Organization: Paper Planners

January is Get Organized month everywhere and here is Houston all the stores have their organization items out in full effect. I know there are tons of people trying to get organized and get their life in order as new years resolutions. I know that I am booking clients here in Houston who are ready to get a fresh start on their organization. 

As I have said several times on here before I try to be as eco as possible, but my vice is paper (stationery, organizers, etc). I love paper products whether it be to make various things with them, that I can send them to people, etc. 

I am not against electronic calendar organizers. They just aren't as effective for me, as I am more a visual person and like to see it in front of me and make notes.

Below are several paper planner organizers that I use for various reasons. 

This organizer I use on a daily basis for clients, personal, etc. I use the Franklin Covey compact size. I love it. I have used this for years and years. It is small enough to fit into most of my purses and it stores various business cards, notes, etc.

This organizer is a new one from Sugar Paper that I found at Target for $5. It is one that I use in my home maintenance binder. I put things on it like when I need to change filters, house appointments, dog medication, etc.

This one is a Russell + Hazel calendar that use in conjunction with their mini binder. If you have read the blog for a while you know that I love Russell + Hazel products as they are eco and made in the USA. This one is for personal use

This is another mini calendar from Sugar Paper that I found at Target. This one I currently use to store important work dates. I honestly don't know specifically how I will end up using it, but it is very compact, thin and I was thinking I may take it to client meetings instead of the more bulky brown one. Plus, it is made on part recycled paper and soy ink.

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2014 Goals

Wow I can't believe that it is already 2014. This past year went by crazy fast. Wow what a year it was. 

I'm usually not too big on resolutions, but this year I have personal and business goals that I hope to accomplish. These are all things that I think I can accomplish without setting myself up for failure.

Personal Goals:

Be more positive. I think in general I am a pretty positive person. I can be very positive for other people when they have situations, but when it comes to my situations I am hard on myself. There is always a silver lining in everything. 
Buy a home. This is something that Bryan and I have wanted for a long time. Last year when we went to get a mortgage, 2 different mortgage people told us that Bryan needed to be in his job for at least 2 years. Since his previous career was in construction and he is now in oil and gas. This was a little disappointing, but that just gave us more time to save. This is our year to buy a house!
Travel somewhere new with Bryan. Bryan and I love to travel and I hope to explore a new city, state or country with Bryan. This year we are going to California for our aunts wedding, which is my first time in California, but not Bryan's so hopefully we can go somewhere together we both haven't been yet.
Cook new recipes often. I cook a good amount at home and love to cook, but we often default to regular things that we like or that are easy. I love cookbooks and have so many, so we are going to try new things. Our first food adventure is going to be using our pasta maker we got for our wedding over a year ago. 
Try new things. I love trying new things and 2 things that have been on my list for years are learning the piano and perfecting my spanish conversation and writing skills. I hope to do either or both of these things this year and try something new like taking a calligraphy class or some other classes. The calligraphy class I really want to take is with Blue Eye Brown Eye, but the class offered in Houston for one day booked up within the hour and I was too late, so I am hoping to take a class from them somewhere else in Texas this year if I can't in Houston.
Continue to date Bryan and go on new adventures. Bryan and I love trying new things and going on adventures. Recently we have been trying to go to museums and attractions around Houston that we haven't been to. In September we went on a coffeehouse tour (although I don't drink coffee) to coffee places we haven't been to around Houston. We constantly go to new restaurants around town and we have been buying Groupons for various things to see all of what Houston has to offer. 
Shit or get off the pot about getting my Phd. I have been tooling around with getting my Phd for years now, but I am not sure if I want to take on that financial burden, extra stress and endless writing right now. Plus, Bryan wants to go back to school and I already have my masters, so it's his turn. I need to make a decision this year because I know if I keep putting it off I will never do it. I need to take the GRE and apply for fall 2015 admission. I took the MAT for my masters, which was actually tougher than I expected and I hear the GRE is pretty tough too. I have to apply in fall 2014 for fall 2015 admission.

I was very fortunate last year to accomplish several business goals that I had wanted to accomplish like getting the new site up and running, new logo and working with new clients. This year I have other goals I want to accomplish.

