My New Planner

This isn't really a review, as I haven't had the planner long enough to review anything about it. These are just my initial thoughts on the M by Staples Arc system.

It's waaaaaaay more than a planner; it's its own system for crying out loud. 

In college, I LIVED by my planner. My freshman year, I pledged a sorority and my schedule immediately filled with events. I didn't use a planner in high school, but I quickly adapted to this new way of organizing my life. 

Around 2007, I ditched the paper planner in favor of digital planning. While it was nice having my calendar accessible from ANYWHERE (you know, because my cell phone is surgically attached to my hand), I didn't realize the trade-offs that came with changing systems.

I no longer had a place to stuff envelopes I needed to drop in the mail. Where would I keep the coupons for my Walgreens shopping trip? What about the form I needed to submit for reimbursement? Where should I keep that until I turn it in?

You see, the planner was more than a place to document scheduled events. It served as a "go to" place  to store things that affected nearly every aspect of my life. 

I adjusted to not having a collecting place for these things but there was one problem with a digital planner that I never solved: it was difficult to see an entire month at one glance. 

I'd be trying to plan a night out or figure out a time to have an evening meeting, and I couldn't easily see what I already had planned in one glance. Using the digital monthly view, I could see that I had something scheduled (as indicated by a little triangle on the screen that day), but I couldn't tell if it was a morning, afternoon or evening event.

It was maddening. Trying to find a time to meet had become a 10-minute chore.

I also realized I was over scheduling our family. Because I couldn't quickly and easily see our month or week at a glance, I scheduled events multiple nights in a row. 

So, after struggling for years using my Google calendar/cell phone/iPad as my planner, I've gone back to a paper planner!!

I posted my intentions on Facebook and a college friend recommended I consider the Arc system at Staples (my cousin recommended it before that, but I hadn't yet considered going back to paper so I didn't investigate it at the time). 

As I do with most things, I investigated the heck out it. I spent more time looking into the Arc because the closest Staples is 71 miles away and I didn't want to get there and realize the system wouldn't work for me. 

Here are a few YouTube videos I watched (admittedly more than once) that helped me decide that that Arc is likely a good system for me.

Arc System #1

Arc System #2

Arc System #3

I'm totally sold on the system. Instead of having a road trip to Staples, my wonderful husband actually bought it for me as an early Mother's Day gift!

It arrived yesterday and I spent last night putting it together. It's just what I need! And of course, I opted for the pink binder cover :)

And, I have two plastic pockets that are ideal for holding envelopes and receipts (for items I need to return):

Staples online didn't have the Weekly/Monthly calendar inserts I needed, so I went to Etsy and actually found that a business woman I knew from years ago now has her own shop where she sells organizing forms! I found this undated set that suits my needs perfectly. Don't you just love the bold colors?

The much needed Monthly view I've been missing so much!!

Initially I didn't think I would like the extra boxes at the bottom of the weekly pages, but I'm already finding myself using them quite a bit. (This week looks a little bare because I didn't go through and add in Sun/Mon/Tue events since those days already passed :)- sometimes I wish all my weeks looked this open!)

Below is another plastic pocket (came in a package of 2). I'm using this one to keep a few greeting cards handy. I send 1-2 cards/week so having them with me will certainly help make sure they get written and mailed.

Below is a plastic zippered pouch (package of 2). I'm using it to store tabs and paperclips.

This is why I already LOVE the planner. Because you buy the Arc-specific paper punch, you can use it to punch ANYTHING! So instead of slapping post card reminders and invitations on the fridge, I'm going to put them in the planner!

This blue zippered cloth pencil pouch is something I saw Nicky at She Organizes recommend and when I couldn't find it online at Target, I kinda forgot about it. Then yesterday I was at Target grocery shopping and as I always do, I took a little detour through the office supplies (I'm not the only one that does that, right? RIGHT?). It is the perfect sized pouch to fit over the planner and it has a strap so it's easily removable. I keep my multi-colored pens in there.

So, that's the planner. Pretty sweet, huh? It took me several hours to put it together but this isn't because the planner is difficult; it's because I ordered the aforementioned paper planner pages from Etsy and had to print them out, cut them down to size and write in the dates. I'm kinda known for taking a relatively easy process and infinitely complicating it in the name of making it look pretty. 

As I told my husband (who claims I was more excited about this than the autographed Peyton picture he gave me for Valentine's Day), it'll take some time to work through any new system. I'm sure there will be things I don't like; I just haven't found any yet!

