Oh, y’all.
My head hurts.
This is the craziest week of my year.
WHY, you ask?
Well, it’s that little conference I’m speaking at in New York next week called “BlogHer”.
(No, I SWEAR this is NOT going to be a BlogHer post.)
(Although my one tip is this: For the love of all that is holy wear comfortable shoes.)
(And? I WILL PAY MONEY I DO NOT HAVE if people can write a BlogHer recap and not use any of the following terms: “COOL KIDS TABLE”, “IT’S LIKE HIGH SCHOOL” OR “POPULAR” AND/OR “MEAN GIRLS”. For reals. FIGHT THE CLICHE, PEOPLE! Just go to have fun and talk to people. People are nice. I’m nice, come talk to me. I will make a fuss over you and likely squee and hug you. I will not be judging you, your shoes, your clothes or your business cards or the size of your blog. Promise. I also have so much social anxiety and make more ridiculous conference faux pas than any person I know, so you are in good company if you feel like you’re doing everything wrong. I feel that way every year. And as a plus, I’ll have my boss with me to introduce her to everyone and she is UBER AWESOME. So, come and say hello to us!)
I’m swamped, people.
Dwarfed by the amount of work on my plate and the chaos swirling around me.
I’ve pretty much just thrown up my hands and given into it.
I’m not good at organizing anything. From my closet to my purse to my life. And with everything I have going on, I am really beginning to suffer the consequences of it. I’ve dropped so many balls so many times, I think I threw my back out bending down so many times to pick them all up repeatedly.
I HAVE to get more organization to my life.
And since I can’t afford a secretary or a life coach or a professional organizer, I went all retro and bought a “day timer”
Surely you all remember those, right?
They look like this:
I owned one in high school and college and LIVED AND DIED BY IT.
I have tried since being online to be as organized as I was then but have failed miserably.
I think I may have figured out why.
Here is a secret: I like paper.
I like making lists on actual paper.
Not on the computer.
Not with a fancy phone app.
PAPER.
I like taking pen to paper so much more than typing.
Ok, there is one thing I that does frustrate me. I have a weird problem. When I am making lists or writing letters I have to have it look perfect. If I mess up? I make a new list and start over. Same with letters. Same with my notes in school. It drives my husband nutso.
(And really? I used to pray every freaking day that I would wake up and have a borderline OCD compulsion about housekeeping and THIS IS THE ONE THING I TURN OUT TO BE ALL ‘TYPE A’ ABOUT? COULD I NOT BE TIGHT-ASSED ABOUT MOPPING MY FLOOR OR IRONING MY LAUNDRY???!!! It is so very, very unfair.)
I have no idea if this will be the saving grace of me, but it’s a start.
I’d LOVE to hear what your best “organize your life” tips are.
Heavens knows I need them!
Now if y’all will excuse me, I suddenly feel the urge to go put on a plaid shirt and start a garage band in Seattle.
*Also, I visited McDonald’s Headquarters in June with my family (SO much fun) and am hosting a giveaway (ARV $100) on my review blog sponsored by McDonald’s. Leave a comment with a question about McDonald’s, my trip, or just something you love about The Golden Arches! (Ends August 10th)
Filed under: 
i am totally the same way–everyone’s like, use the planner on your phone, and i’m all, hell no, i’m going to carry around this heavy ass planner and 4000 pens so i always have one available when i need to write something in my heavy ass planner. and? i hate messing my lists up, too. we have issues, friend.
You have a pen fetish as well? My newest love is the Sharpie pen (It’s huge and fine point and retractable and I LOVE IT)
Sharpie has a PEN? (heading off to check out this bad boy…)
OMG…I LOOOOOVE pens. It’s a weird fetish for me too.
I KNEW that Sharpie pen would be awesome! I am so buying one this weekend.
Thanks for adding to the addiction!
I made a binder of my life and my household stuff because I like paper, too. It’s definitely not “tree-huggingish” of me, but it works. I put the printables on my blog because I was looking for pretty ones and couldn’t quite find what I was looking for and figured other people might want some pretty ones, too.
http://slightlycosmopolitan.com/blog/?p=947
http://slightlycosmopolitan.com/blog/?p=954
I had a whole miscarriage disaster recently and have totally fallen off my “organization bandwagon,” but I know when I’m more recovered my binder will be there to help me pick up the pieces and start accomplishing something in my life/at my home/in my head. Or something! Anything will be more effective than sitting on the couch eating chocolate!
