Productivity Archives - Page 30 of 35

Zen and the Art of Filofax Maintenance

The thing that will never cease to amaze me about my Filofax, is the sheer size and scope of the community that revolves around planners. Weeks ago, when my curiosity was piqued yet again by Filofax and planner systems, I fell head first down the proverbial rabbit hole which is the universe of Filofax. Worldwide, these planners are a phenomena with endless websites, forums, Pinterest boards, Instagram accounts and even Facebook interest groups, all revolving around the topic of planners! The more I dug into the planners themselves, the array of inserts, accessories and yes, even planner charms (!), the more I felt an uncontrollable urge to join the club. So, I fell in love with a planner, and the rest as they say is history.

Since my planner arrived, and admittedly, even before it shipped, I was knee-deep in these sites and forums learning about the available means to customize my Filofax experience to my own needs and desires. I searched through hundreds (if not thousands) of pictures of Filofax set ups, analyzing how people arranged their tabs, how they set up their “dashboard” and how they decorated their planner. Remember, this isn’t just any leather-bound book filled with scribbles and scraps, this is MY LIFE inside these pages, so it was important that my Filofax reflect me and my tastes!

As my planner itself, I ended up buying the Large 2014 Kikki K Time Planner which is the equivalent of an A5 Filofax. It’s a beautiful mint/aqua color with gold polka dots. What drew me to this planner, other than the beautiful color and design, is that the planner closes via an elastic band which I really liked! I have a problem with planners that close with a zipper or have a button/magnetic closure because I feel like you have to be mindful of what you stuff inside or else the planner won’t close! With this elastic strap, I am confident that my planner will always be secure no matter how thick I stuff it! Now, I also went ahead and purchased some different supplies like stickers, page flags, a new matching pen (the Pilot Coleto 4 color pen in Mint with Black, Aqua, Pink, and Violet ink refills), washi tape, cute post-its, journaling cards, and pretty paper to make some new dividers! I also decided that I was crafty enough to try to create my own custom inserts and since my Kikki K didn’t come with a traditional fly-leaf, I made my own with some screen printed acrylic scrapbook paper! I recently also purchased a A5 6 Hole Punch from a seller overseas, and once that comes in, I won’t have to use my single hole punch that I am currently using! It does the job right now, but lining up the holes is a challenging task that I hope the 6 Hole Punch will simplify for me!

To give you an overview of my Filofax and how I choose to use it, let’s start with the different sections. I have my Filofax broken down by 6 dividers. The first is for my blog because my blog is probably the most important project in my life. I used to keep a loose printed editorial calendar, but now I have moved this into my planner. I use a month on 2 day spread that came with my Kikki K planner because I like the way it looks!

The next section is for my day job, and for this I use a week on two pages spread that came with the planner. Here I am able to list out meetings, events and reminders for work as well as other general life tasks. I also keep a few Expense and Address sheets within this section (marked off by Target page flags) for work!

The third divider is for my Blog Posts and Youtube Videos and those are divided once more by a Project Life card that I punched and inserted between the two sections. Here I list out ideas and keep track of the progress I have made for each with some inserts I designed specifically for this purpose!

The fourth divider is called my “Capture” section, and here I am using some more custom-made inserts that help me keep track of my Thoughts, Wish Lists, Plans and any Information I may need to keep. I love these pages because I have a Date section and can circle the type of note I am entering so I can keep a variety of info in this section without it feeling out-of-place! This section also has another vertical divider that I got from Project Life and cut to size for my planner. It separates my custom capture pages from my person To Do lists (these pages came with the planner).

The fifth divider is for all my Inspiration! Here I keep any printed bits that keep me motivated, including my 2014 Goals, some Bible verses, prayers and even a Mini Workout!

The final divided section is for miscellaneous items and right now it just has a punched pocket that holds all my decoration stickers! More items may find their way here eventually so this section is meant to grow!

So, now that you have a general idea as to how I organize my Filofax, let’s get into the accessories and juicy details that I know you are all dying to hear! The front inner cover of my planner has a bunch of slots and pockets where I like to keep post its, paper clips, as well as some frequently used stickers. I love the interior zippered pocket of my planner because this is a great place to store page flags and anything that is loose and I don’t want to fall out!

