2015’s Planner

I’m a bit of ‘stationary’ freak. It really is exciting when I buy a new journal, homeschool planner, calendar or daily planner. There is something about all those fresh new pages just waiting to be filled with life experiences and learning opportunities that  makes me feel happy. The promise of what is to come.

Today I thought I would show you my new ‘love’, it’s a Finsbury Filofax in Raspberry, Personal size. Isn’t the colour just gorgeous?

What I love about using a Filofax is that it is totally customisable. I can add things that are me-ish to it’s insides or take things out. I can pretty it up, decorate it’s pages and put sections that are tailor-made to my everyday life.

Opening up the cover, I have 6 card slots which I am using for little sticky post-it tabs and other bits and bobs. There is also a wider slot which at the moment is holding some photographs that I want to punch and put into my Filofax. On the right is my inspirational cover or ‘dashboard’ as it is known in Filofax world :). This was a freebie from Limetree Fruits blog. I love how colourful it is and the little ‘your best year yet’ byline.

I have little grips that I covered with washi tape to keep things together should I need to.

Behind the dashboard is pull-out year at a glance calender which I printed off from ‘My Life All In One Place’ blog. There are loads of free printable for your Filofax there in personal, pocket or A5 size.

I’ve used mine to mark of the school holidays and Bank holidays for next year.

Next comes all my month-at-a-glance pages. These I found on the blog ‘Filofaxy’. I found some free labels via Pinterest and labelled each month for easy access.

On the front of each month I have stuck a sticky note onto which I will write upcoming birthdays for the month as well as any Feast days or special celebration days that I want to mark. Of course I will fill in various things on the month-at-a-glance pages so that I have a good overview of what is going on and so I can keep on top of things.

Next I have my Personal Goals section. I’ve used this little plastic folder which holds various little stickers to decorate my pages to mark off this section. I have decorated the plan lined paper that I have put in this section and written out my hopes and goals that I shared with you yesterday here. I want to be able to come back here daily if need be and be reminded of the changes I want to make and the things that I want to do that are important to me.

I love the little paperclip ribbon that I made using this little YouTube tutorial.

After my goals section comes my daily planner pages. The pink ones are the last of this years pages, on Thursday I begin using the white pages behind the winter divider.

As I love the seasons and I find that living according to the rhythm of natures year natural and inspiring, I have divided my months up into seasons. So on the right you can see that I have a picture of our church in winter with snow lying all about. I have used a sharpie to write the season onto the photograph. on the back of this photograph I have written the Feast days and days of celebration that fall into this period.

Here are a few diary pages for the new year. I have added a bit of washi tape and a few bits and bobs but have not done too much decorating yet. I prefer to decorate my pages as I go so that I don’t over-decorate and then have no space to write down appointments. Not pictured here but is something I do weekly is insert a smaller page which I use as a running ‘To Do’ list. I find that the day diary spaces are a bit small to write appointments and all my ‘to do’s’ on. At the moment I am using this little spring themed freebie as that ‘To Do’ insert although I want to try and design one that is more seasonal – spring is still a little way away!

After the daily diary section is my ‘Expenses’ section. Now this is a great little freebie that I printed off from ‘My Life All In One Place’. It’s quite ingenious. It’s a little envelope, on the front is space for you to note down the date, on what you spent money on, and how much.

Obviously this is something that you would do when you got home, but you can slip all your little till slips into the envelope and reconcile once you have time to do so at home. This is helpful to keep a running tab on what you have in your bank account.

After the Finances section I have a ‘Notes’ section. I’m not entirely sure that I will keep this as a ‘notes’ section yet. I don’t know how much use I’ll get out of it, perhaps the notes will be replaced later on if I find an area that needs more of my attention. In the mean time I have designed my own personal sized note paper to fill this section. You can print them off here if you want.

Behind the Notes section is a ‘Planning’ section. Again, this is a section I’m not quite sure on how I will use. So far I am using it for shopping lists. But as one of my goals for 2015 is to be purposeful in marking and celebrating all the year holds for our family, I’m thinking that I might take down my monthly themes and plans pages that I shared here on the blog, update them for each month in 2015, scale them down and pop them into this section. I will only put the current months themes and plans into this section as well has some lined note pages to jot down any bakes, meals or crafts I want to do to mark these celebrations. If I have the whole year’s worth I think it will be to bulky.

My Filofax also has a pretty little charm that my daughter made for me. It is so cute, it has a Crucifix, an angle, star, pretty beads and a ‘made with love’ charm. It’s just a bit of pretty that makes me smile every time I pick up my planner.

So there we have it. This little raspberry treasure is what’s going to help me keep my days and months organised for 2015.

Visit my Filofax Pinterest Board for lots of great ideas…

Follow Shirley Ann’s board Filofax on Pinterest.