What I'm Currently Using update: The one where I go back on everything I said before.

This week I've been going back and forth a lot between planners to figure out what I need. It's been a long journey in just 3 days!

At the beginning of the week, I was using my Moleskine Monthly Notebook and my Moleskine Daily Pocket diary. The daily pocket is the one consistent thing in my planner world. It is my rock. All my daily details go into it. And because it contains permanent records of every day, that gives me more freedom to flit around with my other formats.

You might remember last week (was it only just last week?) I tried to incorporate my Moleskine Bakin weekly planner into the mix so that I could see a week view. This format didn't work well for me, and having to fill things in every day in daily, weekly and monthly formats quickly broke down. So at that point I went back to using my Monthly for planning and my Daily for recording.

This week I decided I really do need a weekly format for planning. The more I used my Monthly for planning, the harder it got. As the page filled up, it was harder to see what was going on. Too many details in a monthly calendar just didn't work for me.

So instead I'm now using my Monthly Notebook as my Goals book.  Which, to be honest, was how I had originally intended to use it. After I got it I decided to try this experiment of using it as my planner, along with my daily diary.  I wasn't entirely surprised to find out I really do need a weekly view for planning, since I've been planning with weekly views forever.

So now my Monthly Notebook Goals Book has my monthly goals on the page behind each month, and my mid-month and monthly reviews on the page opposite. I'll write my weekly reviews in the numerous lined pages at the back of the book, one page per week. Monthly goals + monthly and weekly reviews in a bound, archival book = Huge Win!

That's all well and good, you say, but what the heck planner am I using now?  Good question. Onward to the Weekly Planners:

I busted out my Moleskine weekly notebook in the Large size that I had hanging around "just in case" (not XL that I deemed too big last year) because it's a format that generally works well for me.  On the weekly pages I filled in all of my scheduled events for February. Immediately I appreciated having an entire page each week for all of my categorized weekly lists: Urgent, To Call/ Email, Household, Personal etc. Then off I went on my day.

I had a busy day out and about with meetings, activities and other things to do. We all know my bag is heavy, but carrying my Filofax, daily Moleskine, and 18 month weekly notebook all at once seemed excessive.  Not to mention, there were seven unused months' worth of pages in the weekly notebook. Wouldn't it make a lot more sense to put only the weekly pages I need into the Filofax that I carry everywhere anyway?  Well, yes. Yes it would.

***If you are still reading at this point, thank you!  Hang in there, we're almost there and you're in for a pleasant surprise too!

So I put the Cotton Cream week on 2 pages that came with my Aston Filofax into my Aqua Finsbury Medical Filofax.  This Filofax had gotten to the point where I only opened it when some unpleasant medical thing was happening, and I was starting to get bad associations with using it despite it being a beautiful and very nice Filofax. I had to nip that in the bud and make friends with my Filofax again.

So I loaded up the weekly pages, and freshened up the whole thing--I took out unused pages, archived old notes, revived my Me section and updated my Lists.

Anyone who has been reading this blog awhile knows how many times I've tried and failed to use the personal size weekly pages. The day spaces are Just Too Small. Except now, I only need them for an overview of scheduled events, and for meal planning. All the daily tasks, phone calls, and other details go into my daily Moleskine. (My question to myself: why didn't I figure this out sooner??)  I write Urgent tasks and reminders for each particular week in the This Week space above each Monday. Non-urgent and ongoing tasks go behind my Lists tab for easy access.  I'm feeling really good about this!

Cotton Cream week on 2 pages in my Aston Orchid

And just to take it a step further, I decided for a real change of pace to move over into my new Aston Orchid. I had intended to wait until we move before using it, but I decided I'm tired of waiting for things and this is something I can enjoy right now.

I did a direct transfer of all the contents right out of the Aqua Finsbury and directly into the Aston Orchid. Boom. Done.

And to round out the newness of it all, I even bought a new pen to go with my new Filofax: a Zebra Sarasa Clip that was an impulse purchase at the bookstore.  It's joyful, and I highly recommend it to all you pen lovers out there.

So to recap: I said I can't use Filofax weekly inserts because the day spaces are too small and they are not archival. (Problem solved by using my daily Moleskine for this.)  I said I would wait until moving to use my Aston, and start fresh will all-new pages.  (I want to enjoy using it now.)

And the result?

It feels really good to use my Filofax once more as my Trusted Adviser and Comfortable Companion. I've missed that.

Aston Filofax in Orchid, with new pen and my phone. I think the colors of the phone, Orchid and Cotton Cream look nice together!

So now I think I've got a really good system going. My daily Moleskine holds the permanent records of all my daily details. My Filofax has my weekly overviews and all the other stuff I need every day. Only two small-ish books to carry around each day. I think I've got all the bases covered!

Will it work for me long-term?  Only time will tell!