smythson of bond street duke's organiser (A5 size equivalent)

Back when I was still a student, I had a Smythson Bond Street organiser which I absolutely loved. However, I stopped using it because it seemed a bit too small for me and the A5 seemed to be too large a size for my needs. The Smythson A5 size is called the 'Duke' whereas the personal sized one is called the 'Bond street' - bit misleading as their brand name is Smythson of Bond Street! 

Anyway! When I was hunting for an A5 Filofax to use, I found this Smythson Duke's organiser on eBay for a fairly good price. I just couldn't resist and before long, it was in my hands. It's a neutral colour with the gold accents coming from the clasp. 

Comparing it to the A5 Filofax Original I have, this Smythson is much heavier and feels like it is made of better leather (as expected with its RRP!). The clasp on this Smythson seems a bit more flimsy compared to the A5 Filofax one and one other negative is that the pen loop is made of leather and can only take a slim pen as a result. I guess some elastic would have cheapened the look somewhat but it would have been nice to be able to put a fountain pen in the pen loop!

The layout inside is exactly the same as the Bond Street sized organiser by Smythson. 

This really is a lovely organiser but due to its weight and inability to hold a fountain pen in the pen loop, I think the A5 Filofax may be my everyday carry, with the odd moment in this Smythson (for when I want that bit of luxury)! 

2018 planner: do I go back to a six-ring organiser or a bound one?

My main dilemma for next year's planner was whether to go for six-ring organiser or a bound one. The last time I used a six-ring organiser was back in 2014 and if I'm honest, there was a burning desire to go back to my Smythson. To decide, it was a fight between the head and the heart...

Six-Ring Organiser

Pros
- Flexible layout: I can choose which extras to include aside from the diary pages. You can also take out half of the year's pages once July comes around, thus making it a lot lighter to tote.

- I absolutely love my Smythson planner (and do miss it a lot!). The gold rings, the bright pink colour on the outside and the pale pink colour on the inside...

Cons
- Can get quite heavy! Therefore, not too practical to carry around daily.

- Limited capacity with the rings... Conversely, it can be tempting to stuff them, thus ruining them.

- Not a great number of diary inserts to choose from and the quality of many is still lacking. Some are also quite expensive!

Bound

Pros
- Light to carry around.

- Priced the same as some diary inserts.

- Many brands to choose from! Leuchtturm 1917, Moleskine, Quo Vadis, etc.

- Also many layouts to choose from! Day per page, week to view, week to view with a note page, vertical week to view...

- Most have better quality paper than some diary inserts for organisers.

Cons

- Not so flexible when it comes to the extra sections. You can't really rip out the ones you don't use either due to how unsightly it'd look.

- Any essential information that doesn't change year on year has to be copied in every time a new planner is started - this can be time consuming.


With all this in mind, I've since bought next year's planner and it'll be revealed in due course :)

bound planners vs ring binder planners

When I first started blogging, I was a bit of a Filofax-obsessed fan. Ring binder planners were something that I never thought I would move away from and in fact, I used them for a solid five years before moving to a bound planner this year. I flirted briefly with a Moleskine back in 2011 for six months but inevitably went back to a Filofax. Then in 2012, I purchased a Smythson binder and my love deepened for ring binders.

Anyway, as someone who has now turned into a bound planner fanatic and with someone asking for my thoughts on bound vs ring binder planners on Twitter, I thought it would be an interesting post to write.

Bound Planners

Pros:

• Lighter in terms of weight.
• You can have a new one every year (or even every six months with some undated planners!).
• Look good on your bookshelf after the year is up.
• Can be cheaper compared to a ring binder - prices and range from very cheap to very expensive (such as some of the beauties by Smythson!).
• There are so many cute ones out there (especially from East Asian companies!).
• Undated planners mean you can start using one whenever.
• Available in a wide range of layouts and designs.

Cons:

• Not very flexible in terms of layout.
• Have to re-write in information every year.
• Limited by what you can have in it - probably not possible to have your address book in there too!

