I'm interviewed on Quo Vadis Blog!

I'm very excited to be featured on Quo Vadis Blog!

I've been reading the Quo Vadis Blog for years and years (since back when I used to post comments as "worldwide"). It's an excellent blog, and in fact it's the one I hold up as the gold standard for what a brand's blog should be. 

Click here to see my interview and read all about where I'm from, why I love Scotland so much, how my planner obsession first began, and the time I rode a yak. :)

Adding Monthly Calendars to your Planner

Several people have asked me if this or that planner has monthly calendars. Personally I wish every planner did, but some don't. Luckily, there's a way to fix that.

Moleskine Templates (http://mymoleskine.moleskine.com/community/msk_templates.php) are free and just require you to log in (which is painless). They have monthly, weekly, and other templates available to print and stick into your planner or notebook of choice.

I did an experiment with the Moleskine monthly printables and taped them into the address booklet in the back of the 2013-2014 Moleskine Turntable planner that I reviewed here, which does not have monthly grid calendars (only the monthly columns). The result is pretty good.

I'm sure someone else could do a tidier job than I did. But, it solves the lack of monthly calendars.

My Quo Vadis Textagenda collection

I have quite a Textagenda collection! I've been getting this excellent planner for years because it has so many features I love (which I will go on about in detail below). The Quo Vadis Textagenda is a day per page planner for the academic year.

Below are my Textagendas!

Textagendas from UK, US and France

From left to right they are:

The Grenadine Pink one at the left is from the UK, reviewed here. The purple one next to it is this year's in the violet Texas cover, which makes an appearance near the end of this video on my day per page planners. The gorgeous turquoise one is my new one for next year, with more details below. The Lilac one is actually a Quo Vadis Notor, which has the exact same format but in the January-December format. My Notor (reviewed here) won the battle of day per page planners last year (post here and video here). The dark purple one is from France (seen in this post here) and the blue one is my first Textagenda that I used when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal (shown in this post here)!

Here is my new Textagenda for the 2013-2014 school year. Many thanks to Exaclair for sending me this planner as a thank-you for some assistance I gave them.

Here are the features I love so much about Textagenda planners and why I keep coming back to them year after year.

First of all, there are several cover materials and colors to choose from. This year I went for the bright and summery Turquoise Club cover. I like to change the removable covers out seasonally.

The Textagenda is the perfect size for a day per page book: 12 by 17 cm, 4 3/4 by 6 3/4 inches. It has a large page size for lots of writing each day but is very portable and fits in all my bags. It's also a very nice size to hold in my hands.

The 64 gsm paper is super-smooth and white, and is an absolute joy to write on. This is one of the biggest reasons why I keep coming back to the Textagenda (and Quo Vadis planners in general) because the paper is so pleasurable to use every day! Also the paper is acid and chlorine free, which is important to me for archival purposes.

The binding is sewn so the book lays flat by itself, which is an absolute must for me. I have rejected planners in the past that didn't stay open flat.  This is one of my requirements in a planner!

There is an overview calendar for the entire school year:

There are timetable pages to write your weekly schedules, very handy:

Here is a feature I love in Quo Vadis planners: the Anno Planner. This shows you the entire school year at a glance for planning holidays, deadlines etc.

The Anno Planner continues through the end of the calendar year. Then come the daily pages. The Textagenda begins August 1st and goes to August 4 of the following year. There is a full page for every day, including Saturday and Sunday. This is also important to me, I need a full page on weekends too.

The daily format is unique and excellent: The timed schedule is at the top of the page. There is a Priority box, and then lines for writing lists, notes, journaling, etc.

At the bottom of the page is a Notes box for keeping track of things that you want to stand out on the page like expenses, exercise, weather, and anything else you like.

Another thing I really like is that holidays, reminders like Daylight Savings Time and moon phases are printed on the day spaces so I don't have to write them in myself.

I love month tabs!!!

And I love maps!!

There are several Notes pages in the back, and address pages. I like to tape in cards for easy access.

At the back is a reference calendar for the next school year. The refillable cover creates pockets inside the front and back covers where I tuck in papers, receipts, birthday party invitations, and anything else I need access to.

The Textagenda is such a complete daily planner with so many excellent features, it's one of my all-time favorite planners!

Many thanks again to Exaclair for sending me this Textagenda!

Guest Post - Exacompta - Journal 21 - Steve

Huge thanks to Steve from Philofaxy for graciously agreeing to do this excellent guest post!

So you might be wondering what am I doing here on Plannerisms, surely this is a mistake, picked the wrong blog out of 'My Blogs' on Blogger... no not quite.

I recently did a little bit of consultancy work for Quo Vadis in the USA with regards to them importing the Quo Vadis Organiser range of inserts in to the USA from France. It seems I am the world expert on planner hole spacing... what a sad fact to have on your CV!

