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How to Organize your Computer to Maximize Productivity

The start of the year is a great time to start implementing small organization changes that can yield big benefits for your productivity for the rest of the year. Today I wanted to talk to you about organizing your computer for maximum productivity, which if you are anything like me, is sort of a dreaded topic! I live on my computer, so it is filled to the brim with articles, images and information. I use my computer to create a vast majority of my content, and of course, it’s the key to running my online business, so it really is important that I keep my computer files organized, my hard drive free of superfluous information and my desktop clean and neat!

Step 1: Create a virtual filing system

Without some sort of virtual filing system set up on your computer, it can be a pain to locate files in a timely manner. Although most computers come with default files like “Documents” and “Photos” its usually up to the individual to implement a system for filing away items for later reference. What I like to do is create folders within these sort of catch-all files, dividing my items up by categories or projects. I typically use category files like “Picture of Me,” “Online Receipts” or “Youtube Music” to corral items that are similar in nature, but perhaps don’t belong to a larger set. Once I have a handful or more items that belong in a specific set, I usually create folders with event or project titles. For example within my Pictures folder, I may keep Pictures of Me, but I may also have a folder called “Christmas 2015”, or within my documents, along side Online Receipts you may find a Strange & Charmed Project File where I keep all my info related to my brand. Within category files, I usually don’t bother with too much additional organization, other than to give my information descriptive titles for easier location, but within a project or event folder, there is often a handful of other sub folders. For example my Strange & Charmed Project File contains a sub folder for my blog post articles, my business information and image templates among other things. The idea is, no matter what your situation, whether you are a business owner like me, a student or even a stay at home mom, you want to create a filing system that make sense to you. Don’t be afraid to lay some ground rules for your system and type them up in a document to refer back to, in fact, that’s an excellent way to help you manage your system in an ongoing fashion!

So once you have settled on a filing system for your items, of course, you are going to want to go ahead and redistribute your files into their appropriate folders in the system! This can be a large project in and of itself, so don’t be afraid to set up the folder system one day, and return another day to work on distributing your information to their proper home. As you do this, now is the perfect time to also rename files with descriptive titles so that you can easily locate them in the future through the search function on your computer.

Step 2: Remove unnecessary information

Another major process you will want to undergo to organize your computer is to remove all the junk from your computer. Whether it be duplicate files or pictures, old documents you no longer need, or even outdated applications that you no longer use, spend some time locating any files that can be deleted entirely from your computer!

Step 3: Archive old information to save

Of course, you will also come across information that may be old or necessary, but for one reason or another you need to keep it. If it’s not something you need to refer to regularly, I suggest moving these sorts of files to an external hard drive for archiving and backup! Make sure to set your external hard drive up with a filing system of its own that makes sense for the information you are storing there, so you can easily find any archived files if and when the time comes.

Step 4: Run key Diagnostics

Depending on your computer’s operating system, there are a number of diagnostic tools you can use to help you ensure that you computer is running in top shape. First and foremost, I like to use an inventory style program like Disk Inventory X to help me understand what sort of information is taking up my hard drive. Computers can often easily begin to fill with bloat and most systems have a maze of hidden files and folders that you may not be aware of. Now, I don’t think you should go and delete files that you aren’t aware of, however, using a program like Disk Inventory X can help you see how the majority of your hard drive is being spent. Perhaps you didn’t realize that the game you downloaded two years ago and barely run was using so much hard drive space. Insights like that can help you make better decisions about what to keep and what to remove from your computer. Another popular diagnostic tool is a disk defray. PC’s are famous for the defrag, which basically helps to organize the information stored on your hard drive by compartmentalized it. Imagine your computers hard drive is like a storage facility with tons of individual units. When you save information to your computer, its like filling up units randomly in no particular order, so you can have some units in the back filled and some in the front and a few in the middle. When you defray your computer, you actually force those storage units together so that there is no empty space between empty and filled units, which helps you utilize space in your hard drive most efficiently! Like I said, PCs are known for needing to be defrayed regularly, however, Mac’s don’t actually require this, so do a little research on the best diagnostics to run for your computer and operating system and figure out what is worth your time, effort, and sometimes money, in order to keep your computer running the best!

