Planner FAQ

Hello Hobbits! This is Amie speaking again and I am back with a brand new blog post in a bit of a different format today. Today is a blog FAQ where I took some of the many questions that I have been asked and decided instead of just answering them myself, I would bring the question to two different types of planner users. One who uses a Filofax/Gillio  and the other who has used Kate spade. I originally intended for a Erin Condren user but I changed my mind when I found I wanted to bring in more of the planner worlds that I know about. 

For my Filofax/Gillio is 

- Rita Sedani

IG: Ritasedani

Filofax: Medium Compagna In Bazaar Rose Gillio. ( She also uses a filofax) 

For my Kate Spade Planner:

- Ashley Witt

IG: Ashinwonderland84

KS: Kate Spade Wellesley in Pink.

These two lovely ladies have agreed to work with me and answered my questions so thank you ladies and I hope that you enjoyed their answers!!

If you are interested, please feel free to email me with your own answers to the following questions or if you have any other questions to: amiesmith22@gmail.com

What planner do you use everyday?

What do you need to keep you organized?

Your planner system

did you try other planners and if so; why didn't they work?

Favourite inserts and why?

What do you have inside your planner ?

Name of your dividers and what you keep in them?

What kinds of pens you use ?

Decorating and how you do it?

Your favourite part of your planner?

Any tips and tricks?

Filofax: 

What planner do you use everyday?

My Hobonitche and Personal Panama in Pearl (Filofax)

What do you need to keep you organized?

Kokuyo NeoCritz Transformer Pencil Case – it holds many pens! 

I own an agency for voiceovers many jobs remain unconfirmed for a couple of weeks, so a Frixion pen is always handy. I also use Pilot V5 Hi-Techpoint in red, purple, pink and blue for my bullet journaling. Sticky notes and my Sketch Master stencil, which I use for bullet journaling. 

What is your planner system 

-unanswered 

Did you try other planners and if so; why didn't they work?

I tried A5 filofaxes, they didn’t work for me, as I found the rings too restrictive 

Favourite inserts and why?

Louis Vuitton for my personal Filofax. I love the colour of them and I love that the corners are perforated, so as the week ends I can tear off the corners. 

What do you have inside your planner?

Oli clips, a Kate Spade bow clip, Martha Stewart tabs and sticky notes, hand made dashboard, a handmade pocket, dairy and note paper 

Name of your dividers and what you keep in them?

I don’t use dividers 

What kinds of pens you use?

Pilot V-Tech 0.5, Kawecosport fountain pen, Muji smooth writing pen, Cocoiro pens, frixion pens and a Coleto pen

Decorating and how you do it?

Mostly use washi, stickers and I doodle 

Your favourite part of your planner?

The gold rings!!! 

Any tips and tricks?

If you haven’t found planner peace, I would suggest sitting down with pen and paper and making a list of all the things you need to keep track of, what you want from your planner, what type of paper you prefer to write on and what size is right for you. Then stick to one planner and see if within two weeks of everyday use it works for you. If not, then make a list of what needs adjusting. Eventually planner peace will come! 

Pictures of her lovely planner :)

Kate spade:

What planner do you use everyday?

 I use my Kate Spade Wellesley zip-around in pink and I love it.

What do you need to keep you organized? 

My planner of course! But I think a huge part of that is what important parts of your life need organizing. So you have to ask yourself, what sections need to go into my planner? I'll expand more on that in the next question.

What is your planner system? 

My planner system basically includes monthly/weekly, to-do, journal, goals and finances. Within each of these is another system. To-do basically includes things I need to do around the house, things I'd like to buy myself (needs and wants), books I want to read, RAK lists, a list of paper places in town, and movies to watch. The journal section is pretty self-explanatory and I also stick in little things like movie tickets so they all stay in one place. Goals includes personal goals like losing weight, my bucket list, places I want to travel to. My finances includes all the financial inserts from Polka Dot Posie and I love them. In that section I also keep a running list of what I need to pull out bill wise from each paycheck.

Did you try other planners and if so; why didn't they work? 

