My Filofax Original Planner Collection

May 23, 2020

Anyone who has several planners, probably has a favourite type.

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When it comes to regular planning, my favourite is absolutely the Hobonichi Cousin. It has everything I need to plan my days, weeks and months. I’m on year three of this planner and I can’t imagine using anything else.

But when it comes to organising my life, the Cousin just isn’t right for me. The Filofax Original is my go-to for basically everything other than regular planning.

filofax original collection

The Filofax Personal Original in Fucshia was my first Filofax, and my first ringed planner as an adult. I never used to be much of a pink person, but the brightness of this planner called out to me.

filofax original personal fuchsia

Back when I first purchased this I was still finding my feet with planning and used this as a regular planner. I was never one for daily planning, and just used week on two pages inserts I found online.

Over time, I added more organisational elements into it. When I started moving into different types of planners like The Happy Planner, this became purely for other kinds of planning. Mainly I used it as a place to hold information about the blog and the shop.

Why do I love this planner so much?

For a start, I love how classic it looks. If you asked someone to describe a Filofax, they’d probably end up describing one of these. They’re made from a lovely thick leather that means the planner lays flat right out of the box. The pockets are simple and functional. I’m not big on pocket decoration and love that these have simple ones that don’t get massively bulky.

You also get two pen loops in this planner, which I love. I like being able to put both a pencil and a pen in there.

One thing to note about Filofaxes, and this style in particular, is that they can’t really get chunky

The rings on a personal are 23mm. In comparison, Kikki K have 30mm rings, Van Der Spek also go up to 30mm and Gillio have 25mm. The ring size generally doesn’t bother me as I don’t overstuff my planner and I’m used to moving things out into storage once I’m done with the sheets. However, because of the stiff leather and the short strap on the Original planners you can quite easily run into a situation where it won’t close. If my rings are full and I’m using both pen loops, it’s a real struggle to close this planner.

Not content with just the one Filofax Original, I added a second, the Nude version

filofax original personal nude

This was used in much the same way as the Fucshia, I just wanted it in a different colour. What I had found with the Fuchsia though, is that the coating had started to crack on the spine. So I retired that from regular use and for my next Original purchase, I went with an uncoated variety – the Burnt Orange.

filofax original personal burnt orange

The colour on this is beautiful. The leather is softer but it still lays flat and even after three (?) years of ownership, it still looks as good as new.

This was my only ‘non Hobonichi’ planner in my 2020 line up. You can see the full set up here, but basically this houses all the information that I might need for longer than a year, so I don’t have to duplicate it into several years worth of Hobonichi Cousins.

I have a perpetual calendar for birthdays, financial information, addresses and blog and shop information. It doesn’t get referred to daily, but it lives on my desk and gets used at least once a week.

I have one A5 Original in my collection

This is in the beautiful Dark Aqua colour.

filofax original A5 dark aqua

It was originally used as a work planner, but I found it too cumbersome to carry every day. Instead, I now use this as a home file. It contains any kind of important information I may need to refer to at any point – car insurance, council tax, student loan details. The A5 is the perfect size for this as all A4 documents can get folded up and either hole punched to go in, or go in pockets that I created for the planner.

In a way, this is my most useful planner just because of the amount of important information in here. If you struggle with keeping all your documents organised I highly recommend getting an A5 planner for it.

The only difference to note in the A5 size versus the Personal is just how much more floppy the cover is. It still lays flat but it doesn’t have the rigidity of the Personal size.

I think this style will always be my favourite Filofax.

I’ve had a couple of different ringed planners over the years – including a beautiful pocket Finsbury, some Kikki K’s and even a Kate Spade. But the style and functionality of The Original always pulls me back.