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Monday, May 23, 2011

Be prepared

Lately I'm learning that it's best to be prepared, so if something happens you can hit the ground running.

I think being a parent has caused me to think this way. Before, it didn't really matter if I had a stack of clean towels or at least a half tank of fuel in the car. But now, when my kid is sick in the middle of the night and needs to be driven to the emergency clinic, I damn well better have those things prepared.

As with just about every topic, the idea of preparedness makes me think of planners. And I don't mean just writing your schedule into your planner to feel prepared for your day.

The planner that makes me feel the most prepared is my Filofax.  When my Filofax is updated and in active use, I feel ready for anything. In it I have emergency numbers, contacts, and important information like insurance policies. 

A few weeks ago my daughter was very ill with a very high fever. My thermometer was only in degrees F and I needed to tell the doctor what her temp was in degrees C. My Filofax conversion chart and calculator on the rings gave me the answer in 5 seconds flat.

If there's one planner that has everything I need so that I could walk out the door and be ready for anything, it would be my Filofax.

How does your planner help you feel prepared?


  1. My personal size Malden now fits your description, I'm slowly adding all my info, contacts, appointments and important information to it. Taking a while.. but there's no rush.

  2. Taking a tip from a Philofaxy commenter, I've added a sheet with emergency contact numbers I may need, like my health insurance, home insurance, a locksmith, the emergency vet clinic, etc. I don't generally keep contacts in my Filo, but this one sheet makes me feel a little bit more prepared for adverse circumstances.
    I also added a sheet of numbers for cab companies in the two cities I call home. I could program them all into my phone, but I think it's wiser to have them down on paper. It seems like whenever I need a cab I have to look the numbers up on the web my phone, and call 4 companies before one has less than a 30-minute wait. Now I have everybody listed in one place. How handy!

  3. As "Mom," I need to know where everything is at all times, whether it is that lost left shoe, a reading log for school, or a phone number for the pediatric dermatologist. And while lost things aren't helped much by my Filofax, data (and pictures) are stored and accessible in my personal Malden Filofax.

    And, like Stirwise, while I could rely on my phone to check a number, it is easier to keep a running list of commonly called numbers, data on the children (4 of 'em) and their individual medical quirks and allergies, and another section for basic kid club contact info. I add more sheets as needed to store this information and have it on me while I am at home or away.

    My Malden tracks the information I need and in turn I feel in charge of my life rather the opposite. ;)

  4. Laurie - You are so right! I don't think I even owned a box of bandages before I had kids!

    Most of my planner-ing is done online (because it's required for work), but I print the month out from Outlook and put it in my Filo as a backup. This has saved me from dead-battery, no-service, where's-the-phone emergencies!

    Even though my kids are older now, I still keep a lot of their information handy - names, numbers, reminders - the usual stuff.

    I must say, though, I have scanned more and more things "just in case." The last time Kid #2 was home from college, I clipped a jump drive on her keychain with lots of scanned information. She poo-pooed it at the time, but this has saved the day for her numerous times since.