Also in the front of the planner, other than my custom fly-leaf, I have added a paper pocket where I keep my iPhone sticky notes. It came in a pack with the other pocket I mentioned above that stores my decoration stickers and I just love the personal touch these add to the planner. I originally wanted to use a zippered clear pocket, but the one I purchased from Staples did not fit my binder (so sad). So, these pockets are simple and custom punched and definitely hold all the bits that I need!

Finally, in the rear inner cover, my planner came with a nice sized notebook where I can jot quick notes and such. I ended up swapping this simple notepaper for my “iPad” style note tablet from Wal-Mart and I love the look of this so much! Of course, there is also a pen loop where I keep my mint Pilot Coleto 4 color pen as I mentioned above. I bought this from JetPens as it came highly recommended by other Filofax users. The 4 colors of ink that I chose make it easy for me to do a bit of color coding in my planner without having to carry lots of pens with me!

And, the final personal touch in my planner is my little planner charm which I love! Through my research online, I found that it was very common for people to put charms and such on their planners to decorate them and give them more personality. I decorated my Filofax with this custom charm I made using a Hand of Hamsa charm as well as a little laptop charm that I think screams ME!

Outside of my planner itself, I also have a few rolls of cute washi tape, more stickers and extra journaling cards that I keep at home in a bin filled with extra goodies for my Filofax. As you can see, I have quite a bit of extras, some of which I purchased for my planner and some of which I have had in my personal stock for a while, but I find that having everything in one place makes finding refills and such much easier for me!

I hope you all enjoyed this post, that should do it for now! I also made a video about my Filofax setup in case you want a more in-depth look! I have a few other planner related videos up on my YouTube channel right now, so make sure to stop by and check those out if you want more!! Also, be sure to check out my shop for more of my awesome custom printables!

If any of you, my lovely readers, have a Filofax set up post or video or pictures out there on the internet, please please PLEASE link it below! I am obsessed with these things now (and if you’re here, I bet you are too) and I want this post to be almost like a reference of sorts for those who read it! Thanks!

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5 Quirky Uses for Notebooks

5 Quirky Uses is a new periodic feature for Strange & Charmed. For each post, I will select an everyday item and suggest five alternate uses or ways to upcycle the item in a fun or unusual way. Keep up with these posts with the Quirky Uses category!

I have a ridiculous amount of notebooks laying around my home and for some reason I still feel the need to buy more every once in a while. If its cute and inexpensive, I pick it up! I blame Target dollar bins! Anywho, with zoo many notebooks just sitting there empty, I decided it was time to think of ways I can put them to good use. Here are 5 Quirky Uses for Notebooks that you may not have considered before!

Food and/or Workout Diary
Track Oil Changes and/or Car Maintenance
Gratitude Journal
Track major items in your home and their value in case of emergency
Keep track of children’s milestones or important life/relationship events

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Tips for a Great 3 Day Weekend

This weekend is the first three Day weekend of the year if you live in the US! YAY! I love three day weekends because they are like mini vacations spread throughout the year. They can be a great time to catch up on sleep, binge watch your favorite TV shows or finish a home project. So, here are my tips to making the most of your long weekend!

1. Plan Your To-Dos before the weekend begins: On Friday afternoon, I often find myself thinking how exciting it is to have a three day weekend ahead of me! THREE DAYS OFF! That seems like so much time to do WHATEVER I want! But inevitably by Sunday night I find myself wondering where the weekend has gone? Tomorrow is the last day? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!! I think you know the feeling! So, if you want to fill your weekend with fun and awesome things to do, you should probably plan out your time before the weekend starts (about Friday at 4:30pm)! You don’t have to make an hour by hour schedule, but have a general idea of what you want to do and who you want to do it with. Make sure plans with friends are hammered out before the weekend begins so you spend more time having fun and less time getting people to agree on dinner reservations!

2. Put your space in order: Whether you have your own place or share with roommates or family members, get your space in order and tidy up before the fun begins. Get your chores done, send off your bills, and get your life in order so that you can maximize your weekend time and not have to worry about the minutiae of daily life for approximately 72 hours!

