If You Give a Girl a Planner: Bookish Notebook

If You Give a Girl a Planner: Bookish Notebook

Nov 2, 2020

If you give a girl a planner, she's going to ask you for a pen, some stickers... and maybe a notebook to go with it. I'm so obsessed with all things paper! I love trying new things and then blogging about it. So, for the last few days, I've shared my 2020 planner lineup. I talked about what I've been using for my daily life, personal goals, and reading journal. Today, I'm wrapping it up with my favorite: my bookish bullet journal / notebook!

This notebook is from The Happy Planner line called Happy Notes. They come in different sizes, and this is the Classic. I believe they all have the mini size rings, three tabbed dividers, and 60 sheets of paper that are either blank, lined, or dot grid (depending on the notebook you choose). I usually buy dot grid because that's my favorite, but you can also buy refill paper in any style if you fall in love with a certain notebook but want different paper.

I usually refer to this as my bookish bullet journal, even though that isn't quite accurate. I tried bullet journaling but never got the hang of it. The format became time consuming for me because I tended to overthink it, but I loved the concept. That's when I got the idea to use my Happy Planner as a pseudo-bullet journal. Instead of drawing everything by hand, I'd make printable pages. And with the disc binding, it was easy to move pages around until I had it just right. It's basically my bookish notebook that's completely customized to me.

When I posted about this notebook back in 2018, I used actual Happy Planner pages for the bulk of my blog planning. Now, my entire notebook is printables that I made for myself. I'm so excited to show you some highlights! My reading notebook is divided into three sections, and I'll show you photos of a handful of pages from each section + will list out what other pages I've included in each. Here are the three sections:

+ Section 1: Challenges, TBR, and Trackers

+ Section 2: Blog Post Planning

+ Section 3: Brainstorming

Let's start at the very beginning!

SECTION 1: CHALLENGES, TBR, AND TRACKERS

GOODREADS CHALLENGE

The very first page of this section is for my Goodreads Challenge. I make my goal 100 books, even though I typically hit it long before the end of the year. I love having a goal but don't want to make it such a challenge that I become too focused on the quantity of what I'm reading versus the quality. When I finish a book, I draw a heart if it was a 4.5/5-start read, a check mark if it was a 3.5/4-star read, or a blue x if it was 3 stars or below. It's fun to see a quick glance to see how I've felt about what I've been reading lately. When I meet the goal, I fill in the date at the bottom.

MISC. CHALLENGES

Next are the pages for the various challenges that I've set for myself or joined. This changes from year to year! There are more pages than the two above, but they're all similar. Here's what you'll find in my 2020 notebook:

+ 2020 Re-Read Challenge: My goal was to re-read at least 12 books, so one per month. I had space to fill that in + an area to brainstorm potential re-reads. I'd completed this goal by May.

+ Picky Pledge Challenge: This is something Alexa and I do every year, which you can read about here. I've got all 12 categories listed with space to write what I've read for each. I've still got a few left to complete!

+ Non-Fiction Challenge: My goal was to read 12 non-fiction books in 2020 because I own a lot of non-fiction but don't frequently reach for it. I shocked myself by completing this goal in June (the letter after each title indicates the month I finished the book) and have finished an additional 16 non-fiction books since then. I'll redesign this page for 2020 so that it isn't tied to a specific month, since that wasn't how I ended up using it.

+ Read or Die Challenge: Alexa came up with this back in 2018, and I decided to do it, too. At the start of a new year, I list anything that's been on my shelves from before the previous year (for 2020, anything I've owned since 2018 or before) with the goal of reading it before the end of the current year. If I don't finish it, the idea is to cull it.

+ My 10 in 20: After my successful 10 in 2019 list, I decided to do it again in 2020. I picked 10 books from my TBR to focus on finishing this year. So far... this year might be a bust. I've only read three and DNF'd one. Whoops! 

After my Challenge pages, I have several pages devoted to my TBR based on the format of the books.

TBR: PHYSICAL BOOKS

First, I have pages dedicated to my physical TBR. I have three bookshelves in my notebook: one for my Non-Fiction TBR, one for Adult Fiction, and one for Young Adult & Middle Grade Fiction. The latter is pictured above. For all my TBR pages, I only write down the titles of books I own. I use Goodreads to save books I'm interested, but I only want to actively track the things I've purchased and plan to read. When I buy a book, I add it to my shelf. Once I've read it, I color it. If I DNF it, I just color it black. And when I fill up a page? I print a new one! 

