Welcome to my second installment of My Productivity Playlist aka Whistle While You Work 2.0! Many of you told me that you liked the first installment of this series, and I’m seriously thinking this may become a monthly series that I do because I like it as well! I love music and my tastes are so all over the place that I think I may really have something for everyone! Well, this time around, I got smart and realized that you can actually make sharable playlists via Spotify and I could then go ahead and share those playlists with you so that you can actually listen to the music I am suggesting for you. Novel, ain’t it?
So this is what you will hear on My Productivity Playlist this month. Click here for Spotify playlist! Also, if you have Spotify, feel free to follow me!
I have a lot of female role models that I love to read and learn about. What is their secret to success? How can I be more like them? What’s the magic formula that they have harnessed to make their lives so productive and interesting? Wouldn’t we all like to know? The truth is, as much as I look to other women, these role models for inspiration, I know deep down in my heart, that it really is just simple hard work that brings you from average to extraordinary. It’s all about the doing, making things happen and having the follow through to see a project from start to finish! You may be familiar with this popular quote seen all over the internet lately “You Have the Same Hours in a Day as Beyonce!” Yes, we all do, so it’s all about how you spend that time and making every minute count. So here it is, the not so secret 7 Habits of Highly Productive Women!
1. Exit bed as soon as you wake: How many times do you wake up in the morning and just lay around in bed playing on your phone or trying to catch a few extra minutes of sleep? I know I am very guilty of this one, but the truth is, when we wake up in the morning, it’s very important that we don’t waste those precious early moments. Get out of bed immediately to wake yourself up and just start your day without delay!
2. Read first & last thing everyday: The most productive women in the world all have something major in common. They are all readers. More specifically, they are all constant learners who read anything from the daily news, to industry updates, to popular literature on a constant basis. When you start to prioritize this sort of important knowledge, you begin to sharpen your edge and boost your personal productivity. For some, it can be a challenge, but give yourself a goal of reading something, even a short news story or a chapter of a book first thing in the morning and last thing before bed!
3. Drink plenty of water: Hydration really does play a major part in our overall wellbeing throughout the day. When I haven’t had a drink of water after a few hours I begin to lag and feel myself drying up, not just physically but physiologically! Although we are often told to drink 8-10 glasses of water a day, that is actually not a precise figure. To figure out how many ounces of water you need per day, take your body weight and divide it in half. That is how many ounces of water you need! So, get yourself a large water bottle or tumbler, keep it with you all day long and feel the energy and productivity boost a simple element like water can bring to your day!
4. Focus on one thing at a time: Although most women would consider themselves professional multi-taskers, when it comes to being productive, it’s actually better for you to focus on one thing at a time. Yes, we all have a lot on our plates, and yes, we will need to move between multiple different tasks and projects throughout our days, not just for work, but for many of us, home and personal obligations as well. But, when you go to complete a task or series or tasks, it’s much better if you onto do one thing at a time. This is precisely why I prefer to batch my work, taking care of all my calls at one time, my emails at one time, and doing certain receptive tasks in bulk, instead of moving from one thing to another more frequently. Give it a try to see how your productivity improves!
5. Recharge regularly: I think there is a major misconception out there that in order to be productive, you need to be focused on work. It’s all work, work, work, right? No time to dilly dally! Well, that’s not exactly true. You can’t expect to carry on non-stop forever, that would be a disaster, which is why it is so important to take time off and recharge your batteries. Throughout a busy work day, schedule in 5-15 minutes every 2 hours or so for you to just take a moment and gather your thoughts. Send a quick text to a loved one, play a quick game on your smartphone or browse a few pages of your favorite magazine, anything that will take your mind off of work and bring a little happiness to your soul. During days off, make sure you really spend a little time resting and relaxing. Go to bed early or schedule some time to sleep in, enjoy the company of friends and family, and just give yourself time and permission to turn off from work. It will do you wonders!
6. Accept criticism gracefully and move on: Everyone faces criticism, that’s a fact! And the truth is, the higher you rise the more criticism you are gonna get because more people are going to be aware of you and your work. Is that any reason to stop what you’re doing or spend hours of your precious time worrying about what other people are going to think? No way! The most productive women in the world face terrible criticism each and every day and they just smile through it and move on.
