Filofax

What I write and keep in my Filofax :)

Today I’d like to show you what I write & keep in my Filofax.  I guess mine isn’t special compared to other people’s organisers, but it’s always nice to peek into someone else’s organiser, isn’t it!?

Here is my pocked sized Malden, and this is the only organiser I use.  I used to write things on different places like a wall calendar, notebooks, a spare organiser, etc., but it never really worked for me as I need everything in ONE place.  So here is my organiser, and it contains everything I need!

These are my tabs- there are 19 of them!

Most of the letters on the tabs are written in Japanese, so here is the translation.

There are many sections for my online business and freelance translation.  It’s boring to go through those sections so I’d like to show you other sections.  Oh, and I wrote about my registration number cover HERE in the past.

Let’s start with the section for passwords.  I wasn’t sure if I should write all my passwords on my Filofax for security reasons, but I often need these passwords when I’m away from home, so I decided to write them in a coded way so no one can understand them 😉 Then I printed a website logo alongside each password so I can find a password quickly.

I flick through these pages very often, so I laminated them.

And here is a section for sticky notes.  I wrote about it HERE so I skip this section for now.

And here is the monthly calendar for this month.  I usually write all my plans and to-do’s on week-on-two-pages, and I write things which are already finished on the monthly calendar for the future reference as it’s easier to look over the entire month.

I use stickers and my beloved multi8 to make the pages colourful 🙂 (I wrote about this sticker file HERE, and my multi8 review is HERE)

I write all the addresses on my Filofax as I never really liked the digital address book on any of my mobile phones and my current smart phone.

And this is a section for all the gifts sent & received.  I refer to these pages before buying gifts as I often forget what I gave and what was given!

This is a section for the opening times of the shops in my neighbourhood.

And this is a section for my wishlist.

By the way, this stamp I made has been really useful.

You can see more about my stamps HERE.

And I have a railway map in the section “Other”.

I used to have a British map and a Japanese railway map in this section, but I took them out recently as I don’t look at them much.

I only keep these in the pockets as I don’t like my organiser to be bulging.

Phew!  That was a long post!!  Thank you very much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it 😉

Sachiko

50 thoughts on “What I write and keep in my Filofax :)”

  1. I love looking at your cute adorable FF!! Your blog is one of my top that I love to read. The dividers are so neat and tidy and your pages are just the same! I have experienced with making some stamps before and love your little square stamp and just might take that idea and make me one!
    I really like your password pages too, nice idea with the symbols! My gosh I can’t wait until my laminator arrives = 0)

    1. Hi Suzee, I’m really happy to hear that you like my blog, thank you! I hope you’ll put up some photos once you laminate your dividers- love to see them 🙂 You used to make stamps as well? I can’t make stamps so often as it kills my eyes (’cause all my stamps are tiny!), but I love carving and I’m actually thinking of making some new stamps for Christmas cards 🙂

      1. Well I have tried to make stamps!! haha. I made a little mushroom from the end of a pencil eraser! I hoping to handle the little squares like yours lol I have alot of the tools to make them with so hopefully with practice!!! I will let you know when I get my dividers finished .. thanks = 0)

  2. Love your planner. So organized. I never thought about making my own stamp. As soon as I have a chance I’m going to take a look at that article. I have tons of rubber stamps that I’ve purchased. They’re a lot of fun.

    Just getting started with my own Filofax (switching from Franklin Covey). Haven’t had a chance to do any organizing yet – just using the calendar so far. Got some ideas from your post.

    1. Thank you for your comment, and I ‘m happy to hear that you got some ideas from my post- enjoy organizing your new Filofax! I thought it would be a lot easier to make stamps, but it’s actually quite tricky and I still struggle a lot lol!

  3. love this post. the password section is a great idea becuase i always forget mine as well. I guess one of the reason why people are so in love with filofax is because it’s so versatile, you can put anything into it and have them all organised rather than laying pieces of papers here and there which you can never find later.

