I have been constantly complaining about my unsettled set-up.
My past post was about how overwhelmed I am feeling by my enthusiasm; I have so many ideas and potential uses for my Filofaxes but can’t seem to finish or use at least one to its full potential.
Ok, backing up a bit.
There is actually…. one!
ONE of them that has been performing better than the rest.
So here I am today to talk about it.
And that one is…..
✨The lovely Pocket Finsbury Antique Rose✨
Pretty handsome, huh? 🤩
Interestlying enough thou, this one was not like my other ones that were avidly researched and adored thru online pictures and reviews for weeks. No! That one was an impulse purchase!
He popped into my life right after I scored a bargain on Ebay!
Did you notice the “right after”? Expedited shipping? I wish!
After a few days of my Ebay purchase I painfully realized that I was about to start a new year without that juicy Filofax bargain that I had just scored.
My two small but crucial points to get to that conclusion were:
1- I got the bargain from Ebay (where else?)…… but it was Ebay from UK! (I’m in US)
2- I got it two weeks before Christmas. 😁
Could I had picked a worse time to wait around for a Filofax? 🤦🏻♀️ oh! The torture!
Anyways, continuing with my guilty-as-charged-justification of that handsome impulse purchase.
My Domino was supposed to be the main organizer but I needed something on-the-go. And that HAD to have a money slot across, ‘member? Me and my silly reasoning on getting a Filofax with a cash slot. 🙄#ExcusesExcuses
{And I learned pretty quickly that I don’t use cash at all, never have any with me and my debit card is the man to go for the tough job!}
😍 So it was a non-planned planner affair. 💖
I “needed” to start the year with a wallet/ calendar that I could stuff all the humongous amount of dollar bills I carry around everyday. {#not} I then decided to go to one of the few stores that sell Filofaxes where I live and buy one right there on the spot. Fearlessly just like that! 😃
And here we are Fins + I unexpectedly working well together all those months. 💕
After two months of Filofax drulling-ordering-reselling-and-keeping-some, my handsome Fins has been hanging in there with me through all the process; watching carefully and helping me keep the Filo team together by choosing the ones we had affinity with and letting go of the ones we didn’t bond well.
So, Fins has been a great companion and quietly settled down and developed its own way of living. {Personality!} Nothing could be more fair than to present the set-up that we both feel comfortable using.
It is far from complete, I warn you!
{And there are a lot of pics on this post, I should warn you about that too!}

Doesn’t he look cute in that corner all pensive? ?
It is a real “on-the-go” planner. Very easy to carry around.
The BEST part of it is a very unexpected one.
See him inside my purse?
My debit card is right there on the top slot. I NEVER have to take the whole binder out to get the card. It just slides in-and-out with no fuss. 👏🏼

How convenient is that?
Ok, now the set-up which is pretty straight forward:

Can’t get any simpler than that, really!

ID, Debit Card and Starbucks card. All the important stuff up front! 🌟

✅To-Dos
Under the “To-Do” tab I also have a shopping list separated by the stores I visit more frequently. Those are usually not urgent tasks so if I happen to be around those stores I check to see if that is something still pending.

Yeah, barely see the tabs. Somehow I manage to guess the right page. 😁
Then comes appointments & reminders

Appointments and Reminders in a two week per view
Then, the daily stuff.
Left side I try to break down activities for the day. On the right side on top, general to-dos, at the bottom left, school to-dos and bottom right emails and such. In the middle I keep my food log and respective points.

Daily Stuff
BTW if you noticed I had trimmed down a month worth of Flavia Day-Timer personal size inserts to fit Fins.
Very annoying task, but I didn’t want to NOT use them. If you see in the second picture at the beginning, the transparent pocket has the bottom part of the Flavia inserts that I trimmed down. Those are cute scrap papers.
Did you notice all that under the “to-do” tab? Well, not really, I just use the ruler to find the day I am in. I didn’t see a need to have a “calendar” tab with the rulers.
After that comes the “notes” tab which i just realized now that I don’t have a picture of the pages. Nothing surprising thou, just colored paper and random thoughts written down.
Next section is “WW” which stands for WeightWatchers.
I used to track my food intake using jot pads sheets but didn’t work that well. The wholes are very big and the pages kept moving around a lot. It looked and felt very messy.

