Involving friends in your organisation journey, and being "real"

Do you realise that a friend can be an incredibly valuable piece to the organised life puzzle?

Let me explain.

This whole home organisation thing can be a circus sometimes. Especially if you have young children at home. You can feel like a hamster on a wheel, who jumps off quickly and through puffed breaths answers the door and says "Hi... welcome, come right in, I was just about to sit down to a cup of tea" .... no you weren't. You were scrubbing skid marks off the toilet bowl while calling out to your toddler to make sure he or she wasn't destroying something. 

Let's get real.

You need friends you can be real with. If you can't be real with your friends, they may not actually be your friends. Allow yourself to be vulnerable with one or two trustworthy women who are either on the journey like you, or who have been there done that. Your honesty will be refreshing and relieving to them, and it will help both of you along as you work at creating homes that are orderly and pleasant.

Having a friend or two or three who knows you are still a work in progress, not some fake it till you make it domestic goddess, but just a normal woman taking one day, week, month and year at a time just like them, will allow you to have a variety of advantages:

1. Accountability - Someone to ask you "hows that project going?" (You know, the one that NEEDS to be done and you tend to procrastinate on) 

2. Sharing the joy - There isn't anything quite like getting on top of something that once drowned you, or finishing a project be it long or short term. Sharing the finished product or simply being able to talk about it only makes it more satisfying!

3. Apathy helps you and them - It is nice for friends to know that you both are merely human and need encouragement and have bad days. It is comforting to know that you are not the only one who may have birds nest hair till lunch time when you go potty, look in the mirror and realise you forgot to brush your hair. Or that you too, have been victim to a toddler discovering the bold and very permanent ways of a Sharpie while mummy was hanging out the washing or answering the phone. It's nice to have someone who understands a "bad day" ... or even just a slow one.

4. Having a sounding board and mentorship-  you can bounce ideas off each other, share a pinterest board, go shopping together for particular home projects, join FB home organisation challenges together and just basically share the journey and have someone to say "what do you think? Do you have a better idea? What have you done in this area that works for you?" Having a friend for this kind of chat, can boost productivity.

5. Having a lifeline when it's needed -  If you have a crisis, a time of chaos, a big life change, your friend can be there for you because you have been honest about your situation, they know where its at, and it is then within their power to help you out! They know that you will return the favor if the need arises. 

So many more things could be said about having an "organisation" buddy. However I shall leave it at that for now, I think that is enough to prove it a good thing!

Start thinking today, of three kinds of people in your life:

A. The well seasoned homekeeper

B. The newbie

C. The "At the same stage" pal

"A" will be able to help and mentor you, if you can humble yourself enough to be taught. "B" Will be your "Freely you have received, now freely give" Friend who YOU can start to mentor, and "C" will be your all rounder whom you can bounce off one another. Its nice to have all three. But even just a C, or an A, will suffice. 

These friends may come in the most unexpected packages. A mother in law, a sister, a friend you usually only talk about kids and the weather with, a neighbour, a lady at playgroup. Who knows? Reach out to someone, most women are too afraid to take the first step but could sure use a friend. Not just for this organisational journey, but life itself! Check your heart. Be sure not to isolate yourself for whatever reason. Fear of rejection? Know-it-all attitude? Control freal? Care too much about what others think of you? Judging others too much? Complaicancy? Whatever the excuse is for not having deeper friendships, deal with it. Even if you need to apologise to someone, or see a counsellor, or maybe just step out of your home-cave and have a conversation with someone. Having friends is very important for your well being and personal growth, and having friends who can help you along this journey to a more organised and peaceful life, and you helping them too, is even better!

Truly consider it, you'll be so glad you did! It will motivate you on your journey.

4 Steps to creating an organised space for your family members untidy hobby

We all have that thing. One of the kids, or our husbands hobbies that just tend to create mess, disorder, or an unpleasant view that secretly drives us insane. One part of us wants to grab it all and chuck it out and pretend that a hobby thief came and took it away while nobody was looking. The other part of us wants our children or hubby to thoroughly enjoy their creative outlet without distraction or being pushed to do it a certain way. We want them to have the freedom to tinker and play yet we crave the orderly tidyiness that comes with an organised space.

There is nothing worse than a wife or partner who just doesn't get it, doesn't try to, and nags and annoys the life out of her kids and or husband about their hobby. Even worse are those who disrespect their family members by simply chucking out/giving away things that they feel their family members are "hoarding" or "don't need" or are just "junk". A little respect goes a long way. We all have our "thing". I love planners. My husband doesn't understand why i need more than one planner, to him, one planner, one set of post its and a pen or two is sufficient. My stationary addiction eludes him, yet he respects that it is my "thing". We need to realize just because it doesn't mean much to us, or we don't really "get it", it does not mean that it ought to go. Worth, value and usefulness is in the eye of the beholder. Of course there are some things... like that box full of old mobile phone chargers to phones you no longer own, that are more likely to be completely useless, but if hubby insists on keeping it, you organise it in a manner that it can be stored away for that ever-distant "rainy day" haha. But we aren't talking about hoarding items right now. We are talking about hobbies and the "stuff" that is necessary to go with it.

