It’s been five years. Five years of decorative planning. I’ve learned a lot over the past half decade (wut. why did I even say it that way? Now I can’t get that out of my head…) and I have quite a lot of insight for younger me.
Dear Kayla from 2014,
You don’t need a ton of washi tape all at once. I mean, you’ll soon find out you don’t like it at all, but you definitely don’t need 30+ rolls when you’ve only used a few inches of the first roll you purchased. Take things slow, figure out your planning style, and then invest in high quality products you’ll use until they run out.
It’s ok if your planning style changes. When I first started, I felt terrible when I suddenly didn’t like the vertical planner I obsessed over for months before purchasing. Planner guilt is a real thing and you don’t have to beat yourself up if the system no longer works for you.
Matte stickers are indeed better than glossy. Now, it does matter what type of matte paper we’re talking about. That silky smooth type is king and beats out all other types. I know you’re obsessed with glossy now, but you’ll see.
You’ll find other like-minded people. It may feel like you’re a weirdo and no one relates to you, but soon enough you’ll find your tribe of planner addicts and make a ton of lifelong friends. Just hold out and keep doing what you love.
One day, you’ll finally figure out what to do with leftover stickers. I know you’re frustrated by them now and don’t know what to do with that giant stack, but you’ll soon learn to combine like colors and do one color spreads. You’ll feel stupid when that retaliation comes.
I know you take your spreads very seriously and what them to be Instagram perfect, but you’ll realize (a little too late), that style of planning just doesn’t work for you. Function over form because at the end of the day, that planner needs to help you not be a piece of crap more than it needs to look good.
Sincerely,
Kayla from 2019
What are some things you wish you knew when you started decorative planning?
Whether you’re a weekly planner, bullet journal-er, or avid to do list maker, don’t forget to make sure this one particular thing is in your planning routine. Memory keeping.
For the longest time I avoided memory documenting because I thought I had to be good at scrapbooking (which I most definitely am not). It seemed like such an expensive hobby to get into to be any sort of good at it and it just wasn’t what I wanted to spend my free time on (I rather be napping honestly). So I added a few photos here or there but didn’t really do any memory keeping. I missed out on preserving a lot of awesome moments and now I’m here to make sure you don’t miss out like I did.
So why should you start? Because it’s super easy. I just use the softbound notebooksfrom Erin Condren and paste down business cards, birthday cards, ticket stubs, and of course photos. My rule of thumb is if I have at least photos and one memento from an event, it’s worth documenting.
It may seem silly to document little things like a baseball game now, but I know future me will appreciate the effort. One day I’ll look back and easily remember the event and it’ll be awesome to see me and Alex in our early years of marriage.
So whether you add some memory planning into your current planner on some note pages or you break out a whole new notebook, just start. Grab the scissors and glue and get to work. You’ll become addicted to it in no time.
Today marks the first day of the Oh, Hello Box Bits Sale so what better way to celebrate than to talk about some of my most used box items (available individually until Sunday) from the past six months. Of course I love everything in the boxes (I designed and curated them after all), but these products are the ones I use most often in my everyday life.
My enamel pin obsession knows no bounds and I’m still completely in love with them. Each box has an exclusive enamel pin and I love seeing how the collection continues to grow each month. It’s an amazing way to remember all of the boxes so far. I also find myself using the toiletry bag often with all the trips we’ve been taking lately. It’s incredibly roomy and fits everything I and my husband need for a long weekend away.
The three zipper pouch is also a favorite for convenient travel packing. On our last trip to Washington state I used it to organize my makeup. I love the compartments to separate out brushes and makeup bits into categories.
I never realized how badly I needed the tech taco in my life until I had one. It’s the perfect tool to keep my cords from getting tangled in my bag and has saved me a lot of frustration trying to untangle cords. It’s such a simple thing, but has made my coffee shop work outings so much easier.
However I think my most used item out of all the Oh, Hello boxes has to be this pocket sized traveler’s notebook from the very first box. It goes everywhere with me and houses any random ideas or notes I take on the go. It’s my constant companion.
My most complimented item is definitely the tartan tote from the coffee shop themed box. I grab it whenever I’m headed out to make returns or bring items to a party. It’s heavy duty while still flexible to fold up and put in my suitcase too. It’s like a classier version of a reusable tote.
