My Daily Blog Planner

Funny little confession for ya to start out this Monday, "I write an organizing blog and my blog isn't all that organized."

It's true.  And it makes me all crazy inside. 

So I finally decided to do something about it!  It is my job after all!

I have all these big kid plans of fixing up my site, updating my project gallery, keeping an editorial calendar, expanding my shop and eventually growing a business.... the problem is, that there are so many branches to what I do each day, that it can be overwhelming to keep it all straight.

So, I find myself coming up with all sorts of ideas.  Great light bulb moment ideas.  And grabbing my closest notebook to jot them down. Then the next day, I may grab a post it.  And another day I may make a note on my iPhone.  Then, before you know it, I don't have a clue where any of those ideas I had are... and then writers block sets in, and then I don't post for three days...  boo.

And it is true, I will admit.  I have had lists and lists of post ideas and then it comes time to post and I can't come up with a thing... any other bloggers out there been in that situation?  It's not a fun feeling.

I decided that in order for me to be a better blogger, I needed to solve my little problem, and pronto!

So, I did what I love to do.  I created some organizing bloggy printables:

The printables were a place where I could keep track of all those different areas of my blog life.  A place to jot down ideas for future shop items, a place to keep track of all the home projects we want to tackle and share, and place to keep note of website enhancements that need to take place and ways I want to expand my branding and client services.  One happy place for all of my super exciting ideas.  I could finally hold myself accountable!

I printed out the lovely colorful pages and popped them into a binder.

Many of you may wonder why I don't go digital with these types of things and there are a few simple reasons. 

• I like to have the ability to carry my lists with me, in the car, by my bedside, at my desk, at the park with the kids.  Anywhere I go, I want the ability to access my items.  
• I can't stand managing tasks on small screens.  I know I can carry my phone with me, but to manage all of my different tasks and ideas on a small screen isn't my cup of tea {I use it for my family calendar, but that is about it}.
• I haven't found a digital version of managing it "ALL" that I love.  I have looked, but nothing fits me as well. 
• I get satisfaction from writing things down, and then checking them off.  Weird, but it is what works for me.

So.... I did the binder thing for awhile, and found that since I like to take it with me, the binder was a bit bulky and I wasn't using it as much as I hoped.

Organizing is about always evolving your ideas until you get it just right.  So, when the binder wasn't working 100%, I tried again.  I thought about how I would always be carrying around a notebook, that the flexibility and size was much better than a binder.  If I could marry the binder printables and the notebook size, I would be in organized blog heaven, so I ran to Staples and spent a few bucks to have my pages spiral bound instead.

It worked!  Love when that happens!

Staples can also spiral bind blank tabs, so I went that route as well.  Here are the supplies I used to take this project home.

I decided to use my newly found love of Washi tape for labeling folders, to spice up the white divider tabs.  Then, topped off the pretty tabs with some printed labels from my label maker.

Inside, I added a calendar for the rest of this year and for all of next, which will allow for me to better plan out my post topics, guest posts, contributor posts and reader spaces. 

I paper clipped a small stack of colorful stickers to mark dates in which I owe a contributing post to another blog or website.

The other pages contain all sorts of exciting little ideas I have for the future of IHeart Organizing, and look a little like this.

Each page gives me the space to jot down ideas and wish list items, which I can joyfully cross off when they come to life. 

I keep a pencil pouch tucked under the cover {I didn't think to see if one could be bound}, which holds my all time favorite planner pens {I have tested many}, some page flags and my USB flash drive.

I am happy to report that I am in love with this little setup.  It has been working great and I use it daily. 

Let's chat!  Are you a digital peep or do you love to personally write down your thoughts?  What are some fabulous apps for those that love to be techy?  What other ways do you keep track of your daily blogging tasks?

If you are looking to put together your own blog planner, I added the pages to my Etsy shop here.