Organization Extra: Planner Parade

This planner, from the Denise Albright Studio, is one of
many planners on Etsy. 

If you're looking for a planner, you can always check the usual places: Wal-Mart, Target and other similar stores that sell a little bit of everything. If you're on a budget, you can check dollar bins or dollar stores; if you're looking for something businesslike, there's always the office supply circuit -- Staples, Office Max, Office Depot and online retailers like Penny Wise. And, if you want something that's a cross between a planner and a journal, you might like the Passion Planner, which I've written about before.

But what if you're looking for something different? Something artsy, perhaps. Something that doesn't look like every other planner on the block. Well, you might want to check out Etsy. Lots of planners, lots of layouts, lots of styles, all in a place where uniqueness and creativity is celebrated.

Happy shopping. If you find something cool, be sure to share it with us here.

3 Keys Thursday: Planning Planners: Newfangled or Old-Fashioned

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

The grocery store offers paper or plastic -- or, perhaps, reusable. When it comes to planners, the choice is paper or electronic -- or, perhaps, both.

Last week, I started my 3 Keys Thursday post with some considerations on the topic of paper vs. electronic, sharing my eventual hybrid choice. This week, I'd like to explore three questions to help those still on the fence to decide on the option most likely to succeed.

Do you need to write things down in order to remember them? For many of us, the very act of writing something down helps us commit it to memory. If you worry (or if experience has shown) that once you type it into your phone, it's forgotten, you might be better off with a paper calendar.

Store sign at 'Round the Clock Diner
York, PA

Do you need 24-7 access? This one comes down to personal preference. Although many of us take our phones everywhere we go out of sheer habit, it's just as easy to develop the habit of taking a paper planner with us. The key here is making sure that your planner of choice has a consistent home as you travel from place to place. I know many women whose calendars live in their purses, which means these ladies are just as likely to have their paper planners as they are to have their phones when it comes time to make an appointment.

Do you need reminders and other bells and whistles? No matter how much you love that beautiful paper calendar you so lovingly chose, it's not going to send you notifications. If you need reminders for all of the dates in your planner, you might want to go electronic. While medical practices routinely call to remind us of our appointments, they won't tell call to remind us of our lunch with Aunt Sue.

One final consideration: no planner is foolproof. Phones and electronic devices need charging and both electronic planners and paper planners can be lost. And, every planner is subject to human error. If we enter an appointment incorrectly (or not at all), having a planner is little help.

Next week, we'll wrap this up by tying planners to styles. Meanwhile, if you've found tips, tricks or a planner you love, please share in the comments below.

Who? Me? Organized?

Photo: Pippalou via Morguefile

Sometimes, I feel dishonest writing a blog that focuses on organization. One quick glance around my house -- especially now -- makes it clear that I don't have this organization thing licked. Life takes over and so does the stuff, and many days, I cringe at the thought of someone coming to my house unannounced.

But then I remember: that's why I write this blog.

Sure, there are plenty of professional organizers out there and I'm sure their homes look better than mine does. But, when I read what they say about organizing, much of it doesn't work for me. I know the "rules" and I realize that many of them make sense. And, while there's much to be said for creating new habits and using standard tools, most people who struggle with organization have already tried that path. I know I have.

I really believe in what I write about. Furthermore, I've seen it work. I've seen kids' faces light up when they realize they're not broken because they don't do well with binders and pocket folders. I've watched adults relax and even smile at the idea that what they do naturally could actually be the plan they've been seeking, and I've heard the confessions of many people just like me who are relieved to know that file cabinets and neatly tabbed folders don't work for everyone. I've seen -- and experienced -- firsthand what a difference an accordion folder can make.

Created with Canva

As long as I know I'm on the right path, I need to remind myself that every path has obstacles, and that the Easy Upkeep part of  STYLE comes only after I've completed the four steps that precede it. Right now, I'm living on the T (Take Small Steps), determined to practice the Y (Yes, it has a home) and as much L (Let it go!) as I can muster, because the alternative is to stuff it all in a bin so things look pretty and I know from experience that that backfires. Every time.