TBR: E-BOOK

After making the bookshelf, I decided I wanted something else for my e-books. So, I made a Kindle TBR printable! I write digital review copies down on one printable and digital books I've purchased on their own. Since I try to read review copies by pub date, I like separating them. I do a green check when I've read a book and a red X if I DNF it.

TBR: AUDIOBOOKS

And finally, my favorite page in the TBR section is the audiobook printable I designed! I'm most proud of this page because I was able to replicate the look of the Audible app. I write down the title, author, narrator, and length in those spaces. And in the spot where the book cover would go, I color it orange when I'm done listening to a book and write down the date I finished it. And I only use this for audiobooks that I own, not library books!

SERIES TRACKER

The last few pages in this section are related to tracking things! Here's what I've got currently:

+ Book Spending Tracker: What I bought, where I got it, and how much I spent on it

+ Review Copy Tracker: Title, release date, and I've read, reviewed, posted about it, and sent to publicist

+ Series Tracker: Series name, author, number of books in series, and color what I've read so far

+ Movie/TV Tracker: Title, number of episodes (if TV), and whether or not I've watched it

Okay, that's all for my challenges, TBR, and trackers! Now, it's time for the blogging section.

SECTION 2: BLOG POST PLANNING 

MONTHS AT-A-GLANCE

With my goal to post on the blog twice a week, this is a quick way for me to see how I'm doing at a glance. With two months per side, I love that it only takes up three pages of space. This is my first year using these page, and I'm liking them so far! I don't plan out potential blog posts – just write down things I've published.

MONTHLY RECAP

I use the same categories in my recap posts every month, so I created a printable that I could fill in throughout the month. It's made it so much easier when it's time to write the post because I'm not looking in various places (photos / my planner / Goodreads / Spotify / etc.) to joy my memory. It's double-sided, and you can see both above.

The front has four categories: Loved (favorite memories), Read (just favorites, not a full list), Heard (music or songs I had on repeat), and Watched (TV or movies, old or new). For 2021, I'm going to try adding a fifth category: Bought, for writing down favorite purchases from the month. The back is for the books I acquired, since I always include that in my posts. I've divided it into five categories: Bought, Gifted, Gift Card, and Review. 

QUICK LIT

I don't think I had this page in 2018, and it's one of my favorite additions. I write down the title of books I finish that month, and then I have boxes to the right so I can mark when I've taken a Photo, written a Review, updated Goodreads, and Logged it in my reading journal. It's a simple but effective way to stay on track with reviewing what I've read.

END OF THE YEAR 

There are some posts that I write at the end of every year, similar to the way I post a Recap and Quick Lit every month. So, it was worth it for me to create printables for those posts! The first is my My Year In series, and I have pages for:

+ My Year in Books: My favorite reads each month

+ My Year in Adventures: My favorite memories and activities from each month 

+ My Year in Music: What I listened to each season 

+ My Year in Movies & TV: Movies and tv shows that were new-to-me or rewatches

+ My Year in Beauty: My favorite makeup, skincare, and hair products

+ My Year in Obsessions: My favorite finds throughout the year + a new page for baby/big boy faves

Plus two additional pages:

+ Favorite New-to-Me Authors: A Top Ten Tuesday topic that I do every December

+ Perpetual Page-Turner's End of the Year Survey: To fill in potential answers throughout the year 

And that's the end of my blogging section!

SECTION 3: BRAINSTORMING

DOT GRID BLANK PAGES

And finally, I have some blank dot grid pages behind the last tab. I love having blank paper to jot down ideas, flesh out discussion posts (like my favorite bookish memories in the photo above), or sketch potential printables to create for myself. 

Do you have a bullet journal or bookish notebook? 

Of all my planners, I think this one is my favorite!

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If You Give a Girl a Planner: Reading Journal

If You Give a Girl a Planner: Reading Journal

Oct 30, 2020

If you give a girl a planner, she's going to ask you for a pen, some stickers... and maybe a notebook to go with it. I'm so obsessed with all things paper! I love trying new things and then blogging about it. So, for the next few days, I'm sharing my 2020 planner lineup. I'll talk about what I'm using for my daily life, personal goals, reading journal, and bookish bullet journal. Today it's all about my reading journal and log!

Back in 2017, I decided to start keeping a reading log. I wasn't always timely about writing reviews for the blog or Goodreads, and then I'd struggle to remember what I thought of a book when I was done. I looked at reading journals on the market, but most fell short for various reasons – like categories that I didn't want to fill in for every single book I read, too little or too much space, or not enough pages to last me a year. Enter Happy Planner!

The beauty of Happy Planners and the disc-bound planner system is that you can customize them. If you saw my post about my 2018 reading log, today's will look very familiar. The only real difference? The size! I was previously using a Mini but switched to a Classic for 2020. I wasn't sure if it would feel too big, but it's just right. I'll chat a little more about that below. This is a 12-month horizontal planner. Let's look inside!