Some people are "lucky"... the worst of their problems is lego. Their kids may play it at every given opportunity so its always out. The solution to the lego hobbyist is quite easy. Depending on age there are so so many great lego solutions, pinterest is your firiend. My kids enjoy lego. I have a large queen sized sheet. It is in the large lego container we have. It is spread out over the floor and all lego MUST stay on that sheet at all times, or else. This prevents people, mainly me, from the painful atrocity that is stepping on a lethal weapon (lego piece). It also means cleanup is very quick and easy. Simply grab all 4 corners of the sheet and lift all that lego in one go, and dump it back into the box. It works very well! For ongoing projects that take days to make, or need to stay constructed to be admired, a shelf of some sort can be installed in the playroom, or a dedicated small desk. Or even, a lego corner in the bedroom. This is just one idea of about a billion.

image credit: roarsweetly.wordpress.com

image credit: noordinaryhomestead.com

imagecredit: whydontihavethis.com

However there are other hobbies that are not so easily organised. Ones that require large items, or chunks of junk. People who collect scrap metal and make things out of it for example. Extremely cool and recycle-awesome thing to do, but wow does it take up some space and look very scrappy and messy. Or woodworking. This kind of hobby can be kept in the shed, since that's where most of the tools are anyway. There can be wall mounts installed in that shed for large pieces, old bike racks used to slot them into and categorise them... even a larger scale hobby such as this can be nicely organised. For things like this, a dedicated small shed is ideal. If you can fit one somewhere on your property. A second hand one could be found reasonably cheaply.

image credit: bbs.homeshopmachinist.net

image credit: workshop.lifehacker.com

image credit: myhomeimprovement.org

Then there is my daughter and husband. They have a thing for Star Wars and GI Joe figurines. It started out as just collecting them. I had a small box for them to go in. Then a medium box and then a large box. Then there were so many, and each had there own weapons and so on, so it was more compartmentalised containers. However then they took it one step further. Hubby deciced he would like to try his hand at altering and re-painting figurines, and creating his own characters and such. Which is a very cool hobby in my opinion. Much better than sitting on a computer or Xbox all night or something like that. I encourage creativity in our household and thought it was great. But this new hobby meant that in our activity room, at a desk I used for homeschooling items, was a pile of figurines, box of acrylic paints, my hairdryer, some fabric for cape making, hot glue gun... the stiff was piling up. It looked messy, felt messy, was all jumbled and annoying and making me feel a little annoyed.

So I did what I do best. Or well enough at least. I got my organisational pants in a knot and brainstormed. Again, respecting my husband and daughters expansion on their collection and hobby was top priority, and if I couldn't get it just how I wanted it, I would gladly suck it up for their sake. Our home is for our comfort and enjoyment first. Having it all ordered perfectly is not priority over that purpose. But I knew we could reach a happy medium.

So here are my steps to Organising your family members hobbies in a peaceful yet efficient manner:

Step 1: Realise everyone needs a hobby, and space and freedom to make a mess while enjoying it. You don't want to stop the hobby, you want to make it work in your home.

Step 2: Sort out your own stuff before you even blink at theirs. If your whole home is a mess and you want to start with their stuff? Big no no. Deal with your stuff first. If your home is fine, and its just their stuff that's stopping organised bliss? Okay, but do they have a dedicated spot? Find one. And if that spot has other stuff in it, deal with that other spot first. Make space. Wherever you can. Just do it.

Step 3: Talk to the hobbyist about the space/setup. Ask questions, write their ideas, wishes, preferences and so on down and incorporate it into the plan. Involve them.

Step 4: When preparing the space, make sure it is practical for the user and easy to tidy up. No complicated or stringent systems allowed.

So walking into step 2, I knew that I could call that desk a write off. I was not getting it back. They needed that space, and were using it already, and it worked, sort of. So First, I organised all the things that were usually on that desk. It wasnt an awful lot, but it needed a new home. Some homeschool manipulatives, papers, things I used on a day to day that I needed some easy access to. By tweaking the room around me, and using drawers and other surfaces differently, I was able to free up most of that desk for their hobby. Which made them very happy and also dealt with some of the problem.

