Pocket Persuasion – Nullified

As I have mentioned, I have been driving myself nuts with making a decision as to whether I should downsize to a pocket binder or stay with the personal. I have made a decision, my friends. In short, I have decided not to switch. Here is why:

I have been hemming and hawing over this for a couple of weeks. I still love the pocket – the ease with which it is carried mostly, the little but powerful entity that it is. But I just can’t see myself using it. One of my issues with it is that the inserts I like the best and use daily are not available in the pocket size, or if they are, are too small. Yesterday, I went to a store that carries Filofax. I checked out the pocket planners and still I adore them. But in looking at the inserts, I just knew I wouldn’t be able to write in them comfortably. So why even try? The funny thing is, I’ve known this the entire time I had been contemplating the switch. Like with many things, I want it to work and I’m willing to change how I use an item to make it work. But that defeats the point of a planner in the first place, does it not? This is one of the reasons I switched to Filofax, because of the flexibility to make it into what I need it to be. And it has worked well for years. Since my first Filofax in 2006, I have used nothing else and it was always the personal size. And that was a downgrade from my former favorite planner, the DayMinder Executive, which is more like the size of an A5. For all of my many uses of a planner, the pocket size just would never have worked for me. The personal falls perfectly between these two sizes.

But what really made it all click was this post. I have been eyeing this planner but really put it in the “too expensive” file – something I would like to own but never would because of the cost of the binder and the shipping cost, being as it’s not available in the US and would need to order it from the UK (by the way, I did email Filofax US and asked them to reconsider that decision – will let you know what, if anything, I hear in return). From what I understand, shipping from the UK site costs just about half of what the binder costs. After seeing it up close and (semi) personal, my desire has grown even more. So I am still considering this purchase, thought it won’t be one easily made. With that said, I do not want to buy a pocket size not knowing if the size will be what I need it to be. I know the personal size works for me, so I would buy that instead. Why then change to the pocket size at all? I’d have to spend a fair amount of money switching everything over to pocket, plus the big expense of the Malden and shipping only to not use it for the pocket size? No way. Not doing it. Plus, with the money I save by not buying the pocket inserts and possible binder, I could put that towards the Malden purchase, though it may take me a while to build up enough to splurge.

So I will continue with my personal binder use for my personal every day planner. I still have some 2010 pocket inserts coming and I still have the pocket Kendal. I’m looking for a way to use them in conjunction with my personal binder. I haven’t yet decided what that will be, but I have a few ideas floating around in my head. This way, I can dabble in the joy of the pocket size but still get the most of the personal size as well.

In other news, I have a used A5 coming to me. I will be using that as our family organizer. Once that is here and organized, I will be posting about that as well. I have a list of how it will be set up in my personal binder, behind my “projects” tab.

Another work in progress: my Filofax purchases timeline. Hopefully I can remember when I bought everything…