NOTES PAGE

At the beginning of every month, there's a Notes page. Every Happy Planner has their own design for this page, so that usually influences which planner I choose for the year. I divide this into four sections with my pen and then use the colorful boxes stickers to add headings. This is where I track five things for that month's reads:

+ Source (TBR / Borrow / Review / Reread)

+ Format (Hardcover / Paperback / E-Book / Audiobook) 

+ Top 3 Reads of the Month

+ Genre (genres listed changed based on the month)

+ Quote (favorite from any book that month)

I love wrapping up the month by filling this out because it's a nice way to look back before diving in to new books.

MONTHLY CALENDAR

On the monthly calendar spread, I write down a book's title on the day I finished reading it. If I finish more than one book in a day, I just draw a line halfway through the box to split it up. It's super simple, but I love seeing the contrast between weeks where I only finished one book versus weeks where I was finishing a book a day. 

WEEKLY PAGES

And now we get to the heart of this planner: the weekly view! Happy Planners come in a lot of different formats, but I always buy the horizontal style for my reading log. It's just easier to write down my thoughts in a lined space. As I mentioned, I used to get the Mini size but switched to the Classic this year. I noticed in my Mini that my thoughts often sounded really shallow or repetitive because I didn't have the space to flesh them out at all. I loved that I stuck to the highlights, but looking back it felt like I couldn't write in full sentences or explain myself.

The Classic size has been nice because it gives me a little more room to go into detail but isn't as overwhelming as most things that are marketed as reading journals. I personally don't want a full page per book! I'd never keep up with it and would probably run out of pages in the notebook before the end of the year. This size and style is just right for me! On the day I finish a book, I write down:

+ The title and author

+ The format, source, and my rating

+ A few lines detailing what I thought of it

It isn't as polished as a review I'd share on the blog, but my reading journal has helped me when I've gotten behind on reviews. The bones are there! If I finish more books in a week than there are days, I'll add in a Happy Planner half-sheet and use this same format. If I finish two books on a Saturday but nothing on a Sunday, for example, I'll white out Sunday's date, put washi tape over the line, and write Saturday's date with (Cont.) after it. 

And that's all I do in my reading journal! It's simple but effective for me, which is a huge reason I'm still doing the same thing I was in 2018. I don't want to mess with something that's working. I just wish I'd always kept one! I have one other notebook where I list what I'm reading, which I decided to include in today's post.

BOOKS READ NOTEBOOK

I mentioned this notebook in one of my Happy Planner posts but never added photos of it. I thought it would be fun to include here! I bought it from Books-a-Million almost ten years ago, and that's how long I've been using it. I write down what I read every month, and I love flipping through and seeing how many books I've read since 2011.

MONTHLY LIST

Here's a look at the inside! I circle the month at the top, write down the year, and then just list everything I've read that month. I have considered including ratings, noting re-reads, and other things, but I just prefer the simplicity. It's just a notebook of lists, and I love it.  

Do you keep a reading journal or log?

On Monday, I'll finish by showing you my bookish notebook!

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If You Give a Girl a Planner: Goals

If You Give a Girl a Planner: Goals

Oct 29, 2020

If you give a girl a planner, she's going to ask you for a pen, some stickers... and maybe a notebook to go with it. I'm so obsessed with all things paper! I love trying new things and then blogging about it. So, for the next few days, I'm sharing my 2020 planner lineup. I'll talk about what I'm using for my daily life, personal goals, reading log, and bookish bullet journal. Today it's all about my PowerSheets Intentional Goal Planner!

I'd never purchased a goal planner before but was intrigued by the idea of PowerSheets after following the company on Instagram. When they launched their 2020 collection, I decided to give it a try. With a baby on the way at the time, I worried that I'd use them for a month and then set them aside. But the opposite happened! Because I noticed an immediate change, I felt more motivated to continue. I'm going to go through the main sections of my PowerSheets in today's post, but Cultivate What Matters' The Anatomy of PowerSheets is another reference. Their blog is a great resource overall for ideas and inspiration. Since some pages are more personal than others, I was selective about photos. But I've embedded a video with a full flip through of the 2021 PowerSheets at the end!

PREP WORK

One of the things that sets PowerSheets apart is the Prep Work. This section sets out to "lead you to uncover a big picture vision and the right goals for your unique life and season." It does this through a series of thoughtful questions and prompts – asking you to examine things like what makes you come alive, what's holding you back, what's worked (and hasn't) in the past, lessons you've learned, and what you want your legacy to be.