Step 5: Perform weekly maintenance to ensure upkeep of your system

If you are like me and use your computer regularly, chances are you are going to need to continually tweak your system and keep an eye on your computers organization. As much as I try to always file my items into their proper spot in my own system, sometimes I forget or if I am in a rush, I skip that step. So, it’s important to schedule some time on a weekly basis (or more or less frequently depending on how messy your desktop and files get) to tidy up and put things back in place. Of course, you will also want to revisit steps 2-4 on a regular basis as well, although, perhaps on a less frequent basis, although that is completely up to you.

I hope these tips help you to get your computer organized so that you can achieve more with your screen time! If you have any other computer organization tips, I’d love to hear them!

P.S. If you would like to check out some more articles on this topic, feel free to check out Organize Your Mac with These 5 Tips and Back to School Tech Tips (even if you aren’t going back to school, this one has some great suggestions for making an older computer feel like new again!)

xoxo,

organization tech

6 Must Have Holiday Shopping Apps to Save your Cash and Sanity!

Holiday shopping, for many of us, can be something of a complicated process. If you have a large family or many people to buy for, purchases can start to add up quickly and keeping track of what you have purchased for whom can become really tricky when you are busy hiding boxes of presents in remote hidey holes in your home! You’ve probably asked yourself a time or two, is there a better way to manage all this? Well, yes, glad you asked, because I have assembled a list of 6 must have apps to help with your holiday shopping. Apps to help you save some cash, apps to help you keep track of what you are buying for whom and apps to help you have a little fun while you’re making those few hundreds of stops to the mall in the next few weeks! And best of all? All these apps are absolutely free!

1. Shopkick: I have written about Shopkick before, so I will try to keep this short and sweet, but basically, Shopkick is an app that you can use to help you earn rewards just for shopping and visiting your favorite stores. Through Shopkick, retailers market and promote their stores and products and offer Shopkick users “kicks” for various activities, like making a purchase, going to check out a specific product, and even just for walking into the store! These kicks add up and then you can redeem them for gift cards to a variety of different stores! So, with Shopkick, you can turn all those last-minute errands and repeat visits into real rewards for you!

2. Price Scan: Ever find an item in a store and then wonder if there was a better price at a competitive retailer or online? Well, with Price Scan you can scan a barcode with your phone and instantly find the best deals available for the product! Simple as that! This is a great resource to use if you are like me and enjoy “browsing” for gifts before you actually intend on making purchases because you can keep track of the gifts and products in the app and come back to them over time to see if prices have changed, making sure you are getting the best deal possible!

3. Wunderlist: If you have a long list of friends and family to buy for, keep your thoughts and purchases in order with Wunderlist. Touted as being one of the best list making apps available, Wunderlist has a simple and clean interface with just the essential list making necessities to help you keep your list in order. Use the app to keep track of who you are purchasing for, gift ideas and even budgets for each present. Now you have no excuse for purchasing duplicate gifts or going over budget!

4. Cartwheel: If you are already a frequent Target customer, you may already be familiar with the Cartwheel app. It is a dedicated app for Target shoppers to find instant savings on items in their cart while they are shopping. Simply scan the barcode of your item while shopping to find any extra deals or instant coupons that you can apply to the item. Once you go to checkout, give your phone to the associate at checkout and they will scan the custom barcode in your app and apply all the discounts and coupons you found while shopping! It’s pretty easy and can save you some extra money, especially if you are like me and bad about using coupons!

5. My Package: Online shopping for the holidays has grown exponentially over the past few years, so chances are you are going to have more than a few items coming in via the mail! Keep track of these packages to make sure you don’t loose anything but entering your tracking number and an item description into the app. The app will then begin to track your package with its geographic location and alert you as it makes its way to you! You can even set up delivery alerts, so you can be sure to check the mail before anyone else at home and tuck away any important packages like the gift giving ninja you are!

