My Posting Schedule and My Planner for December and Next Year

Tags

boho berry, bullet journal, leuchtturm, ryder carroll

Hi everyone hope you are all having a lovely weekend. I was hoping to resume my pre-move posting schedule, but as you have seen that has not happened. My back has been giving me trouble since the September Labour Day Weekend and this week I wrenched it mightily which did not help. I find when I am in a lot of pain my focus is very narrow; I go to work and get only the essentials done at home. My amazing husband is keeping the house running while I concentrate on chiropractic appointments (finally found one I connect with), massage therapy and light exercise. This weekend I spent the majority of Saturday in a medical clinic waiting to see a doctor about pain medication. I shall put regular blog posts as one of my New Year’s Resolutions.

Anyway, onto more fun stuff, like what planner I will be using in 2017. It seems everyone is talking about their plans so I thought I would share mine. I’ve been using my A5 Filofax Finsbury since July. I’ve had so much to keep track of during the move that I needed the big binder. But things have calmed down somewhat, most of the To Dos are checked off, and I thought this month might be the perfect time to try out a Bullet Journal.

I last wrote about Bullet Journaling in July of 2014 and I’ve been watching YouTube videos about this system ever since. I like the simplicity of it; I find the A5 Finsbury big and bulky to lug around. So this afternoon I took a couple of hours and wrote some notes in my journal about Bullet Journaling. I watched videos from BohoBerry and Ryder Carroll and decided to tackle my own.

Ryder says to commit to the system for at least two months to determine if it works for you, so I decided to start with a Leuchtturm Jottbook, something small to start off with.

The squared option is best, because with Bullet Journaling you are essentially making lists, of tasks, events and notes. This is much easier to do if the squares are already there for you.

Luckily the Leuchtturm notebooks come with a Contents page (which I am using as my Index) and the pages are numbered. Perfect for mapping out the Future Log, Monthly Log and Daily Log.

I’m starting my Bullet Journal in December 2016 so my Future Log starts with January 2017. I chose the 6 month layout. I only had to draw two straight lines – easy!

Here are some future tasks I wanted to make note of. You can see I am using the standard Bullet Journal legend: a dot for tasks, a dash for notes, and a circle for events. Well I hope you can see it; the photos didn’t seem so dark when I was editing them. Sorry about that!

Here is the Monthly Log page. I covered up some personal events. Ryder says to be super brief here, so if you have more than one thing happening on a given day you can fit it all in on the one line. And I see that I put a circle by Christmas but forgot the circle by New Years.

If you want a day or event or task to have priority Ryder suggests adding an asterisk to the left of the symbol. Be sure to leave space on the left margin for such signifiers: an asterisk denotes priority, an exclamation point denotes inspiration, and an eye denotes exploration, meaning that idea or tasks needs further research.

December is a busy month, and so far my tasks all have to do with Christmas! The task list goes on the opposite page to the Monthly Log.

And here is my Daily Log. It is suggested not to plan the days ahead; do that on your monthly log or future log. This space should be free form in that you never know how much space you might need for a particular day. And this space isn’t just for tasks; record whatever you want, from ideas to the weather. This was my To Do list for today and I only have one thing left. Notice I didn’t write down blog post! But I will now, and mark it done, using an X. To change the status of a task, X denotes complete, > denotes migrated to the next month’s log, and < denotes migrated to the future log. You wouldn’t start the migration process until the end of the month, when you likely will have your next month’s spread laid out.

Ryder has made provision for tasks and notes that are similar, which you might want to keep together. He suggests putting these in a Collection spread, in the next blank spread available. This could be tasks for a project or a shopping list. As I move through the month I will see what makes sense for me.