In my 2020 PowerSheets, this section is 34 pages long. The 2021 edition has been reduced to 21 pages. And looking through it, I love all the changes! They redesigned and simplified this section to make it impactful but easier to complete. It looks like it will be a little less repetitive, too. Although I find this section valuable, it's probably my least favorite part of PowerSheets. Maybe I already think enough about some of these things that nothing felt particularly eye-opening? But I loved parts of it, like making a vision board and choosing a word of the year.

Overall, I appreciate having a section that helps you prepare. Instead of diving into the details, it forces you to focus on the big picture. So, you end up with more meaningful goals and accomplish what actually matters to you.

GOALS + GOAL REFRESH

Immediately following the Prep Work, it's time to set your goals. It encourages you to set goals that are connected to your big picture, and then it dives deeper by asking you if you realistically have the resources to achieve a specific goal and whether it's the right season for it. I love this aspect of their goal setting work. Sometimes I want to accomplish something that really is important to me, but I'd be squeezing it into a season with very little margin. I'll only end up frustrated and feeling like I've failed if I try to do it then!

Then, you've got space to write no more than 8 goals. This spread appears in the first Goals section, but it's repeated every 90 days (in seasonal goal refreshes) so there's always an opportunity to change your mind. You get to update them throughout the year! And I find it freeing to know that I can tweak and adjust as time goes on.

Once you've set your goals, there are action plan pages that help you break down a big goal into mini goals and action items. One of the changes to the 2021 edition is that these action plans are now included in the 90-day Goal Refresh, which I love. As you can probably tell above, I created my own workaround. Here's what I do:

+ Big Picture Goal: For 2020, I have six big-picture goals. The wording of these is more abstract and not necessarily measurable – like my goal to nurture my relationship with Nick and our boys. Mine haven't changed this year, partly because I made them with our new baby in mind and that's been fitting for what life is like with COVID-19.

+ Quarterly Goals: On the action plan pages, I made mini goals for the first quarter. When those pages weren't repeated later on, I just used that concept to write quarterly goals in my Goal Refresh. These goals are more specific and are actions I can take. So, taking the same big picture goal I mentioned above, my quarterly goals might be things like date nights with my big boy or checking a family adventure off our 20 in 20 list.

But how do I break down my goals even more? That brings us to the Monthly tabs!

MONTHLY

The spread above is only part of what you'll find in each month's tab! This sections helps you track your progress, plan for the month ahead, follow through on making it happen, and then review at the end of the month.

At the beginning of each new month, there's a preparation page where you can write down important to do's, things you're excited for, what's worrying you, and what you're hoping for in this coming month. Then, there's a calendar spread, which I skip. I've seen creative uses of these pages, but none seem to be a natural fit for me right now. After that, there's space to brainstorm goals and action items you could focus on that month. This page has changed for 2021, and I think the new layout pairs even better with what comes next:

The Tending List! This is my favorite part of PowerSheets and what's made the biggest difference for me this year. This page gives you a spot to write down Monthly, Weekly, and Daily Action Items. And I'm so obsessed with it! Some months I fill up every line (like above) and others just a few. At the end of the month, my lists are never perfectly filled in. But there's progress! Every single month, I make progress. And little by little, it adds up to a lot. 

Before moving on to the next month, there's a Month in Review page to write about things where you're making progress and what you're choosing grace over guilt about right now. It's a nice way to wrap it up!

WILDCARD PAGES

The Prep Work, Goals + Goal Refreshes, and Months are the bulk of PowerSheets. But you have the opportunity to customize them a little more with Wildcard pages! You can buy a pre-printed set or print your own (which I did above) to help dig a little deeper into some of your goals. Here are some of the options available:

+ Perpetual Calendar

+ Fun List

+ Books Read This Year

+ Relationship Tending

+ Financial Check-In

+ Go-To Meals

+ Goals At-a-Glance

I've added the Fun List to the front of my PowerSheets with my family's 2020 bucket list on it. I add the Goals At-a-Glance page to each month's tab and write down one main action item per goal for that month. I love using the Content Planning page, above, to brainstorm blog posts. My goal this year has been to share two posts per week, and this page has helped me make significant progress. I used to have a more detailed planner focused solely on my blog, but this more simplified page has been doing the trick. There are a lot of options!

Would I recommend it?

Well, I bought the 2021 version, along with their accessory pouch! For me, the PowerSheets haven't been a magical process or product – but they have been a powerful tool of accountability. I already knew what mattered to me and what goals I wanted to accomplish but didn't have a plan to make them happen. Now, I have a system.