Ring Binder Planners

Pros:

• Flexibility in what pages you choose to have in it.
• You get to choose what sections you have in your ring binder: don't want monthly planning pages? Not a problem, don't put them in. Tabs can be inserted or taken out to your fancy.
• There is the option to design your own inserts and print them onto high quality paper.
• No need to re-write in essential pages each year.
• A leather ring binder feels very luxurious.

Cons:

• Limited diary layout choices.
• Some of the paper quality out there is debatable (but at the same time, there are some very good ones out there too!).
• Can be very heavy, especially if overstuffed.
• Potential ring issues!
• The worry of damaging the leather.
• Expensive initial cost depending on what brand and model you opt for. Inserts also cost extra!

Overall, I think the main thing to consider is what you want to get out of it. If flexibility is a deal breaker for you, a bound planner probably won't be something you'll get along well with. If you've never tried a ring binder before, it might be worth starting out with a cheaper (possibly non-leather) model to see how you get on with it for a few months. Even though I'm more of a bound planner girl now, I still have my Smythson and Filofaxes stored away safely in case I decide to go back to them (which I may well do in the future - who knows!).

What are your thoughts? Are you one or the other? Or do you constantly flit between the two? Do you use both types simultaneously? :)

how my planner is personalised

I've written many other posts about creative diary pages and here are the links to them:

March 2013 / / Keeping Creative Pages
July 2013 / / More Ways To Be Creative
June 2014 / / My Evolving Weeks
August 2014 / / Compiling A Travel Journey of Memories
October 2014 / / My Week Ingredients
December 2014 / / My Home Inspiration Journal

Today, I'm going to show how I've personalised my current planner :) This post is more pictorial due to some exams that are coming up in a few weeks but I still hope you enjoy it :)

Washi Tape

I write on these with either Staedtler Lumocolor pens in a superfine nib or a fine Sharpie. Washi tape is super useful for highlighting important events, or not so important ones if you look in the example below! I do like how tape can break up text and add a bit of colour without being too bright or overwhelming on the eyes.

Doodling

Another thing I like doing is adding in some shadowing or shading.

Little accents

Lines on either side of a title are something I probably use too much if you look back at my weeks!

Random stickers

Because, why not? (Life's too short to be too serious!)

Again, apologies for such a brief post with little substance but exams are a bit more important than blogging at the moment! :)

the pressures of blogging

Blogging is a very dangerous pastime for your wallet or purse - it is so easy to purchase things with a view of reviewing it on your blog but this can leave you with a lot of things that never get used and a dent in your bank balance. Having something new in your hands is very addictive and can be a very nice, if short-lived, feeling and for a blogger, writing new content is the addiction. And this is fuelled by impulse purchasing of items that we wouldn't have otherwise bought. I think this post by Michelle at Daisy Butter explains things very well.

I used to see a lot of 'haul' videos and blog posts of stationery someone had bought from x or y store and I, myself, was guilty of this too in the past. It's nice showing off shiny new pretty things but to keep spending just to continuously come up with blog posts or Youtube videos isn't necessarily the best way to run a blog or channel.

I've not splurged on stationery for quite some time now - I buy what I need, not because I want to blog about it, and I've found myself a lot happier for it. It means I blog about other things instead and it has made me think outside the box when it comes to creating new content on here.

From top left, clockwise: too many washi tapes, a pen pot filled with Muji Erasables, Pilot Juice pens amongst others, Staedtler Triplus felt tips, more washi tape than I know what to do with, sticky notes from Artbox, a Masking Sticker set in pastel and MT washi tape.

In the picture above are some of the things I've regretted buying and some things that I utilise on a regular basis and were bought because I wanted it, not because I wanted to blog about it. For example, the washi tape in the box on the left are a mixture of impulse buys and calculated buys. The thin ones at the bottom and the ones in the top row were ones on my wishlist for a number of months before purchase and the ones in the middle were ones that caught my eye in Paperchase or in craft stores whilst looking for something else. These were bought at a time when there were many posts and videos about washi tape hauls and I definitely got sucked into the hype. I don't care much for it now and haven't bought a new roll for months now (I think it should be close to a year now).

