ESSENTIAL PLANNER

About a month ago I entered a contest to win a planner from my friend Kelsey over at Peacock Paper & Gifts and I won! I had been searching for what kind of planner I was going to use for 2018 and when Kelsey launched her new line I was immediately drawn to the Weekly Essential Planner in the blush gingham color....BLUSH GINGHAM. Can it get any cuter than that?! So when I found out that I had won the contest I entered I was pretty ecstatic!

 

One of the things that really caught my attention with this planner is that it comes with a couple of travel planning pages, contact pages, budgeting pages,, and it has tabs (all the praise hand emojis for tabs!!!!!). Also, a huge fan of the gold metal binding, blush and gold are literally two of my favorite colors together!

I chose the weekly one because that layout works best for me in this stage of life, and I'm really looking forward to receiving it in a couple of months, in plenty of time to start planning for 2018!

Kelsey also has a Daily Planner, which I think would work wonders for me in a different stage of life in the future, and another cover design: Navy Dot!

This post was not sponsored, I am just really proud of Kelsey and extremely excited about receiving my new planner in a couple of months!

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ESSENTIAL PLANNER

10 THINGS TO DO AT THE BEGINNING OF EVERY MONTH

Everyone loves a fresh start, a new year/month, a new planner/calendar, new ideas, and maybe even a new budget....I know I'm not the only one out there that loves all that! I like to think that I get 12 fresh starts a year (obviously, I could look at Mondays as a fresh start, and sometimes I do, and then I would have 52 fresh starts this year.)

- Deep clean your home

There are so many different ways to deep clean your home, but do what works best for you. There is nothing better than starting a new month with clean home and clean slate! While you're at it, deep clean your car. Throw out all the trash and wipe everything down. Don't forget about your trunk!

- Goals

Take some time to think about your 2017 goals at the beginning of each month, what all do you want to accomplish this year? What small goals can you do each month to reach your bigger goals? You have 365 days, so challenge yourself a little each month, but don't forget to take some time to rest and recharge. Once your have made out your goals print them out and tape up where you'll see them everyday for that month. Maybe on your bathroom mirror, the refrigerator, or what I like to do, tape them in my planner. I like to make out personal goals and then my husband and I like to make out goals for the both of us together. 

- Discuss finances & budget

Sit down and make a budget, or if you're married, sit down and make a budget out with your husband. Do it together so that you can both have some input in it and there are no surprises later on in the month that one of you didn't know about.

- Upload pictures and delete them off your phone

We all hate that little message that pops up on our phone telling us "out of storage" of when you go to take a picture but can't because you don't have enough storage. Now's the time to upload/download/delete them!


- Schedule any appointments/meetings
Get your planner out and write down any meetings/appointments that you know of right then that are coming up that month, or if you need to schedule any with someone then do that!


- Buy birthday/thank you cards
I hate when a birthday sneaks up on me and I keep forgetting to pick up a birthday card at the store, or if I need a 'thank you' card. You can buy them in bulk here, here, or you could always go to Dollar Tree and buy a bunch to keep on hand! Keep them organized and whenever a birthday comes up just pull it our and personalize it with a heartfelt message 

- Plan any trips/schedule travel plans
If you are planning on taking any day trips, weekend trips or long weekend trips then go on and plan add that to your planner! If you need to put in a PTO request at work, do that as well. If you are planning on taking a longer trip within the next couple of months then plan something small this month to get you prepared for that trip (buy travel size toiletries, book your flights, nail down part of your itinerary, etc.) 

- Donate

Walk around your house at the beginning of every month with a trash bag/laundry basket and commit to donating at least two items per month. It doesn't have to be something big, an old pair of jeans will do. If you keep with the two items per month then by December you will have donated at least 24 items! That's 24 items that were just laying around your house causing a cluttered mess that someone else could be using. What's that saying....one man's junk is another man's treasure ;)

- Clean out your refrigerator and pantry

Check for any expired items and dispose of them! While you're in there take inventory of any staple items that your keep in your refrigerator/pantry and add them to your grocery list if you see that you are getting low or out.

