Friday 10 January 2014

My ‘more compact than an A5 filofax’ planner..

..has turned into a bulky, more or less the same weight as an A5 filofax planner.


However, all is not lost.

It started when I was worried about damaging the cover of my Plannerisms planner. I decided I needed something to protect it day to day as I tend to chuck my planners around a bit. I had seen on philofaxy that this planner doesn’t quite fit the Filofax flex cover as it is slightly too tall to fit into the slip pocket.


Nevertheless, the cover itself is tall enough to fit the planner inside. This meant I could attach it with a piece of elastic in a Midori type way. It appears to be pretty secure.




This solution means that I now have a number of pockets to keep other daily items. The only rule I have given myself is that all essential items are kept within the planner itself, meaning if I want to carry it out of the house without feeling like I am lugging around a brick I can take it out of the cover and know I have everything I need inside.  All the things that are kept in the cover pockets are non-essential items that I am not going to need out of the house.

In the card pockets I have my credit card (I only have it for internet purchases so it doesn’t ever leave the house), stamps,a few sheets of a mini note pad and Moo.com stickers (see my puppy -he is so adorable).


The larger pocket below contains a couple of small note cards.


The larger side pockets contain:

Vouchers that I don’t want to keep in my wallet as they are for places I would need to make a special journey to.


2    A small reference notebook that I used pre ‘bullet journal’ days. I haven’t decided what I want to do about this yet. I may go through it and see if there is anything to copy over before shelving it.


3       A pen loop (really just so that it doesn't get lost), paperwork I need to process and a memory stick that I have attached to a clip


I have put the Plannerisms elastic over the back to keep it out of the way as I use a smash band to keep the whole thing closed and store my pens.


Here is a comparison with my A5 Malden filofax, showing the planner with and without the flex cover.



So there you go I have my portable office that I can use at home and a more streamlined version I can take out and about.

6 comments:

  1. That's a good solution! I've been trying to find the ultimate slimline A5 for ages! I even did a post in July 2012 on Philofaxy, inserting a 13mm ring mechanism into an A5 Flex.

    It's such a shame that the - otherwise excellent - Plannerism isn't true A5. I purchased one last year but ended-up hacking the cover to try to get it to fit into a Flex binder. It didn't work and I ended-up converting the Plannerism pages into punched sheets. However they looked odd as they weren't the same size as my other A5 Filofax pages. A5 is part of the international standard adopted by all countries except the USA and Canada!

    You might consider putting holes into the spine of your First Edition Flex (see Rsy Blake's blog on tips) to take a proper Midori-style elastic. The material of the First Edition models if ideal as it's more robust than the current versions. Tim

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  2. Thanks. I may put holes in, as I think I will keep this as the cover. I read your philofaxy post. It crossed my mind to give it a go but if I was going to use a ringed system I would have to use a nicer cover than the first edition flex and you can bet that even if I managed to do it perfectly using one as practice I would mess up a more expensive cover. In terms of the sizes I actually wish we could all adopt the USA sizing as I prefer the proportions of the plannerisms planner. I know it is only a slight difference but it just feels better to me.

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  3. Soon after the Philofaxy post Filofax introduced the second series Flex. I purchased a tan leather A5 and moved my ring mech into that. The thickness of the leather is not as robust as the First Edition vinyl Flex covers. Whilst it still works, it's a bit more flimsy!

    Whilst the Plannerism looks ok! it needs a proper cover if like me (and you) your planner is subject to the rough and tumble of everyday life! A cover keeps a bound planner looking neat and tidy as the year progresses and makes it suitable to be used at high level meetings ad it looks professional. There are virtually no covers (certainly without importing from the USA) that a Plannerism will fit in because of it's non-standard size and A4 printed inserts can't be easily be folded to A5 and tucked inside. Just my view...

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  4. Hey there I'm just starting to get reorganized for the new year....so the smash band does fit a 5x8 planner? I was going to get one to hold my pens, but it said it fit an 8 1/2 x 11. Thanks for the help!

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    Replies
    1. It only really fits because it is over the cover and it's contents. It would be much too loose if it was over just the planner on its own.

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