I am seriously loving the punch system that allows me to tote/store almost anything I need within the binder. Genius. I've convinced myself that I invented this system in another life so we'd benefit from it in this life :)

Organizing the important stuff

You know how you set out to accomplish a single, simple goal, like, "book a dental appointment," and then 2 hours later you've reorganized your entire household binder of important papers??

I had one of those super-efficient mornings. I needed to make a dentist appointment for Ryan now that he's finally on our dental plan and before I did, though, I wanted to review our policy details. After working in healthcare for 13 years, I knew better than to assume that every visit is covered. I wanted to make sure (best I could) that there aren't certain exclusions since Ryan is only 2.5 years old and this is his first visit.

The plan summary document is pretty straight forward, so I think I'm OK, but there's still a chance that the dentist will bill some totally obscure code that'll get rejected as "not medically necessary." That's just how things work.

Anyway, as I pulled out the documents to review, I started finding other paperwork that needed to be filed. Then I remembered that during MOPS last month, we made a Household Binder in which to organize important papers. Then I remembered that I found a ton of filing folders, binder clips, and tabbed folders in the guest bedroom recently. Then I remembered we recently opened a safety deposit box at a local bank and it's totally empty.

Organizing the household paperwork

Our Household Binder

Inside of Household Binder

One thing led to another which led to another and two hours later, I'm pretty well organized on the paperwork front :) And, I have some legal papers (Healthcare power of attorney, which, BTW, is DIFFERENT than the regular Power of Attorney) to put into our safety deposit box.

Our HealthCare Power of Attorney

Next fall, I'm the Assistant Coordinator of MOPS, so I need to start pulling things together now. I'm heading to Office Max later today (I could LIVE in that store) to grab an organizer or binder for the MOPS stuff. Many of the tabbed file folders I didn't use this AM will be put to good use for MOPS.

In addition to the binder, I also have a crate which I use for other major filings (taxes, retirement paperwork, car paperwork, work done on the house):

Something I'd like to be better at is saving (in one place) important receipts. You'd think that as much as I enjoy organizing that I'd already have that one down, but I don't. When we make a major purchase, I have every intention of storing the receipt in an important place. The problem is that I have approximately 539,205 important places for receipts! I have a folder in this crate for receipts (and ones to hold for 6 months), but I'm not great about actually putting receipts in there.

Later today, I'm taking Ryan to his first movie at the theater! We're going to see Wreck It Ralph with some friends. I'm hoping that Ryan sees how well the other kids behave and will model their behavior during the film. *Fingers Crossed!*

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I LOVE MONDAYS! 

Menu Plan

Here's our menu for the week. We're trying new dishes tonight...vegetarian night!

I'm going to predict that Craig will think dinner tonight is "OK" but will request that we only do this once a month :)

Sunday: Creamy Zucchini Boats and Sweet Potato Fries

Monday: Asian Lettuce Wraps (I'm also making these stuffed fillo shells for MOPS)

Tuesday: Spicy Romano Chicken

Wednesday: Wonton tacos

Thursday: Dine out (Bob Evans for Valentine's Day with friends)

SMASH your year: January

One of my New Year's resolutions is to make memories. We do lots of fun things as a family. We're cool like that.

As the mother of a toddler, that also means I have a TERRIBLE memory. I used to remember EVERYTHING. Seriously, I could meet you once and two years later I'd still remember your name, your boyfriend's name, and nearly every detail you shared with me the one and only time we met. 

Nowadays, I can't even remember my age.

So this year, I vowed to document our year so we not only make great memories, but I'll actually kinda, sorta remember them now.

You'll remember that Connie threw down a SMASH book challenge and, being the healthy competitive challenger I am, I accepted. 

I purchased the necessary accessories (which are very, very reasonably priced- I used my 40% off Michael's coupon to pay $8 for the entire SMASHbook) and got to work. 

The best part about a SMASHbook is that it is SUPER EASY to do. Its perfect for us Type-A personalities that inevitably put off scrapbooking b/c it takes too damn long due to our irrational need for crafting perfection.

SMASHbooking requires very little imagination and not so much time. Seriously, it took me about 5 minutes to make each page. 

The first Thurs of every month, Connie and I are posting our SMASH book pages for the previous month.

Connie got her pages posted earlier (OMG, she'd so talented and fun!!).

Here are ours! Enjoy!

