So, again a Filofax post. I showed it to a friend today. I told him that I had a great “low-tech” item for organizing my life and pulled out my Filofax Domino A5 in ultra violet. And his reaction was: “Wow, an analog iPad!” I think this is a great way to describe my Filo.
Today I want to quickly show you how I came to use my Dodo Acad Pad. (Well, to be perfectly honest the pages I’m currently using are the regular Dodo Pad. The Acad Pad starts in August. I got both because the regular one was dirt cheap and I didn’t want to wait until August to start using my Acad Pad.) This is what an unused page looks like:
You can see the Dodo Pads have the calendar pages only on the right side. The left side is blank (or partially blank) with some quotes, pictures, drawings etc. on it. The illustrations change every week along with the color of the pages. I love the colorful design in particular, although I was a little hesitant about the small writing space on the calendar pages, as I tend to write down everything I have to do on a certain day or in a week. The space seemed a little too restrained for me.
The suggestion on the Dodo Pad website is to use the columns on the right for either different projects or different times of the day. I tried this but I just couldn’t make it work. And before I continue rambling, I’ll just show you a picture of what a used page of my calendar looks like.
You can see I don’t stick to the five columns at all. I just ignore them. I simply couldn’t make the column design work for me. I have a pretty small handwriting and still it’s way too small to write in an appointment. So I just ignore the grid and write all over the place. I use my color coding system (you can see a picture of it on my Flickr) so I can easily see what I have to do this week.
And I’m now also very happy with the blank left page. I use it for my To Do lists and other notes that are important for a certain date. In combination with the sticky notes (I use them if I have to prepare something a week earlier – so I write everything down and just move the post it to the next page when the week is over) this system works perfect for me.
I’ve been trying to use the stickers I ordered from the Dodo Pad website. But I always forget that I have them, so I’ve just used one until now. So guys, that’s it for now. I have some blog posts coming up about the things I bought today (oh dear, I did some serious damage to my credit card; Caribbean Princess please forgive me for I have sinned…), about the wine tasting (part 2 is the more fun part… I’m so looking forward to this), and some organization tips.
I love this! I’ve been thinking of going with DodoPad in Jan. because I love all the historical info and the wonderful drawings, but the column space has held me off until I saw this.
Smashing idea!
I just couldn’t handle the columns either… my writing is REALLY small as you can see… but I barely fit the time of the appointment in one column… It doesn’t bother me at all that I just write across all lines – especially not with the colors. And I LOVE that I can stick sticky notes to a week without covering up any appointments (I’ve used the sticky note system before but on the week on two pages format I’ve always had to cover up something and I didn’t like this at all….)
Anyway: I’ve just been using it for a few weeks, but I’m pretty sure I’ll repurchase the Dodo Pad.
I like your colored tab labels! Very smart looking. Great post on how you customize the Dodo Pad and make it your own.
I bought the personal size Dodo Pad on clearance this spring. I have been struggling with the small squares (SO tiny in the personal size!) so I think I will assign column titles related to summer and make it a journal of sorts.
Am working up some blog posts re: my Filos and the purposes I’ve assigned. Take care!
Love your pictures as much as I love the quirky Dodo pages the calendar squares like you say are so tiny I can’t work with them
but I loved seeing how you use it
Lx
Haha Kathiza you have sinned! But as I am on my no shopping challenge from July I will be living vicariously through other people’s purchases
The dodo pad looks fantastic and is great for the A5. Excited to see how you use the academic part when it starts.
I thought the academic part would be different, but it isn’t. There are the exact same pages as in the normal Dodo Pad. The only difference is, that it goes from August to August….