6. Retail Me Not: You may have already heard of or used the coupon site, Retail Me Not, but they also have a great app that can help find you coupons and deals for both in-store and online purchases! Add your favorite stores to the app or let the app track your location to find great deals near you at a wide variety of retailers. Again, this is an awesome app, especially for people who like to hunt for great deals or are always forgetting about coupons!

I hope you found this list of apps helpful as you proceed with your holiday shopping! I know we are all trying to save extra money where possible and make this stressful time of year a little easier and especially more enjoyable! If you have any other must have shopping apps that you think I need to know about, please let me know in the comments! Of course, don’t be stingy- go ahead and share this post in your social media feeds so your friends and family can make use of these great apps as well. I’m sure they will be very thankful you did!

xoxo,

Filofax lifestyle organization Solutions

How to Back Up Your Paper Planner

I have to admit, one of the major benefits of using a digital planning system is that, for the most part, they are easy to back up. Using a calendar or to do app on my iPhone means I can sync with the cloud, have my information on not only my phone but also on my iPads and my laptops as well. If I accidentally delete something in one place, I always have a backup somewhere else. It’s convenient and secure, two very important things that paper planners lack. It’s a critical flaw of Filofax’s and other physical planners, but one that can’t be avoided. It’s paper after all. Paper burns, rips, decomposes if touched by water, and a paper planner can be lost entirely. Even if I lost my iPhone, I wouldn’t have to worry much about my information. Lists would be retrievable, information can be restored and my phone could be instantly whipped of all information if I was concerned about sensitive information getting out (because you know, being an international blogging sensation, I have lots of sensitive and top-secret post information that people are dying to get their hands on… LOL, please note the sarcasm!) Jokes aside, though, you know what I mean! Even though paper planners have their fatal flaws, however, there are some things we old-fashioned analog planner users can do to keep our information backed up, in case any terrible tragedy should strike our organizational companions!

The simplest and easiest way to back up a paper planner or Filofax is through the use of photos on our smartphones. It may be an extra step to take when we make important notes in our planners, but if something were to happen to our planners we would at least have some form of backup for our information. And with the superior quality of smartphone cameras these days, you can capture all the details on a planner page or spread with great clarity in case you need to refer back to it later. Since i use an iPhone, I like to use the app DocScan to back up any important lists or notes in my planner. DocScan is great because it uses the camera on your iPhone to “scan” documents, physical pictures and notes, allowing you to then save the information in a multitude of different formats. Its like having a portable scanner with you at all times! Another popular application, Evernote, does much the same. Evernote is a great note taking application, but it’s also great for storing and saving information via pictures taken on your smartphone! Evernote allows you to synch your notes through the cloud and access them from a variety of different devices, even through the web directly!

So, if you’re concerned about backing up your paper planner or Filofax, give this method a shot! Start getting into the habit of taking a quick pic of your planner pages as you fill them up or make new notes. If you ever, heaven’s forbid, loose your planner or an important page goes missing, at least you have some sort of backup stored away for digital reference.

Filofax organization

How to Start a Filofax!

Ever since I became involved with the Filofax community, I have been asked tons of questions about how to start with a Filofax or similar ring bound planner system! It’s such a complicated question, mostly because the experience of using a Filofax is so highly personalized, which is exactly why I like to use a Filofax over any other sort of planner system. You can set up a Filofax in an uncountable number of ways, whatever suits your needs. I will say, however, that there is a basic process that everyone can use to start themselves off with a new planner, and if you’re thinking about getting a Filofax and want a general idea of how to start personalizing your own experience, this should help!

1. Pick out a planner that suits you: Filofax has a number of planners in a variety of styles and sizes to suit a variety of needs. If you’re not sure where to start off, I would suggest a personal sized planner because it’s the most portable, but if you know you need tons of space to write and don’t have a problem with carrying around a larger planner, go with A5. Once you know what size planner you want, it’s up to you which style and color you choose, whether it be leather or cloth, a bright color or a neutral. That part is entirely up to you and your style!

