My Erin Condren Flip Through

Ok, yes it's true... I am a convert!
I never would have thought it but I love the Erin Condren Life Planner. I have seen so many reviews on this planner and did not understand the hype. I didn't really like the layout with those little boxes, the headings didn't work for my life and week on two pages didn't seem enough as I was currently a day on 1 page kinda girl. But most of all I love my ring planners (Filofax and Gillio) and didn't like the coil as it's not as simple to add and remove things.
However, I had the opportunity to purchase a friend's 2014 life planner for a very decent price and I decided to give it a whirl and find out what all the fuss was about. Thus began my love affair...
It's an A5 size without the bulk of a planner so is lightweight and compact. The craftsmanship is fabulous. The coil is solid and sturdy and the pages are thick and crisp.
I love all the pops of colour, the tabbed months and the pretty covers.
After 3 weeks I am very surprised to say that the layout is working perfectly for me. I have all the space I need and I love to be able to see everything at a glance.
The only thing I didn't like were the headings so I created sticker strips to place on top of the old ones replacing morning/schedule, day/to dos and night/notes. It works great and looks fantastic (if I do say so myself!)

Here is how I have been using my Life Planner

                                 

                                 

I am really enjoying customising the planner too. A few decorative stickers here and there but mostly everything has a purpose. I can't have my planner too 'busy' with decoration or my information gets 'lost' in the prettiness.

I'm loving using stamps and stickers to help me to organise.

The planner stamps I am using are:
StudioL2e - www.studiol2e.com
Tiny Stamps, Big Plans - https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/TinyStampsBigPlans

Here are some of the stickers I made:

I also tried my hand at making a cover. It's ok, but will do better next time! It's currently got a Kikki-K planner band around it. The band is great as it not only keeps everything together, but can store 2 pens in the stretchy loops.

Overall I am really enjoying this planner. I am using my Gillio still but now it functions as a wallet with notes, financials, social media and my tracker.

I will be placing an order for my new 2015 planner next week (with a few other goodies I will share soon!)

Click HERE to view my corresponding video to this blog post :-)

Have a great day,

Jen

DIY Washi Stand

I made it a mission of mine to come up with my ideal washi tape display/storage stand. I wanted something fun, practical and that didn't take up too much room. I wanted to be able to display my pretty washi on my desk or be able to mount it on the wall... And guess what? With the help of my awesome carpenter hubby, Dave, I DID IT!!
I designed what I wanted and Dave and I created an awesome stand to use and display my washi collection.

I have made a video (HERE) showing a basic outline of what I did as well as the finished product in all its glory. But as it was all very detailed (and I had 2 kiddos under 2 to deal with), I left it to here (my blog) to show off the nitty gritty measurements and procedure.

HERE is the document that outlines step by step what materials were used, measurements and method.

I hope you enjoyed this project. It's something a little different for me and we had a BLAST creating it. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to see more DIY projects from me in the future.

I hope this has inspired you to create your own washi stand or DIY project :-)

Speak to you soon!

Jen

Personal Inserts 2014

Wow, what a crazy few days!
I would just like to publicly thank everyone for all your comments and kind words regarding my inserts. I have drawn inspiration from DIYFish, Philofaxy and Life Is Crafted. Each are fantastic in their own right, but not 100% right for me, so I created my own. I am NOT a professional on the computer by any means but am really happy with the system I have come up with.
I love my A5 setup but I have a new baby on its way to me - a medium GILLIO MIA CARA! (excitement plus!) so I needed to make the personal inserts to fit 'her'.

This is the result...

My dailies are very similar to the A5, just a shrunk down version. I still have my 8am-8pm time slot with the time gaps in between each hour, as well as my To-Dos HOME and OUT sections, Notes and Washing check boxes. There is also a section to write the date, day and month.

The generic version I will have online looks like this:

The only difference between mine and the generic styles is that mine has my washing schedule on it and the generic is blank for you to fill in what you wish.

The Menu/Weekly is a little different as the 'Ingredients' section is missing in the personal size as I found there wasn't enough room for it here. (If you'd like to see my menu planning video click HERE). There is also a weekly section at a glance like the A5 version for writing a quick 'what's on' for during the week. The other side contains notes. I have also added grid boxes to use how you wish. The second picture below show how it looks printed from A4 paper

Flip the Weekly/Menu portion over and you will find the Weekly To-Dos/Tracker list. I love this section. It's everything you need to find at a glance. No flipping here, there and everywhere to find your lists.

As you can see, my page has an 'OrganisedLifestyle' tracker section. You obviously don't need that so I have simply removed that portion and added more to-dos instead.

