It’s birthday week – also seriously SUCH a busy week in my life! I totally plan on sharing some of my favorite things this week and then doing a giveaway at the end of the month…but PHEW….it’s totally proved harder than I thought it would be. Which is a little ironic, because today I’m talking about organization and some of my favorite ways that I stay organized in my life.
First off, I have to admit right now, I am a HUGE list maker. I have no idea how people function without making a list. I’m a nut and even put the same things on the top of my list every single day! But for some reason it totally helps me prioritize and it really helps me see it done and cross it off every single day.
I don’t need anything super special for lists, but I love a good, pretty notebook that holds up too. I recently found The Task Keeper notebeooks and they are my new favorite! They are just the right size, and have held up amazingly well too. I love the pretty designs and have even given them as a gift a couple times.
I know I should probably convert to bullet journaling at some point in my life, but every time I look into it, it seems so overwhelming. The notebook, planner, phone seems to work for me. Which leads me to my next favorite: The Erin Condren Deluxe Monthly Planner. I know most Erin Condren fans are huge life planers, but I because I write my daily list in a notebook, I really just need a monthly overview and a lot of space for notes and a place to put goals. Enter the Monthly Deluxe Planner. I totally use the page with the five categories behind each month to write out five goal categories: spiritual, physical, family, R+F and reading, and break down goals for each area. Plus, I love the fact that I have extra notebook pages in the back that I can use for notes in special meetings or journaling thoughts. And it fits in my purse! It doesn’t get better than that.
I know what some of you are asking though, if I just have monthly overlook page how do I keep track of our family activities. We use our iphones for our family calendars because we can sync them all together and see everyone’s activities all at once. Every Sunday night we go through and see what everyone has and where we all need to be for the week. Just those 5 quick minutes on Sunday night have made a world of difference.
One more way that I love to stay organized is by calendaring my running. I keep a simple wall calendar on the wall next to my treadmill and every time I am done running I write down what miles I ran. I know Garmin keeps track of my miles (and I totally log everything in Garmin) but I have loved the visual that this gives me.
And last but not least, how I keep track of my books…people are always asking me how I log my books and how I track them. I have tried so many different ways of organizing the books that I read. And I know this sounds so simple, but I keep a list on the notes in my phone! I then transfer that list to my blog. I’ve tried Goodreads in the past and I’m trying it again this year to keep track of my 100 goal, but I just struggle remembering to log into it!
How do you stay organized? Are you a paper or digital planner person? How do you track your workouts? Do you keep track of what you read, do you love Goodreads? Leave me a comment and let me know!
