Tag: staying organized

Categories
Fun Ways to Organize

Life Hacks

Hey guys! Happy Wednesday! I hope your week is going well.

Last week, I went to visit my friend, Sydney for dinner and whenever I take a road trip, I always like to listen to podcasts. My favorite podcast that I listen to every week is Emily Ley’s Simplified podcast. The episodes are typically 30 minutes or less and they are packed with guests, life lessons, and tips to live a simplified life. If you are looking for a new podcast, this is it.

My favorite podcast.

When I’m in the car and on a road trip I love listening to The Bestie Breakdown. Two of my favorite bloggers, Shay Shull and Erika Slaughter share everything about life, travel, fashion, and kids. If you are looking for a fun podcast that will guarantee you laughs, this is perfect for you. I was listening to one of their podcasts where they talked about their favorite life hacks, they offered so many great suggestions that it got me thinking about some of my life hacks. 

This one is great for road trips

 When life gets busy, especially in the spring and summer, I crave order and stability even more. In order for my day to run smoother there’s a few tricks that I incorporate into my daily routine. I also reached out to some of my closests friends and family for their favorite life hacks too. This is a mix of things for at home or at work or on the go.

Five Life Hacks

  • Quick way to clean pots- Pots can be a challenge to clean out especially if you are cooking with cheese, lots of oils, or if you burn something. Instead of spending lots of time scrubbing out the pots after dinner, drop a cascade pod in the pot and fill it with warm water. Let it soak and then rinse, it does a great job giving it a good cleaning and it saves you time from scrubbing.

  • Quick way to clean grills or waffle makers- Making a panini with a panini maker or using a George Foreman grill to cook chicken or a waffle maker are all fun and games until you have to clean them out. Food can become trapped in the holes and on the grill. An easy way to clean it after you are done is by taking a wet paper towel and placing it on the grill or waffle maker after you finish using it, you get it cleaned easily and it saves the wear and tear on your appliances.

  • Never forget a coupon- If you are like me, I’m sure you get coupons or rewards offers in your email all the time. You may get excited by it but then forget about it and you lose out on the money. A new way I have been keeping track of rewards and coupons is by putting the expiration date on my calendar. Whenever I get a coupon or reward in my email that I want to use, I automatically add the date it expires in the calendar on my phone. Once a week when I’m planning out my week, I transfer all my digital dates and appointments to my Simplified planner. This is a way for me to keep all my long-term dates in one spot and not get too overwhelmed by the day to day stuff. You can read about my system here. 
An example of my online calendar.
  • Always keep in your car- Something I always keep in my car is stamps. I know mailing letters isn’t as popular anymore but when you do have to pay that bill, send that birthday card or drop something off in the mailbox, having stamps on hand is key.

  • One load a day – If you live in a big family like I do, I’m sure you have loads and loads of laundry. I’m still living at home and one of the ways I try to help out is by doing the laundry. With a lot of people under one roof, the laundry can get overwhelming. As a way to manage it, I try to follow the one load a day philosophy. Every day, I do a load of laundry, on weekends there may be more, but by doing a load a day, it helps me stay on top of it and not get overwhelmed.

Those are just five easy life hacks that I follow and that help my life run smoother. What are some of your top life hacks?!

Categories
Fun Ways to Organize

Getting Ahead of the Game

Hi guys! Happy Wednesday! I hope your week has been going well. I’m in full on Christmas mode over here! From shopping to listening to music and having my décor up. This time of year is always fun but also busy.

There’s so much to get done in such a short amount of time, it can be a lot to keep track of which is why I always like to stay ahead of the game by planning ahead. Whether it’s the holiday season or a random week in July, planning ahead ensures my week goes a little smoother.

In a world of chaos, there’s only so much you can control which is why taking a few minutes every week makes my days and nights smoother. 

Here’s three ways that I prep to get ahead in the game.