The only other planner I have is the large Kikki-K in mint and I actually use that one as well for work. Favourite inserts and why? The Polka Dot Posie financial inserts are great! They really help me keep my finances in line which is one of my weaknesses right now so I'm hoping to turn that around with these 

What do you have inside of your planner? 

Personal photos, paperclips, sticky tabs and pads and encouraging words. Name of your dividers and what you keep in them? (I expanded on this earlier with the planner system section) 

What kinds of pens you use ?

 I use the Pilot Juice Gel Ink pens and they right very smoothly. Most importantly they don't bleed through the paper. 

Decorating and how you do it?

 I like using washi on my weekly pages just to liven things up. I also use stickers and little doodles. It helps me to remember what I have coming up in my week! 

Your favourite part of your planner?

 I would say either between the weekly section because it's always changing or my journal section where I can just let all of my thoughts and feelings out. 

Any tips and tricks? 

Just have fun! Personalize it to your liking. Find out what needs organizing in your life. Different planners work for different people. Some people don't like the zip, others do because it keeps all of their little planner goodies in their. Don't get frustrated in finding your planner peace, just go with the flow!

Thank you so much for answering my questions ladies!

I hope that this will be a good help for some of you that might be struggling and trying to find possibly some inspiration on what might work for you? Either way I would love as I have said to see more of all of your planners and if you have any questions I am always able to talk! go ahead and contact me on one of the following ways.

Email: amiesmith22@gmail.com

IG: Organizedhobbit

YT: organizedhobbit.youtube.com 

Facebook: I am Amie Smith on facebook and I have several groups that I am common in.

Thanks again and stay organized!

Organizing 101 : Desk space.

Hello my little Hobbits, it's me back again with a new blog post for you. 

This one is focused on the organization in regards to the random and then more common aspects to things any artist/planner person uses... Or at the very least the things I do to make my life a little more organzied. 

So first thing is my desk top, because lets face it.. Regardless of what I might shove in my drawers I still have to face the desk top each time I come back into my room.. So I try and keep it as organized as possible. 

For my tools and main small washi tapes as well as my heat tool I repurposed some old vases and put some small stones in to keep them up to the level. I like to keep my paintbrushes and my other misc tools in the one on the left and the washi tape that I reach for on a daily basis or my thinner washi tapes as my main storage for them is quite full as you will see below. =)

I bought this little holder organizer from walmart, but I have seen other options in staples/michaels and any other organizer store. I use the small tray on top to hold some basic items and smal tags that I use between each of the projects I work on. 

To make it simple I will use the left to right method to describe the caddy and the things I keep into it.

Paper Clips and small unused eraser. I always need a spare eraser for my drawings and it never fails if I need to clip up something that I don't have the neccesary clips to do so, so I keep those inside the first pack for easy and constant access. 

The next two are various things I use for my art such as some small watercolour pots and q-tips as well for my blending and of course cleaning up my ears when needed haha!!

The second row is planner related and in each in respective to the 123 order is my decorative clips for my planner, my sticker flakes and some transparent stickys that I use every day, and then in the very last is my favourite, it houses my random sticky notes that don't have a home.. I tried storing them in a different place such as my Orla Keily planner pouch but I found that I wasn't using them and with that I needed them to be in a constant place.. To me if something is actually around you then you are more inclined to use it, versus only using it when you go for the case in the first place. 

Bottom row just consists of my change, batteries and my junk spot where all my little things that I never really need but like to have around. 

Again for my pens and common used markers is a repurposed vase that my mother gave me and I thought would be perfect and gave my desk a little more of a feminine and classy (in my opinion) touch! I just keep my most grabbed pens as well as my sharpie pens because I use them on a daily basis for art journalling and in my planner for my titles. 

My little side cubby is part of the walmart orgnizational collection currently out and I love it because it fits perfectly between my desk and my shelf. I like to keep my box of q-tips, stabilos, crayola pencil crayons, and my longer rulers and my paper cutters. A shoe box or anything spare would work just as good, but it was something I bought when I needed a temporary home for my washi and it was perfect for this space. Plus it keeps up standing and again a very easy access for me. 