    1. I totally agree with you, cathy! Filofax has been a great tool for me to organize my life, and it’s also really fun to see how other people are using theirs in their own way. I’m glad you like my password section as well, thank you!

  4. Wonderful post! I’ve been looking everywhere for a stencil template for tiny shapes (like the one in your last photo). Do you have any ideas where something like this could be purchased? Thanks!!

    1. Thank you for your comment, Robin! I got my stencil template from the Hobonichi Techo online store. Unfortunately the website is only available in Japanese, but I found the “Order Instruction” in English for foreign customers:

      http://www.1101.com/store/help/099.html

      They ship to most countries, but the P&P could be expensive  You can see the templates they sell right now here:

      http://www.1101.com/store/techo/2013/toolstoys/

      It takes a while to load all of the items- click つぎを読み込む at the bottom if it doesn’t load 😉

  5. Sachiko, I do love the way your filo is organised, given me ideas, but tell me your page with passwords on and the one for local shops, did you make those pages yourself, as I like that you have enough room to write and and put in an image of the website etc
    Also I love your paintings, if I could visit anywhere in the world it would be Japan not just to see the new but to visit the old too from the Art and temples, gardens, oh I would just love to see it all
    June

    1. Yes, I made those pages myself, June 🙂 It was such a hassle to find all the logos on the internet and copy & paste them, though lol!

      Oh, thank you, I’m very happy to know that you like my paintings. I think Kyoto is a great place to visit if you’d like to see beautiful temples, shrines, gardens and all sorts of traditional shops/buildings 🙂 I also love Asakusa, Tokyo as there are so many traditional shops/building, Sensoji Temple, Asakusa Shrine, so I go there to take lots of photos for my paintings 😉

  6. Also i want to ask you if you find the stencile template useful? It seems those squares are perfect for drawing up tickbox for to-dos in filofax, but i see you only use ur rubber stamps for tick box. What do you mostly use the templatw for?

    1. Hi Cathy! I used to LOVE my stencil template, it just that I started making stamps so I don’t use it much anymore. I really like this stencil plate because all the symbols are really small as it’s made for the Japanese Hobonichi planners. Yes, the squares are for the tick boxes and I used to use them a lot as well. As you mentioned my stencil plate I actually want to start using it more often again lol!!

  7. I LOVE your set up! Especially the printing of the logos and the corresponding info. I’m working on some page designs myself and your post has gotten me even more excited to get them finished.

    Thanks for sharing your awesome set up!

  8. Thanks for your blog – really interesting! I just ordered one of those multi8 pencils!
    Also the idea for the stamp with the 3 boxes is brilliant.
    Thank You!

  9. I’m seriously in love with your planner. I just got a Pocket Finsbury yesterday and I’ve been looking through blogs and I really like how yours is set up! I love all of your tabs. I’m surprised that 19 tabs can fit in a Pocket! 😀

    1. Hi Linda! I’m so glad you could find my blog, and thank you for leaving a comment. So you have a Pocket Finsbury as well!! That’s my favourite binder 🙂 Making all the dividers with tabs was such a hassle (lol), but it was worth it as things became a lot easier after dividing all the pages into the right sections!

  10. You know how much I love all your stuff, and what a fun post! I just want you to make, write in and organise my planner I think 😀 Everything – the layout, tabs, sections, colours, writing (Japanese just looks so delicate and pretty!) – it’s brilliant! I really wish I could manage to emulate you in keeping everything so organised in one place like this as well!

    1. OMG, I’m totally flattered! I’m so glad you liked the post 🙂 There are still many parts I want to change in my Filofax, and I can’t wait to do more organising soon!

    1. Hi! Thank you very much for your comment 🙂 I really wish I could post a tutorial, however I have been really really busy with my shop and I just don’t have enough time, I am so sorry 😦 I didn’t do anything special to create those password pages- I looked for all the logos on the internet, and copy & pasted them using Adobe Photoshop! x

  11. I just found your blog. Your amazing! I love seeing your Filofax& everything you’ve done to make it so pretty. You are an inspiration . Thank you for sharing.

