Old School Paper Planner- Unplug to tune in.

As an entrepreneur and small business owner, it’s hard to unplug. Especially when you are the person that does it all for your small business to keep it running; marketing, creating the schedule, development of classes being offered, customer service inquiries etc etc. I know that I need to be tapped into my community and commenting and liking posts in order for the computer algorithm to put my posts in front of my customers. But like all things, there is a balance. And I find myself creating similar “rules” for myself like I did when I realized that I needed to stop drinking. Limiting my time on social media and putting parameters on myself in order to not get sucked into the void of scrolling.

I struggle with the Facebook and Instagram temptations every time I pick up my iPhone. EVERY SINGLE TIME! I find myself getting on my phone to check my calendar and then twenty minutes later I am sucked into scrolling through beautiful pictures on Instagram. I laugh with my friends and will say “it’s a problem” but honestly.....it is wasting so much of my time.
I admit that, step one.

So I posted on Facebook :) to see if anyone else out there uses a paper planner. Like old school, a pen to paper monthly and weekly calendar planner and I was surprised by how many of my friends, yoga students, and family members have felt the same way that I do and have gone back in time to using a paper planner. Sixty-five comments later and I was feeling inspired plus I now know about all the great choices of products to choose, research and learn more about.

During my recent move as I packed up boxes and unpacked those boxes that you move from place to place that hold “memories”,  I came across the paper day planner that I had the year that my ex and I separated. The year I went back to fundraising for a nonprofit and also the year I started teaching yoga to earn additional money. It was fascinating to see before me all the things I did that year and how I conquered quite possibly one of the hardest years of my life. Of course, at any time I can go back to look at a previous year on my google calendar but as a friend pointed out, on my facebook post, google calendars feel cold and sterile. There is something magical about handwriting, even the crossed out and messiness of what the calendar becomes.

I decided on The Happy Planner by Me and My Big Ideas. I like the flexibility that I can add additional pages and notes to it and/or move things around. I also really like the structure of it, on the weekly calendar views there are three areas to write in so that I can categorize my goals and to-dos based on what aspect of my life that they fit into. I am still getting used to it and getting over the overwhelming feeling of creating a perfect, beautiful planner like the pictures I see on Instagram but like my planner, I am a work in progress.

Clutter Free Bathroom Ideas to Simplify Your Life

Raising two teenaged boys and making time for my marriage, family, and friends while also running a successful yoga studio and health coaching business is time-consuming. 2018 is the year that I am making a change in how I spend my days from my work time, family time to my volunteer positions. I am choosing to live with intention. You could say that is my "theme" for this year.

Choosing how I spend my time and with whom during those big open chunks of time on our weekend calendar is exciting and soul fulfilling. But what about those small little windows of time where you need to vacuum the house or scrub the tub? Not so much! I believe that if I simplify my house, even more than it already is, that doing these chores won't occupy as much time in my schedule. I don't feel as though I have a time management problem per say but I am seeing how these little household tasks that I do each week are occupying more time than I would like to and hiring a cleaning company is not in the budget right now.

So I started looking at the tasks that I do around the house with a detective type eye, analyzing the movements. What am I touching and how? Am I constantly having to move things in order to complete the task? Could I just get rid of that?

One of the areas under attack is our bathroom. We shop at Costco so we have these huge bottles of shampoo and conditioner, the supersize ones with their pumps, balancing in the corners where the tub and the wall meet. They have to be removed in order to clean the tub. And then on the bathroom sink, we have 4 people's toothbrushes and two different kinds of toothpaste and each week all of that is being moved in order to clean or constantly being knocked over as you try and clean just one side of the sink at a time. It seems like such a small problem but these little moments of time are where I believe I can simplify my life.

So after way too many hours thinking about my bathtub clutter problems, I scrolled through Amazon and I found this handy dispenser made by Better Living. I filled it with our Costco shampoo, conditioner and body wash and said goodbye to the giant bottles in the tub. Now the corners are clutter free and it makes cleaning the tub as enjoyable of a task as it can be. You do have to commit to its location because once it's installed using silicone, it can not be moved easily. For the bathroom sink, I went into our attic and pulled out the Ikea spice rack that at one time served as a small shelf for books when my kids were in bunk beds and I didn't want them to get out of bed to put their nighttime reading away. I installed it on the wall next to sink and have their toothbrushes and toothpaste in one area off of the countertop and now they are in charge of keeping their area clean. I placed me and my wife's items in a glass vase on the sink which can easily be moved to clean in one movement. Little changes like this can make a daunting task of cleaning the bathroom a little bit more enjoyable and most importantly will take less time to do. Have you learned some space-saving tricks to save you time when cleaning the bathroom? I'd love to hear them in the comments!