3. Have at least one adventure: By this I mean, leave the house at least once! Yes, you can break from your Game of Thrones marathon weekend to run out for pizza or something, but make sure to get some fresh air! Lord knows you don’t get enough of it in the normal work week!

4. Manage your expectations: I know I am totally guilty of over hyping my weekends before hand and then feeling a major crash when everything doesn’t work out perfectly or when I don’t feel like I have done enough! Give yourself reasonable expectations of how fun/exciting/productive/amazing your weekend will be so that you can focus on enjoying everything!

5. Take time to breath and relax: The weekend is about decompressing from a week of work, and long weekends give you even more time to decompress. Make sure to relax and just enjoy your weekend, whatever it may bring so that you are recharged for work and life in general once Tuesday rolls around!

How do you like to spend your three day weekends? Share more of your tips for a great three day weekend by letting us know in the comments!

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How to Set & Achieve Your Goals

Whether you set resolutions for yourself on January 1^st or not, goal setting is an important personal and professional exercise that will help motivate you to achieve your dreams or to discover them! This is an exercise that you can work on as frequently or infrequently as you want throughout the year, but I suggest doing this twice a year, roughly every six months to help you evaluate your progress in your goals or to adjust them as changes occur in your life.

Now, before we begin, I suggest downloading my free set of productivity printables here and printing out the sheet titled “My Goal Tracker” on page 4 of the packet. This sheet contains most of the steps in this goal setting exercise and is a great resource to keep with you to track your goals! If you do not want to use the print out, no problem! You just need a pen/pencil and some paper to proceed and YES, it does need to be paper because this is a very personal activity and the act of writing on paper will help solidify your goals in a visceral way!

Step 1: Select 3 Life Goals

The first step in goal setting is to choose the goals that are most important to you! Some people may have multiple goals that they wish to set in motion now, but I suggest only focusing on 3 at the most at one time. Trying to track too many goals will make things more complicated for you and decrease your chances of success by diverting your attention to often! Now, if you would like to select 3 goals, you may want to choose one personal goal, one professional and one other of your choice. Remember, even if you think everything is going well in your professional life or perhaps in your personal life, that doesn’t mean that you can’t set a goal for that area of your life. I suggest thinking about what is important to you and how you can either a) improve that area of your life or b) continue an already successful or positive trajectory. Maintaining success in an area of your life is often just as difficult or sometimes even more difficult than achieving initial success!

Step 2: Decide on 5-10 steps you can take to set your goal in motion!

A good goal is one where you can see a path of success that can be taken through a series of steps! If you are trying to loose weight you know that these steps may include following a healthy diet plan that can be tracked via a daily caloric intake and an exercise regimen that includes working out a certain number of days a week for a certain amount of time. However, unlike a weight loss goal, many personal and professional goals are not as scientifically precise! Achieving a professional goal to get a specific job may include getting additional training that would make you qualified for that job as well as a discussion about your professional advancement with your supervisor or someone who can help you learn how to position yourself as a desirable candidate. If you do not already have an idea of how to achieve your goal, I suggest researching your specific goal and discussing it with those who may be able to give you insight on the matter!

Step 3: Set parameters for your goal.

It’s all well and good to set a goal, and list out the steps you need to take, but you also need to make sure you have set parameters for when you will start your goal, when you want to have it completed and most importantly, how you will reward yourself for achieving it! The reward is particularly important because this should be something that will highly motivate you and be a constant reminder of the goal you are working towards and why!

Step 4: Take your first step!

As I like to say “once begun, it’s nearly done!” I’m not sure where that comes from, or if I have simply created my own version of another popular saying, but I still consider it truth! Sometimes the hardest part of getting to a destination is starting the journey. Once you take that first step you are invested in your goal and you have made progress! Take your first step as soon as possible, while you are still highly motivated, as this will hopefully propel you to take the next step and the next, until you have reached your goal! Remember, its natural once you have started your journey to tweak your path as needed, don’t be afraid to add steps to your goal or adjust expectations as you go along! Good luck & may this advice help you turn your dreams into a reality!

So, will you be setting goals for yourself this year? Did you find my free printable helpful with helping you track your goals? Let me know any other tips, tweaks or advice you have to help others set and achieve their goals this year but leaving a comment!

