DIYFish Review

Hey Everyone! 

Warning!! This may be a long post so you may want to get a cup of tea or coffee before you sit down to read this one! In today's post I am going to tell you about how I ended up choosing my inserts, and do a review of the two styles I tried! 

I recently decided to purchase a new Filofax and I realized I didn't have any calendar inserts to use. As some of you may know I was using inserts from Piaric last year. If you are thinking about purchasing from her I highly recommend those inserts! I have a full review of them which you can read here. I really loved my inserts, but at the time I planned to purchase new inserts this year, Piaric was closed for a week. In case you didn't know I'm a very impatient and somewhat indecisive person. So of course I couldn't wait to purchase inserts... which is silly considering my new Filofax hadn't even arrived yet!  I also figured maybe something new would help me find my planner peace. So I began to search etsy, blogs, and YouTube for Filofax insert reviews. 

The most popular reviews seemed to be about DYIFish on etsy. Everyone seems to be raving about her inserts. I watched a ton of videos and looked at every personal sized insert on her site. I finally narrowed it down to her DO2P (which you can find here) and her WO2P (which you can find here). I tried a sample of the DO2P (day on 2 page) and found I didn't need that much space so I bought the full year of the WO2P (week on 2 page). 

Personally I found the setup of the day on 2 page didn't work for my lifestyle. There was just too much space and I like seeing my week all at once (especially with University due dates and stuff).

As you will see in the photo below there is a section where you can write anything you want (above this there is a place to track your mood and the weather for that day). 

This is a great place to write a quote or something, but I found I wasn't making use of it. The only time I wrote there was if I had a test or assignment due for University. Most times it was wasted space. 

In the photo below you can see that there is a space provided to track water consumption or even coffee/tea consumption. I found this useful since I am really bad about drinking enough water and I am trying to track it! So I made use of this feature. Below the water tracker there is your to do section. Again this section was extremely useful and I made good use out of it! Next to the To Do section there is a long column, this is for tracking your appointments. This is excellent for someone who schedules a lot of meetings and appointments. However for me this was more wasted space. If I had a doctors appointment or a class I would write it in but it became very repetitive and useless to me. 

Lastly, you can see there is a full page for notes. I originally bought this insert because I thought I could make good use of this section, but again I found myself looking for things to write there. It always ended up being full of unimportant useless notes or it ended up blank. 

Because I didn't care for this setup doesn't mean I am saying it is no good! I think this setup is wonderful for someone who needs a lot of space to write and still wants to use a personal size planner! Personally, I think DIYFish is a genius for coming up with this concept! Its so creative and there is a style to meet almost everyones needs! Also keep in mind you can purchase trial sets which is how I tried this one. 

After trying this for a week and deciding it wasn't for me I choose to take a risk and just buy her LMI V3 S1 inserts. I am so thrilled that I made this choice because I have fallen in love. I don't think I am going to ever buy any other type of insert! 

I will show you some photos and go over how it is laid out, but I will not be showing how I use them at the moment (that will be for another post and I will also do one about how to cut and print them!). 

The LMI S1V3 comes with some extra pages that my trial version of the DO2P did not. With the V3 you receive a month view, along with a monthly chart, and some other space to track things. At first this seemed confusing to me but once I watched some videos and tried them myself it makes perfect sense. 

Below is the first page for the month. This folds out to show a monthly chart as seen in the second photo. 

The monthly chart can be used to track just about anything you would like. You just write in the item you'd like to track and shade in the box for the days you do (or don't) do the item. This can be personalized in many ways. You'll see in the next photo if you flip this over there is a monthly calendar and more tracking space.

Here you can see your monthly calendar and you have space to write anything you'd like, plus a space to track To Dos for the month that have no specific date. The nice thing about this set up is that if you fold this out no matter what week you are on you can still see your monthly calendar. This reduces the amount of page flipping you have to do. As you can see in the second photo the weekly pages do not cover your monthly calendar. 

This is what the pages look like spread out before you open the WO2P view.

This is what the pages look like spread out with the WO2P open. 

Last but not least, the weekly calendar. I love the set up of this because all your days, including weekends, are the same size plus you have a space for tracking weekly tasks. I love that this allows you to see everything you need for the month and week as well as track things that need to be done that week that have no specific date or time. 

