Office Space: Where I Plan

I have been on an organizing kick lately and so it only seems fitting to post a blog showing my creation space… my office. I made a commitment to myself when I moved back from Florida to keep a tidy office and leave my laptop out of my bedroom and so far I am doing pretty well! In order to keep my space clean though, I feel like it has to be visually appealing. Just like with planners… I am more likely to look at my schedule and to do’s if it is in a pretty planner and fun to look at. So, without further ado, my office! I racked my brain and scoured the internet before posting this blog looking at others blogs and video tours of their planning supply organization and craft areas. I came to two conclusions; 1) I’m not everybody else so I can have my own style 2) I am not good at making videos. At least not yet. So I took some photos instead. Hope you enjoy and are inspired to organize your own areas!

Where the magic happens 🙂 Notice the Target Dollar Spot Haul supplies as decoration!

So here is my desk… God bless Ikea for letting us create our own spaces. It’s as if that place was made for planners. You will see the name Ikea more than a couple times throughout my blog. I love that place. I got two drawer units and a table top from Ikea and made my own desk. I feel like it’s a large enough space to utilize without being overbearing. Of course in a dream world I would have an L shaped desk that took up half the room but this is reality and I am working with the space I have. O:)

My laptop doesn’t leave my desk. It’ s a HP Envy, the first non-Vaio I’ve had, and while I am not a huge fan of the new Windows I like the size of my laptop and it definitely holds it’s own with the amount of damage I do downloading and saving files. Pinterest, WordPress, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+ are all neatly settled in my favorites bar ready for me to surf the internet for hours on end!

I won’t show you all the drawers because they aren’t all planner related. This drawer dutifully holds my electronics; my camera, camcorder, Pringo photo printer, and label maker. It’s also home to my 6 hole punch which is a Japanese import you can easily purchase on Amazon and adjusts to punch holes for all three sizes of Filofax! It can be found here. I also have a recently purchased flag punch, binder clips, pen loops, paper clips (who knew I would one day pine over paper clips), and an assortment of charms as I recently started making my own planner charms.

This is where I display my planners… the highlight of the room! The shelving unit is also from Ikea and is meant for the back of a desk but was repurposed with the help of a good friend to fit on my old dresser so I could show my entire collection! ❤

In this mix we have several Filofax (Domino, Saffiano, Finsbury) in different sizes and colors, a Heidi Swapp planner used as a memory planner, a Heidi Swapp planner used as a blog planner, the Happiness Planner, a Get to Workbook, a gold Lovedoki, two fauxdoris, Websters Pages Color Crush planners, two journaling prompt books, and my Listers Gotta List notebook. And can’t forget some of the most useful money I ever spent… my laminator! Extremely inexpensive considering the use it gets!

   

In my dresser, I have one drawer full of paper (A4, letter, photo paper. Pringo paper, cardstock, etc) and extra print cartridges [not pictured]. Then I have a one drawer dedicated to my personal size inserts and one for my A5 inserts. Personal size inserts are stored in a mix of Target Dollar Spot accordion folders, a color crush planner box (great for storage!), and an Avery mini binder filled with folders and mini sheet protectors. The A5 inserts are also stored in mini binders with file inserts made from scrapbook paper as shown in a previous blog to accommodate the size of the inserts. I have my Passion Planner stored in here also as I have unbound certain sections and periodically used them in my A5 Filofax. I just used binder rings to bind my collection of dividers and dashboards neatly together. I also store another mini binder in this drawer with sheet protectors containing acrylic stick on stamps sorted by type and a small dollar haul accordion file containing some journal cards that I printed out from Pinterest.

Now this beauty is a new family member… it was actually a gift from a friend and also another Ikea find. It’s called the Sprutt and it was found in the closet and shoe storage section of Ikea. It is a 6 drawer unit that is made of metal like a high school locker. I just found a pretty font and printed out labels glued to blue scrapbook paper for the front label section. The unit goes back approximately 12 inches and the drawers are nice and deep!