As a thank you for my time and input, Exaclair USA asked me if I would like a planner of my choice. This was actually quite a difficult thing to do for me. Firstly as you know I'm a 'ring bound' sort of guy. I've had bound diaries/planners in the past, but these have been HMSO/Niceday standard issue ones, no real choice other than 'Would you like a wall planner as well?'  The Wall Planner tended to get more use than the bound diary.

Anyway after consulting the Quo Vadis USA on-line site and looking through Plannerisms, which is a far more useful site for seeing the details of any planner than I ever would have thought, I chose the Journal 21 with a Club cover in blue.

Now you might be wondering will this one also sit in the cupboard if I'm so in to using Filofax organisers. Well I like to have a planner and a journal. The planner for present and future things. A journal for what actually happened.  In my A5 Filofax I use two different diary inserts for this, as well as a third insert for blog post planning. So the A5 does get a little full. The Planner and Journal diary inserts are of different designs in my Filofax

Now I have no intention of using the Journal 21 as a planner, instead I will use it as my Journal. Laurie's excellent review of the Journal 21, which I consulted and absorbed in detail here concentrates on using the Journal 21 as a planner in my language.

Now for me... not living in the USA there are some issues with a USA produced planner as a planner in France. The public holidays aren't quite the same, but in terms of using this as a daily journal, the non UK/French Holidays I can just ignore and write in the UK/French ones at the top of the page or record them within the day as required. 

Looking at the Quo Vadis European website, the Journal 21 isn't available, instead there is the ABP1 which is similar in size and layout. This I believe is available in Canada. Of course being made in France the ABP1 will be in French where as the Journal 21 is English... US English, but unless anyone knows different we do spell the month and days the same!

However, being a US product it will alert me to public holidays in the USA, which I am not aware of, and things like the changes to DST in Spring and back to normal in Autumn.

Naturally my main interest in this planner is to use the Day Per Page:

Down the left hand side of each page are timings from 8am to 9pm in half hour intervals. I will most probably ignore these, although they might be handy for recording what I did in the morning, afternoon and evening.

I'm not sure that I will use the monthly pages for anything at this stage, nor will I use the address pages at the back of the Journal 21. 

Overall I think this will be a great journal for me to use  next year. I can leave my Filofax open on the planner pages, the Journal 21 open on the current day and this will prompt me to make more entries each day compared to now. I will be consulting Ray Blakes 'Journalling School' for some hints and tips as well.

So yes it will be possible to mix ring bound and bound planners! Yes I didn't think I would ever say that either!

Thank you to Sunny at Exaclair for supplying the Journal 21 and to Laurie for letting me share this post with you.

2013 Plannerisms Planners still available, but for a limited time only!

The 2013 Plannerisms planners are available only through the end of this month, so if you are interested in getting one please hurry!

The Going Places Planner from Plannerisms will get you where you want to go in life!

The total cost for a planner including shipping is $24 USD.

Unique weekly format with space for Goals and Notes

The 2013 Plannerisms planners are no longer available online, the only way to get one is to email me: Laurie at Plannerisms dot com.

Month on two pages calendars and Monthly Goals pages

Look in the sidebar for loads of links to posts showing the Plannerisms planner's features and unique weekly format, how to use it to plan and reach your goals, customer testimonials, videos and more!

Annual and Quarterly Goals pages

After years of trying so many different planners, I never found My Perfect Planner so I created it! The Plannerisms Planner has weekly and monthly calendars, goals pages, goal setting and time management tips, and much more.

Available in Teal, Purple, Black and Pink!

And PS: the 2014 Plannerisms planners are currently in production! I will have a huge announcement here on Plannerisms when they are available later this year (I expect they'll be ready in August).

The Original personal size Filofax in Patent Purple

I'm very excited to review The Original Filofax! I know people have a lot of questions about this new binder, and I hope to answer them all here. If you have a question about anything I haven't covered here, please ask in the comments!

First, I want to thank Filofax and The Ideas Network very much for sending me this sample of The Original personal size in Patent Purple to review.

Second, I want to direct you to Steve's review of the A5 size of The Original in Standard Green over on Philofaxy.

And, I've done a video showing more details of the leather and how to use the elastic inside the front cover, which you can click here to see.

Some background info: The Original Filofax recalls the early days of Filofax style. I like the way they describe it on the Filofax website: "The Original: a Filofax that looks like a Filofax--unapologetically iconic." Click here to see the Filofax UK page to see all the colors available of The Original Filofax. I really appreciate that they have made such a large selection of colors including fluoro brights (orange and pink), patent finishes (fuchsia and the purple I'm reviewing here) and classic colors (yellow, green, brown and black). The vibe of this Filofax is fun, cool and creative.

Now on to the review! First of all, I like Filofax's new packaging. The plastic cover allows everyone to see inside the Filofax in the store, then when you buy it you take the plastic off and the cover of your new Filofax is still pristine!

As indicated on the packaging, this Filofax is made in the UK, which is fantastic. I know many of us have been asking for years for a Filofax made in the UK. Wish granted!

Here is The Original in all its Patent Purple gloriousness! First, let me go on for awhile about the leather.