Living with Less- Clothes

I haven't quite adopted the label "minimalist" quite yet though I definitely lean towards it. We live in a small house by choice and we live with all the items we own, no storage units filled with stuff we aren't using. We purge our house quite frequently and when we buy something we are intentional about where it will go in our house.

But my clothes closet was a whole different matter. In our shared closet I was taking up most of the space. I started reading about the Project 333 and immediately fell in love with the concept. I did as instructed and dumped all my clothes on my bed and went through the pile one by one, trying everything on. As I worked through the clothes I created piles on the floor:

• Keep / Fits great / I love this item
• Maybe / Has sentimental value
• Donate / Doesn't Fit   

After I did the initial round of closet clearing it still looked like my closet was spilling out, in no way did it look like a minimalist closet. That's when I realized that I needed to adjust the concept for my life. I am a yoga instructor and am teaching several yoga classes a day, I literally live in leggings. I have my work uniform of yoga pants and yoga studio logo t-shirts that I wear every day. But then I have the "other" clothes. Clothes I wear occasionally out to dinner or a movie, clothes meant to be lived in like the rest of the world does. And then I have the special occasion clothes; the wedding or fancy dinner or funeral.  

What I learned through the process is that I wanted to really hone in on my personal style. I wanted to create a "look" that I felt comfortable and confident wearing regardless of whether it was a "thin" week or a "that time of the month week". I have spent most of the year thinking about it and creating Pinterest boards and noticing fashion in a different way than I have ever before. I've found pieces that can go from teaching a yoga class to a lunch date. I found the perfect black dress that can be worn several times on various outings whether dressed up for fancy dinner or dressed down by adding a jean jacket. I've decided on a gray-black basic color scheme with pops of color in the accessories. It's still a work in progress but I feel better about how it is evolving.    

My wife introduced me to the concept of buying quality items versus quantity. When we met I was a thrift store seeker, yard sale shopper, coupon cutter, frugal gal to my core. I was raised that way and it has continued into my adult life. I have always been a saver of money but I have issues with shelling out a lot of money for clothes and shoes. And then my wife pointed out to me that my way of sale shopping actually made me spend more money, took more time and if we get down to it was worse for the environment. For example, I was purchasing yoga pants on sale for around $15-$25 at various stores that would last me about a year before they became see-thru or fell apart in the washing machine. But the leggings that I purchased from a higher quality store that would make any frugal gal gasp, $90 on a pair of leggings?!?! They actually lasted 5 years and were still in great shape during the closet purge that I donated them.

Thanks to my wonderful wife I've now adopted her quality over quantity philosophy, though I still have to remind myself of that when I hold my breath while pushing the checkout buttons to purchase shoes that cost over $100. But with quality items in my closet that will last me a long time and in line with Project 333 I am creating a minimalist fashion closet that works for me. Keep checking back for updates! 

Have you tried Project 333? Ever thought of adopting a minimalist wardrobe or capsule wardrobe, as they are often referred to as? Leave a comment, I'd love to hear what your "uniform" looks like.  

Christmas Ornament Organizing

I know you are not even thinking about Christmas right now! I know, I know. But hear me out.
You know those plastic containers that the Costco apples come in? I personally hate recycling them…I just know that they have to have another life. And here is a great way to re-use those plastic apple holders to give them more life and to help you organize your Christmas decorations. Glass ball ornaments fit perfectly in each apple holder or place several delicate ornaments in each space. The options are limitless! Then you can easily stack them in a rubbermaid container to store in your attic/garage/basement.
Happy Spring Cleaning!

Review: Benjamin Moore Chalkboard Paint

We recently bought a house and converted the basement into a yoga studio. Previously I traveled to various locations to teach yoga and now I just have to walk down a few steps in my home. It's glorious! I wanted the studio to be light and bright and a place where both kids and adults enjoyed coming to and taking yoga classes.

The Yoga Studio Website: http://www.beeyogafusion.com

Using the colors from the website and the Bee Yoga Fusion logo, I painted the far wall of the studio a dark pink with Benjamin Moore chalkboard paint. I anticipated it to take a lot of paint and over purchased but it's always best to have too much than not enough right? FYI: the paint only comes in quart size and this wall (roughly 8 feet x 6 feet) took two quarts.

Following the advice that I read from other bloggers I first applied the Benjamin Moore primer that was tinted to match the pink color that I chose. The chalkboard paint can be any color that you would like but darker colors work best in allowing the actual chalk to show up. After the primer I applied 5 coats of chalkboard paint. Allowing each coat to dry for several hours before reapplying. When the final coat was dry I allowed the paint to "cure", as per the directions on the can for three days. Before the initial use I took a piece of sidewalk chalk on the long side and rubbed it over the entire wall which several bloggers recommended to do as well.

The yoga kids are loving it! And the adults enjoy the quotes and words of inspiration that are posted before class. The wall is easy to clean with just a wet rag and looks great even when it is left blank. I think a chalkboard wall would be a wonderful addition to any kitchen or mudroom to write messages to various family members or to post to-do lists and grocery lists. The possibilities are endless!
  

