Making my Midori Traveler's Notebook into a Quasi-Filofax!!

Hi!


Today I'm going to be showing you something special about my Midori Traveler's Notebook... How I'm turning it into a quasi-Filofax!!


I got my Midori 3 and a half weeks ago, and since then I've been happily turning it into my planner!

As you will probably know if you've seen my youtube videos, I used to use a personal sized Filofax as my planner. It consisted of 3 main sections: Diary, Organisation section (lists, lists, lists), and Reference (important information), and sometimes I had a notes section too.

Therefore, I knew that I had to have the same sections in my planner! It was fairly simple to set up, initially! I have 3 notebooks in my Midori- 1) Diary (WO2P), 2) Organisation notebook, and 3) My Notebook notebook! My Reference section will soon be transferred over to the back of my Organisation notebook!
If you haven't already, please see this post where I wrote about the set-up of my Midori :) - You don't have to watch the video, because the sound quality is poor!).

But I did struggle with some things... because my Midori isn't a Filofax!

I used a Filofax for almost 2 years, so it was difficult to transition to another system completely. For a while, I didn't transfer everything over, instead keeping my Osterley personal in Wine out with my old Filofax set-up, because it was my safety blanket! But soon I became more in love with the Midori, and less in love with the Filofax (faulty ring mechanisms made me bitter!), and I've put my Osterley back on the shelf, and started using my Midori for almost everything!!

But even though I fell in love with my Midori, I still found that I couldn't do some of the things in it that you can with ease inside Filofaxes, such as rearranging pages. That is an obvious thing to say, because the Midori doesn't have rings, but you don't realise it until you really miss the flexibility of it!!
Also, I watch a lot of filofax videos, and see a lot of pretty pictures on flickr, and I got really envious of how beautiful people's personal Filofaxes were! I'd all but abandoned my personal filos, trying to trade them for A5s (which I will use for my hobbies etc), but I still wanted to use a personal Filofax for something, purely because I wanted to have one that looked as pretty as other people's!!

But a couple of days ago, when I tried to set up a personal Filofax as a kind of project to-do list filo, to use in conjunction with my Midori, I felt absolutely no love for personal sized Filofaxes! There was no magic there!!
So I put that idea- and the Filofax- back on the shelf. However, I decided to try to integrate the functionality of a Filofax into my Midori! No, not add rings to my Midori- but a couple of much simpler hacks!


1) Making a Filofax paper notebook

In my hand-made Organisation Notebook, which I made myself!

This is an idea that I have had for a while- to be able to have pages that are easily removeable and repositionable, stick them into a notebook etc with washi tape!
It's really a simple idea! I already have tonnes of personal sized Filofax paper (literally, a whole boxful!!), and because I'm not using personal sized filos that much any more, I really need to use it for something! The paper size is perfect to fit on Midori-sized paper, too- no trimming necessary! And it's quite a brilliant idea, because I can put the pages into a personal sized filo to archive, and I can transfer already written-on pages from my personal sized filos and just stick them in! All you have to do is take some washi tape, and stick the pages down. You don't have to do the top and bottoms like I've done, you could just do the corners if you want. The pages are easily removeable because of the washi tape, and you can re-order the pages inside the notebook (although this does take longer and is more fiddly than rearranging pages in a Filofax!), or remove a used-up page, and replace it with a fresh one!
I love this idea. It means that theoretically I never have to buy another notebook for my organisation section, as I can just replenish the finished pages for my lists. If I had used a regular notebook, I would have gradually used up pages, had lots of finished lists (e.g. shopping lists) in with unfinished lists, things would have got out of order, and ongoing lists (such as my long-term to-do list) would be broken up with other lists in between the pages. It also means that my pages are prettier and more interesting- something that I found boring when I stopped using my Filofax, in which I used lots of different types of paper- different colours and different formats, lined, squared, etc- was that 'regular' notebooks are made of one coloured and one format paper! So now I can use whatever type of paper I like in my organisation notebook! And the washi tape is so pretty!!
The only trouble with this idea is that the washi tape sometimes lifts up, so you have to keep sticking it back down- but none of my pages have ever fallen out!

2) Making a Filofax-paper insert!

I love this one- I'm really proud of it!
It's quite simple to do! You need 2 personal flyleafs or dividers, a treasury tag (7cm or longer), and the Midori zip-lock insert.

Step 1- Take the 2 flyleafs with the hole sides in the middle, and Scotch tape them together at the top and bottom. (Scotch tape is better for this than normal sticky tape- but you could also use washi tape!). You need to leave a 2mm gap between the 2 flyleafs, so that they don't rub against each other.