I think what I'm trying to say is that you don't need to buy new things continuously to run a blog and that is is possible within a budget. It might mean more effort needs to be made when it comes to what to write and post about but a quick Google search can bring up ideas for every blog niche there is.

Struggling with ideas for a lifestyle blog? Just Google 'lifestyle blog post ideas' - sometimes seeing a list of ideas can set off a spark within your mind and you end up coming up with something completely new. That's how I came up with posting my diary pages once a week - fashion blogs would post their 'what I wore today' posts and with planning and time management being the focus of this blog, the equivalent I came up with were the 'my week' posts.

Are you a reader, a blogger or both? And what is your take on posting about hauls?

how to choose your binder contents

Did you get a new binder for Christmas? Perhaps you snapped one up in the January sales? I remember when I got my first one back in 2008 or 2009 (not sure which year it was now) and it was such a novelty that I wanted to put everything in it. Though I'm not using a binder this year, I thought it would be nice to do a post on choosing what to put in your binder as I wish I had something like this to guide me through setting up my first binder.

With a wide range of inserts available from many brands, it can be quite overwhelming to decide on what you need and what you want. The best thing to do here is look at your current planner and write down a list of sections you currently have in it and used. If you don't use a planner, think about what you'd like in your planner, write it all down and then question yourself - would you use that section? Can that section stay at home instead?

This way, you can narrow down the stuff you really need to have with you when out and about. It's so easy to overstuff the binder which is, not only bad for the rings, but is also bad for your back as a stuffed binder can weigh as much as a brick if you're not careful. 

In the beginning, I would carry around a whole year's worth of inserts (week on two pages), a year planner, plenty of notepages (I'd guess at around 20-30), some addresses and some sentimental photos of my family. With experience, I've stopped carrying around the address inserts because I never used these when away from home, the year planner was redundant as I barely looked at it and I only needed about five sheets of notepaper at any one time! In terms of the diary inserts, I slimmed this down to just six months' worth which meant I could justify adding in a few sheets of inspirational quotes like I did last year.

Notepaper is an easy way to unnecessarily bulk out your binder so my advice here is to really think about what you're intending on writing down. Can you make do with five and then do a one-in-one-out policy? Do you have time for that? If you're reviewing your binder every week, this might be a feasible system but if you only have time to review it once a month, you may need a few more.

By removing bulk that you don't need to have with you at all times, you can personalise your binder by inserting quotes or inspirational pages. It can be quite monotonous only having the necessary inserts so it's nice to just add in something different.

To-do sheets are similar to notepaper inserts because it can be quite easy to put too many into your binder. I used to like having about fifteen at any one time but then I realised I only really used three lists: to buy (i.e. to save up for), to read and a blog post ideas list.

Something I really recommend is regularly reviewing your binder and its contents. I reviewed mine every three months where I would remove some diary inserts from weeks that had passed and hadn't been looked at for the last month or so - these inserts would be archived - and I would also review my notepaper and to-do lists at the back to ensure that everything in there was present because I needed it to be. Binders are heavy things - why make them heavier than they need to be?

It can be hard to guage how much you really need in your binder to begin with so maybe see how things go for the first two months and then tweak it from there. 

I hope you have found this post useful :) - I'm by no means an expert and can't give individual advice and a lot of this can be found through experience. However, a post like this was something I was looking for when I first purchased a binder so I thought it would be nice to pass on some things I've learnt over the years.

what I write in my planner

Each Sunday, I post a re-cap of how my week looked in my planner and I blur out a fair bit but today, I am going to reveal what some of those blurs hold. In this post, I want to show and tell what I write in my planner and why.

My Smythson binder holds my current planner and within it, I write down a vast array of things: university-related things (such as lecture times), social things, work-related things and financial things. In essence, it is my life but on paper and this is why I felt the need to blur our some more personal things (especially when it comes to financial things) but I feel this means in each weekly post, blurring out so much detracts from why I started posting my weekly spread in the first place.