7. Prioritize you: As women, we are often lured into something of a mart complex, a sense that we need to put everyone else above ourselves in order to be successful and productive members of society. Let’s be honest, we all know women like this, or are ourselves striving for this delusional ideal that a women needs to be everything to all people, a wife, a mother, an employee, a student, you name it, we have to become it! With all that time spent focusing on the external elements of our lives, we often find that we put ourselves last. Unfortunately, this leads to some devastating developments for women, health-wise especially! We need to stop perpetuating this notion that women must do it all in order to have it all, so that we can start putting ourselves first! I’ve written about this before, but one of my favorite examples of why it is important to put yourself first, comes inside a little safety pamphlet found in each and every airplane. You’ve heard the phrase before, “secure your own mask first before attempting to help others.” That’s right, in the event of an emergency during air travel, you are directed to make sure you have taken care of your own safety before attempting to help those around you. Why? Because if you aren’t taken care of, how in the world can you be expected to take care of others? It’s common sense. So, seriously, start putting yourself and your needs first! Make sure you do all those little seemingly insignificant things that help support your well-being, because in the end, all those little things add up to something very, very important!
If you remember, last September I challenged myself not to make any frivolous purchases for the whole month! It was actually a pretty successful endeavor for me, and to help keep my readers inspired to save their hard-earned dollars along with me, I spent the month writing about various money-saving techniques, tips and tricks! Well, fast forward a year and here I am this September doing an awfully bad job at saving money. So, I thought to give myself a little reminder of all the ways I should be saving my money instead of wasting it, I would do a quick little flashback of some of my favorite posts from that series! If you remember these posts, hopefully this will be a nice refresher for you to get your butt in gear and into money-saving mode, and if you missed it last year, hopefully this will give you a little inspiration to poke around these posts and learn some money-saving hacks!
One of my first posts from the Commercial Detox series last year was one of my most popular! It was my first installment of my Starbucks @ Home DIY coffee recipes, a delicious Salted Caramel Mocha! So, if you have a Starbucks addiction that is costing you too much, you may want to give this recipe a try!
Although I am not normally a big clothing shopper, especially now that I work from home, I have been addicted to the boutique clothing site Jane.com for the past few months and just can’t say no to some of their amazing deals. Sales or no sales, however, I really need to reel it in when it comes to my spending on clothing because I know I already have too many items in my wardrobe! So, I think I will have to plan a day this month to clean out my closet using the tips from my Rediscover Your Wardrobe post! If you are a clothing hoarder, you may want to start with this one!
Entertainment is another area that I often find myself spending too much money on! With one-click purchases enabled on my iTunes and Amazon accounts, it often seems too easy for me to buy a book or rent a movie on my devices! So, if you are an entertainment junkie and over spender, you may want to check out Finding Free Books and From Cable to Netflix! Oh and if you already have a Netflix subscription, don’t forget to check out my list of YouTube Series’ Worth Watching!
Last but certainly not least, I know I have a bunch of readers who are #plannernerds just like me! Did you know I created some custom project planning pages and made them available for download FREE on my blog? Yep, here is the link in case you missed it the first time around! You could even use these project planning pages to help you track a personal financial goal, smart eh? And if you are stuck with the basics of budgeting, don’t worry, I have that covered too! Happy Planning and Money Saving!
I hope this little blast from the past helped to inspire you to say NO to your frivolous spending habits! I know from time to time I need a reminder too! Oh, and of course, there were many more posts in my Commercial Detox series, so if you want to read them all, go ahead and click here! Tell me what you think of the series and let me know if you need any other more specific money-saving advice by sending me a tweet!
As you may already know, back in July I purchased my first DSLR camera, then of course, being the internet loving, tech savvy chic I am, I went straight to the internet to learn everything I could about photography! Now, to be completely honest, although I had never owned a DSLR before, I did know quite a bit about photography from studying the subject in college as part of my Art History major and just being a general photography geek for years. But, being a photography geek with a new DSLR, I just had to immerse myself with as much information as possible, and let me tell you, it was like being swallowed whole by a leviathan! There is a lot of information out there on the web about photography, and it ain’t all pretty. Worst of all, there isn’t much out there geared towards helping bloggers or even Instagram enthusiast take better pictures. So, being a blogger, such as I am, I thought to myself that it may be helpful if I actually went ahead and shared the information I learned with my readers.
