(See below for the freebie organizer page I created)
Yes, once again, I am attempting to organize my life. It seems that the more complicate life is, the more organized you need to be to maintain your sanity. I’ve been teetering on the brink for far too long!
Recently, a post on CraftyPod launched me into an organizing frenzy. (J says I don’t do anything halfway. It’s full steam ahead until I run out of steam! Then… pfffft… LOL ) CraftyPod is a wealth of information and entertainment for crafters and small business people. This time, it was Making Ideas Happen that caught my eye. We all have ideas, right? More ideas than we can use, probably. My biggest problem issue is following through. This is what went down:
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Stacy began reading the blog post. IT was very interesting and she was feeling inspired to get off her butt… again…
Then… There was this link to Action Method.
“ACTION Method,” thought Stacy. “Action… Not just thinking about it… DOING it. This is what I need.”
So, Stacy followed the link and signed up for the free introductory account. She likes free, you know. She quickly realized that, although this was a wonderful tool, it was somehow comforting to her to have something to touch and hold. Action Method also sells paper organizing products but Stacy wasn’t entirely happy with them and can’t recall why.
At this point, Stacy remembered Crown Bindery, which has lovely binders and printable calendars, trackers, etc… Unfortunately, they didn’t have the exact item she was looking for so she decided to design one herself. “I’ll design one myself,” she said. She then thought it would be pretty darn nice if she shared it with everyone.
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Here it is: Project Sheet (2-sided, pdf – print 2-sided with a binding margin so you can 3-hole punch) You could also print on one side of scratch paper to be greener. Greener yet, use the online version at Action Method. Actions should start with verbs. For example: Call so-and-so, Make a gift for X, Mail package to Q.
Now, Crown Bindery does have really cool 3-ring “binders” and accessories for said binders. After looking at the cost of a DIY version – too much, I went ahead and purchased the following:
9×11 Notebook Binder (she also has 6×9 binders).
Set of Dividers and a Pocket. She makes them to coordinate with your binder. YAY!
(Edit: I meant to mention that you can certainly use any 3-ring binder BUT there are some small but juicy advantages to Crown’s system. Like what? Well, it lays completely flat or, better yet, flip the cover all the way around so it only takes up half the space when open. It’s much prettier, too! That’s important, right? I thought so.)
I’m also considering some of Crown’s printable Life Assistants. Carla offers a variety of daily and weekly planners, to-do & shopping lists, calendars, note papers, etc., for work, home and school. Although I am able to design all of these pages myself, it takes quite a long time to get them just so. Now the hard part: decide which pages I want.
Oh, and use them faithfully. Yeah, that’s probably the hardest part. 
