Monday, February 24, 2014

Week 8 before and after, week 9 before, and the mysterious week 7

My last post showed you week 6 before and after shots of my DIYFish LifeMapping inserts. Somehow I lost week 7 in translation. We've had a couple really crazy weeks here at Wit's End, what with the weather craziness and subsequent school cancellations. Last week the sprogs already had Monday and Friday scheduled off school, then Tuesday was cancelled because of weather and we took them out for a half-day on Thursday for appointments. So they went to school for one and half days last week. Sheesh.

So, yeah, I'm going to blame my slacking on Mother Nature. Sure. Sounds good.

Moving on! Today I have before and after shots (condensed somewhat) of week 8 and before pictures of week 9. If you have any questions about where I got any of the decorations or how I'm using any particular section, let me know. I like to decorate, but it's more important to me that my planner be functional. I tend to keep decorations to areas that aren't used a lot.

On to the pictures...








The week seems a little sparse just because of how much time I spent with the sprogs instead of working. I also had a flu bug of some sort at the end of the week which effected my productivity. I'm looking forward to this week and I'm happy I've gotten myself pretty well organized today.

So here are my pages for this week:

This week is split into two separate weekly sheets because March cuts in at the end. Go ahead, March. Cut right in BECAUSE YOU MEAN SPRING IS COMING. Yes, thanks.











This week's decorations consisted of washi tape and stickers, while last week was a lot of washi and sticky notes.

Happy planning everyone!


Monday, February 10, 2014

Before and after of DIYFish LMI V2.0, week 6


Hey, planning friends!

Today I have photos for you of my use of DIYFish's LifeMapping Inserts, version 2.0. Fish has version 2.1 available now, so mine are slightly different than what you can get on her Etsy store here.

So on to the pictures and some explanations.

This is the current set-up. I'm in a trial period of having my work and home/personal information and schedules all consolidated into this A5 Malden. Using Fish's inserts is working brilliantly. The only items I can't fit into this Malden are my movie and book review notes. I keep those in a separate binder. I do have everything else including pertinent paperwork for the sprogs' school, passwords, meal planning, etc in this one. My husband has been converted (mwahahhahahaa.... come to the dark side....) and he's using Fish's personal size LMI v2.1. He's tracking work and home in his planner. I *may* be able to convince him to let us take a tour. We'll see. It will require bribery.

I'm using an Orla Kiely make-up bag from Target to carry my essentials around the house and sometimes in the car. I don't need to take my A5 with me very often, so this is mostly so I can indulge my laziness and track the weather with my little stickers and do my color-coding whilst on the couch under a pile of corgis. Yeah, I'm that girl. The things you see in this bag are really the only things necessary for me to use my planner. The decorations are fun, but definitely not the real purpose of the planner. Some folks love lots of decorations... I prefer to keep it more functional. The things you see on my pages are stickers, sticky notes (big fan), and a little washi.



I'm using LePens. I switched to them after my Stabilos (or just the purple one) ran out. I actually tried to move to InkJoy ballpoints, but because some of the lighter colors were difficult to see on the page, specifically orange and light green. I like the feel of the InkJoy pens... they write smoothly and really beautifully, but the LePens offer deeper colors, and I prefer that. It's actually the third or fourth time I've gone back to LePens. Someday I'll learn.

I also use Zebra Mildliners on my monthly pages. More about that later. I keep my weather stickers and some hole reinforcement stickers in the left pocket. My meal planning flags are loose in the bag. On the right are scissors, a white-out pen, a few sticky notes, and an empty little Post-It pocket.

Okay, so the before and afters...

This is the weekly view for Week 6. I have our meal plan and weather forecast in the boxes next to the task chart. The task chart is color coded. I've hidden some medical information. I normally take the meal planning flag off and write in what we actually had after we eat. Sometimes meals move around or change, so I use the flags until it's official. I left the one flag at the top because my younger son chose that meal and wrote it on the flag. It's a nice little reminder of his participation in our family organization. I will glue it down and leave it.







As you can see, there are days that are crazy and days that aren't. I also like to keep little mementos or photos on some days, like the card I received with a RAK and a photo of the snow from our front door on Sunday.

So, should I continue with the before and after shots? Would you like to see the before picture at the beginning of the week, or keep them more like this, a comparison kind of post?

Thanks to those who have left comments recently! It means a lot. If there's something you want to see or share or have advice for me about pens or printing or decorating, fire away!



Saturday, February 1, 2014

PlannerNerds February photo challenge!

Join me for some creative fun!

Also posted to my profile on Instagram @vodkasoylatte. This is meant to be a fun and no-pressure way to share our planners. Just take a photo of something each that represents the prompt. Very open to interpretation. You must include your planner in each photo. You can either make a photo album here and post your photos or use an instagram account. There's also no pressure on time limits. Whenever. Work ahead, wait until the end, whatever! It's just meant to be fun and way to be creative with your planner each day.

Post your pictures on your blog and leave me a comment so I can visit! A link back here would be great.

Have fun!