2. Pick a calendar/diary refill: A new Filofax will come with a calendar/diary insert (different styles come with different layouts, so be sure to check which comes with yours) but if you want a specific layout you may need to buy it separately. There are all sorts of monthly calendars, weekly and even daily layouts available and if you would like the chance to try out one without committing to buying a refill pack, you can always check out the free printable diary refills from Philofaxy! Generally speaking, may people use a combination of a month on two pages calendar with a week on two pages in order to get a monthly view and a weekly view of their schedule, but if you have lots of to-do items that you need to schedule, you may require a day per page or a day in two pages layout! Make sure to check all available options to understand what’s available and how you could make use of each type.

3. Purchase refill scrap paper or to do lists: Like I said, Filofax planners come with a variety of paper already depending on the type of planner you buy, however, I love to find additional pads of paper to use as scrap paper in my planner since refills from Filofax are usually pretty expensive. Once you know the paper dimensions of the planner you are going to use, you can easily find notepads that are compatible with your planner. These may require you to do a little hole punching on your own, but I find the effort is always worth it because you save yourself money and open yourself up to a variety of different paper for your planner. I love scouring the Target dollar bins for paper pads, as they often have ones closely compatible with a personal sized Filofax that I can punch and use in my own planner!

4. Get yourself a nice pen: Technically, you don’t need any sort of fancy pen to use in a Filofax, however, many planner enthusiast prefer to use erasable ink pens in their planners in case they need to remove scheduled events or to do items. The Frixion Pen is a very popular option and comes in a variety of ink colors and pen sizes! I love the .38mm Frixion Slim Pen shown above!

5. Find yourself some decorative sticky notes and cute stationery accents: I love cute sticky notes, page markers and paper clips in my planner, although you can technically use any old stickies and clips! I find that with the variety of affordable decorative stationery available online and in craft and hobby shops, you can really personalize your planner to the next level with very little effort. Cute stationery extras are a simple way to keep yourself motivated to stay organized with a planner, while also playing a functional role in your planner system!

I hope these tips help you to get started with your first Filofax planner system! The sky is the limit with how you can set up your own planner and all the different additions and personalizations you can put into your planner to make it unique and functional for you. If you need more inspiration for starting your first planner, feel free to check out my Filofax and Planner series on my YouTube Channel where I show you my own planner set ups and hauls filled with different stationery and accents I use in my planners!

lifestyle organization Quirky Uses Solutions

5 Quirky Uses for a Filofax

5 Quirky Uses is a new periodic feature for Strange & Charmed. For each post, I will select an everyday item and suggest five alternate uses or ways to upcycle the item in a fun or unusual way. Keep up with these posts with the Quirky Uses category!

True story, everyone! For some reason or another (all completely legitimate in my mind) I own four Filofax style planners. Two are actually Filofax brand name, one is my lovely Kikki K Time Planner (discontinued) and one is my personal sized Kate Spade! Now, the thing is, although I bought each planner with some grand idea of how I was going to use it in a slightly different way, I have recently woken up to the idea that these planners need to be repurposed or sold. Since, I like many other Filofax enthusiasts own more than one planner and refuse to sell any of them (are you kidding me, they are each beautiful and unique!) I have opted for repurposing the extra three I never use. So, I came up with a list of very useful ways to use a Filofax style planner, so we can all justify our obsessions and have them all!

1. A Home Binder: This would be perfect for any extra A5’s lying around because you can store documents folded in half and punched! A home binder is a place where you can keep all the important information for your home and items in it. Warranty information, insurance paperwork, schedules for regular maintenance and even home decor information (like the color paints and types of flooring used in case of repair). Anything that refers to your home (owned or rented) can be stored away inside in case it needs to be referenced.

2. A Dedicated Blog or Business Binder: If you run a side business or a blog from home, having an extra binder around that stores all your important information and schedules is a great way to repurpose a Filofax. Yes, some of your business information may also be important in your day-to-day planner, but having a dedicated place for business information, projects you are working on and specific business contacts means that you don’t have to cram it all in your daily carry and I think giving your blog or business its own binder that you leave at home and only take with you when needed is a great way to actually help you “switch gears” throughout the day.

