Getting Organised – January 2018 Review

As I want 2018 to be my year of getting organised I’ve decided to do something a little different. Instead of writing a post each month just on the books I’ve read, I’m going to expand it into more of a general overview of how I’m doing with all my goals.

The format of these posts and what I decide to include will no doubt change as I go along. It’s all part of the process of being flexible and finding what works best – a philosophy I’m trying to apply to my whole life!

Getting Organised

I wasn’t at all prepared for Christmas this year, mainly because the two schools I was working at broke up so late. Once I did break up I felt like I was in a completely mad rush trying to get everything done. Then I went away for New Year, which was nice, but also meant I got nothing done at home. There were advantages to both though.

Firstly, breaking up so late meant the new term started late and I had a week at home in January to get things done which meant I started the new school year feeling relatively calm and in control.

Secondly, staying with friends over New Year meant that not only did I get out and do lots of things, but I also had plenty of time to sit down and plan and strategise for the coming year without any of the distractions I have at home.

So what have I done in January to get organised?

When I started my planning for the year I used several tools to help me along.

Bullet Journal

I’ve been using  a bullet journal for over a year now and I’m a complete convert to the system. I’ve tried other forms of diary and log keeping in the past and no matter how enthusiastically I started with them, within a few weeks they were pushed to the side never to be used again.

A bullet journal is so simple and yet so inspired. Everything is kept together in the one notebook – things to do, things to remember, book lists, cleaning lists, travel research, trackers for monitoring exercise, diet and blogging, appointments and just about anything else you want to remember or keep track of.

Bullet journals were originally the idea of Ryder Carroll, but there are plenty of websites and blogs dedicated to them now. Many people have turned them into a complete art form, but as I’m not at all arty and as I want my bullet journal to be a tool to make my life easier, not add more pressure in the form of needing to spend ages each week designing new spreads, I use it in the original basic way.

If you do want to have a look at some really arty ones (and even though I don’t want an arty one myself I do love ogling other people’s) then Kara Berry’s site Boho Berry is a good start. Have a look at her YouTube videos too.

My Best Year 2017

Yeah, I know it’s 2018. I originally bought this book to help me get organised in 2017, but never got round to using it. It doesn’t have dates printed in it so it’s fine to use this year.

The My Best Year books are produced annually by Lisa Jacobs. They are aimed at those people using a blog or website for business purposes. Even though I don’t monetise this blog I want to treat it more professionally and this book is a good guide to get me started.

Epic Blog by Regina Anaejionu

This book is a one-year editorial blog planner. As someone who generally blogs as and when I feel like it about whatever I feel like, this book is a good way of giving me an overview and helping me think more strategically. It doesn’t just cover the planning of posts, but all the other jobs that go on around having a blog like income plans and records, expenses, maintenance and planning themes and projects throughout the year.

It’s another book I actually bought last year, but have only just started using.

Level 10 Life

Level 10 Life is a way of assessing your life in 10 areas each on a scale of one to ten. I think the idea originally came from Hal Elrod in his Miracle Morning book (which I haven’t read yet), but it gets mentioned by so many lifestyle bloggers and bujo (bullet journal) bloggers that I don’t actually remember where I first came across it.

The way to do a level 10 life assessment is to draw a small circle, then draw another slightly larger circle around and carry on expanding until you have ten circles. Then you divide them into ten segments and give each segment a name for the different aspects of your life. Examples are family and friends, personal development, spirituality, finances, career and business, marriage/relationship, fun and recreation, giving and contribution, physical environment and health and fitness.

You then colour in each segment to show where you feel you are with that aspect of your life on a scale of one to ten. You then think about why you’ve given that score and set goals to help increase the score.

I’ve done some tweaking and made it more personal. I’ve only got eight sections (though they are still graded out of ten) and it’s more of a square than a circle because, well, drawing ten circles is hard.

This is how I’ve done this month in each of the eight areas. 

Home and Environment

I managed to find a chimney sweep (they’re a bit thin on the ground) and finally got my chimney swept. Also, after a year of having damp in my kitchen caused by broken guttering, I got someone to come out and fix it. It hasn’t taken a year because I didn’t get round to it, but because it’s so hard to get someone to come and do jobs. And I live in a big city. How much harder must it be for people who live further away to get anyone to come out?

