This Bag Rocks!

I ordered my own brown bag so I could see it in person!  I like this little thing.  It seems tough and sturdy and durable.  It does remind me of burlap so it’s not exactly a sleek or refined type of item.

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It sits upright on its own and it holds its shape without sagging or falling over or bending.

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I jammed all of these books in it before heading to the library.

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I was delighted to discover that it would hold a regular 3-ring binder.  This opens up tons of possibilities with this bag.  This is the small gift bag, so I wasn’t expecting it to hold numerous things, but it easily carried the 3-ring binder, 3 library books that I needed to return, and my planner and my phone.  With all of those things in the bag, it did not fall over, but just sat there waiting for me to grab it and run out the door!

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At the last-minute, I threw in my wallet as well, and tucked it under the planner.  Everything still fit and I could grab the handles comfortably to carry it out to my car!

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I think this bag will hold up to a lot of wear and tear.  It is probably not going to show smudges or scratches.  I think it’s a great little bag and I’m glad I bought one for myself!

In Love With My Event Stickers

I am in Event Sticker heaven!  I just love my event stickers and use them all the time in my planner!  I love all the colors and love using them to motivate me to complete certain tasks!

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I put reminders to call my family members, and mark down when I do a special mall/shopping day with my daughter!  I have stickers for club meetings for my son, and library days, and menu planning!

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I mark my Flylady zones and keep track of all the movies we watch (mostly because I think we watch too many of them, and I’m about to order stickers for books I’ve read, as I think it would be much better to have more “book” stickers than “movie” stickers)!!

I have them color coded and at a glance, I know exactly what needs to happen!!

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My planner evolves each week, with all the most important things placed on the pages first!!

I am trying really hard this year to get our finances in order, so am marking each bill due with a green Pay Bills sticker with the business and amount (I have a whole entire sheet of these on order because I already ran out).

I love tiny check boxes, and use a fine black Sharpie to write on the stickers.  I have stickers for each family member, in “their” color, so all appointments, or anything that pertains directly to that person is marked with their color of sticker!

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I have ordered stickers for each of my blogs so I can be sure to do my weekly blog posts, and not forget to make those happen on time!!  And I’m going to also order black stickers with the word “Piano” on it, so I can record when I practice/play/enjoy the piano, one of my favorite hobbies!!  I want to be able to look back at my year and see the things I did just for me (piano time), to know that I not only invested in my family and their happiness, but I took care of myself as well, and did things that brought joy into my own life!!

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The event stickers come in 35 different colors, and I love having a rainbow of them in my planner!

Some things I’ve learned about the event stickers…

The words don’t show up very well on the colors Pear, Butter, Lemon, or Light Blue.  If you want to write on your sticker with a black Sharpie, the writing doesn’t show on Chocolate, Black, Navy, Charcoal, or Mocha very well!

If you want to order stickers that match each of the month’s colors, be sure to check out my Color of the Months blog post, to find out exactly which colors to choose for your event stickers!

Here is my list of event stickers so far (in no particular order), and the colors I chose for each one, and the reason behind the colors:

Daryl – Orange – Because that’s his family color
Kristy – Pink – Because that’s my family color
Darien – Cornflower – Because that’s his family color
Kaelyn – Lemon – Because that’s her family color
Kendrick – Kelly Green – Because that’s his family color
Write Letters – Light Pink – Because it’s something I need/want to do, and it’s in my color shade
Special Dinner – Pool – Because everything food related is in Pool
Potluck – Pool – Because it’s food related
R.A.K. – Gold – Because RAKs bring sunshine into someone’s mailbox (or my mailbox)
Movie Night – Navy – Because Navy is like the night sky, and that’s when we watch movies, at night
Call Friend – Light Pink – Because I want to do that more often this year and pink is my shade of color
Call Mom – Hot Pink – Because I love her, and it’s in my shade of color again, but more vibrant because it’s very important
Call Kim – Purple – Because it’s my sister’s favorite color, and I need to call her more often
Anniversary – Light Gray – Because we are getting close to our Silver Anniversary
Lazer Tag – Gray – Because it’s dark in the building and kinda smoky in there too
Sky High – Teal – I don’t know why I chose this color for this
Mall/Shopping – Butter – Because it’s something I do with my daughter, and it’s in her shade of color
CMWF – Orange – Because it’s my hubby’s work
Road Trip & Travel – Coral – Because it’s one of my favorite color of stickers, and both of these activities are some of my favorite things to do
Snow Skiing – Baby Blue – Because it looks like winter and snow and cold
Hiking & Camping – Mocha – Because it looks like dirt, and you get dirty when you go hiking and camping
Tennis – Pear – Because it’s the same color as tennis balls
Swimming & Water Skiing – Turquoise – Because it looks like beautiful refreshing water
Bubble Bath – Hot Pink – Because it’s one of my FAVORITE things to do, and it’s in my shade of color
Door Decor – Beet – Because Beet is super pretty and Door Decor is a happy thing I do each month
Pathfinders – Army Green – Because it’s my son’s club, we march, and it’s in his shade of color
Library – Tan – Because our library’s name has “Prairie” in it, and tan makes me think of the prairie
Plan Menus – Pool – Because it’s food related again and it’s a very calm and soothing color, though dealing with food does not leave me feeling calm and soothing, so I thought I needed some external motivation and help in that area
Various School Related Stickers – Red – Because the little red schoolhouse is always Red
Specific Bill Related Stickers – Green – Because green looks like money
Dogs – Taupe – Because muddy little paw prints are usually brown, and Taupe is a light brown that I can write on
Pay Bills – Green – Because it’s about money again
Zone 1 – Dark Orange – Because that is the color Flylady uses for Zone 1 (next time I’ll use Dark Red)
Zone 2 – Gold – Because that is the color she uses for Zone 2
Zone 3 – Cornflower – Because that is the color she uses for Zone 3
Zone 4 – Kelly Green – Because that is the color she uses for Zone 4
Zone 5 – Beet – Because that is the color she uses for Zone 5 (purple would also work)
DRINK H2O – Turquoise – Because that’s the color for water related things
Shine Sink – Lavender – Because it’s a chore, and Flylady loves purple
Mini Tramp – Seafoam – Because it was a nice color that I hadn’t used yet
Fab Abs – Coral – I don’t know why I chose Coral for this one
PROVERBS – Butter – I don’t remember my vision behind this sticker or this color 😦

And if this isn’t enough, I’ve got stickers ordered for my 3 Blogs, Piano Time (black), a few more specific bills (green), Attack Clutter (lavender), Pay Bills (green), and I’m always trying to think of more, especially those that will motivate me to accomplish something or develop a needed habit, like reading more books, or some type of exercise, or some type of cleaning routine!

If you haven’t tried the Event Stickers yet, go for it!  It’s an easy way to bring color into your planner pages, and a great way to color code, set goals for yourself, and bring some variety into your days!