Spring....New beginnings

looking forward to Spring?.... for me it conjures up wonderful thoughts not just crafty ones, but ones of new beginnings. Baby animals being born, pretty flowers blooming, filling once again decorated containers in side and out, the smell of clean fresh air.

March to May is the beginning of the year for me.

Spring Clean..... for all that know me and my OCD this particular project will and does take military precision on my behalf, the planning actually starts January 1st and the lists are headed as such

DE-CLUTTER getting rid of all the accumulated stuff through out the house that cannot be recycled (crafting stock) the task is not just for paper & rubbish but also all the soft furnishings. 
ORGANISING sourcing & purchasing new containers from food storage - putting in the loft storage, again recycling is the key, I love Amazon, Ebay & of course Charity shops but I love making new storage as well from fabric covered boxes to crotchet baskets. 
CLEANING PRODUCTS I only use natural cleaning products and have been known to make my own, this obviously takes a bit longer than buying off the shelf but again I will start early so as to have a good selection. I also love to decant them into bottles with pretty labels. I have a Housekeeping basket which holds all my everyday cleaning stuff.

ROOM-ROOM areas to clean time allocated
GARDENS front & back

Once I have de-cluttered, have all my storage sorted and my cleaning products in place it's going to be March and itching to get going.

Believe me I don't live in a big house, but I do give myself realistic times, I have been doing this far too long to think if the planning takes 10 weeks it isn't going to be done in a week!! and what's the point in stressing over it, for it to be done properly it has to be enjoyed, if you have never seen it try and watch Ever Decreasing Circles the episode Ann goes in to hospital and Martin, Spring cleans the house it's hilarious.

In the past I tried to encourage my family to get involved but it ended in tears (theirs) I am the boss and I don't like to share my crown so its best to keep this one to myself.
A few of my personal tips to help

set a date to start the cleaning, let everyone know what your up to and make sure there are no interruptions (I have my food shopping delivered).
go to bed early for an early start, you will probably sleep like a baby after the 1st day especially if you have had all your windows opened.
eat a good breakfast and keep your energy up with healthy snacks and stop for lunch drink plenty of water.
wear comfy clothing & flat shoes.
I love to listen to Capital Gold it helps lol
once your finished treat yourself, you have worked hard!!!!

Every thing will be clean, smelling fresh because no chemicals were used, everything neatly packed away in their new storage homes, new soft furnishings and a few Spring flowers.

Once you have the house sorted give the gardens a spruce up, maybe a few new pots (painted terracotta pots), Windows on the outside clean.

I have a studio at the bottom of the garden and this will have a spring clean too It will need it as I would have been busy getting all my crafts finished.

When you have finished all that cleaning you may find that you want to update some pieces of furniture, replacing can be expensive all that may be needed is a lick of paint, I am a fan of Chalk Paint Annie Sloane has a great colour range of soft colours ideal for modern interiors.

I will over the next few days be posting all my lists, ideas for storage and re cycling and recipes for home made cleaners and hopefully lots more.

I would like to mention that I also do an autumn clean which gets us ready for Winter, but that will definitely have to wait .......

Thank you for visiting xx

filofax 2015

Happy New Year xxx

Well, it's that time of year. The time of year where I am constantly scratching out 2014 every document that requires a date, replacing it with 2015. I can't believe another year has really already disappeared. Regardless, this time of year also means something else to me and my fellow paper planner nerds (I say nerds lovingly). January means time for a new planner set up, which for me is already working out very well!my current planner is the filofax teal finchley in personal size.
My Filofax is my baby; I’d be a hot mess without it, and my life would be in shambles.




Maybe I exaggerate. Maybe. But my life would definitely be more disorganized!
Everyone seems to have their own way to set up their planner, from what weekly sheets they use to how they keep track of tasks, and rightfully so! I can’t imagine the same set up working universally, since everyone has their own unique schedules, goals, priorities, and ways of keeping organized! I don’t even have my layout figured out yet! The minute I think I do, I find a better way of writing things down or stashing my to-do lists, so my Filofax is in a constant state of colorful flux.


 

However, here are some general guidelines I follow:

I’m a visual person, so I like to see the whole month laid out ahead of me and keep Filofax’s full monthly calendar pages at the beginning of my planner to do just that. I don’t make detailed plans or to-dos on the monthly pages, but it’s nice to be able to see what’s coming up at a quick glance. This gets used more for planning things in relation to one another, like meetings I have to attend, plans with friends, due dates, etc.

 My go to weekly layout is the week on one page, which gives me enough room to write down any appointments and schedule-related things, as well as jot down some memos and lists. This layout also lets me have the whole right-hand side of the page blank for longer notes, crazy to-do lists, and other miscellany.

The one thing I do is colour code everything. I’d like to get some nice colour dots to use as a key so I can keep it all straight, but each category has a corresponding colour that I use throughout. Blog-related tasks – any posts, ideas, to-dos that are blog or sponsor-related are in orange; school related things, be they class times or things I need to get done, are in dark blue. And personal things like movie dates and “for fun” tasks are in lime green. Associating tasks with colours lets me see what’s on my plate with just a quick glance and visually see how my week is split up.


I'm still looing for the perfect set of pens that write on washi tape and doesn't bleed through as much, but these Stabilo 88's are great for my colour coding needs so far!

 
I like having the blank notes page integrated into my weekly view. As much as I like to keep things cohesive looking, there are some things that I just can’t keep in any particular format and the notes page lets me stick post-its and make little lists and memos as I need them. The actual days of the week I try to keep a clear schedule for, but tasks and things that don’t necessarily have a set day or time to be completed can go over on the notes page and help clear my head.
 Don’t forget to pretty it up! It’s much more motivating to use your planner and get those tasks done when your week literally looks fabulous!