Writing real estate in Kendal

One of the new arrivals turned out to be a PERSONAL Kendal instead of the POCKET Kendal I thought I was bidding on. Ah well, it's still beautiful!

Very beautiful actually. The leather ages with grace, and I think I'll like it even more with time. And being used to a Guildford slimline I'm completely head over heels in love with the ring size, too! 23 mm instead of 11! I decided I want to use it as a notebook, only the personal paper size is too small for me. And there seemed to be so much space around the edges?

...so I made my own. Slightly bigger than personal. The width at the bottom is 10,5 cm (a6 width) and the length is 18 cm. I got three sheets out of each a4.

 This is how it compares to a personal size sheet.

Punching was a little tricky, but I removed the plastic ends on the puncher so there was no obstacle for the paper.

Filled to the brim and ready to go! I love how much writing real estate there is in here!

Punching and cutting, getting ready for new arrivals

Tonight I've been busy preparing some more paper for my Bond at work. I bought a pad of 60g lined paper without any holes on my way home from work today. It's nicely perforated at the top and comes out a5. And then I punched all hundred sheets! See?

When I was done, I was still itching for some more DIY... I decided cut up some pocket size paper in preparation for some new Filofax arrivals this week. That's right. Not one. Some. Three actually. So far. 

Last week I kept myself busy on Tradera, the Swedish subsidiary of Ebay, carelessly placing lazy (low) bids on items that looked even remotely interesting. Since they are Filofaxes, nearly all of them are interesting... I never thought I would win them for the price I was willing to pay, at least not that many! 

Don't tell my family :-) but this week I will get three lovely parcels containing:

• a red pocket Finsbury
• a chestnut pocket Cuban
• a brown pocket Kendal

I have already started making plans for them, naturally...

Oh, and by the way - I'm so pleased with Dahle, the paper cutter! It's a dream to work with. Sturdy, easy to use and oh, so good at avoiding fanning. If you are considering one, I would definately recommend it!

As you can see the pocket paper is not punched yet, and that's because I haven't got a pocket hole punch (yet). It's on its way too, and then I'll make confetti to celebrate my new filofaxes!

Keep your fingers crossed I'm not as lucky with the rest of the auctions, the ones that haven't ended yet... On second thought - don't keep your fingers crossed. I want them :-)

A4 sheets in my A5

I asked for suggestions on the last free for all on Philofaxy on what to do with A4 sheets of paper that I don't want to punch holes in but still need to carry in my A5. The replies gave me the idea to use a A4 plastic folder, cut it a little wider than the folded sheet and then punch holes in that... Very simple, and in hindsight I can't see why I didn't think of it in the first place - but I suppose that's part of the beauty of a community! Actually taking the time to post a question gets all sorts of brain processes going :) Thank you for inspiring me, Amanda and Clara! This is what I did: 

The problem. The very important piece of paper and nowhere to put it (except with a paper clip, but that isn't fail safe, I've noticed). And I couldn't get my hands on any pockets where they'd actually fit entirely.

The solution. A plain plastic A4 folder... It opens on two sides and I wanted to keep two of the closed ends in my new folder. So I put the folded sheet in the right place in the folder and cut the folder in two a cm or so outside the sheet. 

...and this is what it looked like after the cut. Next step - punching holes! 

Punching plastic is not a nice experience (see my post on the Birthday project for my son). So I've stopped trying to doing more than dent the plastic slightly with the puncher, and then trim the rest with a scalpel.

The finished pocket! On its own and in Roxy. It is a little wider than the pages of course, but I think I can live with that. The plastic might be to frail to last long, it looks like it tears easily. If there are more signs of that I think I'll just add some book plastic or hole reinforcers. I am very happy with the result! 

Moveable action lists

I dearly love my A5 Raspberry Finsbury, and she (yes, it's a she...) is my main Filofax. But she is heavy, and I can't bring her along wherever I go. My action lists need to go with me, however.  I also want to be able to carry them in both my mini and my personal. So I decided on a format that works well for me:

It's basically a mini page, and I punched it with the mini hole punch. All the holes have little slits in them so they can be lifted off the rings. As you can see, this page will not fit in a personal, so I cut off the corner.



When I process my inbox I write my action lists, and when I'm at home, they stay in my A5, and when I go out I move them to either the mini or the personal.

What about you, do you move information between your organisers daily?

Removeable notes

I don't know if there is anyone else out there who doesn't really like opening the rings of you filofax, but I don't! I'm always worried things will fall out or that the mechanism will wear out too soon, and instead I just let things stay where they are, which sort of defeats the purpose of a filofax... And when I eventually muster up enough courage to open the rings I have a lot of reorganising to do.

So I cut out little squares of paper, and punched them with three holes so that they will fit into all my organisers (mini, personal and A5) and made small slits from the punched holes so they can be removed from the organiser without opening the rings. I have blank pieces in all my organisers and keep stacks of them around the house and in my office, too.

I use these mostly for GTD inbox/bucket style notes. Whenever I think of something I need to put in my inbox I jot it down. Later I just pull the notes out from all the organisers (and my pockets!) and put them in my inbox. 

Most of them are torn up when they end up rewritten as items on a next actions list, but this one was added as a reminder in my calender. See? 

Of course I have to be careful and make sure the slits are not too worn if I reuse it, but most of the time they are ok being moved a few times. 

Hole punchers

I've got the filofax hole punchers for mini, personal and A5. I still can't believe I actually put out so much money on them as I did, a fact I do my best to try and forget. They're really too expensive. And useful.

Say hello to Dahle

Meet Dahle, the latest addition to the family. He's just perfect. He helps me in all my paper related projects.

What do you use for cutting paper?