Hey peeps! I’m super excited to be writing this post today because planning is my thing!
Just like in our homes, where clutter can make us feel overwhelmed, poor organisation can make our life seem stressful too… To-do lists on random scraps of paper get lost and forgotten. Sound familiar?
I’ve been using a Filofax since my teens. I tried digital planning for a few years and I honestly tried to make it work. I mean, it is nothing if not convenient, right? We have our phones with us wherever we go. They are small and fit easily in a pocket and handbag. There’s no need to rummage around for a pencil and no mess when we change our plans.
BUT… to me the difference between paper planning and digital planning is the difference between living and just existing.
Obviously we need to be at our appointments on time and a digital planner will serve that purpose perfectly – superiorly even as it will even remind you in advance. But life is about more than that. Years can tick by with you remembering to go to your dentist appointments and getting to work on time… but if the boring and mundane are all you have planned – that’s exactly what your life will be.
Beyond recording our schedule, we need a way of setting and achieving goals, of creating healthy habits and kicking the unhealthy ones, of making sure our life is balanced, of consciously planning and reflecting regularly. We need to be considering what we really want to achieve in life. What would our ideal day, year and life look like?
I know there are apps out there that will do all of these things but when it comes down to it, I just L-O-V-E paper – always have done. There is just something creative and therapeutic about setting these things down on paper. And don’t they say that if we write it down it will happen?
[icon name=”hand-o-down” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] RING-BOUND vs. BOUND PLANNERS [icon name=”hand-o-down” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
It’s a hard decision. There are pros and cons to both, but for me the scales tip in favour of ring-bound planners.
The Pros:
There are many pages that remain in my planner year after year and that I don’t want to be copying out each year – such as a list of birthdays and anniversaries, my bucket list, my short and long-term goals, a list of books I’d like to read, contacts, health notes and info… The list goes on. I also like being able to remove the pages of months/weeks that have passed to reduce the weight of the planner.
The Cons:
For me, the cons of note are the size and weight. With ring-bound planners, the paper size is always small relative to the size of the planner.
[icon name=”hand-o-down” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] RING-BOUND PLANNERS [icon name=”hand-o-down” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
There are various brands of ring-bound planners out there. I have grown up using Filofaxes (since my teens) and somehow it seems disloyal to stray to other brands, but if I had to choose from the other brands available I would say that I love the Gillio.
The 3 most popular sizes of Filofax are pocket, personal and A5. The paper sizes are as follows:
A5: 210mm x 148mm
Personal: 171mm x 95mm
Pocket: 120mm x 81mm
Most recently I am using a personal size Holborn in brown as my main planner as well as an A5 Finsbury in raspberry for my business planning and a pocket Finsbury in black to store my full address book, passwords and other important info.
The queen of the Filofax, in my opinion, is Rachel Dunaway and this post wouldn’t be complete without sharing one of her videos with you:
(It was REALLY hard to choose just ONE of her videos to share and I would recommend binge-watching her entire channel! Seriously, her videos are GOLD!)
[icon name=”hand-o-down” class=”” unprefixed_class=””] RING-BOUND PLANNER INSERTS [icon name=”hand-o-down” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]
When it comes to inserts for the Filofax there is a LOT of choice, but here a few of my favourites:
Sew Much Crafting makes diary inserts in personal and A5 size which have boxes the same size as those in the hugely popular Erin Condren Life Planner – which is an advantage since most planner stickers available on Etsy are made to fit the Erin Condren Life Planner.
DIY Fish sells printable inserts in all sizes and with so many layouts to choose from that it will blow your mind. I am currently using v2.2b in personal size which looks like this:
