And Yet…

I love my Malden. I don’t think I have loved a planner more. Well, maybe I have loved other planners just as much, at least at the very beginning. But I don’t think I have loved a planner as long. I have not strayed from this planner once since its arrival. I haven’t even thought about it. This planner has everything I have wanted–soft, supple leather; card holders; back pocket for a pad; the ability to hold all the things I carry with me; it’s functional and looks great too.

And yet…

I have been finding myself wanting something different, not because I no longer love the Malden (perish the thought!), but because I want something different from my system. I have been craving simplicity. Though it works for me, my system tends to be a little complicated. Even my planning habits can get a little out of hand—sometimes I tend to spend more time planning how and when things will be done than it takes to actually do them. I have everything in one place, which is how I often want it—it cuts down on figuring out where one piece of paper is.

And yet...

I wonder if things would be simpler if I had a smaller binder—the smaller it is, the less I have to carry with me. And do I really need all the stuff with me everywhere I go? Not usually. So I have been contemplating a change of sorts. I have a few options.

I could move back in to my Guildford Slimline. Being slim, however, this would mean that I could carry only a portion of the year’s diary pages with me at all times and then leave the rest at home. This is okay. The big choice is deciding which diary pages to include and how many of each. I use three formats—the monthly pages, the weekly pages, and the daily pages. I figure I could carry the entire year’s worth of monthly pages, a week of daily pages and three months (including the current month) of weekly pages. All of these fit into the Slimline. The next big question then, is which of my additional inserts needs to be included, and how do I organize them? But that’s not even the biggest issue. The biggest issue is that because I could only carry a small amount of diary pages and inserts with me, I’d still need a regular size binder in use, sitting at home to hold the rest of my inserts. Using more than one binder at a time in regards to my daily planner has proven a bit too much for me. But maybe there’s a way I could revamp the use of two binders at once so that it does work for me. This would still allow me to use my Malden, if only at home.

Another option is to downsize to a pocket size. I have contemplated this before. I could buy a pocket size Malden and move into that. This still allows me to use my favorite binder. There are some drawbacks to this idea, however. I have so much money and time invested in the personal size that I’d essentially waste all that time, money, and effort by moving into a pocket binder. I’d have to come up with a whole new storage and archiving system, which would mean more money and time, not to mention more complaining from my husband regarding the money end of it. Another drawback to this idea is that the pocket trial has failed me in the past. So I don’t think this would work.

A third idea is to wait until the Compact size is revealed by Filofax. As was mentioned on Philofaxy, Filofax is supposedly coming out with a Compact style, a binder whose ring size fall between that of a Personal and Slimline. I have long wanted something like this—the Slimline is generally too slim for me, and many times I end up carrying more than I need in the personal size simply because I can. I really don’t need to carry an entire year’s worth of weekly pages with me but I often end up doing just that. I suppose this is the best idea of the three—it might be exactly what I need. I’m anxious to know when and if this is really going to happen and what the binder will actually look like. This just might be the binder that will break me of my vow not to buy a new binder for all of 2011, assuming I like the looks of it.

And yet…

No matter what the Compact might look like, I’m sure it won’t be the Malden…