So, until I'm prepared to take an entire day and forgo writing my novel, catching up on my reading and all the other things on my "between semesters" list, progress will be slow. But, as long as I'm chipping away at my collected stuff in pursuit of Easy Upkeep, I know that what lies at the end of the path will be worth all the work, because a system that works makes life so much easier.

Organization Extra: How to Pack

Photo: Kolobsek via Morguefile

Last summer, I bought a notepad that says, "I love to travel, but I hate to pack." It's a packing checklist, one I use only when I'm going on a longish trip -- one that lasts longer than a weekend.

Certified professional organizer Janine Adams has a list of her own: Five Ways to Make Packing Easy. I'm proud to say that I do all of them, but the make-up packing idea is my favorite. The nice thing is the things on the list don't only make packing easy -- they are easy.

How do you pack?

3 Keys Thursday: Planning a Planner

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause via Morguefile

A few years ago, while my husband and I were browsing at the warehouse club near my parents' home, I came across a spiral-bound planner. It was done in lovely florals and pastels and reeked of optimism. I couldn't help myself. I picked it up. I opened it, and was immediately overcome by one thought.

Are they kidding? If I could fit my life into these skinny little columns, I wouldn't need  a planner!

Nearby, a binder called "the ultimate organizer" (in soothing lower case letters) also called out to me. This one offered to be the tool that put my life in order, but all I could think was that if I had time to file things by category and use all the lovely labels and folders provided in this beautiful, Type A tool, I would have already done so, which would render this system just as useless as the pretty floral planner with the skinny columns.

Don't get me wrong. I'm sure these organizers work for someone, and that someone will be overjoyed not only to flip through these tools, but purchase them and take them home. There, they will use them and reap the benefits proclaimed on the front covers.

I'm just not that someone.

Planners are the first step toward organizing our time and, as such, should match our styles just as our organizational systems do. As we set goals and make plans for the new year, the right planner can help us to keep track of not only our appointments, but our goals as well.

If you're still looking for something to suit your styles, here are a few questions to get you thinking before you shop:

Electronic or paper? Do you use your phone for everything? If so, you might already have the perfect planner at your fingertips. Don't like the calendar on your device? Analyzing its strengths and weaknesses when it comes to your planning needs can help you figure out what you're looking for....
and what you're not.

As an I need to see it girl, I prefer hard copies, but I like the convenience of entering and keeping track of my appointments on the calendar on my laptop. So, after a great deal of experimentation (and a few missed appointments), I've adopted a system that gives me the best of both worlds. I use the calendar on my laptop, but print updated copies throughout the month, which I review with my family (so I can add things that are on their schedules, but not written down anywhere). Then, I post the printed copy on the bulletin board in our kitchen. We've also tried syncing the various calendars electronically, but haven't always had success with this. Until we do, I'll stick with my paper back-up.

pixabay.com

Parked or portable? For most people, having just one planner or calendar is best. That said, I know some I love to be busy folks who keep separate calendars for work and home. If you are one of those people, be honest with yourself about how well it's working for you. How often do you forget something that's in the "other" calendar? Never? Great! Keep up the good work! Sometimes? Maybe you need a plan for combining your calendars.

Whether your two planner system is less efficient than you'd like or you simply prefer to keep your calendar parked, a system for keeping track of appointments you make on the run is essential. You can try a pencil and paper plan, such as jotting them in a notebook that you check regularly so your calendar stays up to date, or something a bit more tech-savvy, such as syncing your calendars or sending yourself an email to remind yourself to add the on-the-fly appointments to the calendar.

Tight shot or panorama? What kind of layout do you like? A page a day? The whole week (or month) at a glance? Do you need space to make lists, room for addresses, phone numbers and future plans? Or do you just need a small calendar with dates that will fit in your purse or pocket?