Oh, my.
First…my sincere condolences on your loss. You stay off that bandwagon as long as you freaking need to and eat all the chocolate you want, babe. Concentrate on you and your family. Get back on when you’re ready and not a moment until with no guilt.
Grief has no timeline.
THANK YOU for providing LINKS! I love it. So helpful. Much thanks.xoxoxo
I will write a post that doesn’t use any of those terms, I guarantee it.
If it’s so highschool and cliqueish-why do they go? Personally? I could have a conversation with a rock, I’ll talk to anybody.
Stuff isn’t fair and you can obsess over people being more “popular” than you or you can relax and have a good time.
I’m super anal retentive, btw. I use a desk calendar, a purse sized one, a phone calendar and I make spreadsheets for everything-including vacations.
But I spent 6 years in corporate event management before I quit to be a newspaper columnist-which shockingly requires mucho organization as well.
SO hope to run into you at blogher, I really enjoy your blog.
I am just now beginning to use my iPhone for a few things, mainly a calendar so I can get a beep reminder of something scheduled. Otherwise – PAPER all the way baby! I have at least 3 paper calendars in the house and 1 small planner in my purse.
I used to be organized in college & while single. I swear it is being married and have a son that has made me lose my mind and skills!
I know you said you don’t like the whole online thing… but one thing that saves me is putting really important tasks into my google calendar… it emails me a reminder 3 hours before for timed things and the day before if I just put it at the top of the day.
I won’t tell anyone if you don’t tell anyone that I usually write it out on paper before putting it in the computer OR usually print it out to edit it on paper. I’m so odd…
ps- don’t look in my jacket pocket – you’ll find a multitude of little scraps of paper for lists! :-)
Have a great time there!
M
1. I promise not to write one of those posts about mean girls and high school. Because if it’s really like that I have big plans to leave and get a hot dog. And then go shopping. I have a feeling the shopping would be much fun to write about than the mean girls!
But that’s not going to happen. Right?!? Right.
2. I love my filofax so much, I’ve tried to leave it several times and can’t make myself stick to it. My Outlook calendar tells me where to be, but my filofax tells me what to DO and how to get into everything from my online accounts to the garage when my clicky thing is broken.again.
3. I am also obsessive about the list looking perfect! If I screw it up I HAVE to start over. There is no choice. And the pen has to be uniball or I get really cranky.
4. I also have an unhealhty collection of post it notes of all sizes. My husband is a total enabler on this one, mostly because it means he never has to put any thought into my stocking stuffers.
Oh, yes. My last planner before moving on to a palm pilot was a yellow Franklin planner. It went everywhere with me and was called “my brain.” I’ve tried having a paper planner again here and there the last few years but found it was kind of a waste for me. The things I have aren’t usually scheduled enough and just need to be done sometime during the week so I’ve switched to a plain old little notebook and make list after list after list. It works for me, though. Some of my friends swear by google calendar but it just doesn’t really work for me. And I’m a huge fan of google. So a notebook it is. Plus I can take it with me everywhere, keep my shopping list in it, and refer to it 80 billion times per outing.
P.S. Can I be in the garage band with you? I used to love wearing plaid flannel.
I will totally talk to you first and while if someone is mean to me (not sure I get why they would be but like you said – all these posts about it) it will hurt a little there are like a million awesome people there so I will be fine!
I’m glad you rediscovered your love of paper. I too keep a binder at home with calendar pages I designed that work for me and I put the pages I made for my 1992 frankling covey thing in there and I live by it. Yeah – I put things in my computer too but I cannot organize my self that way.
You are not alone. And thepen fetish – I’m in that club and the Sharpie pen rocks! Who wants to write with a boring black ball point anyway!!!
If its not electronic, it can’t help me be organized. I have tried three or four times to use a daytimer or its equivalent, and I cannot for the life of me remember to a)write stuff down and b)look at the damn calendar to see what I’m supposed to be doing!
I live and die by my Lotus Notes calendar. Its synched to my Blackberry and it nicely sends me messages a half hour before my appointments. I LOVE THAT THING. Probably as much as you love your paper organizer. :)
Good luck speaking at Blogher, have fun, hug lots of people and don’t let your feet hurt. Wish I was going.
I totally kid you not I have about four day timers. I’m also SUPER OCD about pretty written words. I’ve been known to throw an entire birthday card/thank you card away and go buy the same one again because, “Egats! That upper case P looks too much like a D!”