To sum up everything I said in this post. I love DIYFish inserts and I think they are so creative and genius! Everyone should try out some version of them. Just keep in mind that you will have to print, cut, fold, and hole punch the inserts yourself (which is not too hard). DYIFish provides print instructions. I am also going to do a post about how I print them from my Mac. I should also mention the LMI V3 set have, I believe, four different style of WO2P however this is my favourite! 

Thank you all so much for reading, if you liked this post please share with a friend and follow for updates. I will be uploading every Sunday (as long as there are no technical issues). 

Stephanie xo

**Note: I am not sponsored by DIYFish. I bought all this with my own money and these are my honest opinions!** 

Update: New Filofax? New Inserts? Posting Schedule?

Hey Everyone! 

So I am back after a long break. I still have not found my planner peace... For a while I had stopped using my Filofaxes completely, and moved into a planner from my university. I didn't care for that either but I was just somewhere to keep all my assignment and test dates. I am back now and I think I may have found a solution! 

As of right now I am using my Orange personal Domino while I wait for my NEW (hint hint) Filofax to arrive! I'm not going to tell you which one I purchased! You'll have to stay tuned! I am very excited to receive this new Filofax and will do an unboxing and a post as soon as it arrives! 

I would really love some suggestions from you all about what types of posts you would like to see! However, as of now I am planning to do my unboxing (when the new Filofax arrives), a setup of my new Filofax, review of my new inserts and how I use them. I might also do a post about the dividers I made, and review the new Rapesco punch I purchased. 

I am hoping with my new Filofax and new very different inserts that I can make consistent posts and not leave you all hanging. I feel really bad about not posting in so long but once I stopped using my Filofaxes I just didn't have any content for my blog! 

My goal for 2015 is to post at least once a week and twice a week if I can! As soon as I figure out a posting schedule I will update you guys! 

Thank you so much for reading! If you like my blog please follow and share with a friend! 

Stephanie xo

**Update!!! Posting schedule will be every Sunday!**

Disappointed..

Hey everyone,

Its been a while since I last made a post. Sorry about that, but I found myself in a Filofax slump... I have been trying to love my Malden, but I just can't seem to bond with it. Because of this I have kind of stopped using it. On the bright side I have ordered a personal Raspberry Finsbury, which I am excited to receive! I will have more post coming up soon! I will also make a post about why I did not like the Malden!

As always thank you for reading!

Stephanie xo

Color Coding... My Favorite Pens!

Hello Everyone!!

Like most people who use a Filofax I love to colour code! I can sometimes go overboard with it so I have limited myself to just a few colours (this saves having a long list of colours to memorize and saves space in my planner!!). 

When I first got a Filofax I used the bic fashion pen that a lot of people rave about. Its a great pen and is really handy for saving space, however I just cannot write neat with them! The barrel of those pens are too big for me... So I decided to try Le Pens (there is also a recollections brand (I think thats the brand) at Michael's that is basically the same). These pens are great because they come in a wide range of colours and are really slim so they don't take up much space. 

Warning:  if you are a person who hates bleed through and are using the Filofax inserts these pens are not for you! I learned this the hard way!! I have inserts from Piaric which are amazing. You can click Here to read my review of these inserts. Piaric inserts are on a thicker paper than the Filofax brand and with Le Pens there is literally no bleed through. 

I love that these pens have a fine tip, are thin so they fix in basically all pen loops. and have large selection of colours. If however, you don't like how thin these are, how fine they write, or just don't have them available near you a nice alternative is the Papermate Flair pens! These pens have a thicker tip and write really nice as well! 

As always thank you for reading. If you like this post please follow and share with friends! Also feel free to share your favourite pens below. I would love to know what you guys use! 

Stephanie xo

How I Use: Sticky Tags or Page Flags

Hey everyone. 

As you can tell from the title I am going to be telling you about how I use my pages flags in my Filofax. For me I have two different types of page flags I use. The post it brand that look like an arrow and a cheap pack from the dollar store (both shown below). 

Both of these page flags have a different use in my Filofax. The post it brand is used to actually mark pages like it is designed to do. I use these for this purpose because they have an arrow shape to bring my attention to certain things. I really dislike using the dollar store brand for this for the simple fact that they are just solid colours. 

I felt like the dollar store flags were being wasted and I had bought quiet a few packs, so I came up with a new way to use them. I designated certain colours to certain things (for example: red = exams). I then write things on them, such as an exam date, and stick them on the correct date in my weekly inserts. 

