I feel like I’m in planner heaven right now. I used to go around with a work diary, a personal diary, a notebook, notes app on my phone and a calendar on my phone. Post it notes were everywhere and all hell would break lose if there was an appointment in one book but not another. Does it still exist? Shouldn’t it be in both? Why has life gotten so complicated?!

Enter the Filofax. Oh Filofax, you have changed my life. I’m being slightly dramatic but I feel super organised and not procrastinating by writing lists organised either. I have put everything into my new Filofax and I take it everywhere with me. I tried the patent domino in mint which is gorgeous but it arrived with puncture holes in it which is weird – patent marks easily. So I opted for this material English Bloom cover story personal sized Filofax.

I’d seen a lot about other types on planners on blogs and YouTube, especially the Erin Condren life planners which look amazing but I’m too stingy to pay the shipping from the US. I wanted something that I could personalise and make my own. Use it how I wanted to. I thought Filofax’s were quite rigid and you could only use the inserts available. It never occurred to me to MAKE MY OWN. How simple is that?

My other half asked me one night what I was watching on YouTube, I replied “planner porn”. There are so many videos on people showing you their planners. How they’ve laid them out and unboxings, and even following them each week creating that week in the planner. It’s weird! But strangely addictive when there’s nothing else to do.

I’ve been using my Filofax for two weeks now and I love having everything in one place. I have six tabs but mostly use four sections. It feels like another creative outlet really, however geeky it may be.

2015 diary

I have 2015 week to two pages Filofax inserts that came with it. They aren’t great but I’ll stick with them this year and design my own for next year. I often either hole punch notes into that week or paperclip notes to it. I use this as a personal diary but add work things in if it takes me out of town.

I want to create inserts which have the week on one side and then on the other have a to do list, meal planning, exercise tracker and things like that. I’m not busy enough to fill out a week on two pages and definitely not a day a page. Who are these people?! Do they even have time to use a Filofax if they’re so busy?

Blogging

In the blogging section I have a month on one page so that I can pencil in a schedule of blog posts. Working full time I need to have an idea of what’s coming up, but I can always move things around if I feel like some spontaneous content. I also have a table which includes the post title and then tick boxes when I’ve written in, taken photos and when it’s ready to publish. The last page is a lovely list of ideas. I’m also going to create a page which has Instagram hashtags and what filters could be used in certain situations. I also seem to have post it’s stuck all over this section.

Wedding planning

In my wedding planning section I have my budget breakdown, a list of suppliers and their contact details, a to do list and some honeymoon ideas.

Personal lists and everything else

This final section has lists of things I want, places I want to visit and books to read. I have a tracker for TV series and a table to fill out when I’ve done a run from the Couch 2 5k plan. I’ve also included my overtime and annual leave tracker for work in here as it’s so useful to keep on me at all times.

Most of my inserts have come from Philofaxy or I’ve created new ones based on their templates, so please check them out.

I haven’t watched any planner porn in a few weeks now, but if you want to, I’ve left a little walk through of my new Filofax below.

Do you have a planner? Or if not, how do you keep your life organised?