My week 17/06/13 - 23/06/13

In an effort to brighten my planner up a bit, I've been experimenting with washi tape and diving the diary pages up. I don't think I'll stay in the standard FF diary insert next year - the weekends annoy me, the design feels stuffy and I find it really uninspiring. Hopefully by January I'll have a decent enough job so that I can afford some nice expensive inserts! 

My apologies for the large pixelated bits, those are secret blog post ideas that you can't see yet! Since finishing uni I've not been doing much really, which is why my diary is basically a workout log right now. I should be starting work at the end of July though and when I do I can start pole dancing again (a hobby I picked up at uni) and can join a few clubs or something so that I'm not so bored! I do have a possible little project that I may be unveiling in a few weeks time if all goes to plan... So watch this space. 

Dilemma... again.

Now that the end of uni is very much insight I need to figure out what to do with the two filofaxes I don't use - my pocket Domino (you can read about it's discovery here) and my A4 zip Metropol (previous post detailing it's major failings here). My personal Finsbury is definitely staying right where it is, but these two may soon find themselves on the Adspot or ebay...

The Domino has been sat in my desk for the last 6 months picking up dust. I started using it as a nail varnish catalogue but I've found Evernote to be better for this, and my passion for nail polish is starting to wane somewhat as I have no money to buy it and my nails are in awful condition from too much acetone :( Since I got it from a charity shop, and it's in fairly 'well loved' condition, I might just donate it back into the system again.

The saga of the Metropol is definitely ongoing... in the end, I did store my uni notes for my dissertation etc. in it but the diary was quickly removed and it became a glorified ringbinder. After uni I want to take up learning languages again but I'm unsure whether it will be worth keeping hold of just for this sake. I'd need to spruce up the dividers (and maybe finish my drawings on them, 'cos that never happened...) but unless I was writing comprehension out, or self testing, I can't see myself using it that much. Another option is using it as a pure financial records holder; something that I need to learn but equally for someone who is *awful* with numbers something that is quite daunting.

Sigh. It's tricky! Moving into a smaller flat has definitely got my 'GET RID OF ALL POSSESSIONS' urges going :/

My past few weeks

It's been hectic here! This time next week I will be officially moved in with my wonderful boyfriend and I will have (largely) moved out of my university house - only returning at the end of May to finish up uni work by presenting my dissertation to a group of markers. It's been a wild three years full of love, laughter and far too many tears and I'm not really sure how I feel about leaving this little town; but being able to live with my boyfriend and close to my family rather than having to make a 5 hour door to door trip will be amazing.

As you can imagine, the end of uni has meant that I've been pretty hectic so my filo has been put to good use. Here's the last four weeks in my diary pages:

And here's the week coming up:

I always feel, no matter what, my diary pages are quite clunky and unappealing to look at :( I need to stop writing things in with black felt tip in big letters I think! Even though I'm finishing uni on Thursday I'm very busy over the next three months so having my filo to hand is going to be even more important.

Revamped my Finsbury! Less is definitely more

Now, I moan occasionally about how I don't use my filofax very much and it doesn't seem to have a purpose... but I think I might have cracked it now with a 'less is more' approach.

In my old setup I had everything - addresses, diary, important websites, notes, to do lists, to read lists, to bake lists, gym tracker, weight tracker, things to remember, things to forget, sticker sheets everywhere... It was a mess and I hardly ever used it (apart from the gym tracker). In the end it just sat in my desk looking sad and neglected but stuffed to the gills with *things* that I never used! The start of the new university year was just the oomph I needed to do some revamping.

Gone are the pointless sheets of paper that I never used - the things to remember, the to do/bake/read lists (I catalogue these now in the diary section and with my good reads profile), the addresses, important websites... the wadge of note paper! It feels a little empty but it now functions better and is on the way to lying flat. It was never going to flatten out with that much crap in it!

Here comes the picture heavy new layout...

I've kept the dash/start pretty much the same, though I may do away with the postcard and owl at some point... Remember, less is more!

The astute of you will notice that this is not a current week in my diary. This is because I am channeling my inner PaperLovestory and will be posting weekly shots of my week - I have to say, it's the first time in a long time that I've actually been organised and I'm loving it! I've started writing in it throughout the day, using colour and stickers and getting stuff done so I can have a nicely ticked page at the end of the week! Strangely this is a massive motivator for me, but odder things have happened. This is just a little sneak preview of the way I'm now putting things in my diary :) I also have a 2013 year calendar which I've marked down important dates on and a blank sheet of notepaper headed as 'Important 2014 dates' so if anything comes up that I need to remember to put in my diary for 2014 - I have it there and ready with no need to faff or take up diary space. I need that space for stickers!

Remember I said I had loads of stickers flying around? Well, no longer! This is my solution. I've stuck my stickers (that track my gym workouts) onto the front of my first monthly diary page so that they're always on hand! I'm keeping the monthly workout pages I have done from last year so that I can keep an eye on how much I'm going to the gym. So far I've been something like 12 times since I started the membership in October (not great, but I was home a lot last semester) which is about a third of the way to my goal of making my membership fee back. Again, probably strange motivation but it gets me there! Every workout I do, I stick a star on the day and write the calorie burn underneath just for the interesting aspect of it. I block out days when I'm not at uni as I can't gym when I'm 240 miles away from it!

Behind the third tab is a random space really, it's just a card holder with some sticky notes in. I may change this and put something 'useful' in but for now it's working for me. Later on this year I may use it as a CV/career section.

Behind the final tab I have three sheets of paper - one with my goals for 2013 on, one with important addresses that I don't know on and one spare. That's all I need right now! In the back zipper pocket I still have some sticker clutter but it's not adding bulk and I do use them so it's ok for now. It won't be like that for long though! I need to figure out a good way of storing and displaying my sticker sheets. Oh, and I need more sticker sheets.

So there we have it! As I have revamped my Finsbury, my next job is to smarten up this blog - It's a bit drab right now! So changes will be afoot. Don't be alarmed! I will be back on Sunday with my weekly round up. See you then!