Monthly Archives: June 2015

Getting it together

FoxyDori pocket and Filofax Malden

FoxyDori pocket and Filofax Malden

This year I’ve been SO unsettled in my planning.  My journaling I have under control and I have method that encourages me to be consistent in my journaling (insert plug here for @journaling_sage on Instagram).  I didn’t use my Erin Condren the last half of last year.  The main reason is the fax it is big and heavy and I don’t always want to carry a large bag.  Even though the Erin Condren Life Planner (ECLP) is an amazing planner, it is just too big for me.  So then I tried planning in a Midori passport with a monthly and WO1P inserts, and it worked beautifully (definitely an option in the future if I want something different).   While watching tons of YouTube videos, I kept seeing Filofax (Kikki K, Color Crush, Kate Spade planners).  Well prior to changing to my ECLP, I used a ring system for YEARS and it worked for me.  Prior to the Vera Bradley agenda, I used a Franklin Covey compact.  The size and layout was very similar.  I knew immediately the A5 planner is too big for me.  Even if I needed that much space, I know I will stop carrying my planner.  For me, my planner only works if it is always with me.  So I got the Color Crush planner and I love it!  The inserts are amazing and I was able to design the perfect layout for me (or at least perfect right now).  The size is great, it fits in nearly any purse I carry.  This is a system that is working for me.

Color Crush weekly pages

Color Crush weekly pages

So, my system, I’m using Color Crush inserts in the binder of my choice (I’ve fallen in love with my personal Filofax Malden and I haven’t changed binders since getting it).  I am also using a FoxyDori pocket in Bay leather for my every day carry (EDC).  I loved my Midori passport, but I really wanted to carry a notebook that had everything I needed and wanted.  My Midori passport was awesome and leaving it has broken my heart, but I just wanted one more book and my passport was pretty chunky.  So I moved to my FN size notebook with some reluctance.  At first, though I love the cover, I didn’t have the same excitement that I had for my passport.

Bay Leather FoxyDori pocket

Bay Leather FoxyDori pocket

Last week I spent the day decorating my FoxyDori and I LOVE it.  I love her so much I’ve named her Joy.  My first book I use to design my day (see Planner Perfect), my second book is an 18 month calendar using Boho Cottage inserts from Etsy, my third book is my book of lists and information that I want to carry with me, and finally my last book is for journaling.  I also have a dashboard I made, a pocket I made (using the tutorial from the Creative Planner class with Cori and Christy), and a clear pocket that I made from a photo pocket.

I don’t have two different planners, per say, but I do have a calendar in both books.  My EDC has the monthly calendar that is the main calendar, the master of schedule.  I have weekly pages in my Filofax and I use these to plan my week and see what the week has in store.  The daily pages in my EDC isn’t To Do Lists, Tasks, or schedule.  It is a picture of what my day will look like, what I want it to look like.  It may include some aspects of a traditional planner, but it is really a vision of my day and how I can use today to accomplish my goals (not tasks, goals).  In my Filofax I keep my Master To Do List and the lists necessary to manage my family.

FoxyDori top view

FoxyDori top view

FoxyDori side view

FoxyDori side view

June Book and Dashboard

June Book and Dashboard

Monthly calendar using Boho Cottage Inserts on Etsy

Monthly calendar using Boho Cottage Inserts on Etsy

Pocket Folder and clear pocket

Pocket Folder and clear pocket

Inside Pocket Folder

Inside Pocket Folder

“Documenting the Everyday”

To say I’ve been bitten by the traveler’s notebook bug doesn’t accurately describe the relationship I’ve developed with these notebooks in the last few months.  I hate to describe my love for my notebooks as a relationship, but it is.  With each piece I add, remove, change, each notebook becomes a little piece of me that can be held.

I didn’t know a lot about the Midori.  I saw it on Amazon over a year ago and I continued to debate the purchase.  I love writing and I love journals, but something about the Midori kept tugging at my heart.  So this winter, I finally took the plunge and got my first traveler’s notebook, a Midori passport and I was immediately in love.

So now I had this awesome new notebook, so I wanted to learn what more I could do with it.  So I watched YouTube videos, TONS of YouTube videos.  I learned and I joined Facebook groups.  I acquired four more traveler’s notebooks and I learned some more.  One day while watching videos I saw a video that really struck my heart.  I LOVE documenting life, both with pictures and words.  I scrapbook and I love Project Life, but I am terrible about completing albums now that my son is active in school and sports.  I have a way of recording notes for when I go back to document events, but I didn’t have a way of documenting my everyday life.  I want my son to remember what his childhood was like and who his parents were.

So back to the YouTube video that changed my life.  Retrow Tures did a video about using a Field Notes traveler’s notebook to not only document her travels, but she talked about her tagline for her photography business, “Document life as it happens”.  This was new to me, as a scrapbooker I’ve heard this expressed many ways.  For some reason, when she said it, my world stopped and I knew what I needed to do.  I need to use my traveler’s notebook to document each day, the little moments that get missed in the bigger albums.

A dear friend of mine made a gorgeous traveler’s notebook for me and in this notebook I keep an insert of blank pages.  We go to a baseball game, I immediately tape in the memorabilia and write a note.  I don’t care about the layout, colors, matching, I just care about getting that moment recorded.  Later I may print a picture and put it with my memorabilia, but I don’t stress about that.  No more putting ticket stubs and wristbands in a box to scrap later, I use them right now.  If it isn’t flat and won’t fit, I take a picture and put the picture in my journal.  This has changed my life, I now record my life as it happens.  I experience joy as I look back to see what was accomplished and the memories we have acquired.

So I thank Retrow Tures for speaking in a way that allowed me to change my behavior.  If you love documenting your life or want to document her life, I strongly encourage you to search her out on YouTube.  Her videos are short, but very well done.

Documenting the day and the memories when it happens.

Documenting the day and the memories when it happens.

Link to Retrow Tures video on YouTube