So, the first topic I want to tackle is my all time favorite photography subject: Bokeh!
What is Bokeh?
It’s just a term used in photography to describe the quality of the out of focus elements of a picture. Literally, it comes from the Japanese word ‘boke’, which means ‘blur’ or ‘haze’. If you have ever seen a picture with those little balls of light in the background, that is like the epitome of the word, but bokeh is so much more than great balls of light! So, if you would like to learn more about bokeh and how to achieve this affect in your own photography, you are in luck because this is going to be a fun little post!
Bokeh is All About Controlling Depth of Field
Notice that only the first pair of glasses on the tray is in focus, and the others are not, creating some nice bokeh balls towards the back of the image.
In order to get a good bokeh effect in your images (yes, there is good and bad bokeh, but we will discuss the difference later) you have to understand one of the major principles of photography, which is depth of field. Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and furthest objects in a scene that appear in focus. You can control depth of field three ways.
Aperture: Apertures of 3.5 or greater (3.5-1.2) normally create desirable blur
Focal Length: A 50mm lens is often considered a standard, but you can make do with other focal lengths thanks to the third point
Distance between the camera and subject (and the subject and the background): You can adjust your focal length by stepping closer to or further from your subject. This will help to create a shallow depth of field, but you should also consider the distance between the subject and the foreground or background that you want out of focus. This is less important when using a DSLR with a good lens, but more important if you have a point and shoot!
Don’t Forget Composition and Light!
The best type of background for a bokehful shot is one that would still be considered attractive even if it was in focus.
The composition of your image is very important when it comes to creating good bokeh. Remember, bokeh refers to the quality of the out of focus elements of the image and to a greater extent, how they interact with the in-focus elements. You may think your background doesn’t matter because it will be blurred out, but things like bright colors, lines or patterns in your background can be distracting even with a blur. The subject is always an important part of any image, and a distracting or overwhelming background can detract from your subject and create a mismatch between subject and background, thus resulting in bad bokeh! Try to think of your blurred background as a way of directing the viewer’s eye towards the subject and in turn, pointing the viewer’s eye from the subject back to the lovely blurred, bokehfull background!
And you also can’t forget the light! When it comes to creating great bokeh and especially bokeh balls, you need light in your image reflecting from your background. It’s a popular tactic in photography to use strings of fairy lights in the background of dark images to create an obvious bokeh ball effect, but you can still get great bokeh balls in broad daylight, as long as there is enough light bouncing off objects in the foreground and/or background of your subject. This is why thinking about your composition will help you find a great shot and create an image with awesome bokeh!
No DSLR, No Problem!
This tilt-shift style image was taken with a Canon point and shoot from the London Eye, illustrating that it is possible to get a beautiful hazy blur from a compact camera!
But what if you don’t have a DSLR? Well, good news! Although point and shoot camera’s don’t give you anywhere near the amount of control a DSLR does, they still have a few features you can use to control the depth of field! Many point and shoots come with various modes for shooting that can help you achieve a bokeh effect. Portrait modes are normally good for this because they expect for there to be a single object or person in focus and then, to help the subject stand out, the background is blurred. You may have to do some work adjusting your distance from the subject and the subject’s distance from other objects in the foreground or background of the scene, but portrait modes are generally a good place to start when trying to get bokeh from a point and shoot. A second feature of a point and shoot you can try is the toy camera or miniature effect. Canon point and shoots are notorious for having this setting, which basically blurs the top and bottom of the image for you, so that only the center plane horizontally is in-focus. This is like an instant bokeh helper because the camera goes ahead and adds a blur for you. A final trick you can try with your point and shoot is to shoot in macro mode. Macro mode is normally used when you are getting very close up to a subject and want to focus on detail, but it can also be used on a point and shoot to help you blur your background. Try taking shots with your macro option turned on and off and see what sort of difference it makes!
Software and Apps
This iPhone shot makes you question whether it was taken with a DSLR because of all the lovely blur and bokeh in the background created by using the Big Lens App.