- Clean out your purse

You've already deep cleaned, cleaned out your car, refrigerator and pantry so you might as well go on and clean out your purse, too! Throw away or store any receipts that you've been holding on to. Any extra papers floating around in your purse? Throw them away! I always seem to collect our church bulletin in my purse, so by the end of the month I have 4+ floating around in there.

I truly believe that doing most of these things will help you stay organized all month and year! Is there anything that you like doing at the beginning of every month?

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10 THINGS TO DO AT THE BEGINNING OF EVERY MONTH

CREATING MY 2017 PLANNER

I love planners, I love shopping for them, doing research on them, and finally deciding on which one I want for the upcoming year. For about 3 years I used Emily Ley's Simplified planner and LOVED it. It was so perfect for me during those three years, but now it just doesn't really fit my needs. My job doesn't have the same schedule every day, actually every day is something completely different so the hour-by-hour page just really wasn't working for me anymore. My company actually provides us all with planners, so I have a planner just for work. So back in September when I saw where Blair designed and printed her own planner I got motivated to design and create my own planner as well. I pretty much just took Blair's design (because, hello, it's cute!) and then edited a few things to fit my life and personal wants.

I used Canva to create my planner, I mentioned a few months ago how much I was loving Canva and even had a few of you comment on how much you loved it as well. So if you haven't check it out yet, do it asap. There are so many neat things to do on there!

 I wanted a page dedicated to my blog and our meal plans for the week, and I loved how Blair included a section for a daily cleaning routine via Clean Mama. I also wanted a monthly layout as well as a weekly layout, so I kept playing around until I found the layout that I desired.

For each week of the month there is weekly view like this on the left side...

and on the right side is my cleaning, blog, and meal planner

I had my planner printed through Office Depot. Like Blair, I selected the spiral bound notebook, printed on 65lb cardstock, and I added a clear front cover with cream linen back cover. I love the way it looks and use it daily. Creating my own planner was actually really fun and I enjoyed it a lot.

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CREATING MY 2017 PLANNER

HOW TO ORGANIZE A BIG MESS...START TO FINISH

This past Saturday I spent a few hours cleaning out our kitchen pantry and the cabinet above our stove, that also holds pantry items.

I had the house to myself and no plans so I took my time, listened to a few podcast episodes, sanitized everything, threw a lot of stuff away, and organized everything. IT FELT GREAT.

Since we didn't have any plans I was able to take my time, even leaving to run to the store to pick up a few baskets, and organize everything to work just for us. Now if I didn't have enough time I probably wouldn't have even started that project, because I hate being rushed when cleaning/organizing. If I'm rushed when it comes to organizing then it's just not going to get done the way I want it to be and will quickly turn into a mess again very soon after I finish, but with having time to take everything out, look at what works for us and what didn't (hello crazy big mess) I am able to change things up a bit. Below I'll share the steps to organizing a big mess using our pantry as an example since that's the big mess I tackled this past weekend.

Since I love seeing before and after pictures let's start with that

If you look at the 'before' picture then you will see a hot mess. Cans literally about to fall off the shelf, the shelves on the door are overflowing, things are everywhere and have no order whatsoever. If you look at the 'after' picture then you will see an organized pantry! Things are in their place, there are TWO empty shelves on the door, and I don't have to worry about anything falling out when I open the door. 

Step ONE |

The first thing I did was find a podcast I wanted to listen to and then I began pulling everything out of our pantry. I laid everything out on our counters so that once I was finished I could go through and decide on what I wanted to keep and what I wanted to dispose of. 

Step TWO |

We have a few of the 3-tier cabinet organizers and this 2- tier cabinet lazy susan in our pantry and they are a life saver for us!! I love them and use them all the time. After I emptied the pantry I took all of the organizers that I have and let them soak in hot soapy water while I went through everything else, and then washed them really well before putting them back in the pantry.

I also wiped down all the shelves in the pantry and then vacuumed the pantry floor.