3. A Gratitude or Happiness Binder: I am a major proponent of the importance of gratitude journaling and I think that it’s an awesome idea to repurpose a beautiful planner or Filofax into a place where you can store and write about all the things that make you happy and thankful in your life. In a way it could be like an inspiration board but instead of posting things on a single surface you have pages and inserts to decorate and theme out for each element of your life that makes you happy and grateful. You can keep gratitude lists, lists of your favorite things like books, movies, people and places. You can include pictures, sketches, or collages; the possibilities are endless, and at the end of the day it can be your happy place to help you lift your spirit and find joy in your life!

4. A Personalized Devotional: No matter what your religion or spiritual status, many people like to find peace and solice in a daily devotional. You can use a Filofax style planner to create your own with your favorite verses, prayers and inspirational stories and create your own schedule for private study. There are so many people out there who are trying on a daily basis to create a closer bond with their religious or spiritual side and creating a personal devotional is a wonderful activity that would give you time to both create and reflect on the subject.

5. A Health & Wellness Binder: If you are struggling with a health issue, trying to lose weight, or just want to keep a closer eye on your health in general, having a dedicated binder for your Health & Wellness may be a great way for you to track your day-to-day condition, the foods you’re eating and even your mood. I think a Filofax would be a wonderful place to store information like healthy recipes, exercise routines and important information about your physical and mental health so that you have all that information with you when you visit your physician. I think even expectant mothers would find this sort of binder useful as they track and almost journal their experience of pregnancy into motherhood that can then be something of a keepsake for them and their family.

I hope you have enjoyed these tips and if you currently use a Filofax for any of these purposes, please let us know in the comments below and be sure to leave your tips on getting started or elements that would be helpful for others to include if they were to start one of these binders for themselves! As always, if you have any additional uses for a Filofax, please leave those below so we get even more inspiration from the community!

Filofax lifestyle organization printables Productivity Solutions

Feng Shui Your Filofax

My Filofax is my happy place. To me, its like a secret hiding spot that a child might find to store secrets and goodies from their day-to-day lives and retreat to when they want to be in their own little world. Since I have began using my planner(s) I have felt this huge sigh of relief in my life because I have this physical location (not inside a phone or computer) where I can keep my schedule, to do’s and all the other information that I need to keep my life in order. Since I have begun my Filofax obsession I feel like my life has had this sense of order, even if my days are chaotic, because no matter what is going on, my planner is a place where I can go to think, download my thoughts, and gather strength and inspiration. To me, my planner has this aura that I psychologically assign to it, a sort of reverence I apply to it, so it dawned upon me that I should start applying Feng Shui techniques to keep it filled with this positive energy, or chi! So, I did a little research and came up with a few little things I could do consistently to keep the positive energy rolling in to my life via my planner and since I know so many of my readers also feel this way about their planners, I thought I should share these tips with you!

1. Clear out clutter: a main principle of Feng Shui is to keep your spaces clean and neat. Positive energy can’t flow in a hoarded room, nor can it flow into a hoarded or messy planner. I regularly remove unnecessary pages from my Filofax and either discard them if they are not needed or save them in a pretty box that I use for the express purpose of achieving old pages.

2. Keep your planner open whenever possible: If you are working at your desk, keep your Filofax open, even if you are not actively using it or referring to it. This helps to clear the air around your planner and attract chi.

3. Store your planner in a clean and well lit space: Don’t keep your planner shoved in your bag or in a drawer for hours on end, leave it in a place of respect out in the open where it will not get damaged and will be like an ornament in your life.

4. Fill your Filofax with beauty and happiness: Make sure you leave pictures of friends and loved ones in your planner and keep tokens of happy memories tucked inside extra pockets or punched inside your planner. Taking notes of achievements and positive events will also help to make your planner a destination for positive energy.

Click here to download a high resolution PDF of the above image in the Filofax personal size to keep inside your planner!

lifestyle organization Productivity Solutions

Filofax Organization Tips

It’s no secret that I have been totally obsessed with Filofax’s for the last few weeks ever since I ordered my Kikki K Planner! In case you haven’t noticed, I call any and all of these 6 ring binder systems “Filofax’s” even though the term Filofax is a specific brand. It just helps me mentally distinguish between these 6 ring binders and other types of bound and spiral planners and agendas available. On top of my large Kikki K binder that is the equivalent to the A5 Filofax size, I also have a personal sized Kate Spade planner as well that has taken on the bulk of my day to day organization. Since I now work out of two Filo’s, I have been amassing different tips and tricks that I have found helpful as a new user. Here are some of the tips I use on a day to day basis to help keep my system organized!

