22 June 2011

Filofax Pocket or Slimline as a wallet?


Some of you might have been following my tooing and froing between the pocket and slimline as my wallet over the last few months. Both of them do the job, but in slightly different ways.

Aside of my 'wallet' I've settled in to using my Personal Crimson Malden as my main central focus for information, diary etc that I carry around with me. Then at home I'm using my A5 Grey Malden with the page per day diary in it. This is working great and I love this layout. The A5, has a few other things in it, but not a full fill as yet. The personal tends to also be open on my desk when I'm there, so with both of them I have the week per view in the personal and my day view in the A5 which is sort of the best of both worlds if you like.

So my 'wallet' Filofax, is relieved of it's diary duties, because I normally carry my personal Malden around with me as well. So as a wallet it only has to hold cards, cash, medial cards and certificates, passport, drivers licence, coins.

So in the Chameleon Pocket this all fits in ok, but the coins in the zip pocket do tend to make it bulge a little bit, which I suppose is why I keep going back to the slimline because being bigger it's also slimmer. I also have my 'vintage' Filofax coin/change holder, this works really well.

I suppose in a way it's also nice to have a change every so often as well, I feel less guilty about owning all of these things and not always using them! I suppose I fell in to the trap of my own enabling! Also swapping from one to the other only takes a few minutes if that!

So for anyone else is thinking about using a pocket as a 'wallet/purse' as well a planner, my recommendations would be go for a pocket model that includes the full width back pocket, such as the Malden, Finsbury etc. But go for one that has the larger rings 19mm  which the Malden and Finsbury both have. My Chameleon only has the 15mm rings in it, which works for me, because my page count is reduced.

If you are going to include a diary insert in your pocket then your choice is a little limited and physics can not be cheated. The  pocket page size is only 81x120 mm compared to the personal size of 95x171 mm. Draw yourself a mock up page on ordinary paper, so see the reality of the difference in size before you go out and buy an new pocket Filofax (that was a negative enable...)


If you already have a pocket size, give it a try for a week or so and see how you get on.

14 comments:

  1. Beautiful day to everyone.
    I`m solving similar issue. I`m trying to find out the best Mini as my wallet. I really love Domino, but I have problems with coins. Any idea how to carry coins in Domino?

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  2. There is new Osterley A5 on UK website. Looks nice, but it`s quite pricy.

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  3. I just can't use filofax as a purse/wallet so have given up. I just carry my pocket special edition as a week to view diary.

    I do like a large purse format at the moment which filofax make, although my current one is not that brand and a touch more 'girly'!

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  4. @Katka - the Osterly looks lovely - shame no black though. I hope they put a picture of the interior on the website as well. I love the plum colour - it looks like it could have gold coloured rings to match the clasp? A worthy successor to the Amazona which has been a great favourite of mine.

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  5. @Alison
    The Osterley interior is shown in the Swedish Filofax catalogue, on page 9.

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  6. Thank you steve, im struggling between pocket and personal as well :-)

    But what is a Medial Card??

    :-D

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  7. Ah my medical card over here is called a carte vitale, it's a smart card and it carries all my health details and medical records on the card. I have to present the card every time I go to the doctors and he updates the card. Every time I get a prescription they update the details on the card too. It carries my photo on the card and my French social security number.
    I also have to carry a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) which gives me health cover in any European country including UK when I visit there because I'm no longer covered by the NHS being non-UK resident...
    Complicated life really!

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  8. @katka
    I solved the coins problem by putting eyelets in a little zipped purse I had and putting the purse on the rings:
    http://paperpensink.blogspot.com/2011/02/mini-baroque-filo-purse.html

    Don't know if that helps?

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  9. @Alison
    Have you seen the purse-filo combos in the Swedish catalogue - the Pennybridge and the Journey? They look like a good mix.

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  10. @Amanda...thanks a lot. That's great idea. I was thinking about cutting and adjustig the personal or pocket plastic zip envelope. But this seems better :o)

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  11. @Amanda - Filofax certainly seem to be pulling out all the stops to bring people what they want - certainly seems they have been listening! I'm not sure I'd want to have the wallet and diary combined - I'd have to see it first to see how it felt!

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  12. @Steve, so does it have a chip or something with all that stored on it, sounds like such a clever idea, im always having problems with doctors not knowing my medical history, why is everywhere out of england so advanced lol

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  13. I was considering using a pocket as my wallet, but think I have the best of both worlds with my current setup. Won a filofax purse on eBay for £8 - small enough to fit in my back pocket & I don't mind sitting on it! And I have my personal Malden which has much more space for writing & notes.

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  14. Being something of a packrat (and a mama of a three-year-old) my handbags are always enormous, so I've found that the Personal size works well as a diary/wallet combination. However, even with a traditional wallet, I've never kept change in it (I'm always in a rush to get out when I do my shopping, so change just gets thrown into the void that is my enormous bag and is sorted out later at home.)

    I've finally broken through to my husband who has asked me to donate my Personal Domino to him to use as a garden journal. (This is a triumph!) Now I'm interested in getting him a wallet for everyday use, but he keeps his wallet in his back pocket--is the bulge factor of a wallet-sized Filofax an issue? Particularly when sitting on one's backside all day at a desk?

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