Difficult to see in the photo!

Step 2- Put the treasury tag through the back flyleaf's 3rd and 4th holes, so that the string is at the back and the metal tags come to the front.

Step 3- Put your Filofax papers in between the flyleafs, and thread the treasury tag through the 3rd and 4th holes of the pages.

Step 4- Pull the metal tags through the holes of the front flyleaf- if you don't pull it through, the pages will slip around.

Step 5- Insert the back flyleaf into the flap of the zip-lock insert. This holds it in place inside your Midori!

I love my little invention- it means that I can keep my lists for my current projects and most important things at the front of my Midori, and therefore at the front of my mind! I can add, rearrange or remove pages as I need!!


So there you have it! That's how I'm turning my Midori Traveler's Notebook into a quasi-Filofax!!

If you have any questions, just ask!! :D

April 365/30 Filo Lists!!

1) Goals for April

2) Goals for 2^nd quarter of 2013

3) What Easter eggs/gifts did you receive?

4) What designer binders would you like?

5) Favourite main meals

6) Favourite things about Spring (or Autumn for sourthern-hemisphere people!)

7) Ways to prettify your Filofax/binder

8) Favourite Disney films

9) Best ways to spend a quiet night in

10) Favourite binders out of the new Filofax range so far, high to low

11) Favourite washi tape- stick in list!

12) Things you've been 'window shopping' for online

13) Favourite sights

14) Favourite sounds

15) Favourite flavours

16) Favourite smells

17) Ways to manage my time

18) Favourite cakes and desserts

19) Filofaxes you don't need and could sell!

20) Books I want to read soon

21) Favourite chocolate/candy

22) Inspiration/Ideas to redecorate your room

23) Favourite sticky notes/flags

24) Favourite colours

25) Perfect ways to spend a Sunday

26) Favourite fairy tales

27) Motivational phrases/mantras

28) Favourite Filofax accessories (that don't come in the standard fill)

29) Top 10 things to do in Summer

30) Review of the month

My Midori Traveler's Notebook: How I use it as my Planner!!

Hi!

Here's my video about my Midori Traveler's Notebook!

Unfortunately, the sound quality isn't good. I have to use my laptop's webcam now, because if I record a video on my phone or my camera, youtube says it will take over 140 minutes to load the video!! But the microphone is rubbish, so the sound quality is, too!!


Therefore, I've done a blog post write up, showing you my Midori in detail! Warning: Picture heavy post!

Here she is! Her name is Maru- she's named after my favourite youtube cat, who is so funny- just search on youtube for her! She loves jumping in boxes!!! :D The Midori comes from Japan, and so does Maru- and that's the simple reason why I've named my Traveler's Notebook Maru!!

She's my planner- diary, lists, and notebook! Not my journal or sketchbook, which a lot of other people use their Midoris for- I'm not good at either of those things!

 The leather on my Midori is different to normal Midoris. She is 2nd hand, and was quite scratched when I got her, so I treated the leather with brown shoe polish, so she is a bit darker and a lot shinier than normal Midoris, and feels a lot smoother, I imagine (I've never seen another Midori in person!).

It may not look like it in the photos, but she is becoming quite a fatty! She has 3 notebooks and 2 plastic pocket inserts, plus some other bits- she is quite full, although sometimes I feel like I could stuff more inside her!

What you can't see in this photo are the plastic pockets and all the bits that are stuffed inside!

The set-up of my Midori is almost a direct transfer of what was in my personal Filofax, which you may have seen in some of my earlier videos. So you may recognise some of what I have inside my Midori from my Filofaxes!

On the inside of the front cover I have a credit card pocket stuck to the top, and a corner pocket at the bottom. I haven't found a use for them yet, but they will be very useful!
Then I have the credit card pocket insert. I don't really like it- I find it very difficult to get things out of it. I have today's cat calendar page in the top, and the kitten M&S gift card my mum gave me (there's no money on it!)

On the other side of the front half of the credit card pocket, Steve's Philofaxy business card, and 2 sets of Rilakkuma A7 memo sheets with washi tape, which I use to make little memos on my diary pages!
Then something secret next- which you will find out about on Sunday!

Then the ziplock insert, although this is the non-zip side. It's got some scrap paper in it, a stick-on credit card pocket from Kristin (I haven't decided where it should go yet), some list sheets from K and Company, and my Oli clip :)

Then the other side of the zip-lock pocket insert, with a Leuchtturm pen loop attached with washi tape, the Midori TN flyer, and a couple of receipts.
I have a to-do sheet and a spare one from a lovely pad from Paperchase, fixed to the cover of my diary insert with a paperclip.

