Hello dollies!
Today I am linking up with Lauren at Shooting Stars Mag and Alexandra from Simply Alexandra for their Keep It Together series. It always goes live on the 3rd Thursday of each month and encourages bloggers and readers to post about scrapbooks, planners, or anything memory keeping and then link up our posts with theirs. So here I am, sharing the tools I am using to try to keep me together! A BIG job.
My Goal Blackboard
If you were thinking this post would be about safety pins, super glue and twine, you’re probably already disappointed. It may seem that I am barely keeping it together by a thread but it takes a whole lot more than that!
About 18 months ago, I started using a blackboard to keep track of my seasonal goals. Deliberated between putting it in the kitchen or in the bedroom. Wanted it to be visible. Decided that having it in the bedroom would mean I would see my goals first thing in the morning as I jump (yeah, right…crawl, slide, stumble) out of bed and at night as I am ending my day.
Decorated the board to go with our bedroom and shared a post about it here in a link-up with Carrie at Curly, Crafty Mom. In the past, I have set seasonal goals but this year, partly because my new planner encourages it, I am going with monthly goals.
Here are the goals I have set for January.
- Work out 4x a week. One of my wellness goals. Includes meeting my daily step target, walking, working out at the gym, lifting weights.
- Clean and purge bedroom. Go through my closet with a fine toothed comb. Be discriminating. Same with dresser drawers, shoes and boots, items in my nightstand, and in storage bins under the bed.
- Enjoy…yes, enjoy, quiet time 5x a week. Ideally, this should be 7x a week. But my schedule goes out the window on Saturday and Sunday. My quiet time is really important for setting the tone of my day.
- Write 3x a week. Blog posts, Morning Pages, work on my story, memoir writing through It’s Never Too Late to Begin Again by Julia Cameron.
Doable? Absolutely doable!!
My Living Well Planner
What kind of a planner do you use? Are you an Erin Condren gal like my friend Katie at The Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life? Or like Sarah at Foxy’s Domestic Side who uses 2 – yes, two Franklin Covey spiral planners each year. One for her daily life and one for blogging. Believe me, Sarah is so busy that she needs a planner just for her daily life. And she blogs so much (she must have more hours in a day than I do), she needs one to keep up with that.
After reading how Katie loved Erin Condren planners, I started using them. Loved the idea of the cute stickers and ways to decorate it. But when I was trying to scribble in my appointment while on the phone with the dentist’s office, I didn’t have time to find the cute little sticker for ‘dental appointment’.
Then I began listening to Ruth Soukup’s “Do It Scared” podcasts as I embarked on my own Stepping Outside My Comfort Zone posts (last day of each month). When I learned she also had a planner, I decided to give it a try. That is what I am using this year. The Living Well planner.
So much more than just a book of blank calendar pages. I am just beginning to realize all this planner has to offer. Have a look inside.
This planner has a place for:
- Do-it scared planning- for the stepping outside my comfort zone activities
- Long term goals
- Important dates
- Important info
- Notes and ideas
- Monthly goals
- Goal crushing plan of attack
- Project planning
- Monthly budgeting
And comes with 2 pages of bright stickers.
I still have much to add to my planner and hope to work on it while I am at my mom’s. She loves planning, to-do lists, following a budget, keeping track of expenses. See the cow, see the calf!
My Daily To-Do List
Sometime last year, I started using a blank notebook I had to make my to-do list each day. It worked so well. I took both it and my planner to Kentucky in December and had them with me for every one of my mom’s appointments, our consultations with doctors, the people at her retirement community, Senior Helpers. My brother and sister called me the secretary because I was always taking notes about everything.
With the new year, it was time for a new notebook. I found this cute little blank book at Barnes and Noble. During my quiet time each morning, I make my to-do list, adding to it throughout the day. I get a big kick out of ticky boxy (as they would say in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman) or checking things off my list.
And, as you can see, I put ‘givens’ like make the bed, feed the kitties on there just so I can check them off! Feels so good!
Those are the tools I use for keeping ME together. To keep track of my life and to ensure I do the things that I mean to do, want to do but might otherwise forget to do or let slip by the wayside. If you are interested in learning more about the Ruth Soukup Life Planner, click here. Then stay tuned, and I will do an update on the planner in a few months.
Your Turn
What kind of a planner or agenda do you use? My mom always had a big calendar hanging on the side of the stove in the kitchen. On it, she kept track of our appointments, schedules and even our monthly periods! Yikes!! TMI? If you have a planner you love, please tell me about it in a comment below or take a pic to share on my blog FB page, here.
Off to bed. I have overshot by 24 minutes my wellness goal of unplugging by 9:00 pm. Ooops. Baby steps, though. Right?
Thanks for stopping by.
Family hugs,
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I stupidly thought that I could manage just using the calendar function on my phone, how wrong could I be? Now I do enter all my appointments etc on my phone and have that synched to my computer. Then just before we enter a new month I print the calendar pages for the next two months off from the computer and keep those in my kitchen. So it’s easy for Paul and I to see what we both have planned for the next couple of weeks and can scribble on the paper copy little random bits of information that happen as the month progresses and also mini ‘to do’ lists for each day. Your journals are so much prettier though!
