My Filofaxes: Mini Grey Malden

I currently have three filofaxes on the go at the moment – everyone of them is different and holds different information; so I do not duplicate anything in them. I’m fairly new to getting into serious planning, I dabbled in the past but underused the potential of my planner. All that changed when I discovered Philofaxy.

So first up is my newest addition (although I do have one on the way so it won’t be new for long) my mini Filofax Malden.

I was really undecided about whether I should get a pocket or a mini Malden. It was very difficult to decide as nowhere in Birmingham (despite it being the second city in the UK!) stocked a Malden – in any size or colour! This greatly annoyed me. I wanted a planner I could use as a wallet, a travel journal, a note taker. Something that would allow me to leave my bag behind stick this is my jeans pocket (it was just still summer at the time) and be good to go without the bulk. It would be a wallet and planner in one.

The size of the mini really appealed to me but I thought it would be too impractical – it looks so small after all. One of the things I really wanted from it was to be able to keep my passport in it. I’m planning to go to Berlin and driving licenses are not valid forms of ID in Germany, so I would need to take my passport ideally. I asked on Filofax for Philofaxy Fans and at least someone said their passport really made their mini look…well mini. Someone kindly put their passport into the back pocket of the mini (normally used for money or receipts) and it looked uncomfortable. Someone also put their pocket Malden into their jeans pocket – and it was proof it could be done! However I don’t think it would be comfortable with my tight jeans as my thins already have a hard time fitting in them – without a pocket Malden to contend for space!

I saw a really good deal for a ochre Malden on Ebay and I thought I’ll have a think about it – it was such a good deal that everyone else went and got one and I missed out! So I decided to go for a Malden Mini in Grey from a company in Germany. It was a very good price – the shipping was the only thing putting me off but even with the shipping I still got a good deal on it. I like that it is grey…my bag is a vintage style gladstone bag in brown and I thought getting the orche malden would complement it more – but I love the grey. It’s a much more unusual colour because it has been discontinued and I like how well it goes with my dark aqua originals. It’s classy and professional looking too.

It arrived at the end of August and this is the photo of it as I unboxed it. It looked tiny but it was so beautiful. I can understand why people really like the Malden and whilst I am an Original girl when it comes to the bigger planners I do love my little Malden. I was surprised by the Malden – Originals are so smooth they feel wonderful. This is more textured, but I am tore as to which I prefer more. It has more of a leather smell than my original (maybe that’s because my original is slightly older?) I don’t like the smell all that much. It comes with 13mm rings – which is tiny you can’t hold a lot of paper in there, I have a full 2016 diary, but inserts from August to the end of the year. I have a couple of lined papers and a couple of blank pages I cut myself. I also store a coin purse on the loops. I could probably fit a little more on there but I am not one to overstuff my planners, so I will leave it at that. I love the size. It looks so nice in my hands. It is the perfect size and I am glad I picked it over the pocket.

When I opened I knew that I had made the right choice because the inserts were in German and the seller had very kindly put in a 2016 German week on two pages as well. I hadn’t planned to use the inserts but when they came in German how could I not? I currently use them for a German word of the day. I use an app on my phone to give me a word of the day and I use to write them in my personal Filofax. Now it gets a Filofax all for itself.

I tried to use the coin pocket that came with it, but I use public transport a lot and although I have a swipe card, topping it up is not all that convenient so sometimes I need to carry change. I felt like the zipped pocket was not big enough. So I looked for one of those PVC zip lock inserts you get for personal and pocket sizes – alas they do not do one for a Mini! I was tempted by buying a pocket one – but it just wouldn’t fit. Luckily I found a template on how to make a fabric purse for your Filofax. So I made (*cough* confession…my mum made it – but I had every intention of making it – she just didn’t trust me with her sewing machine!) a zip purse for it.

A funny fact is that in the making of this purse my mum put the plastic fly leaf to close to the iron – which wrinkled it. So she secretly ironed it to make it flat ok – only this shrunk the Filofax page. That is my it looks like the loops do not align with the rings – because the template was wrong. With the fabric, zip and cord for the purse it costed out at £2.70ish, and I have another over to make at least three if not more from the fabric I got (I’d need to buy a new zip and cord though).

I’ve ordered a pen and a pencil that are small enough to fit in the Mini. I’ve put the pencil in the zip compartment and the pen fits nicely in the pen loop. I have taken my keys off their keyring and I’ve put them in the zip compartment also. The side pockets fit my cards. The back pocket has receipts and cash notes. I added what was my keyring for my house keys on it as well. And I’m pleased to report – although it cannot fit a passport in any of the pockets – you can rest it in the planner and still close the flap. And it doesn’t stretch the filofax or make it look uncomfortable. It is also not floppy, like other people report – although I think that is mostly due to it’s size and the fact I have cards in it – It is quite comfortable to right in with just a leg as a desk.

I was worried that my KW trio hole punch wouldn’t be able to work with my Mini – it can go down to pocket and although Pocket and Mini have the same hole space I was worried I’d end up with the 6th hole (needed for a pocket but not for a mini) but I am pleased to report my hole punch works without a problem. I’ve made printed notes for the mini and they’ve worked like a charm. I am very happy with this planner. I don’t think I’ll change much more with this set up – I would like to add maybe a cover photo at the beginning, probably something related to Germany to go with the German theme of diary. I would also like to laminate a couple of cue cards – such as cases and the alphabet sounds. So emergency things like police in Germany and basic quick phrases if I am in a panic and need to contact someone, but other than that. I don’t see it changing very much. I recently took some friends on a guided tour of my second favourite city (Leicester), and I made some notes about the history of certain buildings. I printed these out and put them in my filofax. My friend enjoyed my tour so much he stole the notes…but I would have only thrown them away anyway.