Now, sometimes it just isn’t possible to get a nice natural bokeh effect from your camera. Either because you don’t have a DSLR with the proper lens to pull off the shot, or because you are working with a point and shoot or smartphone camera that just doesn’t allow you the control you need. So, the only way to get that awesome bokeh affect in your image is through software or apps!
Photoshop is probably the most popular way that even pro photographers edit and post process their images. But you don’t have to be a pro to own the application, and in fact, many photo and design enthusiasts already own this software. So, how can you use Photoshop to help you add bokeh to your photographs? Simple, go ahead and import the desired photo into the program. Use the Quick Selection tool to select the elements in your image that you would like to be out of focus and add a Lens Blur! Lens Blur is the preferred blur to use in Photoshop if you’re looking for a bokeh effect because it mimics the characteristics of a camera lens when creating the blur, so it seems more natural on the photo. You may also want to bump up the levels or brightness of the background as well before you add your lens blur so that you have more light to work with in your image.
For iPhone users, there is a great app that I often use to help me create the illusion of depth of field on my iPhone pics, and that is Big Lens. It’s basically a DSLR app for your iPhone that gives you the ability to select an area of your image to be in focus and then add a blur to the rest of the image. You can control settings like aperture, filter and lens to help you create an image that appears to have been taken with a DSLR!
Now, if big blurry bokeh balls are what you’re after, there are quiet a few apps available that allow you the control to add your own to an image, however, I like the app Bokehful. With this app you can load a photo and add custom colored bokeh balls to an image. One word of caution, however, if you want to go this route of adding artificial bokeh balls, is to make sure the image you are using has some bright spots and out of focus areas to begin with and then add the bokeh balls to those areas. If you don’t you will just be adding balls of fake light to your image and it will be extremely obvious (trust me, I made this mistake a lot in the early days of Instagram)! So, bokehful is definitely an app I would use as a final touch after you brighten up an image and then blur out sections with Big Lens.
Other Bokehlicious Effects
These lovely bokeh hearts were created using the DIY template for bokeh shapes linked below!
You have probably seen quite a few photos on Instagram and Tumbler where the bokeh balls aren’t actually balls, but hearts, stars or some other shape. Ever wonder how that effect is created? Well, there are two ways to add custom bokeh shapes to your images. The first is by using a custom template to cover your camera’s lens to adjust the shape of your camera’s aperture as it takes pictures. I actually found a great video on this topic on YouTube that also includes a link to some free templates you can download and make at home. Or, if you would prefer to purchase a complete die cut kit, you can purchase one here. It’s actually quite a fun little DIY for any DSLR owner, and you can create some fun and interesting portraits and even landscape photos using different designs and shapes for your bokeh!
The second, and probably easiest way to create these custom bokeh shapes is through an app! Again, Bokehful and Big Lens both give you options to adjust the shape of your bokeh, as do many other photo filter and lighting effects apps. You may already have such an app in your collection, or you could check out the apps I suggest!
I hope this has been a helpful and informational post for any bloggers or Instagram addicts out there who are as in love with bokeh as I am! If it was, please go ahead and leave me a message on Instagram or send me a Tweet to let me know what you thoughts! Although photography snobs will often say you need a full frame DSLR with a 50mm 1.2 lens to create the best bokeh, the truth is, even the best camera in the world can’t shoot photos on its own. It’s all about the photographer, their creativity and ingenuity in setting up a scene that will produce a beautiful image. So, make do with what you have and get creative. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box when you have a concept for a great pic! Your Instagram followers will thank you for it! So, what other photography topics can I help you tackle? Any burning questions I can help you address to help your photography reach it’s fullest potential? Let me know!
Summer is unofficially over and now it’s back to school for some and back to work for the rest! Although we have all grown more than a little comfortable with the summer schedule of lazy days, long weekends, vacations, bbq’s and social engagements, one after another, it’s time to get ourselves back in gear! So, how do we transition from the slow pace of summer to the faster rhythmic grind of daily life in the fall? Well, I will tell you how we are not going to do it! We will not be drastically changing our sleep schedules to wake up even earlier and go to bed even later to shove more into our days. We won’t be working excessive overtime, or packing in the appointments, meetings, and too many tasks into our calendars. No, we need a more reasonable, sane way to go about increasing our productivity for a more efficient tomorrow, without sacrificing too much of today!