The next thing was their stuff. Hubby had given his best shot at "packing away" his stuff once he was done... but we are talking lots of plastic glad-bags strewn across the desk, the hot glue gun dumped into an empty ice cream bucket. His attempt at keeping it tidy was impressive. I know most men wouldnt even think to pack it away. The thought would be "Well its my desk now and Ill just leave it all out since ill use it tomorrow" My hubby did well trying to have some kind of system. I talked to him about it, asked him if he thought it was working well for him and we discussed the options. I found out that

A: He noticed our daughter (who turns 6 soon) was appreciating the figures less and less the more they got them, and we didn't like that. She was less careful with them, and didn't seem as happy and thankful when she got new ones. This concerned him, I agreed. I suggested its because she has easy unlimited access to them, and they are currently all slung in a large box, there is no value placed upon them. So lets change that. Also, its pretty hard to dig through a box of small figurines to find what you are after.

B. Hubby likes things neat and in order, he just doesn't have storage ideas and solutions. It isn't his strong point. His go to move is plastic bags, which is also not ideal for his hobby.

So, with that info, I came up with a solution. I have been wanting to get rid of the shelving on top of our tv unit for about two years now!! They are only there because they are a part of the unit, and have always been there, but are 3 quarters empty and look cumbersome and unnecessary in our living room. The reason I hadn't removed them? Too hard. They are big, we have nowhere to put them, and I didn't want to get rid of them because they are perfectly good shelving. We took that shelving, and mounted it to the wall above the hobby desk. It was perfect for holding all the figurines (with room for more) didn't take away any space in the room, in fact it utilized the wall perfectly, and it meant the figurines can all be on display which is really awesome for my hubby and daughter, they love being able to see their collection all nicely lined up. It solved my daughters lack of appreciation problem, because she was then allowed to choose 10 a day to play with. no more. And they had to go back on the shelves at the end of the day, and she could choose another 10 the next day. It worked. She respects her figurines more now, enjoys picking out her 10 each day and looks forward to using the other ones another day. They don't get destroyed by her little brother now either.

The next thing was all hubby's tools for altering figurines. I set up two containers on the desk, one for tools like hot glue gun, pliers and so on, and the other for figurines and parts that he uses to destroy and alter and create. I switched out my hairdryer (which is a good one that I don't want being used all the time to dry paint!) and is a standard sized dryer, for our little mini travel dryer we had stored away never being used. It is tiny, and lets of plenty of air/heat and is perfect for what they need it for, taking up 1/4 of the space that a large one does. Other things were also done, to turn this desk into a tidy little hobby nook. It now looks good, stays organised and is more pleasant for my hubby and daughter to work with. It is easy for them to tidy up, everything has a place, and they know where that place is. Yet its easy to access anything they need when they are at work. It is a work in progress and we still need to make a few changes to make it look more tidy and neat... however it definitely works right now!

Sure, I wouldn't ideally have all those figures (which are just toys to me) on display if it were a perfect world... however they do look kind of cool. They are at least neat, and in one place and organised and being enjoyed thoroughly by my two star wars/GI Joe fans. Plus its a space to keep all that paraphernalia. There are a few star wars lego boxes they insisted on keeping, a star wars puzzle, some ships and some GI Joe trinkets strewn throughout the house, now its all in one place. And a themed spot makes it a much better looking spot too. All round everyone is happy. Both the home manager (myself) and the hobbyists.

What are your families hobby/messy creative outlets that you want to organise?
Try the 4 steps and see if they will work for you, and may the force be with you!

Last week our oven died - A candid tale of stress and efficiency evaluation

Last week, our oven died. How it died still makes me shake my head. Picture this...
It's a usual week day, you are making pretty good progress with your to-do's. The Washing machine is mid-cycle, the dishwasher is humming and you have just placed a tray of cupcakes into the pre-heated oven. A vanilla candle is hard at work making your toilet and laundry smell wonderful and your kids are playing nicely in the toy room which is relitavely tidy. Yep, its a good day. You walk down the hallway with your toddlers dirty nappy in a bag and all you hear is a strange, new, frightening sound... your washing machine beeping like someone is on a heart monitor and is not doing to well... I check out the situation and the washing machine has stopped and gone off completely mid-cycle. I press buttons, I switch the power socket on and off. Nothing. Oh no... please no... not the washing machine! However, crisis averted, my mother in law, who lives on the same property (different house) comes in and asks if my power went out too. Oh glory thank God, that is good. Yes the power must have just gone out. So we go to the mains and switch the power back on and hooray the washing machine picks up where it left off. PHEW. about 15 mins later my timer goes off. Oh thats right, cupcakes! I go to pull them out and they are still runny... HUH?! Oh yes, the power went out, I forgot to switch back on the oven switch which has its own. Okay, no worries, go switch it back on.

Go back to the oven to check if its now working.. the red light is on to say its heating up again, goodie! The cupcakes are probably ruined and will be flat and dense...however my sweet tooth husband will still eat them so I proceed with the baking. I return 10 mins later to check them... the oven is still cool. I place my hand near where the element is...nothing... oh no. I turn on the hotplate hobs, yep they are warming up fine. I turn on the grill, it seems to be okay as well. Its just the oven. Wait... just the oven? Sigh.