And that’s it for my Bullet Journal, at least for now. Boho Berry has some amazing spreads, and there are lots of Bullet Journal examples out there from which to get inspiration. People have added tracker pages for every habit imaginable, along with book, movie and tv show lists. I will revisit my Bullet Journal before the New Year to see how it’s working. Please comment below if any of you use this system, and your thoughts on it. Until next time. 🙂

Avery Mini Binder and Accessories

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avery mini binder

Hello! On a beautiful fall Sunday I am putting a new system together to keep track of my work tasks. In my August 14 post I talked about enlisting a notebook to help me keep track of work tasks. And it has worked somewhat but not perfectly. I find I have tasks that have many stages to them, if that makes sense, and I need to know what stage each task has achieved. So I found myself thinking of a binder system, like my ARC notebooks or my William Hannah notebook, so that I could organize the pages and move things around as needed. Currently I cannot find my ARC notebooks (still buried in a box somewhere) and my William Hannah notebook is not going out of the house. I am obsessed with keeping it pristine and beautiful for my personal journaling. So I resigned myself to the hunt for my ARC notebooks. But before I could find them I came across an Avery Mini Binder in green, with some accessories, that I purchased at WalMart a few weeks ago and forgot about. And I think it will work perfectly!!

I had heard about these mini binders first from the Pen Pixie on YouTube but only saw them in real life recently. I can’t remember the exact price I paid but you can find them on Amazon, Staples and WalMart.

I bought the green binder; on Staples’ website it is “chartreuse”. It is 1″ thick, with 1″ rings, of which there are 3. It measures 5.5″ x 8.5″. I’ve seen black, white, blue and purple binders on the Staples site.

One of the great features of these binders is how flat they lay when open. Very comfortable to write on either side of the paper, despite the rings.

Lots of accessories with these binders. I bought, from right, Sheet Protectors, Filler Paper, Insertable Dividers and Binder Pockets. On Amazon there are A-Z dividers and calendar pages available as well. This system could give Filofax a run for their money as a planner system! Speaking of Filofax, these pages do not fit into my current planner, my Finsbury. But I could not check them in my Franklin Covey planner, as it is still packed away.

Helpful printing instructions are included with the tabbed dividers. I just wrote on mine but it’s nice that they included these.

I think this will work better for my needs, as I can organize my notes and keep my tasks separate. Right now they are all jumbled together. So I will spend the next couple of hours going through my faithful notebook and transferring tasks and notes to this new binder. I must go put the kettle on. Happy planning!

Back to Basics and a Look Book

Tags

bookblock.com, lg pocket photo printer, look book, staples optiflow, writing

Hello my friends! This week I was reminded of some basic truths about being organized and focused: write stuff down. As I’ve mentioned my new job is challenging; there are a lot more things to keep track of and I have at least three times the amount of email to wade through. I tried using the Task feature in Outlook but I found that when I got super busy I ignored it. Then I tried creating an Excel spreadsheet but found the same thing: when busy I felt I didn’t have time to type up the task. And too often I was missing critical things in my email. So I grabbed one of my journals (the alphabet notebook discussed in this post) and on the bus on the way to work did a brain dump of all the things I could think of that needed to be done in the office. I didn’t stop until the bottom of page 2. And once I was done it felt great! So much lighter. And throughout the work day I could focus on one thing on the list at a time. I highlighted the ones that needed to be done right away. And marking them off as they were completed was awesome! Such a simple concept but so powerful. We have blank books at work for notes and such but I thought using one of my own would make me more invested and it seems to be working. Hurray!

Another area where I needed focus and organization was picking out furniture for our new house. We sold or gave away most of our furniture before the move. Seems pretty straightforward but we have a limited budget and I wanted to make sure we spent the money wisely. So we started looking at furniture in different places: Pier 1, Wicker Emporium, Structube, Bombay Company. I took pictures of pieces that appealed to us. I made notes of what we agreed upon, what we loved, hated, were indifferent to. I had lots of photos on my phone and wanted to transfer them to a notebook where I could make notes. So I created what I call a Look Book.

I chose one of the Bookblock Original notebooks (blank pages) and got my LG Pocket Photo Printer out. Remember that gadget? It still works great. I love how small but clear the pictures are. Perfect for my journal. In the picture above I’ve created a simple index on the left and pasted my pictures on the right. I can then put model numbers and dimensions next to the photo, as well as where we found it and how much it was. A great way to compare prices and the photos really jog the memory.

Here you can see in closer detail the notes I’ve made about a certain piece. After viewing the piece in person I would look it up on the internet for the specifications, as well as any other pieces available in that line. I like furniture that matches!

I used a black Staples OPtiFlow pen.

Here’s a bunch of photos from another store, ready to place in my Look Book. I even printed a couple of photos of the cats, which will go in my regular journal. Love that little pocket printer!