I write lists out for everything. When I take notes, it’s way easier for me to type because I can type exponentially faster than I could ever handwrite anything. Plus I can add jokes into my notes or funny quips to remember whatever the speaker/other person is sharing.
That’s not to say I take notes when I’m having a casual conversation with someone. That would be rather peculiar though wouldn’t it? Me. With my netbook perched. Typing fervently as you carried on about how cute so-and-so’s skirt is and asking if I’d heard the amazing deal she’d gotten on it at this quaint little place around the corner. Yep. That would be bizarre. I’ll be sure not to whip out gadgets when we hug and squee. Deal?
TOTALLY a paper planner. I’ve tried many an iphone, online, electronic organizer and I always come back to paper. I now also make my own because one bought never seems to be just right.
And I have 85,000 pens and notebooks and whatnots. Because back to school shopping ain’t just for August…
(and I LOVE to organize. If I weren’t a germaphobe, I would so have a business…)
I am a lister. I make lists of lists. I love so much, you can never understand how much, when I get to take a pen and mark a line through something on the list because I actually accomplished that thing. Every day, I take the old lists, with things scratched out, and write a new list. I put all the things that aren’t scratched out on the old list on the top of the new list, and put the new stuff after that.
I tried using the “notes to self” on My Yahoo but, even though it accomplished the same thing as writing a paper list, it didn’t feel as good when I deleted something from the online list. So back to paper.
I so want to go to BlogHer, but I work a seasonal job and it is always while I am working. Maybe next year.
I also like paper – I keep a notebook for my to-do list because I like physically checking things off. I re-write it every couple of days.
FOR REALS.. I do the SAME thing with lists. If one thing doesnt look right, or doesnt fit on the line right, or if i mess up somewhere I have to start ALL over again.
gosh it’s annoying..
I can’t wait until the brain organizer is created. You see it looks like ear plugs and while you play music it also records any data from your brain and by the end of the day it has it organized into a priority list for the next day. Until then, I’m afraid I have no hope for myself. Also, you were nearly in my backyard at the McDonalds headquarters. I used to work there once upon a time.
I am in college and live by my daytimer too! Mine is called a “DayMinder” catchy huh?!?
I so wish I could meet you at BlogHer, you crack me up. Erin Lane is my boss and she will be there! She is nice too! Good luck speaking :)
Unfortunately, Post It’s for me too. I have them posted everywhere. And then I also use my Outlook calendar for EVERYTHING. It sends me reminders on where to be, what to do and how to do it. I leave myself the most ridiculous notes ever.
Other than Post It’s and Outlook…I have no organizational skills. Still trying to figure out how to keep my bills organized so I don’t keep forgetting to pay them. :(
I like to write down lists and I LOVE when I get to cross off different things from my list. That is my favorite part. I don’t like keeping them on the computer cause I can’t physically write the line through the item, taking it off my list (and if I tried my computer screen would be a mess).
I also have a strong need for all my closets to be cleaned out and organized (as well as my storage shed). After about 2 months I start stressing over the need to clean out and organize them. Seriously, DI people KNOW me cause I am there so frequently ;)
I am an iPhone addict, but nothing replaces my need to have a printed calendar in front of me at work and at the house. I’m also a list freak. It’s seriously what I do when I am paralyzed from stress or just sitting in a meeting trying to stay awake. I make a list of 10 things I need to get done in a particular day. It may be minor (like changing my address with the water company) and take less than 10 minutes to do. It may be more significant(like finding a venue for a reception I’m hosting). Either way, it makes me feel good to mark things off, even if I don’t get to mark everything off. And if I do get to mark everything off? I’m over the moon at my awesomeness.
I found NOT being a parent was when I was most organized. Since giving birth, all hell has broken loose. I do, however, manage to keep our family “organized” by having us living in one house. Does that help?
I used to be a dayplanner person but once I got the iphone I converted. I can make notes…and they are pushed to my phone…along with my appointments. I put everything (what’s for dinner to what chore I need to do) on my iCalendar with different colored calendars.
I do still make handwritten lists on paper because I like to cross things off.
Have a great time at BlogHer! I’m going to doing something called MoveHer. :)
This reminds me of a post I have to write about how much I love paper. I can’t stand using apps or electronics for planning or list making. Because it’s not in my face. Though, lately, I’m totally bad at “the list.”
http://www.shortform.tv/u/alicia.ramirez/
check out my kool videos!