1. Lay out your clothes, pack your bag and plan your breakfast, lunch, and dinner the night before! One way to have a more productive morning may be setting the alarm clock earlier and actually waking up with enough time to do it all, but a better way around that without sacrificing pillow time is to just take care of some of your morning routine the night before. That way you wake up with a plan, and everything nicely laid out and prepared. So, prep your breakfast, pack your lunch and set up your crock pot and dinner ingredients before bedtime, so that in the morning you can breeze through your tasks with a productive pep in your step!
2. Do a brain dump before bed of all the to-dos and excess items clogging up your head, then ID your top 3 priorities for the next day. You’re never going to be able to sleep right with all that information active in your mind, so write it all down with a pen and paper so you don’t spend half the night awake worrying that you’re going to forget an important task or detail for the next day. Once you have everything out of your head, take another moment to think about tomorrow and which 3 tasks or items are your priorities for the next day. Make sure to write those down, underline and highlight them for reference tomorrow!
3. Pick up your pace in the A.M. So, you got a pretty good night’s rest and you know you have everything laid out and set up to make your morning much, much easier! But that doesn’t mean you get to sleep in an extra 15 minutes, or get to mozy around the house at a leisurely pace! Get up on time and hit the ground running! All those short cuts you gave yourself yesterday were to help you stay organized and productive today, so feel the energy and put your pedal to the metal! You will be twice as fast, and twice as productive if you make a conscious effort to hustle in the morning.
4. Look at your to-do list and tackle the scariest item first! Remember that brain dump list from last night? Now is the time to pull it out and get to work. But don’t start with some whimpy little to-do, instead go for the challenge bright and early. Whatever item on your list is the biggest, most daunting item, that is what you need to start with. Why? Because once its over and done with, everything else is going to feel like a piece of cake and you will breeze through the rest of those tasks like a champ!
5. Batch your work and to-dos on a list, tackling like items together and refer back to your list for your priorities instead of deferring and taking on new items as they come in. You have a lot of work today and chances are, much of that work was a spill over from yesterday or items you already knew about. Make a full to-do list and keep like items together so that you can do them all at once and save yourself time. Have a bunch of calls to make? Dial them one at after another. Have a pile of faxes to send? Take care of all of them at once to cut down on visits to and from the fax machine. And be sure not to start picking up new tasks and completing those ahead of tasks already on your to-do list! Unless something urgent comes up that needs your attention immediately, you can put new tasks as the bottom of the pile or slot them in a batch with other like items, but don’t prioritize them before items that have been outstanding for a longer period of time!
So, those five tips should have you kicking butt and taking names in no time! Remember, being productive isn’t about working more, its about working more efficiently! There are simple things you can do the night before and throughout your day to cut down on the amount of time you spend on your work, making your 8 hour work day as productive as a 10 hour one! It’s all about maximizing your time by strategizing your effort. So, what other tips and tricks do you use to stay productive and efficient? I would love to hear all about your time saving techniques, so feel free to send me a tweet and we can discuss!
Hands down, one of my favorite skin care items is the Caudalie Beauty Elixir! If you’re not familiar, the Beauty Elixir is a facial toner & makeup setting spray made from all naturals ingredients that help to hydrate, moisturize and refresh your skin! Problem is, it will set you back about $50 for a full size bottle, and during the warmer months or during times when my skin is out of control, I can go through that bottle fast! So, I did a bit of research and decided that I would try my hand at creating my own recipe for a DIY facial toner spray that I could make at home for a fraction of the price of Caudalie’s! Here’s what I came up with!
Now, if you would prefer a step by step tutorial, I also made a video showing how I make this elixir so you can watch that in real time! I’ll link it below so you can take a look!
I hope you enjoyed this DIY skin care recipe I cooked up for you guys! I love facial toners and they are easy enough to make at home, but I am always up for hearing your thoughts and recommendations for similar products or alternate ingredients! Send me a tweet and let me know what you thought about this DIY!
