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Changing to an A5

Janet Carr

For over a year I have been using a Personal sized Filofax as my wallet/planner/notebook. This means that all I need to remember to have with me is one thing. As long as I have that I am set for the day – it even has keys and travel cards in it. I am out in the field and on foot all day so it is nice and light and compact. I have an A5 Van Der Spek which holds all documents to do with my finances, flat and family. This stays at home on my desk. In my Personal I have money, keys, cards, notes, lists and bookings. I keep it very very close to me at all times as I would be lost without it and also a bit of a security risk.

Recently though, I have accepted another job which means I now have two employments. This is going to involve a lot of good time management and juggling of hours and tasks. This second employment will take up a lot of time and in order to make sure I work 8 hours a day I am going to have to keep a record of each hour I do. My employers know each other and trust me, so they are happy for me to work my own timetable out. I was made redundant from my permanent job six months ago after 13 years so it has been a big adjustment for me to work hours for different companies, plus I have to make sure my records are accurate as I need to apply for unemployment for any shortfall during quiet months.

When I am under stress I become very forgetful so it is very important that I write everything down and keep things to do with my two separate jobs in their proper place and not mix them up.

So I have switched to an A5 for my work binder and am using dividers (which I hardly ever do). My wallet and my booking schedule is, for now, still in a personal organizer (my purple Gillio Mia Cara). It is bigger and heavier than I need but at the moment I cannot face downsizing to a pocket and trying to squash everything in or move into a separate wallet. I need to have something familiar with me as I adjust to a new working situation and planner system in my A5.

The A5 I am using is my Gigliodoro A5 Divino with 35mm rings.

On the left I have a Filofax pad which slips into the secretarial pocket. I really like flyleaves. I wish they all had zips in them like the Van Der Spek ones. This flyleaf is a different colour from the rest of the binder as this binder originally came with 3 rings, as did the flyleaf. So this flyleaf comes from my other Divino binder which is lighter in colour. 
On the right I have a divider with a pocket made for me by Paula Gibbens. This holds receipts, bits of paper and notes until I have time to deal with them.
I just used blank dividers and wrote on them with a CD marker pen. My categories are: Treats, Work, To Do, Blog, Parcels, Mark, Sites, 2015, Lessons, Hours
My Work list so far
Vertical Week on two pages for noting which hours I translated each day. This is for my second job. For my first job I have bookings in my personal Filofax which I carry with me everywhere. I use clear rulers in all my binders so I can see what is written on the page beneath. I like the broad ones that come with Gillio binders.
Week on two pages which I use for daily to dos. These are invaluable to me. I throw each week away as it finishes and only fill the lists for the days during the week. Anything longer term goes in the other lists at the back.
A finance sheet which I use to note my hours. I have to translate for 40 hours a week but I can work my own hours. Here I can total my hours up. I need to make sure that my employers are getting what they pay me for. I don’t want to shortchange them by not doing the right number of hours. 
Items to paste in my look book or that I want to buy. It is very important to me that I keep some time for myself as I will be working 7 days a week. 
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