Tina’s Top 10 – Planning & Organization for 2019

It just hit me today… The fun of organizing my life in preparation for a new year!!  I’ve been working on my intentions for weeks if not months now, but suddenly, I’m planning events well into 2019 and realizing it’s time for new wall calendars and planners so that I have visual reminders and don’t overbook myself. 

So….   Tina’s Top 10 Organization / Planning Tools & Ideas is here!

10.  Before you get organized for 2019, take a look around you to see what you actually used last year to keep organized. Did it work?  Why or why not?  Are you a visual person?  Or do you need auditory tools? What you’ll see below is that I’m clearly visual and like things with a colorful visual aesthetic, as well as things that give me a quick visual indicator of schedule. What works for you? Think about these things before you take the leap to buy new things to “be organized”. If you don’t, what can end up happening is that you’ve just purchased more things to clutter your space.

9.  My go-to wall calendar is this amazing (and huge) wall calendar by Paper Source. I can use small sticky notes to annotate events (and move them around if needed) and it helps me visually organize my time to prevent over-booking!

8.  These small sticky notes work perfectly on my huge wall calendar (above). I sometimes color code different events with the notes so that I can tell, at a glance, what I have going on. Ideally, the colors help me know if my schedule is balanced.

7.  I adore the colorful planners by Erin Condren. I’ve used them the last couple of years and one thing I love about them is that they have plenty of space for me to plan each weekday in the vertical format (note that there ARE other formats).  I’ve linked to the one I’m getting for 2019.  Last year (pictured) I used the hardbound I found at a local store.

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6.  Incase you can’t tell, I really love color. Given that, I also use these markers from Erin Condren in my planners.  I use colors to distinguish types of events and/or completion of tasks in my planners.

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5.  In my office, I like to organize things I don’t want to see all the time in seagrass baskets, like these (note that they aren’t the same ones but are similar).  I prefer this look to seeing all the individual items especially for things I need close but don’t need to use all the time.

4.  Do you have a favorite pen?  Me too!  These Pilot G2 07s are what I’m all about. The tip is perfect (in my opinion) and helps me write with greater precision. I like my notebooks and planner to look nice and these pens definitely help me achieve that.

3.  When I’m on-the-go, I love a big bag that organizes all my things. I found exactly that in this Clark & Mayfield laptop bag. It makes a wonderful carry-on bag for travel, and on workdays gives me ample room for my laptop, notebooks, planner, markers / pens, etc.  It’s big! So not for people who don’t want that – but I love that I can carry so much in one bag!

2.  For organizing my online personal life, I am an Apple product lover.  I use an iMac and a Macbook Air.  I love the aesthetics (obviously) and I love the simplicity. While now file sharing across machines is easy with all sorts of products, it’s been easy with Apple for awhile, and this has allowed me to be organized across all my products with file and photo accessibility.

1.  For family organization, we began using Cozi (an app I heard about from Rachel Hollis). It helps Casey and I know who is doing what in terms of family items (picking up or dropping of the girls, etc). We’re still getting the hang of going in and updating it, so we haven’t seen the full power of it yet. Even so, it’s already been helpful in designating owners for certain tasks that need to happen.  You assign a color for each person, so you can look at a schedule and get a quick visual indicator of tasks you need to do!

What are your top tools for organization and planning? Comment and let me know!