Category: Link Love

Link Love: Organizing and Planning Tips

Now that things in my personal life have settled down a bit I have been trying to get more organized and making an effort to plan my life in advance. I notice that when I plan things out in advance things tend to run more smoothly and I have less things to worry about. Since I have been actively working on organizing, planning and cleaning up my to do list and calendars (paper and digital) I have been searching the internet for inspiration. So check out some of my favorite information that I have found along the way.

Top Organizing and Planning Tips

Organizing Tips

I really enjoyed Laura’s post How to Combat Digital Hoarding. In the digital world that we live in we now have many more digital files and without a system they can be a big old mess. Laura shares some of the things she has been working on with some great tips.

Most of my digital files are fairly organized, however, the problem is I need to purge the ones that no longer serve a purpose (and purge more often). I also want to do a better job at naming digital files and making sure they have a home. Another issue I have is that I have things in so many different places – Dropbox, Google Drive (I have my personal one and one that was used for school – they need to be merged) and on my laptop as well as some on my phone.

I really liked how Laura talked about pdf’s in her video. Nearly all the pdf’s I have are in a folder called “To Read”. The problem is, I don’t really get around to reading these as often as I should. I made a promise to myself that I would read a few every month and either archive or delete them. Some are a couple pages are tips and others are manuals, articles from when I was in school or entire books. I don’t need all of these taking up precious space and just need to go ahead and read and/or purge them.

More organizing tips:
+ 101 items to get rid of without regret
+ 3 Steps to Organized Files

Planning and Productivity Tips

I really love watching Nora Conrads videos on planning and productivity on YouTube. Two of my favorite videos are from her Productivity Series called The Brain Dump Method and Scheduling Your Brain Dumps.

I have been doing brain dumps for as long as I can remember. It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I found that not only did other people do it but there was also a term for it. I used to do my brain dumps strictly on paper but now I do it on paper and also in ToDoist. As Nora notes it helps to clear “mind clutter”. I tried scheduling my brain dumps but sometimes they just happen whenever they want. I know if I don’t write it down or input it in ToDoist somewhere I will probably forget about it temporarily (or permanently on some occasions). I try to make it a habit to go through my brain dumps and make actually create tasks of the information if needed that way it is organized and not just a bunch of words.

Watch all of Nora’s Productivity Series videos

During one of my late night YouTube watching binges I found this GREAT VIDEO from Speaker and Author Amy Landino titled How To Plan Your Day. My favorite part was when she said a to do list is like a junk drawer – it has a bunch of stuff in there (mostly important) but needs to be organized.

Take a look:

When I stumbled upon How To Become A Morning Person & Love It I almost skipped to something else but I really enjoyed the infographic that was in the article and there were some helpful tips there as well. I am totally not a morning person. I have tried (and failed) several times to become one and that is just not part of my genetic makeup. In face, I am up at 1:49am on a Saturday morning working on this post. Does that count as being a morning person? I am almost sleepy enough for bed but I’m enjoying working on this post.

More productivity tips:
+ 30+ Gmail Tips and Tools That Can Boost Productivity
+ Video: 8 Things to Do Before 8AM to Make Your Days Less Hectic
+ 12 Evening Habits Worth Developing

What issues are you currently having with organizing and/or planning your home or life? What are some of your favorite organizing and planning tips? Let us know in the comments.

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.

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Blog Posts That Rock

I have a problem. I like to read blogs. A LOT. And I have so many different interests that I always end up in the most random places finding the best posts. Some are entertaining. Others are serious. Some are educational. No matter what – I always find something that I enjoy.

Since the semester is over and I have more time (sorta) I thought I would share some of my favorite posts from the blogs I have been reading lately. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did.

10 things every basic bitch wants for Christmas
First I saw the title of this and a I giggled a little. I knew it was going to be a great post. It did not disappoint me one bit. I never really thought of myself as a Basic Bitch, but after reading that list (and wanting nearly everything on it) I may have to accept that I am one.

Managing Social Media While You’re Away
It is the holiday’s and most of us getting pretty busy – bloggers, business owners, college students, working folk… most of us. Christina offers some really great tips on how to manage your social media accounts during busy times (or when you’re on vacation or just need a little break).
Other posts you might enjoy:
How To Automate Your Social Media Posts Using Postcron
Blogging Tips & Resources

9 Ways to Put Your Blog on Autopilot So You Can Enjoy the Holidays
These are some great ideas (that I wish I had implemented at the beginning of November.) I do some of the things on this list already, however, this was a great reminder. Trust me. Your blog will wait for you to return and if you follow some of these suggestions you can take some time off and come back ready to go.

6 Adult Things To Do Before Pursuing a Serious Relationship
These great tips will help you to go into a relationship feeling more confident and sure of who you are and what you are bringing to the table. Sometimes we have to become that person that we want to be with. This post will show you the way.
Other posts you might enjoy:
Girls Night In Ideas (for ladies in relationships too)

4 Ways to Maximize Your Day Off
Sometimes on our day off we just want to relax and not do a damn thing. We are exhausted from different aspects of our life and want to lay around, watch Netflix and take naps all day. I’m guilty of that myself sometimes. But these are some great ways to take advantage of your day off and get some sh*t done! Trust me, you’ll enjoy it.

