2012 Life Book diary and faux leather cover by Organised Mum

I love my 2011 Life Book diary from Organised Mum so much, I ordered the 2012 Life Book diary!  And this time I treated myself to the purple faux leather cover too!

There are several updates to the 2012 Life Book including excellent new paper, an elastic closure strap and some slight changes to the format. You can click here to see my review and photos of the 2011 Life Book if you'd like to compare it to the 2012 version.

One very noticeable improvement in the 2012 Life Book is the paper! Last year's paper had quite a bit of show-through, especially with wet inks. But now the paper is absolutely glorious. No show-through whatsoever, even with my Sharpie pens and Microns. The paper is thick, smooth, white and very pleasant to use.

The 2012 Life Book began in mid-August this year and goes all the way through the end of December 2012. The 2011 Life Book began in September 2010 to coincide with the start of the school year in England. Scotland (and the US) start school earlier, and last year I suggested to Organised Mum that it would be useful to us if the diary started in August. Thank you to Organised Mum for listening to your customers!!

When you buy the 2012 Life Book together with a faux leather cover it costs a little bit less than buying each separately. It comes fully loaded with the Life Book slotted into its holder pocket in the cover, the Addresses booklet and stickers in the documents pocket in the front. There is also a black elastic pen loop next to the front pocket to keep your pen handy with your diary.

The Addresses booklet has A-Z pages for addresses and phone numbers, useful contacts for services and businesses, a quick-reference page for frequently used phone numbers, and a page for birthdays and anniversaries. You can use this booklet year after year to avoid rewriting contact info each year.

The Life Book diary comes with two pages of stickers to help you mark important dates. I also bought extras of these General Stickers, the School Stickers, and the Household Stickers.

Here is the front of the Purple Berry faux leather cover! I like the dapply look of the faux leather, and that it wipes clean easily (which I need!).  It looks so smart I'll carry it in my hands most of the time, but when I do put it in my bag it will protect my Life Book from all the other things I have banging around in my bag. The cover is soft and smooth and wonderful to touch!

Here is the zip-around goodness! No worries about papers flying out.

One of the additions to the Life Book diary this year is the elastic closure strap which is great for keeping your book securely closed while you're out and about if you're not using a cover. I think this is an excellent addition to the book.

 Some other changes include the design inside the cover, and an easier-to-read font.

The Useful Numbers and reference calendars are still here just like in the 2011 version (thank goodness!)

The Weekly Routines pages have changed. Now there are three two-page spreads with columns for seven different people or categories to show what's happening when on a weekly basis.

The weekly format has a slight change: this year the days of the week and Meal Ideas text are located on the left side of the days, last year they were on the right. Also the font has changed (and I think it looks very nice).  Holidays and moon phases are printed on the day spaces, which I really appreciate. The weekly pages start August 15, 2011 and go through the end of December 2012.

I love the Meal Ideas prompt, it gets me thinking about what to make for dinner throughout the week so I don't have that horrible feeling at 5pm while I'm staring into the fridge wondering what to make for dinner!

Click on the photo below to see the difference between the 2011 version (top) and the 2012 version (bottom).

I have to be honest, I miss the seasonal decorations in the 2011 version. The winter months had snowflakes, the spring months had dandelion fluff, the summer months had butterflies and the autumn months had leaves. Now all weekly and monthly pages have a flower design. It's very pretty, but I liked the seasonal icons. However, the Life Book has a sizeable customer base in Australia, where of course the seasons are reversed from those in the northern hemisphere, so to be consistent for all users it makes sense to have the flower design.

Below you can see how I use the lined areas at the page edges. (Click the photo for a larger view.)  The left edge is meant to be used as a tear-out shopping list, but instead I use the top of that column for my Goals for the week, and below that is my main To Do list for the week.  The right edge is where I put things I need to do for my Blogs and Household.  In the bottom right corner under Important I write financial totals for the week.

The Notes and Next Week space is a great landing spot for those random bits of information that come in during the week, and to prepare for next week. I also write two or three lines each week for a Weekly Review.

There are two clear, top-tabbed divider pages included in the Life Book. They clip onto the rings and can be moved from page to page. I use one to mark my current week and one to mark my current month.

 After the weekly section there is a page for Notes, then the (very pretty) tabbed divider for the Monthly section. I get really excited about the features in this section!

First there is a page for Notes, where I will write my goals and resolutions for 2012:

 2012's version has monthly calendars for August 2011 through December 2012:

I LOVE having a two-page monthly spread to plan my month. Holidays are printed on the day spaces. Here is the clear divider to mark the current month:

After each month there's a two-page spread for Things To Do that month (where I write my monthly goals and tasks) and Notes for that month (where I write my Mid-Month review in the top 1/3 of the page and my Monthly review in the bottom 2/3 of the page).

THEN there is a two-page spread for Budget and Expenditures!  I love these pages sandwiched between the monthly calendars to keep my plans, goals, reviews and budget all together for each month!  Very organized.  I feel so in control when I use these pages!

At the end of the Monthly section is another Notes page, which I think I will use for my year-end review. Next is a tabbed section for Christmas and holidays planning.

There are pages to record Christmas Plans, Budget, Presents, Shopping, and Cards.

