Random Acts of Kindness

or RAKs, are something that I only became aware of in the last year or so. Sure, I've always been aware of random acts of kindness, anonymous benefactors, all that kind of thing, but the concept of organising this was not something that had come up on my radar.

...until I became involved in the online planner community. This is an actual thing and Facebook groups, forums, blogs are dedicated to organising groups of people who send little parcels, or happy mail, to each other!

I'm a member of one group on facebook which is run solely for this purpose and a few others where it's not the sole purpose of the group but people are so generous and kind so you have the option of putting your address on a spreadsheet/document to indicate that you're happy to give and receive parcels of joy.

I've RAK'd and been RAK'd several times this year, and it's always a lovely surprise. I tend to send things that I no longer need or think someone would get more use out of, particularly filofax inserts, stickers (I'm just not that type of person it turns out), samples of patterned or washi tape, all sorts. Mostly stationery but I'm hoping as I get more accomplished with my creative creations I can expand to sending mail art.

Photos below of some of the happy mail I've sent and received!

Keeping organised: my day-to-day planner

I'm known as the organised one at work. I am the one who tends to organise group events with my friends (read boss everyone about because I get impatient). I keep my DH on track with family birthdays.

Up until the middle of last year I did pretty ok with my phone calendar and Outlook for work. Then I changed phones (iPhone4 to Samsung Galaxy S3) and my planning habits went to the dogs. Don't get me wrong, I love my phone, it's got a better battery life, it is far easier to sync to google, but its planner capabilities are just not the same as iCal. Plus I had a lot more going on in 2013 than in previous years, I had a new permanent job with a lot bigger workload, a new volunteering activity (I'm a Brownie leader) and I was trying to track food consumption and activity for weightwatchers. 

So I used a John Lewis voucher received from my grandmother-in-law for my birthday to buy a Filofax (aqua compact Saffiano for the planner aficionados). It was perfect, a weekly calendar, notes pages, to dos, contacts, all in one lovely colour binder. That's when I discovered the online planner community (spearheaded by the lovely Steve at philofaxy). And I got kind of sucked in to the shiny and pretty and leather! I discovered different diary layouts, non linear ways of time planning (Patrick Ng's Chronodex is my favourite), different sizes of planner, etc. After 4 months of  experimenting I found the perfect set up for me: the Midori Traveler's Notebook:

Midori are a Japanese company which produce some of the best stationery, and their biggest export is the Midori Traveler's Notebook, a piece of black or brown vegetable tanned leather threaded with elastics in which notebooks are held. It's all held together by another elastic that threads through a hole on the back cover. Beautifully simple

My MTN came from Japan, took ages and ended up costing me more than it would have if I'd bought from the stockist in the UK (lesson learned). It came with a brown elastic to close it which I promptly swapped out for the spare orange elastic and threaded a pendant through to jazz it up. I've been using it since November and already it's scratched and battered and loved looking. That's the point of the MTN, it is meant to travel and show where it's been!

Inside I have three booklets or inserts, a month on two pages from November 2013 to December 2014 plus a page for 2015 forward planning:

 a grid paper insert which I use for a bullet journal:

and another grid paper insert for monthly goal tracking:

I've also got two zip pocket inserts, one midori one (which holds page tabs, washi and a muji passport notebook for random notes) and one from a paperchase notebook which also has little pockets that I keep my work card and stamps in. I also keep my favourite fountain pen: a Platinum Plaisir 0.5 nib, loaded with Diamine Rustic Brown ink, in a Midori pen loop slid on to the back cover.

I absolutely love this system, it keeps me focused on what I need to be doing. I love the concept so much I have another being made for me - a faux-dori made by the wonderful Ray Blake of My Life All In One Place. Can't wait!

How I keep organised - an introduction

One of the things I loathe most is feeling disorganised and overwhelmed. I had a weekly paper planner through University, and then went digital with my iPhone. However last year I realised that digital just wasn't working for me, I had a lot more stuff going on and a lot more things to keep track of, so I went back to paper, and got slightly sucked into Filofax. That, however, is another story for another time...

Fast forward to January 2014 and I keep my life (or rather my tangled mess of a brain) organised with three things:

From left to right: Midori Traveler's Notebook, Filofax Cuban A5 and a Filofax Flex Lizard print

Each serves a different purpose but together they form my external brain, my means of planning, tracking and dumping all my thoughts in some sort of order. 

This post is more of an intro to these three amigos, so there'll be more in-depth posts in the near future but by way of introduction:

The Midori Traveler's Notebook is my planner. I discovered the Japanese firm Midori through facebook and a fabulous website: http://www.mylifeallinoneplace.com/. The MTN is a very basic concept, a piece of leather, threaded with elastic which holds one or more notebooks and inserts. I currently have three notebooks in there, all grid paper: a calendar (one month on each double page), a bullet journal (basically a brain dump with symbols to keep on track) and a goal tracker (I have lots of goals this year - yet another post to do). I also have a couple of file folders and zip pockets to hold loose things like my cheque book, stamps, etc.

The A5 Filofax is my home planner, and one of many Filofax organisers I've owned in the last six months (I currently own three others, and have bought/swapped/sold a lot since August). It has a weekly calendar of both mine and DH's activities, meal planning and spending tracking. It's also holds project planning and reference lists that don't need to leave the house with me. 

The Filofax Flex is the most recent purchase and I love it. It's a leather notebook cover and holds an A5 Clairefontaine (very fountain pen friendly paper) notebook which is my personal diary/journal. In it I write about my day but also doodle and draw, stick in things I've been sent, papers I've picked up, general prettiness. I'm participating in The Documented Life project, in a bid to be more creative in 2014 so my weekly challenges also go in here. 

Intro's over! Over the next few posts I will go into more detail about each and explain how I use them. Advance warning, they will be very picture heavy!

For the love of lists

Lists, I just love them! As a self-confessed stationery addict, there is not much I like more than getting a new piece of paper, or a fresh page in a notebook and penning a list.

Most of the time when I make a list it's pertinent to the context: a shopping list ready for the weekend trip to the supermarket or farm shop, a list of places to visit on holiday, or a daily task list.

I keep a paper planner which is a Midori Travelers Notebook, and use the Bullet Journal system in my daily pages. Basically a long list!

I also have an A5 filofax (a gorgeous Chilli Cuban) as my mission control at home which hold all the projects lists such as our holiday planning or meal ideas.

In the run up to Christmas and then New Year, I've been making a lot of lists: gift ideas for family and friends, a store list to keep me on track while out shopping (not easy), a list of gifts received so that I can write thank you notes. Today I've used a packing list for our ski holiday.

The most important list for me this week has been the 2014 goals and challenges list. Last year I set myself three challenges: find a weight loss programme and stick to it, find a form of exercise that I can stand to do weekly and find a permanent job. I'm really happy to say that I succeeded with all these, losing over two stone in 12 months with WeightWatchers online, falling in love with Zumba and Fitsteps, and finding a job that I still love 9 months in.

This year I'm ambitious so I've got three sets of goals/challenges: 3 personal goals, 3 family goals (meaning my husband's in on it too) and 3 challenges. I'll be using this blog in some part to document my progress on these.