Planning for 2018 | How To Do Year End Review | Part I

In case you missed it, I have a new group on Facebook called B Well by Mae B. Every month, I plan to host a free challenge to address various aspects of life and how we can, quite simply, live well. (Please join us, if you haven't already - it's free!) 

I asked the group to vote and we all decided that December's challenge should focus on planning for 2018. So we'll be discussing various areas throughout the entire month of December! I will not be posting everything here on the blog, so if you'd like to participate or just get the info, please do join the group!

Before we jump into goals & organization, let’s take some time to review 2017. 

That’s an extremely important first step! 

A few things to consider: 

1. What went right? Celebrate your wins & accomplishments!

2. What didn’t get finished?

3. What do you want to add to next year? (activities / projects / people / anything you want more of in your life)

4. How did you FEEL this year? 

5. What’s the most important area you focused on in 2017?

I encourage you to set aside about 20-30 minutes to think about these questions (and anything else you want to review) and actually WRITE down your answers. Writing is such a powerful tool for planning and manifestation! Feel free to comment below or in the B Well by Mae B group with any questions and share your answers if you'd like!

Here's to the best year yet!

XO

Giveaway | New XO Planners for Your 2016 Organization!

You all know I'm always trying to find beautiful, chic office supplies. And although I'm not usually a fan of color, I'm absolutely love these goodies from XO Planners. Nina, the founder, created a functional and beautiful Day On One Page (DO1P) calendar that helps you organize your schedule, to-dos, finances and health. It even includes a water tracker and monthly dashboard. I love that it has tabs for each month and a pocket too! #itsthelittlethings

Check out my YouTube video for an in-depth look at the pages and layout....and those swoon-worthy planner stickers! I LOVE them!

Nina was gracious to offer 2 planners to giveaway to you all! Enter below for your chance to win! Two lucky winners will get to choose which cover they want. Contest closes on December 21, 2015

And don't forget to use the discount code MAE15 for 15% off all orders. 

The coupon is valid until December 23, 2015.

Good luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Happiness Planner | Review, Flip Through & Giveaway!

I am so blown away by The Happiness Planner! It is so beautiful, well-crafted and just plain cool. What a fabulous way to work on personal development and self-care. Check out my video review of all three colors and then enter below to win one for yourself! 

We're giving away 2 planners -- 1 in mint and 1 in pink.

 a Rafflecopter giveaway

The first winner chosen will receive his/her choice of color and then the second winner will receive the other color. They're both beautiful, you will surely love either one!! Big thanks to Mo from The Brand Mentalist for sending these planners to me for review and giveaway! I absolutely love them. Please note, some affiliate links are included. I only share products that I truly love and I whole-heartedly believe in supporting female entrepreneurs! Good luck!!

New 2015 Sugar Paper for Target Planners! Review, Flip Through & Giveaway!

It's no secret that I love the Sugar Paper LA for Target planners. I used one for the majority of 2014 and

and it was my favorite calendar -- the one I found myself going back to time and time again. 

It had a gorgeous kraft paper cover and gold embossed 2014 on the cover (You'll see more in the YouTube video)

So check out my YouTube video below, where I show you some of the line from the 2015 release. There's also a fabulous giveaway included! There will be 2 winners who can each choose 2 items! Big thanks to the team at Blue Sky for sending me this box of Sugar Paper goodies!

  

My New Customized Personal Planner & Giveaway!

You guys! I LOVE my new Personal Planner! 

So grateful to Lisa and the whole team at Personal Planner for sending it to me. 

Check out my YouTube video to see how I'm using it!

And the most exciting part! 

Lisa has generously offered to giveaway a voucher to one of you to make your own planner! 

Enter below! xo

UPDATES:

In the video, I mistakenly said Lisa is the owner, but she is the Marketing Manager in the US. The owners are Anders and Paula Lundberg, and they both live on a farm in Sweden. Here's how Lisa tells the story: 

Their story of how Personal Planner was born is actually pretty cute. Paula, who was a student, complained to her husband Anders that all the planners she saw in the store were boring. So Anders designed and printed a planner just for her! Paula shared it on her blog, people loved it, and Anders started making planners in the basement to other people who asked for personalized planners. After a couple of months Anders was swamped with orders and he quit his job to fully focus on this. This was 2006, and today we are sending planners to all over the world! :)

Also, GOOD NEWS! Personal Planner will soon offer a monthly view! How's that for customer service!

DISCOUNT CODE:

And even more good news! Lisa and the team at Personal Planner is offer 15% discount code! 

At checkout, just enter: M-AEBA-DIYA!

Woohoo!

Ok, now the giveaway. Good luck!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Getting Organized in 2014

You guys have probably already figured out by now that I am obsessed with stationery….calendars, planners, Filofax, notebooks, pens, paper, washi tape…you name it, I love it.

I'm also a big organization freak. 

So put the two together and you have my stylish (albeit sometimes expensive) system and tips to get you organized in 2014 and hopefully help you stayed organized!

Who had that at the top of their 2014 new year's resolutions?!

Check out my latest YouTube video to see how I went from using a single Kate Spade agenda to 3 items --a SugarPaper for Target calendar, Louis Vuitton agenda and a project management notebook.

This system works so well for me! I hope it will be helpful to you too!

Here's to all the best in 2014

Happy New Year!

Happy Organizing!

xx

ps- I've been really trying to get back into posting regular videos on YouTube!

I love it

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all my latest beauty, style and organizational videos

I usually share makeup reviews, skincare routines, style tips and advice on staying organized

but if you have any video requests…please send them my way!

Review | Russell + Hazel Smart Date System

I feel kinda controversial saying this, but here goes: I do not like the Russell + Hazel Smart Date System.  There, I said it. I feel better. Maybe I just didn't buy the right products, but I'm not happy with the organizational planner system. Of course I researched the heck out of this agenda/planner before I bought it and there were tons of rave reviews so I felt comfortable spending close to $100 on it all. But, I don't think it's easy to use, logical or functional. And then there's the issue of price. It's expensive. I spent $18 for the binder itself (special edition, no longer available), $24 for the monthly tabs and $12 for the weekly. Plus tax and shipping, I was close to $80. Then there were no pockets to store loose papers so I had to spend $8 at Office Depot to buy plastic pockets for the binder. (Thankfully, they fit.) And then another $15 for lined paper for notes, lists, etc.

I can't really pinpoint why I don't like the system but it just doesn't work for me. The monthly tab pages are ok, but I needed weekly sheets for day-to-day appointments so I had to fit those pages in between the monthly tabs. Then I needed paper for to-do lists and jotting down random ideas. I put that in the back but it wasn't separated from the calendar part so I had to flip through pages to find them. At this point, I had spent so much money, I just wasn't willing to buy separator tabs. 

I found the system to be a little cumbersome and not really that organized at all. I was stressed just having to open the thing. And I was put-off by having to spend so much money to buy every little thing. Oh and one more thing I bought, the rubber band set. Those are super cute! I don't really use them for the binder, but I do put them on other notebooks. I got the chevron and zebra set. I love those little zebras. (You can see the chevron band up top, on my gold journal.)

So over all, I don't recommend this system. Maybe if I would have bought a couple more things it would have worked better. I don't think it's a complete waste though, I decided to just keep the lined paper in the binder and use it as a notebook/journal. Also, I LOVE the signature pattern on the binder so if nothing else, it will make a pretty decoration on my desk.

Are you using the Russell + Hazel smart date planner system? 

Do you love it?

If not, what agenda are you currently using? 

ps-

I'm backing to using the myAgenda in leopard

Again, I don't love it, but it works better than the R+H