Next is a Summer planner with eight undated weeks to plan the entire summer on one two-page spread. This is a great way to plan out the summer so at the end of it you don't wonder "Where did the summer go??"

Next are three two-page spreads for Thoughts and Plans for each of 2011, 2012 and 2013.  After that there are several pages for Notes.

In the back of the book there are forward planning calendars for 2013 and 2014. There is a pocket to hold your Addresses booklet, Stickers and other papers (if you're not using a cover).

I ordered the 2012 Life Book diary together with the faux leather cover along with the stickers I mentioned above. I used international shipping which I thought was very reasonably priced.

I have to say, moving over into my 2012 Life Book made me a little sad to leave my 2011 Life Book because I love it so much! It's extremely rare that I ever move directly over into the following year's version of the same planner. Usually I move to a totally different type of planner. So, Organised Mum, you deserve some kind of Plannerisms Consistency Award!  Well done!!

Filofax diary poll result!

Thank you to everyone who voted in my poll, which I did out of sheer curiosity. You can see the results in the sidebar.

I wasn't surprised to see that most people use a Personal size insert, and most people use Week on Two Pages.

I was surprised that more people don't use the week + notes format, because in bound planners this format is so extremely popular. My own personal opinion is maybe people don't use the Filofax version more because of the multi-languages! In my experience they take up too much day space.

I didn't do a breakdown to see how many people use, for example, an A5 week on 2 pages vs. a Personal size week on 2 pgs because I thought that would make the poll too complicated.

I love learning about how people use their planners so I found this poll fascinating! Thanks again to everyone who voted.

Renaissance Art leather Moleskine cover

Here is the Renaissance Art leather Moleskine cover in the gorgeous Molasses color! It is a rich, deep brown that is very handsome and classy-looking.  The leather is so smooth and soft and feels nice in my hands.  And you will notice in the photo, you can use the Moleskine's elastic strap closure with this style of cover!

Below you can see the cover empty and open to see how it works. There is a slit in the right side that allows the elastic strap to come through. You can use the strap on the outside of the cover like I've shown above, or on your pages.

Below you can see what it looks like open with the Moleskine strap coming through:

The Renaissance Art logo is subtly embossed on the back cover:

Here is another view of the rich brown color of the Molasses cover!

Many thanks to Renaissance Art for sending me this awesome cover as a sample to review.  I have to admit my husband nabbed it as soon as I finished taking photos of it! He's now using it on his work Moleskine and loves it.

Renaissance Art has a fantastic variety of colors and leathers for Moleskine covers in both the Pocket and Large sizes. You can choose different types of closures including snap, stud, or wrap, or no closure. And some of the cover styles come with a leather pen loop, in your choice of three different sizes to fit your pen. Solves that pesky problem of how to keep your pen with your Moleskine!

This cover is part of the Rustic Elegance line of covers which comes in 12 colors and is a thin, soft leather. They also have a thicker leather for their Rustic covers, in brown and black.

All of Renaissance Art's products are hand made in the USA.

Click here to check out Renaissance Art's selection of leather Moleskine covers!

Poll for Filofax users

Hey Filofax users! I'm running a poll to see what size and format of planner/ diary inserts you use in your "main" Filofax. You can choose multiple things, for example if you use monthly and weekly inserts in your A5 Filofax you can choose all of those.

I'm really curious to see what everyone is using!  Please place your vote over at the right.

Filofax Competition Winners!

Congratulations to the winners of the Share Your Filofax Memories competition!  They are:

Charlotte H.

Ray B.

Bluebonnetreads

Alexandra D.

Lynn R.

Jane O.

Congratulations to you all!!

Winners,you will receive an email soon from Filofax asking for your mailing address so you can receive your prize!  In your reply, please let them know if you would or would not like your winning entry to be posted on the Filofax Facebook page.

Many, many thanks to everyone who submitted entries and shared your significant Filofax memories. I really enjoyed reading about your emotional bond with your Filofax!  The bond we have with our Filofaxes proves it's much more than just a binder! It represents our lives.

Competition closed

The Share Your Filofax Memories competition is now closed. Many thanks to everyone who entered!

Winners will be announced Thursday at noon UK time!

My own favorite Filofax memory

In honor of the Share Your Filofax Memories competition, I thought I would share my own favorite Filofax memory.

This memory is an excerpt from a longer comment I posted back in August 2009 on Steve's excellent post How Do You Use Your Filofax In Your Job Or At Home.  Go read it, because there's lots of great stories on there about how people's Filofaxes enrich their lives!

Here is my own favorite Filofax memory:

"Fast forward to 2001 while I was in grad school, I found my Buckingham Filofax. It got me through grad school beautifully. Its most glorious time during that phase of my life was while I was traveling to various museums in Europe doing my research. It contained: a Europe map that was outdated but still useful; all the contact information that my graduate adviser had set up for me of whom to meet at each museum; addresses for the hostels I would stay at; train time information. I remember sitting in Munich with a beer and my Filofax, planning where to go next. It was great."

That memory for me represents my own personal freedom and growth. I wasn't used to traveling alone, and I found it liberating (if slightly lonely).  My Filofax was my companion and guide. I felt like I could go anywhere with my Filofax in my hand and I'd be under control!