My Faux-Filofax Daytimer

 

My Filofax Video 

Hey Everyone. I've been really crazy obsessed with watching Filofax Videos on YouTube recently and after doing a quick Google search I found out that there is a whole lotta love for agendas and Filofax's. I can't tell you how many agenda's I've gone through over the past 9 years. I really started to utilize them when I turned 18 and I had to keep track of working almost full time and going to college. I started using Franklin Covey in college and I ended up really liking it and that worked for me for a while. Fast forward to two years ago and Vera Bradley came out with an Agenda and if you know me you know I have an almost psychotic addiction to Vera Bradley products (I have an addictive personality what can I say?) so I HAD to have that binder. I didn't care that it was just cardboard with a pretty pattern on it. I didn't care that it wasn't as customizable as I'd have liked and it only had two pockets for storage. It was $25 dollars how could I go wrong? Well. It was a short affair. I use my agenda on a day to day basis and it travels with me to and from work and pretty much lives in my purse, so I lug this thing around everywhere, after all, if made right they are built to last. I'd only had it for a month before the sides of the binder started to fray, and shortly after that the ring mechanisms started to gap. It was a horrible break up. I put my tail between my legs and returned to my leather bound agenda. Then I thought well, maybe Vera Bradley's student agenda's would suit my needs because it was plastic and a spiral bound planner. That lasted a little bit longer than the other one, but still wasn't quite what I wanted and I hated that I couldn't add or remove pages. So I started browsing the internet to find a binder that I liked enough to commit to a long term relationship with. I looked at Filofax USA's website and I do love Filofax, they have the quality and the durability that I was looking for but none of the A5 sized binders spoke to me. The one I did find myself liking well enough to almost consider is sold out online until further notice, but even so I don't TOTALLY love it. I just really like it. I figure if I am going to spend over $100 on a planner binder I want to ADORE it. So I looked at Office Depot and Office Max. Sadly Buffalo does not have a Staples, which happens to be my favorite office supply store. I ended up finding a wonderful binder that I love. I wish it was Pink, like the Filofax I wanted but red will do, it's still feminine but what I really love about this binder is the pockets, this thing has SO much storage and that is exactly what I was looking for in an agenda. So thus my love affair with my Day Timer Snap Tab. So I'm going to go into further detail about how I organize my agenda and there is no shortage of pictures to go along with it. I am in the process of uploading a video to YouTube, but there is still 143 minutes of upload time left and I wanted to get this post up tonight. I've been promising it for weeks. So without further Adieu here is my planner in Photos!!

This is a Teavana catalog I take keep in the long front pocket of my agenda. It was given to me when I purchased tea there last week and I have notes in it on which tea's I want next and I have a product marked that I'd like to buy so I keep it for reference.

This is my pouch that I carry along with my agenda and the box of magnetic paper clips. These go with me in my bag to work. I usually don't carry them in my purse. This keeps all of my pens and post it notes and things I use in my planner.

This is everything that is inside the pouch. Pens, Post It Notes, my weekly stickers...etc.

This is a close up view of the pens I use. I use Sharpie Felt Tip Pens, these are my new favorite pens, they write so well and do not bleed through the paper. You can buy them at Target or any office supply store. I LOVE these pens.

These are the stickers that I use for weekly reminders. I do like the Martha Stewart Tear Drop stickers that I've seen on SOOO many Filofax blogs, but I don't live by a Staples. The closest one to me is in the next city over which is almost 70 miles away from Buffalo. I'd order them online, but with the frequency that I'd be using them it's just easier for me to use these and they are readily available for purchase. I like them and they come in pretty colors. They work for me. The Foil stars I use kind of like the stickers, but they symbolize date nights with my husband.

These are magnetic paperclips and extra pencil lead for my mechanical pencil I got both of these at Target.

This pouch is an extension of my planner, this houses my project notebook, which has things like Monthly and Weekly Projects I'd like to work on, goals, my budget, my wishlist and misc project I'd like to work on.

This is my planner set up, and my iPhone, which I use in conjunction with my planner. **Edit** The photo on my phone is a NOH8 campaign photo with Nate Ruess of Fun. It's not just some random dude with a duct tapped mouth I promise, I'm not THAT strange.