I think printing out your calendar is a great idea. And is available to you and the hubs. Most of my appointments and to-dos are just for me and PC would rather not even know!! I make his appointments for him, too, though, and keep track of them on my calendar as well as sending him text message reminders. I used to use my phone but have fallen away from doing that. My current phone is not as user friendly and I am not as patient as I once was!!
Your chalkboard is so cute and such a super idea. Having it where you can see it first thing is so smart. I use a planner but I don’t use stickers, I scribble things! I love making lists and checking things off – it does feel so good.
Sweet Sarah has such a busy and full life – how she gets it all done and keeps that gorgeous smile all the time is something I marvel at!
Happy Thursday!
xo,
Kellyann
Thank you for the compliments on my little goal black board. Glad to be back to using it again. I scribble in my planner, too, and find that all of those cute stickers and gizmos get in the way of what I am trying to write. Decided my planner needs to be functional rather than cute. Glad I am not the only one.
I’m a fan of planners too. I’m planning to post about my newest journaling endeavor soon! I want to start daily lists like you do!
Really liked your planner/bullet journal post. Makes so much more sense to have everything within one binding. I drag around about a half dozen little books…gratitude journal, Morning Pages journal, memoir journal, to-do list and my planner. No wonder my shoulder hurts when I use the strap on my purse!
I’m consistently putting stuff on my to do list that I’ve already done or know I’ll do just so I can mark it off! It’s like a little motivation every time I mark something. Love your new notebook.
Glad you do as I do and put simple things on your to-do list just for the sheer joy of checking them off. What fun!! It’s the little things sometimes.
I love using planners too and always have one on the go, if not more! I love making lists 🙂 . All the best with your goals Leslie.
Thanks for the well wishes on my winter goals. Off to a rocky start but hope to pick up steam. Wonder if most of us bloggers are also list makers??
Your chalkboard is so cute!
I’ve tried using a planner, but I always forget it, so I use the calendar on my phone. Every night before I go to bed, I check it to see what’s on for the next day. I do the same thing in the morning. The only thing I wish is that I could decorate it like the planner ladies do. LOL
LOL, guess it isn’t possible to decorate the phone calendar very well. I am not into to decorating my planner much but some girls really do doll theirs up.
Yay, thanks for linking up with us! I love seeing what planners people use. I’ve heard of this planner, but I’ve always used the Happy Planner that you can get at Michael’s. It works well for me and I have plenty of room to decorate and have fun with it if I want, which I hope to do better with this year!! I like your chalkboard for the monthly goals – having it in your bedroom is a great idea so you see it when you wake up and go to bed. Love that!
-Lauren
I will check out the Happy Planner next time I am in Michael’s. Would love to take time to decorate mine but just never seem to sit down long enough. Need to run by your blog and check out your Keeping It Together post. So behind in my blog reading but working now to catch up.
I have my Erin Condren one for my blog editorial calendar and then my Cultivate What Matters is new to me this year and it is for goal planning. I hope to make good use out of it, but I feel SO busy these days! Agh! I work out 5x a week and I used to do only 3. I do cardio 2x and strength 3x. I really need to carve out some quiet time in my day and get back to devotional and my prayer journal. I used to do it M-F and I’ve let it slip everyday since last May! I need to make it a priority again. I love your goals, such a good balance!
Carrie
curlycraftymom.com
Maybe you can get back to your prayer journal with the new year. I am excited about the online Bible study and hope you will join us for it, too. I know your days are action-packed, though, and it can be hard to find time for everything. Maybe we should all report back on how we like our planners several months into the year. They all look so useful and perfect in January but living with them for a bit can prove them to be otherwise.
I haven’t been able to think about my winter goals this week in Kentucky. Have eaten like a piglet and been to the gym once. So glad to be getting back to my routine next week when I get home.
Your goals always impress me. I don’t use a planner, my life is not busy enough to need one. I just use my phone calendar and a desk top calendar. I think my desk top calendar has two items written on it. ha ha!
Thank you, Amy. I keep track of my blogging on my planner. How do you keep track of yours? If I don’t write down my blog ideas and the posts I want to link-up for, I won’t remember them! Even those I do month after month. Ha!
Thank you so much for linking up with us! 🙂 I love the Erin Condren planner. I used it for two years and I felt SO organized. Last year I tried Bujo, which while fun was not my thing! I am back to a traditional planner this year. I feel like I want to change each time. hehe I hadn’t heard of the living well planner, glad you are liking it! I love your monthly goal white board! 🙂 XO – Alexandra
Simply Alexandra: My Favorite Things
Hey doll, thank you for stopping by. Hope to connect with you girls again in February. I am not familiar with Bujo so going to Google it. My Living Well planner might be a bit much for me but maybe it will keep me straight. We should all report back on our love or hate for our planners again in a couple of months!