Notes Filo

On this day after Christmas, I was supposed to go away to visit my extended family for a few days. However, much of the US Northeast is under a blizzard warning. Many people cannot get home, so I am one of the lucky ones already home. It stinks that my plans were canceled, but it gives me three days at home to unwind, work on my Filofax projects and post about them.

The first project I tackled was my Notes Filo. I am using my brown pocket Kendal for this. This is really just a place to keep certain notes that I might want to see at a glance. It contains information that’s already in my personal Malden (which I use as my daily planner) but it’s more accessible because I don’t have to sift through tons of other daily information to find what I’m looking for. Specifically, for now, this binder holds medical information and a list of the blog posts I’ve written. In the future, I may add to it, but this is what it is as the moment.

Thanks to Oni, I have both 2010 and 2011 inserts. I have just updated my 2010 monthly and weekly pages, and when 2011 rolls around, I will put them into the binder and pull out the old 2010 pages and archive them. I do need to purchase 2011 monthly sheets. I’m hoping to get to my nearest retailer in the next few days while I’m off from work.

The monthly pages just have a notation of when I’ve been to the doctor or if medication was prescribed or if I’ve written a blog post. Doctor visits are highlighted in pink, medication is highlighted in orange and blog posts (for Life Well Planned) are highlighted in blue. Posts that I’ve done for the Bagsey blog are highlighted in purple (I’ve only done one of these – must work on that in 2011). Anytime I purchase a prescribed medication will be highlighted in green. I will then keep a running list in the Financials section regarding the price of each one. This way, when I go to renew a prescription, I will know beforehand what it’s going to cost me. In the last few months, I’ve tried several different medications and can’t remember which ones cost how much. Any other random notes will be highlighted in yellow.

The weekly pages have more in-depth notations on anything I’ve added to the monthly pages. So, for example, if I’ve written “blog” on the monthly page, I can go to that same date on the weekly layout and see which blog I posted to and the title of the entry. For a doctor’s appointment, I can go to the day on the weekly layout and see what diagnosis and prescription was given (if any) and when I need to return for a follow-up. For medication, I can see when I’ve started and ended a particular medicine.

For my allergy-related information that I’ve been dealing with for the past four months, I have a written list in the Notes section on my Malden. When I’m done with this phase of treatment, those pages will be filed in my “Me” binder under the health tab for future reference. This way, when allergy season rolls around again next August, I know what I’ve taken and whether or not it worked for me. The Notes Filo just gives me another way to look at what I’ve been doing for this issue, a quicker glance at all of the doctor appointments I’ve had and the medication I’ve taken.

Of course the blog entries are listed on the blog itself. I like to see my list in this format though. It gives me new insight into my blogging patterns. I’m now able to see certain statistics in a way that I didn’t before, probably because I’m a very visual personal and seeing this type of information laid out in a calendar format helps me to see my habits. Here are a few that I found interesting:

• The months with the most posts are January and December (once this post goes live) for a total of 6 each. 
• Saturday and Sunday are tied for the days of the week when most posts have occurred (12 posts on each of these days). 
• Tuesday is the day that I’m least likely to post (only 2 Tuesday postings). 
• The week with the most posts is this one (working from a Monday – Sunday format) with a total of 5. 
• The longest amount of time between posts was 18 days: February 16 – March 5. 

None of this is earth-shattering news, but they are little tidbits that I found interesting, only after seeing them listed in this way.

As I mentioned above, all the information that will go into the Notes Filo will already be on my daily pages in my Malden. Each night, when I set up my daily page for the next day, I will transfer the pertinent information from the ending day into the Notes Filo. I hope to keep up with this project for all of 2011. I will keep you posted on how it’s going throughout the year. But at least now I’ve found a use for my beloved Pocket Kendal.