Category: Organizing

Biting the bullet…

Posted on by Jo Anne

Over the holiday break, my college student was home, getting herself ready for the upcoming (now in progress) spring semester.  She

Plush Design Studio at Pexels

invested in an Apple Pencil, and used it with her iPad and the app Good Notes.  She had mentioned that she wanted to start bullet journaling, but needed the pencil for school, and so, she took the time to create a digital bullet journal.

The results were beautiful.  I wish I could share some of her pages, but the bottom line was…she inspired me – as my kids most often do.  However I had recently invested in some notebooks, and planner inserts of my own, and couldn’t justify the cost of the Apple Pencil (although it is on my wishlist should I ever find myself in a higher paying job).

So, instead of dropping $99 on the pencil, I dropped about $15 on a few Micron Pigma Pens and a small stencil.  From all the blog posts and tutorials I’ve read, I was becoming overwhelmed.  So many options, and so much to choose from.  But one underlying message held true from all the bloggers.  Use a practice journal, expect mistakes, keep it simple and add embellishment later.

And so I have.  I found that a notebook I purchased last year for actual note-taking, was the perfect option to be a practice journal.  I started by making a list of the different types of pages (Index, Future Log, Monthly, Weekly, Daily, Collection) and determining what I needed to do first.  As any good bullet journaling blogger will tell you, take it slow.

So I started with an Index page.  This is my first page, and will allow me to update regularly.  My second page is titled the Key.  I expect to use this for note-taking symbols (To do, Complete, Migrating, Cancelled), but at the moment, all it has is a title. Next is a Future Log.  This has all the upcoming important dates for the next 6 months.  I don’t know if the journal will last six months, or nine, or twelve, but we’ll start with six.  Lastly, I started outlining a 90-day goals spread.  This includes a personal goal and a business goal, and Pampered Chef is the business on which I am focusing.

I haven’t fully fleshed out this 90-goals spread, but I hope to update this blog, weekly, with how my bullet journal is progressing.

Anyway, I have kept it to pencil.  There has been no ink, no color added.  I used one stencil for the Future Log.  But beyond that, it’s pretty simple.

New Year, New Post, Fluff and Accountability

Posted on by Jo Anne
Pixabay at Pexels

Happy New Year!

As is common this time of year, blog posts abound where wannabe bloggers such as myself write a post that indicates that said blogger will be more prolific in the new year, write more, do more, whatever goals they may have.  Every year, I try not to write a post like this because they seem so, well, cliche.

Then I was listening to an interview.  The topic was brought up, and the interviewee (I can’t remember who it was) mentioned that it was done more for accountability.  This struck me as quite eye-opening.  People use blogs as journals, or diaries of sorts.

So, for accountability’s sake, let me tell you what the new year brings for me.

My Pampered Chef business.  I am on the verge of reaching a sales milestone – and hopefully I will reach it this month.  So, as much for accountability as for sales, if you’d like to be a part of this, let me know if there is anything you are interested in learning more about, or if you’d like to host a party, or, better yet, if you’d like to join my team.  One of the goals I have for this business is to build a strong team this year.

Bich Tran at Pexels

Bullet journaling.  Have you heard of this?  I had heard of it randomly, and then over Christmas, my daughter mentioned it.  She picked up an Apple Pencil to use with her iPad, and created her own digital bullet journal.  I’d love to do that as well, but since I had all these tools on hand to have a hard copy journal, I felt that saving a little money would be to my benefit.  If I am lucky, I will be documenting my experience with bullet journaling here on my blog.

Getting healthy.  Last year, I joined a gym.  I was inconsistent in my attendance, at best.  I do hope to be more consistent this year.  The coaches at my gym are awesome!