Managing Your Time is Easy

Is your inbox overflowing with emails that you haven't read? Or do you find yourself spending time everyday deleting emails from companies that you've shopped at once or haven't purchased anything from in the last 6 months?
Take 5 minutes today to unsubscribe to email newsletters that you don't read. Having an inbox filled with emails that you won't get around to reading does not serve you, instead create a Pinterest board with pins from the companies you plan to shop at in the future or blogs that you plan to read..someday.
Managing your life and streamlining your inbox means you have more time for the people you love!

Saying Goodbye to Childhood Mementos

I keep telling myself...it is just a bowl. But here I am with tears running down my face after discovering the huge crack on the bowl's side as I fished it from the bottom of the sink overflowing of dirty dishes.

It is just a bowl. A physical object that just so happens to hold a lot of memories. I'm not the type of person that holds on to a lot of items. I love to purge, clearing out the closets and attic several times a year. Each of my children has one small box of mementos from birth, that I continue to add to periodically. I live by a strict rule: if you don't use it/play with it, it goes out of the house. This mindset has enabled me to live in small spaces, to travel lightly and move from place to place with ease. It has also encouraged me to surround myself with the things I really love and care about. There is no question about what I hold sacred in my life.

It is just a bowl.

This bowl is from my childhood. A small plastic bowl with Mickey Mouse's face on the bottom. My sister and I would fight over who would get to eat breakfast cereal out of it, in our childhood minds it was comforting to see his face smiling at you at the start of each day. I don't know how I was lucky enough to be the one to leave my parent's house with it but I've carried this bowl with me throughout college, five years in New York, cross country to Seattle and back again to Maryland. It's made it through several cut throat purge sessions and reorganizing.

It is just a bowl.

Now my children have been using it. My youngest son uses it each night for his before bedtime snack when he claims he's starving. I don't know if he'll notice that it's gone, if he has fond memories of it yet. Maybe when he's older and sees it on a shelf of an antique store, he'll smile to himself and insist on buying it because it is more than just a bowl. It is a memory. It is comfort. It is home.
I'm going to miss you Mickey.

   

Children's Chore Chart

I was tired of constantly asking my children if they combed their hair, brushed their teeth or went to the bathroom before we headed out for school every morning. I felt like such a nag! Things needed to change. The boys are eight and ten years old, old enough to be a bit more responsible.

So I made a chart of all the things that they need to accomplish before school, I had it laminated at Staples and it lives on our fridge where everyone can see it and has access to it. I have also given them the choice to choose when they would like to have their 30 minutes of computer/video game "screen time", in the morning or evening. The catch is, if they don't check off their chart each morning they will then lose the much coveted screen time.

Our mornings have completed shifted and changed, and are a lot less stressful for me. Now the only words that come out of my mouth that fall in the "nag" category are "Have you checked your chart?" and I say it only once to both of my boys. That's it. When I check the chart if it's not filled in for the day the screen time box gets a big X. This was the motivating factor for my kids to complete the chart.

The new system has worked beautifully! I highly recommend that you try it for your family if your children are old enough to follow directions and do everything on their chart by themselves. The boys actually enjoy checking things off and they get really proud of themselves when they do it without me having to remind them to "check the chart".

Organizing My Thoughts

As the saying goes...."I have a lot of irons in the fire."

• I run a mobile yoga studio, teaching yoga classes to kids and adults all over the Maryland and Washington DC area, 
• I'm a  portrait photographer, 
• I write a parenting column for Greenbelt Patch, 
• I occasionally write on this blog, 
• I'm in the process of writing a book,
• I'm a member of the PTA (not as active as I once was...), 
• and I'm on a community committee to market our cool neighborhood to prospective buyers. 

My plate it pretty full.
So in order to keep my mind clear I need to be organized. Otherwise it will feel like everyday is a panic race to the next item on my calendar, spending way too much time looking for a small piece of paper only to discover it on my mousepad....

You know this drill right?

Here is how I organize my thoughts and notes. I carry around a spiral notebook with me everywhere I go. Nothing fancy, just the spiral one subject notebook that you can get really cheap when the back to school sales are going on. (That is when I stock up!)

If I get an idea for the next chapter of my book I always have pen and paper ready, my to-do list, ideas for blog posts or sequencing my next yoga class are in this notebook.
At the top of each page I write the subject matter really big :BYF (Bee Yoga Fusion), CM (CocktailMom), PTA, etc.
And then once I use all the pages in the spiral notebook I sit down and go through page by page and rip out the pages and put them in a three ring binder.
Several of the pages are recycled, to-do lists for example.
But ideas for future business marketing is stored in its correct divider in the three ring binder, which lives on my desk so that I can refer to it when needed.

How do you organize your thoughts and ideas?