I wrote an article the other day about moving into an A5 for work as I have to juggle two employments for the next while. At the time I was in a purple personal Mia Cara which I used as a wallet and booking schedule. It was bothering me because it is bulky and heavy and I can no longer handle that as it is not my only planner anymore.
So tonight I moved into my Almanacksförlagen Slimline Compact Pro Plan with Velcro Krause rings. The rings can be removed and changed for other sets of inserts.
- It is made of lovely smooth, soft, firm, hardwearing leather with a slip strap rather than a press stud fastener.
- Because it is compact size it is small enough to carry comfortably almost everywhere
- Horizontal credit card slots – my favourite kind!
- Two nice deep slip covers that can be used for storage or to hold the covers of notebooks or diaries
- Krause Rings that fasten with Velcro and can be removed and replaced
- You can put different sets of content on different rings (e.g. work/holiday) and just swap them out as necessary
- You can also use it without rings if you so wish – like a Flex or just as a folder.
I have it as a wallet and planner at the moment and it is very light and compact. In it I have
- Credit and debit cards
- Store cards
- 3 sets of ID
- Driver’s licence
- Various receipts, notes and guarantees
- Travel Card
- Money – coins and notes
- Keys
- Tokens for supermarket trolleys
- Pen
- Week on two pages vertical for bookings (four months) for job 1
- Week on two pages for daily to do lists (four months)
- Notepaper
- World Map
- Flyleaf with pocket and penholder
- Diary ‘book’ for job 2.
And the best part? It cost €8 with all inserts and an extra set of rings!
Maybe you will be inspired to write a nice blog post 😉
I am contemplating a downsize too – but to a much larger personal than yours! Since I came back to filofaxes, I’ve been very much an A5 person, but a couple of days ago I saw a pristine looking Cavendish (30mm rings! Yum!) in burgundy leather on eBay, and sniped it for not very much money at all – I haven’t tried to ‘live’ in personal size for many years so it will be an interesting exercise seeing if I can manage.
Oh Paul you were so lucky. I know someone who would love a burgundy Cavendish! She has been looking for years! They are gorgeous binders. I really like the zip pocket on the outside. Makes it ideal to use as a wallet. It is not as soft and puffy as the Portland which I like.
It looked really lovely in the eBay listing – and I was completely stunned when my manual snipe (at 4 seconds to the end) succeeded and I won the auction for less than £30! Every auction I’ve ever watched for a Cavendish or a Portland Grand has gone for silly money (often well in excess of £150) so I was quite amazed! Now all I have to do is organise some personal size paper and plan the layout… and wait for the binder to arrive in the post, of course…
Great post! By concidence, I’ve been revamping my own organiser system tonight. Filofax Slimline models are being phased out, so I’ve been purchasing a couple, including a Chestnut Cuban that arrived this morning. My main binder this year has been a Brown Holborn Slimline and has worked well – with the addition of an elastic closure to hold by iPhone. I’m even more radical than you as all my day-to-day appointments, project management and to-do’s are now digital. This has enabled me to squeeze all my remaining pages (month and year to view, key information pages etc) to fit into 11mm or 13mm rings.
I didn’t know the Slimline models are being phased out. What a pity. It was so nice having a binder that could fit easily into a pocket.
NOOOOOOOO! You cannot torture me like this, Janet. I LOVE my Franklin Covey compact. Love. But I’ve ALWAYS wanted a binder with rings and a place for a bound planner.
I never knew they existed before now!
http://giftieetcetera.blogspot.com
They are so nice. And the bound planner fits perfectly in the slot as they were designed that way. I love mine to bits.It’s so light and everything fits in nicely.
Kristy- you have a couple of options – find an older FC Compact with the vertical slip pocket or secretarial flap facing out.
Or a Kate Spade Personal – they all have the vertical pocket. The Elyce models (older with wide clasp) can fit FC pages because they have 23mm rings. The newer Debra model (skinner clasp) have either 23mm non-riveted or riveted 30mm rings. The bigger rings push the pages farther out so the FC pages don’t really fit.
I’ve got all mine from eBay and can’t wait to try this idea. I’m having trouble finding a pocket size spiral with vertical week view. FC and Day-Timer sell horizontal view in that size. I might print my own using some of the Midori printables and take it to Office Max for the spiral.
Surprisingly it does seem to fit a lot compared to it’s compact size. Good luck with the new planner move and the new jobs.
It looks amazing! So much stuff in it yet looks so compact!