Before Christmas I tried to get smart meters installed for my gas and electricity. This will mean I should get more accurate bills as the readings will be sent directly to the company. They rarely get read otherwise as they are awkward to get to and I’m usually not in when the meter readers call round. I had an appointment set for the work to be done and had arranged for someone to be here to let the engineer in, but of course it didn’t happen. Why does nothing ever just happen as it’s supposed to? Even the simplest of jobs need so much chasing and following up on.

This month I’ve been back onto the company and got another appointment set for February. Also, after quite a few frustrating phone calls, I think I’ve sorted out how much my bills should be and got onto a better tariff.

I found out I have a problem with my tumble dryer this month. When you live in a cold, rainy city like Manchester a tumble dryer is pretty much an essential. Yes, I could dry everything on the radiators, but that creates condensation which can cause damp. And as I’ve just got rid of one damp problem, I don’t really want another.

Anyway, I’ve heard it mentioned a few times on the radio that dryers manufactured as far back as 2004 and by several different companies have a fault which means they can spontaneously go on fire. I have a dryer from one of these companies and so thought I’d better ring up and get them to check out the serial number. Yes, mine is a dryer that can go on fire. I’ve arranged for an engineer to come out to fix it. Will he arrive? Will he fix it if he does? Let’s just say I’m not holding my breath.

A job I did inside the house was sorting out my pantry. As I’m always after a bargain I’ll often buy items when they’re on special offer. They then end up pushed to the back of the shelf and I forget about them. I’ve now got a nice, organised pantry and know exactly what I’ve got and what needs to be used up and what I don’t need to buy again for ages. I found eight jars of courgettes. Seriously. I think I’ll be eating lots of pasta with courgettes over the next few months.

The week I had at home at the start of the month gave me time to get my van’s MOT and service done. The first week I was back at school it broke down. Turned out they hadn’t tightened something properly, so it was back in the garage to have that rectified. It seems fine now though.

Health and Fitness

The week I had off also gave me time to get to the dentist. My hygienist had given half of my teeth a deep cleaning months ago and I was supposed to go back to get the other half done. But with my working hours and their opening hours it just didn’t happen. It’s done now though.

I know I seriously need to work on my fitness and lose weight this year. When I used to go to a gym regularly I lost weight and was the fittest I’ve ever been. So I know I need to get back into a routine of going to the gym. I found a really reasonably priced one close to where I live. Two good things about it are that I’m not tied into a contract and that it’s open 24/7. I’ve joined, but delayed the start of the membership until the beginning of next month as gyms are horrible places in January. They get full of new members who are enthusiastic and go regularly meaning everyone is queuing to use the machines. By the end of the month most of them have lost their enthusiasm and stopped going meaning the queues have gone too. I know this because I used to work in a gym and January was always horrible.

The other thing I’m doing for my health is keeping a tracker to monitor my daily intake of fruit and veg and water. I’d like to aim for at least eight portions of fruit and veg a day instead of the usual 5-a-day. Eight is actually supposed to be the amount we aim for, but health professionals have a hard enough job just trying to get many people to eat five a day without making the goal posts even wider. I’m also trying to drink 1 litre of water a day alongside the other drinks I have.

I’ve been keeping the tracker in my bullet journal for a while now. I’ve realised that although I try to eat healthily, I don’t achieve the 5-a-day and 1 litre of water targets far too often. It’s harder on the days when I’m in school. Armed with this knowledge I can now try to work out a plan to improve.

Leisure and Fun

I started the new year in Kent visiting friends and managed to fit in a day exploring Dulwich and another one in Tonbridge. I also got a last minute ticket for an open day at Manchester Town Hall. The Town Hall is a rather spectacular building inside and out. It’s about to close for renovations and won’t re-open for six years. The open day was a day for people to visit and wander round and see parts that are not usually open to the public before it closes. Tickets were free and were snapped up as soon as they came out. But at about 10pm the evening before, a friend contacted me and said she’d just been given two tickets, would I like to go? Er, yes please!

