Ah, I’m really starting to rue the day I first took a peek at what kinds of A5 Filofax binders were available. I love my Inner-B planer to bits, the diary page layout is absolutely perfect, but just imagining it between the covers of a gorgeous leather binder is driving me to distraction.

Those babies are expensive though – even a secondhand one will set you back quite a few dollars. The odds of finding a great style and colour on sale also seem to be quite slim. I’ve started saving and made a pledge (and got Hubby on board with it too) that if I can complete 10 units of my study course I can investigate purchasing one.

In the meantime, I picked up this cute little Filofax Domino Personal for a couple of dollars the other day and plan on using it as a notebook. I have a lot of note pages from an old Personal size planner that are in need of a home, so this works perfectly. Would love to switch to it as my planner, but after enjoying the wide open spaces of A5 (plus the brilliant layout of my Inner-B Mum Organiser and the absolute ease of adding custom pages) I don’t think I could go back to Personal size.

So I’m going to go on about my lovely bright blue organiser again, simply because it really is absolutely brilliant and I can’t remember ever having a diary / planner that just fit my life so wonderfully!

I’m serious – this is the first ever organiser that has survived the initial burst of excited every day use and still gives me a little {thrill} when I see it on my desk each morning. Most last a week or two at most and then fade from my consciousness for the next eleven months, until they’re suddenly unearthed from a teetering stack of office clutter the following December. But this blue girl, she’s here to stay.

Have you picked your planner for 2013 yet? Why not check out the Inner-B Organisers and see if they fit your lifestyle too? They don’t just come in blue either – there’s also bright pink, purple, yellow, orange and green. { For a moment I contemplated getting the green myself, but the blue had already stolen my heart <3 }

So why do I think this organiser is so great? Well …

• It’s calendar layout is brilliant – a week to a view with space for weekly focus items, birthdays/anniversaries and four slots for the kids / other family member’s schedules.
  { Not a Mum? Or don’t need to track other’s schedules? Those four slots are also perfect for recording projects or other commitments separately – I use two for family members, one for volunteer activities and one for household projects. Keeps everything organised. }
• It takes standard A5 size paper – it’s so easy to print to A5 (or A4 and cut in half) and insert pages into the planner. I print my four week work roster out onto coloured A5 paper, punch a few holes down the side and slip it into the front of the organiser.
  {Tip: For easy hole punching use the organiser’s plastic page marker as a template to mark where holes need to be punched, then punch with a single hole puncher. }
• It takes Filofax A5 inserts – the organiser’s rings will fit the Filofax range of inserts. You can get tab dividers, coloured notepaper, clear business card holders, clear pockets and page markers to add to your organiser.
  { It will also fit some of the Collins Debden range of Desk sized inserts due to their special multi-hole punching, but the pages aren’t quite A5 sized. }
• There’s a 50 page Mum Organiser section at the back – this section has a page for just about anything you can think of: family details, emergency numbers, brilliant ideas, places to visit, books to read, movies to watch … it’s all there.
  { Once again, you don’t need to be a Mum to find this section incredibly useful! }
• It’s {BIG} – yeah I know, size is quite often the killer as far as organisers go, but in this case I’ve found it to be a great plus. There’s {plenty} of page real estate to write on! I also use an A5 notebook for work and am always jotting notes down, so being able to pop my work notebook in the back of my organiser has been marvellous.
  { Okay so I admit it won’t fit in that little handbag I take out on a Friday night, but how often do I really expect to whip my organiser out over dinner and drinks at the pub anyway? }
• It’s bright and colourful and cheery and makes me smile – yes, it does. There’s nothing like a dose of bright blue and a lovely organised calendar to kick off an otherwise so-so Monday morning.