why I think everyone should downsize to a 'compact'

NOTE: This is not me telling people what to do; it is merely my opinion on the Compact sized Filofaxes!

As most of you will know by now, my main Filofax in use was The Affair by Temperley for Filofax (until it's unfortunate demise, sob sob). The Affair isn't strictly a personal size Filofax, nor is it an A5 although the size does appear to be so - but more like a Compact-cum-A5 Flex.

Anyway, having used this for round about two months now, I've found it more of a relief than the Personal Finchley I had been using before. Yes, the rings are smaller, yes there are slots for Flex notebooks but  I find the smaller rings liberating!

It's very tempting to cram a Filofax's rings to as full as possible - to lug around a whole 365 days' worth of diary pages, a whole load of blank lined inserts in case you needed to jot something down and also a load of reference sheets loaded with information you deem important and necessary to daily function. But do you really need those pages? The only reference pages I carry are the ones of my medical information such as my GP, his telephone number and my UCAS information - which is actually now defunct as my UCAS cycle has now ended and so I will be removing this in the next few weeks.

And did I really need the next 365 days in my Filofax? As it turns out, no, I didn't really - all I needed was really about three or four months from the current date in there. Any dates that came up after that could be written on a small post-it as these were few and far between for me. Obviously, I know this won't work for everyone but for me, this was another way to cut down what was in my rings in my Affair.

Finally, thoes blank pieces of paper. With a Flex notebook slot, I really didn't need these. I found that I usually used the blank paper for my 'Thriving on Less' minimalism project but this could all be moved to my Flex notebook instead.

Because I lightened the load of my Filofax considerably with the weight mainly dependant on what thickness Flex notebook I had in the Flex slot, I found that the weight of my bag also decreased; not to mention the fact that this helps me on my quest to be a minimalist. Next up - my bedroom and study area!

But now that I no longer have the Affair, I have to look for an alternative and at the moment, that is the Compact Osterley. And because the inserts are of the personal size, I don't have to invest in any new ones, winner! I'm also hoping that new Compact sized Filofaxes will be released in the near future

Credit: Pens and Leather

Next step? To downsize even further to a Slimline!

Nahhh, just kidding. Downsizing into a compact was hard enough for me! (And it only made me even thirstier for a Compact but none of the current ones do it for me, unfortunately.)

chameleon aqua review

And the second Filofax in my order! The personal Chameleon in aqua...

And the spine...

And the Filofax. I have to say, my first thought was that the colour is just beautiful and the leather is a cross between that of the Finsbury and that of the Finchley. More supple than my Finsbury but it doesn't lie flat out of the box like my Finchleys, and the leather is still quite sturdy.

The inside: card slots to the right...

Notice that the pen loop is on the left: something that I'm not used to...

And the back: a zipped compartment.

Overall, I have to say that I LOVE this organiser! The colour, the style, the hardwearing-ness of the leather, I love it! 8/10 for me. Reasons?

{ it does not lie flat out of the box but it might do with use }

{ the pen loop is on the left; as a right hander, I find this a bit impractical }

I have since moved into this as my main Filofax - and a set up post will be up in a few weeks!

my filofax week #7

Can you believe it's week 7 of this now? I've really enjoyed sharing my weeks with all of you too so I don't see this trend stopping anytime soon!

So, what has changed this week?

{ it seems to be a bit more busy }
{ not as many to-dos }
{ a lot more 'social' stuff! }

Also, you should be able to see what was the other Filofax in my Filofax haul when there was a discount code available ;) Look out for a review in a few days' time!

How does your week look?

may review!

May presented me with mixed weather conditions - it was sunny but still quite chilly, sometimes it was windy and other times, it was just plain sunny (and quite warm). Either way, here is what I had to utilise to get me through this month!

1) Sticky Notes

Because I'm still doing my final year project and dissertation, I still have a hell of a lot of reading and organising to do. I find breaking things up with these sticky notes help a lot as it allows me to make this somewhat tedious project a bit more interesting on the eye but also so that I can see what needs to be done at a glance.

2) Vitamin D and Calcium supplements

Ironically, even though May has been filled with sunshine, I still don't get enough of my daily dose of Vitamin D. This is mainly due, in part, to this dissertation that needs writing and my refusal to take my Macbook Pro outdoors in case the heat does any damage to it! I had a point last year where I was diagnosed with a vitamin D deficiency (flagged up due to a blood test for something else!) and was on supplements last year too and since then, I've opted to just keep taking them.

The added calcium also helps me as I don't ingest calcium at all really in my diet!

3) Burt's Bees lip balm

My lips always seem to be dry no matter how much I drink or what the weather is like so I have an assortment of Burt's Bees lip balms to get me through. Next on my list to try, though, is Badger Balm!

4) Dried mango!

I love this stuff. It just reminds me of the summer and it is ideal as a snack in this sunny weather! Plus, it's so hard to find a good brand of dried mango here that I bulk buy this everytime I'm in Tesco (the only place where I can find it for some reason).

Obviously, other mentions of things I couldn't live without include my Filofax, Sudocrem (as I burnt my wrist early in the month and the Sudocrem helped sooth the pain) and good old water (water = good skin + rehydration, especially as my room is always really warm as the sun shines right into it during the day!).

What couldn't you live without?