15 January 2013

Free For All Tuesday No. 102

Tuesdays are your chance to ask any Filofax related questions you might have.

So fire away and we will collectively try to answer your questions or offer opinions.

44 comments:

  1. How do you care for the oustide leather if your binders. Laurab. Www.whosthischick.co

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  2. Does anyone have any experience putting a Leuchtturm1917 pen loop into either a Slimline or Compact Filo? I'm just wanting to make sure I can have two pens in a Compact Metropol and still close the clasp comfortably.

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    1. I have put both a leuchturm and tow flex loops in a compacy regency and can still close it! ( i.e all at the same time) but I do have very slim pens in them.

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    2. Thanks for that, Helen! I plan to use Bic four-colours in my pen loops.

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    3. I'm not sure abic 4 colour will fit in a leuchtturm stick on pen loop. Check bureau direct's website. They talk about the size of them.

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    4. The Bic four-colours definitely fit (albeit very snugly) into a Leuchtturm loop. Sadly, two Bic four-colours at the side of a Compact Metropol means it's nearly impossible to buckle the binder closed.

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  3. I'm with you Laura in wanting to know how best to care for the leather. Ive recently acquired a mini Malden ochre to use as a wallet and a personal Malden ochre (only colour available on sale apart from black) that I will use as a diary & notes organiser. I'm actually wondering if the leather conditioner I have for a brownish leather handbag would do the trick?

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    1. I have a Personal Purple malden. I use just clear wax for leather. This is the product that I use: http://www.urad.com/support/URADproducts_Faqs.cfm?id=30. Keeps the leather nice and smooth.

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  4. Hi everybody again!
    I wanted to know how you keep tracking your goals for the year? I feel like I'm putting them somewhere and never actually make them. Do you put them in front on the ruler? On the wall? And then write down the plan on the separate paper?

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  5. I have mine in a separate section of an A5. The goals are on coloured paper and behind is a set of monthly tabs and every month end I review them. I journal a little about what I achieved that month and what I need to do in the next. Anything I want to be reminded of or set steps to take can then be transferred either into the notes bit of my weekly with notes pages or direct as a to do task into my daily pages. But some are not amenanle to that and this year I wrote some Gretchen Rubin like personal commandments and put them in a credit card slot. In addition I have goals for what I will do in the studio ( I make textile art.) and those goals are on a dry wipe boatd, so yes, on the wall! Where I have a seperate filo for an area of life that has a goal (eg i have a health binder) I also have the relevant goals in there. Sort of a hub and spoke effect. In fact come to think about it I now have a sticky stuck to my water bottle with washi tape that was a quick low tech way to get my heart rate targets into the gym with me so I could meet my interval training goal without taking a filofax in.
    So, I would say surround yourself with them by all means, but also the key to actually making them is to review them frequently. And to break them down into to dos and tasks so you are not doing your full goal just the next step.

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  6. Oh I forgot to say, I just made a knock off Franklin Ciovey Page Finder like pouch ( its on my blog but you can get the orgiginals too!) and thats going to be a good place to put goal reminders too.

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    1. Hi Helen, I had a look on your blogs earlier but I couldn't find the post about this! Do you have a link please? :)

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    2. Sorry, I forgot.. Its scheduled for Thursday.

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    3. Looking forward to that one Helen!

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  7. @mysummertouch As with everything, I think regular review is the key, by whatever leans suits. Writing goals down won't make them happen, and in my case at least, I need to have them in front of me regularly, so including them in the weekly review means they don't get forgotten

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  8. If anyone stumbles upon an A5 Hamilton I would love to add one to my collection! I have a personal but missed an A5 sized one a few months ago on eBay...

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  9. I'm still trying to find a new home for my black A5 Finsbury if anyone's interested.....

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  10. No question, but I am eagerly awaiting a 15mm A5 ring binder. Solely so I can destroy it and do a similar experiment as Tim Edwards did to his A5 Flex. I too want a Filoflex as;

    I am finding carrying both my Flex and my Personal Filo is getting heavy, and I'm using my Filo less. I make extensive notes for the two sides of my life (retail work and training VS dissertation and my self employed work) which is why the Flex works so nicely and there are no blooming rings getting in my way (which was why I abandoned the Filo for note taking)
    Yet I end up with some loose papers and they are getting lost or crumpled in the pockets of the Flex...

    So I figured that with a slim ring binder mechanism in the Flex I could hold the relevant pages of a Dodo Pad, a couple of pockets/wallets for loose notes and things I acquire, whilst still having ample room for note taking, much as Tim's solution was.

    At the moment, I have no idea how I'm actually going to attach the mechanism, as the picture wasn't big enough to demonstrate the attachment, so that will be somewhat of a surprise!

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    1. I want exactly the same! Flex but with REAL pockets to put loose bits in! Ringless would be even better, I was sure someone would have done the mod but extensive "googling" suggests not! I was considering something like a wider piece of card with split pins or some weird joiner thing we see occasionally at work with some placcy wallets on but I dont have the flex to try. In fact just been to staples to look at they dont have them!