Weekly To Do: Every Sunday I make a weekly to do in my planner. A tip I got from Emily Ley on how to best use both a digital and paper planner, if you use both. She recommends to put all your important dates, information, events etc. in your digital calendar. So whenever you have an appointment or something that needs to go on the calendar, you put it in your digital calendar so it’s always accessible. Then every week (or me it’s Sundays), I transfer everything from my digital calendar to my paper planner, I also add any to-dos to my planner and extra notes.

A look at my planner (and old page that’s pretty generic)

Meal Prep: Another way I prepare for the week ahead is by lunch planning. Since I eat dinner at home, I only meal plan for my lunches in advance. Sometimes, meal planning is buying some boxed salads, and setting aside pretzels or fruit for my lunches. Other times it’s making baked chicken and veggies and portioning them out for each day of the week. No matter what the form is, I always spending time getting my meals organized for the week so I can just grab and go for each day.

An example of one of my meals that I make for work.

Outfit Plan: Another way I save time and plan ahead is by planning my outfits for the week. Again, I spend 10 minutes checking the weather and planning what to wear from clothing to shoes and accessories. I can change an outfit if need be, but for the most part I have them all lined up and just grab it for each day. I started to plan out my outfits in college and it was a huge time saver. It also makes my mornings go much smoother.

Outfit planning

Those are just three ways that I plan ahead which makes my days and weeks run smoother. What things do you do for streamline your daily lives especially in busy seasons?

Categories
Fun Ways to Organize

How I am Staying on top of my Schedule

Hey hey friends! Happy Tuesday! I hope you all had an enjoyable and fun Labor Day weekend. Although, I was at school, I did have a fun weekend with friends, and it was a great way to say goodbye to summer. Although, school started back last week for me, I’m still trying to find a good routine. Last week was all about getting adjusted to a new schedule, classes, work time and organizing all the appointments. This week is weird since we had off yesterday and tonight I’m going to a concert with friends. I’m trying my best to soak up every moment at school this semester.

I know I’m late to the game, but I am finally on the band wagon with using the calendar on my phone and laptop….I know I know, it’s a long time coming. Before I get started on how and why I am using this system now, I want to give a little bit of background on how I stay organized. 

A few years back, I did a post about staying organized with school. You can read about it here.

Let me break it down for how I stay on top of things, I have a feeling this may change once I graduate from college, but for now this is what works. 

  1. Big Desk Calendar
My desk calendar

I love to see everything laid out in front of my on my desk. I have everything color coded. Certain colors for classes, Green for school things (tutoring, dinners, meetings), Blue for Work (staff meetings, when things are due), Red for when I work, and then purple for anything else that comes up. I like seeing the month as a whole and this helps me plan better when I have new things to put on the calendar. I got this planner from the Simplified Collection by Emily Ley at Target. I put everything on this calendar- it’s basically my master one-school, work, home, family, friends. It all goes here. 

  • Small Planner

This comes in great for assignments and school work. I got this planner from Staples with the At a Glance collaboration with Simplified by Emily Ley (do you see a pattern here?!- You better believe I am getting the 2020 Simplified Planner when they Launch tomorrow!)

This has the week layout. Every day is split in two columns (The My Day and To Do). In the My Day is where I put any meetings, events, test dates or things to remember. In the To Do is where I list all my homework assignments.

What my weekly spread looks like

This is the first year that I used the monthly calendar too. Although, I love my desk calendar I was scheduling things without looking. I only write the important things in the month section like tutoring, meetings, scheduled events just so I have a reference. This planner is mostly used for school things-homework, exams, meetings for school and work things for school. 

The month of September as a whole in the month section of calendar
  • iCalendar 

This past summer, I started to use the calendar app on my phone and laptop to keep track of work things and events happening with family and friends. Since I wasn’t in school I wasn’t using a planner and since I spent most every day on my laptop it made sense to have my calendar in front of me, now I am loving it. It’s so easy to use and I LOVE how you can sync your phone and laptop calendars to be the same. I am also able to customize when I put things on the calendar and color coordinate them too. Also, the best part, by using iCalendar it keeps all my blog posts in order and I can schedule things better too.