I have been wanting a DSLR camera for such a long time! I’m honestly so surprised that it actually took me this long to finally bite the bullet and just buy one, but now I have one and life is picture perfect! Okay, camera puns aside, I am very excited about my new purchase and since it is definitely going to be affecting the blog the most, I thought I should introduce you all to my new toy! Here is my new Canon EOS Rebel T5i… TA DA! Feel free to start throwing confetti on your end of the computer screen!
Now, you might be wondering why I chose this camera and what compelled me to finally make such a large photography purchase. Perhaps you are also a blogger and have been looking for a nice DSLR to help you make the most of your photos as well. That’s pretty much why I decided now was the time to buy. You see, I have been making do with my Canon point and shoot camera for the last few years, and of course my iPhone’s camera as well. Now, however, I feel like with blogging being my full-time career, that I really needed to take my quality up a notch. Once I knew it was time for a DSLR, I knew I would purchase a Canon because I have always owned Canon’s. After looking at the budget I wanted to work within and scouring reviews for different cameras, the T5i seemed to be the best fit for me. Although it is technically a 2013 model, as far as consumer grade DSLRs go, this one is top of the line and checked all the boxes for my needs as a blogger.
Do I think every blogger needs a DSLR camera to take good photos? Heaven’s no! I have said it before and I will say it again, I think it is important for bloggers to make do with that they have and what is in their budget. If a DSLR isn’t in the cards for you, I firmly believe that a decent point and shoot or even your iPhone’s camera can be used to take awesome images for your blog. You may need to do a little more work making sure things like lighting and composition are on point in order to capture the best image possible, but I still know its possible. Heck, I have been doing it for years and I am always complemented on my photos!
So, for me, I am looking forward to using a DSLR, taking what I have learned about styling photographs and images for blog posts and marrying the two together to create some wonderful images for this site! If you would like more details on all the items and accessories I purchased with this camera, like the lens and a very cute camera bag, feel free to take a look at the YouTube video linked below! I did film a haul for all the items I purchased and if you are a blogger looking for the best lens for your DSLR, I talk about the one I purchased and why (Hint, I didn’t bother with a kit lens)! Also, make sure to check out my blog post on Photography Basics to help you take the best photos for your blog, no matter which camera you are using!
I hope you enjoyed this post and this video! Let me know if you use a DSLR, which one you use and which lens you prefer to shoot with. Also if you have any resources that you recommend for beginner DSLR users or any awesome, can’t live without accessories for a DSLR, please let me know in the comments below or feel free to send me a tweet about it!
So, I thought it would be fun if I spiced things up here on the blog and let you guys in on a little more of my personal life, including the music I like to listen to throughout the day. Consider this Whistle While You Work 2.0! Without further ado, here is my first installment of My Productivity Playlist series, five of my favorite songs from various genres that makeup the soundtrack to my work day!
I hope you have enjoyed this first installment of my new feature! Let me know in the comments if you would like me to continue with this series and make sure to send me a tweet letting me know what you like to listen to while you are working!
I have to admit, one of the major benefits of using a digital planning system is that, for the most part, they are easy to back up. Using a calendar or to do app on my iPhone means I can sync with the cloud, have my information on not only my phone but also on my iPads and my laptops as well. If I accidentally delete something in one place, I always have a backup somewhere else. It’s convenient and secure, two very important things that paper planners lack. It’s a critical flaw of Filofax’s and other physical planners, but one that can’t be avoided. It’s paper after all. Paper burns, rips, decomposes if touched by water, and a paper planner can be lost entirely. Even if I lost my iPhone, I wouldn’t have to worry much about my information. Lists would be retrievable, information can be restored and my phone could be instantly whipped of all information if I was concerned about sensitive information getting out (because you know, being an international blogging sensation, I have lots of sensitive and top-secret post information that people are dying to get their hands on… LOL, please note the sarcasm!) Jokes aside, though, you know what I mean! Even though paper planners have their fatal flaws, however, there are some things we old-fashioned analog planner users can do to keep our information backed up, in case any terrible tragedy should strike our organizational companions!