Use old gift cards to easily store lengths of washi tape in the card slots of your Filofax. Simply wrap the tape around the card a few times and you can have a sample of washi with you at all times.
Use A-Z tabs to organize notes by topic for easy access. I do this in my Kate Spade planner and it helps me when filing and referring back to important notes or lists.
Use colored printer paper as scrap paper that will easily stand out against the white and creme of your regular inserts. It’s more affordable than using up Filofax or any other branded note paper.
Use sticky notes or page flags to enter in tentative plans to your calendar before committing to them in ink. This has been a lifesaver for me because my plans change all the time and I hate having to scratch things out.
Mark frequent reoccurring events with color coding dots. I tend to use them in my month on two page view, but you can use them however you see fit!
Tabs and dividers do not have to be arranged down the right side of your binder. Top and even, bottom tabs are also helpful ways to break up your sections and different information.
If you want to keep your work and personal calendars separate, try using more than one calendar style, one for each so everything has a place.
Create your own divided files for any large pockets in your Filofax using notecards or card stock. This will help to keep stickers, coupons, cash and more safety organized and contained.
Using a full sip Filofax as a wallet/planner combo is a great way to minimize the bulk in your bag! My Kate Spade planner is a full zip and sometimes I will run to the store with just my planner and a few cards stashed inside along with any shopping lists or reminders!
Using a multicolor pen can help you color code without having to carry around multiple pens. The Pilot Hi-Tec C Coleto Pens even have pencil inserts.
Use a magnetic paperclip or binder clip to hold together past calendar pages to keep them contained. This also makes it easy to flip to the first clear page.
Wrangle loose or small items in a clear zip lock pocket (usually sold separately).
If you don’t decorate on the go, leave stickers and excess supplies at home. Don’t feel the need to carry around excess stationary just because its pretty.
If you have handwritten notes that you refer back to often, type them up to save space and punch them into your Filofax (you can print smaller than you write).
Archive notes and calendar pages often if you don’t need them with you. You can use a secondary Filofax to store archived pages or even a box.

I hope you have learned something new from some of these tips. Which tips are your favorite and which other tips do you rely on to keep your Filofax planner system organized? Please feel free to share them in the comments below!

organization Solutions

Bag Makeover | How to Organize a Messy Bag

Today, I thought I would give you guys a peek into my very large and very disorganized bag! This isn’t a what’s in my bag, that may come later, but for now, I just wanted to show you guys how I like to organize my bag! This is a great method for anyone who has a large purse or tote that they use on a daily basis that does not have very many interior pockets!

As you can see from this before shot, my Kate Spade Beau bag has one large bucket style compartment, flanked on one side by some small accessory pockets and a large “iPad” pocket on the other! This bag is great because it holds so much stuff, but it’s not great at keeping organized (and this shot shows the bag without my work stuff inside)! This sort of set up can be a dangerous one for people like me who tend to just drop things into my bag like it’s a bottomless pit, but that behavior can ultimately lead to issues with the stuff in your bag. When things are just free-floating, chords can tangle or break, papers can become crushed, lip products can melt into wallets and onto cell phones– it can be a disaster!

So, to contain the mess in this bag, I have to institute the use of extra pouches to wrangle my loose items together! Once I pulled everything out of my bag, I found that I really didn’t have as much stuff as I thought, but there were just a lot of little items hanging out at the bottom of the bag. Using some extra makeup bags, I was able to put like items together– toilettes and beauty products in one, and extra wires and gadget goodies in another. This way I have a system!

Now, when you look in my bag, you can see everything laid out neatly! To save space in the main compartment of the bag, I tucked away my larger pouch with toiletries and beauty products into the large zip pocket in the back, this way I can just pull the whole thing out when I need it, instead of digging through the whole section. Everything else in the main compartment is either large enough to be seen and grabbed easily, or housed in one of the two accessory pockets. So much better, right?!?