The Original is made from a full cut of leather. It is thick and soft. Despite the patent shine, it is not plastic-y at all. In fact you can still see the grain of the leather. It is soooooo smooth, I love to touch it! People who are tactile like I am will really appreciate the smooth feel of the leather. It also has that great leather smell.

And look! Despite the thickness of the leather, the binder lays flat immediately with no training at all.

And yet it still has enough structure to be firm and easy to write in when you are holding it in your hands. It's not floppy.

Below you can see The Original open and empty so you can see the internal layout. The binder is made of simple cuts of leather with no fabric lining and nothing sandwiched between layers of leather. On the left is an elastic band that can hold pens and/ or your phone (lots more details on that later in this post) and a couple of slots for cards. On the right are slots to hold a jot pad. Inside both covers are full length pockets.

Here is the jot pad that fits into the slot in the back cover. This is the Flex jot pad, not the Notepad.

Here is a closeup of the logo embossed inside the front cover. Cool!

Below you can see the thickness of the leather and the construction of the binder. It is made from full cuts of leather with nothing in between. The ring mechanism is attached directly through the leather.

Here you can see on the spine where the ring mechanism is held on through the leather.

Here is another example of the leather and the construction: the card slots are simple slits in the leather.

Here you can see the back side of the leather inside the binder. Again you can see the grain of the leather. Also you can see details of the stitching.

Here is a closeup of the snap cover, which says "FILOFAX The Original est. 1921" and looks retro-cool on the front.

Here is the back of the binder, where you can see the strap closure is held on by a simple attachment.

I hope that has answered your questions about the leather and the construction. If not please feel free to ask anything you want to know!

Now I will address the elastic pen holder. Several people have speculated about its usefulness.

Below I've shown it holding some Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens.

When you have more than two pens in the middle (large) elastic, you have to put a fatter pen between two thinner ones so it doesn't slide through.

Below you can see the pens inside the binder with the cover closed. You can see that if you carry fatter pens, you may need to reduce the number of pages you carry on the rings.

The pen loop does cause the pen to lie on top of the pages.

Here is a side view showing the pen on top of the pages.

I have suggested to Filofax that they lengthen the strap in future editions of these binders to more easily accommodate items held in the elastic straps.

Personally I prefer to clip my pen to the pen loop so that the pen lies outside the page edges:

Below you can see my phone in the middle strap, held securely.  The middle strap measures 2.5 inches/ 6.3 cm wide, to help you determine if your phone would fit there.

And here you can see the binder closed with my phone in there.

You can see the elastic holders in action in my video for more information.

Next I want to discuss the style of The Original. I would call the style Retro not Vintage. This is not a Winchester revival. It's a retro-cool style that is not an exact duplicate of a Filofax from years ago, but is more like a nostalgic nod to the old style.

As a comparison, I've shown The Original alongside the oldest Filofax I own, my Buckingham from 2001 (where you can see the heartbreaking cover damage I described awhile back on Philofaxy). The Buckingham is not actually vintage, but its design is very similar to older Filofax models. You can see the design of The Original is similar but not identical to the Buckingham. The Original is a modern version of the classic Filofax style.

Here are the insides of The Original and Buckingham showing the layouts of the front covers.

Another comparison: the insides of the pockets on The Original show the back side of the thick leather.

Inside the pockets of the Buckingham there is Filofax printed fabric.

Anyway, you get the idea, The Original is not meant to be a duplicate of a vintage style of binder, but more of a modern version of the classic Filofax style.

Some people asked how The Original compares to a Domino, because they thought the construction looks similar. I can assure you there is a big difference between the faux leather Domino and the full cut leather Original. Here is The Original next to my A5 Domino in Ultra Violet.

The Domino is a good looking non-leather binder, but it still doesn't compare to the shiny real leather of The Original.

Here you can see details of the stitching and the texture of the covers.

Here are the inside covers compared, with the faux suede of the Domino on the left and the real leather interior of The Original on the right.

The inserts in The Original are different from previous years' Filofaxes. There is a page behind the clear flyleaf showing it is made in the UK. Also you can see the colored numbered tabs, which look really nice.

The Original comes with lots of different types of paper including To Do sheets, lined, graph, plain and colored paper, and Contacts pages (but no A-Z tabs).

Included are diary inserts for July-December 2013 and January-December 2014. The 2014 diary is 5 languages and has the same layout as the Cotton Cream week on two pages with a This Week box above Monday, but with white paper. Interestingly, I don't see this exact week on two pages diary insert available for separate purchase on the Filofax UK website, and I don't have any information on whether it will be available for separate purchase. I like it.

Also included is a frosted flexible Today pagemarker and a frosted top-opening envelope.

Some people also asked about the rings and whether there are any gaps. The rings on this binder are perfect, and I've been assured by Filofax that they have all been quality inspected before leaving the warehouse.

I hope that answers any questions you have about The Original in the personal size! Like I said, if there is anything else you would like to know, please leave a comment or email me and I would be happy to answer.

Thanks again to Filofax and The Ideas Network!