Below you will see how the Weekly To-Do/Tracker prints on A4 paper. This side has a feint grey box outline to use as cutting lines to cut the page to size.

So, that's it in a nutshell! I LOVE my new system. Its compact and easy to use. Everything has a place while also appealing to look at.
If you would like to see the video on how I use the personal inserts , click HERE.
If you would like to see the video on the A5 inserts, click HERE

If you decide to give these inserts a try please let me know what you think of them :-)
And please remember, only use these inserts for personal use and do not sell them.

Enjoy!

GENERIC Day On One Page Personal Insert HERE

GENERIC Weekly Insert HERE

My current setup and inserts in my A5 - August 2014

Hi guys!

This blog has been a while in the making...

I love my planner. I love being organised. I love decorating and I love pretty things. But recently I have spent so much time decorating, planning and organising that I ran out of time to actually DO any of the things IN my planner!! :-(

I have used Life is Crafted inserts and enjoyed them but I missed seeing my week at a glance in the one planner.

I loved my DIYfish inserts. I felt I had the best of both worlds. Detailed daily pages while still being able to see my weeklies. There was even a section for monthly/weekly To Dos and a place to put my menu planning system (see menu planning video HERE). I soon discovered I never used the monthly/weekly To Dos as I hated flipping back and forth (If it's not in my immediate view, I forget about it). And I was also using the DO2P which I LOVED at first. It looked so pretty decorated and inspired me to use my planner. I even journalled in there too! But all this took up so much time. I found that as I was time poor, I spent all my time planning and decorating and I ran out of time doing the tasks the planner demanded of me!

So I tried not decorating for a while to see if I could utilise my time this way. COMPLETE FAIL! It's funny but I didn't even look at my planner on those days as it wasn't pretty enough to write in!! (hang my head in shame) ;-) I can't explain it but if my pages weren't visually appealing at all then I wasn't motivated enough to write in it.

I also tried the free philofaxy DO1P inserts. They worked great and were the perfect amount of writing space. But that too was lacking 'something'...

So, I decided to go back to my old planner pages I created earlier but tweaked them with things I liked from other inserts I tried, tips I got from others or ideas I discovered for myself. And I am LOVING them!!

Day On 1 Page 

Here is my weekly DO1P (undated). I love the pop of colour it gives without having to add washi everywhere. I love the 8am-6pm schedule, the 'all day' section up the top and the ability to edit the time where appropriate.

I love my dinner section. This is a time saver. I was always cutting washi arrows to achieve the same decorative effect.

I always break my To Dos up into HOME and OUT categories as I find it much more organised and it helps me to plan out my day.

My favourite part is the washing section (not in the generic version).

I do mounds of washing as I have 2 kids under 2 both in cloth nappies, as well as kids clothes, adults and towels and sheets washing. This washing check list really helps me. The triangles get shaded in for what washing needs to get done that day. The square boxes are for ticking off when it's completed (and you all know I love a good check box!)

Week View / Menu Planning

I really love this section as it is such an asset to my planning system. I loved DIYfish's concept of flipping out the weekly section so you can view it all easily. I took this idea further by adding my menu planning also, so it's right there at my fingertips. No more flipping around. It's all there in front of me. It reminds me of what we are having for tea, what I need to de-frost, buy etc.

I also love the colour system. I'm a visual person so I need to see things in colour to make it stick in my brain.

Weekly To Dos / Tracker

This is an easy to access weekly check list of To Dos and Tracking. I LOVE this section as it has really helped me plan out my week and track things that are important to me. It also helps me to track my OrganisedLifestyle YT and Blog as it is right there and easy to read (again, very visual). The generic weekly inserts do not include the YT/blog tracker.

This whole system is really working for me as I no longer feel distracted by continual planning or decorating. I still enjoy decorating my pages but now I only add accents here and there which takes only minutes.

Now, I am by no means an expert on designing inserts but since they are working so well for me I'd love to share them with you.
These are FREE undated PDF templates for A5 (you need to print 2 to a page) The links are below. Please use and enjoy them and leave me some feedback on what you think.

* For personal use only. Do not sell these inserts.

Have a great week!

Jen :-)

PS. A YouTube video on how I use these inserts will be up soon!

Day On 1 Page inserts HERE - (Print: 2 per page to make A5 size)

Weekly To Dos/Tracker inserts HERE - (Print: 2 per page layout 2-1 (blank on left, insert on right)
* (NEW) WEEKLY TO DOS/TRACKER GRID VERSION HERE

Weekly View/Menu inserts HERE - (Print: 2 per page layoit 1-2 (insert on left. blank on right)
* (NEW) WEEKLY TO DOS/TRACKER GRID VERSION HERE

Do It On A Dime - Organised Cheap Life TAG

Hi Everyone!