The first insert is my diary! I made my own diary out of a squared paper Midori notebook, because Midori don't make a WO2P diary for the standard size TN.

Then I have my Organisation notebook. It has the same lists that I had in the Organisation section in my Filofax- long-term to-dos, in progress, waiting for, on my mind, keep in mind, long-term projects/hobbies, short-term projects, wishlist, shopping list, etc.

I made this myself out of normal printer paper, but it was very uneven at the edges, and so I had to modify it- I lined the long edge of each page with washi tape! It hides the ugly rough edges, and looks so pretty!

I will show you what it looks like inside in my special post on Sunday!

Then I have my notebook, in which I write notes (duh!) and the odd poem I like!

Ozymandius by Percy Bysshe Shelley!

The back of my Midori- zip-lock insert on the left, with stickers in, and credit card insert on the right, with post-its and OHTO clips. I find the credit card pockets are difficult to use, so I carefully sliced the top of one of the pockets with my craft knife, which means it is attached on 2 sides and free on 2 sides, making it easy for me to put my post-its in! (But I don't know if they will fall out!)

On the back I have my pen loop, which currently doesn't have a pen in it.

I hope you like my Midori Traveler's Notebook!

On Sunday I'm going to be writing a special post about how I'm turning my Midori into a quasi-Filofax! So you will be able to see the things I've left out of my video and post today!

Ultimate Organisation Project: Craft Area

Hi!

As promised, today I'm showing you a video of my craft area! I've tried hard to get this area organised, as it gets very messy because I use my craft/stationery/Filofax stuff so often!

So here's a video showing the progress I've made in one area of my room, and I thought you might like to see my craft and stationery stuff too!!

Ultimate Organisation Project: Weeks 2 and 3!

Hullo!

This post is about the 2 weeks together, as I have had a very busy week and wasn't able to post about last week separately! On Thursday I had my telephone interview for my new uni course, with only a couple of days to prepare for it, on Wednesday we got our new cat (more on her soon!!), and I've been babysitting a lot this week, as well as volunteering at my local museum on Tuesday and Wednesday! :D

But I have tried to do a lot in my bedroom for my challenge weeks 2 and 3!

This is how my bedroom tidying routine is starting to form:
On Mondays I try to tidy my room thoroughly, because I think it makes a good start to the new week! This is something I started to do early this year, and I definitely will be continuing in the future. If I have had a lazy weekend, my room is a mess, so if I don't tidy on Monday, it will be a bombsite by the end of the week! Tuesdays and Wednesdays I volunteer in my museum, so I can't do much on those days, but then I just have to try to keep my room tidy the rest of the week, and use my free time to do some of my to-dos, even while I'm being lazy in front of the tv- such as sorting through my old uni homework!

During Week 2 I didn't do much, I was quite lazy! I did tidy my room on Monday, and I sorted lots of my craft (Filofax stuff, stationery, scrapbooking stuff!), but that's fun for me, so it kind of doesn't count ;b I also tidied my desk area, clearing the desk and the floor, which made the room look so much better, and I found some cool stuff I didn't realise was under there!!

During Week 3, I have done LOADS!!! It helped that on Tuesday we had a home visit by the cat sanctuary to make sure we were ok to adopt our new cat, so I spent lots of Monday tidying and sorting in my room! I organised my craft stuff again (fun for me!! :D) and spent the evening preparing my room for the home visit- I think it looked good! On Tuesday, the cat sanctuary people came around... and didn't even look in my room!!! Oh well, it was tidy, which is good! I didn't do much on Tuesday and Wednesday, because I was volunteering at the museum, babysitting and picking up our new cat! On Thursday I had planned to finish sorting, cleaning and organising my desk area, but I had to have the telephone interview for my new uni course. I thought it didn't go very well, so I felt very deflated and distracted all afternoon, so I felt like I couldn't do any tidying, and in the evening I played Sims, which is what I do when I feel like I have to get out of my own head and be distracted from my life. On Friday I felt better, so I made an effort to do my desk area, which is what I had planned to do on Thursday. I organised my desk, and I really like the way I have it set out now. I cleaned as much as I can, but I will need to do it again properly when I have sorted the folders I've got on the shelf above my desk. Then I moved on to my bookcase next to my desk, but I didn't manage to finish that because I had an impromptu babysitting evening! And today my mum came up to my room at about 4pm saying that we would sort out my paperwork, which I had piled up yesterday on my desk- I thought it would take 20 mins, but we went through more loads more than I had planned, including the perpetual pile of receipts etc on the floor by my chest of drawers, and my mum also made me sort out all the little bitty things (random stuff that I don't know what to do with!) that had been sitting by the side of my bed in shoe boxes for months! Suddenly, it was 6:30 and we had done loads!! Thank you mummy!!!