Be sure to take advantage of the Box Bits Sale this weekend through Sunday. Quantities vary from item to item in the sale and there are a ton of other products I didn’t mention in this post. Plus use coupon code BOXBITS to save 20% off everything in the sale!
If it’s tropical thing you can basically assume I’m going to love it. It’s been a while since I’ve received an Erin Condren Seasonal Surprise Box* so I could not wait to rip this box open. I’ve generally really enjoyed past surprise boxes because there’s just something about exclusive items you can’t get on the site. Exclusivity is basically death to my bank account.
If you’re new to the surprise box, they’re released every quarter for $35 (plus tax) and contain over $65 in exclusive and sneak peek products. The themes usually stay pretty close to whatever season the box is for. I’ve reviewed a few other boxes in the past if you want to check out those posts.
My favorite items from this box are the wristlet, palm paper clips, chase the sun cover, and asterisk pen. I’ve already used the wristlet as a pouch for my carry-on liquids since it’s see-through and can go through security.
The pocket sized traveler’s notebook insert is interesting, but I’m more curious to see if they come out with a line of smaller traveler’s notebooks since this particular insert is exclusive to the box. Otherwise this little guy is basically pointless. The larger insert is a summer petite planner where you can write down summer plans and document memories. I have my own style of documenting memories that I’m a fan of more, so this will likely be passed along to a friend.
Overall I think this box is worth the $35 price tag since a lot of the exclusive items I really enjoy. It’s when the exclusive items are meh that it doesn’t really seem worth it since you’ll be able to get the sneak peek items from the box on the website in a few weeks. I love seeing the company branch out into new types of products like the paperclips and pens. Who knows what they’ll come up with next…
What do you think of this seasonal surprise box? Did you snag one? What past box is your favorite?
If you’re living that online life of posting videos/writing blog posts, affiliate programs are a great way to organically talk about products you actually use while getting some money on the side. It’s something talked about a lot in the beauty and lifestyle industry, but relatively unheard of in the planning community. There are so many amazing options out there for affiliate programs to increase your online revenue just by simply changing what links you’re using.
What’s even better is that all of my favorite planner affiliate programs use ShareASale as their platform. That way it’s super easy to keep everything in one place and you’ll get one paycheck rather than having to keep up with a ton of different accounts.
You’ll be able to view the programs descriptions and apply to join once you sign up for ShareASale(it’s free).
Once you’re a part of the program I highly recommend using the custom links option to take whatever product you’re talking about and make an affiliate link for it. That way you can direct your audience to exactly what you’re talking about. You’ll also receive emails about once a month for each program to give you updates on upcoming sales, discounts, and collaboration opportunities. The Erin Condren program specifically offers a lot of chances to “bid” on projects where they supply you with items to talk about during specific campaigns.
There are a ton of other planner affiliate programs out there, but these are my particular favorites and the ones I find myself linking to most often. If you have any questions about getting started with affiliate links, drop them in the comments and I can help you figure it all out!
For the longest time I just left the notes pages in the back of my planner empty. I’m definitely not an artist and didn’t want to mess them up with my crappy attempts at bullet journal-like spreads. I’m ashamed at just how long it took me to realize I could just make stickers…oh Kayla…
With all the travel I’ve been doing lately across the United States I really wanted to create a travel tracker and wish listof places I’d like to visit. I just add a little red dot on the map to indicate places I’ve been rather than coloring in the whole state. My hope is that over time I’ll have a chicken pox map full of amazing travel adventures!
When the new Erin Condren Life Planner(review here) dropped I completely hated the new monthly productivity page. I never have that many birthdays to track and I wasn’t a fan of the other header options. Plus I always love a good habit tracker. The ECLP monthly productivity page habit tracker and headers was born! If I want to mix up what headers I use each month I have six different options to choose from. Gotta love stickers that can make a planner perfect!
Another one of my favorite ways to spice up my notes section is with the build your own bookshelf book tracker. There’s just something about wanting to fill in all those book spines that gets a gal reading again.
I wanted a section for all my wish list items, but I like to divide them based on categories. Presto. Wish list notes page. That way I can add a header to the little sticky note looking sticker based on wish list topics.
Here’s a video of my notes section before I created the USA map and wish list sticker sheets! I also use these popcorn stickersand television stickers to track shows and movies I’d like to watch and you can see how I set that up in the video.
