Organizing Tools for the Blogger, Creative or Small Business Owner

Organizing feels like a bad word sometimes, right? It’s too much work, there’s no extra time, etc but I’m trying to fight all of my typical excuses and tendencies to put it off. I started my pre-holiday organizing and I’ve done some of the things on my list but I’m not as far along as I had hoped. It does make me happy to at least have it written down so I can go back and reference my plan again year after year.

Last week I spent six hours with my friend Jennifer, who is a professional organizer, purging and organizing some attic spaces in our home that haven’t been touched in years. It felt so great to get lots of stuff out so I can reclaim the space to use for my current needs! We even carved out a space for prop storage for the blog! I’ll have a full post on this coming after Christmas to help you transition into the new year!

As important as it is to organize your physical space, I find it just as important to organize my digital space! I work with my technology so much (laptop, iPhone, camera and iPad) that I was forced to get my digital files under control. I’ve finally backed up my MacBook with the Time Capsule and bought an external hard drive to store my photos.

Once I got my storage space under control I tackled my battery life issues. My iPhone is always dying on me and I seem to lose my cords every other day. I’ve rounded up all of my extra cords with these cord wraps and designated a place for them to live in our kitchen. I bought a Mophie case (an extra battery pack) for my iPhone 6 Plus which has been a huge game changer in my battery life situation. It didn’t help at all that Target has it in a sleek gold color :)

As for planning out my daily life I’m still an old fashioned paper gal! I’ve tried to only use my google calendar but it just didn’t work for me. I do use it for important dates when I like to set alerts but overall I still prefer a good old-fashioned planner. I’ve tried so many different ones and I’ve never fallen in love so each year I end up buying something different.

The most important feature in a planner for me is that it is a daily planner and has hourly slots. I’m a single working blogging mama (that’s a mouthful) so it’s super important for me to keep my day planned out as detailed as possible. For 2016 I’ve decided to try Emily Ley’s Simplified Planner. I typically would NOT spend $60 for a planner but I’ve heard such great things that I’m hoping it’s revolutionary for me :) No pressure right!?!? I also bought one for my intern, Steph, for a Christmas gift so we’ll be twinning with the pineapples!

And of course I had to add some pretties into the mix to make the organizing a little more fun! It just so happened that my laptop case cracked so I was forced to buy this uber stylish faux marble case and I LOVE it! It snaps on easy and fits great!

Here are all my favorite tools for the new organizing process I’m implementing and so far I’m happy with the ones I’ve bought!

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Another shortcoming of mine has been keeping up with my receipts and tax info. I’ll be tackling this in the month of January and will keep you updated with any helpful tips I discover. I’m a proud subscriber of the Quick Books online version but that doesn’t really help your business unless you actually use it :) I’m all for suggestions on organizing this part of the biz so load up my comment section please!!!

Time management is by far the toughest task for me! This year I’m vowing to allocate some money towards a few things that will free up some valuable time. Hopefully some sort of cleaning help, a part-time assistant (aka my former intern Steph) and other possibilities as I figure them out. I’m not sure the budget is going to allow for all of these but I’m hoping once I get more organized my priorities will be in order and I can make better decisions!

And now just a few of my favorite things that help me keep my sanity while working and organizing:

MUSIC – This Bose portable bluetooth speaker is perfect for moving around with me wherever I’m working. I always have tunes on in the background!CANDLES – I got this candle in a swag bag from the The Southern Coterie Summit conference last year and it is my FAVORITE smelling candle ever. It’s not cheap but I promise the Sea Grass scent is totally worth it!

READING – I gobbled up this book in about two weeks and that is a record for me! I’ll be talking about it a little more in my next organizing post but it has really changed the way I think about our stuff!

COFFEE – I have a Keurig coffee station in my master bedroom but I’ve been secretly coveting the Nespresso and I just saw that Sur La Table has a huge sale on them starting tomorrow!

And make sure to go pick yourself up some cheap flowers from Trader Joe’s to sit out on your desk! They really help, promise :)

So how’s that for a post? Is it too much too soon or are you ready to tackle the new year that’s just around the corner?? I promise it’s totally worth it once you put you mind to it so start the process and reap the rewards! I’m cheering you on!

Cheers!