Career Solutions

Winter Work from Home Day

Last week the Northeast of the US was hit with an overnight snowstorm that dropped something like 8 inches of snow in my area. It was no wonder that both myself and my husband got an unexpected snow day at home together! However, it wasn’t all fun and game for us as we both have the ability to work from home, and so we ended up working nearly a full day together from our living room. Since I am sure this was just the first snow day of many we are sure to have in the next few months, I thought I would write about my suggestions for a Winter Work From Home Day in case any of you also get to work from home when it snows!

Winter Work From Home Day Must Have’s

A Computer: Whether you will be working from your own personal computer or from your designated work laptop, for most at-home workers, this is your key to getting things done! Make sure to find a nice comfortable spot in your home to set up shop (if you don’t already have a designated office area) and make sure to stock up on pillows and blankets to keep yourself warm in your cozy spot!

Your Favorite Mug: Hopefully you didn’t leave your favorite mug in your office, but really any mug will do! Make sure to keep yourself hydrated with your favorite coffee, tea or other hot beverage!

Comfortable Headphones: Okay, so you don’t need a set of headphones that look like ear muffs (those are just my personal favorite on a cold winter day!) but you will probably find a set of headphones or ear buds a good idea to keep you in the zone and focused on working if you aren’t used to the treat of working from home!

Adorable Office Supplies: Nothing is more fun or can keep you focused on getting things done like lovely office supplies! Hopefully you have a nice notebook at home and some matching pens & pencils! Okay, they don’t have to match, but it all adds to the ambience!

A Fun Gadget: Whether it’s an iPad, iPod, or just your TV with Netflix, you will want to have a fun gadget with you to take your mind off work every once in a while! Just because you’re at home doesn’t mean you can’t take a break, so make sure you take a lunch and at least one fifteen minute break to decompress!

A Hydrating Hand Lotion: If you’re working at home because of a snow day, be sure to keep a nice hydrating hand lotion around to keep your skin hydrated and to defend against the chapped skin created by winter weather! Make sure to apply often!

Do you get to stay at home to work during snow days? What are some of your favorite tips for working from home? Make sure to share your experiences in the comments!

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How to Stick to New Year’s Resolutions

Have you ever heard of an app called Everest? Everest is an app that helps you track your goals, so it’s a great resource to use to help you keep track of your New Year’s Resolutions! When you first open the app, it urges you to enter in your first goal. After categorizing your goal and deciding if you want it to be public (for friends to see) or private (for your eyes only), it then gives you options to add steps to getting to your goal. Each step can be given a specific time frame, where you can set reminders for yourself so that you are keeping on track to complete your goal. This app is a great way to manage your expectations and break down your goals into steps that you can take each day that will make achieving your goals a series of steps instead of a giant feat! After all, you can only climb a mountain one step at a time.

Now, the fun thing about the app is that in addition to creating your own goals, you can also accept challenges from the Everest community that range from health/physical challenges (like doing 50 consecutive push ups!) to personal challenges (like finding a job you love). These challenges are of course optional, however, they are a good constant reminder that everyday you could be taking steps to give yourself a happier, healthier and wealthier life!

So, this year I plan to use Everest to track my resolutions and set small realistic steps for myself to take each week to achieve these goals! Do you plan on using Everest or another similar method to help you break your goals down into small manageable steps and then to keep you accountable for achieving your goals?

Career lifestyle organization

Organizational Tips for the New Year!

Happy New Year Everybody! Is one of your New Year’s Resolutions to be more organized? I have to say that next to getting in shape, I think getting organized is a very popular wish for the new year! So, if you are looking to get yourself more organized this year, here are a few tips that I find can be very helpful!

1. Get yourself some new supplies: I recently went to Target to get myself a bunch of new office and organization supplies for the New Year. I think getting new notebooks and pens is a very easy way to get yourself excited for the task of organizing so that you will be more likely to stick to it! I would make sure to pick up an agenda, cute pens & pencils, some sticky notes, as well as any bins, file folders or other accessories to wrangle you daily tasks! It doesn’t have to be an expensive trip, but I believe that the act of buying these things signifies a metamorphosis that from now on you will be organized!