Step THREE |

After that was done I went through everything on the counters. Some stuff was outdated, some stuff we didn't need anymore, some boxes had one thing left in it, and some things I have no idea how it ended up in our pantry.

Step FOUR |

Once that part was finished, I started putting things back in the pantry, but this time everything had a certain spot. I put the things we use daily at eye level an the things we don't use often on the very top shelf. This also helps when it comes tome to make my grocery list. If I can't see something in our pantry when I open the door then I sometimes assume we are out of it and will order more of it. Which in the long run wastes money and causes clutter in our pantry. 

 Two EMPTY shelves after I was finished...woo hoo! I plan on finding a small container to put on one of those shelves that will hold snacks, that we can just easily grab out of there on our way out the door.

The fourth shelf houses all of our pasta/rice items and chicken/beef broth (I buy it in bulk when it goes on sale!) I need a basket for my lemons!

 On the bottom shelf I used containers similar to these (I found them at Home Goods for around $5 a piece) and placed certain items in them. Most of the bottom shelf/containers hold all of our baking items. I love those clear containers, they are the perfect size and since they are clear I can see everything in them.

The third shelf houses all of our canned goods. I have two of the 3-tier organizers on this shelf. I can see at all times what canned goods we have, makes it SO much easier when making out my grocery list!

On the second shelf is our bread/tortillas and our pantry lazy susan. Again, this thing is a life saver and I use it whenever I cook. I love being able to see every spice/seasoning mix that I have by just turning this thing. Behind it is our extra flour and sugar. I like to keep those things in a clear container above the stove, so I store the extra behind the pantry lazy susan since I don't use them daily.

Step FIVE |

After everything is back in the pantry and organized you'll probably need to wipe down your counters and vacuum your kitchen. I didn't realize stuff dropped out of certain boxes when moving everything back and forth and had sugar, flour, etc. on the counters and floor. Also, you'll probably need to empty your trash after! We had a ton of boxes and out dated items in ours.

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HOW TO ORGANIZE A BIG MESS...START TO FINISH

6 WAYS TO PREPARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS...IN OCTOBER

Christmas can either be a really magical time of the year or it can be a really stressful time of the year. Unfortunately, a lot of the time it's the latter, and once it's all said and done people are breathing a huge sigh of relief that, "it's over until next year". I never want to have that mentality or way of thinking, so I am doing some things already to help reduce any stress that the holidays might bring, and I am sharing those 6 simple steps with you today!

 1 | Start planning your holiday outfits now.

Growing up we always had Christmas dresses every year. We would have our Christmas pictures made in then and then wear them on Christmas. Well as I have gotten older I don't care to wear a Christmas dress every year, but I do still plan my outfits. Now that we're married I like to color coordinate my outfit and my husband's outfit. I already have our Thanksgiving outfits planned out (we'll also be using these outfits for our fall pictures) and I am almost finished with our Christmas outfits. Don't get my started on how excited I am to one day, coordinate holiday outfits for us and our children.

You don't have to spend a lot of money on holiday outfits, or even get super dressy. You can use something that you already have hanging in your closet, or borrow a piece or two from a sibling or close friend (I am borrowing my sister's adorable ankle boots for our fall pictures). If you do choose to purchase something new for you holiday outfit start looking now! Store have sales all the time, and you can usually find something that you like around 30% off.


2 | Have holiday pictures made.

We are having fall pictures made soon for our Christmas cards. Having our pictures taken early means that I can get them back and get our Christmas cards ordered in a timely manner.

If you don't want to pay someone to take your pictures then ask a family member next time y'all are together, or get with another couple friend and y'all exchange picture taking...you take their pictures and they, in turn, take your pictures (it's a win win for all of you!), or if none of those work for you, then you can simply set up your self timer and get to clicking! Don't stress about finding some beautiful backdrop, use your front porch, fireplace, or even your own backyard. If none of those work for you then look at some local parks near you. We had our engagement pictures, and 1 year wedding anniversary pictures made in state parks, and we had our Christmas pictures made last year in a Christmas tree farm. None of those places charged us to have pictures taken there and we were more than satisfied with our pictures!