So I waited until hubby got home to deal with the situation. I pulled out the instruction booklet and warranty details though and had a looksy. Of course the extended warranty we paid for was out by a few months. That makes perfect sense. Hubby gets home and pulls the oven out, to check out whats going on out back. We look over the instructions and he begins to investigate when he suddenly jerks back slightly and makes a bit of a "urgh!" noise. "What is it?" I ask... almost not even wanting to know....

DEAD MOUSE. Seriously, the thing killed our oven. How? It's tiny little self was climbing up the back of the oven wiring, and just happened to grab onto the two wrong wires at the same time. Perhaps he was even having a nibble, who knows, but what we do know is that he shorted out the entire house, electrocuted himself to death and was stiffly hanging there, paws spread out grabbing onto two wires for dear life with its tongue hanging out... sounds pretty funny now that I type it out, but at the time... it was just a violation of all things sacred. Ugh. Little critter destroyed my oven. That is one expensive freak accident!!

Okay so we call the insurance company to find out just exactly what the deal is, since there is some kind of clause for animal damage. Apparently mishaps involving vermon like mice are not covered because it is within your power to control such creatures (extermination etc) wow... says the guy who has obviously never a day in his life visited the country. Sigh. I politely as I could, asked "So... out of curiousity... what exactly is covered under this animal clause?" He goes on to explain it also doesn't cover your own pets either. It is for if say, a horse decides to wander onto your property and oh, i dont know, sit on your couch and break it. Or if someones dog comes running into the house and tears up your carpet or eats your iphone or something. You know, things that will never ever EVER in a million years happen, those things are covered. But a field mouse coming in from the acreage surrounding you, destroying the wiring behind your oven where they had been secretly nesting... well that's not covered.

So... I put the phone down quietly, and prepare to explain to my husband the situation. He stands there like a deer in headlights, stunned by the ridiculousness of what I am saying. Shakes his head, sighs deeply and we both sit down at the kitchen table to mourn a great loss. You see, the oven? I never did like her much. She was the only one we could afford at the time, was conventional not fan forced, didn't have a timer or a light, had weird temperature inside (like hot spots so ONE cupcake would burn severely while the rest were just done), she and I had a love/hate relationship. She may have been a basic, messed up old girl, but she was MY basic, messed up old girl and I had learned how to use her despite her faults and not so convenient features. She fed our family and for that I was greatful. We currently do NOT have the spare cash to throw into a new oven... this was the dillema. What to do. Okay so I have a slow cooker, microwave and the hobs and grill still work, so technically I could cruise along just fine for quite some time without an oven. However it is winter, and I do have to feed 4 of us... and the oven does get used alot. I bake. I do roasts, I need my oven, eventually, at some stage.

We went to bed. Early. And slept heavily.

Morning came.... We glanced at each other with this look that very rarely comes upon our faces. It's the
"I do not have the energy to deal with this right now, lets pretend its not happening for a while please" kind of look. You see both of us have our own things going on at the moment. I am 29 weeks  pregnant and really feeling it, amongst other things, and hubby is extremely busy with building his sisters home for her (kit home) plus work and just a whole bunch of other things going on... we are too busy and tired to deal. And just like that, a silent unspoken agreement was made. I will adjust the menu for the coming week to things I can do without the oven, and he wont complain about the lack of baked goods or quality of some meals that usually are done in the oven but have to be done another way. We went a whole week without even glancing at the oven problem. It was ignorant bliss.

7 days later, meal plan time came around again and we knew this had to be dealt with. We were looking at teeny tiny ovens that you can just place on top of the countertop. We were thinking we could just make do with that until further notice. I could jam a small roast in it... heat up frozen goods on our lazy nights (Sundays) things like that. It would be doable. Hubby went to town to pick up some things for the house he is building for his sister and came home with a beautiful new oven... what?! how?! My sister in law paid the difference between one of those shoddy little ones we were going to buy, and a normal sized oven of the standard variety. Significant contribution let me tell you! I cried. I just cried like a thankful puppy dog. What a blessing it was! What relief and joy!

Enter Phase two of "Can it seriously get any worse?"

So the elation was still there of receiving a new oven and hob set in stainless steel (our last one was white and ugly, this one matched the fridge and looked all modern), with fan force, interior light and timer, all the basic features that weren't on old Bessie. Then it came to installation time. I won't go into the gory details, but basically keywords are.... husband, large sharp power tools, bench cutting, measuring, drilling, building, fridge moving, powerpoint inspecting, hard-wiring and power point confusion, phone calls, mess, loud loud noises all day long, 2 nights of eating takeaway for dinner, sawdust... sawdust everywhere, exhaustion, more mess, kitchen a shambles, stress level rising, scratched countertops, give up.... then finally a solution.