Apart from this I’ve really enjoyed being at home this month. I had so much on and so many weekends (and weeks and sometimes months) away from home all the time from last spring up until this new year, that it’s actually been really lovely to be able to stay at home for a few weeks.

Family and Friends

This month I managed to catch up with a couple of friends. I had lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen for a long time and coffee with one I won’t see again for a long time. I also had my god-daughter, whom I’ve not seen for ages, stay with me one night.

A lovely surprise was being contacted by a guy I knew nearly thirty years  ago. We were both volunteers on the same kibbutz and lost touch not long after we’d left. He found me through a Facebook group I’m a member of and we were able to have a nice catch-up chat over Facebook.

Finances

Apart from sorting out my gas bill which I mentioned above I need to do so much work on my finances. There are so many areas where I could be saving money. I’ve even got expenses from my union work which I’ve not yet got round to claiming back.

One thing I did get sorted out though was setting up internet banking on one of my bank accounts. I got this partly done last year, but my internet died before I completed it. I had to wait for letters with different passwords and access codes and by the time I had them all it was too late. And by the time I had new internet all the passwords had expired. So I had to start again. But it’s done now.

Work and Blogging

I’ve categorised these together as I’d like my blog to be a way of earning money one day and I need to start treating it like a job. I’ve planned out the posts I need to write to catch up on everything I did last year and have started thinking of things I can do this year. I have a long list of jobs to do on the blog (improve SEO on old posts, change header banner, go back into posts I copied over from my old blog and fix them …  the to-do list actually seems endless), so I need to start prioritising.

As far as paid work is going,  I have four days a week at a school I really like. At the moment I have every Tuesday off and I REALLY appreciate having this extra day as I get so much done. I think they’re going to start wanting me to work five days soon though and I won’t say no. As much as I like having an extra day off each week, as a ‘gig-economy’ worker I’m always conscious that there might not be work in the future and so I need to take it when it’s there.

Contribution

I’ve done a quite a bit of union work this month and as this is unpaid voluntary work I’m counting it in the ‘contribution’ section. I’ve attended several meetings and done a lot of preparation for a meeting with my local MP who just happens to also be the Shadow Secretary of State for Education. The meeting ended up not going ahead as her offices were evacuated the day it was supposed to take place. I’m trying to re-arrange it.

I’ve also been working on a project which involves submitting a series of Freedom of Information Requests. I’ve never done these before, so it was a bit of a learning curve. It’s actually really easy though.

As I’ve  been at home a bit more than usual I was also able to go to my first ever Labour Party meeting. It was a women’s forum meeting rather than a regular meeting, but at least it’s a start. I don’t usually go to meetings because I have so many other commitments that take up my time and when I have some free time I need to catch up with things at home.

Aside from union work and my first foray into politics, my other ‘contribution’ this month was donating three big bags of books to a local charity shop. Yep, I’ve given books away. If you know me, you know how hard this was for me to do. But I had to do it. I live in a tiny house with over 5,000 books. It’s out of control. I’ve got rid of thrillers by authors like Lee Child. I love his books, but doubt I’ll read them more than once. And if I do want to read them again, they’re really easy to find cheaply in charity shops or in the library.

Mental Wellbeing

Although I have lots going on and feel like I’m juggling way too many things, I feel surprisingly calm about it all. I have a long list of things to do in my bullet journal, but I’m assigning them to myself a few at a time so it doesn’t feel overwhelming. Having them written down and knowing that they will get done makes me so much less likely to get stressed over them. If I want to have some downtime and watch a film or read a book or even have a nap I’ll do it and not beat myself up over the things that aren’t getting done. I’m saying no to things that involve lots of commitment other than the things I’m already committed to. Having an extra day off each week means I feel like I get so much more done too and so have less weight on my shoulders.

What I’ve Read

Self-Publishing Bootcamp by Carla King

I’m finding this book really useful and interesting even though it’s written for the American market. At least I know that if something is specifically American, then there’s probably a UK equivalent that I need to research. I’ve read it straight through once, but need to return to it and read it again, annotating and highlighting as I go.

