Posted By Laura in Gift Inspo, In the Home, Just for You, Review, Shopping | 4 comments

I was thrilled to receive this beast of a filofax to review;  I haven’t used a filofax since I was 18, at university, and Princess Di was wearing her blue blazers and faded jeans.  I honestly thought the brand had been really locked into the 80s and felt it no longer held any relevance to me.

But – I’ll admit it. I have been very pleasantly surprised! Firstly – have you SEEN the styles available? Gorgeous they are! Secondly, the Family Organiser Pack is just made for me and my life.

Providing it is used in the correct way (ie always to hand in my kitchen), it has significantly helped me reorganise my life.  ?As a busy part-time working mother of three with husband who is here, there and everywhere my filofax has become a trusty companion.  It is simple and stylish (I don’t feel the need to lob it into the nearest cupboard when friends drop in), the A5 is a good size, and rigid enough to do the essential write-on-whilst-balanced-on-your-lap trick.

I do feel it’s a luxury item that I am not sure I would buy for myself because of the cost (I have yet to see them available in TKMAXX…) but if my husband had bought one for me it would have been very well received.

Have I used it? Very definitely yes.

Have I used all of it? No, definitely not.

Various sections are redundant, but I am still happy to drag them around because I may get round to using them one day.   The lay out of the diary section is great – although being quite a foody I would like a wider meals section.  We eat a fair bit and I do like to add comments like ‘tragedy; last of the delicious home grown broad beans!’

The  To Do lists are fabulous, and I never have enough of the lined paper. I am actually tempted to buy some of the lovely blue lined paper – the quality is really good, and (absolutely essential point) a pleasure to write on.

The Home Sweet Home section is useful – though I’ve yet to completely fill mine in, and may have to rename it the In The Event Of My Death section!

Babysitting information has some good points; for example I’ve never considered leaving my address so the sitter actually knows where they are, thank you filofax for bringing that to my attention.  The section which says ‘feed them…/ don’t let them eat…/ under no circumstances…’ would make me look like some weird neurotic creature, I think, and for that reason and that reason alone I have yet to hand that sheet to my babysitters.

Finally the Family Details section is really useful… BUT! Having all that info in one place has meant that my filofax does not leave my home – I would be really worried that that sort of information if stolen could cause a whole load of problems.

The Filofax comes in a huge range of styles and sizes – starting at £34 in the A5 size (I’m rather taken with the personal Deco version though. in ruby red please). Add to that the Family Organiser Pack, for £23 and you’re ready to take on the world. Well – at least be organised enough to know where everyone needs to be when the world comes knocking…