Ah, don’t worry! I wasn’t going to leave you hanging. After my teaser yesterday, I was fully intending to share with you the in depth details of how I have set up my Filofax Malden. I just like a bit of suspense now and again.
My setup is very similar to the way I had it in my A5-with the most notable differences being in the finance section and the calendar. I’ve moved to a day per page calendar-which is awesome, by the way-and I’ve gotten a fold out year on a page to keep track of my finances. This works much better than the crazy sticky note thing I had going on before.
I’ve kept some of my A5 dividers, but I’ve cut them down so as to accommodate the new size. The dividers themselves are nothing special, I’ve spiffed them up a bit with scrapbooking paper but that’s it.
I have five dividers-one is in the collage twice, that’s how much I like it. That or it’s an error that I can’t figure out how to fix. Anyway! Upon opening the Filo, I’m greeted with a lot of…stuff.
On the left, I have some miscellaneous papers that I need to keep track of and a few organizing goodies-some stick on pockets and the zip pocket contains paperclips. The pocket on the right is a bit of an experiment. I just added it yesterday in hopes that it would work for my needs, which it seems to be doing so far. I wanted it there as an easy place to keep track of my grocery list and coupons, and although it’s a bit thick it seems to be working out okay. This way I know that I won’t forget either when I head to the store.
Behind the pocket, there are a few pages of info, my registration sheet, my personal info, my sticky note insert, and a few blank note sheets.
My first tab is titled “Money”, and if you can’t figure out what that means, you need to be reading another blog. There is no help for you here.
I don’t have a lot of info behind this tab, and I’ve considered possibly eliminating it-but then where would I put those few sheets of info? I’m in a quandary. There’s some budget info, a list of our monthly bills, but most importantly I have a year on one page fold out calendar that I use to keep track of our bills.
This is a pocket size, which is quite silly actually. It was intended to go into a pocket Piazza that I bought with the deluded idea that I could downsize further, which obviously never happened. I hated the pocket size but I love the year on one page, so since I already had it I figured I might as well use it. (Psssst….if you are interested in a blue pocket Piazza….I have one listed on Ebay right now. Go for it!) This fold out setup is wonderful for bills-I need a very small space to note the company and amount due, and it’s extremely helpful to be able to see the entire month alongside the other months.
The next tab is titled “Home”, which is where I keep track of my daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, as well as a daily routine. I store these in clear plastic pockets, so if I desire I can cross things off using a dry erase marker without ruining the list itself.
Behind that is my “Kids” tab, which is not used very often but is indispensable when I do need it. My kids are little so I don’t have any schedules, lessons, etc to keep track of, but I do keep a running list of clothing needs and a few notes about homeschooling resources. The main use of this tab is to have a space to keep track of their medical record. I have written down all of the information from each pediatricians’ visit they have gone on-weight, height, and percentile. I also have a few extra notes, such as the date my daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy and the date we found out that my son was allergic to amoxicillin. This is an easy way to not only compare their growth, but also is important if anything should ever happen to me. Sure, my family knows the basics of the kids’ medical problems, but if I were ever to be incapacitated for a length of time the grandparents could access this info and get the details. It’s also helpful when switching pediatricians.
Now we get to the meat of the Filofax! The schedule tab is last, and I keep track of a lot of information on my day on a page planner. I have appointments, reminders, to dos, and my menu plan on these pages. I do color code, but it still gets a bit confusing at times.
You can see on the left hand page that I have an errand day planned for today, thus it is highlighted in gray. I have a separate grocery list but I do keep a running list of little things I want to keep an eye out for, such as a new ironing board. I’ve also got a short to do list of errands. The sticky notes are shoved in there, and are not written directly on the page mainly I want to be able to remove them later.
On the right is a good example of my menu plan, which I really should do a post on sometime soon. I mainly plan for the breakfasts and evening meals, and leave the mid day meals up in the air. I buy a few basic items for lunches and otherwise we just have leftovers, so I really don’t need to write that down.
This set of pages, for the beginning of May, shows a bit how I plan in advance. I plan meals twice a month and write them out on the page so I know exactly which groceries to buy when I go on my semimonthly shopping trips, the next of which is scheduled for May 1st. The blue flag at the top is there so I can easily flip to the beginning of each month.
Finally, the very end of the Filo has a few business card pages (containing business cards, shocker) and a plastic envelope that holds stamps.
There you have it, my personal Malden setup. It’s working for me now…but in studying these photos, I see a lot of room for improvement. Perhaps another reorganization is in my future? Hmmm..the possibilities!