    1. Thank you so much for your kind comment and for finding my blog!! 🙂 And thank you for saying that my blog post gave you some inspirations!! 😉 xx

  12. Thanks so much for the great idea. I will be featuring this post on my blog on 6/11/14, with links coming back to you. I love your idea of storing passwords and I have such a hard time keeping up with mine that I wanted to share the information with my blog readers.

    1. Hello! Thank you very much for your kind comment & letting me know that you would be featuring my post on your blog!! 🙂 I just visited your blog and was so happy to see my password pages there, thank you so much!! And you have a lovely blog! 😉 ❤

  13. Great post. I have a question though I laminated some stuff at work and the system they used is considered “cold” but it is really sticky when I trimmed up the markers. I also found that the pages feel kind of oily and not much really stick to them. I would rather buy my own but I am at a loss of what system I should get. Do you have any suggestions?

    1. Hello! Thank you for your comment! I’ve heard of a “cold” laminator, but I’ve never used it- mine is a hot laminator. It’s my 3rd one, and I’ve always used hot laminators but never had a problem like that 🙂 Mine is this one↓ but I used to use a cheaper one in the past and it wasn’t too bad 😉

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leitz-iLAM-Easy-A4-Laminator/dp/B0058T885C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1402516227&sr=8-1&keywords=Leitz+iLam+easy+A4+Laminator

      Hope that helps! x

  14. Hello, I came across your blog a while back when I searched a solution about my wallet. I know not really the theme here. But Still. I find the personal Size perfect when you use it as a Wallet, and if you add here and there some stuff, like shopping list, notes … but like you said, it’s on the heavy side… I can’t seem to find the right one. I’m intrigued by your password pages. That’s something I’m interested in. And especially in that sentence “I often need these passwords when I’m away from home, so I decided to write them in a coded way so no one can understand them” – I need them too, but I can’t keep all of them anymore in my head, I have personal, websites, Professional, I have over 250 sites with login and password….
    I’m intrigued in your “write them in a coded way so no one can understand them” – can you give me/us an example, because I’m driving a blank here … I would be eternally thankful.
    Sam

    1. Hi Sam! Thank you for your comment 🙂 As for my password pages, I wrote “a coded way”, but it’s not really a coded way to be honest…lol!! I just write all the information in a mixture of English & Japanese, and also I don’t write the whole password, I write like 123**6*, etc. For example, if my password is 53789, I can tell that it’s 53789 if I see 5**89 or 5*7*9, etc. I just need a hint, you know? I guess it’s not the best way of doing it, but it works for me! 😉

      I’ve started using the Personal size Filofax, but I find it too heavy to carry around in my handbag 😦 I’m interested in the Compact size, but I also miss my Pocket size Filofax. I can’t seem to find the right one, either!!

  15. Hey,
    Thanks for the fast reply, don’t I know the feeling. Today I spent 190 € = 258.58 $ for a compact Holborn, a Compact Boston in Sales and a slim Flex one 😀
    And you are right, the Personal size is really too heavy, I have the Cuban at home, it’s a great one, really, but It’s kinda heavy and the Saffiano Compact, isn’t enough … guh we are never happy… thanks for the tip about the passwords, I’ll have to try something out on my side 😀

    Thanks

  16. I love how neat, organised and colourful your Filofax is! I have been looking for filo tabs (side and top) in language other than English – did you make yours in Japanese yourself or ordered them? Also, would you mind giving us a small peek as to how you made your inserts? I love love love them!!

    1. Thank you very much!! 🙂 I made those dividers in the photos- I’m selling my handmade dividers (with side & top tabs) on Etsy, and I can type words in a different language other than English. If you are interested here is the link to my shop!:

      https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CuteOrganizing

      Do you mean you’d like to see how my dividers are printed, cut and laminated? I create all my items on Photoshop, then I just print them on card (I use glossy photo paper), cut them out and laminate them 🙂 I might be able to put up some photos to show you the steps when I have more spare time! 😉

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