It's been a looong while!!

Hi there everyone! It's been a VERY long time. 
So much has been happening since I last wrote. We have moved house, I have gone back to work after  finishing my maternity leave and my kiddos are now both crazy toddlers!
My planner systems have changed too as my needs have changed. 
I was in my Erin Condren Life Planner full time whist I was at home with the girls. It was perfect. All I needed was a space for appointments and to-dos. I even had space to do some decorating! (see previous posts for pics)
Last year I went back to work 2.5 days a week as a Grade 1/2 classroom teacher and the ECLP just didn't cut it anymore. My appointments, to-dos and day to day 'stuff' tripled and I ran out of space. I was lost. I tried MANY different planners to try and accomodate my work/home balance but nothing seemed to work. If you are interested in this journey, check out my You Tube channel : www.youtube.com/user/organisedlifestyle 
By the end of last year I found an awesome work/home planner - my A5 hobonichi. I loved the yearly, monthly, weekly and daily layouts and they all served a different purpose.
Now this year I am working 3 days a week as the Primary Art teacher. I LOVE it! It has also brought out my creative and fun side again. Although the hobo is awesome, I missed colour and inspiration in my planner. So for the past few weeks I have returned to my ECLP and have added an AMAZING TEACHER PLANNER into the mix, the Erin Condren Teacher Planner.
Yesterday I uploaded my very first Plan With Me video featuring the ECTP tweaked in a way that works for me. You can watch that HERE.
I will be filming a Plan With Me for my Erin Condren Life Planner in the next few days so keep your eyes peeled for that one!
It's great to be getting back into the swing of things and looking forward to writing to you all again very soon!
Have an awesome week!
Jen

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