|
🎉 HAPPY NEW YEAR! 🎉
Welcome back to the 'An Edited Life' newsletter; the monthly drop of all things organisation, which feels more apt this month than usual with it being January and all. I thought I'd take a moment to share with you five new productivity methods that I tested out last year that actually WORKED. Not only have they helped to streamline my life organisation processes in some way, shape or form, they've saved me time and therefore freed up a slice of my day for me to use more effectively doing something else. Lovely. I also thought I'd circle back to four of my most-viewed organisation-heavy blog posts from 2018 (which bizarrely all include me reading in the photos because that just screams 'I HAVE MY S**T TOGETHER' obviously, note to self: find a new pose for 2020). Scroll down for my favourite reads and products from December too and now if I can tear myself away from Schitt's Creek for long enough, here are my top five life hacks that I'd recommend you put in place ASAP...
|
Lesson #26
The Five Best Life Organisation Hacks I Learnt in 2019
2019 was a big ol' year for me I'd say. I spent the majority of 2018 in a hole writing my book, and so it was nice to spend some time wearing actual clothes and not having heart palpitations about word counts. I got out, saw the world and ate things that weren't just packs of biscuits. I also feel like I really got s**t done and added a handful of processes to my working week that have changed the organisation game big time. Here's the scoop...
PLANNING DIGITALLY. For years I've planned my editorial calendar in my notebooks and although it worked out for me it meant that I wasn't able to share it with anyone, nor able to easily move stuff around. Last year I imported all my planning into Monday and it's been brilliant. Sure the boards took me a while to set up, but I now plan all my YouTube, blog, newsletter, weekly edits and all my paid partnership content in there; allowing me to track my progress across all those platforms and projects. It's bloody brill and has given me so much more flexibility when it comes to the organisation of it all, and makes my progress so much more visual and easier to see.
DOING MY EXPENSES AS I GO. I always, always used to leave sorting out my expenses and categorising my card transactions till the end of the month and it always took hours and usually came at a time when I had way more pressing things to complete. So these days I do them as I go. Gone to London on the train for a day of meetings? Well I snap a picture of my train ticket on Adobe Scan, send the PDF to my laptop and add it to the relevant folder on Dropbox the following morning. It sounds like such a simple thing - and it is! - but keeping on top of all my spending has made the world of difference.
IN-APP BUDGETING. I know I've mentioned Monzo approximately 1,587 times, but it really is brilliant when it comes to budgeting. I don't use this as my business account, instead using it solely for personal stuff which helps me to focus on my actual household monthly outgoings and expenses, which in turn allows me to plan effectively for both my personal and business finances. It gives the option to edit categories within your monthly budget which is so helpful and just gives a nice, clean overview of your spending. It basically creates a budget for you; I don't know why I didn't open an account sooner.
HAVING A *HUGE* CLEAR-OUT. This does make me sound a bit like a broken record, but as I was writing 'An Edited Life' and just before it was published I realised that I really needed to practice what I preached and had the tidy out of all tidy outs; clearing out our loft space, every cupboard, drawer and storage vessel and sorting through our kitchen from top to bottom (honestly these Lazy Susans* were perhaps the best thing I purchased in 2019). Turns out having a big clear out like that means that you really don't need to sift through your belongings all that often in order to stay organised. Our spice rack is still nice and neat, our cupboards aren't looking too different to when I first tidied them - you get the gist. Find a home for all your belongings and that huge annual declutter will become a thing of the past.
NUMBERING YOUR DAY. I love what I do and 95% of the time I'm motivated to do it, but on those dates where it just ain't happening I've found the secret formula to give myself an impactful kick up the rear to get stuff done. It's so ridiculously simple. I look at my to-do list for the day and I write it out in a numbered list, finding a logical way of piecing it all together, trying to start with the meatier tasks where possible and tailing off with the 'funner' things that won't take as long to complete. I try to keep this list to under 10 points and... it works! I might not get to 10, but maybe I get to eight or nine and wake up early the next day to get back up to speed, but I can pretty much guarantee that I get more done in that day than I would have without it. Sometimes you've just got to keep it simple.
|
A Point In The Right Direction
|
My love for the 'Who Weekly?' podcast has caused me to develop a deep love for Laura Dern and so this Top Shelf is truly a delight. WE STAN THIS QUEEN.
|
|
|
I have become a bit obsessed with saving 'grams of people's top book recommendations and this one from Nicole Richie is pretty stellar. Saving all of them to Goodreads pronto.
|
|
|
Being 30, a woman, a millennial and someone who works primarily in social media I found this read completely fascinating. Jia completely nails it (as per usual).
|
|
|
In case you missed it
 How To Find Time To Read Perhaps the question I'm asked most in my DM's; here's how I slice out time from my day to dedicate to reading.
|
 Your Most Productive Week Yet The step-by-step for how to plan for your most productive week yet. Start your working year off on the right foot, eh?
|
 How To Save For A HouseIt's easier said than done, but here's how we're saving to buy a house and our top budgeting tips.
|
|
Four THINGS I’VE BEEN LOVING THIS MONTH
Missoma Helical Hoops*
Cute little huggies that I wear every single day.
|
|
|
|
www.theannaedit.com
|
Newsletter Archive | You received this email because you signed up to The Anna Edit newsletter ‘An Edited Life’.
Not interested anymore? You can unsubscribe here.
|