3 | Order Christmas cards.

As soon as we get our fall pictures taken and back I will order our Christmas cards. We have already picked out the design, and all we're waiting on is our fall picture to upload to it.

Ordering Christmas cards now is a great way to save money and to mark one more thing off your holiday to-do list!  A lot of companies offer cheaper prices if you order in advance, and it takes the stress off of you about spending even more money closer to Christmas time. You can also avoid any expedited shipping fees, by ordering them early. I love ordering our Christmas cards early, so that I cant start addressing them and writing a little note on the back a little at a time, instead of spending a whole afternoon trying to finish them all so that I can ship them the next morning, There is no such thing as being too prepared, so look around for some sales and cute designs and order them now!

4 | Start shopping for gifts.

I would love to have all of our gifts bought before Thanksgiving, or buy the last few gifts on our list on Black Friday, so that we could enjoy the whole month of December without running around to different stores or paying expedited shipping on things to get them here in time.

If this sounds like a good idea to you then a great way to do this is to keep a physical list in your purse or to keep a list in your "notes" app of the people you are buying for and what you would like to get them, that way if you are out and see something you can reference.your list and cross that item off. Keep an eye out for sales in stores as well as online, search for coupon codes!

5 | Finalize holiday travel plans.

Go on and start planning out your holiday schedule now. Who and where you will be spending the holidays with. Will you be going out of town or staying close to home? If you will be traveling, will you be flying, if so go on and book those flights! Will you need to take additional days off from work or burn some PTO days? If so, go on and plan those and get them approved at work.

Matthew and I are finalizing our holiday plans now. Who and where we are spending what days with. Last year our holiday plans actually worked out really well, so I think we will be sticking to that schedule again this year. It's actually very relieving to know and have holiday travel plans already scheduled out in advance. That way we can avoid any miscommunications and enjoy our time spent with each other and our families!

6 | Plan out your holiday traditions (or decide on which ones you want to start)

I love driving around Christmas  time and looking at Christmas lights while Christmas music is playing in the background. I'm pretty sure Matthew and I have done this every year that we have been together. We have never really planned a specific time to do this, simply because we don't go to specific areas or locations, but if you were planning on going to a certain event or location that has operating hours, go on and plan your trip there.

Do you host a Christmas party or event every year? If so, go on and nail down a date and send a Facebook event to save the date. December is full of tons of holiday events for everyone so throw your date out early to give people plenty of time to plan accordingly. If you are the person who attends a Christmas party or event every year then as soon as you get the invitation write it down, so you don't accidentally double book yourselves. If this is your first married Christmas, or even if this is your 10th married Christmas, look into some new and fun Christmas traditions. You don't have to spend a lot of money on traditions. You could volunteer together somewhere in your town as a Christmas date night, you could get together with a bunch of friends and watch your favorite Christmas movies, spend one whole day Christmas shopping together and grab a lunch at a new place every year,  or make Christmas cookies together and enjoy them and hot chocolate with your favorite Christmas movie and candle going...there are so many ideas out there pick a few and see which ones you really enjoy and would want to do every year as your family grows!

There are six ways to start preparing for Christmas now. We are doing these now in order to reduce any holiday stress and to fully enjoy the holidays together and with our families. How do you prepare for the holidays?

To see other free Christmas binder printables, go here.

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6 WAYS TO PREPARE FOR THE HOLIDAYS...IN OCTOBER

CHRISTMAS BINDER...FREE PRINTABLES

A few months ago I shared the image below on Instagram about how I was already starting to plan for Christmas in July with a Christmas binder I had just finished making.

I had a great response and even had quite a few emails from different readers asking for the prints so they could make their own Christmas binder. I got to playing around and revamped some of my prints and even added a few more, and I am going to share those with you today!

