Firstly, sorry I have been absent lately, I was off having my second baby girl :-) She is now almost 3 months old (oh my gosh!) and things are just now starting to settle back down to some sort of normality. We couldn't be happier with our little family! However, now we have 2 kids we no longer have a spare bedroom I can consume as my study (GASP!) We have a communal desk for hubby and I but all my craft and planner 'stuff' seems to occupy the majority of the space. Also, as the desk is in full view of everyone walking past the lounge room I found it difficult keeping it neat and tidy all the time.
Enter the idea of a planner tote! I thought that by getting a tote to carry all my supplies I would not be limited to one space and everything will be at my fingertips without it being strewn across the tiny desk for the whole world to see. I started googling and searching on Ebay right away. I was disheartened as everything was not quite what I wanted or over $100 which I was not prepared to spend. So what did I do... I took my complaints to the planner Facebook community (because lets face it, who else would understand!) Here one of my BRILLIANT Facebook friends explained to me that she was recently in a similar situation and found her answer at the local hardware store! She found a builders tool bag worked perfectly as a planner tote! It has heaps of pockets, open top for easy access, very solid sides and a very strong handle in order to hold the weight of all the tools.
So I went off (well ok I sent hubby on a detour on his way home from work) to our local Bunnings and Masters with strict instructions of what I wanted with a $20 limit. This is what he came home with:
BEST.BUY.EVER! I was over the moon. It was just what I wanted and the price was right :-)
So I went to work pimping it out and this is the final product:
Here you can see 4 pockets across the the front. The left flap contains my double sided tape. The next pocket holds 2 Kikki-K sticky note pads. Then is some super cute turtle note paper that looks as though it was made to fit! On the right pocket are some paper clips.
The 2 slit pockets behind, hold my Mark It dots and Kikki-K To-Do note pad on the left and my Kikki-K sticker book and a card from a beautiful friends of mine on the right.
The above picture shows one side of the bag. There is a metal bar attached to the side which is made to hold a tape measure (so my husband tells me) where I clip on my 4 sharpie markers. The pocket on the right is a perfect fit for my Rapesco planner hole punch! You can also see my washi tape which is threaded through a velcro strap back onto itself. I have absolutely no idea the real purpose of this strap but it is PERFECT for holding my washi as the velcro is super strong, easy access and out of the way!
The other side has 2 pockets, one in front of the other. The one in the back holds a pouch full of post it notes and page markers and flags as well as some note paper. The front pocket holds my Martha Stewart dew drop stickers, K-Mart sticker dots and K-Mart repositionable (so they say) and write-on stickers. You can also see another 'washi velcro strap' where I have attached my thin wash tape.
This side has one large zippered pocket along with 4 little pouches. As I use the zippered pouch often I do not keep anything in the mesh pockets as they would be constantly falling out.
Here is the zippered pouch opened containing my frixions 0.7mm pens, highlighter and rub-a-dub sharpie pen for writing on washi tape.
Here is a birds eye view of the top of my planner tote. It holds sooooo much. The handle in the middle is super comfortable to grab as it has some squishy foam and its also non-slip. The handle can move from side to side if you need to get in the middle of the bag.
The planners I have in there from the top down include: A5 Aqua Malden (my home management system), my new A5 Calipso in bright blue, my new personal size domino in violet and my personal size aqua Malden (my wallet/diary)
On one of the long inside walls of the bag are 3 pockets. Starting from the left I have: 3 lined post it notes (2 large, 1 medium size) and a Kikki-K note pad. The middle pocket contains a spiral note pad also from Kikki-K. The small pocket on the right holds my purple scissors.
The items next to the planners in the centre are my paper cutter, Dymo labeller and my fox zipper pencil case from Typo containing my 'go-to' stickers and page flags. I also have a note pad, and 2 pouches of stickers tucked in behind my A5 Malden.
I LOVE this setup! It works perfectly for my needs, keeps everything super organised, easy to access and a fantastic price... what more could a girl ask for!
If you want to see the video of my planner tote click here
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a message!
Jen
P.S. I have just created a new Facebook page for my blog and YouTube channel if you would like to check it out :-)
You can also find me:
YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/organisedlifestyle
Facebook: organisedlifestyle
Instagram: http://instagram.com/organisedlifestyle
