Inserts a go-go.
I ordered multiple inserts for my Filofax A5 Ochre Malden. Some have arrived. More are coming, through Royal Mail and Cyprus Post. Those may take a while.
First - paper quality. I knew that big, wet-nibbed fountain pens would not be practical. And they’re not. Broad lines get broader as the ink sinks into the paper fibres. Some gel and rollerballs behave in the same way, albeit to a lesser extent. Filofax paper really likes a pencil, or a ball point.
I’m experimenting with some colour-coding. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not turning my planner into performance art, but I hope that using some colour will help me create some emphasis. Enter the Bic multi-pen. Not much chance that anyone will mistake this for a Montblanc, but I’ll tell you what, it has four coloured refills and they are all smooth writers. My supermarket doesn’t have any, but there is a “pro” version, where the cheap-looking plastic barrel is replaced by a more sober all-black version. Come to think of it, maybe that’s where Apple gets its colour rules from?
The first package to arrive contained note paper and dividers. The dividers are monthly, with a quote on the frontside and a key events style layout on the reverse. I also retain another set of tabbed dividers from a previous iteration. These are numbered 1 to 6. Together these will be the skeleton of my planner. I will build around them.
A part of the appeal of a ringed planner is the modular nature of it. Yes, there are diary pages for staying on top of the day, but there are also sections for trackers, or expenses forms, even travel planners. Got a big project? Make a section behind a tab. Some people make the planner their wallet, keeping credit cards in there. It’s a binder that handles anything the day can throw it you. Whether you are someone whose planner is a piece of art that stars in its own Tik Tok channel, or a refugee from screens, there is joy in designing your own bespoke combination of sections and their layout.
Midway through this wonderful ritual (no, I didn’t film it) I sat, dumbfounded. One page per day means that there are two pages on each sheet, one each side. A thirty day month then, has fifteen sheets. Simple. Of course, not all months have thirty days. March, for example, has thirty-one. On the back of the 31st, I would expect something blank - or a generic “notes” page, perhaps. There is only one thing that I would 100% not expect.
You’re already there, aren’t you, dear reader?
They’ve put the 1st of April on the reverse of the 31st of March.
I’m convinced that there are two types of people in this world. One type is shrugging as they read this. The other is experiencing confusion, discomfort, pain even. How can there be monthly dividers when some sheets have pages from different months on each side? How? How can a company so fundamentally fail to understand its customers' psyche? I put it to you, dear reader, that if you are the sort of person who shrugs at this, then you are not one who would consider a Filofax a useful tool. Anyone who would consider a Filofax is, like me, slightly dazed. What I don’t understand is, how did a shrugger gain control of the company?
I note that this problem does not come up with my preferred format of two pages per day - so I will be primed towards the end of the year to seize any opportunity to get those for 2027.
In practical terms, the management is quite straightforward, I’ll move the sheet from in front of the binder to behind it. Not exactly a hardship, is it?
However - I don’t think we should underestimate how details like these matter to stationery people. They do. They really do. I'm still twitching at the wrongness of it all.
There is another set of inserts (two page per day) en route for my Daytimer, which is also A5, but uses a different ring configuration. (Daytimer is seven rings versus Filofax’s six.)
In the battle for supremacy, Daytimer has scored a win before it has even arrived.
In an effort to immerse myself in the world of planners, I am back on Instagram, @nerosplanner, so give me a follow if you are still in that world.
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