I plan on decorating the cover throughout the year

Inside the left front cover- a folder to keep loose items

First page-- list of my resolutions and recap of New Years Eve

Our indoor treasure hunt. I saved the clues in the "keep me" pocket. 

Pictures are stacked so I can put more pics per page.

Recap of a few average days in the Lotz house!

A page without RJ :) 

This last page recaps a few of the social events during the month. Craig and I went on a few dates- the first one was to see Les Miserable at the movies. We misread the start time of the movie so we showed up an hour early. It was pouring rain outside too. So, we did what any 21st century couple would do-- we watched Ghost Adventurers on the cell phone until it was time to go inside for the movie :) 

So on this page, there's a pic of our cell phone propped up on the dash board with a sticky note briefly describing the date. Under the pic, I put our ticket stubs.

The bottom picture is of Jill, Kelly and me at our alphabet dinner. We're working our way through the alphabet, trying out different restaurants. February was "D" month. It is SO fun. We've found some great places to eat and every single dinner, we laugh until we cry (both from laughing too much and from sad moments when we lean on each other in difficult times). This past month, Jill's mom and husband happened to be at Dos Gorditos too and they picked up our tab! THESE are the memories I want to remember in 20 years!

A brief recap of dinner is written under the pic of us gals. 

And, since this is the first month, I thought I'd throw in a few pics of my SMASHbook supplies.  I keep everything in a tub under the coffee table in the living room. I usually make a page while watching TV with the Hubs after little dude goes to bed. Seriously, its taken me longer to write this post than it does to make the pages!

Small Thirty-One zipper pouch I use to store things until I can SMASH 'em!

What about you? Are you joining us in our SMASH challenge? Its not too late to get started!

Menu Plan

Last week we did great with our meals.

On Tuesday, we used Peach preserves on the salmon since I didn't have any raspberry. It was still delish! Craig said it was the best salmon I'd made so far. Score!

We didn't end up having the chili, though, because the meat went bad before Thursday. Instead, we had our back up meal (Bertolli Chicken Florentine- its a freezer bag meal). I always have one of those on hand because they work great as a last minute meal (seriously, they head up on the stove top in 10 minutes). I don't normally include them as part of the menu because I try to make meals (rather than just heat up prepackaged food), but I keep this on hand *just in case.*

We did REALLY well with eating 1,200 calories each day :)

Now, here's this week's menu!

Sunday: Chili dogs, nachos, and stuff that others brought over for the Superbowl
Monday: Arlene's Meatloaf and roasted broccoli
Tuesday: Tailgate Sandwiches with cooked carrots
Wednesday: Chicken fajitas
Thursday: Pot Roast and asparagus
Friday: Hot dogs and beans (unless we dine out)

The one about organization

Disclaimer: I am not a Thirty-One consultant-- I never have been. I just own quite a bit of their fabulous loot :) I also wasn't paid or compensated in any way for this post.  

One of the recurring resolutions people seem to make this time of year is to get organized.

With this in mind, I thought I'd share some of my favorite organization solutions that use my Thirty-One bags/totes/pouches. I'm pretty sure I own more Thirty-One stuff than many consultants I know.  

This is my greeting card tote:

I keep it just outside kitchen on the ledge heading into the basement. When I kept it elsewhere, I realized I wasn't utilizing it like I should. Now that I keep it within just a few steps of the kitchen, I'm pretty good about filing away cards after I purchase them. I'm also good about getting cards mailed on time since everything I need is in the tote (cards, envelopes, stamps, pens, return address stamp). 

I also made one for my mom for Christmas. She's really good about mailing cards-- just needed some help organizing all of them.

Inside the minivan, I have this Fold'n'Go organizer. I keep blank checking deposit slips and gift cards in there (along with a pen). I change purses often and found that I wasn't always great about making sure these items made the transition into the new bag. So now I leave them in the car and have them when I need them. The folio also has a nice sized pad of paper in it.

Also in the mini, I keep all of my loyalty cards on this Thirty-One key ring. Why lug those around on my every day keychain? Instead, I keep them in the van and grab this whenever I head into a store.

In between the driver's and passenger's seat, I have another Organizing Tote. This resides permanently in the van. It never, ever leaves.

It houses the trash bag, spare diapers/wipes, Wet Ones hand wipes (essential!!), the aforementioned Fold'n'Go organizer, and a Thirty-One zipper pouch. The side pockets contain a stash of pens, pair of scissors, gum, and a lint roller. 