What other tips and tricks do you use to organize your bag? Have you given your bag a makeover recently? Let us know in the comments below!

lifestyle organization Productivity Solutions

Digital vs Analog Time Management

So, in case you haven’t noticed or you don’t read here that often, I finally caved and bought a Filofax! I feel like this decision was an inevitable one as I have been eyeing them for quite a while and actually used to use one before the age of the Palm Pilot (I swear I am not that old, but I did have a Palm Pilot at age 14)! Back then I had a Franklin Covey binder, and before that I had whatever cute ring-bound planners were available from Fashion Bug (if you are my age, I think you know what I am talking about… faux animal fur and psychedelic rainbow prints were my thing). It took me a while to feel like it was time to return to a full-blown paper planner system, though. I had been seriously testing the waters last year with a variety of different paper planners ranging from inexpensive Target planners, to Gallery Leather planners to a more stylish and coveted Kate Spade planner! All of these were nice, but inevitably only helped organize one area of my life; my schedule! I really needed something that would keep my calendar, to-do’s, random notes, my blog’s editorial calendar and so on! Truthfully, all these other planners were fated for extinction because they all had one thing in common, a binding, which meant I couldn’t move things around or add pages or sections as needed.

Now, I get it, I didn’t really have to get a Filofax to get that sort of customization. I could have used any number of apps that I already own to keep track of everything in one place, my phone! The problem with a digital system like a phone, however, is that it seriously lacks a sense of accomplishment. This is totally a personal opinion, but no matter how many lists I would make on my iPhone, or how many events I scheduled, or how many to-do boxes I tapped, I never felt like I did anything. Once you tap those check boxes and close the app, those old items go away, you can’t see them anymore! Yes, your calendar events usually stick around (unless you have to wipe your phone and you failed to back up or sync) and you can still read your old notes, but it’s just not as gratifying! The endless digital paper doesn’t feel like it amounts to much because it’s all inside your phone. It doesn’t matter if you have 1 list or 10 lists, 100 to-dos or 0, it’s all equal inside the phone!

Don’t get me wrong, I do love my iPhone and I think it does some very important things very well and things that my Filofax could never do! For instance, my iPhone is great at reminding me! It dings, vibrates, and does everything in its power to let me know when an event it coming up or to remind me about something I have to do! My Filofax, for all its wonderful goodness, will never be able to get my attention when I have lost track of time! My iPhone is also great for taking notes while I am driving through dictation which I do often! Wow, to think how wonderful the world would be if my Filofax could do that, it would be like having my own personal secretary! My iPhone also is the place I like to take quick notes when I am out and about and either (a) did not bring my Filofax, or (b) cannot pull out my Filofax because of the situation. IPhone’s are nice and discreet like this, but if the note I took is something that belongs in my Filofax, I will eventually transcribe it to its proper place!

Look, the advantages and disadvantages of digital and paper planning systems are really endless and to each their own when it comes to managing your own time. For me, for now, my Filofax and its trusty friend, my iPhone will be living and working together in tandem to help keep me and my life together!

What sort of planning system do you use? Do you use a mix of digital and analog like me, or are you all one or the other? Let me know in the comments and feel free to share any apps or planner tips that you find especially helpful!

organization Productivity

5 Quirky Uses for Notebooks

5 Quirky Uses is a new periodic feature for Strange & Charmed. For each post, I will select an everyday item and suggest five alternate uses or ways to upcycle the item in a fun or unusual way. Keep up with these posts with the Quirky Uses category!

I have a ridiculous amount of notebooks laying around my home and for some reason I still feel the need to buy more every once in a while. If its cute and inexpensive, I pick it up! I blame Target dollar bins! Anywho, with zoo many notebooks just sitting there empty, I decided it was time to think of ways I can put them to good use. Here are 5 Quirky Uses for Notebooks that you may not have considered before!

Food and/or Workout Diary
Track Oil Changes and/or Car Maintenance
Gratitude Journal
Track major items in your home and their value in case of emergency
Keep track of children’s milestones or important life/relationship events