Found you via a retweet by amyblam. Anyways, I totally get the paper thing. I am an online diva (like only ever worked for dotcoms) and I don’t do phone calendars, etc… I’ve tried and failed. BIG TIME. Paper is the only way for me – well, unless I want to forget and not show up to an appointment. ;)
didn’t you know plaid is in this season????? Write it down.
So glad to hear someone else besides me has to make lists on paper, and they have to look a certain way or they get scrapped and started over. I even make lists of my lists to make sure I can be on task. I am a pen junkie. Some people collect spoons, or other collectibles, but for me it is a pen. Weird, I know. Could not use the planner though. I use post it notes. I put one thing I need to do on each one. Once it is done, I throw it away and do not think about it again.
Have fun at blogher. We do need to get together! I am interested!
ME
Well, I’m really big on Post-it notes. Stick them everywhere.
But recently, we’ve been using Google Calendar. I love it because I can access it from any computer or my phone, and my husband and I have access to each other’s calenders so we can see what we have down for ourselves and our son before we schedule anything. He’s a musician, so his manager and booking agent can access them, too, so if I need a particular day blocked out for something, they can look and know not to schedule anything.
Also, I have an app on my Droid phone called “Our Groceries.” It’s basically just a grocery list, but I linked it up on both of our phones so when one of us puts something on the list, it shows up on both of our lists.
I wish I could give you some advice. However, I am the most unorganized person on the face of the earth. So unorganized, that today 2 of my blogging buddies (@artistmother and @barefootfoodie) had lunch with me and told me it was a good thing I’m pretty (because they are not sure how I have been getting by).
I will be at Blogher and I can’t wait to meet you.
My best tip to clean up the house in a hurry…
Go around each room with a laundry basket (preferrably empty when you start!) and put everything that doesn’t belong in that room in it. As you go from room to room, keep doing this while putting things away (from the basket) in each room, picking up and putting away at the same time.
And, if you’re like me and don’t have time to put away…shove said laundry basket into your closet to deal with another day (or month, as in my case!) ;)
P.S. I have one of those same daytimers and I also have some weird obsession of having nicely written things-to-do lists in my hands…something about the satisfication of crossing things off and completing the list makes me very happy!
I have no advice on organization. I should send pictures and you’d see. But no, let’s not go there.
The only thing I AM organized about is that when I go to bed, my phone “goes to bed” – gets put on the charger. My phone is always charged. Everything else is chaos.
I love paper and I love taking notes. There is something about the words coming out my hand thru a great pen to the paper that makes me able to function better. I get these looks because at work we all go to meetings and everyone brings in their laptops and taps away…I bring my laptop because my boss TOLD me “Bring your laptop” but I still bring a notepad and make notes. I can circle and connect and star and make bigger and underline to my heart’s content, which is how I organize my thoughts. ON PAPER.
PS I used to be a paper buyer for a printshop. Every day I got to buy thousands of dollars of all kinds of cool and fancy papers. Paper sales guys schmoozed me. It was awesome.
I have a planner for things that have actual dates attached, and then a separate notebook for just random lists of to-dos. My phone is basically like a brick. It probably has a calendar function somewhere on it, but I’m the kind of person who only uses their phone for text messages and that’s all.
As for tips for staying organised…either do those little things the second someone asks you to do them, or write them down as soon as you’re asked if you really can’t do them right now. It stops them from getting forgotten :)
I graduated high school in 1991 and I left high school in 1991. The popular people can have their time at Blogher and I will have my time at Blogher. I can’t wait.
I’m a big paper girl too. Last year I found a local chick who sells stationary and calendars. I am now completely and forever (until my kids are grown and out of my house) hooked on Momgenda’s. Between work, my appt, my dh’s appoints and juggling 4 kids…these things are GREAT. Seriously. I get the big there is room below to detail the schedules for each of my children and over half the page for my own shit. It’s wonderful! And they come in all sorts of cool colors and this year they come in prints too. Easy for me to find a Lamy ballpoint (yes I too like pens) to match it ;)
The Uncalendar. Oh man. I could live and die by The Uncalendar, and have turned many skrillions (okay, 5… ish) people on to it ever since I discovered it in college. I am also a paper person, and as a paper person to a paper person, I need to tell you – check out The Uncalendar.
haha you wrote a typo! other than that I’d say this is a great blog! Keep up the nice work