Business Goals:

Blog more for Eco Modern Concierge and for my personal blog. I hope to blog at least once a week or more. My business blog is just a mish mosh of things that I am interested in from eco to organization to products I love. My personal blog is mainly for family to keep up with where Bryan and I are at and what we are up to. 
Reach out more to expand my business. Whether this is to other businesses, individuals or organizations, I want to reach out and expand my business. 
Don't let fear get in the way of trying new things. There are times (not too often) that I don't give my full potential because of fear. This can be fear of failure, fear of being intimidated, fear of being rejected etc. I hope to overcome this more this year.
Finish and reevaluate my business plan. I started and basically finished my business plan years ago, but I really want to take a look at it again and rethink some things and finish it completely. 

What are some of your goals for the new year?

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Volunteering and Giving

Like I mentioned in the #GivingTuesday post, volunteering is something that I like to do when I have the time. During the holidays there are always organizations that are looking for volunteers. I know that the holiday season is almost over, but that doesn't mean you can't volunteer for various organizations. Check out volunteermatch.org, volunteerhouston.org or visit your favorite non profit. I volunteered for NAMI Houston gift wrapping at Barnes and Nobles (found through volunteermatch.org) and also I volunteered in crafts section for the MFAH Breakfast with Santa event. 

You can also give to various organizations. There are tons of non profits, but ones that I am fond of for personal reasons are Texas Children's Hospital and MD Anderson Children's Cancer Center. Either organization would love donations with products http://bit.ly/1doqyzZ & http://bit.ly/18ALzVh or monetarily http://bit.ly/1bVtQOk & http://bit.ly/19gzxnB. I also love giving to the World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy.

Here are some organizations that are always in need: 

• Toys for Tots
•  Habitat for Humanity
•  Blue Santa
• Local Hospitals
• Food Banks

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DIY Tinsel Pom Poms

I saw these tinsel pom poms at Target that I really wanted them, but they were kind of expensive to me at $4 for 2. I decided to make my own. I just got a strand of tinsel garland 15ft for $3.50 and made about 25 pom poms. I just cut about 2"strands, made a circle and stapled them together to make poms. It was super simple and easy.

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Christmas Cards

I love sending cards in general, but here are the Christmas cards that I sent out this year to family and friends. I put a lot of detail into my cards, so it feels like it takes me forever to write them. I've noticed most of the cards that we have been getting this year are picture cards with printed messages on them. Since most of our friends now have children there are always pictures of the kids. Since not all the post offices by us will hand cancel, I went to a different one that does on Greenbriar and Richmond. (which on a side note: the people at the Greenbriar and Richmond post office are really nice and not rude)

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Eco Holiday Tips

So I had every intention of writing more blog posts this month, but honestly work has been crazy and I just haven't felt like writing on here when I get home. I know this little post may be coming a little late, but here are some eco holiday tips you can follow. 

• If you shop online try to get a majority of your items from the same place so you can reduce the amount of packaging you use
• Make your own gifts i.e. scarves, mittens, jellies, pastries, etc.
• Plan your shopping trips so you don’t have to drive as much and ride your bike whenever possible
• Bring your own bags
• Try wrapping gifts with the comics section, reuse old paper maps, and spare scrap pieces of cloth
• Send holiday cards by using cards made of recycled paper or send e-cards
• Buy vintage gift items or gifts cards to reduce on the amount of packaging
•  Buy LED lights for the outside of your house and tree
• If you are using candles during the holiday season buy soy or beeswax candles
• Make or reuse your old decorations or if you must buy new ones buy from resale shops
• For parties buy or cater locally
•  Don’t use disposable plates, silverware, etc
•  Stay home instead of traveling
• Carpool whenever you can, especially if you will be making a lot of trips to the store

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#GivingTuesday

Today is #GivingTuesday, which is a national day of giving at the start of the holiday season. There are various ways you can give to different organizations:

• Volunteer
• Donate money
• Donate items 
• Amazon has something called AmazonSmile that you can sign up for. I just found out about it yesterday and I use Amazon ALL the time. 0.5% of qualifying purchases will go to a charity that you chose from on Amazon. 

Today I am going to donate some children's books to Discovery Green for their Toddler Tuesdays. I am also planning on giving to and volunteering for some other organizations during this holiday season as well. There are several organizations that I like to volunteer with throughout the year and give monetary donations at the beginning of the year to various organizations. 

Do you have any organizations that you like to volunteer with or give to? 

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