There are 17 total sheets (including FOUR different covers to pick from) that you can save and print to make your own binder. It's super simple, all you have to do is:

right click on the picture > click on "Save image as..." > click on save 

It will usually save automatically to your desktop or to your downloads folder, unless you choose another location. So easy and these are great quality prints!

Covers to choose from:

Option one:

Option 2 

Option 3 

Option 4 

Next up are the calendars (October - December)

October

November

December

Now for the gift planners

Immediate family

Extended family

Friends

Co-workers, Neighbors, Teachers, Other...

Christmas card address list. 

Menu Planner & Holiday Baking

Holiday Baking

 Menu Planner 

Online shopping tracker

To Do list

Christmas bucket list

I am really enjoying mine so far and it's a great way to plan for the holidays that are coming up.

 I used plain dividers that I already had on hand to organize my binder a little more...works like a charm! I plan on saving my binder and just storing it away after Christmas until next year around this time, so that I can pull it out and get started planning again. I'll be able to reprint these pages and update my address list as needed, as well as some other pages!

 I hope these will help you stay organized this holiday season and get you in the Christmas spirit a little early!  

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CHRISTMAS BINDER...FREE PRINTABLES

HOW I DO IT: CLEANING SCHEDULE

Once we moved into our new house I knew I would need to create a cleaning schedule. I spent a good bit of time researching how often you should clean things and that's how I came up with this list. I'll be honest and say that I didn't even think of cleaning some of the things listed below as often as recommended...glad I did my research!

I just printed this out and posted it inside of my planner and in our laundry room so I can see it often.

• Honestly some of the weekly stuff doesn't get done each week. Things come up and plans change, and sometimes that is just out of our control.

If this is the case I get to it as soon as I can. One of my biggest pet peeves is having a dirty and cluttered bathroom counter, and about 99% of the mess comes from me. I get makeup on the counter and I leave hair products and styling tools out. I try my best to put stuff up when I'm finished, but if I'm in a rush it gets left out and I will put it up later, I try to not let the little things stress me out ;)

• My 15 minute power clean on the daily checklist...aka I like going to bed with everything straightened up and put in it's place. 

That means, remote controls put in their basket, coffee table straightened up (magazines, candles, etc.), kitchen counters cleaned off (mail sorted and put up, breakfast/lunchboxes laid out and ready for the next morning, etc.), our shoes and jackets put up in their place, any throw blankets folded and put back in the crates under our coffee table, and pillows straightened up and in their place. I love being able to come downstairs in the morning and seeing everything in it's place and organized! If you don't do this, try it a couple of times and see how much of a difference is makes the next morning! Also, please note: it does not take me 15 minutes each and every day. Some days it takes 2 minutes and sometimes it takes all 15. Either way, it's 15 minutes or less!

• As far as the monthly, quarterly section I just take a chore or two, depending on how much time I have, and work on it during the weekend, or if I'm feeling up to it and have time during the week.

For example, if I see the weather is going to be nice and I have some extra time I will clean the front and back door windows and outside windows. Other things can be done even when I'm not there, such as cleaning our pillows. Just throw them in the washer that morning when I wake up and then throw them in the dryer as soon as I get back home. 

• Bigger chores such as purging closets or organizing the garage will take a good chunk of time, so when I see we have weekend with no plans I will try to plan on doing a bigger chore then.

Like I said in my meal planning post,  I used to dread cleaning our home, but now I look at it as a way to serve my husband, respect and take care our home. It's all about what kind of attitude you have towards things, and when I think of cleaning our house in those ways I am able to enjoy it a little more now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not jumping for joy to clean, but thinking about these things makes the mundane tasks bearable. 

Here are some verses that I have read that help me keep a positive attitude on this:
Proverbs 31:27
She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Proverbs 14:1
The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands.


I also have a cleaning playlist on my Spotify that helps pass the time while I'm cleaning. There is a little bit of everything on that playlist...don't judge!

You can download the cleaning schedule here.

Other How I Do It posts:
How I Do It: Meal planning for 2
How I Do It: Grocery shopping (online)

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HOW I DO IT: CLEANING SCHEDULE