Filofax memories (2)

This was my second entry in the Folifax Memories competition:

The day I first saw (and immediately bought) my Filofax punch was a very important day. I’d been using a Filofax for a year or two by then, mainly as an appointments diary but also to keep notes and track what books I wanted to buy and/or read, ticking them off as I went along. I loved the way I could keep all my stuff in one place.

Well, I say all my stuff, but that wasn’t quite true. I still had odd pieces of paper and fliers I had picked up or that people had given me that held important information, but it was information I didn’t want to actually transcribe by hand onto note pages. A certain amount of this stuff could be tucked into the Filofax cover pockets or my transparent window, but it was likely to get lost there. I started putting slips of paper in between the diary pages according to when I would need the information, but of course they fell out.

So when I saw the punch I had needed one without knowing it for quite some time. The day I bought it I spent some time taking my organisation to the next level. My football team fixture list, the gig lists of local music venues, even the local pizza shop menu, all found a more secure home in my system. I even punched holes into tickets for events and put these in between diary pages for the appropriate dates. (After some odd looks at various establishments when I produced my holey tickets, I started punching small brown envelopes instead, and keeping the tickets within them intact.)  Making my own dividers came later, and this was really empowering, giving me that last little bit of flexibility in how I organised myself.

My punch has survived more house move culls than almost anything else I own. It is a little old and battered now, but I wouldn’t give it up for the world.