And the Binder Goes To…

The moment is here! I can’t believe how quickly this project has taken off! A huge thank you to Janet and all of those who have donated binders. And a huge thank you to all of you who have submitted fantastic proposals and offered words of encouragement! At the time I’m writing this we already have 60 followers on our Facebook page – and it’s still steadily climbing up!

But you aren’t here to read all about that – it’s the binders you want to find out about I’m sure! Let me ramble on a bit more to share how difficult this process was. SO many excellent projects were shared. Even with an incredible 17 binders donated, it was very hard to narrow it down. In the end, decisions were made based on the project proposal itself, how much it relates to time management and planning, and how active you are in Filofax Groups. Hopefully, if this project really takes off, we can have a round 2 to select even more participants! This time around, we did our best to select a wide variety of project types as the whole purpose is to have as many people benefit from your experiences as possible. So here goes:

A5 Siena in Cinnamon: J (me) w/ The Filofax Project
As the project coordinator, Janet asked me to select either the A5 Siena or the A5 Malden. But I’m not cheating – I’ll still be participating in the project! I plan to use the binder as a management tool for The Filofax Project, but also to venture into life using more than one binder. I’m notoriously known as a one Filofax girl so I plan to set up the binder as my first A5 and my first binder exclusively for work (if these darn job opportunities will call me back already!)

A5 Malden in Grey: Joseph David Quinton w/ The Teaching Project
Joseph will be using the Malden not only to manage his classroom, but also to create a resource that will be made available to other educators. The project will focus on syllabi, attendance records, rosters, assignments and lesson plans. Many teachers have been asking in the Philofaxy Facebook groups for teacher inserts.

A5 Amazona in Brown: Paula Gibbens w/ The Diet Project
Paula will use the Amazona to focus on diet and healthy eating. Paula previously lost a great deal of weight and has experience in creating health related inserts for visits to the doctor and recording side effects of medication. Paula is also very good at recycling materials to create inserts and dividers.

A5 Metropol in Black: Michelle w/ The Crafty Project
Michelle will use the Metropol to manage her Etsy store and other aspects to the crafty side of her life. She will also document her success in using fabric to recover the damaged binder.

A5 Black Leather Binder: Loretta w/ The University Project
Loretta will use the binder to track her second year of University. She will use it to keep track of lectures, deadlines, budgeting, and travel. It will also be her first venture into blogging.

A5 Red Patent Binder: Wendy Van Camp w/ The Jewelry Project
Wendy will use the shiny patent binder to set up a portfolio for her artisan jewelry business.

A5 Ordning och Reda in Purple: Sherry w/ The Gardening Project
Sherry will be using this binder to overhaul her garden including initial groundwork and planning for spring.

A5 Ordning och Reda in Black: Hyperpattern w/ The Lifestyle Project
About to undertake a huge lifestyle change, Hyperpattern will use this binder to chronicle her track to recovery from ME/CFS.

Personal Belmont in Brown: Lauriemcf w/ The Comparison Project
Laurie will be using the Personal Belmont to compare the merits of multiple types of inserts in the personal range in an effort to increase time management and decrease distractions

Personal Mode in Aqua: Joykanani (and her daughter) w/ The Mom/Daughter Project
This binder will actually be used by Joykanani’s daughter, who is a senior in high school. Together, they will create inserts to manage her class schedule and extracurricular activities, along with college planning.

Personal Mode in Aqua: Tina Francis w/ The Book Project
Tina will use the second Mode to track her book list and to organize book reviews.

Personal Aston in Chocolate: Tammy B. w/ The Family Project
Tammy has already purchased planners for her three daughters – the Aston will be for her to organize her family and to document evening meetings where the four of them will sit and go over their planners together.

Personal Savannah in Camel: Maryanne Moll w/ The Budget Project
Maryanne will use the Savannah to document her experiment with the popular envelope system of budgeting money.

Compact Temperly: Swatibee w/ The Medical Project
Swatibee will not only share her attempts to fix the Temperly’s wonky rings, but it will also be used as a medical file to document medical visit necessities including registration information, symptoms, insurance info, and recent test results.

Pocket Chino in Fawn: Heather w/ The Spiritual Project
Heather will use the Chino as a way to record her journey through her Parish’s RCIA program and to journal her bible studies and prayer requests.

Pocket Chino in Fawn: Cindy Huston w/ The Survivor Project
Cindy will use the second Chino as a way to keep track of life with cancer and chronic illness. As a two-time cancer survivor, the binder will be used to share her journey.

Pocket Mode in Red: Katie Louise w/ The Travel Project
Katie will set up the Mode as an expedition-planning binder for university, including travel, accommodation, subject, and fundraising.

Whew! What an incredibly diverse group of projects, am I right? I am so excited to read about all of these adventures and reflections on budgeting, crafting, spiritual journeys, triumphs and tribulations… I’m inspired already!

Of course, now we have to talk about the nitty gritty for those who shall be receiving a binder. But even if you weren’t chosen please read on! I’ll also be sharing the details on how you can participate as a guest poster with your own binder on This Bug’s Life!

For those of you chosen above, you MUST email me at thecrazylifeofj[at]gmail[dot]com no later than 11:59 p.m. CST on Wednesday, August 28 with the following details:

• Your full name (as it would appear on a mailed item)
• Your mailing address (as it would need to appear on a package, especially critical for out of country mailings)
• The project name I’ve listed and the binder you are supposed to receive

Because we have so much interest and the main goal here is time management, if you do not email me with the details by this deadline, we will be reallocating the binder to another participant – consider this your first time management lesson! If you have been chosen and can no longer participate, please email me to let me know so that the binder can be reallocated to another participant.

Once I receive your email, your contact information will be shared with the appropriate donor and your binder will be mailed out ASAP. Once the binder is received, you MUST email me again to state that you have received the package. I will respond as soon as possible with your posting schedule. As per the original project concept, each participant will be required to write FIVE posts which will APPEAR ON THIS BUG’S LIFE. Therefore, you will receive a posting schedule that will detail your deadlines for five posts: a first post on your initial thoughts and set up, three intermediary posts on your progress, and a final post on your project results. All posts (along with photos) must be emailed to me at thecrazylifeofj[at]gmail[dot]com and I will then post them on the blog. (Man, if I were a teacher, I’d be the evil super strict one, huh? Blame it on the deadline driven journalism background, I suppose…) While I’m being strict, please also note that if you cannot complete your project and need to drop out once the binder is sent to you, you are required to send it back to Janet or the back up participant at your own expense. While we understand that sometimes life can get in the way, the whole point of the project is for each project to be shared with others!

If you were not selected to receive a binder but still want to participate, just skip the first few steps and send me an email at thecrazylifeofj[at]gmail[dot]com with the following details:

• Your name
• The binder you will be using for the project
• A brief description of the project you would like to complete

Once I receive your original email, I will write back with a posting schedule that will be identical to the structure above – the same five posts will be required. Your posts may also appear sooner on the blog as you already have the binder and can hit the ground running!

Now, who is excited?! Can you tell I am???? Maybe if I use a few more exclamation points????!!!!!! Let the fun begin!

And of course, if you have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments below 🙂