Archiving Planner Pages

It's that time of year again when a lot of us are starting a new planner, and if you use a ring-bound planner system, it can be a challenge to figure out what to do with the old pages.  Personally, I like to keep mine.   Not only do they serve as a record of my life, I like to leaf through them every once in a while, and sometimes I need to refer back to something in an old planner.   Here's how I manage to archive my pages:

Storing the Pages

Since starting with Filofax in 2012, I've been creating an archive book using binder rings.  I create new dividers that mirror whatever sections I had in my planner that year and add the pages to the appropriate section. It makes it easy to flip through them, while still keeping everything together. Plus it's fun to see all of your pages and memorabilia together in one chunky book at the end of the year.

Referring back

I keep a running list of important dates throughout the year, and I also keep a contents page of all of my notes.  Then at the end of the year, I type this into Evernote.  This makes it easy to search for a note or important event later if I need to.  If it's something I know I'll refer to often, I'll either type up the note, or take a picture of it and store it in Evernote.

Do you archive your planner pages?  If so I'd love to hear about your archive system!

Filofax Finds

I just wanted to share some great finds that I came across while setting up my new A5 Ochre Malden as my work Filofax.

Rhodia Meeting Book (6.5" X 8.25") - $14.99 at The Container Store (you can also buy at Amazon)
These pages are A5 and fit perfectly in the Filofax.  The pages are perforated and just need to be torn out and hole punched.

Girl of All Work Tabs - $3.49 at The Container Store.  I bought two sets so I could have a tab for the front and back of the divider.

Keeping it Together Notebook - $6.99 at Target
The cover of this notebook has a pocket that will fit smaller paper, stickers, or 8.5 x 11 paper folded into thirds.  The back has a secretarial pocket.  I got a few of these and took the cover off, cut it, punched it, and fit it into my Filofax.   I got a few of these in different colors.

We R Memory Keepers Crop-a-Dial Eyelet and Snap Punch - ~$20.00 - $30.00 online
I've had this punch for scrapbooking for a while, but I found that it easily punches through plastic and thicker cardboard.  The hole is the exact size of the Filofax holes (3/16")

Simple Stories - Sn@p Collection - Memorabilia Pockets - $4.99 at Hobby Lobby (also available at Michael's)

The biggest memorabilia pocket actually fits 8.5 x 11 paper folded in half!  I had to punch this with my crop-a-dial because it was too thick for the regular punch.

Miquerlrius Medium Notebook - $6.95 at Barnes & Noble (also available at Target)
These pages also fit perfectly in the A5.  I love that the edges are colored, so you can easily separate your notes by subject.

Since the holes didn't exactly line up, I covered them with some homemade hole reinforcements.

6-Hole Paper Punch - ~$42.00 including shipping from Rakuten
I love this punch.  It adjusts so you can punch holes for all Filofax sizes from Mini to A5.  The hole size is the same as the filofax hole size, and it punches multiple sheets at once.  I highly recommend it!

Have you found anything interesting for your Filofax lately?

Mind Mapping Your Planner Setup

When I'm trying to set up a new planner, or i just have lots of ideas for changing my current setup, I find it best to get all those thoughts running around in my head out onto paper. I really like using a mind map for this. I just draw a bubble of the main idea in the middle of the page and let the ideas flow. Usually categories of ideas will present themselves, and these end up being my new sections or tabs in my planner. From there I can also get a sense of what types of paper or accessories I'll need, and even the size of binder that would work best. If there are just too many categories, or one category that has a lot of ideas or subcategories, I know I'll need to break this out into a separate binder (yeah, a reason I need another Filofax!).


Here are some examples of Filofax setup Mind Maps I've done in the past.

  

This same concept works well for project planning too!


Have you ever used Mind Mapping to set up a new planner or binder?