You don’t have to start a separate journal for a project such as this; I could have added these pages to my regular daily journal. But I wanted to keep these separate because I don’t know how long it will take us to a) find all the furniture we need and b) agree on what to purchase! It’s also a nice keepsake of one of the many house projects David and I will undertake together. How wonderful to be able to look back on the process a year from now, or 10 years from now.

Update: we went shopping in yet another furniture store yesterday (Ashley Furniture) and bought furniture for the TV room, kitchen and dining room. Because we had already done some research I think it was easier for us to pick a style we liked and to know that the price we paid was a fair one. Of course we had to order everything so having the Look Book will help us greatly as we continue the search for furniture and accessories for other rooms, so we can keep the general style consistent throughout each room.

Just one more great use for your journal!

Saying Good-Bye to World Mail Panel Postal Surveys

Tags

leuchtturm, world mail panel

Back in March of 2014 I started processing postal surveys for World-Mail-Panel.com. I received letters from all over the world and recorded details about them on the website. I returned electronic transponders to their offices in Germany. I filled two Leuchtturm jottbooks (one small, one large) with the details and the stamps from all over the world.

The small purple jottbook that started it all.

In February of 2015 I finished the first notebook and moved into an A5 jottbook.

And then in November of 2015 they asked me to start sending letters as well as continuing to receive them. I agreed and a new notebook was needed.

Once again I turned to a Leuchtturm but an actual notebook this time, with the elastic closure and pocket in the back. However I quickly found that it wasn’t needed; for Letters Sent I only had to keep records for a week, whereas for the Letters Received I had to keep those for three months.

The really fun part was looking at all the stamps from around the world.

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And I made some money doing all this! They paid me around $15 Cdn per month to receive the letters and that increased to around $20 when I started sending letters. Since I joined I have redeemed just under $500 in gift certificates for Amazon and credits for my PayPal account. They also offer occasional bonuses based on participation.

All of this coming to an end soon. 😦 I notified them in April that I would be moving to a new province, and unfortunately they do not require surveys to be conducted in this demographic. I still receive the occasional letter but it has slowed down to a trickle. I am very close to having enough points to redeem $100 in gift certificates. I am sad because this was alot of fun and very interesting. If any of you are interested check them out at world-mail-panel.com.

Maybe someday they will need my services again, and I’ll be ready!

My New Pen and Ink Journal

Tags

arc notebooks, de atramentis, delta journal, ink journal, pen journal, pilot plumix, waterman

I was running out of space in my last Ink Journal so I decided to create a new one. And this time it is housed in a binder instead of an ARC Journal. Lots of room to expand!I chose a plain white binder with a clear pocket on the front. I put in some spare scrapbooking paper. I really like how it turned out.

I used the scrapbook paper as dividers inside the binder as well.

My pen list. I add to it as new pens come in, obviously, and make note when I give a pen away.

And I do the same with the ink list. I generally use my Pilot Plumix to write the lists.

A colourful index. I decided to combined the pens and inks in this section, and simply go alphabetical. So Delta pens and De Atramentis ink will be in the same section: D.

I used puffy alphabet stickers to mark each division. The index goes up to 31 so not sure what I will use the extra sections for yet.

I have quite a few empty page protectors so I’ve filled them with pen and ink “stuff”. Here are the paper booklet, serial number and sleeve from my Delta Journal.

And here I’ve put in some flattened Waterman boxes. Alot easier to store this way and I like seeing the colourful boxes.

So that’s a quick tour of my new pen and ink journal. Saying goodbye to the ARC notebook was sad but I’ve simply outgrown it. I will have to find another use for it because it is one of my favorite in the ARC range. Let me know in the comments how you keep track of your pens and inks.

My Christmas Journal

Tags

celtic colours, christmas, journal prompts, journaling

In my December 9th post I mentioned One Book December and how it has inspired me to start a Christmas Journal. I’ve been working on it and I wanted to share my progress so far.

I did end up using my Celtic Colours journal. I decided to fill up the TWSBI with Waterman Absolute Brown to use as my primary pen for this journal.

Here’s the first page. The paper seems super absorbent because the TWSBI usually puts down a thicker line. But the brown ink looks amazing on the tan paper.

Here’s the contents page and I left an extra blank page for all of the entries. So far I have written about making our traditional tourtiere with my father, exchanging gifts with friends, my family’s Christmas celebration this year, some samples of wrapping paper from the gifts this year, and some Christmas journaling prompts.

