Filofax for a short time while I worked as a mobile Clerical Officer.  I haven't a clue what model it was or what happened to that binder.

About four years ago my life was in complete chaos, married with five children, whilst suffering from anxiety/depression, I hit an all time low and need to get my act together.

Missed deadlines, not knowing if I was coming or going but the breaking point came when I held up the coach for a school trip that my daughter should have been at school early for.  I got a call from school asking where she was and as I rolled up late with all the parents waiting to wave their children off, with no packed lunch for my daughter, I broke down in tears.

I came home from school that day and the online search began for the perfect planner.  I looked into various options including Moleskine but once I discovered the Philofaxy website and started to read blogposts I knew it was a Filofax that I had my heart set on.

I opted for a Pink A5 Apex - at the time i'd never used an A5 planner and wasn't sure how well we'd get along, so I didn't want to spend too much money.

I soon became hooked.  Most of my spare time (what little I had) was taken up with reading blogs, trying to create the perfect set up and searching for the perfect planner.  I was obsessed and my Filofax collection soon grew, and so did my stationary collection and my overdraft.

I ended up with planners in A5, Personal and even mini, i've had Malden's, Finchley's, Holborn's, the Flex, Aston's, Finsbury - the list goes on.

Ring issues became a real issue for me so I even tried Franklin Covey for a while, and had a dabble in Day Timer but I always came back to Filofax.

I started a blog, did the odd YouTube video, not that great to be honest, went to a few Philofaxy Meet-Up's and made quite a few online friends.

The amount of planners that I owned and the guilt got too much and started to cause my anxiety to get worse, so I decided to sell the majority of my collection, spent less time online and gave up on Blogging/YouTube.

My marriage came to an end and I moved back to my hometown to be closer to my family.  My Filofax was invaluable at that time with so much to do, finding schools for my children, finding a rental property etc.

I now live on a very tight budget and currently only own two Filofaxes.  A personal Aqua Saffiano and an A5 Raspberry Saffiano and have no desire whatsoever to add to my collection any time soon, or feel the need for an expensive leather binder.

I'm more than happy with the set up of my Personal which is currently my main Filofax, although due to how stuffed it is and needing more space i'm going to set up the A5 and give the Personal a well earned break.


I try to use what stationary I already own and only have the odd purchase here and there, mainly on inserts and pens.  It's surprising what you can turn into a to-do list.

I don't decorate my diary pages, I just don't have the time or the desire to do so, although I enjoy looking at other people's pages.  I do use the odd bit of wash tape here and there and have a small collection but mainly plain bright colours which matches my planner and my style.

I'm not really computer minded, so my blog is definitely a work in progress and a learning curve.  I have set up a YouTube Channel and will be filming accompanying video's to my blog posts.  If you would like to see my first video you will find it on my Channel here, my Channel name is Planner Geek.  You can also find me on Facebook and Instagram also under the name PlannerGeek.  I'm new to all of this so it's still a work in progress.

In my next post and video i'm going to share my Personal Saffiano set-up before I move into my A5.  If you've made it this far, thanks for sticking with me and i'd love you to comment below, even just to say "Hi".  Please check out my YouTube channel and i'd love friends requests on Facebook so I can rebuild my online friendships.