As part of my “get healthy” plan, I am taking on a 30 day nutrition challenge with my middle daughter.  We will be eating healthier, and cleansing ourselves of all sorts of bad things.  This is more of a plan to learn to eat healthier (very similar to the Whole30 I did a few years ago) and less of a weight loss regimen.  Assuming I maintain consistency at the gym, and learn healthier eating habits, a little bit of weight loss should come with the territory.  I won’t complain about that.

How can you tell where you’re going, if you have no idea where you’ve been?

Posted on by Jo Anne

So every day I think of new lists, and creative ways to organize and clean.  Let me tell you something.  Each and every single one has merit.  And each and every single one is pure crap.

Growing up, my room was always neat and tidy.  This is because I had a mother who wouldn’t let me go hang out with my friends, until it was neat and tidy.  If that meant I didn’t go to the mall with my friends, it meant I didn’t go to the mall with my friends.  It wasn’t a “grounding” or a punishment of any kind.  It is just how life was.  And if there were other chores that needed doing, they were done before going off to find my friends as well.

The other thing that was different about back than – and we’re talking over 30 years ago – is that when I finished cleaning my room, or doing my chores, I could jump on my bike and ride to meet up with my friends wherever they were – as long as they weren’t at the movies or the mall.  And it was always easy.  Because we did things like pickup games of softball or soccer.  We played games like tag, or kick the can.  Or we went to hang out at the pizza parlor (yes, I called it a pizza parlor where I grew up, what’s it to ya?)  and then shop at the sticker store, or the candy store.

Today, I am so busy getting my kids to dance, gymnastics, soccer, and school, not to mention being involved in parent organizations related to these activities – plus not being able to say “no” to organizations the kids are no longer active in, that when I come home, the last thing I want to do is clean and tidy my home.  It certainly doesn’t mean I don’t want to have a clean and tidy home, it just means I am really, really tired.  And in the mornings, while I’d love to have the kids “do their chores” before going anywhere, they are so scheduled that it is impossible to enforce.  I’m driving one to an activity while the other is home.  I get home and I have to take the other some place.  There really is no rest for the weary.  

But I am determined.  I live in a small house…under 1100 square feet.  I have a husband, an almost 15-year old, a 13-year old and a 9-year old.  Those three are all girls.  We have a 13 -year old cat, and a 6-year old dog.  She is part husky, part golden, so she’s pretty big.  Oh, and did I mention, we have ONE bathroom?

So I have been reading “the life-changing magic of tidying up: the Japanese art of decluttering and organizing” by Marie Kondo.  This book was originally recommended by my mother, who would have purchased it for me, but didn’t want to offend me.  I ended up buying it myself.  I’m still reading it.

The way I know that I have it in my to be clean and tidied and yes, organized, is that I was.  Years ago.  It’s like gaining and losing weight.  Neither happens overnight, so the reverse cannot possibly happen overnight.  The same is true for being oranized and tidy.  It won’t happen overnight.  It is a process.  And everything you do is related.

Time.  Space.  Work. Life. You hear a lot about work-life balance.  I am in the process of finding and keeping it.  Right now, for me, work is making my home liveable; learning to manage my time and space.  I started with a planner.  About a year ago.  I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

What is a beatnik, and what does it have to do with being a neatnik?

Posted on by Jo Anne

According to definition 2 on Dictionary.com, a beatnik is someone who rejects or avoids conventional dress, behavior, etc.  I consider myself a beatnik only in the sense of organization and tidiness.

I have spent years trying to manage my time, and my spaces – I have multiple spaces.  I’ve purchased planners, and systems, and all sorts of tricks to get myself in order.  I was recently inspired by my friend AZ (I might have to call her Arizona from here on out since her initials represent the state), and have taken to using my Plum Paper Planner again.  I’m determined to make it work.

Additionally, I am in the process of getting all aspects of my life in order.  I am bettering myself in the hopes of finding work, and I am hoping that this blog will serve to help me do that.  Join me on this journey.  It’s going to be a bumpy ride!!!

In other words, I am anxious to be a neatnik.  But I am getting there in an unconventional way.