I find this useful for many reasons. I am a little OCD when it comes to my pages looking tidy. So I cannot stand scratching things out or crossing them off! So since an assignment due date or a doctors appointment can change I write them on these and stick them to the day. If for some reason the date is change I can just peel it off and move it to another date. 

Not only does this make moving things a lot simpler, but it also looks cute. 

This method is also great for tasks that you want to complete but may not get done on a particular day. You could write them on these and move them throughout your pages until they get completed! 

As always thanks for reading! If you liked this post please follow and share with friends! Hope this tip helped someone. Feel free to leave your own tips in the comments below I love having new ideas to try out! 

Stephanie xo

Buying Experience: My Personal Ochre Malden

Hey everyone! 

Today I am going to do a review of my new personal Ochre Malden. I had wanted a Malden for a long while and could never find one within my budget as they were all sold out in Canada/US and the only place I could find them were in the UK. Ordering from the UK or buying from a UK seller would have cost a lot more than I wanted to spend. So eventually I found one on the FaceBook page Filofaxes and Pens for Sale. The seller was in Canada and the price was only two dollars more then I would have paid on the Filofax US site with shipping! So of course I bought it immediately. 

When my Malden first arrived I was extremely disappointed in how it was packaged! It was literally wrapped in a brown paper bag no stuffing or padding and I immediately thought "this planner is going to be severely damaged". But to my surprise it was in excellent condition (as in not scratched or dented/broken rings, etc.)! Then when I picked it up it was extremely dry and starting to crack in places. I was not at all happy with the leather or the smell... It was really disappointing. 

I brought it home did some research online and got the idea to use a leather condition (the one that came with my leather sofa) on my Malden. I used that and noticed a significant difference in the feel and smell, but it was still kind of dry. So on the spots that were still dry I tried a small amount of Nivea hand cream. I didn't put it directly on the planner (terrified I would ruin it) but I put a small amount on my hands and lightly rubbed it in leaving my hands with that "greasy" feeling. I then took my Malden and rubbed my hands on the dry spots in circular motions. I let my Malden sit over night and the next morning the difference in the leather was amazing. 

I am now completely in love with this planner and can't imagine not having it! I am going to be doing a review of this planner soon so stay tuned for that! When buying a Filofax I recommend you be extra careful! If you are going to buy from a seller like I did I would recommend asking about how they are going to package it, or if they can put in padding and something to protect the rings. 

As always thanks for reading! If you liked this post follow and share with friends! Leave your experiences with buying used planners online below!! My post next week will be about how I use my page flags/sticky tags in my diary pages. 

Stephanie xo

Exciting News

Hey Everyone! 

Sorry for being gone so long. I have just finished finals at Uni and was just too busy with that to post! I am on summer break now for a few weeks so hopefully I can get more posts out to you! Last blog post was talking about my new original that I had to send back for repairs... well that didn't happen! Instead I decided to get a refund. I had found a beautiful planner on the FaceBook page: Filofaxes and Pens for Sale. 

I have been wanting a Malden since I first discovered Filofax on YouTube, and finally two years later I got my hands on one for a really good price. I am completely in love with this planner and think I have found my long term Filofax! I cannot imagine myself moving out of this planner anytime in the near future! My Malden arrived yesterday August 14th and it is a personal sized in the colour ochre. 

When I first unwrapped the packaging I was slightly disappointed because as I picked up the planner the leather felt really dry and look really cracked. It didn't smell much like leather, it smelled like it had come from someone else's home (which of course it did). So my first reaction was I wasted my money... But then I started thinking there has to be some way to fix this. So I got online and searched for ways to condition leather. I came across one YouTube video and the woman said she used a shoe and a car leather conditioner. So I dug out the conditioning cloths for my leather couch. Tested it on the inside of the closure strap. It didn't cause any discolouration so I used the two step wipes all over the Malden and since I have done that I cannot believe the difference in how it feels! My Malden now feels and smells exactly how I had imagined it would. So there is a little tip for anyone who gets a Malden and is disappointed with how it feels! 

Below I am going to insert some photos, I can do a setup if anyone really wants to see it but basically it is just the same as my domino setup. 

Note: In the photos the picture of the front is the most accurate representation of the colour out of the three photos. 

As always thank you so much for reading. If you have any questions, comments, or requests please leave them in the comments. If you enjoyed this post please follow and share it with friends! I'll talk to you all next time! 

Stephanie xo