What's In My... Filofax!

Random fact about me: I'm obsessed with my planner. Which really isn't a random fact if you've read my blog for any length of time. I've posted about last year's planner, and my planner the year before that. I love getting a new planner and switching things up. In fact, I've been using this planner since last fall and I already have my next one in mind... so I'd best get to posting this one before it's old news!

I became obsessed with getting a Filofax after seeing how efficient, creative, & customizable they are. Filofaxes have been around for years and are HUGE in the UK, with entire blogs & meet-ups devoted just to the way people fill up their Filos.

I mean, seriously. Just do a quick Pinterest search, and you'll come up with so much Filofax inspiration that you'll want to run to the website and buy one right now.

(So really, don't search Pinterest. Otherwise you'll hate me for giving you something new to obsess about.)

(Or maybe I'm just a little bit insane. Either way, moving on.)

I bought the personal size Adelphi planner in Scarlet from Pens & Leather (much cheaper than ordering directly from Filofax). To customize it, I made dividers out of our black & white wedding photos. I love the memories these photos hold, and I wanted to have them with me all the time. They inspire me. :-)

To make the dividers, I set up pages in Photoshop, printed on matte photo paper, and mounted them onto patterned scrapbook paper to thicken them up.

So this is how my planner is divided: across the top, I have 3 tabs labeled Calendar, Projects, and Blog. These are the 3 tabs I use most, which is why they got the more prominent plastic tabs at the top (sold at any office supply store). Along the right side, my tabs are labeled Tasks, Ideas, Finances, Fitness, Personal, and Bucket List.

I just made up the categories according to what info I want to have on me and in one place. I'm all about finding ways to be more efficient!

There are all kinds of weekly, monthly, & lined pages you can purchase to tailor your Filo to you. I chose the 1-week per spread layout, because if I can't fit my daily to dos in that small space, then well... I'd say it's too much to do in one day. I also got a 1-month per spread layout and a fold-out yearly view calendar, for a quick look at the big picture. For now, that just includes birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries.

Some other goodies I got were little circle stickers to color code my daily/weekly to dos, a mini mirror for quick touch ups when no one is looking, and a colorful palette of sticky flags & post it notes.

And of course, no planner would be complete without a special, coordinating pen. Mine is a lovely Vera Bradley ballpoint. It writes smoothly and doesn't bleed through the pages— double win, in my opinion!

And so friends, that is all for today. May you be inspired to go forth and customize your own planners, if you haven't already!

Speaking of your own planners... do you use a planner? If yes, what kind? Spread the love, people! You know I"ll be needing a new one sooner or later. I have my eye on an Erin Condren Life Planner for 2013! :-)