I am happy to say that the oven is being installed tomorrow by our electritian for a very very good cheap price, another major blessing. I will be able to cook meals and use my kitchen again. The saw dust is slowly being dealt with and I can see the floor and my appliances again. But wow was that a major ordeal. A messy one where you keep hitting dead ends and wondering "why me?!"

On the very bright side, I have a beautiful new oven, all will be back in order in a day or two and it didn't cost us all that much to sort it out.

Looking back at what felt like a chaotic situation, I am able to assess it properly.
I see what could have been done to keep this from being less of a problem.
Obviously it is not within our power to magically know when a mouse is going to play cliffhanger on the back of our oven. However some things I had in order made things easier...and some things I did not have in order made things way harder.

For example. I knew exactly where my instruction manual, receipt and warranty details were. I have a well organised large file where I keep all those things, divided into sections like "electronics", "Kitchen", "baby items" etc. So, I did not have to stress out and search every drawer and shelf in the house for those things, I immediately and calmly was able to walk over and flip through to find it safely tucked away right where I had left it a few years before. Not so long ago, I would have been frantically searching, feelings of "why didnt I put that away somewhere Id remember?!" washing over me, thinking how annoyed hubby would be when I couldnt find the manual or the receipt, knowing it would put pressure on the situation and so on and so forth. I was so relieved to be able to go to the system I had created and just get what I needed when I needed it. Organisational win.

(I use this system, tweaked. If your interested, there is a youtube vid by Alejandra.tv on youtube, HERE )

Something that I was not prepared for, and normally would be but had gotten slack? Freezer meals. I menu plan, and for a long time now have always kept batches of food in the freezer. About a weeks worth. I cook extra and freeze in containers, so for busy nightts, or weeks where I am sick or for emergency times like this, I have fully cooked family meals ready to defrost and heat up. Usually in the oven hahaha, but can be done in microwave too. I had NOTHING. Zero... zilch...nada. Not a single frozen meal in my freezer. The one time we really really could have used it. It would have taken a great deal off my mind to default to that preparedness. But sadly, I dropped the ball there, and there wasn't really any good reason for it. I just didn't do it. I could have easily. It really doesn't take much to just cook a double portion of something, you are cooking it anyway!

Now I haven't beaten myself up over it or any other thing that I've noticed, no use crying over spilt milk and all. It won't do me any good feeling bad about it and hey, we are all human, you cannot be perfectly organised in all areas at all times! So its okay, I gave myself a break. However it has been really good to see just how worth it being organised and prepared actually is. You don't realise what your achieving until the need arises. The truth is that in my habit of freezer meal prepping, I had lost sight of why I do it. I slacked off because I guess I didnt feel I "needed" to do it so why bother? At least subconsiously I think thats what happened. Turns out, it is a very very good idea to just do it. It is a lifesaver in certain situations. Lesson learned.

So I am able to sit here, and feel like I have good motivation to keep my life an organised and prepared kind of life. I do not have any wildly misled fantasies about ever being perfect at an organised life. Nor do I strive for perfection. But it is really good, after a bit of household turmoil, to be able to look at a situation and reflect on what works, and what could be improved so that stress levels can be kept down and efficiency levels can be nice and high.

Just thought I'd share these thoughts with you as I think a bit of reflection is good sometimes, and reading about someone elses can cause us to do our own little assessment and adjustments here and there as well. Perhaps you can start working on a receipts, manual and warranty system If you don't have one yet, or think about starting to freeze meals if you've never done so. Or maybe its just a good time to think about any areas you may realise you've dropped the ball on and could easily pick up again. A preparedness sweep if you will.

I have a new section in my planner... it's called: "Preparedness organisation Projects" and its a new list of things i am remembering that I need to stock up on or find a good place for or to organise. Like candles. We get power outages more often than the suburbs experience them. I am forever forgetting candles!! I mean good ones with decent lighting. The scented and pretty ones or tealight ones dont cut it. You need those long boring white ones that give off good light. I am going to prepare a power-out box and keep it in the pantry. Good candles, a few torches (one each for the kids and a lantern...that is actually charged up! A lighter etc). We do have these things around the house, but the last few times the power has gone out, the lantern battery was low, or I couldn't find the candles, or the torches were broken coz the kids had got to them at some stage and I didn't know. It always puts pressure on the situation and can so easily be prevented from being a problem.

What can you do around your home now, to keep things as smooth sailing as possible when an inconvenient problem arises in your home?

Personal or A5 sized planner? What I chose and tips for you to decide too

Evening!

So I have been on that very common, almost inevitable back and forth deciding if I need a personal or an A5 sized planner. (Kikki K calls it medium or large). I have tried both now, and their are pros and cons to both.

imagecredit: oattblog.com

Everyone is different and everyone's lifestyle and needs for a planner are different, therefore one persons solution will not fit everyone. Also, you may run with a system for a time, then realise you need to change it after a few yrs as life changes, and that's okay! So firstly, for now, take these 5 thoughts into consideration:

1. What parts of your life will go in your planner? All areas? Or just a few?
2. Do you want to use more than one planner? or would you prefer an all in one?
3. Do you want to decorate or keep it simple?
4. Are you a list maker, or an avid notetaker?
5. Do you see your coming year to become busier or less busy than it has been?

