Zip it Real Good
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do less. live more.
What I Learned from Pete the Cat
From time to time my children enjoy watching the show Pete the Cat. Never seen it? Well here’s a real short synopsis. Pete is a pretty quiet cat. He plays guitar in a band, and has friends of other animal species who are also in his band. One of them, the band manager, described her hobbies something like this: “I like to read personal development books and organize things.” When my husband and I heard that line, we just looked at each other. That, it all its nerdiness, is me to a T.
Like any tried and true nerd, I can really get into a life hack. A while back, a friend introduced me to the Erin Condren Life Planner. She used her planner as a journal and photo album. She made beautiful, creative layouts capturing her days as a teacher, wife, friend, daughter and mother. These planners are not cheap, so I hesitated, but when I learned they made pages that went by the hour, I was in. After reading several books by Laura Vanderkam, I had been unsuccessfully trying to track my time, and not having a good place to keep notes was one of my major barriers. (You can read my posts on time tracking and books by Laura Vanderkam here and here and here.). I asked for a planner for Christmas and, lucky me, I got one.
We <3 Weekends
Planner Heaven
I use my planner for lots of things. I use it to plan my time, chronicle what I’ve done with my kids and in my free time (the books we’ve read, the outings we’ve gone on, our travels). I keep track of when (or if) I exercise, what I do at work, and sometimes even the money I’ve spent. If I travel or have a night out with friends or the hubs, I keep track of it. It’s nerd heaven. Inspired by my friend (see above) I look forward to opening up this planner ten years from now and reading about my “everydays.”
The morning routine
Taking it Next Level
I recently upped the ante and got the Polaroid ZIP instant printer, (Thank you, Mother’s Day!) to create stickers from photos of my life. I put them in my journal as a reminder of things I’ve done or participated in. While I’m not a gadget person, this little printer is pretty great. For just under $100, I got the printer and a starter set of sticker paper. The printer works with iPhones and Android phones and is about the size of a deck of cards. While I use my stickers mostly for memories, it occurred to me that there are quite a few things that teachers, parents, and other caregivers could use these little stickers for:
label toy baskets to help organize play spaces
create morning and evening routine tasks
send “notes” in lunchboxes
make stickers for work well done
create personal stationary, stickers or cards
creating a task or responsibility chart
a birthdays calendar with photos of kids
Do you have awesome life hacks? Share them in the Comments section below.
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