I love the encouragement throughout that little-by-little progress makes a difference. I've seen the truth of that this year! Before, I would feel overwhelmed by things I wanted to get done and wouldn't know where to start. Or I'd get started but would abandon it if I wasn't totally consistent, procrastinated too much, etc. It's easier for me to track the changes I'm making, to see clear evidence that I've implemented new habits and accomplished important goals. At the end of the year, I'm planning to blog more about the progress I've made but you can see some of my progress in my monthly Goals posts. I've definitely found the process valuable.

Additionally, I'm excited about the changes they've made for next year, especially the streamlined prep work and how the refreshes align more with reassessing your goals every 90 days. The few things I haven't loved – elements of the prep work, the way goal refreshes were structured, the format of the section to brainstorm for the Tending List – have all been changed for 2021. I love a company that can refine their product!

If you want a full flip through of PowerSheets, check out this video below:

Do you use a goal planner? This is my first time!

Tomorrow I'll be chatting about my reading log.

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If You Give a Girl a Planner: Daily Life

If You Give a Girl a Planner: Daily Life

Oct 28, 2020

If you give a girl a planner, she's going to ask you for a pen, some stickers... and maybe a notebook to go with it. I'm so obsessed with all things paper! I love trying new things and then blogging about it. So, for the next few days, I'm sharing my 2020 planner lineup. I'll talk about what I'm using for my daily life, personal goals, reading log, and bookish notebook. Today's post is all about what keeps my life organized and on track: my daily planner.

The last time I blogged about my planners, in 2018, I'd fallen in love with Happy Planners and used them for my gratitude journal, my life planner, my blogging and bookish planner, and my reading journal. But in the summer of 2019, I realized that my life planner started to feel like a chore. I was frequently writing in it after the fact, and it became more decorative than functional. So, I knew it wasn't working for me anymore. I changed to an academic year Simplified Planner. From August 2019 - July 2020, I used their weekly planner. I never posted about it, but it was exactly what I needed. It was simple, functional, and beautiful. And the weekly format had plenty of space for occasional appointments, a handful of daily to do's, and a little blog planning.

For 2020-2021, I picked Simplified Planner's Dapperdesk. I'd wanted to make the switch to a daily planner for a while, and it finally felt like the right time. So, let's talk about why I chose it and how I feel about it!

Simplified Planner's Dapperdesk line is their most minimal offering. It is bookbound, like their weekly planner, which works better for me as a lefty than their spiral binding. It covers 12 months – I have the academic year, but the calendar year is available, too. The cover is leatherette, and I love the gorgeous gold dot pattern that I chose.

The inside is their classic daily layout with a few changes – no color, no tabs, all the monthly views at the front, and a full page each for Saturday and Sunday. I wasn't sure I really needed one full page per day, which is one reason I used a weekly last year. I wanted to see whether it felt like enough space and figured that was easier to commit to, especially because my baby was due about halfway through the academic year. It turned out to be exactly what I needed at the time. But for 2020-2021, it was time for a daily. Here's why I chose the Dapperdesk:

+ Classic, minimal look

+ Functional layout

+ Lay-flat book binding (no spiral!)

+ One day per page

+ The in-between size (bigger than their weekly, more portable than their daily)

As I mentioned above, the Dapperdesk doesn't have any tabs and all of the monthly views are together at the front. These were the only two features I was nervous about beforehand, but neither one has annoyed me in my first three months of use. I use the ribbon bookmark to mark the current day, and a small gold Post-It page tab (seen above on the upper right side of the page) to easily flip to the monthly view.

On the monthly spread, I typically write down appointments or events that are happening at a specific time, like my in laws coming over for a Saturday family breakfast. Sometimes I'll add in a more general event, like an adventure to the park with my boys. In the Notes column to the left, I write down birthdays and whatever the washi tape represents. Unlike with my Happy Planner, I rarely use decorative stickers in my Dapperdesk. I do some simple color coding, and use stickers and washi tape when it serves a purpose. Simplified Planner's color-coding stickers come in nine colors, and I've assigned each one a category:

+ Navy: My little boys

+ Green: My husband, Nick

+ Light Blue: My blog

+ Teal (two shades): Meal planning

+ Yellow: Eating out

+ Light Pink: Travel / Adventures

+ Medium Pink: Release (book / music / movie)

+ Dark Pink: Myself

When I use washi, it matches up with my color coding. So, in the photo above, the green is Nick's travel schedule for work and the light pink is our family trip to the mountains. And that's all I do on the monthly view!

