Changing how I use my monthly inserts for 2014

I haven't been very happy with the presenation of my monthly inserts. I've realized the colour scheme isn't working for me, so I'm preparing a change for my new monthly inserts for 2014.

As you can see, I've been using these coloured sticky hearts from Asda to colour code, but because they're slightly bigger than I'd like, it's quite hard to use more than one on each day. So I've decided to change from stickers to using coloured pens to write in appointments, birthdays, pay days etc. Anything that isn't 100% set in stone (i.e birthdays) will be put on sticky notes until it's done.

I'll still be putting some washi tape at the top of the monthly pages to make it a little pretty, and write something good that happened in that month. And for the days that are before and after that month, I will colour in with different coloured pencils for each month (see above - that was a tester). I may use stickers throughout the months for special events, but it's not a definite.

I've finally come to a decision with how to decorate my monthly pages! This is January 2014, and each month is a different colour with a matching masking tape at the top. I've coloured in each month in advanced so the only decorating I have to do is put stickers on the days for certain events... Which brings me onto my new colour coding system! I have started to use these coloured stickers from Sainsburys; each colour represents something which is written on the Project Life card to remind myself. I also stick notes for things I need to do in that month (for example, I had to make a dentist appointment for February, so I needed to remind myself by the end of January).

My Week #43

This week was an orange theme for Halloween, with a little bit of pink :) I don't have any Halloween themed washi tapes, sticky notes or stickers, so I had to improvise and use what I had. I love seeing everyone elses week decorations, especially for Halloween. I've noticed American's seem to really love Halloween (way more than here in the UK!) so it's really cool seeing all the different decorations. I hope everyone had a nice week :)

My Week #42

This was my week, very simple with a green/nature layout. I had a very boring week with just work and college. I also had a root canal which wasn't too bad! Both the green washi tapes are from ebay, leaf and white post its were from RAKs and the green post it was from Asda.

How was your week?

My Week #41

This week was a red, white, and blue theme... But in the end it pretty much had all the colours of the rainbow ^.^ It was an easy week as you can see, and I lost 3lbs! (2lbs to go until I reach my October goal!). I'm not a massive fan of hello kitty but I do think they're cute to use now and again (and they were sent to me by a new penpal so I thought I'd use them). The kitty sticky note was sent to me by a penpal and the green apple sticky note was by a RAK :) The thin washi tape was from eBay *featured in my last my week post*

Hope you all had a good weekend!

My Week #40

It's absolutely crazy to think how fast this year has flown by, and that in less than 13 weeks we will be in a new year! It's exciting but definitely crazy. 

Anyway, on to my week! So this week I wanted to try out my new thin washi tapes which I bought from eBay (anyone in the UK looking for cheap thin washi tapes, there you go!). They looked super cute and had lovely colours which weren't too bold or pastel. I wanted to keep it minimal again but I tried something new as well. If you look around the rings, I used my heart stickers from Asda as make-shift hole protectors! It was fun but slightly hard to get the hole in the middle of the heart, but overall I think they look nice and I might do this another time in the future if my week is looking a little dull. The stickers and sticky notes I got from RAKs or penpals :)

I put some new top tabs on because my old ones weren't sticking much anymore, so I tried these Martha Stewart tabs (which I was dying to get as you cannot get them in the UK, but some lovely person called Jessica said she would get some for me and send them if I pay for them and p&p which was great!). I absolutely love these, they look clean and cute, and stick very well. It's a shame MS/Avery decided to cut all sticky notes and tabs because the range was so lovely and nearly everyone in the Filofax community want them!

How To Colour Code In Your Filofax

I've noticed that most people who own a Filofax and use it regularly have their own colour coding system. I personally have experimented with different colour coding styles and systems, but none have really worked well for me. I wanted to find out what people currently use and why it works for them. 

These are some photos I've found online of people's colour coding systems for their Filofax (links are below the photo) 

From Label Me Organized

From Imysworld

From Team Filofax

From Inside The Crafters Studio watch Cathy's video on her system here

From Jagged Little Thoughts

My first colour coding system

So above was my first colour coding system which I tried out in my Filofax. I tried to keep it simple and fun, but I ended up not using it. I love the transparent colour stickers from Paperchase, but there aren't many in a pack as they come with big ones and smaller ones. I planned to use them instead of writing in colour on my calendar but I found it was slightly annoying to get the stickers out, so ended up not using them.

At the time of this photo I was keeping a food diary in my Filofax. I was using the vertical week on two pages so I used a different colour for each day so it made the week look more pleasing to the eye.

Youtube Video links:

• Filofax - Color Coding (personal Domino)
• My Filofax Color Coding System

If you have your own colour coding system, leave a comment below with your link or a description :)

October Goals & Clean Eating Challenge

Image from whitspeaks

I decided last month that for the month of October, I would set myself a handful of specific goals which I'd work on throughout the month to achieve by November 1st. I had one specific goal I wanted to work on which was clean eating, but I wanted to add a few more so I had a bigger goal. These are the main goals I've set myself for this month:

1. Eat clean as much as possible
2. Drink 3-4 litres of water everyday
3. Get at least 6 hours of sleep each night
4. Lose 5lbs by November 1st

I have been planning how I will achieve these goals, as I believe in the saying "if you fail to plan, you plan to fail"; I am going to be using my Filofax to help me keep track of my goals and how I'm doing. I won't be writing my food diary in my Filofax, I'll be using an A5 spiral bound notebook for that, but I will be tracking my weight and measurements in my Filofax as well as how much sleep I get. In my food diary (A5 notebook) I will write everything I eat and drink daily each week. 

Made on A4 paper using green polka dot washi tape to stick it up

I've also added a chart on my bedroom wall for motivation. It consists of 60 boxes and one box equals one pound lost (so my goal is to lose 60lbs). Each week I weigh myself, I will take note, and however much weight I've lost, I will put a sticker on the box (so one pound lost = one sticker on the chart). I'm hoping that this will help me see how well I am doing and motivate me to carry on. This is more for an overall goal, but I am aiming to lose 6lbs (1.5lbs per week) by November 1st so it will test my chart out and see how well it works.