It makes me want to cry sometimes, looking around at the chaos in my house and office. Chaos is to be expected with a newborn-now-month-and-a-half-old, but it doesn’t make it any easier to deal with for some of my severe Monica-Gellar-style-clean-freakiness. I don’t do well in chaos.
My blogging has taken a hit from the birth of my second child, and understandably so. I had such good intentions of planned posts done well ahead of time to allow for my maternity leave, but alas..this did not come to fruition. I have so many posts waiting in the wings, great projects that I can’t wait to share if only I can find the time to edit the pics/research the SEO/write the post/etc. The Monica in me can’t just sit down during a stolen 15 minutes while the peanut naps and bang out a post, regardless of how ready it might be to share. I have to be in an organized space with my ever-present to-do lists in order. What does this mean?
It means I had to organize my chaos.
You know what? It worked!! Granted, a nice long holiday weekend with my mom pinch-hitting on baby duty so I had both time and sleep {a godsend if ever there was one} played a HUGE part in my final success, but I’m still going to give my little blog book some cred. I think some of us just do better with a clear plan, and writing things out ahead of time. I know I do. So now I’m going to share it with you!
Just for you, my lovelies, I’m sharing my new and improved PRINTABLE BLOGGING PLANNER.
{pause for angels singing}
Some of you may recall my other post, long time ago, with my Blog Organization Printables. Those are still good! Over time, you find out new things you need to track, new ways to keep yourself motivated and organized, so these new pages are really just add ons, tweaks if you will. Find what works for you! I’ll admit, I scoured Pinterest and the web for ideas before deciding what I needed. Lots of printables have a LOT of what you want, but maybe a few things that don’t pertain, so you tweak. For me, here’s what I needed:
1. A binder.
I need a place to keep my printables organized, and a basic white binder works for that. Of course, basic isn’t really in my vocab, so some scrapbook paper and my Cricut came out to play and added some decoration to my cover. {I used Fontopia Crests and Cards cartridge for the background and Lyrical Letters cartridge for the title.}
2. Post Ideas Page
Sometimes you get an idea, and you just need to process it out loud on paper. I’ve seen a few variations of the “thought bubble” put to paper form, so I just sort of winged my own. Time will tell how useful this page turns out to be. I’m pretty guilty of just writing a one-word phrase down on a scrap piece of paper; forgetting about it, finding it later, and going from there.
3. Post Checklist
This one is a biggie. Works SO WELL, I love it. I am forever starting projects and then getting sidetracked, so it is REALLY helpful to know where I am in the process. I currently have two pages of these in my book, filled up with the ideas and not so much of the checkmarks. Se la vie.
4. Week Planner
Really this page I made just for additional checks and balances. This isn’t just for blogging either. As a work-from-home mom with a full-time job, two kids, my Birthday Blocks business, and a blog, I intend to use this baby to remind me of EVERYTHING I FORGET. Which is everything. Always.
5. Daily Reminder Checklist
Do you hear the angels singing again? Yeah, that’s because I made yet another fail-safe in my Quest Against Disorganization. I present to you my Daily Checklist of all things possible I should remember. For this one, I definitely was inspired by these printables created by The Colored Married Life. She’s got some AMAZING printables for organizing all facets of life, you should check it out.
Throw all these pages together with a three hole punch and some sharpies and you have got yourself a blog planner! Don’t forget to click below for your FREE DOWNLOAD!!
I hope my pitiful pages help you organize YOUR chaos, whatever that may be! 🙂
How do you stay organized in the chaos?
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