I really like this page. I love wrapping paper and in the past I have put pieces in my everyday journals over the Christmas season. So I definitely wanted to capture that in this dedicated Christmas journal. I think it adds some much needed colour to otherwise boring brown pages of writing.

On this page, for the journaling prompts, I decided to change up the ink a little bit, incorporating some red and green.

I’m only up to page 14 and have lots of ideas for this journal. I want to talk about family traditions and treasured memories of past Christmases. I thought I might take photos of my favorite ornaments and paste them in. Even though it would make the journal bulky I might include some favorite Christmas cards too.

I’ve been conscious of having an audience for this journal some day, so there are recipes and observations and facts, details of family celebrations and gifts exchanged. Not a lot of emotion in these pages but that’s ok, I have my every day journal for that. I wanted this book to be a positive memory keeper for myself and for others who might read it down the road. We have so much to be grateful for and I hope my writing reflects that sentiment. Merry Christmas everyone.

My Crystals Journal

Tags

complete crystal handbook, crystals, earthgems, lg pocket photo printer, peter pauper press

I have a small crystal collection, consisting of rocks and minerals that I have purchased or been given. Sometimes the crystals have found me! I’m fascinated by their rumoured magical properties and I have to admit some of them feel very powerful to me.

You can buy them in gift shops and in stores devoted to all things geological. I have pendants, bracelets and key chains. I also have a book called The Complete Crystal Handbook. I have lots of information about them from various sources and I wanted a journal to keep all of that info organized. Today I chose one and got started.

You might recognize this from my post of Oct 18, 2014; my good friend Dawn gave it to me for my birthday last year. When I thought about organizing the information I had been gathering on my crystals, this was the journal I thought of.

No fancy cover page; just the subject of the journal.

I added a Table of Contents although it won’t be in alphabetical order once I start adding to my collection. But at least it will have some organization.

I took pictures of the pieces I own and printed them on my LG Pocket Printer. I also have pictures I printed from my internet research which I will add later.

The purple information card is from a local store, EarthGems, which is a fantastic treasure spot for crystals and stones from all over the world. The rest of the info is what I have read online and in my crystal handbook.

So that’s my Crystals Journal. I feel better knowing my research is contained in one book, which I can read and add to as I learn more. You could apply this method to any field of study you are interested in. It’s another example of a themed journal with practical use.

A Film Journal

Tags

film journal, indigo

We recently watched the film Interstellar, and it was amazing. We kept stopping it to have a conversation about the science and what’s possible in our solar system, etc. I really loved it and I wrote about it in my journal. And it got me thinking, once again, about having a Film Journal with a similar setup as my Reading Journal.

This journal has been sitting on my shelf for a while. It was a gift from a dear friend and I really love it. I’ve been trying to come up with a use for it; I worry when I think about my journals being lonely and needing a purpose. When I started thinking about a film journal this one immediately came to mind.

On the front page I used some letter stickers.

I’ve included a Table of Contents. Short so far but it’s a work in progress. 🙂

Here I will list the movies I see this year, with a date or at least the month in which they were seen. I haven’t decided if I will add further details, like the actors that starred in it, the director, how many stars I would give it, etc. Still ruminating.

I like to keep a running list of movies to put on hold at the library, or to watch for release dates so we can make a point of seeing them in the theatre. I was using various old notebooks but this is better. When we see trailers we often think we want to see it but then forget the title halfway through the feature.

I also added an alphabetical title index at the back, in the same style as in my Reading Journal, but I don’t know how realistic this is. This will fill up a lot faster than my Reading Journal index. And I probably should have left two pages per letter, or even three. Oh well in my excitement I made decisions on layout that may prove to be rash later on. The book is big enough that I can simply start another alphabetical index in another location in the book. That’s what the Table of Contents is for!

This list will occupy the middle part of the journal. This was fun just thinking about movies I saw recently. I will attempt to record all the movies I’ve seen, which is impossible as I won’t remember them all but I can record the ones I do remember. I realize there will be some redundancy throughout the lists but that’s ok. I like being able to organize information in different ways.

How do you record the films you’ve seen, and want to see? Or do you? Let me know in the comments and thanks for reading.