How I use my Filofax (Domino A5 in ultra violet)

Be prepared to see my complete craziness presented to you in a single blog post. I FINALLY finished setting up my Filofax. Seeing how other people use their calendars is really exciting for me (yes, I’m a freak). And I love showing you how I use mine. So here is my Filofax Domino in A5 and in the color ultra violet. On top of it there’s my carrot pencil case, which was a hand-made gift from my sister she gave me for Christmas several years ago. I’ve carried it around with me for several years and I get lots of compliments for it. It’s a great conversation starter because people always ask where I got it and where they could buy something similar. (I always have to respond that I don’t know, since it’s the idea of my sister and she designed and sew it by herself; she’s very crafty). [by the way: you can see all pictures in a bigger size on my Flickr page]

This is a picture of my Domino viewed from the side. I have one Pilot FriXion Ball pen in black in it. And you can see it’s already pretty full. I’m one of the people who carry around tons of stuff just in case…

This it is when it’s open. On the left I have some business cards, a card from my bank with all important emergency numbers (in case my wallet gets stolen), I have some index tabs and post-its. And I put my A5 portable hole punch from Filofax in the big pocket. I’m not really satisfied with this, because I feel like it might fall out. I tried putting it on the rings but it just makes the Filo too bulky and it’s difficult to flip through pages with it on the rings.

The first page of my Filofax shows my color coding scheme on the left. I wrote it on a post-it so I could change it if I feel like I have to. On the right are the Filofax post-its. I had them in my last Filofax (a Personal Metropol in black) and didn’t use them that much (especially the ones on the top). But I like having them with me. You know, just in case…

This is the Dodo Pad Year Planner. I’ve never been a fan of year planners, because I don’t really know how to use them. How do you use yearly planners?

This is what the Dodo Pad looks like (I got the Dodo Pad for 2011 and the Dodo Acad Pad for 2011/2012; I saw the AcadPad first, ordered it online, but then I found the 2011 regular Dodo Pad and thought I wouldn’t wanna wait until mid August – that’s when the Acad Pad calendar starts – and so I ordered the regular 2011 one for only 2 GBP off ebay). I love how colorful the pages are and I love the little poems, stories or drawings on the left page (which I use for taking notes). BUT: I think I’d like a little more writing page for the single days. It’s even less writing space than for the several Week-on-one-Page-Layouts, because of the drawings and embellishments. But I’ll try it out and see if I can make it work for me.

So these here are my tab dividers. I made them myself by designing them (in MS Word) and printing them on yellow, thin paper. Then I laminated them and cut them out. This makes them a little more robust and you can design any kind of divider you like. I was even thinking of using a different colored paper for every tab. Well, maybe the next time I feel crafty

My tabs are called:

Uni: for my grad school schedules, grade lists etc.; I have a top tab for uni notes
Goals: I loved the idea but I haven’t quite figures out how to use my self-designed “Goals”-sheets (with different columns for “goal”, “activities”, and “deadline”)
To Do: self-explanatory
Money: here I’m trying to record all major spendings in my self-designed sheet which looks pretty much like the Filofax ones; this tab has a clear envelope for receipts
Travel: here I collect my maps, time zone information, conversion tables for sizes, temperatures etc, a packing list for my move to the US, important data, visa information etc. I have a top tab for any information concerning my move to the US.
Lists: here I have my shopping lists, books/films lists and many other things listed and color coded (or just colorful); I have a top tab for my shopping list, so I can find it easily
Health: I’m trying to get in shape and eat healthier; in this tab I’m trying to record my diet and exercise; again, I designed my own sheets for this section
Contacts: this is my address book; I don’t have that many addresses to note, so I took out the A-Z divider tabs and just kept a few address pages in this section
Notes: a simple notes-section with my self-printed ruled, colored notepaper (soooo much cheaper than the Filofax one)
Journal: if I feel like journaling on the go; when a page is full I move it out of my Filofax and into… well… maybe another Filofax
Misc: for anything that doesn’t fit in any other category

Here are my top tabs. I’m sorry if you can’t really see them in this picture. They are just for finding things quickly within a certain category.

This is my shopping list. I printed the paper myself and perforated it in the middle. So I can tear off one half of the page and take it with me to the store. I love this system and I’m very proud of my idea

This is my list of “101 things to do in 1001 days”. I haven’t started it yet. On it are many things I’ve never done; many I do on a regular basis (no, that’s not cheating), many I did once… It’s a mixture of things I like to do or I like to try. On the left page is – and again, watch my craziness – a list of lists I need to make.

In the back I have my Filofax-stickers and my Dodo Dodon’t Forget stickers. I haven’t really used any of these yet, since I feel the writing space is already very small – I don’t want to make it even smaller by putting stickers on the page. In the very back is just the standard Filofax notepad, a campus map of my university in the U.S. and some paper stuff.

So, that’s it. I hope you enjoy reading this kind of blog posts as much as I do.

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Tags: books, diy, filofax, how i use my filofax, lists, organization, phd