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    2. For those who have no idea what this is about, go to my posting on 11th/ 12th July 2012. Basically, I was in search of a superthin ringed A5, for all the reasons cited by Holly. My solution was to take a 13mm ring mechanism from an old Time Manager compact binder and fit it to my A5 Flex. It has worked brilliantly for me! Last autumn I upgraded to a new tan leather Flex and moved the mechanism into that.

      Modern Filofax mechanisms are made by the rings being riveted to a back plate (that holds the rivets). It's much easier with a Time Manager compact mechanism as the two pieces simply slot into each other. Simply glue the baseplate into a prepared slot and slide the mechanism into place. With a Filofax mech. you'll have to gently push up the rim of the rivets where they hold the mechanism in place. Much more tricky to do neatly!

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    3. Donnydl: I didn't see a Flex in person before I bought one, got one on sale from City Organiser after reading as many reviews as possible: At the time I was umming and ahhing between an A5 or A4 Filofax or an A5 Flex and I had admitted to myself there was no way I could justify 70-150E on a Taschengebleiter, no matter how stunning they were!
      I do find the Flex adequate for a few loose papers, but its hard to see them 'at a glance' and I have old pages from certain notebooks relevant to my work and it would be nice to have them transferred to where my current work is. Fingers crossed it works!

      Tim: I doubt the Snopake mechanism will be as easy as your TM mechanism! I imagine its riveted between the two pieces of plastic. Luckily I'm quite handy with tools as is my Farve, and not fussy if the surface of the Flex or the mechanism gets scratched etc in the hacking process
      Your post is what inspired me to try the Filoflex, it seems like the perfect middle ground! :)

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    4. Holly: You just reminded me of the other folder I had seen.... Now in a way it is good as it has pockets that shut on three sides, therefore a pocket rather than a slot but in my mind I want one side with 3 sides sealed and the other with two! Awkward, me, never

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  11. What are peoples views on keeping or selling binders they dont use? Do you hang on to them in case? The reason why I am thinking of getting rid is mainly the fact that it doesnt stay open and therefore I am not using it, I have seen the posts on training but I dont love it enough. Am I talking myself into selling?

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    1. If you love it - keep it. If you know you are never going to use it, then sell - you can always use the proceeds to get something you like better.

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  12. Training?

    I'm thinking similar Donnydl

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    1. Ok so where's the cheapest place to get an A5 Flex or anyone got an outer they want to part with and lets try it, as I would be DIY inards anyway.

      Failing that for now anyone measure out the exact places where everything is on the flex A5 in terms of slots etc

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    2. Hi donnydl,

      My local TK Maxx recently had A5 Flex's for £7.99

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    3. Oooh forgot they did filofax thanks

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    4. donnydl, I have an A5 flex for sale if you want, it's pink though! Email me at puddytatpurrATgmailDOTcom if you want

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  13. Hi all!

    Do the filo mini pens like the barley pen and other cheaper ones take regular D1 mini pen refills?

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  14. I am interested in buying a personal Malden

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  15. I have a 2013 dodo pad filofax inserts that I have not found a successful way of using it. I know you can used the lines header for each family member but I am a single person household also the blocks are small

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  16. Hi everyone,

    Does anyone know where I could buy a personal Holborn zip in Wine or does anyone have one they're willing to sell?

    Ashlene

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    1. I might! I have a brand new on still in the box with 2013 diary etc. Better still I'd love to swap it for a Personal Cuban zip. Let em know if interested ali@alisonreeves.co.uk

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    2. Thanks Alison! Email sent :-)

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  17. Thanks for the leather cleaning information. After pondering for a few weeks I've decided to keep my leather raspberry Finsbury pocket.

    Husband is aghast that I have two filofaxes that I use, no way can I justify having three.

    So I have a Kingfisher Pocket Metropol for sale brand new, I'd just used the diary, so swapped it for the diary in the Finsbury when I got that.

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  18. So, I'm looking for personal size Filofax with 30 mm rings. I've seen a few but if any of you know of some off of the top of your heads that would be great. I'm wishing for brighter color ones, but I haven't found any yet. I may need to resort to brown black or grey... Not my favorite colors.... But... If I have to compromise somewhere I guess that would be it. :) thanks all.

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    1. The only personal size Filofax I know of is the Cuban Zip. Otherwise you might have to go for a Franklin Covey binder.

      On Filofax.co.uk when you look at each individual binder it tells the ring size in mm, so you can look through there but I don't know if any currently available on their website have rings that big. They seem to be going smaller (more compact styles available) rather than bigger with the rings.

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    2. Lynzy is in the US, and fILOFAX USA has removed the Cuban from their list of organizers. She would have to buy used or order it from the UK.

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  19. I put away my Finsbury Slimline today. I was looking at some of the other binders I have, which included two Microfiles with 11mm rings. They are a cm shorter along the spine and a cm narrow and fit in my pocket far more easily. The one downside is that there is no penloop, but I don't see that as a major issue.

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  20. I put away my Finsbury Slimline today. I was looking at some of the other binders I have, which included two Microfiles with 11mm rings. They are a cm shorter along the spine and a cm narrow and fit in my pocket far more easily. The one downside is that there is no penloop, but I don't see that as a major issue.

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  21. Can you fit a pen in the personal malden zipped pocket?

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    1. It will depend on the thickness of the pen, but it might make it quite bulky. There is an elasticated pen loop on the back cover.

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