It has been ages since the last time I shared a planner set up with you. The main reason for this is that for me my system does not change. I found planner peace a long time ago with the way in which I planned and also what I needed in my planner. Planner peace for me is about my system rather than the actual planner I am in.
So a couple of weeks ago I talked about my planning mojo was having a bit of a slump. Well I decided to move away from the Ban.do Florabunda and back into my Malden. I do still love the Floradunda but I just felt like I wanted to go back into rings again. I was using my Florabunda for planning as well as journalling which was working well for me but, I don't know, for planning, I just found it too large. I am still using it but solely for journalling and we still have a strong love affair!
Now I am back into my Malden, my mojo is also back into full swing too! Autumn is my favourite season and I come alive in Autumn and find that I really get my 'craft on' too. The Malden lends itself perfectly to snuggly photos so expect to see a lot of those in the coming weeks and months over on instagram!
Obviously I filmed a video of my set up so you can hear and see me talk about it:
I don't know about you but Autumn to me means even more warm drinks so it wouldn't be Autumn without a little Starbucks charm now would it!
When I am in my Malden I do tend to use the card slots for my cards, the layout just lends itself perfectly for a purse / wallet. I took the cards out for the photos though. I also have a couple of paperclips too. I can never have enough paperclips! Also peeking out you will see some cute little notecards from My Pretty Week.
I have affectionately labelled myself the dashboard queen as you know I am always making dashboards and my planner has at least two in it at all times! Pure eye candy mostly!
The page marker I made last year by laminating a sticker sheet has of course made it's return!
As for the sections in my planner; I have my diary, to do, notes and addresses. This is my daily planner for my personal life and our home / family life. I don't need anything to fancy or high tech. I use another planenr for work and blog scheduling. For this, I like to keep it simple and for me having my planners split like that really works and helps keep everything in some kind of logical order.
The inserts and dividers are all cut from a Paperchase notebook which I think was from their 2014 Dreamscape collection.
I am a planner addict. I will very
openly put my hands up and admit that I like planners and so it stands to
reason that I would have more than just one. I mainly have planners that are
the Filofax brand BUT that is only because Websters Pages Color Crush are new
and new to me. I have had some of my planners for quite a while now.I am delighted by my Color Crush additions to
my planner family and couldn’t be happier with them.I also have a Paperchase planner and a
couple of Fauxdori's.
One of the most frequently asked
questions from people new to the planning community or for people who have one
or two planners is ‘Do you use all those planners and how?”. The very short
answer to that is no, I couldn’t possible use all of my planners at the same
time. I would need a separate planner just to plan in when I was going to use
my planners and that would just be crazy even for me!
So if I don’t use them all, why do I
have them? OK so there is a couple of reasons, firstly my friends and family
know that I like planners so buy them for me as gifts for my birthday and
Christmas etc and to be perfectly honest that is how I have gotten most of my
planners. Secondly I like to buy them and I use them as an accessory. There I have said it. Please don't judge me! I am not
really into handbags and I only have two! One is a cross body daily and the
other a posh hand held one for when such an occasion arises. I buy planners and
change in and out of them like other people would with handbags. I just like to
change colour or design with my mood, season or how I fancy decorating that
week / month.
For me my planner is a planning tool. I
Use them for, well, planning. Anything that is coming up and needs to be sorted
or needs to get done. That for me is the difference between a journal and a
planner. The way I see it or the way it works for my life, a journal and a
planner are two separate things. I use a journal for recording what has
happened in my day, thoughts, feelings, memories, that kind of thing and I use
a planner for tracking appointments and to do lists. That is how it is
currently working for me. Again there is a big BUT…one of the things I love
about the Websters Pages Color Crush planners is that there are some great
inserts to use as prompts for recording like you would in a journal. I am not
currently using them in this way though. As you probably already know I also have the Large Florabunda planner from Ban.do on my shelf ready to use when August finally rolls around.