The six drawers contain 1) notebooks 2) stickers 3) post its/sticky notes 4) page flags 5) stamps 6) ink.

            

I’m a lucky girl! I just got this over the weekend and he even built it too! 😛

Then in the corner of my room I have a drawer unit from Hobby Lobby that was in my bedroom in Florida that I have repurposed as a printer stand since I now use my dresser as a display for my planners. And the room would not be complete without my Ikea Raskog. For less than $45, this cart comes in so handy as you can stock it with current supplies and move it around not only your office but your house and it tucks away neatly in a closet when I am cleaning up. I use the top section for pens, scissors, hole punches, glue, etc. The second shelf contains some more stickers and washi tape (all my pink themed stickers and washi as I am going through a phase where I feel it is necessary to have my decorations match the patent cover of my Filofax…. it’s really hard….). Then the third shelf contains small containers (also from Ikea) with all my remaining washi tape. The green container is actually full of black, gold, and tan washi tape sectioned out for when my Nude Original arrives… I am telling you… this color coordination thing has a grip on me right now!

  

Well I hope that you enjoyed my photo tour. I am proud to say that no matter how messy I make this room while planning and decorating, I always make sure to leave it tidy before I close the door. This is a big deal for me considering my innate ability to be a clutter bug. 🙂 I take pride in this room though and since it is where I spent a large percentage of my time outside of work and sleep, I feel it deserves to be well taken care of. 😀

Sweet dreams folks!

XOXO

Sarah

A New Family Member!

So when it comes to planners I am far from the worst but I definitely have an established problem.

I am tried and true Filofax lover which has been established. I bought the Kikki K… received it on a Friday… then sold it before the weekend was out. I thought for sure it would Filofax only from then on. I had been eyeing the color crush though. Webster, being more scrapbook than business, pulled me in with pretty colors and shiny things. But they were always sold out so it was never a problem… until I discovered scrapbook.com. And, of course, they had the white planner with gold interior available…. my college football team colors… how could I resist!?!? So there is a new member of the family… let me introduce to you Goldie… my Webster Planner Color Crush Planner…

       

Then comes the process of deciding what parts to keep and moving in….

Turns out Webster does dividers and calendar pages pretty well so I keep them…. and had too much fun decorating pages for the twentieth time this year… 🙂

                        

                        

The month pages are embossed with the month in gold and then just plain so I used a polaroid stamp and gold ink and printed off some meaningful pictures to personalize the months.

At the end of every month, there is a “this and that” section with the dates just listed.  I used January for “big things” because it seemed like there was a lot of special moments that month and then February for a gratitude journal because I was bursting with gratitude moving to GA. I am using this to keep track of instagram challenges for this month.

This planner was definitely made by a scrapbooking company which is a positive because the pages are divine. But the tabs just weren’t practical for what I use my planner for so I covered them with gold washi and made my usual tabs. I am trying to use pretty paper for all my notes and keep it decorative and scrapbook-y…

           

So all around I do like this planner. For the price, it is a great starter planner. The rings are far from Filofax quality and need some encouragement to stay closed at the very top as I have found with all non-filo’s. But it’s so pretty it’s actually forgivable. It has the inside pockets just like my beloved Domino but with the exception of the credit card like slots they definitely don’t budge as much so it seems they are much more for decoration.

There is a little notepad in the back that it very convenient. And it definitely holds a lot. The rings are just slightly larger than the personal domino. I will be using it for the time being. I know I know I will end up back in a Filo but I will be taking the vibe of the color crush with me for sure!

Now if only Filofax did a white planner with gold accents…. And don’t get me started on the gold Filo that Facebook keeps reminding me I love because I looked at it one two many times on ebay but can’t justify spending over $150…. maybe one day. 😛   So overall I am having a fun “vacation” from my Filo but I know I will always find my way home.

Next to get a cute craftmate folio so my new planner doesn’t get lonely!
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xoxo

Sarah