The Age of Chaos by Ian L Prince

I picked this book up in a charity shop in Lerwick last summer, but have only just got round to reading it. I thought it would be an academic and/or amusing look at modern life. I think the author intends it to be amusing, but it’s a bit of fail. Some of the things he talks about resonate and I find myself nodding along, but these moments are few and far between. He belittles his wife, drones on about things that aren’t actually ‘chaotic’ and worst of all makes the type of comments that I would definitely call him out on were he to make them in my presence. For example, when relating a tale about buying perfume for his wife he explained he’d put the fancy bag from the parfumerie inside a plain bag because he’d heard ‘there are a lot of poofters in this end of town and I wouldn’t want them to think I was batting for their side’. I haven’t finished the book and don’t know if I will.

Think Yourself Thin by Paul McKenna

This was another charity shop find. I was kind of hoping it would work by osmosis (it is by Paul McKenna after all), but it hasn’t. So I decided to read it. What he says makes sense: don’t go on a diet, just eat what you want when you want and you’ll lose weight. Okay, maybe I need to explain that a bit.

Rather than rigidly following a diet that you may or may not succeed with, and will inevitably put the weight back on as soon you finish the diet and start eating normally again, what you should do is change your approach to food and train yourself to eat just the amount you need of what your body needs. If you are hungry, eat. Eat whatever you feel like, but eat it slowly, chewing it properly and paying attention to when you start to feel full. Then stop eating. Don’t eat extra because you’re worried you might feel hungry again later. Instead, know that if you do feel hungry, even if it’s only a short while later, you can eat again. Over time your body will regulate itself to eat the correct amount of food and your ‘cravings’ will be for food your body needs rather than the sugary, salty, fatty foods that so many of us are addicted to.

Sound good? I think so. I just don’t know how practical it is in every day working life. As a teacher I’m always aware that if I don’t eat at a particular time it could be hours before I get the chance to eat again. So I eat to stave off future hunger. Also, I get so little time I eat quickly, definitely not giving my body time to register if it is full or not. And I don’t think this is just because I’m a teacher. When I think back over all the other jobs I’ve had, I don’t think I was allowed to eat whenever I felt like at any of them.

So I think this way of losing weight makes perfect sense, but I need to work out a way of applying it to my everyday life.

Plans for February

Travel, Leisure and Fun

At half term I’m heading back to London to catch up with a friend, see an exhibition at the British Library and visit Stanford’s (the best travel bookshop EVER) to research my summer travels. I’m hoping I’ll also get to do some walking along the Thames Path and explore at least one area of London that is new to me as part of my ‘Exploring London’s Suburbs’ mission.

At Home

On the home front I need to sort out the issue with my clothes dryer and get my smart meters installed. I’ve also got plans to sort out my cupboards, throw out the crap and instill some kind of storage system. Ideally I’ll finish the month knowing that everything in my house is there because it is either needed or beautiful, that it has a place to live and is easily accessible when I need it. Was that a pig I just saw fly past?

I also need to get my van valeted and sort out the cupboards in the back. Then I need to find someone who can fix the roof for me. And I must remember to renew the tax before the end of the month too.

Admin Stuff

The big thing I need to do this month is buy a new phone. I’ve had my current phone for over four years and it’s starting to get slow and doesn’t always work properly. I want the best future-proofed phone I can get without spending a fortune. Once I’ve found what I want and bought it, it will no doubt take me a while to get everything set up on it.

I changed my internet provider towards the end of last year and got a new personal email address. The old provider will let me keep the email address with them for a year, so this month I really need to make a start on getting everything switched over. It’s only now I’m having to do this that I realise just how many things I’m signed up to that I use my email for. I’ll probably set up a chart in my bullet journal to keep track.

The other big admin task I want to get ticked off this month is applying for my Irish passport. I’ve got pretty much everything I need, I just need to sit down and actually fill the form in.

Apart from these three main tasks I’ve got some insurance to sort out, a few tasks to do with my union work to deal with, quite a few birthdays and flights to Rotterdam to research and buy.

Health and Fitness

My gym membership begins this month and I need to start building regular workouts back into my weekly routine. I’d also like to get out and do at least one walk this month. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to fit in a walk along the Thames Path when I go to London.

Phew!

Well that was a bit longer than I intended it to be.

What did you tick off your list last month? What systems do you use to help you get things done? Share your thoughts and recommendations in the comments below.

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