My ‘Being Self Employed’ Journal #5 ~ Getting Organised for 2012, Wall Planners & Organisers…..

Afternoon all 🙂 How has your weekend been?  We've had a mix of beautiful Autumnal sunshine and rain, a combination which seems to bring out those glorious ochre leaf colours out at their very best.

This weekend has brought an opportunity to reflect for me – a chance to sit in a tiny bit of relative peace {whilst the baby wasn't being sick all over with her 24 hour bug that is} and consider next steps for Love My Dress.  I'm absolutely thrilled and excited that my little business is now in a position where I'm taking on my very own Admin support this week, who I shall hereby be referring to my 'Admin Angel' by the way! 🙂  Trust me, this doesn't just represent the mark of a new milestone of achievement in my adventures in self-employment, very much more importantly, it provides me with an immense sense of relief – it will mean I can focus more of my time researching, immersing myself in the many projects I have coming up for the next 12 months and taking Love My Dress on to the next level. Which all takes a great deal of organisation…

Hmm. 'Being organised'. Something I so very much want to be, but fail at so very abysmally almost all of the time {visualises my Mum nodding her head}….

Love My Dress Wedding Blog – Image Source BHG via Pinterest

Isn't the image above refreshing by the way? It's not my office – I found it on Pinterest – it is the type of home office I aspire to having however and am working on right now, pale blue, white washed and organised! 😉

So as I was reflecting this weekend, I came to realise that this past 12 months has been so exceptionally busy, that to be honest,  any system I might have had for staying organised have pretty much fallen to the wayside.  I'm sure this is a trap that many new entrepreneurs fall into if their businesses grow at a rate they weren't prepared for and the team of staff all adds up to 1 {ahem, me, or at least, up to now!}.  My beautiful Sugalily wallchart was unpinned from my wall so I could reposition it and it remains rolled up and neatly rested against the side of my table.  Fail!  My attempts to sync my iPad/iPhone/iCal and the family calendar in the kitchen have been a failure almost from day one because I just find it all so faffy.  Double fail!  And my little pale blue filofax that I once loved so much hasn't had any diary refills placed lovingly inside since 2009.  Hatrick fail!!!

In addition to this, I've post it notes all over the place, a huge white board with out-dated information all over it and my filing pile is beginning to form an eye-sore.  Even my scheduling spreadsheet is beginning to heave under the weight of it's own megabyte-age.  It became evidently clear to me this weekend that with the coming of a new Admin Angel, this was an opportunity to get seriously organised for 2012 and taking Love My Dress into the next stage of business developmoent.

I thought today it would be fun to explore some products and options available for keeping organised and I shall say now – this is no electronic gadget review.  I love my iPad, I adore my 17" Macbook Pro like I do my own children {worrying?} and I wouldn't be without my iPhone regardless of it's bugs.  However, for me, there is nothing more satisfying than having a hand-held paper-based diary to manage your appointments and projects.  Diaries aren't my thing – I much prefer an organiser {being orgasnied is for life, not just for Christmas, right?}. I really miss my little pale blue filofax that once had a snug little home in my handbag, but I gotta be honest, it's a little bit delapidated. And I'm on the hunt for something new ;) 

 

Are you an electronic diary or a paper diary person?  There is nothing better than a good old Filofax in my opinion. I love the feel of real leather, I like the 'inserts/refills' option and I like to feel I've got something in my hand I can write into.

My favourite is the Filofax classic personal organiser, from £60 {mini} to £155 {A4 size}. My personal preference is the 'personal' size {A5}, £77… in pink! {though you'll have to ask Filofax to email you when this colour is back in stock as clearly it's a popular choice with others too}..

I love that the inserts you can buy include a diary {I'm a week to two pages girl myself}, Notes, Projects, Information, Financial and Addresses.  Forget your Saturday night movie – my idea of heaven is sitting with my favourite pen and pencil and filling in all the necessary data into my shiney new Filofax inserts.  I love being organised, even if it doesn't come very naturally to me…
 

If your budget stretches, take a look at these more luxury items.  The Filofax Osterley Organiser – described as 'an exquisite, vintage inspired personal organiser crafted from luxurious crocodile print Italian calf leather, the Osterley is both elegant and sophisticated'. But luxury comes at a price and expect to pay between £99 {pocket size} and £199 {A5 size} for one of these beauties…

Luxury stationery Brand Smythson also have some divine organiser options, including this 'Bond Street Magenta Organiser'.  A hefty £245 but worth the 'lifetime' investment I guess for a beautiful luxury brand.

The product is a 'bright printed calfskin leather with pretty pale pink interiors and matching satin linings. And it comes with matching travel, jewellery, business and beauty accessories too…

You can check out the full range of Smythson organisers and refills here.

But we don't all have up to £250 to send on a luxury leather organiser, so for those on a budget, take a look at these Filofax heart personal organisers from £24 – £26.  Fun, bright and colourful – I doubt you'd lose this in a room full of filing and paperwork…

 

Check out this site too – it offers a full range of personal organisers to suit all budgets and appears to have discounted products on their too – including Filofax…

Or take a peek at these:-

♥  The Dotty Flora Canvas Mini Organiser {below left} £10.75 from Paperchase

♥  Owls leather personal organisers {below middle} £20 from Paperchase

♥  The Dandelion Canvas Personal Organiser {below right}, £14.75 from Paperchase

The first Wallplanner I found in my research was this quirky retro style 2012 Year Planner With Rubber Stamps by lollipop designs, via Not On The High Street, £12.50…

Here are some more wall planners I think you might like:-

♥  Retro Mama 2012 Wallplanner, £9.99

♥  Nostalgic Kitchen Family Planner, £12.99

Drop Abbey at Sugalily a line too as she can create a bespoke wall planner for you based on images you love – here's one Abbey designed for me, incorporating the Love My Dress colour scheme and family/personal photographs, mostly from my wedding day 🙂

Now I did say I'm not really your typical annual diary type gal, however, a Twitter contact this afternoon highly recommended the Moleskine diary – and given how much I adore my Moleskine notebooks, I might just go check this one out as a gift for my Husband this Christmas {a diary person he be!} – thank you 'Love Audrey' 😉

Have you got any recommendations for getting organised in 2012?

Can you recommend a great personal organiser product?

Are you a paper diary or an electronic diary person? And will you be investing in a lovely organiser or popping it on your Christmas list?

Much love all,

Annabel xXx

♥

 

You can read more about my reflections on self employment here…