2. Develop your own system of organization: What organization means to you and what it means to me are most likely very different things. You have an idea in your head of what organized looks like to you and that’s your goal! So, you need to decide on a system to organize yourself that fits your goals and also the way you work. You can devise a system in which all new tasks are entered into a to-do list in an agenda, so that as you get things done you check off the items and add new items as they come in, or you could use a physical inbox where you organize tasks and papers, or you could use an app on your smartphone to keep track of everything! The possibilities are endless, but the point is, you need to find a system and stick to it!

3. Put new tasks into your organization system first and then go back and take care of the past: I think one of the big issues people have when they start to get organized is that they think they need to organize all the old items sitting on their to-do list first. What ends up happening though is that many people find the old “stuff” too overwhelming because they can’t see any progress for their new “stuff”. I say to start your new organizational process with today forward, making sure everything from this point on is organized, then once you feel like things are under control with the here and now, you can then go back to old items and incorporate those into your new system as well.

4. If you have a hiccup, don’t fret, just reset: Another major issue that prevents people from staying organized is that when they have an issue or they stop using their system for a little while, they give up on it as thought the system as failed! The truth is, even the most organized person in the world has breakdowns in their organization system and routine. People get lazy for a little bit or they assume they can go it without their system for this project or these tasks. Just because you do this, doesn’t mean your system has failed, you just need to recognize what brought you back to that point and get back on the horse and keep going. Organizational systems are never perfect, people are never perfect, forgive yourself and get back into your system if organization is truly a goal for you!

5. Continue to tweak: Like I said above, organizational systems are not perfect, they require effort on your part to make them work and to fix little bumps in the road and even major bumps in the road. As you come across issues, think about how you can fix them and implement those changes into your routine. And guess what? You may eventually find that the system you put in place in the beginning of the year is not the same as the system you end up with by the summer or even by the end of the year, and that’s okay! It’s okay to change, it doesn’t mean you’re not good at organizing, it just means that people grow and their systems need to grow with them!

So, is getting organized one of your New Year’s Resolutions? Do you have any other tips or tricks that you find useful that may help others trying to get organized? Please share your tips in the comments!

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Best of Strange & Charmed 2013

Since today is New Year’s Eve, I thought it would be a perfect time for me to reflect on the success and growth of this blog in the last year! This morning I woke up to an email from WordPress that linked me to a Stat’s page for the site that gave me all sorts of fun details about my top posts, my commenters, visitors and site views!

My Top 5 Posts from this year have been:

1. Synching Scrivener to PlainText

2. iPad vs. Filofax

3. How I Use Scrivener to Organize my Writing

4. Turn Your iPad into a Macbook Air with Clamcase Pro

5. The 5 Best iOS Apps for Writers

Now, although these posts were my most viewed, I, of course, have my own list of favorite posts! These are the posts that were some of the most fun for me to brainstorm and put together. Some took a lot of time behind the scenes in terms of photographing, organizing materials, and/or Photoshop skills, but in the end these are posts I am very proud I was able to bring to fruition!

1. Inspired by Kate Spade

2. Starbucks @ Home: Salted Caramel Mocha

3. 5 Things a Woman Can’t Live Without

4. My Blog Organization Binder

5. Must Have Apps for Working Professionals

The final items I wanted to include in this post were the articles I wrote outside of this blog! You may not have even been aware that I have been writing elsewhere this year, so I thought this would be a good time to review and link those posts, as they are all extensions of Strange & Charmed in one way or another!

The first site where I was able to publish a few articles this year was Levo League! You may have seen me mention them a time or two before, but Levo is a great website that I discovered last year, and this year I was given the opportunity to join their arsenal of amazing contributors with these two articles!

1. The Only 5 Productivity Tips You’ll Ever Need to Know

2. Productivity Tips from a Road Warrior

The second place you can find me on the web, outside of Strange & Charmed, is GeeksterLabs! GeeksterLabs is a website I have been following for years that focuses on all types of consumer technology. This summer I joined the team as a feature contributor, writing about fun and quirky ways to make the most of technology! Since I have written a steady stream of articles for them, I have included the direct link to my author page here, so you can check out all the articles I have written!