Although all of our appointments go on the calendar on my laptop/kitchen bulletin board, I love my  6 x 9 page-a-day desktop calendar because it gives me room to make lists and put my appointment reminders right where I can see them. Over time, I've started using inexpensive calendars to track goals, ideas and progress for my writing and a separate calendar to keep track of assignment due dates and what I've covered in the classes I teach. While the calendar on my laptop holds all of my appointments, I find that an inexpensive month-at-a-glance calendar with room in the back for notes is useful for tracking progress. No, I'm not breaking my one calendar rule; I use these calendars as notebooks with date. No appointments go inside.

What's the most important feature of a calendar? Its ease of use. It doesn't matter if your calendar is a clearance bin generic version or an expensive personalized agenda with a monogrammed leather cover.

What matters is whether or not it will make your life easier, and it can't do that if you won't use it.

It Gets Worse Before it Gets Better

This cart, formerly parked under the counter in my office
as a storage center, now holds a combination of displaced
items (top shelf) and potential storage solutions (bottom
shelf). When I have just a few minutes to spare, I can make
progress by sorting the things on the cart. 

I've been joking with my friends that my house, especially my office, is currently in the "it gets worse before it gets better" stage of organizing. If I doubted this, my daughter offered me verification when she came into my office on Saturday, looked around and said "It doesn't look any better in here."

No. No it doesn't.

A busy fall semester that crashed right into the week of Christmas has left much of my house in need of serious attention. And, while I began this project with high hopes during the last week in December, it's turning into an even bigger project than I thought it would be.

When you live and work in a small space over a long period of time (two decades in this house), organization is always a domino effect. Retiring and bringing my business home and into a small office that was once a side patio has pushed already overwhelmed systems to the breaking point, making it necessary to re-envision and re-vamp my office. That takes time and creates a mess -- one that is creeping into other parts of my house as one storage system impacts another.

When I'm finished, I'll have purged a lot of unnecessary things, tweaked my style-specific systems so that they have room to accommodate the inevitable influx of new papers and projects and improved other spaces in my home as well.

If organizing my office was the only thing I had planned for the time between December 26 and the
start of the semester in two weeks, this ugly duckling stage would be long gone my now. But vacation is filled with many wonderful things that bite into our most productive times of day and, in so doing,  lengthen the process. Even as much as I love to organize (and I do, though it currently doesn't look that way), I also love reading, writing and spending time with family. Achieving a balance among these activities does not, unfortunately, lend itself to keeping clutter to a minimum.

What's replacing the cart.
As an "I Need to See it" person, I need
to label anything that's not see-through.
The other drawers will get their labels
when I decide what goes inside.

If you, like me, have chosen to tackle a big project to get the new year off to an organized start, be patient with yourself. Take steps toward your goal each day, but don't expect miracles or a sudden appearance from the organization fairy. Try to keep the detritus of the process from creeping into other areas of your living space and thus creating more work for yourself, but understand that this might happen, especially if you're working in a small space.

When you set out to organize in a way that's compatible with your styles, and therefore workable for you in the long run, embracing the process is just as important as reaching the finish line.

And organizing for the long haul is definitely more of a marathon than a sprint.

Special thanks to Cerella Sechrist, who encouraged me to post before and after photos, despite my hesitation to do so. 

Organization Extra: 16 Ways to Get 2016 off to an Organized Start

Created with Canva at canva.com

When it comes to Saturday Specials, I look for things that inspire a feeling of relaxation or inspiration, and today's Huffpost Home article does both. I've spent enough years making New Year's resolutions to know a recipe for disaster when I see one, and this piece neatly sidesteps those land mines in favor of easy first steps and creative projects.

Is organization one of your 2016 goals? If so, today's article is a great step toward doing it with STYLE.

Happy New Year! What will you organize this year?