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.