Planning Around Chaos

Life is full of twists and turns.  You can try and be as in control as possible but there will always be a curve-ball or two.

My grandfather passed away this morning (rest in peace Papa- I love you so much) and I am of course dropping everything to fly home to NY to be with my family. Besides the obvious disruption that traveling causes in life, my brain is completely elsewhere and I am emotionally devastated. So it is times like these I am so thankful I inherited my mother’s organizational genes to try to keep everything else in life afloat. I thought it would be an appropriate day to mention how I keep my blogging (and life) organized, especially when the curve-balls happen.

I don’t think there would still be a blog if I didn’t have an amazing planner/notebook to keep my scattered thoughts in one place.  I would have given up by now! I always feel great when I have my blog posts and projects planned out for the coming days/week. It makes the administrative and planning aspects of blogging a million times easier. And somehow my techie, nerdy brain still prefers an old fashioned written planner to using my iPhone or something.

When I first started looking for the perfect planner, I was disappointed in everything I saw.  Too big, not enough space to write, too structured, not structured enough. I thought about a DIY planner but thought I would make one last run to Staples before I gave up on existing planners (I wanted to jump right into blog planning!).  That’s when I saw the Staples Arc customizable notebooks that allowed me to create exactly what I wanted!  I got a small but sturdy pink leather exterior, colored tabs, weekly/monthly agenda paper, lined paper, and list making paper. I can keep a running collection of to-do lists and ideas as well as move, add, or remove things to my heart’s content.  I have been using it for months and I am still as in love with it as the day I bought it!

The best part?  The whole system with all of the paper packs was substantially cheaper then a mediocre planner in the agenda section thanks to a 50% leather notebooks sale.  I got everything for about $20. In case you were wondering, I wasn’t paid to write this article by Staples… I just genuinely love this notebook. It works for me and I would recommend it to anyone.

Good blogging requires good planning… especially when life pushes you out of your routine. It is nice to know I can focus on what’s important right now because my blogging has been preplanned and all of my ideas are in one place while my brain is scattered. The blog can just be a fun distraction when I need it for the next few days.

How do you all keep your blog organized? I am always looking for good organizational ideas! And as always, thanks for reading.

P.S. The backyard is back under control but we no longer have any grass. I guess we have some yard work to do next weekend.