Back from Iceland! And back to Filofax! (Actually, FC!) (Updated: and back to Filofax!)

I got back yesterday from 2 1/2 weeks in Iceland! It was AWESOME. I'd been wanting to go for literally 20 years, and I was so happy to be there. It's amazing. But back to planners for now.

***Update is all the way at the bottom of the post before the Iceland photos**

I didn't bring any planners with me at all on my trip. I wanted to focus on my trip and not on planning.

Big mistake.

In the absence of all my daily tasks I'm normally constantly reacting to, my mind was free to wander and think about other things. And as usual on long trips, my husband and I talked about future plans, holidays, investment ideas, etc. Without my Filofax I had no place to write all our big plans. Every day I wished I had brought it with me on my trip.

I haven't used a Filofax as my planner in a long time, for various reasons. But I do keep my long-term and monthly recurring planning in it as well as long-term records and lists. I decided I need to use this all the time as my planner, not just as something I look at only once per month.

For awhile I had trouble with annually recurring things creeping up on me. Several months ago I came up with a brilliant (if I do say so myself) solution:

I use month on two pages grid calendars with the backs of the pages lined for notes, so I can splice pages between months without obscuring the month view. These are the Philofaxy free downloadable month with notes pages. I added month tabs (from PlannerPads.com).


For each month I have a blue page with things written on it that happen in that month every year. Birthdays, school breaks, holiday planning, even things like when the salmon are leaping at our local waterfall goes on the blue pages. Then I move them to next year's month when the month is over. This keeps me from having to reinvent the wheel every year.

After the blue page I have a yellow page of specific expenses for that month. This way big expenses don't take me by surprise. For example in June you can see my car is due for its annual inspection, and we have to pay our car insurance. You'll notice as foreigners having our UK driver's licenses for only one year we pay a hideous amount for insurance. But I digress.

Also between the months I put things specific to that month, like trip planning, birthday party plans, back-to-school checklists, etc. That way I can plan ahead (even far into the future) for these events, and the information is in front of me when I need it.

I have month on two pages with notes all the way through the end of 2015, then I have the Franklin Covey month planners for 2016 (which came with my 2015 weekly pages). These are printed back to back, so when the 2016 month pages with lined backs become available later next year I'll have to transfer everything over.


After those pages I have a blue page for each year for the next 20 years. This sounds ridiculous, but it's to keep track of when we are each due for things like vaccine boosters (since we've had vaccines in several different countries over the years, the doctor's office isn't aware of when we're due). I also have to keep track of when our passports and visas are due for renewal so we can do that well in advance because I can't afford for those to expire!

After that I have one year of the Franklin Covey weekly pages. I like the FC weekly pages best because the backs of the pages are lined, which is where I put my weekly to-do lists. This is the Blooms pattern.

 After my weekly pages I have my tabs as follows:

You'll notice my son decorated my divider a couple of years ago. :) In my tabs I keep info like household cleaning schedules, car maintenance records, financial info, etc.

By now you might be thinking, this is a heck of a lot of pages to put into a Filofax. And you are right. I was disappointed to discover I couldn't fit all these pages in any of my personal size Filos. But it all fits perfectly in my Franklin Covey Compact size binder (which I posted lots of details about here).

With all these pages it is a fatty-boo-batty. And it weighs 830 grams. But I feel so much better having my whole-life planning in one place!

Buuuut, (and there's always a but, right?) what about my Bullet Journal? I have determined via years of trial and error I must have a daily record book separate from my weekly planner. But on my trip I got really tired of carrying my large Moleskine in my gorgeous but heavy leather Oberon designs cover. So I had already planned to downsize my Bullet Journal. But what will I use? More on that in my next post.

***Update: after a few days of using my big and chunky FC, I realized I really did need to downsize it. I wasn't taking it anywhere with me, much to my detriment. So I took out some weekly pages, leaving only 6 months' worth in, and discovered to my delight the pages fit just fine in my personal Kendal Filofax. It weighs in at a totally reasonable 640 g. Hooray for portability!

And now, some photos of Iceland!