Planning for Planning

So I have been working very hard at setting up my planner for next year (yep, I'm planning for planning!)

I've tried buying commercial products and while they "work", it was just never as much fun as actually making my own planning pages.  So I put together my calendar already; and yes I started with Monday on my calendar, because for me Saturday and Sunday get lumped together most weekends, so I only included one box for the "Weekend".  I also am doing a gray scale theme this year.  Mostly because friggin colored ink is too darned expensive and I am trying to budget this year.  Well, at least a little bit.

But then I started thinking, what else do I want to put in my planner.  I've got the typical stuff, but then I let my creative juices flow and I came up with a couple of food related pages.  Restaurants I want to try and recipes I want to try.  This is what I came up with for the Recipes page:

Why Do We Fall For It?

So, I was watching some TV this weekend, and saw an ad for Michael's. 

I instantly perked up because I am a sucker for artsy/craftsy things.  I noticed that they were having this MEGA sale...up to 70% off regular price.  And this got me thinking.  I have been in Michael's and other stores, the biggest one that comes to mind is Kohl's, and seen the huge % off signs and thought wow what a sale...but now I always start to think, but wait...who EVER pays the regular price for these items.  I know you are saying this is the regular price, but shouldn't the "regular" price be the price where you can actually sell it? 



After sitting there and thinking about this for a while, I started to feel duped.  I mean, obviously I don't trust stores and their "sales" regularly, but dang, I really started to feel like this is some big conspiracy.  I am sure there is some "psychological" reason for why they do this, I mean they totally sucked me in at first too.  It just seems so manipulative.  Maybe it is just because I have a different mindset now, after finally sitting down and taking a hard look around my home, as well as my bank account and the past 5 years of credit card statements and saying, ENOUGH, but I wonder how many other people actually feel this way?  Am I alone is feeling like they are trying to pull a fast one?

Average

So I was just wondering why all of the blogs and youtube videos are always featuring beautiful amazing looking super models?  I mean, I don't think I'm the doggiest of dogs, but I know I am definitely not a super model.  So where are my peeps?  I mean watching Barbie tell me that eating healthy is easy, or seeing Cindy Crawford explain that you too can be organized, see my beautiful mansion with tons of space and rooms I don't even use?  I just want to watch videos of normal people, with normal lives, and normal incomes.  Is this really too much to ask?

Some insight into all that is ME!

I'm one of those people who constantly has the next big idea...I just have a problem with actually doing them?  Does anyone else have this issue?  Lord knows I have good intentions...I really do...but by the time I actually sit down to plan things out, well, most of those ideas have "POOF" just disappeared, like Christmas lights on Valentines Day, they are few and far between, and the ones you can still see, you really don't want to see!

I've been trying to get better about it..I even started writing things down - only to 6 months later clean out my purse to find a buttload of little scribbled notes that don't make any sense at all.

SOOOO...I decided to give using a planner a try...Currently I am working on various pages I want to include in my planner, and lord have mercy it is too much...if I put all of the pages I want in there, I won't have room for any notes, or I'll be carrying around a 5 foot tall binder.  So I figured the first step is to just pull it out all - get all of my ideas of what I want in the planner, and then I can cull it down and hopefully make something that doesn't resemble an armored truck, or that needs a forklift to carry!

I'll try to post pictures of my progress, and maybe even links to the "templates" I'm using.  I'm pretty much just going the 3 ring binder route, since I don't want to invest a ton of money into a "Planner" when if I know me, I will lose it, misplace it, or just forget I even have it.

So wish me luck as I delve into all that is the Planner Universe...if I'm not back soon, someone please send help, I'm  probably buried under tons of stickers/stickies/cover pages/calendar pages/dashboards!

Let's Get Real about Dollar Tree Organization!

Ok guys, let's be real for a minute.  First of all - yes Dollar Tree has some amazing stuff.  I absolutely love to shop there....BUT, and yes, I like big buts and I cannot lie....most of the bins and things are CHEAPLY made.  Could they hold items - YES, but would they break quickly - DOUBLE YES.  I think that sometimes buying the cheapest isn't always the best.  Sometimes I think it is a better choice to head over to Walmart or Target and look at their crates and things.  They are a better grade of plastic, they hold up better under everyday use.  I mean, if I was looking for a bin to put cotton balls in that weigh nothing and wouldn't have hard angles hitting the sides, then I would go to Dollar Tree, but if I'm looking for sturdy organizational materials, I'm going for the slightly more expensive, but definitely going to last longer options.

Can we also get real about the amount of money you see in these videos?  I don't know about you, but I don't have $100+ to spend on organizational products that are seriously not sturdy.

Do I love the look of all of the bins and containers being the same color and put up on the shelves.  YES, but am I practical enough to realize that putting cheap plastic bins on a top shelf of a pantry is a recipe for having stuff dumped on your head regularly!

When the dollar store sells better quality plastic items that aren't going to bend and break, I would consider it.  But until then, this girl is totally going to other stores and paying a bit more for better quality.