So lets take a closer look.

Do you want to use it for one sole purpose? For example a home management system along with maybe some contacts/addresses and birthdays? Or perhaps you need it for work, like an appointments book, and your tabs would consist of a calendar for bookings, a few lists and an "ideas" section. This kind of planner use, means that you could most likely get away with using a personal sized (medium) planner. It's portability is great and its a neat little package for someone who either has a specific singled out use for their planner, or wants to separate a few of the different things going on in there lives into different planners. (Some people have a home management system in a large file folder which stays at home all the time anyway and they only need a small planner to use like a calendar and reminder book). Another reason to go for the personal sized planner, is if your a minimalist, or want to be, and are able to keep things simple. Personal size are great for list makers, not note takers. If you find most of what you jot down is in "to-do" format with a tick box and a few words each line, and you don't find yourself elaborating in any way, or writing down full details for something, or note taking and brainstorming, if these things aren't something you want to do in your planner, then a personal (medium) is perfect.

If you want an all in one system that has everything from monthly and weekly calendars and home cleaning routines, to a place for work bookings/orders, a blog section, and personal section to plan out home projects, creative endeavours, family details, ideas and brain dumps... If you're the kind of person who likes to write. Who likes details, and/or, likes to decorate their planner, my opinion is that you NEED the A5 sized planner. In my experience. I started in an A5, was cruising along nicely for a few weeks and got this nifty idea in my head that I could fit it all into a personal sized. I saw a youtube video of a mum who has 7 kids, homeschools and has other stuff going on in her life and she used a pocket size at first! (Smaller!) then moved on up to personal size. When I saw that I thought... WELL! I only have two kids (one on the way) and my life is about as busy as hers... so maybe i'm just being a "bigger is better" person with no need for it? So I purchased a personal size planner (medium) and gave it a go. I am happy to report, I did fit it all in... however sad to report, only just. And only because I bought a Kikki K planner. Their later medium sized planners have huge rings compared to most personal sized planners. They have 30MM rings wheras other brands like filofax only have 23-25MM rings (big difference in such a small package).

imagecredit: islandgirlstudio.blogspot.co.uk/

However, although I can make it work, it isnt ideal. Although I love the small, cute compactness of it all and carry it with me everywhere, I just cant get into it. I am restricted. I have managed to jam in my monthly, weekly, home section, family section, personal section, blog planning section and work section all in one planner. But I feel somewhat trapped. Like I have nowhere to go from here. I find I am sticking post its in there all over the place as I run out of room. Or I stick a to-do list over my weekly spread each day to map out my day in better detail. I also perceive that our families life-responsibilities will expand over the next year, and there isn't really room for that either. For example, my work section next year needs to be almost double the paper because we will be getting double the work with me being back in action (preggo at the moment and not working much with our business). I also plan on this blog growing and have big ideas and my old blog was much less of an intense endeavor and that's the one I have in there at the moment. Not to mention I only had my personal sized planner for a week and a half and it was full... I will constantly be thinking of new things I want to add and its gonna get cozy in there.

Another reason personal size isn't working for me, is that I have discovered that I like to decorate my planner. Not like some of these amazing, detailed, more-pictures-than-words kind of planners that I love looking at so much, however I really do like sitting down and using washi and stickers and so on to pretty up my weeks. I can barely do that in a personal size because I need as much writing space as possible. I thought I wouldnt bother to decorate much, or that I wouldn't "have time", but I find, the prettier my planner is, and the more personalised it is, the more i want to be in it and the more I want to use it, and the more organised it helps me to be. So spending an hour here or there making it pretty or more suited to my needs, really pays off on the day to day. I need my planner to be a place of creative expression. It helps me to stay motivated to use it and bigger picturing it? It makes me more productive.

My main struggle with the A5 was the idea I had in my head about it's size. It is quite the step up from a personal... and many people carry on about how it is much too big to lug around with you. How it just isn't the right size for portability, and for some reason I just went with that train of thought... however, using my noggin to stop and think for a second I almost had to laugh at the thought.

Two types of people who probably really do not need to worry about the A5 size:

1. Uni Students. You carry how many books every day? how much do those books weigh? How big is your bag you take to uni? ... A5 isnt really that much more to take around with you is it?

