My (compact) pocket raspberry Chameleon Filofax setup (plus gorgeous handbag!)

Hello everyone!


You may remember not so long ago that I discussed my compact raspberry Finsbury setup here.  Well . . . it didn't take long for the itchy feet to set in!


I really really really LOVED my compact Finsbury, but I just found it too heavy.  I was longing to downsize my handbag and use something a bit smaller for the summer.  So out came my (compact) pocket raspberry Chameleon again!


I got this little beauty on my birthday shopping trip right at the very beginning of March at a heavily-discounted price (of course) and used it for a short while.  Unfortunately, I'd moved from a very fat (non-compact) aqua pocket Finsbury and was struggling to fit everything onto the smaller rings.  Pocket rings are normally 19mm but the Chameleon's are 15mm.  At the time, this bothered me, so I wasn't very happy with it.  Then along came the compact Finsbury and my Chameleon was put back in my Filofax drawer!


Anyway, enough rambling.  After I decided that my compact Finsbury was too heavy, I thought I'd go back down to my pocket Chameleon but slim down the innards immensely.  I thought I'd try a 'week on one page with notes' diary (albeit made by myself 'cos I can't stand all the different languages that take up room on Filofax's version), so I bought a 'week on one page' and stuck a page of lined paper in between each page.  I got a bargain though; the diary only cost me 50p!  You can read about that here.


Anyway, I took lots of unnecessary stuff out of my pocket aqua Finsbury (that weighed about the same as a newborn baby) and slimmed it right down.  Boy was I happy!  The 'week on one page with notes' has been working really well for me.  I don't have a vast amount of appointments - just work hours (which do change), my daughter's commitments and the odd appointment here and there for me and hubby - so I've managed to fit everything reasonably well.  I do have a lot of things to remember to do though, and that's where the 'notes' page has worked a treat.


Here come the photos, and be warned - there are lots!


Firstly, this is the bag that I wanted to change to.  It looks fairly small but is actually massive inside.  It's butter-soft leather and the make is Ciccia (an ex Radley designer I believe).  It retails for about £115 but I got it for £40 at TK Maxx.  It's really gorgeous!  (Just put 'ciccia flower bag' in an eBay search; there are a few available at the moment for about £89.99)

Ciccia leather bag

I have absolutely LOADS of handbags, despite selling some on eBay earlier on this year!  I've always had a thing for handbags and living about a mile and a half away from a TK Maxx store doesn't help . . .

Ciccia leather bag

Pocket raspberry Chameleon

One thing you'll notice is that whilst I absolutely LOVE bright, rich colours, I'm not into stickers and home-made dividers.  I'm not very creative and I prefer to save the girly stickers for my six year old daughter!!!


The first thing I see when I open my Filofax is my shopping list (not food, just general stuff I need to buy when I'm out and about).  My shopping list is stuck to a top-opening envelope that I use for receipts for things that I might need to exchange.  General receipts for food and other stuff go on a spike at home.


I also have a couple of important forms in the slip pocket and library/business cards in my card pockets.

My 'welcome mat'

Here are the sticky notes I use for my shopping list at the front.  They are lined which I always find useful.  I got them from TK Maxx - I think they were £2.99.

Sticky notes block made by Piccadilly

Inside sticky notes block

Reverse of sticky notes block

To prevent bulk I just use the basic Diary, Notes, Information, Financial and Addresses tabs came with one of my (many!) Filofaxes.


In the diary section, I firstly have a year planner that contains birthdays and important perpetual dates.  Then comes my 'every day diary' after the year planner.  Appointments and the odd day-specific reminder/to do on the left.  Blue sticky dots are for birthdays and red ones are for important reminders, such as MOT due.  I can check my year planner for full details.  Using sticky dots saves space!  Then there's a list of notes/to dos on the right with boxes drawn in to tick when they've been completed.


I stuck a cut-down sticky arrow on my ruler so I can instantly see what day it is - very useful when I'm in a hurry.

My diary

Important telephone numbers

Passwords (blank for security!)

Petrol usage

Overtime & My Spends

My sat nav postcodes page again - all my templates are the same as the ones I made for my compact, but smaller!  I love this sat nav page because it's like having an address book with me at all times, without the bulk.

Sat Nav postcodes page

Sat Nav postcodes (continued) & work holiday log

My final top-opening envelope contains odds and ends I need to keep with me, such as repeat prescriptions.  I also have a few blank sticky notes on here to use inside my diary for anything important.


My zipped pocket contains stamps and a few business cards etc.

Card/jewellery sale log & farewell envelope

As you can see from the top view, the contents aren't very bulky.  It looks it a bit because of the full-length pocket at the back.


I can fit my mobile phone in the front of the full-length pocket, or in the back zipped pocket or the shopping list envelope at the front, which comes in very handy.

Top view

So there we are.  I'm loving my new setup, and I really love the raspberry Chameleon.  I admit I could do with a bit more room to write, but a personal is just too big for me.  If only they made Chameleons in the compact size.  Sorry?  What was that?  They do?  Oh, great stuff.  I'll just have a look and see if I can find one.  Oh!  Would you believe it, they have them on the Filofax Denmark site, with 50% off!!!  Holy cow.  That's tempting.  Oooooops!  My fingers just slipped on the keyboard . . . one's on it's way to me . . .!  How did that happen?!  Well, for £36.78 including overseas postage, it would be rude not to.  Thank the Lord for Google Translation!


Now to sell my Teal Personal Finsbury to fund it . . . click here if you're interested!






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