The Organizeaholic

Today I’m going to introduce you guys to my most recent experiment, my pocket Filofax Identity that serves as my weekend wallet. This planner was a “hand-me-down” from my mother (she never used it, and found it in a drawer; I adopted it), and initially I wasn’t sure how or what to use it for. Then, via the abyss which is Philofaxy and YouTube, I came across people using their pocket planners as wallets. My mother had thoughtfully included all her inserts (untouched, from 2004), which included a number of plastic sleeves and credit card holders that she had purchased alongside the planner. And so, an idea was born.

Now, I have a perfectly wonderful Fossil wallet that’s going on ten years and that I love to bits and pieces. But, after starting to get back into Filofaxing last year, I realized that I felt naked leaving home without my planner…but trying to stuff my full-sized Fossil wallet, coin purse with all my Euro coins, and personal sized planner into one small bag made for a sore shoulder and quite the endeavour anytime I tried to take something out or put something back in. Voila – the combined planner and wallet for those days when I want to use a smaller bag.

When you open up the planner, I have a few paperclips and another Filofax jot pad – this is great for writing down quick notes or to-dos that come up while I’m out that can quickly be transferred to my Malden when I get home. On the right is my dashboard, a few pages of information, and a world map. After my first divider is a monthly calendar. This is primarily for reference – I don’t currently have any information written down in it, though at some point I will get around to that so that I can efficiently check conflicts when I’m on the road. (Another thing for the to-do list…)

After my next divider I keep some blank paper for longer notes or lists that I need to make while out and about. Since the discovery of the Filofax jot pads, though, I haven’t been using this section very often. I’ve also recently discovered that the notebook I keep in the back pocket of my Malden is about the same size as my pocket planner, and sometimes I just slip this notebook in the back.

Next is the section for credit cards. I have three card holders here, for my ID, driver’s license, credit cards, and some business cards. Finally, the last divider has a plastic pouch for receipts, and my coin purse. I used to just place the coin purse in the binder and snap the whole thing shut, but I would always worry that the coin purse would fall out. So, I experimented: I took a plastic flyleaf from an unused personal binder, cut it down to size, and punched it. Then I superglued (creative, huh?) the coin purse to the plastic, just at the bottom. This means I can fold the coin purse up to more easily access my money and coins. And so far, it’s holding together.

Overall, I’m loving the system – so much so, indeed, that I’m looking into a new planner to house it. I’d like to try something with a back pocket to use for bills – thinking about a Filofax Finsbury or Van der Spek Touch Me Junior. Any thoughts?

Organizedly yours,

L.