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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Malden update and Franklin Covey 2PPD attempt #2

Here's an update on how I'm using my new personal Malden Filofax I got last weekend (which you can read more about here).

I stopped using it as a wallet because it was just too fiddly. I've tried using my Filofax as my wallet in the past and had the same issue so I wasn't entirely surprised. So, I went back to my normal wallet.

I love having a Filofax as my Information book, but it and my large day per page planner in my bag at the same time was too much so I had to choose only one of them.

Since I had just shelled out some serious cash on the Malden a few days ago, I wasn't ready to abandon it already. And anyway, it was nice to have my notes, maps, financial stuff and everything all together in one book.

So I decided to revisit an experiment I did a couple of months ago with Franklin Covey Two Pages Per Day inserts. At the time it failed quickly and now I realize why: I wasn't using my weekly planner with it!  Well DUH!!  I absolutely must use my weekly and daily together. So I thought it was worth trying the FC 2PPD again.

Here are the FC 2PPD pages in my Malden, and even though they stick out they're much better than they were in my Finsbury.
The Malden's strap goes out so the tabs aren't crushed.

I have two months of 2PPD and 12 months of monthly in here. Below you can see how much wider the FC pages are than the Filofax ones. I can't put the FC pages too far toward the back of the binder or else my pen won't fit.
With the diary pages and all the other stuff I like to keep in my Filofax it's still a very reasonable thickness.

I absolutely love this layout with my schedule vertically, a separate space for to-dos, the Daily Tracker where I record expenses, and the entire opposite page for notes.
What's even better is, if I ever need more space on a particular day for notes or information, I can just pop in an extra page. I find myself writing more on these daily pages than I do in a bound book because I'm never worried about filling up the page.

I love this so much! So then why does it make me so nervous?? For some reason I'm still craving the permanence of a bound book, even though I know that no bound book could ever compare to the flexibility and awesome layout of this.

Patty's recent post showing her archived FC pages gives me loads of hope that if I'm diligent about archiving and don't shuffle my pages around too much, I could achieve a similar level of archival permanence with these looseleaf pages as I would get from a bound book. Plus I absolutely love the FC monthly index pages that Patty shows in her post, which my FC pages also have. I'm definitely going to utilize those for easy reference.

So the reality here is, these 2 pages per day inserts in my Filofax could collectively be a combination of my two biggest planner fantasies: daily pages holding all my life's details and my Filofax being my long-term life companion!

And yet, despite the fact that I've searched far and wide for the "perfect" day per page bound book and not found it, I still wish I could manage to find a bound daily book that would hold everything I want to write each day and still be a portable size book.

Would somebody talk some sense into me and convince me the FC 2PPDs in the Malden is the answer I've been searching for??


22 comments:

  1. It's the answer you've been looking for! Give it a try and I bet you'll eventually LOVE it!

    And thanks for the mention.

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    1. You're very welcome Patty and thank YOU for the inspiration!

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  2. Laurie, I can't thank you enough for Plannerisms! I thought I was the only one who was interested in pLanners like this! As for the Filofax FC pages I have been using both In my David Allen GTD planner for the last month and It seems to work well. It does defeat the purpose of the GTD planner which the daily notes should be sorted into notes in and then assigned a category To Do but I still love to jot my day down! Don't know if this will continue to work for me but I am glad that you like it! Nancy

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    1. Thanks Nancy! Good luck with your system, I hope it works well for you!

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  3. Laurie, have you thought about adding the Franklin Covey weekly pages to your planner? There have been times when I've had all three views: monthly, weekly, and daily. I've used the monthly for big picture planning; the weekly to see what's going on with my week and decide when I'll be able to get things done; and then the daily for my plan for the day and notes. All three views have value & help with planning. FC has vertical weekly and horizontal weekly. I like the vertical weekly the best.

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    1. I have done that, actually, a couple of years ago:

      http://www.plannerisms.com/2010/12/experiment-2-filofax-daily-weekly.html

      One problem I had with that is I could only look at the weekly view or the daily. With a separate weekly book I can look at my day and my week at the same time.

      But what really caused the fail of the FC weekly pages is that I have to see my weekly to-do list on the same page as my week's schedule so I can see what I need to do and when I have time to do it. When I had the FC weekly and daily I had to flip the page to see my week, flip it again to see my week's to-do list, flip it again to see my day...and I couldn't see any of those at the same time. With my weekly book and my daily pages I can see my day, my week and my week's to-do list all at once next to each other. I'm so out-of-sight, out-of-mind that if I can't see it all at once things quickly slip through the cracks!

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  4. How strange (to me) that you want a bound book. For when I tried a bound book I fell apart, as soon as I returned to FF I was back on board again. I felt so restrained and unable to plan merely able to record in a bound book. Now I'm back with a FF I'm able to plan, record and think aloud. Having said all that if it were not for you I would never have found the Uncalendar which is the greatest thing sinced sliced filofaxes :)

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  5. skybluepinkish, I agree about wanting a bound book. However, I just started journaling in one and I must admit I am enjoying that. But having said that - I need to be able to move or add pages to my planner based on what is going own at the time.

