Tuesday 3 April 2012

My new Filofax Malden

I am soooo excited to being sharing this post! After a lot of thought and consideration I am now an official owner of a Filofax Malden!

Before my purchase I had never seen the Malden in person so it was quite a risk. But a one that has definitely paid off! There were so many fantastic reviews on this FF I knew it would be worth it.

I have the personal size Malden in Vintage pink, after my previous A5 FF I wasn't sure if downsizing to a personal would be suited to me. But after much needed space in my bag I decided to give it a go! How did I live without it? The A5 was not at all practical, first off it was very heavy! I could not carry it around with me when I was out due to the weight and size. Secondly whenever I took it out to write in it took up a large amount of space and in total I just found it more of an inconvenience than a useful companion. At first I was doubtful about downsizing as I thought the page size in the personal was far to small for me to fit all the info I needed. So after a two month battle weighing the pros against the cons and viewing numerous blogs and Youtube videos I finally took the leap. Anyone who is debating whether to downsize I would definitely recommend it, I don't find the size of the paper an issue at all!

My Malden arrived yesterday, it came with the week on two page diary and all the other standard inserts you get with a new FF. Of course I had to go a little crazy and purchase some extra goodies;



On top of the standard inserts I bought; Year planner - vertical, zipped envelope, credit card holder, a top opening envelope and a pack of white plain paper.

Usually my FF purchases have been for work only, after browsing the internet I found FF had so much more to offer than being a work diary! I was so inspired how people had customised their own to meet their needs I knew I had to do the same!

I wrote down everything I wanted my FF to do, different sections, layout formats etc. Finally I was content at how I wanted it to be. Of course more supplies were required....

Forever Friends Stickers



Me to you stickers







The me to you and forever friends stickers are from WHSmith, the others are just various sorts from small stationery shops. I think the M2U and Forever friends are actually card toppers but they work great for sticking onto FF paper.


I also bought these handy little magnetic bookmarks from Waterstones.

As below you can see the size difference between my A5 Metropol and Personal Malden;


Sorry about the lighting the photos were taken from my Iphone so there not the best, the picture makes the Malden a brighter pink it's not actually this light.

Now for the fun part, after six hours of total revamping my beautiful Malden I am very pleased with the result;


My top opening envelope with a picture of me and my boyfriend.


In the zipped section I keep my handy magnetic book markers.


A inspirational poem that I like to be reminded of on a daily basis.

My credit card holder with some keep safe cards from other people. Save the date card, my driving instructors business card etc.


A few of my favourite poems
Along with some magazine cuttings


My personal goals when I see them everyday I keep them in mind and it helps me to stay focused.


A beautiful poem by E.E Cummings I Carry your heart - I absolutely love this poem!


Another poem ( As you can probably tell I love poetry) this poem is by Catherine Pulsifer and it's called Today you can. Its a very motivational poem that reminds us every day we make the choices we want and determine the outcome. Very positive and uplifting!
The second page is my divider which came with from FF I have just customised it as I find they are very plain and boring! This section is for everything positive. I am starting a happiness project which I intend to follow through with my Malden.

The next section is my Plans Divider, again all my dividers are from Filofax and are just the plain tabbed ones. I customised them with sticky notes to which I just put sellotape around them to give them that laminated feel. It works for me and adds a bit of colour in the process.

In this section I plan to add all the things I want to do and the places I want to visit.


This is my writing section, which includes my journal, character creations and various bits and bobs to do with my writing.


My work section, this section includes all of my ongoing/future projects. Any work related incidents I need to keep note of for meetings, reviews etc.


This is my Ideas section and is very random, usually I find myself daydreaming about ideas for work, new business ideas etc so I decided to keep a note of them as and when they crop up. You never know when they may come in handy!


Lastly my Misc tab, this includes anything from recipes I want to try to my shopping lists. Anything that doesn't fit in with my other tabs really.


I then have my diary section with the week on two pages along with the black FF ruler which came with my Malden. I like this layout and at the moment it is working for me, the only thing I dislike is Saturday and Sunday have limited space as I work on weekends I find my weekends are more busier in my diary. For now I am managing with a to do list in between each diary page. This gives me the extra room that I need, I was going to buy the day per page diary but felt the lines were very restricting. Filofax please give us blank day per page inserts!!


After my diary section I have my vertical planner which I like because I can have a quick glance over the year to see any important events. Then I have the coloured paper and the address pages which at the moment I don't use but maybe in the future I will. The A-Z dividers you get for the address section have always been an eye sore for me. I personally cut off the letters on the dividers and add my own with my sticky notes as above. This gives me extra dividers should I need them.

At the back of my Malden I have my sealed envelope which holds my Me to you and forever friends stickers. As these have a 3D effect with the foam they are quite bulky, I separated them with my other flat stickers which are stored in the back pocket of my Malden.





