GLOSSette here!!! If you are obsessed with agendas like I am you probably have heard of Filofax, their blog, and most likely own at least one Filofax. I for one thing have never owned a Filofax. BOOOOOOOO! I mean its sad. I love their organizers especially the Finsbury A5 in raspberry (left) and Chameleon Personal in raspberry (right). They have very nice quality leather and finishes along with great pockets in the front and back for storage of cards, sticky notes, and what have you.
Here are my TOP 4 reasons why I chose not to purchase a Filofax!
1. TOO $$$$$$$! The binders itself cost too much. Even though they are amazing leather quality it is out of my price range. Maybe if I was richer or willing to spill out my dough….maybe one day!
2. WRONG SIZES! I used to use a Franklin Covey agenda similar to Filofax personal size but I found it a tad too small. The sheets had not enough room for me to write in. Also was hard for me to insert my own sheets since it did not follow standard printer paper sizing. If I had to choose a Filofax I would go with the A5 size since it is big enough for my needs. However, A5 is not standard North American sizing so it would again be hard for me to insert my own sheets. I currently use Day Runner 5.5 x 8.5 size that makes inserting your own sheets as easy as pie. It is basically half the sheet of a landscape 8.5 x 11 letter size paper.
3. CAN’T FIND! It is impossible to find Filofaxes in my area unless I order it from the U.S. site which I don’t know how much the shipping cost. I would assume it costs a lot. I like to personally check things out in the store before I buy them.
4. CRAPPY INSERTS! I heard the quality of the paper of the inserts is horrible such that they are very thin. I write in pencil so that shouldn’t be a problem but I do highlight every single task. The inserts I’m using now still bleeds through but only slightly and only from the purple highlighter since that one is darker in color. I do like Filofax week on two pages or 2 days per page since there is a lot of room to write plus NO LINES.
With all that said, if I was to for some reason get a Filofax right this moment (enough money to do so, as a gift, etc) I would probably want the A5 Finsbury. The only thing is that I would have to figure out how to add my own sheets.
xoxo
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Check out e-bay hun, some amazing cheep deals on Filofaxs on there.
Maybe i’ll save up for one 🙂 thnks
Sorry, just gotta say this: Philofaxy is an independent blog/community that is not sponsored, run or owned by the company Filofax. It’s just a great community where Filofax fans of all ages hang out and chat. ^_^
Yes I knew that from the getgo… I just didn’t explain it properly lol. I love Philofaxy don’t get me wrong. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
I’ve owned a day-runner and a filofax and I have to say that I much prefer the filofax. The leather quality is better and the binder has been holding up far better than the faux leather day-runner. It feels better in my hand and the scent of real leather is wonderful. I tend to make my own dividers and other inserts except for the calendars, but with those the day-runner/filofax personal are inter-changable.
What size filofax do you use? And what inserts do you use? Are there day runner ones that fit into filofax? I would like to be able to use a filofax and get inserts of other brands but this is probably impossible since my choice of filofax is A5 specific to the raspberry Finsbury 🙂
My old day-runner was personal sized and the day-runner/filofax inserts were interchangeable with my personal filofax. In my current filofax I am using plastic dividers with poems from the day-runner, the day-runner bookmark and the punched notepad papers I had. I combine that with the personal filofax WOTP diary and it works like a charm. I can’t speak about inserts for the A5, but you could always make your own. There are plenty of templates out there to choose from.
I wanted to add as well, if you are into the A5 size, there are lots of planners and notepapers you can buy and simply remove the bindings from to create lovely filofax fillers. Check out some of the ideas on philofaxy. You will be astounded.
OH? I just found it annoying cuz I’m not from UK so my regular printer paper is not A5. I use my planner not just for monthly and weekly diaries but also for home management needs. But thank you for mentioning the personal size. I might consider getting one now because I can use the day runner inserts BUT I dunno why I would need two agendas of diff sizes right now lol.