Overall, I would say that 2013 has been an amazing year for this blog! I have seen growth month after month and I hope that trend continues into 2014! So, let me know what you’re favorite posts were from Strange & Charmed in 2013 and the types of articles you hope to see more of in 2014! Happy New Year Everyone!

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How to Properly Store Your Wedding Cake

One of the most exciting parts about planning my wedding was decided on a wedding cake because when you make your appointment with your bakery they actually let you taste all different flavors of cakes and icing! Our wedding cake ended up being two layers, the bottom was a lemon cake with a citrus icing that was amazing and the top was a traditional red velvet which is my husband favorite!

As you may already know, there is something of a wedding tradition that you save the top tier of your wedding cake for your 1^st anniversary! For a long time, I thought this was a totally gross tradition, that was, until I did it myself! I was completely surprised when I defrosted mine because it actually tasted so good! Granted, it didn’t taste like a freshly baked cake, rather, it tasted like a cake that has been left in a refrigerator for a day or two! It’s so crazy to think that it didn’t spoil over the year, but I will have to attribute that to how it was stored. So, I thought I would share with you guys the proper way to store that top tier of your wedding cake and then how to prepare it for your 1^st year anniversary so that your cake stays as yummy as possible!

After you get married, it’s really important that you deal with the top layer of your cake as soon as possible to ensure freshness for the year in storage. I suggest getting the cake prepped and in the freezer within the first 12 hours after your wedding! First, you need to cover your cake in plastic wrap, at least 2 layers to make sure every inch is covered and that the plastic is closely fitted to your cake. Make sure to remove any air bubbles or tighten any looser spots of plastic because the less air you have trapped in your cake at the time of freezing, the better for the life of your cake! Next, wrap your cake up in aluminum foil, enough to generously cover it! Then pop it in the back of your freezer! I left mine in the back corner of my freezer so that it would stay out-of-the-way and consistently cold for the year. Leaving your cake too close to the front of your freezer may cause the temp to vary as you open and close your freezer. The defrost instructions are super simple. Once your anniversary comes around, all you need to do is take the cake out of the freezer, remove the aluminum so that only the plastic remains and leave it in your refrigerator to thaw for 2 days! I took a sharpie and wrote my defrosting instructions on the top of the aluminum foil of the cake so I wouldn’t forget what to do a year later! Like I said, my cake defrosted beautifully and tasted delicious, so I hope these instructions help any of you in this situation!

Did you end up saving the top layer of your wedding cake? How did it taste after a year in the freezer? Do you think this is a fun tradition or a gross one? Let us know in the comments!

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5 Frightfully Fun Halloween Activities to do @ Home

This year Halloween falls on a Thursday night, so unless you’re a college student or really into the holiday, you will most likely be celebrating at home! Don’t let your adult responsibilities get you down, there is plenty of haunted fun to be had even if you aren’t planning on partying it up! Here are five Frightfully Fun activities for Halloween Night!

1. Have a Monster Movie Fest

There is really nothing better than watching scary movies on Halloween! Some of my favorite Halloween classics are Hocus Pocus, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and Sleepy Hollow.

2. Listen to The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe as read by Christopher Walken via YouTube

Yes, this really exists and its pretty incredible. If you are a major Christopher Walken fan like I am, you will surely appreciate his eerie narration to one of literatures classic haunting tales.

3. Read H.P. Lovecraft Stories by candle light

Lovecraft is considered one of the great masters of horror, so if you prefer the pace of a good novel instead of a classic film, try one of his spine chilling tales. Make sure to ready by candle light for an extra creepy effect!

4. Dress up as your favorite Ghoul and hand out halloween candy

What’s the next best thing to trick or treating? Handing out the candy, of course! It’s the perfect excuse to dress up for Halloween and the trick or treaters love the unexpected surprise when you open your door!

5. Rock out to a custom Halloween mixtape

Nothing can put you in that Halloween Spirit like music, so make your own playlist to set the mood for a spooky Halloween at home! Some of my fav’s are The Monster Mash, I Put a Spell on You, and Witchcraft!

Happy Halloween Everyone! How will you be spending your night? Let me know in the comments!