    I will try the Plannerism bound edition when available. Speaking of, when will we be able to see pics of it and how about shipping to the states?

    As the the FC planner pictured above, I used to use that one, but I found that I wasted to much space and stopped using it many years ago. But now that I have been faithfully using my Womens Success Planner which does not have much room to write in (2012) I find that I might like to go back to FC. The problem is I LOVE the tracking circles at the bottom of the page of the WSP! I understand that the 2013 version is going to have a lot more room for annotation.

    My other and biggest complaint about all planners is I need a full Saturday and Sunday - not just a little box to cram a full days activities in.

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    1. Jackie W you might like the Woman's Success Choice planner's new layout for 2013, you can see lots of photos and details in my review of it here:

      http://www.plannerisms.com/2012/05/womans-success-choice-planner-2013-new.html

      The Plannerisms planners will be available to order soon! I have the samples and they are fantastic! I'm just waiting on my publisher to send me the product ordering links so as soon as I have those I will post them with tons of details on the planners. I can't wait!!

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    2. Sneak preview!! Sneak preview!!

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    3. The Plannerisms planners will be up TOMORROW!! Woo hoo!!! Stay tuned!!

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  6. Hi Laurie, I found Quo Vadis Timer 17 pages (they fit the personal size Filofax) with the ABP1 layout here in France. I bought them mainly to get a good look at them. They're an off white, like the cotton cream filo pages and the paper quality isn't that thick actually but at one page a day I fit the whole thing in my Malden (crimson). That might be an alternative if you're really into the layout.

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  7. Hi Laurie, I think deep down you know you have found the answer. I personally think having the FC 2PPD is a great idea as you have the month overview which means you don't really need the week overview and you have tons of space in the daily pages for everything. Better than carrying 3 books around?

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  8. I hope it works for you this time around! I've been using my Malden with the FC 1PPD inserts all year, and will be switching to the 2PPD next year for the extra note page. I think I'm a bit of an oddball (I've been using the same binder since May 2011 and the same inserts all year) but this system just works for me- hope the same stays true for you!

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  9. Your site is my crack! This is an organizer's dream.

    Anyhow, can you recommend a 2PPD planner 8.5 x 11 that is wirebound? I know I'm asking for the impossible. Or any 2PPD planner that is 8.5 x 11?

    I have LARGE handwriting and small planner just don't do it for me.

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    1. LOL!!

      I don't know about a 2PPD wirebound in that size, but Collins makes an A4 size planner (approximately 8 x 12 inches) that's two pages per day:

      http://www.collinsdebden.co.uk/Diaries/2013-Business-Diaries/2013-Desk-Diaries/A4-Diaries-297-x-210mm/2013-Diary-A4-Two-Days-to-a-Page-45/

      Oh wait! I just found Franklin Covey's Monarch size ( 8 1/2 by 11) wire bound two pages per day planner!

      http://franklinplanner.fcorgp.com/store/category/prod410196/US-All-Planners-%26-Refills/Metropolitan-Wire-bound-Daily-Planner?skuId=43749

      They are twelve wire bound planners, one per month. That keeps it from being crazy-thick.

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  10. I like the adaptability of a loose-leaf organizing system and my crimson personal Malden has been good to me. Your new setup looks like it hits all the right buttons for you right now. I too liked the suggestions re an index of sorts - and also next year I plan on using the tabbed monthly vertical pages to record notable things that happened I want to track rather than used for future-planning, and keep the tabs in all year while removing my daily or weekly pages to archive. Good luck to us all on finding the holy grail of planning systems!

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  11. It's exactly what you need to keep all your info and daily planning in one easily transportable book. I don't think there is anything better unless you go all FC pages or all DT pages.

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  12. Laurie, I really don't think you would like daily pages in a bound book. It weighs a ton! That's what I love love love about my FC 2PPD inserts: I can put as many as fit in my FC Compact binder, while still being able to record future appointments or review past appointments on my monthly pages! As a matter of fact, the great monthly layout (with tabs - sigh!) of the FC inserts made me abandon my weeklies alltogether.
    For me it's a dream-come-true!

    And for 2013 I will order your planner in black for my hubby, because I can't give up on trying to hook him on a planning system (Filofax, Moleskine and Flex failed so far). But yours has GOALS pages, and I have the feeling this might really rock his boat ....

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  13. My very first Filofax contained the leadership 2 page per day fc. I switched to a textagenda and this post has inspired me to go back to the FC. One question, with the larger wire bound FC, do you know of any fancy covers to make it nicer looking on the outside?

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    1. Hi Danielle, I know Franklin Covey make covers specifically for their wire-bound planners but I've never used them so I can't say how they are.

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  14. Just bind all fc d02p and use it as a bound book

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