On my desk I have a keruig k cup holder which fits washi tape perfectly.. I discovered this awesome idea when I was just putting my washi in random objects around my house trying to find something to keep it organized. As you can see there is no colour system but I do put my newest ones to the left and go further over.. But I have more organization when it comes to my washi samples I keep in my planner because unless it's a new project I go for the stuff I keep in my planner soI can use it up and then make some new samples. =) 

So my basic desk set up looks like what it does down below other then some new tweaks now and again... I don't mind having some things around here and there like a pack of gum or something, but I like to keep my main work area clean and tidy because that promotes productivity. 

My picture is a throw back to one I posted a little while ago on my instagram, because it does mirror exactly what my desk currently looks like. Except some of the cups and toilet paper are gone because the projects I was using some of the things for are finished. =) 

My organization tips when it comes to a desk top.

1. Keep it clear and free of clutter, an open desk allows for an open mind. 

2. Keep the things you use daily close, but don't over stock yourself. Don't put in 15 pens just because you use pens every day. Less can be more, use what you need and leave the rest to a different location so you don't feel like you are drowning in your items. 

3. I reccomend using some sort of mat on your desk to keep it neat and tidy, especially if you are a crafter or an artist because some of the things we use can be messy and this helps to keep our desk protected as well.

4. Make it your own, use items you love and inspire you so when you sit there you feel good... You feel like you can be productive... If having some level of disorganization helps you.. Then always go with what works for you.. 

5. Organization doesn't have to be complicated, don't do all the things I do or you see someone else does because it works for them. Often times if you go with what simply /works/ then you'll be fine.. Especially true I find with my desk because my needs won't match others and if I tried to make my desk work to someone elses, I wouldn't be as inpsired to work in my own way. 

Second part now is related to my desk drawers which can be slightly disorganized at times but I have a good system going now that works to keep my desk free and clear.

My top drawer is my far most organized drawer thanks to the organization bins that I found from walmart.  I keep my tape, my smaller punches, lip balm and gum. Some small things as you can see, but just the bare minimum of things that I know I use on a daily or every couple of days because as you probably notice, I think less is more haha!! The one thing is that I do enjoy having some things in there that I don't neccesarly need in such a close drawer such as my small hello kitty container or two flashlights.. It's just something small I like to allow myself. 

My second desk drawer is my... Planner/organizational/art area.. i keep my Project management as well as my ipad and my novel planning book near the back of my drawer. At the side I have my blending stumps and my extra different size pencils in the two orange and brown containers. Infront of that is my punches and MT Washi. =) 

The next section is for my art journalling, it houses my art journal and my little purple scraps container that I recieved from Monkeytoes on facebook. -=) Above that is my little watercolour pallet. 

I keep this area organized by type of product it is.. My Crafting, art and organization.  

The last and least organized is my last drawer. In this is just a container housing my photos for my project life and my various artistic tools such as pastel and watercolour pencils. I also keep my mineral spirits which I use for various crafting.. This drawer is meant to use for a filing system but for my needs it wasn't neccesary so I changed it up and made it work into something that was much more functional. 

So a few tips again for your drawer management.

1. Use little cubbies to help break up things so they sit flat and arent just sticking any which way.. Doing that will help keep everything in line. 

2. Don't use each drawer for what it's meant to! Change it up and keep mixing stuff around until you find what works, if you need the extra space for something different, go for it!

Some of this might of seem basic to some and some might of seemed to involved but this Organization blog was just my way of using what I have found worked for me to perhaps inspire you in a way to find something to solve your own organization woes.

Any feedback would be appreciated because my Organization 101 blogs will become a monthly event and I'd love to know what you liked, didn't like and what you would want to see in the future.

If you have any questions or want to know where I got anything please feel free to email: amiesmith22@gmail.com

My Instagram: Organizedhobbit

youtube: organizedhobbt.youtube.com 

I am also on many of the facebook groups so feel free to chat me up or just send me a like now and then. =) Thank you for reading my hobbits and keep tuned for my upcoming interviews.!