2. Mums: ...Like me. When I leave the house (especially because we are semi-rural and have to take much more with us than most because each trip is pretty much a day trip), I need to bring a large baby bag, and usually an additional bag to the baby bag. Along with a small eski to keep the kids food and drink in, a pram, and if we are going to church, our bibles and notebooks, which I don't like to put in the baby bag because they can get squashed, bent outta shape etc. So I am kind of carrying everything but the kitchen sink... an A5 Planner is but a drop in the ocean and the least of my worries!! Even when I can sometimes manage to pack "light", my bag is still big enough for an A5 planner, because even packing light means I still need items for myself and children in a large bag. So..... large planner? no problem at all.

So Im currently in the process of moving back into an A5 and am so so sooo at peace about it. It just suits me and my needs. Yours may be different, I can't tell you which size to use or which you will need. You will have to do what I did and experiment. If you can even source a very cheap planner in both sizes you can test it out. personal size planners can be found fairly often in op shops and online generic no name ones aren't expensive in this size. The A5's you can buy from places like department stores or cheaper-end specialty stores like Typo. You can spend about $30 between the two of them and have two planners to experiment with, that you may even be able to sell when you decide what you want (if they are 6 ring binders anyway). Besides that, decent planners hold their value very well. If you get yourself a Kikki K or a Filofax for example, you can sell them for the same price that you bought them (or even more sometimes crazily enough) as long as you took care of them.

So just try out both if you really cant decide. Go just the one for a few weeks or months, and if it doesnt work, move on, change it up. The beauty of planners is that they can be a source of enjoyment. It is not a chore to play around with them ... well, maybe for some it might be! But just remember to keep your needs and purpose for the planner in mind when deciding what to go with at first. Take another look at the "5 thoughts" at the top of this post again and hopefully it'll help you take one step closer to making that weirdly hard decision of what size planner to get.

Then of course you'll have to struggle through what type of layout you want... you know, 6 ring or spiral bound or notebook or midori... and if its a 6 ring... a week to a page? or a week to two pages? day to a page? Normal traditional layout or that cute square looking system etc etc... yep its enough to make your head spin. Sorry, cant help you with that one, still working half of it out myself! But... one step at a time my friends, that's the road to planner peace, and to an organised life, baby steps. Just enjoy the experiment!

Hope this has been helpful in some way!

Love Terri-lee
XoXo

Let's get organised! All women need to read this and know that they can.

New Blog new me?

Doubtfully.

But it's all good, who really wants a "new me" when you can simply have an "improved me". We do not have to throw out the baby with the bathwater, and I think that's just what some people try to do when they realise they have to change! Key word... CHANGE. Not just throw who you were into the fire and start from scratch... but simply just pare back. Make the assessment. Keep the strengths, the positives, the things you love, you know, the good stuff. The rest? Work in progress. In order to do better and be better, you do not have to re-invent yourself. Rather, you need to start being the best you that you can be. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Different things that make them tick, sigh, move or slump. "Know thyself" comes across as a bit of an up yourself quote at first glance, however their is merit in those two words. Knowing yourself enough to know what to be content and happy with and what you know needs vast improvement, is a pretty crucial step to climbing the rungs of the life-progress ladder.

Take me for example.

Strengths:
Extremely Confident
Creative
Great with kids
Great with words
Great at making things pretty
Great sense of humour
loving
prayerful
funny (so im told...)

Weaknesses:
Cheese
Somewhat easily offended
Unorganised by nature
unfit
unmotivated to get fit
easily distracted
skips from one thing to the next
bad at keeping my mouth shut
forgetful

So as you can see, off the top of my head I am well able to list the first things that come to mind that are both good and bad. Can you do that? Try! Some of us can list 5 million things we dont like about ourselves, however that is not a weakness. "My big nose" or "my weird cough" or "I cant sing".... none of those things are weaknesses. None of those, if improved or changed, would make your life particularly better by means of being a better person or more productive in any way shape or form. Stop beating up on yourself and start looking at real weaknesses. CHARACTER weaknesses which can be grown and changed and improved and will in turn improve your quality of life, your relationships, your state of mind, your everything. So,
with that in mind, now, what are your strengths and weaknesses? Give yourself some credit where credit is due. Pat yourself on the back, and now, look at some weaknesses and give yourself a hug and remember that the list may be long, but your life journey is longer. You have time, resources and ability to do what needs to be done!!

This is where this blog comes in for me personally.

In the beginning of 2015 I came to the painful but honest truth that...
I lack self discipline.
Not only that, it was controlling my life.

What do I mean by lacking self discipline? I mean most areas of my life were overrun with my tendancy towards my weaknesses and not taking control of them. Being unorganised, easily distracted, forgetful and so on, was affecting my life. It was causing me to not be the best wife, mother, homemaker, businesswoman, friend and all round person I could potentially be. What was the changing factor?

Well, I stopped blaming circumstances...and others, and started facing the facts that I just needed to plain and outright admit to myself that I lacked self discipline and that this needed to change If I ever wanted my life to change.

