It should come as no surprise that, just over a month into 2014, I noticed a few flaws in my Filofax set up. I think it happens to all of us planner people – we get a whole new set up for the year, think it’ll be perfect, then, before long, we’re making adjustments. It’s the nature of the beast, I suppose.
Fortunately, my flaws this year were pretty easy to resolve (well, my Filofax flaws, anyway. Let’s not think to much about my many other flaws)! The first flaw was actually created by a previous solution: my daily plan sheets. While having a daily outline of my tasks has been incredibly helpful, it was also blocking our daily appointment view on the page beneath.
Which, incidentally, was not so helpful. While I was on track with getting tasks done throughout the day, I was having trouble with knowing who was where, and when. In an effort to visualize daily tasks and appointments, I decided to hack apart a few of the pages I designed last year so I could see the rough view of our day along with my tasks.
While the solution worked, it also meant that I had another item to remember to cut down and fill out. I already cut and stamp my daily task sheets about once a month in bulk so I really didn’t want something else to think about and make time for.
Then I had a “duh” moment. Since both my clear flyleaf and clear day ruler are reposition-able, why did I think the today ruler had to come first? And why did my task sheet have to be on the “front” of the flyleaf? After a bit of playing around, I had this:
With my task sheet attached on the left, I still have a clear view of our weekly schedule to the right. And since I usually don’t keep any items in the today ruler, it doesn’t get in the way of any writing underneath. Plus, it provides a better view of my weekly task list, ensuring that I am reconciling between it and my daily task list.
While I was a bit concerned about losing the view of the left weekly page, it hasn’t been too much of an issue so far. That page is typically used more for tracking anyway, i.e. weather, dinner, and blog posts, so it’s not nearly as essential to see as often as our daily appointments.
My other change is a pretty small one. I’ve been using sticky notes quite a bit to schedule any future appointments and potential blog posts, which has been working. But I don’t always have sticky notes with me, and the small spaces on the Organized Mum inserts makes it difficult to use anything other than the tiniest of notes without blocking other weekly details. Once again, there was a pretty obvious solution:
I already carry a pen and highlighter with me, so I never really considered adding a pencil. Thinking it would be way too bulky, I just made do with stickies. Frustrated, I pulled out an old mechanical pencil and started playing around. I first tried clipping it to the back notepad pocket, but it was a bit in the way when the pen loop and tabs were factored in. Then I tried the front flyleaf, where it seems to tuck in perfectly.
It’s still not perfect as the pencil sticks up a bit, but it fits quite well without adding any bulk to the binder (an I can easily still write on the pages – it doesn’t make them bumpy). I figure if this seems to work out for a while, I’ll look out for a slimmer pencil where the clip is higher.
But for now, it’s really nice to not have to worry about what size sticky notes I have on hand when planning future events and blog posts.
Have you changed your planner set up from what you thought it would be this year? Do share, I always love me a good planner-hack!
I am in the process of changing from a day per page to a week to view. I thought I wanted to combine work and home but I need to keep work separate in work time, rather than whisk out my beautiful Filofax every time so I can downsize again now. Can't wait to get my diary later today and pass a quiet couple of hours with pens, washi and stickers!