As for the planners I currently have
and use this is how it works for me:
Personal
size – My daily everything. In that houses my calendar / diary sections, to do
lists, blog planning and everything I need to plan for or jot ideas down for.Persoanl
size – an old planner that I am not keen on houses my inserts thatI have taken out of my daily, that is the
weeks that have passed that I no longer need to have with me
Personal
size – A red planner for keeping everything to do with Christmas planning. This
only really comes out from October onwards and houses everything to do with
Christmas cards, gifts, travel, house guests, meal planning etc.Check out my Christmas planning series here.
A5
size – For all the information pertaining to my online retail business such as
furture planning, potential stock ideas and supplier information.
A5
size – which I fondly refer to as my ‘fluffyfax’ this has information
pertaining to my three bunnies and two guinea pigs such as their nail trim
logs, vaccination records, health records and care notes for when we are on
holiday.Check out the FluffyFax here.
A5
size – working as a home management binder where I record things like which
room we painted, when and in what colour paint etc.
Only my personal daily which just so
happens to be a Color Crush planner at the moment is the one that I look in, well errrrm,
daily! This planner goes around the house with me. It sits open next to me on my desk
so I can glance at it when I am working. It comes down stairs and sits on my
breakfast bar in my kitchen and if I feel like having a cup of tea and a
planning session then it comes into the lounge or family room with me too. Of
course when I am out and about my daily planner comes too.I have my schedule with me if I am at the
doctors surgery and need to make a follow up appointment, the to do list is
there if I am out in town and suddenly remember something I need to do and my
notes and ideas are there if I am out having a herbal tea (not coffee he he!)
and want to do a little brain dumping. Everything is all in the one place which
is what I like.
My motto definitely is ‘your planner
only works for you if you actually use it’. What I mean is you have to write in
it and you have to refer to it. If you do that you have no excuse for missing
things that you needed to get done.All
of my other planners that you could say I am currently using (the ones above)
only actually get used when I need to do something in them so it makes sense
for me to have them separate.It makes
no sense carrying things around with me that just don’t serve a purpose.
Welcome to the FluffyFax show and tell he he! OK so I call it a Fluffyfax because it houses all of the information regading my fluffies health and wellbeing. When I say fluffies I actually mean my three bunny rabbits and my two guinea pigs. And it is actually the A5 Filofax Domino in patent turqoise which I have shown you before.
I have always documented and tracked various things for my fluffies. It started out as just a section in my daily planner (A5 and then Personal size), then it moved into a personal size all of it's own and now we are on A5. I decided to make the move from personal to A5 because the two vets that I take my girls too either give / send their invoices and information in A5 or A4 size. I wanted to start keeping some of these so it made sense to upgrade them to an A5 size. Prior to the Dominos I had two A5's, one being used as a home management binder and the other as a journal so it was a nice excuse to ask for a Domino for my birthday!
Let me take you through the planner so that I can show you what I have in here and why.
Of course as we are going to be using something so beautiful as the turqoise we may as well put some other beautifulness in and of course I think my girls are beautiful so expect to see some photos of them in the following pages. My little bragging book he he!In the secreterial pocket I have some of the spare inserts that I am using in the planner. The dashboard actually serves no purpose other than for prettiness. I just love Belle and Boo products as you well know particularly as Boo looks so much like my little Florence Tinkerbell. Aesthetically my planner is quite bunny heavy and that is because I have yet to find anything really with guinea pigs on so if you do, please point me in that direction and I will love you forever!
In the first divider I have general informaion pertaining to all of them so I have details on the vets that we use and who goes where. The two new additions go to a different vet than the others because they had a bundle deal on microchipping, vaccines and health checks. A tad confusing but then that is what a planner is for, to keep me in check.
When we go on hoiday, Jon's parents usually come and stay at the house to look after the girls, they like staying and call it a mini break, they live in the town and although we are not a million miles away from each other they like to come out to the Country! The folks are quite well versed in the fluffy care but I do like to leave them with notes just so that they can refresh their memory if they forget something. I detail when to food and bedding etc and I always like to leave them with vets details. The beauty with the fluffyfax is that it is altogether all of the time so I don't have to write it down each time, I can just leave the fax out on the side when we go.