For this calendar its divided by four topics: school (blue), blog (purple), personal (yellow) and important (red).

My four categories of what I put on the calendar

For school I only put important meetings, appointment and work commitments( no homework, no tests, no when my classes are), for blog I put down what posts are being published when, personal is activities and things with friends and family, and important are basically when the big things are due like credit card statements. This calendar is the big picture stuff, I refer to this when I am planning an event or meeting to see if I have conflicts and I always have it with me, unlike my desk calendar and planner which aren’t always on me. 

The whole month at a glance

Is it necessary to have all of these? Probably not, but it’s what works best for me. I am a super organized person, so I like to do all this and keep myself on top of everything. I am thinking once I graduate about ditching the desk calendar and just keeping a planner and using the calendar on my phone. Thoughts from any recent graduates about what works best for you? After I graduate, I want to focus on simplifying my life more and I know once I am done with school a lot of these activities will be done too, so for now I am enjoying my life with my three color coordinated calendars!

I hope you have a wonderful week ahead!

Categories
Fabulous living

What’s Up Wednesday (10-25-17)

What’s Up Wednesday

Hello, hello! Today I am linking up with some of my favorite blogs: The Larson Lingo, Mix and Match Mama , and Sheaffer Told me To to talk all things Wednesday, hence why I am posting this on Wednesday and not Tuesday. Don’t worry I will be back tomorrow with a fall look then I will be back to my Tuesday/Thursday posting. Once a month I will answer some questions so you know what’s going on with me. Today I will be answering the following questions. Wanna answer them too? Let’s see how much we have in common.

What I’m eating this week

I’m loving these proteins packs for lunch. They are quick and have great combinations. They are perfect for when I don’t have time to eat a full lunch.

What I’m reminiscing about

Halloween as a child! I always loved dressing up and going Trick or Treating. It’s hard being away from home during a holiday especially when I have younger siblings still trick or treating. This year I will still be dressing up, but I won’t be getting any free candy…or maybe some. We will have to wait and see.

What I’m loving

I am loving that we are finally getting cooler weather. It is consistently cool which is perfect fall weather. Also, now it is acceptable to wear high boots and jeans and not get worried to will bounce back to 70 degrees.

What I’ve been up to

Lots of school work. We are in the middle of the semester so papers, quizzes, and projects are all I have been looking at. Between going to classes and my job I’ve been busy.

What I’m dreading

Scheduling for next semester classes! Ugh, a stressful time for all. One step closer to the real world. Scheduling is always hard especially when you don’t get into classes you want are struggling for a back up!

What I’m working on

School work all day. Every day.

What I’m excited about

After looking at my calendar, I have something planned for every weekend from now until the end of the semester. From Fright Nights, to Light up Nights I am going to be busy but, I am very excited for the upcoming weeks.

What I’m watching/reading

I’m currently watching my favorite fall shows: This Is Us, Seal Team, Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away with Murder. These shows are my motivation to get through long and stressful days.

I’m reading Grace Not Perfection by Emily Ley and I’m loving it. I can’t wait until her new book comes out A Simplified Life.

What I’m listening to

I’m listening to Jessie James Decker’s new album Southern Girl City Lights on repeat. She is the only country singer I follow and I love her. This album has a great message filled with beautiful music. Get yours today!

What I’m wearing

Did someone say sweater weather?! I am wearing all the sweaters I can find. I can’t get enough. Also, check back tomorrow for my latest Look of the Day!

What I’m doing this weekend

Lots of Halloween fun! From a Costume Dance to a Fright Night, I’m excited. I’ll be sharing my costume next week with you all.

What I’m looking forward to next month

Thanksgiving and seeing some family for the holidays! As much as I love school and what I am doing, there’s no place like how especially during the holidays.

What else is new

Nothing much. Between classes, work, and the holidays I am always on the go.

BONUS QUESTION: What’s your favorite Thanksgiving Side Dish?

Mashed Potatoes and Gravy, love my mom’ s recipe.