Did you know if you follow me on Twitter you can see even more of my favorite blog posts?

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.

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My Blogging Goals

Since I decided recently that I am really going to take blogging more seriously I thought it would be a good idea to set some blogging goals. I am not going to be too strict on myself because I still want to be able to enjoy blogging. Aside from Job Hunting Like A Boss, working on my blog is important to me because I get to do some of the things I love most: writing, networking and sharing with others.

my blogging goals hertaintedlips

So I present to you the mock version of my blogging goals. I may add to this in the future. (more…)

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.

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Flashback Friday’s: Episode 1

Hertaintedlips Flashback FridaysI enjoy sharing my personal experiences and discoveries with others in the hopes that it will inspire, help, entertain and/or inform them. I also absolutely love it when others do the same. The internet makes this a million times easier. Sometimes I will post on Facebook or Twitter and other times I will write a blog post. I thought it would be a fun idea to collect some experiences and discoveries that I have had during the week and summarize it for y’all here ever Friday. So here it is.

Flashback Friday’s: Episode 1
Family Time
On Sunday I got to spend time with family for most of the day. It was really nice to just hang out and enjoy their company. I always enjoy the time that we do get together and I always look forward to it. The adults talked, laughed and enjoyed some snacks together while the kiddles enjoyed some cartoons. I finally got to try the sour apple slurpee from 7-Eleven and it was delicious!

Becoming a Social Media Pro
Fast forward to Tuesday>>> I was going to different blogs and looking up tips and tricks on blogging like I normally do and I landed on Regina’s blog. She had so many wonderfully useful articles that I read a few of them and immediately subscribed and bookmarked her site. The next day I went back because I wanted to look around again and she had a new blog post just waiting to be devoured. It wasn’t just any blog post though it was a post about 33 Ways To Get Serious About Social Media. Her post is jam-packed with gems. Please take some time out and read it if you are serious (or even if you’re just a little interested) about blogging and/or building a brand by effectively using Social Media. If you are already fairly experienced with using Social Media a lot of the tips are good reminders, however, she breaks everything up into delicious chunks and offers so many great tips & tricks to take your Social Media expertise to another level.

Bake Sale & Game Time
Wednesday I spent some time editing blog posts (including this one) and baking cookies with my sister for a bake sale. I got to get a taste of all the baked goodies that were sold. Spiced brownies, chocolate chip cookies, coconut cookies, peanut butter brownies and rice crispy treats. Everything was absolutely delicious and it was a huge success. The bake sale was to raise funds for a Gaming Club at a local Community College. There were a ton of board and card games to play. I played Connect 4, King Of Tokyo (super fun game) and Apples to Apples. My sister won every game that she played!!

Gmail Inbox Zero… Not Yet
One of the things I have been working on lately is creating a more effective email system so that my inbox stays fairly empty and I can easily find what needs my attention right away. A couple of years ago I subscribed to a bunch of feeds and things just got out of control. I thought I would enjoy getting updates from my favorite websites, however, I never got around to really reading most of the emails. I found it easier to go to the websites when I had time to read or click on their Twitter link when they tweeted an update. I was so overwhelmed by all the clutter in my Gmail inbox that I basically stopped checking my email. I would log in and search for email from specific people (which were usually filtered into folders or labels thank goodness) and unsubscribe from as many subscriptions as I could. I have more than 1 email address but I wanted to get everything to come to my main Gmail account just to make life easier. I decided to take some time out and really tweak my Gmail inbox because enough was enough. Here is what I was able to accomplish:

♥ Mass deleted thousands and thousands of emails (over 30,000). I recently read someone cleaned out their inbox and they had nearly 100,000 emails to go through!!
♥ Unsubscribed from feeds and mailing lists that no longer serve me. I mostly used Unroll.me to make that process easier.
♥ Organized my labels to make my Gmail inbox work more efficiently for me.
♥ Worked on the filters to get the emails to go where I needed them go.

So far I am happy with the results. I will write a more detailed post about this topic later. I am so happy and no longer feel defeated.

Netflix Goodies
I always enjoy discovering shows I never watched before so when my sister suggested National Geographic’s 3-part series Brain Games I was excited to check it out. This series explores the brain and how it processes what it takes in. It includes a bunch of cool illusions and explanations of why we “see” things the way that we do.

Another cool series we watched was Stan Lee’s Superhumans. This series explore’s genetic mutations and the possible Superhuman abilities that may occur because of them. Both series are pretty cool and I enjoyed watching them.

What great things happened to you this week?

What are your favorite board or card games?

How organized is your Gmail inbox?

What series did you check out this week?

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links which means I will earn a small commission (at no additional cost to you) if you decide to purchase something featured here. This commission will be invested back into hertaintedlips.com as well as help me buy a cheap bottle of wine or some Starbucks. For more information please read our disclosure page.

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