Nutrition is very important to them as it is us but for bunnies and piggies there are lots of foods that they can't eat and some that should only be fed in moderation. My girls do have their favourites so I pretty much know what to give them but every now and then we may have something new in and I wonder if they can eat it, well I have it here printed out for quick reference and saves me going online all the time. I use the PDSA to obtain my information as it is supported by my vets. Please note that this is a guide to help you out and I cannot be held responsible for any of the accuracy of the information that it contains. Please ensure that you do your own research or you check with your veterinary surgeon that food you are giving to your animal is safe. OK that was my little disclaimer!
I also keep the information of where I have purchased snuggle items so I can refer back to them.
Moving on then to the other dividers. Each divider has a photo of the fluffy that it refers to so that I know who is whos section, that and it is an excuse to have another photo of my girls! This Mumma does love her girlies. In my old fluffyfax I had names on the dividers and laminated over them but I am doing it this way so that I can change sequences if I need to / want to (not because I am expecting a fluffy to depart us anytime soon - "touch wood")
Each of the sections contains a sheet with further information about each fluffy. As our girls were adopted there are some gaps as we don't know everything.
I keep a log of their nail trims so I can work out when their last one was and when to book the next, they usually go around the three month mark. I also like to keep check of their vaccinations.
I find keeping a health log really useful. It is useful for us so that we can see changes and improvements and monitor conditions and we can also see when it was things occurred. There are always times when we can say "when was that". Again if we are going away, this is useful information for people to have in case there are flare ups or if care giving is still needed.
And that is pretty much that. It keeps us well organised so we know what is what and it is working really well for us. Do you track your pets health and welfare? I would love to know and I would love to know if you have any suggestions on things I should be doing. I have had bunnies and piggies all my life but there are still things that can be learnt.
This is not a selling post, I am literally just doing a show and tell of my set up and hopefully inspire you to track your pets health if you don't already but if you were interested in any of the inserts / dashboards I do sell these in my Etsy shop.
I hope this has been a useful and interesting read and I will catch up with you all soon x
Even though it is dark and gloomy with rain battering against my windows today, I feel in a really Spring like mood. I am so ready for April but more importantly I am so ready for Easter next week!
Products Used
Planner: Websters Pages Color Crush Planner in White with matching folio
Planner Inserts: Websters Pages week on two pages
Washi Tape: MT Brand but I can't remember where I purchased these from.
Stickers: Hobbycraft - I bought mine in store in the Easter aisle, they don't seem to have them online.
Journal Cards: Websters Pages - These are the days 'April'
'Art' Postcard: Unknown, sorry!
Paperclips: Ribbon Bow - Hey Charlie, Rabbit shape - Paperchase, Gold Bow - Kate Spade
Creme Egg Planner Charm - My Etsy Shop
Belle & Boo Stationery Set - My Etsy Shop
Dashboard - My Etsy Shop
There was a whole great big yummy mess on my desk which I just scooped up and arranged a little bit nicer for a photo he he! Such a nice way to spend a wet Sunday me thinks!
Easter chocolate here we come...
Planner problems huh...I love all these cards and can't decide what to use when and how lol! I like to pop a card in between my pages for prettiness and extra notes and the like but oh I can't decide, I like them all!!
The Domino. A well known Filofax that has been arround for some time now but one I think is often over looked for some of the other better known such as the much coveted Malden. For a long time I wanted the ultra violet. I longed for it and lusted over the rich gorgeous purple colour. Be still be beating heart I used to say, one day you WILL be mine. Well as you can imagine it did become mine. I saw it on offer one day I made a cheeky purchase BUT it was not the dream I thought it was going to be.
I didn't like it. I loved the colour, that still had my heart but the planner itself. Nope. So it sits on my shelf housing some older inserts. I love the colour so just can't bear to part with it but I don't love the planner.