 

The best thing about a daily planner is that every day is a fresh start. I never feel like I have to stick to a specific format or regret the placement of a sticker. Just turn the page and try something new tomorrow! I've tried several different things so far, and this is just a peek at one spread. Here's how I'm using the different sections of the page:

+ The hourly column: I usually write appointments or events occurring at a specific time: pest control coming to our house, errands we run, or adventures we go on. And I'll add a dot sticker to a line if an event fits into one of my categories, like a navy dot for my baby's Well Check. Some days this area is completely blank, and that's okay.

+ The to do list column: I almost never write on every line. I don't want to pack that much into my day! In bed each night, I usually spend a few minutes reviewing and prepping in my planner. I'll check off that day's tasks, carry over ones that didn't get done, and add anything new that I already know needs to happen the next day.

+ The Notes section: This is where this planner really wins, in my opinion. You can do anything you want here! I'll meal plan, as you can see in the photo above. I use a little sticker to make note of when I finish a book. I'll write down cute things my big boy says, the baby's milestones, the blog post I published that day, things I want to remember or look up... and so much more. And instead of keeping a separate gratitude journal, I write down one thing that made me happy each day. It's a little bit like having a planner and journal in one, which I love. 

But what about things that can't assign to a specific day? That's when I add in a sticky notes! Sometimes I'll write down a few goals on a sticky note and just move it from day to day. In the photo above, I used a sticky note to pre-plan some extension activities for my son's virtual preschool. His teacher has put a lot of work into making this year special and fun, even at home. But one of my recent goals was to be more proactive about extending his lessons into our daily rhythm. On Sundays, I'll write down his letter, theme, and Bible story of the week along with relevant books we own and could read + extra activities/crafts. Then I can reference it anytime we need something to do, want to reinforce a specific lesson, etc. For Letter D, We went on a Dunkin Donut Date for Letter D and played Find & Seek for Letter F. You get the idea! The planner is just the tool that keeps me organized.

The Dapperdesk planner has 17 notes pages, compared to 31 in the weekly and 4 in the daily. So it's right in the middle, which has been the perfect amount for me (so far). Last year, I barely used those blank pages in my weekly. But this year, I was determined to put them to better use! I looked at my favorite planner account – @plannerstateofmind – for inspiration and then got to work setting it all up. Here's how I'm using my pages:

+ Color Coding Guide: Quick reference for my colors + categories

+ Contact Information: Frequently used addresses and phone numbers

+ Planning Ahead: 2021-2022 appointments past when the planner ends

+ Routines (Daily and Weekly): My daily and weekly household chores

+ Routines (Monthly): Monthly routines for the blog, my planner, photos, etc. 

+ Lessons Learned: Write down what worked and what didn't work

+ Things I Want to Buy for Myself: A wishlist for myself + our house

+ Things I Want to Buy for Others: Gift ideas for my family and friends

+ 20 in 20 Family Bucket List: The same list I shared on the blog

+ 2021 Family Bucket List: A spot for our 2021 list, once I've made it

+ Things for Our Family to Try: Local adventures, activities at home, and places to visit

+ Memories and Milestones: Highlights from our year

+ Goals I Want to Accomplish: Projects I want do, habits I want to start, etc.

+ Celebrate the Wins: Goals I've checked off my list and progress I've made

+ Ideas for So Obsessed With: Brainstorming blog posts

+ Two blank pages: For whatever strikes my fancy!

If you're curious, here's a full flip through of the Dapperdesk planner:

2021 Dapperdesk Planner Walkthrough Video from Simplified® on Vimeo.

Now that you've gotten to see inside, here are the accessories I typically use. They're mostly just functional: 

+ Mildliners + Flair Pen

+ Pink Pinstripe Planner Pouch

+ Lined Post-it Notes

+ Simplified Planner stickers, including:

    - Color-Coding Dots 

    - Flag Labels

    - Happy Icons 

    - Flags

+ A few FayeCreates stickers

+ Some honeyinked icon stickers

+ Thin washi, like this pack from Recollections

Well, there you have it: my 2020-2021 planner for daily life! I'm loving it so far, and I think my only con has to do with the cover. As much as I love the look, I'm still a little worried the gold dots will wear off the longer I use it. And I've noticed one or two spots where the leatherette has gotten a little scratched off, like the time I caught the edge of the planner on the pouch's zipper. Other than that, I love everything about it so far!

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Creating New Routines (Part 3)

Creating New Routines (Part 3)

Mar 13, 2020

Recently, I've been thinking a lot about routines. I blogged about some of the ones I've implemented this year – like my cleaning routine and some of the systems I've put into place to stay caught up on my reading log, bullet journal, planner, and digital life. One of the biggest digital things I've been focusing on is digital photo organization. It was such a source of frustration for me that I decided to write a post with more of a deep dive into how I've finally found a system that works for me in the hopes it might help someone else! 

