April PWM 2016

Hello everyone and welcome back to our regular scheduled programing!

I’m not gonna lie I was on spring break last week and got lazy, sorry about that, but now let’s get back to our regular plans!

Over the break I got a change to plan my April monthly spread using LaceandLogo’s April Monthly Spread.

I did like this spread and how it turned out but I don’t like how the full box stickers were a little large for the actual boxes. it made it a little difficult to plan, but it turned out well enough. I also really liked the decorative boxes because I was able to decorate the entire day for a friend’s wedding very easily. I like how the day sticks out. I also like all of the floral stickers that made the spread pretty.

I didn’t use any of the checklists or bill due stickers in my spread. I plan on adding a checklist the day that I register for classes and the day that I do my housing selection, but other than that not much else will really be added to the spread.

Reusing Printables

One of my favorite things about printables is that you can print off as many copies as you want. I love it when I’m planning with a small kit, but what about reusing kits?

My thoughts are that you can reuse kits and do it quite well, and this is how I do it.

I am a student, which makes it a little easier. During the summer I’m able to reuse kits because I’m doing something different than I am in school. Instead of having to track school work and meetings I’m able to track more to do lists and habits that I want to keep track of. I also am able to keep better track of what I’m doing that day.

I also like to reuse kits as a base for stickers that I buy in the store that would go along with the theme. I have a spread set where I’m using it two weeks in a row, but it’s different because I bought different decorative stickers while I was at the store. Doing this allows you to create different spreads with different decorations, but also allows you to get a larger return on your investment.

I also will just straight up use the same kit and just make about the same spread if I loved the kit and spread that much. It happens every now and then. Especially with large kits it’s easier because sometimes I don’t use half of the decoration stickers so I can create basically a different spread.

I love to reuse kits to save money, but I hate waiting an entire year to reuse them.

See you soon,

Amanda

The Tube Kingdom

If you follow me on Instagram you saw the picture below over the weekend, and now I’m going to explain it a little bit.

This is Lucia’s home, the official Tube Kingdom, and this is the story of the struggles and fun that made it come to be.

Skin Care Routine Spring 2016

Recently I’ve really gotten into taking care of my skin, something I should have gotten into a long time ago.

I’ve always had pretty clear skin, never any acne problems, and I’m blessed with that. So since my skin care routine is pretty short this is also sort of going to be a review of the products I use.

So let’s get started!

Outside of My Planner

As much as I love my planner it can’t hold everything, and in certain circumstances it doesn’t even hold something. You’ve seen it in my How I Plan My Blog post from last month, but what else don’t I keep in my planner? Let’s find out.

My Notebook

When I was little my mom always carried around a planner and a notebook. That was something I was always used to and something I’ve begun doing.

So what is in my notebook? The majority of it is lists (my master to do list, grocery lists, e-mails to send, assignments that I need to do, etc.) but I’ve also started to include my notes for class (updated from Spring 2016 Organization System). I’m finding that I’m loosing less notes than I used to and I really do like it.

I also keep my random writings that pop up throughout the day, which is helpful for when I’m writing for leisure or for this blog. I like having everything together.

My day designer

If you don’t know this at the beginning of the school year I bought a day designer that has sheets for every single day.

I’m using this to help me plan really busy days or days for the future. I’m finding it really helpful right now while I plan for registration for my fall classes.

My printable

Last year I bought this printable to use as my planner. I did like it and I use the monthly pages a lot now, but when I have a very busy day or a day where I just really need to track everything and anything (a few days after a very bad panic attack or swing of depression). I find these very helpful for that and I do plan on buying more printables from this shop in the future.

Microsoft Outlook

If you aren’t a fan of Microsoft then this isn’t for you, but at my school it’s the preferred way of doing things. So my Office Calendar is always updated with everything and anything work and school related. I find that when I need to figure out a meeting with a teacher it is so much easier if both of our outlook calendars are open. It also helps with to dos and e-mails.

So that’s what outside of my planner. What’s outside of yours?

See you soon,

Amanda

Gatsby’s Diet

When it comes to a Hedgehog’s Diet it is always a constant struggle between owner and pet, especially if you’re like me and your hedgie get bored and is very picky.

If you’re looking at this trying to do research start here because I can’t put all of this information into one post. If you want a series that goes into detail about all the different parts of a pet’s diet please feel free to ask. I have friends that have a variety of pets (who actually will be introduced soon) and if you have any questions about most animals I can do my best to give you some good answers.

So let’s start with Gatsby’s Diet!

I hate housing

If you don’t know this I hate housing at my school.

No the apartments or the dorms, but the housing selection process.

First off it all starts in early March with the open house, where my friends and I start to get really excited and make “the plan” for what we’re going to do. I like this part because it’s always happy, but it never stays for that long.

The Second stage in housing is the fall apart where “the plan” falls apart for some reason. This happens about a week before we actually sign up for our rooms and typically sends me into a panic where I’m living alone until someone (who typically is just as bad at planning this as I am) happily comes along needing a roommate. I happily agree to live with this person because I’m normally friends with them and know that for the most part I can live with them.

The third stage is actually signing up for housing, where everything goes wrong. I always have a bad number in the lottery that decides when we register. So, I never get where I wanted to live. I end up in the housing for a grade level lower than me, sometimes not even with the person that I want to room with.

Sticker Organization – Febuary 2016

So a lot of people organize their stickers differently. Recently a lot of people have been using three ring binders, but I’ve found that it’s just too expensive and a hassle for me. So I decided to do a different way where I combine my computer and three accordion-style folders (one large and two small)

They are organized first on my computer and then depending on what each sticker is it goes into one of the accordions in the correct place.

Since I deal with printables the first place that I have to organize them is on my computer. To most people this is a very complicated method that I use, but to me it just makes sense to have it this way. So on my desktop I have a folder called “planner stickers” and in this folder I have different sub folders for each shop that I purchase something from. Each shop then organized in a different way.

For shops where I just have one file to print they are typically in the sub folder labeled with the name of the kit that I bought, and I can print it from there.

For shops where they actually have you download multiple files per spread/kit I have a subfolder labeled for that kit and then have each file within that sub folder.

So now after I’ve gone on a printing binge and have all of the sets printed out, what do I do? Well, I got to the accordion folders.

The large folder is for full spreads, and each tab has a month where I can file each spread away for when I plan to use it. This typically also helps me when I’m shopping on etsy so that if I need spreads for a month (MARCH) I’m able to find something that would fit the monthly colors easily. It also prevents me from over buying and if I find a kit for a friend’s birthday or if I really want to do a specific spread one week I can see that I already have it. Typically I’ll have all of the spread for the next month filed away about halfway through a month. I might not know “I’m using this spread this week” but I have the four spreads to choose from.

So now onto the two smaller folders. The first one is for the little bits and bobs that I print out that are printable add-on-like things for each spread (my work stickers, extra headers, icons, etc.). These just all have a folder for what I use them for and I print off a refill when I find that they are getting low. The other one is for things that I buy. This can be anything for decoration stickers to spreads I don’t know what I’m going to do with to icons to just about anything else. Since I typically don’t buy spreads online though this folder is often pretty empty, but it is organized by shop.

So yeah, that’s how I’m organizing my stickers at the moment and I find that it is working out wonderfully.

See you soon,

Amanda