So let's fst forward some time shall we. Filofax launched their new Spring range and in it were the new patent Domino Filofax in turquoise and hot pink. They turned my head I can tell you! I loved the colour but I wasn't falling for that trap quite so easily this time, I wanted to be cautious and so I asked around in planner groups and the like to see what people thought of them. The general consensus was that it was love, unconditionally love, so that won it for me.
Colemans had a discount on some of the Filofax range and the new patent Dominos happened to be in that sale, well as I had a birthday coming up, I may have forwarded the details to Mr B, who so very kindly bought me the turquoise A5 aaaaaaand. BOOM! Love at first sight.
Did I say I love it! ha ha! OK so I love it so much that I treated myself to the pink one too whilst the offer was still on and once again....BOOM! Love!
But why? Why Do I love them so...
The colour - they are such gorgeous rich colours, with lots of depth
Elastic pen loop - it is elastic so you can pretty much fit any size pen in there and it is in the matching planner colour
Elatic wrap closure - what I don't like about the ultra violet is that the elastic is thick, not stretchy and not the same colour whereas the patent domino is exactly the reverse and so easy to use.
The floppy cover - I love the floppiness. It is not to floppy to be annoying yet I love it. The ultra violet is so stiff and rigid...bleugh!
It lays flat - from day one unlike the ultra violet that still doesn't!
My could live withouts...
Because of the patent it is a dust magnet which you can probably see in the photos. It does love to pick up every little speck! It also scratches easily. I use my planners and I mean really use them, they go wherever and I am not precious of them but that means I have certainly tested them out.
There are no card pockets. None. That bugs me. It does have a roomy secretarial pocket but I want little slots too.
No notepad. This could just be from Colemans but every other Filofax I have had has come with the pad in the back. This is not a deal breaker as I can add one but it was a bit like....hmpf...where is it!
So all in all a lovely planner and one which I am enjoying using ever so much. I will do a set up of how I am using the turqoise, that is all for my Fluffy babies. The pink one I won't be doing though as that has all information pertaining to the Brimbles Box and is confidential I am afriad but I know you will understand that a girl has to have some boundaries.
Do you have any of the Dominos? What do you think of yours?
I am sticking with a lovey dovey kinda mood this week, mainly because I decorated my pages on Friday so not even valentine's day and I am still feeling the romance!
Products Used
Planner: Filofax Personal Ochre Malden
Planner Inserts: My Grid Won2P
Stickers: Target $1 spot (sent to me by a friend!)
Washi Tape: From the Idea Owl
I felt more in a doodling kind of mood this week so doodle I did do. He he I felt that was going to turn into a little song then!Well as it is Valentine's week I thought I would go for a love bug theme.
Products Used
Planner: Filofax Personal Ochre Malden
Planner Inserts: My Grid Won2P
Stickers: Hearts, arrow and banner from My Mind's Eye, Cupid's arrow
Journal Card: My Mind's Eye, Cupid's arrow
Dashboard: Love Bug from my Etsy Shop
I haven't doodled on my pages for ages. (What is wrong with me today, that rhymed and again I felt like bursting into song!!) I really enjoyed it and I should so do it more often, I know I should because that is how I first started with my inserts. I should go back to my roots more often but then, I do love my stickers. Who doesn't love to play with stickers?
Irealised that I might not actually have that much room to write this week so I added a journalling card so that I could use that for little lists and notes and such like. I mean I have a to do list and note section in my planner which I use daily but it is also nice to keep details in your week as well so that they are there at the quickest of glances. OK it was also an excuse to use this journal card as it matches he he!
So one side is red chevron and I can write on in black and the other has a design on it but I can write on it with my white uniball signo which I love!
Of course my week wouldn't be complete without a matching dashboard now would it!
If you like the look of my love bugs and would like something similar for this valentine's week, or any week for that matter, I have ladybugs over in my Etsy shop.
Hope you have a lovely week everybody and enjoy your Valentine's Day if you celebrate. Mr B and I aren't really one for going to a restaurant or anything all lovey dovey but I am sure we will do something. I have a great gift lined up for him and I will be sharing it with you soon because it is related...