So this is my layout of my beautiful Malden, I am in total utter love with it! The leather is so soft and lovely to touch. It is also very flexible so you can add as much as you want and it handles the bulk very well without any damage to the leather. I would like to apologise for the quality of the photos you can't see what each page offers but I will make a Youtube video soon and add the link so everyone can see the photos better.






I'm interested in every ones opinion about Filofaxes and how they organise theirs so feel free to leave me a comment.

Much love to all the FF fans!!

16 comments:

  1. Love this post, it is so pretty and has reminded me that I need to get some nice poems into my happiness binder, before it thinks I have completely forgotten about it. :o)

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    1. Thank you for your comment I'm pleased you have been inspired, do post it on your blog once you've done I'd love to check it out

      Best Wishes

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    2. Hi Ashleigh - I haven't done anything more to my happiness binder yet, but some of the stationery has now arrived if you want to check it out http://ljsblogofstuff.blogspot.com/2012/05/hauls-galore.html - not that I'm excited or anything :o)

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    3. Hi Lyndsay just checked out your blog and left you a comment - so jealous right now! haha have a lovely holiday :D x

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    4. The rest of the haul is now home & blogged - I am a very lucky girl!!! Looking forward to the weekend :o)

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  2. Really beautiful and thoughtful FF! And this jumped out at me as I feel the same, "his gives me the extra room that I need, I was going to buy the day per page diary but felt the lines were very restricting. Filofax please give us blank day per page inserts!!"

    Thank you for your post.

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    1. Thank you for comment Nancy i'm so pleased someone else agrees with me! Perhaps we could get the Philofaxy members behind us then FF would have to grant us our request :)

      All my love

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    2. Nancy you can just use blank paper trimmed & punch to fit, and either write or stamp the date at the top. Voila - day per page insert! I like to use grid paper for this sometimes.

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  3. Love what you have done Ashleigh, it looks great, great blog post, and thanks for your help over on filofaxy :) x

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  4. Thank you for your kind words Alison I wish u all the luck with your therapy I really hope it works out for you :) x

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  5. Awaesome blog hun. I saw your video on Philofaxy and was drawn to your accent to be honest, do you happen to live in the NE of England (Im from there, which made me think your accent sounded familiar.)

    I have two personal Maldens in Ochre and Red and I adore them, recently switched to personal Holburn, it is a beaut, I think most Malden fans will love this one. Hoping to get to Newcastle on Tuesday to buy either a A5 Holburn or A5 Malden, bin after the Malden A5 forever now....just hope I can find one!

    Gail x

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    1. Hi Gail, thanks very much for your lovely comment! Yeah I'm just outside of Newcastle hun in Northumberland are you close? how do u find the ochre leather? I've had mixed feedback but I really love the look of it!? do u find it scratches easily? where do u shop in Newcastle for your Filofaxes I usually find waterstones in silverlink have the widest range but they are quite expensive :( Ash x

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  6. I live just outside of Durham, Newcastle is about 28 miles from me, but it's the best place to get Filofax's from. I go to The Pen Shop in Eldon Square, they have a nice little range in, also WHSmiths have them but they only have the boxes on the shelves so you can't actually get a good look. John Lewis in Eldon Square used to have a great range, but they have reduced it a little, but still pretty good and you can view them too. I have never been to Silverlink, do they have many to choose from? I think I will go there tomorrow! lol

    I love the Ochre, it looks and feels fab, I kept my personal one in the bottom of my handbag for months and it never got any scratches to it.

    Gail x

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    1. Aww your not that far :) its nice knowing we have Filofax fans in the North East! Ooh a never thought of checking the pen shop out! Thanks il have a look in there :) yeah that really frustrates me with WHS smith plus they only stock the cheaper models! Did you go to Silverlink? last time I was in they had a few finchleys, Italian models, dominos the classic and a few more. Never seen a Malden stocked yet! I wish we had a Filofax store! Well I'm going to buy every size in the Malden range I just love them and can't settle with any other Filofax so I'll get one in ochre thank you Ash x

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  7. Yes I went to Silverlink, was quite chuffed to go through the new Tyne tunnel (always loved it as a little girl lol). I didn't get anything though as there was no A5 Maldens in Stock.

    The Pen Shop stocks the more expensive Filofax, but it's nice to have the choice to choose the more classier ones. I got my Personal Maldens and Holburn there.

    I phoned the The PenShop Headquarters (in Gateshead) and guess what, they had a A5 Ochre Malden in stock and we were passing there at the time, so I ran in and grabbed it. I actually squealed with delight much to my hubbys dismay. lol Then continued on to The Metro Centre and spent a load in paperchase on stickers, post its and those magnetic books markers.

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  8. Hi there, would you be willing to sell this malden? I've been searching for a vintage pink malden for months!

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