My new Filofax DIY birthday ruler hack thingy wotsit...

Good morning/evening all!

Today I thought I'd tell you about a brainwave that I had last night. Instead of doing the ironing, I "FILOFAXED"!!! (Is that a naughty word? Am I in trouble? *sulks off slowly to the naughty step*)

A small wave of panic washed over me last night as I remembered that I have an awful lot of birthdays from September to December that I need to buy cards and presents for (29 to be exact!). Thus far, I've dealt with this by putting them all on my year planner. This helps me to keep my 'week on one page with notes' (planning ahead) diary up-to-date and serves as a perpetual calendar. I also use my year planner for important deadlines (ie: car tax, MOT, insurance fa la la), when I'm on call and for noting down when the school holidays are.

The problem is, I only use my year planner to help me fill in my 'week plus notes' diary and I forget to look at it at any other time! I write the birthdays in my main diary, but I only come across the reminder that I need to deal with a birthday about a week or two beforehand, which is fine really. But when I have so many birthdays to deal with, I also want to see a list of them at a glance (and that I'd look at regularly), so I can keep an eye out for a present or card well in advance and keep my eye on the bigger picture.

So the birthday ruler was born! And here it is:

Double-page spread showing my new birthday ruler

I use a black ruler/page marker for my 'day per page' diary.

Front of ruler with months January to July.

Reverse of ruler with months August to December, including a marker arrow to draw my attention to the next birthday on my list!

It's nothing fancy - I just typed up a list of all the birthdays/anniversaries I have on my year planner, split them roughly in half, decreased the font size, printed them off, cut them out and stuck them on my ruler with sellotape  It didn't take long at all!  I'm actually considering making another one for the clear ruler I use for my 'week plus notes' diary. This would have all my important deadlines on it.

I like to be able to see the big picture when it comes to everything I have to do. The months from September to December are soooo busy with deadlines, birthdays and Christmas that whilst I don't want to frighten myself, I need to remind myself that I must remain organised and get everything sorted that needs to be sorted. This birthday ruler helps me plan ahead a little more, rather than just fire-fighting as and when birthdays arise.

How do you deal with important (perpetual) reminders and birthdays? Do you use a year planner like me, or have you got another method that works really well for you? Do tell!

Thanks for reading!
Lucy x



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I spy with my little eye, something beginning with...

F!

Well hello again everyone!

Yes I'm still alive!  Apologies for not posting for absolutely ages.  I've increased my working days to four a week instead of three, plus my hubby's been working such ridiculous hours recently that I've practically been a single working mother for the past month and a half!  If there was a 'Dislike' button, I would press it...

As well as the above, I car share to work now which means I don't get time to browse the shops for stationery finds in the morning.  I totally love my Filofax and its setup so I've nothing really to talk about there (although I do need to do a full set-up post at some point) and I am completely ADDICTED to reading.  My Kindle is my best friend in every way.  I got it in February and I've read 54 books on it since then!!!  Plus a good few 'normal' books from the library as well.  Holy cow!  It's no wonder I'm hardly ever posting on here any more...

My Kindle in a clear pencil case.  Keeps it protected and takes up no room in my bag whatsoever!

I've kept my eye on the blogging world recently but I've not read everything or commented at all for a while. But I finished another book last night and noticed a couple of posts on Philofaxy this morning that I felt I really must comment on, so that inspired me to come and have a chunter on my blog for a bit.

I did have a Filofax experience last week that got me a bit excited again I have to admit!  One of our HR field managers came to the office as he often does and when he visits, he sits opposite me.  We always have a laugh and a banter - he's quite a character!  Anyway, I needed to grab something from his desk so I wandered round and what did I see???  Yes you've guessed it - A FILOFAX!!!  I gasped and said, "You've got a Filofax!!!"  Well, as you can imagine, he wasn't allowed to leave the office until we had had a full discussion about said Filofax.  One thing that surprised me was that it was a mini.  It was a Classic in a kind-of toffee/caramel/camel colour.  It was stuffed to the gills like my first mini here, and all his entries were colour coded using highlighter pens!  He said he'd had it for years and he loved it because it fits in his pocket and he gets his inserts automatically delivered every year.  I briefly showed him my Filofax and my many tabs (those who went to the Manchester Meet-Up saw these - I'll do a set-up post soon) and we carried on chatting about how Filofaxes were generally brilliant.  I sooooo wanted to take pictures, but I think he would have thought I'd lost the plot if I'd asked, so I didn't...

It looked like this, but his was a bit darker.  Almost like a toffee colour!
Picture taken from the Filofax.kr website.

So, have you ever got excited when you've seen somebody you know using a Filofax???  Tell me what happened!



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