Leon, my Stay-at-home Filo

Hey there,

So here we go for my first set-up post/walk-through. I'm excited! Get ready for a lot of pictures, because picture-heavy posts are my favorites when it comes to Filofaxes :) I'm sorry these are a bit blurry!

In my first post, I explained that this A5 Chameleon was the second Filo I bought. I had been using the pocket size for almost 6 months by then, and I was starting to feel limited by the size. I love that the Pocket is so portable, but sometimes I would feel frustrated, especially when I was trying to write up my day in the evening. I tend to use my Filo as a planner, for future events, as an organizational tool, when my time is a little tight and I need to put more thoughts in planning the day, and as a record of what happened, gluing bits and bobs in it. So, I decided to get an A5 Filo that I would mainly keep at home. If my job were to change, I would then think about taking it with me to work, but that wasn't an issue at the moment (and still isn't). I will do a separate post where I describe my Pocket 'on-the-go' Filo.
I received this A5 Chameleon just as I was quitting my job and going to spend the summer at my parents' house, so I have some difficulties setting it up. Because, you know, I'm not in my 'real life' right now, if that makes any sense?? Anyway, except an update of this set-up when September arrives :)

On the left hand side of the cover, we have 8 credit cards slots, one bigger slot, 2 slip length pockets and one zipped length pocket. I don't keep a lot here. I have a few stickers in the slip pockets, some post it flags and Tracy's paperclip. In the credit card slots, I keep personal pictures that I printed on Moo to the right format. I don't use the pen loop because, as the binder stays at home, I have access to ALL my pens :) When I do need to take it with me, I usually take a pencil and a ballpoint pen with me.

The very first page you see, behind the transparent fly leaf, is the registration number. I'm paranoid I might lose my Filo (which stays home...) After that, there's the personal information page (well, really, only my name and email address), and then the Filofax informational pages I decided I needed (EU Members, Religious Festivals, Notable Dates). That's the end of the 'introduction' part of my Filo.

Then we go into my 'objectives'. First I have a mind map of my main goals for 2012 (roughly). I made it cute with different colors and stickers, and put it in a homemade protective sheet (just an A4 plastic sheet cut in half and repunched. The washi tape is here to help punch trough plastic).

Then we have my first divider, on which I put one of the tabs Tracy sent me, and behind which I have my monthly goals. I've created a template for those that I adapted from Ray's monthly planner. I've been using them to set up goals every month and review them at the end since February, and love it so far. It's been very helpful, in improving myself.

My next section after that is 'sport'. I tried to keep it pretty vague. In it you'll find a Couch to 5k training plan (with the pink tab) that I printed off the internet, and that gets checked off every time I achieve a step, a Workout Log that I drew on some squared paper (4 columns: date, type of workout with room for comments, duration, distance if applicable), and a few interesting articles on fitness I punched and put here. I just put some washi tape on the tab of the divider, wrote the title on it and added some Winnie the Pooh stickers. As I said I'm fairly certain my set-up will change when I'll go back to the real world, so I tried to do tabs that I could easily modify.

The following section is my diary. I put one of Tracy's cute stickers on the divider (the character seems to be scratching his head in a sort of 'duh?' attitude; too cute. Sorry the picture is so blurry!).

I start with the year overview that came with the Filo. It's far from perfect, I very much prefer the horizontal calendar where each month gets a column, but I haven't yet found a way to print it out on my own. I know, I'm pathetic.

But then you can see the month on one page I did, adapted for Steve and Ray's template. I think I only changed the look, and added a Notes column. Oh and there of course you can one of Tracy's goodies, again :)

Then we go into the diary. I use Week on 2 Pages, column, because it came with the binder, but it's actually my favorite format, so that was nice. I usually first write down the appointments in front of the time, then the to do list of the day where there's room left, and then write about the day where I can!

The three next sections are dedicated to current projects. The first one is about the things that need to get done where I am now and during this summer. The second one is about planning after September. The third one has everything I need about my current job search.

After that, we get into a 'References' section, where I keep important information, a list of things I like, a list of Zen habits, a summary of Christmas gifts exchanged, and a page about my Filofaxes' structures. Then I have the alphabetical tabs behind which are my contacts (addresses, not email addresses or phone numbers, which are in the computer or the phone).

At the back I have blank paper, which I use to sketch, the business card holders (in which I keep mainly contacts needed in my job search). In the last pocket I have the Filofax notepad, which I use a lot, and I use the space left behind it to stash any letter or paper I need to take care of.

There, you have it, my Leon! I hope you enjoyed this post, as much as I enjoy reading about your set-ups! What do you think of him?