Now don't get me wrong... life was still good. I am happily married, I love my home, my kids, my job, my life. I am a Christian, and with that comes a certain joy and contentment that is just not explainable, you can only know it by experiencing it for yourself. However, although I was generally very happy with my life, I was not happy with myself. You see, I had enough of being typical Terri-lee... the one who would always be late (sure, 10 mins max, but lets face it, late). The one who would when we went out would forget something that really really inconvenienced either me, my hubby or the day in general. The one who just wouldn't go to bed on time and payed for it in extreme fatigue that affected my productivity every single day. The one who would make excuses for silly mistakes I would make which really would come down to not being careful enough or not being organised. The one who would blame something, or someone else, whenever I wasn't doing life like a grown up lady and instead was still in teenage-mode not taking responsibility.

Please at this point, don't think I have been completely useless and terrible at life. This is not the case. Like I said I have my strengths, and because of my personality type, my strengths really show alot. It is only when you REALLY get to know me that you realise my many weaknesses (and I think thats the same for everyone. We are all good at hiding and pretending). Just at the start of this journey I had a friend, who has known me for about a year so far, say something that made me almost spit out my tea..
"I always thought you were super organised! You seem to have it all together. The kids are always well presented, you always have their food and drink packed and ready to distribute. You never have a hair out of place, you know, organised and all. Wish I was like that".

....... wow. My immediate response was "NO!!!! The kids look well presented but it was chaos in my home getting them to that point. In fact, one of them cried it out today over having to have a ponytail, which she only had to have because I didnt make enough time to do her hair properly and had to rush the whole process and rush her and upset her unnecessarily instead of just making sure I was organised enough to fit a simple hair brushing in. Yeh, they always have food and drink, thats something I have managed not to forget due to sheer need. However just yesterday I totally forgot my sons blankie AND dummy (both his lifeline when he is really tired) when we had to spend the entire day out, resulting in many many tears and an exhausted boy and a frazzled, silently enraged mother until we got home (early coz nobody was in the mood after all that). Never have a hair out of place? Only because it is always slicked back stiffly like a rigid ballerina in one minute flat so I dont look like a homeless gollywog hosting a birdnest on top. Organised? BARELY!"

My friend laughed... but also had this "for real?!" look in her eyes that made me stop and think...
Are we all just faking it? Coz I thought SHE was organised and had it all together and was dedicatedly self disciplined too and it turns out...shes not... not by a longshot. Surely, out there, there must be some amazeballs species of women who actually really and truly do have it all together. Who I can look up to and be mentored by and so on.

Do you know what I found out?

Strengths and weaknesses.
they abound in every persons life. Even the most organised, pristine, tidy, productive, smiley, amazing, "what is she on to make her so fantastic at life?" Kind of person has major weaknesses in areas you don't know about. We need each other. Desperately. We need to band together. To encourage, inspire, equip and be real with one another. We can all improve in our weaknesses and even make some of them strengths. But we all are naturally inclined towards one thing or the other with certain strengths too.

For example, I am super good at organising rooms/drawers etc. If I put my mind to it and stick to it, I can make almost any space, useful and neat and much better than it was before. However, I struggle with keeping up with normal house duties. Routine is a real difficulty for me. Being disciplined enough to sit and do a long term project, is something I find hard. However I have a friend who has a degree in event management and she can plan stuff, big stuff, and make amazing things happen and stick to a routine... yet her homes cupboards are terrifying. Her space in her house is not being utilised well at all and she doesnt "have it" to change that. Where I am weak she is incredibly strong. And where I am strong, she needs my help/advice and ideas. We don't DO each others dirty work, not at all.. but we do give each other tips, ideas, encouragement, information and inspiration to motivate and educate each other to come to a point in our weakness where we can be efficient enough to get by. Isn't that great?

This is what I want this blog to become.
I want it to be a place where I share my own personal journey to a better, more organised, more productive me. I want to show you the downs and ups. I want you to teach me, I want to teach you. I want to enjoy the journey. I want to, with you, see how far ive come and how far I can go and if I can help anyone else along the way and turn this into something totally beautiful, then this is all a major win!

The posts will probably be ever changing. You might find an entire month is just full of planner talk. Then another month I will shift to home organisation projects, then I will have a baby and talk about kid routines... So dont expect this blog to always be the same. Yet in saying that, I want you to know, the entire point of the whole thing is to help you, and for you to help me just by reading. I feel accountable having to come here and blog about how I'm doing and what I am doing. And I so pray and hope that my adventure helps you to get motivated too and gives you some fantastic ideas and inspiration along the way.

This is a place where judgement, beating oneself up, "I cant" and "i'll never change" gets left at the door, and we can all step into a place of grace, realistically assessing our progress, saying "maybe I can!" and "Look...hey... I AM changing!" even if just a teensy bit every day.

Please join me in my journey of growing in Character, self discipline and know-how, and together...

LET'S GET ORGANISED!