So, let's start with the obvious things I write down. At the top of the right-hand side, I write down which week of the current module it is and also what that week's case is as the we do case-based learning at the medschool I am at. In each day, I write down what time there is teaching and this includes anatomy sessions, lectures, group work amongst other things. Sometimes, my friends and I opt to do some extra group work amongst ourselves (where we go through things we aren't so clear about) and this is denoted by a Martha Stewart teardrop sticker.

I also write down any financial outgoings or incomings in my diary - in the example below, I splurged on Escentual and blagged a bargain on eBay - and also where the outgoing/incoming would be going from/into. On the flip side of this, I also keep track of any returns I send back to online stores - most notably to ASOS and House of Fraser. ASOS because of their amazing free delivery and free returns service they do (so I can feed my shopping fix from home) and House of Fraser as I get vouchers for them on a regular basis.

In terms of work, I note down which shift I am meant to be doing according to a weekly rota and at the back of my binder, I also make sure I keep a record of the actual hours I did and the expected pay as a result.

Sometimes, I also decide to keep a record of what book I am currently reading and in this example, I used a strip of washi tape to help me do this.

In terms of to-dos, I note down anything and everything I want to have done by the end of that day. Sometimes, it isn't the end of the world if I don't manage to get something done - for example, in a picture above, I have 'book eye test' unchecked but that is because I had an eye test abroad in December and know that, although I am due an eye test with Specsavers here in the UK, this can wait until I am less busy.

Another thing I like to write down are TV programmes I want to watch and one of my favourite ways to do this is to draw a TV box around the name of a TV show.

Grocery lists and recipes I want to try out also make it onto my weekly pages. 

Social events usually stick out like a sore thumb as they are so few and far between! Studying obviously takes precedence, and then work because, unfortunately, money is essential to survive, which means socialising usually draws the short straw when it comes to allocation of my free time!

Blogging to-dos crop up from time to time and they usually appear in the form of 'blog: title' or 'content blog post'.

One of the things I want to improve on in the next year or so is to go to the cinema more. My list of films I want to see is pretty long and I know that I don't go often enough for my liking. Baby steps have already been taken in that I now note when films are coming out and also when to go and see them! 

If there is space in my planner, eBay sales are recorded so that I know how much I sold that week. I only sell clothes that are sitting in my wardrobe and aren't being worn on a daily basis so these sales are usually few and far between. 

Birthdays are, of course, written down in my planner! 

It has taken my quite a few years to get to this stage of knowing what to write down in my planner and what to write in my journal (which I do once a week) so I hope you've enjoyed this peek into the reasoning behind the content on my planner pages.

Are there things you record in your planner that is unique to you? Or are there things you miss out on purpose for one reason or another? :)

my week: the ingredients

For each weekly page spread, I try and make it a little more interesting by using other 'accessories' as you've probably seen each Sunday when I post my week :) Here are the 'ingredients' I use to jazz up my pages.

Stickers: from Hong Kong, Artbox and Paperchase.

For someone in their early twenties, I have a lot of stickers and I'm not embarrassed by this at all. I use these in my planner pages and also in my journal. I try and brain dump into my journal on a weekly basis as it gets rid of any thoughts that may be clogging my mind - so I can make way for more important things! Anyway, I digress. I've not bought any new stickers since my holiday to Hong Kong at Christmas - but to be fair, I have plenty anyway... 

Washi tape: mainly from Hong Kong and Paperchase.

Washi tape is something I'm a big fan of. Not only can it be used to brighten up planner pages that are too plain, it can also be used to make other things look pretty. For example, in the past, I've used them to make a pen pot and to decorate the spines of plain notebooks.

Sticky notes: from Artbox

Sticky notes are again something I try and use as often as possible in my planner. They help me highlight things without using a highlighter (as does thin washi tape) but they also come in handy for planning blog posts on. I do this by writing an outline of the post I want to write and then I can move that sticky note to another day if the post hasn't been written or I can keep it on that day if it has. For me, his makes blogging flexible and not a chore.

Pens: Muji, Pilot, Uniball, Zebra and Kuretake.

Finally, pens! Because the white Filofax paper isn't so great, I've really taken to the not-so-highly-pigmented Pilot Juice gel pens as they don't show-through and nor do they bleed. Again, the colours add a bit of interest to the pages and I like trying to use different handwriting styles when noting down something important.