One of my favourite YouTubers is Katherine from Do It On A Dime. She is a real down-to-earth home owner who comes up with cheap, classy and creative ways to organise your home 'on a dime'.
The downside is that she is American so all the awesome stores she buys from (Target's dollar store, Dollar Tree, Container Store etc.) we don't have here in Australia. Can you believe they have $1 stores where items are... wait for it... $1!!!??? Last week I went to a $1 store and picked up an item that was $23.95! I gently put it down and walked away. BUT I digress :-)
Katherine created a YouTube TAG called 'The Organised Cheap Life' where she asked 3 simple questions and shared her answers. The link to her video is HERE.
I loved the video and found it really useful, so I decided to do it too! HERE is the link to my video.

1. Name 2 new organisers you are loving at the moment:

i) My Filofaxes - My personal Ochre Malden is beautiful and so helpful! I use it as my wallet/organiser. I LOVE it. Perfect setup for me and perfect size.
My A5 Aqua Malden is my Home Management 'bible' where I keep everything. I would be lost without it. It holds everything from appointments and chores to quotes, journalling and vlog/blog ideas.

ii) My 'What's On' Wall Planner - The perfect simple organiser for the family. I just write all important information and appointments for the family over the following 2 weeks on there and at a quick glance we can all see what is going on. Even hubby knows how to use it  ;-)

iii) I was naughty and added one more item - My Orla Kiely organiser. I ordered this beauty from eBay (as Australia doesn't have a groovy Target like the States do). I have only had it a few days but I think I'm in LOVE! My video on this organiser will be up shortly to show how I am currently using it.

2. Name 2 cheap sale items that you love:

i) My Smash Nude Food containers. I purchased this on a sale from Coles supermarket for $2 and it is so handy and versatile! I use it for everything from my toddlers sultanas, fruit and other snacks to my hair ties and bobby pins (PS - it holds 4-5 rolls of washi tape perfectly!!)

ii) My daughter's green chair. I love this mini couch chair. It's perfect for lounging, sitting like a 'big girl' watching telly and is the only place (other than the high chair) where I can get her to sit down to eat - she like to constantly be on the move!! She's my little whirlwind :-) The best bit, it was only $10! We brought it secondhand off Gumtree (like Craigs List in the States?) I love Gumtree as you can get some real local bargains. Selling things on there is fantastic too because unlike eBay, they don't take a cut of the profit - it's totally FREE to post and sell!

3. Name 2 life improvement items that are working for you:

i) My DIYfish inserts - These have seriously changed my life for the better. I love the style, the layout, the price (and the fact that my friend prints, cuts and folds them for me!) If you are interested in these inserts please feel free to check out my video review HERE.

ii) My toy storage/rotation system - My lounge room no longer looks like a toy minefield and my daughter gets to play with and enjoy all her toys at different times. To learn more about my setup visit my video HERE.

So there it is, my Do It On A Dime TAG for an Organised Cheap Life :-)
I hope you enjoyed and if you would like to take part in this tag please comment below or on my corresponding YouTube video as I'd love to check out your favourite organisation items!

Have a great day!

Jen

Find Me:
YouTube:
www.youtube.com/user/organisedlifestyle
Blog:
www.organisedlifestyle.blogspot.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Organi...
Instagram:
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Twitter: www.twitter.com/organiselifeJen

Toy Rotation and Storage

Hi All!

This is a bit of a different one - still organisation related but more focussed towards mums and dads with young kids.
We have been lucky enough to have been given toys as hand me downs and as gifts to the girls for birthdays so we have many a toy in our house! As I'm fairly new to this whole 'mum thing' (my oldest is 22 months) so I wasn't sure how to introduce toys to her or which ones she'd like. So I just put them all in a basket in the lounge room and let her take what she wanted.

I learnt pretty quick that was a mistake. Not only did she bring out Every.Single.Toy in the basket and flung them across the entire lounge room (tidy freaks nightmare!) but she also got so overwhelmed with choice that she wouldn't spend time playing with a single toy. She would just jump from toy to toy to toy not really 'playing' with any of them.
My solution was to play to my strengths and organise them!
I started by splitting the toys into 4 different piles so there was only 10ish toys out at one time.
I then placed those toys in a bookshelf I found for $10 from the Salvos.

I placed the bookcase in a corner and created a 'play corner' where all the toys are corralled so at the end of the day when the kids are in bed, we can have some 'adult' space where hubby and I don't negotiate between blocks, cars and dolls.
The only 'rule' with this storage bookshelf was not to put anything except soft toys in the top shelves so she doesn't pull heavy or hard things on top of herself.