This is the front flap of the agenda. It has a clear ID pocket, but I don't use it as a wallet so I printed a picture I took at Disney World in February at Wishes. On the back of this is my name, address, phone number and E-mail in case something happens and I lose my planner, it can be returned to me.

This is just showing the ring size.

This is the first thing I see when I open my planner, it's a collage of inspirational quotes, and I like having it there so when I need a little bit of positivity I can open it right up and just read them. It also helps to motivate me to be a better person and if I'm having a rough day it gives me a little bit of a push in a better direction.

I had to sneak in my Dr. Who picture, it's my current favorite show. This is the current and 11th Doctor.

This is my goals/resolutions page and I have this right behind my inspiration page, this keeps me focused on what I'd like to achieve this year and what I'd like to continue working on personally. I like to keep this right in the front so I can refer to it often.

This is my color coding chart and each color represents a different aspect of my life that is noted on my calender. This is my reference so I remember what colors I use for what.

This is a monthly view of my calender and as you can see there are different colors marking different events or appointments. I like having the monthly view to help me make plans and have quick glance at my month.

This shows a little bit of the color coding better.

This is my daily view. I continue the color coding in the daily calender too. This is where I keep my to do list, track appointments, weekly tasks that need to get done. This day I didn't have too much going on, but I did have an example of how I used everything.

This calender is something I got from Disney Movie Rewards and it was the perfect size to go in my A5 sized planner, It is a yearly calender and I use this to outline Travel that is set in stone, this helps me to plan my year a little bit more efficiently so that I know when I will be away. It has all these cute Disney characters on it so it's fun.

This section is my business card holder, I keep various business cards in here, right now I have my Curves cards in there so I can get in touch with my Coach, and so I have the hours of my club handy, and since you all know I'm obsessed with Vera Bradley I have the CEO's card in there, he actually wrote me a hand written letter because I wrote to VB headquarters praising one of their telephone employees for helping me with a bad order. The last card, because I didn't have anywhere else to put it and I wanted to carry it is my Friends of Josh Groban Fan Club card. I paid for a membership so I'd have access to pre-sale concert tickets and other fun things. I adore his music.

The next is more business card holders but since I don't have a need for them right now. I've printed out photos that I've taken, minus the one wedding photo. The first photo is Cinderella Castle at Magic Kingdom. The second Photo is Guthrie Castle near Aberdeen, Scotland in 2010 at my Sister in Law's wedding. The third Photo is Manchester City hall in Manchester, England that I took on our trip there in May of 2012. The fourth photo is my wedding photo with my Bridesmaids and I and Where's Waldo. I got married on the weekend before Halloween and there was a party going on at the Winery where we took Photos and he asked to be in a picture and it turned out awesome!

This is the last page of my binder and I just have another Dr. Who Postcard and a Vera Bradley Catalog and my Teavana Catalog which I pulled out of the front pocket just to show size.

This is the pad of paper I keep in the back, just for quick notes and scrap paper.

These are my post it notes that I use, some I got at Office Max on clearance and the others I got at Disney World in February. I love Post It's and Disney so I HAD to buy them.

This is just what the planner looks like when it is closed. Pretty neat and Tidy.

So That's my agenda in a nutshell. I hope you guys like it. If you have a planner obsession let me know, post photos or links to your own blogs or videos. I'd love to check them out. Like I said, I'm a planner girl and I'm always looking for ways to customize or update my planner. It's a big part of my world so I like to make it my own.

I will have another planner video up within the next two weeks, I've found myself wanting a smaller more portable planner for my purse and I was able to buy a Kate Spade planner on Ebay and I am expecting in the mail within the next few days, so once I get moved into it and set up I plan on doing a video on that organization. I LOVE my A5 sized planner that I have now, but sometimes between carrying that and the pouch of extras sometimes it gets to be too much and I just don't like the iCal app so I'd rather have a smaller planner I can just carry with me. So we'll see how it works and I'll have a blog/video on that too. Then I will have a third blog post that goes into detail about my workout/Curves binder so you can see how I organize my meal plan and workouts.

Thanks so much for stopping by, see you real soon!!!

<3

Danielle