Wouldn't a collaboration between Filofax and Cath Kidston be great....

I love Cath Kidston style, especially the red dotty look or the roses on a dark background. And her large zip purses are very useable; so big they take every card I own and slim enough to slide in most handbags. I got mine last summer and, barring a short interlude in a small Radley purse when I was having a Radley phase, I have used it pretty constantly since.
But now... well, I had Bette taking up space in my bag, and when I had a smaller bag I was paperless, no notes, no diary. But carrying a smaller (pocket) FF and a purse just seemed so.... extraneous. I needed a cross over. I needed a Filofax purse system that would work.

Using a Filofax as a purse is a popular idea.... Cat tried it, Jarfm got a Journey which could be one, and even Steve admits to swapping between styles in search of the answer but it is very hard. Proper Filofaxes just don't have the coin space, but can hack the cards and so many are not available in red (I have a red thing going on) but when I saw this on Rapunzel's World, I wondered if I had found a possible solution.

City Organiser had Pennybridges in Red, and with 10% off thanks to Philofaxy (Thank you, people) the price plus postage came to about £30. About the price of a good mid range purse, then. Of course, it's not leather, but leather-look, and that means there is no gorgeous smell. I can live with that, of course. My Cath Kidston purse isn't leather either.  And I had fun setting it up.

The purse section is made from fabric; it's light weight but quite strong

I still mostly intend to take my large Filofax around with me, and to use this as a purse with paper, rather than a Filofax with my life in it, so sorting out what was and wasn't an absolute necessity took most time.
I have three dividers; Lists, to Do and Finance. They're made like my A5 dividers, but using a lovely Vanessa Arbuthnott scrapbooking paper.

 The tabs are on the top to leave space at the side for a pen. I had a small Filofax silver pen but it was too chunky in the hand and I wanted a degree of erasability. I tried a frixion after all the positive views and, although it worked and I liked the idea, had to reject it as too long. I currently have a red flippy pencil thingy but no rubber. I'm working on it. I think I need to find a pencil with tip eraser I like and sharpen it to oblivion. Just the job for a quiet evening in watching Borgen on re-run.

I always find today, thanks to my coordinating marker

I have three months of page per view calendar and a vertical year planner. Between the two, that's enough to capture any dates while I'm out. And my page marker is made from the waste strip of the paper.

The Back pocket carries a lot of stuff

There are 8 full length credit card pockets and a vertical back pocket, enough to do justice to anyone's collection of cards. My Costa and Starbucks card, a small pile of cute post-it notes, stamps and stickers are all there. I have an additional credit card insert which holds loyalty cards and a library card.
The coin pocket is not gussetted but holds an adequate amount of change. I try to keep it pretty clear so I empty my small change out to put in a jar every two or three days.

Saving on space? Yes, by a few centimetres

It's been three weeks so far and so far so good, the purse works. You can see it is actually smaller than my CK purse, so my bag and back are happy. I wish it was leather, but I guess that's just me being spoilt and if it had been leather I wouldn't have been able to justify the expense.
It's not too big to pull out when I need to, not too small to fit everything in without being over-packed. As a purse solution for someone who has a Filofax as well, it works ok.

Pennybridge to left; Bette to the right.

But how lovely would it be if FF and CK got together and had a child? A rose covered Pennybridge with dotty fabric pockets inside? A navy stripe with ditsy flower print? And all in PVC and all retailing at less that £30? Could that not reinvigorate a brand and introduce the concept to a whole new generation of pretty-loving things? As well as making Christmas infinitely easier for my shop-hating Hubby? I'll have the British Birds in Black with the red dot lining, please. Or Royal Stan