276 Getting Ready for the Year, a Little Late

So, if you know me personally you will know that I like to be organised, a lot of my friends and family call me OCD because of how overly organised I tend to be. I mean no one is 100% organised all the time, and no one is perfect, but I like to be ready and sorted in advance.

So yes, I have already got my diaries for 2018, and most people just have a diary for the year, but I tend to have two. I like to keep one in my bag, but I end up running out of space, so I like to put everything into a bigger one to keep on my desk at home. I will admit that I don’t always keep both up to date but that is my fault and my problem.

I didn’t plan on getting the three I got this year, yes three (don’t judge please). I am terrible at picking them, as Elle Lindquist said recently it is hard to find one that is perfect for exactly what you want and if you find the one for you it is just very enjoyable. Anyway, I bought three this year, you might ask why, and this is completely understandable, I mean, why do I need three?

My answer to that question is: the first one is going to be for this blog, I have set quite a big goal this year which requires commitment and organisation so wish me luck, I am going to use it to get my writing organised. I want to try and set a time when I write each week. The second one is going to be for life in general, appointments, social events, birthdays, anniversaries, and anything else I need to write down or need to remember and finally, my third one is going to stay in my handbag, or at least I am going to try and leave it in my handbag.

I love the first one I picked up. I was sold pretty much the second I picked it up; the design is just so nice and chic. It is black and gold which I don’t usually go for because I don’t like gold. I prefer silver; I’m not sure why but I do pick silver over gold every time if it is an ornament, jewellery, beauty products, nail varnish and more etc. It is A5 (half your average printing paper) size, and the outside cover is probably a bit bigger than A5 such as an A4 folder would be compared to an A4 piece of paper.

Another thing I love about this one is that it is like a folder. It is ring bound but it is inside a hardback folder. It opens completely flat though which is handy for writing. It has tabs for each month of the year which makes finding the right day quicker and simple. I also like that each month it has a monthly calendar on a table, so it is easy to see when you are free and when you are busy just by looking at one page at the front of each tab. The only thing that I don’t like, well I don’t dislike it, but it is a con out of the pros and cons of this diary.

It is quite big; it isn’t very heavy but it wouldn’t fit in a small handbag to carry around but this is one I am going to keep at home so it doesn’t matter too much that I wouldn’t be able to carry it around easily. If it wasn’t as big, I probably would have just had this one for my bag. This one is a week-to-view diary which I prefer, I have had a page-a-day diary, but it didn’t work, I like to see an overview which is hard when you must flick through the week. I like that you can look at the whole week easily, but I have run out of space in the past, that’s why this year I am splitting the diaries up.

This leads nicely to the second one I got. Now, anyone reading that knows me, knows I do like a bit of sparkle, but not tacky sparkly. I like it to be sophisticated sparkle, which sounds silly, but I think you will know what I mean. I don’t like the over-the-top sparkle, just a bit of sparkle is perfect. When I say tacky, I mean things that you would wear or use as props on stage or a part of a costume, there is nothing wrong if you do like the more over-the-top glitter and shine but I prefer the more subtle items.

This diary is I believe an A6, passport sort of size, I like that it has a plastic cover so you can carry it in your bag and not find glitter everywhere, and it won’t get destroyed if you spill your drink or if it is raining. I was drawn to this one because when it comes to glitter, it is typically silver, gold, or pink; this one is a nice pastel-green colour. It has a string attached which you can use to indicate the page you want to keep so you don’t have to flick through to find the next page each time. I like that this one has a list of dates that you might want to know about, for example, Good Friday or Pancake Day.

It has an overall year planner so you can tick off the days you are busy straight away. I tend to like the diaries that have the last week of the previous year at the start, but it isn’t essential. This is also a week view, which is perfect for a little one to be in your bag, got must keep it small if you are going to be carrying it around everywhere. I don’t know about you, but I hate heavy handbags.

The third one I will keep on my desk at home, and it is going to be for every day such as birthdays and events, social events, and other life stuff. An example would be that my sister lives 100 miles away (approximately) so a couple of times a year she comes to stay, this is what I will write in it. Family birthdays or any other events for example the dentist or vets or anything else that I need to remember. Now I originally wasn’t going to get a third but when I saw it, I just had to get it and find a purpose for it. This one is probably my favourite; it is just so pretty. It is a rose gold glitter colour, its hardback but also the lightest one out of the three.

It was made so well, it is ridiculous how well made this one is, even the ribbon separating the pages feels like super high-end ribbon. I never thought I would be talking about the difference between a cheap ribbon compared to an expensive ribbon. I honestly didn’t know there could be such a variation.

So, I know this is a little late but who wants to stay organised with me this year? The end of 2017 turned into a bit of a mess for me, so I am determined to not let that happen again, slowly I am getting sorted and getting into a routine of everything. In 2017 there was a big change in my life that I was getting used to, now I am in a good place with the change I am working on fitting everything I want to do around it.

Got any tips, please feel free to leave them in the comments section.