The simplest and easiest way to back up a paper planner or Filofax is through the use of photos on our smartphones. It may be an extra step to take when we make important notes in our planners, but if something were to happen to our planners we would at least have some form of backup for our information. And with the superior quality of smartphone cameras these days, you can capture all the details on a planner page or spread with great clarity in case you need to refer back to it later. Since i use an iPhone, I like to use the app DocScan to back up any important lists or notes in my planner. DocScan is great because it uses the camera on your iPhone to “scan” documents, physical pictures and notes, allowing you to then save the information in a multitude of different formats. Its like having a portable scanner with you at all times! Another popular application, Evernote, does much the same. Evernote is a great note taking application, but it’s also great for storing and saving information via pictures taken on your smartphone! Evernote allows you to synch your notes through the cloud and access them from a variety of different devices, even through the web directly!
So, if you’re concerned about backing up your paper planner or Filofax, give this method a shot! Start getting into the habit of taking a quick pic of your planner pages as you fill them up or make new notes. If you ever, heaven’s forbid, loose your planner or an important page goes missing, at least you have some sort of backup stored away for digital reference.
Ever since I became involved with the Filofax community, I have been asked tons of questions about how to start with a Filofax or similar ring bound planner system! It’s such a complicated question, mostly because the experience of using a Filofax is so highly personalized, which is exactly why I like to use a Filofax over any other sort of planner system. You can set up a Filofax in an uncountable number of ways, whatever suits your needs. I will say, however, that there is a basic process that everyone can use to start themselves off with a new planner, and if you’re thinking about getting a Filofax and want a general idea of how to start personalizing your own experience, this should help!
1. Pick out a planner that suits you:Filofax has a number of planners in a variety of styles and sizes to suit a variety of needs. If you’re not sure where to start off, I would suggest a personal sized planner because it’s the most portable, but if you know you need tons of space to write and don’t have a problem with carrying around a larger planner, go with A5. Once you know what size planner you want, it’s up to you which style and color you choose, whether it be leather or cloth, a bright color or a neutral. That part is entirely up to you and your style!
2. Pick a calendar/diary refill: A new Filofax will come with a calendar/diary insert (different styles come with different layouts, so be sure to check which comes with yours) but if you want a specific layout you may need to buy it separately. There are all sorts of monthly calendars, weekly and even daily layouts available and if you would like the chance to try out one without committing to buying a refill pack, you can always check out the free printable diary refills from Philofaxy! Generally speaking, may people use a combination of a month on two pages calendar with a week on two pages in order to get a monthly view and a weekly view of their schedule, but if you have lots of to-do items that you need to schedule, you may require a day per page or a day in two pages layout! Make sure to check all available options to understand what’s available and how you could make use of each type.
3. Purchase refill scrap paper or to do lists: Like I said, Filofax planners come with a variety of paper already depending on the type of planner you buy, however, I love to find additional pads of paper to use as scrap paper in my planner since refills from Filofax are usually pretty expensive. Once you know the paper dimensions of the planner you are going to use, you can easily find notepads that are compatible with your planner. These may require you to do a little hole punching on your own, but I find the effort is always worth it because you save yourself money and open yourself up to a variety of different paper for your planner. I love scouring the Target dollar bins for paper pads, as they often have ones closely compatible with a personal sized Filofax that I can punch and use in my own planner!
4. Get yourself a nice pen: Technically, you don’t need any sort of fancy pen to use in a Filofax, however, many planner enthusiast prefer to use erasable ink pens in their planners in case they need to remove scheduled events or to do items. The Frixion Pen is a very popular option and comes in a variety of ink colors and pen sizes! I love the .38mm Frixion Slim Pen shown above!
5. Find yourself some decorative sticky notes and cute stationery accents: I love cute sticky notes, page markers and paper clips in my planner, although you can technically use any old stickies and clips! I find that with the variety of affordable decorative stationery available online and in craft and hobby shops, you can really personalize your planner to the next level with very little effort. Cute stationery extras are a simple way to keep yourself motivated to stay organized with a planner, while also playing a functional role in your planner system!
I hope these tips help you to get started with your first Filofax planner system! The sky is the limit with how you can set up your own planner and all the different additions and personalizations you can put into your planner to make it unique and functional for you. If you need more inspiration for starting your first planner, feel free to check out my Filofax and Planner series on my YouTube Channel where I show you my own planner set ups and hauls filled with different stationery and accents I use in my planners!