All in all, these are the basic things you'll see in my weekly pages - in all honesty, I probably don't use every single thing each week as that would make for a very cramped week and would be overkill on the aesthetic front.

the importance of recording work hours

Earlier this summer, I started some shift work. Starting this job meant that I also started a new section in my binder - one that recorded the hours I worked and the amount I expected to be paid for that shift. Come pay day, I was then able to compare and contrast to ensure that I had been paid fairly for my work. This is something I would encourage all shift workers to do as it is quite easy to not be paid for overtime!

I do all of this in a variety of ways: in each weekly spread, I note the number of hours that were done that week. Each scheduled shift I do is written down on the relevant days but of course, quite often, these hours aren't stuck to for one reason or another.

Towards the back of the binder, I have a page where I record the number of hours I have done each week and then the expected pay. As I only get the minimum wage, each fraction of an hour is important to me! Pay day comes at the end of each month and so, I draw a line under that month to denote that I have been paid correctly.

Keeping a record as I go along means that I don't have to scratch my head at the end of the month to remember what hours I had worked. And now that term has restarted for me, my hours will inevitably decrease at work but recording them will be more important than before as I now have to juggle work, study, play and this blog but with a much smaller budget as I receive less funding this year compared to last year.

an updated Smythson binder tour

Now that I'm properly back in my Smythson, I thought I'd walk you all through the set-up with an explanation for each section. It's not much different from the last post about it but I'm focussing more on the pages towards the back in this post (whereas in the previous one, I focussed more on the pages towards the front).

At the front is the quote page shown in the previous post. I found it through a Google search but it says 'designed by Francesca Ramos 2010' at the bottom so all credit to her for making it. There are also page markers on the flyleaf.

I'm still using the Filofax white week-on-two-page layout. I'm still debating if I want to continue using it this academic year but seeing as the year has already started, I don't think I'll be moving to another planner anytime soon.

Once the planner pages end, I have another page of quotes from Leonie Wise - again found on Google images. I love these inspiring quote pages as all too often, being the workaholic that I am, I find myself not allowing enough time to relax or unwind at the end of the day. These quotes give me a few minutes to read through them and just not think about work for that time.

Now, onto the bulk at the back. I have a post-it note with ingredients for a fruit cobbler which I want to make sometime during this summer.

To-do lists are all over the place and I should've made a better effort to ensure that they were separated into categories rather than mix them up. On the above pages, there are films I want to see, beauty products I want to buy and try, thing I want to bake, places I want to eat at and also things I need to study. Having written these things down myself, I know exactly where to find what to-do (my memory is pretty decent which can be a bit of a hindrance sometimes).

I make quite a few notes but the notes I will be showing you seem to be more lists.

There is a list of books I want to read at some point...

And a list of all the restaurants I've been to in the last two years. I'm trying to reach 100 before the end of this year and I think it is safe to say I won't get there as I've only eaten at 54 in 104 weeks. I don't even want to consider how much money I've frittered away on dining out...

And finally, at the back is the return of my clear pocket which has pictures of sentimental value. In the secretarial pocket, there are some stickers that I use to mark things on my weekly pages.

For 2015, I may well be in a different planner - with The Planner by Seeso being the most likely one. However, I still have a few other options to peruse so we'll see...

my current binder set-up

I moved back into my Smythson halfway through the second term and it has taken me this long to figure out how to organise everything I need. Now that it is set-up properly, I thought I'd do a tour for you all :)

Upon opening it, you'll be greeted with a transparent flyleaf full of page markers. These page markers will be used during study when I encounter something I want to refer back to in a textbook or I may integrate them into my notes if there is something I need to go over again. There are also some dot stickers used to denote certain events in my diary.

Towards the front, I have important things I may need to refer back to from time to time. For example, the above is a page of quotes a doctor I once shadowed said to me before I commenced medical school. He was a brilliant doctor and definitely inspired me to want to do this course.