We also have a toy rotation system where every week or every other week (depending on how much she is enjoying the current selection), we rotate out the toys for one of the piles stored away.

As she has 'favourite toys for the month' we don't usually rotate out all toys at once.
Below is where we store the remaining toys not in use under the cot. As the side of the cot stays down when she is awake, they are inaccessible to prying hands :-)

Out of sight, out of mind!

Cot rail up

 The toys are stored into plastic bins I purchased for under $5 each from the Salvos. They are both made of very sturdy plastic and have wheels, making them easy to pull in and out from under the cot.

Above is a collapsable washing basket from Ikea where I store her pile of stuffed toys in her bedroom.

This is my favourite Ikea purchase (I also have one in my other daughter's room) These fabric baskets hold her nappies, dirty clothes, some clothes, bibs and her books.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog and again if you have any questions or comments I'd love to hear from you.

Don't forget to visit me on my YouTube channel (here) and Instagram (here)

Have a great day!

Jen

DIYfish inserts review - A5 WO2P v2.1

Well I have had a very fun and productive week and a half!
After reading so many positive comments about the DIYfish inserts I thought it may be time to give them a go. It took me a few months to build up the courage to try them though. I say 'courage' because it looked WAAAYYY complicated. Pages that open up and fold in on other pages, weeks that go vertically, monthly and weekly check lists and heaps of blank spaces. I didn't know if I'd be able to use all the sections let alone understand how they'd all fit together!
But I did it. I ordered the 3-month trial. However, I did cheat and got a lovely friend of mine from a Facebook planner group to print, cut and send them to me because I KNOW I would have gotten confused or not had the time or patience to put it all together and I would have given up! (Thank you Stephanie - you're an angel)
Once they arrived to my door, I got all excited, ripped open the packaging and my heart sunk... There were pages and pages in all shapes and sizes. I spent the first 15 minutes just staring at them thinking 'Why did I buy these?' 'How the hell am I going to put this crazy planner insert thingie together??'
But I persisted and watched a few You Tube videos to help me figure it all out. This video (here) from Nadine's Mixed Plate was a great help for understanding and ordering the inserts.
Once I figured them out I tried adding my regular information in the inserts and this is what I came up with...

Underwhelming isn't it! So then I started thinking 'What would I like to have in my planner that I couldn't add in my other inserts?' and I got to work filling out the empty spaces.

I am converted! Turns out I am now IN LOVE with these crazy DIYfish inserts! I now have everything I need all in one planner.
The left side of the Day page I use for to-do's (top-down for things to do at home and bottom-up for things to do out and about), the coloured stickers are for the washing system I use, and the section on the left is a calendar (not a lot on that day I guess!) The right side of the day page are for notes and the bottom half I use as a daily journal about my family and kids. I LOVE this. I have a filofax I used for journalling but only used it every now and again as life would get in the way and I'd forget. As my A5 planner is always open on my desk and always in use, it was much easier to remember to journal. I'm really enjoying it.
I had a good meal planning system, but this new system has made it GREAT. Below is my weekly menu plan:

I use the left side of the table to plan what I am going to make during the week. On the right is where I write all the ingredients needed for that meal. This is very helpful when prepping for my weekly grocery shop so I don't forget anything. As I have 2 young babies, going to the supermarket once a week is hard enough let alone going back a second time! Visit my meal planning video (here) to see my old system which still use the flag system.

I also write my dinner meal in my daily page:

I also enjoy the monthly tracker. I'm still feeling around with how it works and how it will work with my lifestyle. I have ideas to try for July and I will write and video an update later next month. Here it is at the moment:

I also have a section in my planner for a detailed look into my blogs and videos but I wanted to be able to view my next topic really quickly as I'm using the back of the weekly 'flap' and my quick dot point overview of my OrganisedLifestyle topic for the week to keep me on track, organised and easily accessible.

I've also started using a basic colour coding system with these highlighter tabs from daiso. It works great. I can see what I need to at a quick glance of colour with these tabs instead of needing to carry multiple coloured pens everywhere!

So this is it in a nut shell. It looks confusing and overwhelming but if you can get past the initial shock of how much is in here then you may discover how awesome this system is. It is really changing the way I plan for the better.
I. like most of us, am always evolving my planning system and I will do an update again in a few months but I am really enjoying this system so far.

Please visit my YouTube channel or click the link (here) to see the video where I show my DIYfish review in more detail.

You can also find my on my new OrganisedLifestyle Facebook page or Instagram.

Any questions or comments I'd love to hear from you!

Have a great day

Jen