The 2012 Tweak

Ever since I got back from my vacation, my life has been a whirlwind, despite my best efforts to keep things quiet, calm and peaceful.  Without getting into the details here, my family has had a minor issue—nothing serious, but something that requires more of my attention than it would otherwise.  So that, and not quite being able (or maybe just willing) to settle back into my “normal” routine have left me just a tiny bit stressed.  (For the most part, I am doing okay with keeping it in check.)  I keep thinking about our vacation and how nice it would be to return for another week.  Like, maybe tomorrow.  But even if that were possible, all the current issues will still there upon my return.  Ah, well.

Anyway!  One thing I do well when I’m stressed is to organize the chaos.

Lately, I have read several posts about gearing up and revamping systems for 2012.  They all made me want to play with my system just a little more.  I thought I had it all figured out, but apparently, not so much.

I don’t plan on tweaking my diary section all that much (surprisingly), but I am planning on tweaking the system behind my system.  I have decided that I’m going to use my black Malden as a holding place for all of the things I’d like to work on or keep a reference of but don’t need to carry with me all the time.  My compact is small enough as it is (just the way I like it), and the whole point of getting the compact was to slim down the amount of things I need with me.  And it’s all worked beautifully.  But there are some items I’d still like to keep, though not in the compact.  So this will be Malden’s new job.

I have done this before, having two binders going at the same time, and it didn’t work out in the long run.  It’s possible that this trial will have the same result.  But the difference here is that I’m not using the Malden as a continuation of my Compact.  It’s in addition to, if that makes sense.  So rather than working out of two binders, I’m really working out of only one and using the other as more of a holding place.

Currently, I have an A5 Finchley that I’m using as a household binder.  I don’t intend (at this point) to give it up completely, but I do want to take some of the elements from there and incorporate it into the Malden reference binder.  I have a very rough outline going for my Malden:

• Notes – a list of things that I want to be able to refer back to (places to visit, random information, etc.)
• To Buy – a list of things that I want to buy at some point, as opposed to the list in my compact, which is mainly a soon-to-be-purchased list
• To Do – similar to the To Buy list, it’s a list of things to do at some point, whereas the to do list in my compact is for things that need to be done soon
• Projects – Any projects that I’m actively working on are kept in my compact, but this list will be projects that are long-term or are far away from being active
• Financial – This section will include how much I’ve charge to my credit cards in any given month, any money that I’ve marked for savings, any list of financials that I want to keep for a certain project, and anything else that’s money related (part of me thought of keeping a tally on how much money I spend on coffee per week, but I’m not sure I really want to know the answer to that)
• Addresses – I am going to keep a full address book in here (this is one of the things that’s being moved from the A5)

I have the sections set up right now, separated by Avery Tabs.  This is working right now, until I get everything officially set up.  I have a set of Filofax blank tabs, and I’ll use my label maker to create the sections.

Once my Malden is all set up and ready to go, I’ll be sure to post pictures and do a full review.  Also coming up: my Compact 2012 system and my archiving system…