The zipper pouch contains:

• nail clippers & file
• tissues
• lip balm
• feminine products
• Tums
• Vitamin C chewables
• Ibuprofen
• Coupon organizer

I LOVE the large Zipper Pouches. They're probably my current favorite Thirty-One item. As you'll see, they serve many purposes in my life (I own five of them and also gave two as Christmas gifts this year).

This next bag is my every day bag. It's what I carry almost every time I leave the house. It contains a Diapees & Wipees carrier and another Zipper Pouch that houses Ryan's on-the-go toys. I love the mesh pockets on both sides-- one carries Ryan's cup and the other fits my travel mug perfectly! 

My every day bag-- it goes with me everywhere!

If Thirty-One carried NFL licensed merchandise, this of course would be either a Broncos or a Colts bag. But, until then, I decided on UK :) It's fun carrying it around b/c I frequently get stopped by strangers asking if I went to UK. I didn't, but that doesn't prevent us from carrying on a good discussion. In a few instances, the stranger and I are six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon :) 

Zipper pouch I keep inside the UK bag

Ryan's on the go toys....dinosaurs, cards, coloring book, more dinosaurs :)

I use this Cindy Tote as my professional bag. I've got a few meetings each month I attend for some groups I'm associated with, so this is where I keep my binders for that. I love that it's big enough to carry my Macbook Pro. Usually larger bags don't have long enough straps, but this bag doesn't have that problem. It's perfect!

Cindy Tote used for meetings

 This tote is from many years ago. I think it's the first Thirty-One product I bought. I use it as my "beach" bag during the summer (we live in the Midwest, so there's no such thing as a beach here!). This is the tote I grab whenever we'd heading over to my parents' house to swim or if we're meeting friends at the local splash park. It has RJ's swim trunks, water shoes, towels, sunscreen, water bottles, and my hat. The bag hangs on the wall on the way downstairs into the basement. Convenient, yet still out of the way.

My "beach" bag :)

I have 2 of the Large Utility Totes. These are probably the only items that I don't have a routine or permanent use for. I've used them to transport casseroles for meetings and to haul Christmas presents over to my folks' house. Usually, though, I use this one (shown below) as a laundry bag for RJ's clothes. His pint sized clothes means they fit into the bag nicely. I like this b/c I can carry this bag on my shoulder plus carry another laundry basket upstairs at the same time. Efficient :) 

Laundry bag for the little one

This is (yet another) Large Zipper pouch. It's very functional-- we use it store all of our cables/cords/adapters for when we travel. We don't travel lightly with respect to our electronics. We have iPads, iPods, Kindle readers, a Kindle Fire, Nintendo DSes, cell phones, and a Macbook. Rather than using our home cables, we have spare cables all packed up and ready to go when we travel. We also have a travel sized 5-outlet surge protector that comes with us. 

Before I discovered the zipper pouch, I used a small purse to carry these, but the zipper pouch is more flexible and takes up much less space. I love being able to just throw this bag into our backpack when we travel.

And finally, I have this mini organizer, wallet-thingy. I actually have two of them (got them during a sale where I could add them on for $5). I don't think I've ever used it. I'm still trying to figure out what to do with it. It used to fit my cell phone, but I got a new phone and now it's too long for the organizer. The pocket is about the size of a deck of cards. Any ideas??

So that's how I use my Thirty-One products for organizing. Fun, huh?

The problem is.....I'm in trouble. I mean....I'm in REAL trouble. 

Thirty-One just announced they now have a new line exclusively for organizing! Bins, hanging folders, large totes....yauzers. 

I'm in trouble. No doubt about it.

This is my life

This picture makes me happy. It represents my usual Saturday or Sunday morning.

I've overtaken the kitchen table.

This morning is particularly happy for me for several reason:

1) My Starbucks Christmas tumbler made it's first appearance of the season
2) We accidentally got TWO coupon books in the Sunday paper
3) My iPad spontaneously started playing Garth Brooks' Beyond the Season Christmas Album

I'm working on my menu planning and grocery lists. I normally meal plan 2 weeks at a time, but I've decided to tackle the rest of Nov and all of December. Having meals planned ahead of time definitely helps me enjoy life a little more than usual.

Planning ahead also ensures I try new recipes every once in a while, like the French Toast Muffins I'm making for our North Pole breakfast on Sat, Dec 1st. I'm not spilling too many details about the big breakfast, but just you wait, it's going to be AWESOME!