What I'm Using Update: Back to Filofax

I had a realization yesterday that I absolutely must have my Filofax on my person at all times. Never leave home without it.

Yesterday the school called to ask me to come get my daughter, because she was ill. I brought her home and took her temp, which was high. Just a month ago she had an extremely high fever caused by a major infection which got her 5 days of i.v. antibiotics, and I didn't want a repeat of that situation so straight to the SOS clinic we went. Luckily I grabbed my Filofax, which normally stays at home, before we left. I always need my Filofax in medical situations to reference information.

My husband came to meet us at the clinic and we spent a couple of tense hours there.  (She's ok but we are continuing to watch her, the doc is concerned about dengue fever which can come on gradually.)

I was glad I had my Filofax with me, and decided I needed to update it with everything we might need in any situation.  Later when everything calmed down, I talked to my husband about my Filofax idea. I said I would set it up with all our relevant medical info, vaccine information, medications (like the name of the i.v. antibiotics my daughter had during her infection last month), the F - C temp conversion chart I mentioned in my comment on Philofaxy, addresses and phone numbers, etc. He had a very good point, which he always does: "Long range planning--whatever. We need to have the information we need right now."  That settled it.

So now I've redone my tabs in my Filofax, added some info and taken out irrelevant things. I'll keep my Filofax in my bag at all times, no matter how bulky and heavy it is, so that we can go straight from the school to the doctor if we need to, or even grab our passports and jump on the plane if necessary.

I went back and forth over which of my Filofaxes to use. I decided to use one of my personal size Filofaxes so it could fit in my bag easily.  I thought of using my personal purple Finsbury or my Urban so that I wouldn't worry about getting it messy or scratched.

But then I thought, why rob myself of the opportunity to use my Deco on a daily basis? Yes I run the risk of marring its pristine beauty. But I like the idea of using it year after year and letting it age naturally. Deco and I can age together.

But using a personal size Filofax begs the question: what about those small planner pages? Those have always been my downfall with a personal Filo.

For now the planner page size is irrelevant. The Deco must go everywhere with me, without question, whether I'm using it as my planner too or not. But for now here is my solution:

I'm using the monthly and weekly pages in my Filofax the same way I used monthly and weekly pages in my self-made planner for the past couple of months. Those daily spaces were too small so for the past month I've been also using my pocket Moleskine daily planner to plan each day. This allows me to have plenty of room each day, and record details of my days.  And this system has the added benefit of allowing me to have my daily Mole and weekly Filo pages open alongside each other to see the daily details and weekly overview at once.

Whether I stick with this planner setup forever doesn't matter. What is now abundantly clear is that I can never be without my Filofax. After years of going back and forth, this decision brings me a lot of comfort. I've finally figured out one aspect, at least, of my planner needs. I don't know what planner I'll be using next month or next year, but I do know that I can't be without my Filofax.

But now my question is: should I use my Deco and a separate planner? Or should I use my big A5 Domino that can contain my planner plus everything else?

I've abandoned my A5 due to size before. Maybe I'll try carrying around each and see the difference.

I know! I'll do a poll!  Let me know what you think.