I also have some bus timetables - but they are only a rough guide as I find that buses can be ten minutes early or ten minutes late depending on the previous bus, traffic, etc. I tend to use a live bus arrivals app on my phone instead now and I check that before I leave the house. Because it takes me eight to ten minutes to walk to the bus stop; sometimes, I'll get there and the bus will be due to arrive way later than when I had tracked it at home. Annoying but that's London transport for you.

I am using a Filofax week-on-two-pages diary at the moment and it is of the white variety. I did consider splashing out for a competitor's diary but I didn't get round to it before 2014 arrived. I'm not as annoyed with the quality of the pages as I was the last time I used them back in 2010 but that may be because I've been using pens that aren't as absorbent (and thus, don't show through as much).

At the end of the diary pages is a list of books I've read so far this year. I'm a bit embarrassed about my list so far - but I've been so busy that reading is slower than it was last year and I barely find time to exercise as it is. To me, exercising is a priority over reading. Also, I've found it easy to start books but not so easy to finish them this year - maybe I'm just not reading the right books that draw me in and force me to keep reading?

I then have a load of to-do lists and within this is a survey record. I am still doing surveys and have opted to only do ones from 'invite-only' sites as their pay to survey time ratio is very good. Please don't ask me which sites these are - I'm not 100% that I am allowed to say and I'm sure you'll find some just by doing a simple Google search. Sorry!

Finally, right at the back are some note pages where I jot down random things or plan future events. Anything and everything may be written here.

I've really cut down on the things I have in my binder now and I feel that the stuff I have in it is enough for my day-to-day life. I only carry around what is necessary and if I find I haven't used something in it for a while, I'll take it out.

back to my Smythson!

I looked at my blog archive and found that the last time I was in my Smythson was back in 'my week #73'. Whilst I enjoyed my time in my compact orange Metropol, it just didn't compare to the feel (and smell!) of leather but also, the quality of my Smythson.

I'm still in the process of tweaking its set-up so once that is done, I will do an updated post of how it has been organised. In the meantime, here is a picture of what you'll be greeted with if you open up my binder:

Page flags, ready to highlight pages in textbooks and my notes that need attention; dot stickers to colour code certain events and heart stickers just because.

how I set up my binder for university and why

My bag gets ridiculously heavy even on the best of days so I decided to move into a Filofax Compact Metropol at the start of term. My Smythson is currently sat on my shelf holding my 2014 inserts but unfortunately, I don't see myself going back to it anytime soon. 

Here is a tour of the Compact Metropol and why it is set up the way it is.

The first page is a quotes page that I found on Google images. On the left and in the card slots are some A6 notepages from Ruby and my Oyster card.

After this quotes page is a page where I've noted down the bus times. I commute to university from home (it's only about an hour on the bus at the most) and it's handy to know when the buses are as there are only four buses an hour.

The month planning pages follow this but I'm not finding them particularly useful if I'm honest. I've not really used them since the start of term and I'm considering foregoing them for 2014.

Here is evidence of a barely used October:

I have slotted in a flyleaf where I've put in a few strips of washi tape:

And onto the meat of the planner - the diary pages. I find that WO2P are actually working okay for me now that the term has calmed down and no longer subjected to countless 'Introductory' sessions. The planning space for to-dos is limited but as long as I am wise with that, it's fine.

As my course is a 'problem-based' one, I have a separate notebook for the problem-based-learning tutorials and then use a separate post-it note to write to-dos for those tutorials. The post-it note is stuck on the current page I am on in my notebook and I am finding that this works pretty well.

Another quote (again, from Google images):

And then a section for my to-do lists. I have gone through so many of these since the beginning of December!

And right at the back are a few sheets of notepages. This is where random bits of information are jotted down. In the next picture, I wrote down the netball fixtures for this season - but I've pixelated it out for safety reasons as I don't want everyone knowing who I'll be playing, where, what time, etc.

Overall, I've found that the Metropol is working pretty well for me. The rings are smaller and I'm not finding this too much of an issue; and with the organiser being made of PU, it is far lighter than my other leather binders. I also love the colour of it as it definitely brightens up my day when I see it!

I hope you've enjoyed this 'mini' tour into my binder and I hope I've explained (well enough!) about how it is working for me :-)