When in South Africa, I temporarily switched from my Belmont pocket Filofax to a black Burde purely because the Burde rings were much bigger and able to take everything I needed plus extra notepaper while there. I didn’t want to travel with a separate notebook.
As soon as I returned, I went back into the Belmont, and have kept the all-in-one-place system as is, storing extra notepaper in the wallet pocket. It has worked perfectly. I have been in pocket size for about five months now and, after a wobbly start, the transition from personal size to pocket size has been perfect for me.
Being so used to personal size, I struggled in the beginning with so much less space on the page, and the fact that I went through notepaper so quickly. But I adjusted (though it took a while), and the small size and portability has made me so much more efficient. I no longer carry a separate notebook for my private life, and I have everything I need in one place. This one is easy to slip into a pocket or a handbag, so it is always with you. I will always be very much a paper person, so it is nice being able to jot things down while on the move.
I now have dividers in blue plastic to separate the different sections – week-on-two-page calendar, day-per-page calendar, student hours, lesson and blog ideas, wish lists, and general notes. The pen loop is perfectly sized for most pens.
I have always maintained that the Belmont binders are some of best ever produced by Filofax. The leather is sublime and wears like iron. I have previously used my personal size one for ages and it never picked up a mark, scratch or scuff.
I’ve never used such a small planner but I don’t say “never” because once upon a time I wouldn’t use any size but A5 but now I love the compact. The color is lovely!