Organizing my digital photos has been a goal of mine for years. But the longer I procrastinated, the more overwhelmed I felt and less I wanted to do it. I told someone last year that it was something I needed to do but never seemed to make progress on. "Why do they need to be organized? Why do you care?" they asked. At the time, I didn't really know what to say. Was it just something that I felt like I should do but didn't really need to? Then, as I was working through my PowerSheets prep work, I finally answered the Why? and moved it from a digital to-do to something that mattered. For me, it's the idea of recording and preserving our family memories. 

Growing up, my parents always had albums full of photos that we've loved to look through – from their lives before us and on through our own childhoods. If all the photos I have of my boys live on my phone, they'll be looking at a screen instead of poring over the pages of a printed book. If the photos live on my phone, I have to trust that it won't get broken or lost. And once I get the photos off my phone, if there isn't some sort of organization then I won't know where to find that photo from my son's birthday or that video of his first steps and so on. The point isn't getting organized because I feel like I should – for me, it's taking care of something that I treasure.

Before I share the steps I've been following, here's what I needed to get started:

1. An external hard drive.
I've read that you should look for one with at least 1TB of space. I've owned mine for a while, so the first thing I did was clean off any files/data that I didn't need anymore. Then, it was ready to go! Because I'm organizing and storing photos/videos from the past 13 years + any in the future, I didn't want them saved on my laptop because they take up a ton of space. I don't need immediate access to any, so it's easy to just grab my hard drive when required.

2. Additional storage space in the cloud. 
I don't want all my digital content tied to one physical device, just in case it's accidentally lost or damaged. But I don't want them solely stored in the cloud either! So, for me, the combo works best. It gives me more peace of mind to know they're in both places. Here's a Consumer Reports article about cloud storage options. I use a paid version of Microsoft OneDrive. Just look into whether the service you choose restricts image quality!

3. A system for my file folders.
And finally, I wanted to decide on a system before I got started. Here's where I ended up:

If you open the Photos folder on my hard drive, my folders are organized by Year > Photos or Videos > Month and then files are named for the date taken. I have created an additional folder, within each year, for my favorite Photo Book selections but I haven't actually tackled that project yet. Getting all my photos sorted is the first step!

Now that I've shared what I did to get started on the project, let me talk about my routine.

1. Cull photos/videos on my phone weekly. 

Before I had kids, I didn't take an overwhelming amount of photos. After? Yeah.... about that. And instead of taking one quick photo, it's usually a bunch of them in a row before I get the one that I want to keep. I haven't always been great about deleting all the outtakes and can easily add hundreds of photos to my camera roll in one week. Factor in taking bookish photos for Instagram or the blog, and the number only grows! 

One of the reasons organizing my digital photos always overwhelmed me is that I didn't regularly delete any. When it would cross my mind to backup my photos, I'd just download everything from iCloud, drag them to a folder, and never look back. I'd end up with a folder full of outtakes and random screenshots that I had no desire to keep. So, the first step in my new system is to cull the photos on my phone at the end of every week.

Every Sunday, I'll take a few minutes to delete anything I don't need to keep from the past week. At the same time, I'll add photos to some specific albums on my phone: Bookstagram, Monthly Recap, Quick Lit, 2020 Calendar, and To Print. If I took a photo of a book while out shopping, I'll add it on Goodreads and delete the picture. And so on with screenshots, too! This single habit has made the biggest difference in how manageable this project now feels.

But what about the photos I already had on my hard drive from years past? Culling them was still my first step! I went through and deleted everything I didn't need to keep so that I only spent time naming and organizing the photos that I truly wanted to save. Over the course of a few weeks, I culled photos from 2007-2015 and then 2018-2019. Why did I skip 2016 and 2017? They have the most photos, by far, and I just haven't gotten to them yet! 

2. Download the photos/videos from iCloud at the end of every month.

Now that I cull the photos on my phone weekly, it's so much easier to log in to iCloud on my laptop at the end of the month and download that month's photos. It takes less time for them to download, and now it's less overwhelming to sort and rename everything I've downloaded. One month at a time made the most for my routine since that's how my folders are organized, but you could do this more or less frequently depending on your needs. 

3. Rename the photos and videos by date taken.

This is the most time consuming part of my process, but it's a step that I'm committed to. When I download photos from iCloud, the file name is something like IMG_4158. And I honestly hated it so much! If I used a Mac shortcut to sort my photos by name, they weren't always in chronological order. I often have photos in my camera roll that my family has sent me, so those image numbers can be vastly different from the photos I've taken myself. 