Filofax is a European company and they made their planners to use a paper size that is common in Europe. You can get franklin covey planners that use a half size of standard letter size american pages if you like, a sort of A5 American version. Lately, I’ve been discovering all sorts of art papers and other notebooks that are printed in A5 size, which is leaning me toward purchasing an A5 filofax for my jewelry planning journal. Otherwise, I usually stick to the filofax/day-timer personal size. I find it the best size for planning. However, your needs might differ. 🙂
I understand that it is an European brand so they make things to fit for them. I do have a planner that is half the American letter size. I posted a sneak peek of it today on my blog. Where are you finding A5 inserts like from other sources (you keep talking about them)? I’m so tempted to buy another agenda but I’ll wait a while. I think I’m addicted to agendas (binder style).
Mainly I find them on amazon or handmade ones on etsy. Sometimes when reading filofax personal blogs I will stumble on a recommendation for a paper designer. I don’t own an A5 as yet, just the personal size (a personal malden and a slimline personal Holborn) which is easy to find inserts for. My A5 will be dedicated as a jewelry recipe journal for my business and won’t need a diary for it since it will not need to track anything other than be a repository for my designs. Just good quality paper and beautiful homemade dividers. 🙂 If you want to try the A5, just consider that you will need to ship your supplies to yourself now and then. I am not disparaging the american binders. I have a few friends that rave about the disc systems and their corresponding binders and one that loves franklin covey. I used cheap day-runners for years before I discovered the filofax last year. Now its all about the leather. LOL
Do you have specific people on etsy that you like to get some inserts from? Can you share? Thanks. And also thank you for all these wonderful advice and help 🙂
Not really. They come and go since they are hobbyists and small businesses. Just let the search engine there be your friend. I think the best leads come from the web links from philofaxy.com
1) Price & shipping: I got my last 3 Filos from pensandleather.com, with free shipping. Most of their Filos are 20-30% off retail, and I got another 10% off by Googling “pensandleather discount coupon” first. It took me a few tries to get a useable discount code, but no more than 10 minutes invested. Some of the Filo binders are quite affordable, like Metropol and Domino styles.
2) To insert standard 5 1/2″x 8 1/2″ desk size diary pages into an A5 (like DayTimer or DayRunner), you can just re-punch them. Tracy Reinhardt (“punkrockatielsmom” on YouTube) does this. She covers the original holes with washi tape first before re-punching. I know she inserted the Success Choice Planner pages in her A5 Malden this way. Check out her videos.
The DayRunner personal sized inserts do fit the Filofax personal size binders with no re-punching.
I also agree that you can just experiment with various papers & inserts from other notebooks, punched to fit the Filo. Some notebooks like the Clairefontaine brand do come in A5. Just do a little Google research. Often, a local independent stationery shop will carry both Filofaxes and other more upscale stationery like Clairefontaine. Another option for trying out a Filo in person is to use the “find a retailer” tool on the Filofax USA site (I think you enter your zip code). A tip: call the retailers first to inquire about what models/sizes they stock. A5 size was harder to find in my area.
I checked out some FF on ebay as someone suggested and there were some by pens and leathers. One of the A5’s had $25-29 shipping. Some other ones has $14 shipping. And I have a feeling that free shipping does not apply to Canada. There’s few websites I have checked to buying things online (not just agendas) and all the free shipping is “continental us”. Someone did mention seeing FF at their local Winners (store similar to Marshals and TJ MAXX in the States). I have yet to see it but I will check some time.
PS here’s the “find a retailer” link from the lower left corner of the Filofax USA homepage:
http://www.filofaxusa.com/usstockists/
By the way… I’m actually from Canada so the “find a retailer” will not / won’t work. But thanks for suggesting.
I don’t know what part of Canada you’re in, but it works for some areas. I entered “Ontario” and got this list, for example:
http://fastsite.com/cgi-bin/vic.pl?mode=1&ref=http%3A//www.filofaxusa.com/usstockists/&csz=Ontario%20&user=filofaxusa-customer&perpage=7&mpage=on
OH?? Well I did check and there are some stationary stores that sell them but they are independant and they are all very far from where I live. I don’t live near downtown Vancouver but if its like at the mall down there or those 2 blocks where theres a lot of shops then its ok. It is far out.