Previous log food system 🥘
Then, still under “WW” tab there is the month view. I track the total daily points, weekly weight in (no, it won’t go public yet!) and exercise for the week. I use color-coded circles to identify what exercise I did for day; Cardio, Yoga or PT.
Than comes the tab “Class”. So, am I that great of student, huh? One single tab with a few pocket size sheets is all I need for my classes! hehe certainly not. I use the Circa Levenger system for all my classes which I am hoping to write a post about it at some point. That single tab there is exactly for those moments when I don’t have my circa notebooks with me and remember something pertinent to school. So questions and random thoughts about class subjects:
The last part of it are the card slots and the back pocket.
Can you see my coins in there? That’s all the cash I usually carry. Just to make it more “walletish”. 😎
Oh, and here they are! The oh-so-crucial bills slot. Full of receipts from my debit card swipes! 😀

So….
All is well, right? Nah.
It’s working after all, right? Nah.
I can’t settle with an “ok” layout {shocking news!} so I need to experiment again.
Considering this is the best set-up I had so far and that I may want to come back to it later – just in case – I decided to use this post as a way to keep a record with pictures and *ahem* a “few” words.
It is a very straight forward set-up as you saw but I still needed to “save” it somehow.
In the upcoming weeks I will be pulling apart the set-up to try to find my path in some other way……
Fins is going to relax some and a different Filofax will come in place……
✨✨✨ Keep tuned to Filofax Swap 2 – The Attempt! ✨✨✨
Wow, I am really only able to use one filofax at a time. Don’t know how you use several! Looks like the pocket fins is working really well for you! Interestingly I find myself using primarily cash these days, easier for me to manage my budget that way!
That’s my struggle! Too many Filofaxes, can’t settle with one!
Thanks for posting this, I can relate, of course! I am somewhat overwhelmed having recently transitioned from not enough to too many FFs. I really like how you cut the Flavias to fit! At first I thought, “Where the heck did she find THOSE, they look so familiar, and yet…”Very creative. Keep us posted!
I knew someone would recognize those inserts! hehe
I was looking at the Flavia pages and it looks like the holes don’t match up (comparing the DayTimer Portable size, where there’s a big solid space between the top three holes and the bottom three holes, just as with the Filofax Personal size pages)… assuming you used the DayTimer Portable size, did you punch a hole midway between the pre-punched third and fourth holes??? Thanks!!
Wait a minute… looks like you had to punch TWO holes.. Clever, time-consuming, and, I expect, it HAD to be done!! I know how you feel.It’s very pretty.
Hi Nancy! I actually have one of those Rapesco adjustable whole punches. I set it to pocket size and whole punched it, very very easy!
Oh, doh! Clever. I don’t think I would have thought of punching over pre-existing hole. :-} I have an adjustable punch, too, although it’s not Rapesco, it’s something else. Does personal and A5 sizes… ohmigosh. I just fiddled with it right now and realized it does pocket size too!!!! I feel so silly for not realizing that before, and lucky to have just found out. Thanks!!
Thanks for sharing your setup & I think the antique rose is a really interesting colour. I am LOVING my A5 Malden, but still have some way to go to get it set up properly. Can’t wait to see what you get up to with the new Domino snake 🙂
I was looking for a mini with a bill slot too at the end of last year, sometimes I regret not getting one – especially when I see posts like this! Fabulous!Tracy
If you need a pocket with a bill slot let me know! I loooove my Belmont and the feel of it but am seriously thinking of finding a better home for it; a home that will actually make a good use of it and not confine it to a shelf 😉
Followed you over from philofaxy! Love this Filofax, it’s so cute! I may go to pocket sized… Some day! I just can’t make up my mind! The pockets are so cute and easy to pull out of your purse, but not all of my stuff fits in it. What to do, what to do? 😀
Great Posting. How did you make the Section half circles with Todo, Notes, WW, Class?
Hi Aretha, the tabs actually came in that shape. Those are the ones I got: https://tinyurl.com/bcqlhsx
Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
I bought this one today! I knew I had seen it on a filofax blog but I’m on total overload from researching before I bought anything. LOL