Another issue? My laptop would show that the Created and Modified date for any given photo was the day I'd downloaded the photo – not necessarily when it was taken. If I was adding stuff to  the Photos app on my laptop, they would be organized correctly because the correct date was in the photo's metadata. But when I'd add them to my hard drive or a cloud storage system, it thought they were all taken on the same day. So frustrating!

There might be a way to change both of these settings on my phone or laptop, but I was never able to find one. I'm not the most tech savvy person! If I can't find it with a quick Google search, I've reached a dead end. So, I decided to address this issue by using a consistent naming convention for all my files: Year-Month-Day_Image Number. So, two photos taken on February 1, 2020 would be named: 2020-02-01_01 and 2020-02-01_02. 

Here's my view when I'm organizing my photos at the end of the month. I've added a yellow circle around the date I downloaded the photos and a red circle around the date the photo was actually taken. The latter is the date I reference in the file name. However, I can only see the download date with videos. So, I typically just refer to my phone for the actual date it was taken. If you know what I'm doing wrong there, please comment. Haha! 

4. Sort photos and videos into folders on my hard drive.

The hard part is finally over and it's all downhill from here! Now that my photos and videos are renamed on my desktop, it's time to sort them into the folders I've already set up. I'll plug in my external hard drive and drag all the videos into the corresponding month's Video folder + all the photos into that month's Photo folder. But I do save blog/book photos in different folders because I prefer having them separated from my life and family stuff.

5. Back them up in the cloud.

Once they've been added to my hard drive, I'll upload them to Microsoft OneDrive. I use the exact same file folder system there, so I don't have to do anything new. They do have an app where I could automatically backup my camera roll to the cloud, but I prefer doing it manually at the very end of my organization routine. This step doesn't really require any work since I just select my files and wait for them to be uploaded. Whew!

6. Keep only favorites + necessary on my phone.

At the very beginning of my process, I culled all the outtakes on my phone. But what happens at the end? It's time for one last cull. Now that I know everything is backed up to my hard drive and the cloud, I delete most of the photos off my phone. One reason I got so behind on this project in the first place is because I'd look at my camera roll, see that it had something like 11,000 photos/videos on it, and would immediately feel overwhelmed.

Let's be honest: I don't need immediate access to most of the photos I've taken. Do I want some favorites so I can look at them whenever I want? Of course! My oldest son, for example, loves watching the videos of himself that I've kept on my phone. In addition to favorites, I'll keep what's necessary – like the photos I've yet to post on Instagram or still need to edit (in the Color Story app) for a monthly recap or Quick Lit post, for example.

That's where the Flic app comes in! I could use this in my weekly photo cull, but I prefer going a little slower during that step so that I can review the photos in more detail. But when I'm ready to delete stuff quickly, Flic is a lifesaver! You swipe left to trash a photo and swipe right to keep a photo. I can quickly and easily cull photos – the swiping process makes it a breeze! And I love seeing how much storage I'm freeing up along the way.

The basic app is free, and you can access all your camera roll photos right from the app. You'll get reminders each month to clean out old photos, too! Worth noting: I did pay to upgrade to Premium. It was only $1.99 and allows me to Flic an unlimited number of photos, see photos sorted by month, and see completed months checked off. It was absolutely worth the price! If you only get one tip from this post, I hope it's to download this app!

And finally, here's the step I'm planning to add to my routine:

7. Design a calendar and/or album throughout the year.
Although I haven't implemented this step yet, I have to thank Angela from Musings of a Literary Wanderer for the suggestion. On my January goals post, I asked about routines that make your life easier. Angela commented:

I'm a huge believer in taking pictures, creating a tangible memory, and especially printing them! I make an album for my husband and me each year. I start it in January and add to it all year long, so by the time December 31 comes, it's all ready to be ordered!

How brilliant is that idea?! Once I'm finally get caught up on organizing photos (only two years left!), then it will be time to make photo albums for those years. While I can't do much to make that process less daunting, I can ensure it never happens again using this strategy. I'm already doing it for the photo calendar I make every year, now I just need to figure out where I want to design and print the albums. Any recommendations?

As you can see, my process is a little bit extra. I certainly don't have to rename all the photos. But honestly, I'm glad that I do. I love how neat and tidy the folders and their contents look! While I'll never truly be "done" since I have to repeat the process monthly, I never imagined I'd see the end in sight with all my photos I've taken in the past thirteen years. It's a relief to know it's almost done – and to finally find a process and solution that works for me!

How do you organize your digital photos?

What makes the process easier for you? 

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