So I feel like I've made so much progress this week! And to celebrate, I'm going to film a video of my newly organised craft area, which I will show you tomorrow!! :D

Personal Filofax musings, and a sneak peak of my Midori Traveler's Notebook!

Hi everyone!

This is just going to be a bit of a rambling post!

Over the past couple of weeks I have happily been using my Midori! I have nearly finished setting it up, so I will be showing it to you soon in a video! But here's the first photos of it, for you to have a quick peak!

I love it! It's amazing! The best thing about it is not to be scared of damaging it- both of scratching the leather, and of the rings breaking! I will do a proper review of it soon :)

But recently I've been feeling a bit of Filofax envy. I read Philofaxy's Web Finds and watch Filofax videos on youtube, and I love seeing other people's Filofaxes! Everyone is so creative, and have beautiful Filofaxes!
And although my Midori is brilliant and working so well for me, I do feel like I want to use a Filofax like all of theirs. I am using my A5 Filofaxes for my projects and hobbies, but I'm getting envious of people who use a Filofax as their actual planner, with their pretty diaries and list pages etc! Not because of any practical reason- not because Filofaxes are the perfect planner (which, with their faulty ring mechanisms problems, they aren't!), or because a Filofax would work better for me (the Midori is working great), but just because other people's Filofaxes are so beautiful!!
Most people use a personal sized Filofax, which was the size of Filofax I used for my daily planner- so therefore, when I see other people happily using their personal filofaxes, I miss mine! And other people have customised their filos so wonderfully, and you just can't customise a Midori Traveler's Notebook to that level! E.g. putting a to-do list in the middle of a WO2P layout, which I find difficult in my Midori, and using different coloured and different formatted (lined, squared etc) paper in your sections. And another thing, which is for a practical reason- Filofaxes (most leather ones, at least), lay flat, and their pages behave so well- while the pages in my Midori notebooks want to close on their own (although the leather cover itself lays flat!).

BUT, I know that this is just jealousy rearing its ugly head! I am finding ways to make my Midori easier to customise (mainly using washi tape!!); I have found a way to use different coloured paper in it (more on that soon!), and I'm hoping that the notebooks will learn to lay flat soon!

Overall, the Midori wins because... it has no rings!! Yes, I know, it's the one thing that prevents the Midori from being as customisable as the Filofax, BUT I'm so happy not to have to worry about the ring mechanism breaking, which was a constant concern when I was using my personal filofax on a daily basis! Every time I tried to use my filofax out of the house I couldn't put it in my bag for fear of it getting squashed and damaged, and at home I was worried because my dad has a tendency to not look where he's going to sit down, and sits on all sorts of things! If my Midori got sat on, I really don't think it would have any problems! And the worse thing that could happen to my Midori in my bag would be the leather getting scratched, which just gives it more character!
So if I were to draw up a pros and cons list, the Midori TN would win outright!!

But I still kind of want to use a personal filofax, maybe in tandem with my Midori! I don't really know how this would work... I use my purple A5 Malden for my projects and hobbies, and am transferring my to-dos and other lists over to my Midori... so I don't really know what sort of role my personal would have. I know that it definitely wouldn't leave the house! I think that I might use it as my Current Tasks filo- the place where I keep my 'next actions' for all my tasks and projects that are currently on my mind, as well as a brain dump... although I don't want my Purple A5 Malden (my projects filofax, among other sections) to become redundant!

London Philofaxy Meet-up and Haul!!

Hiiiii guyyyyysss!!!!

I had such an amazing day yesterday!! It was the Philofaxy London meet-up, and it was soooo brilliant! If you ever have the chance to go, please make sure you do!!!
I didn't take many photos, but Steve will be publishing the photos he took soon, so look out for them!


I woke up at 4:30am (after going to bed at 12am because I was trying to make my Filofaxes look pretty!!), and got to the train at 5:35!
It was a good journey- I was in 1st class because the upgrade was only £1.50 extra, and I wanted a quiet journey so I could sleep! British trains are famous for being late, but the journey went great, until someone didn't shut a door properly leaving Reading station, so the emergency brakes went on, and it took 30 minutes to get the train started again!
I departed at Paddington station, and went down on the underground to Oxford Circus, which is central to the shopping area in London (Oxford Street, Regent Street etc), and directly opposite the H&M store I had arranged to meet Susie (http://belzira.blogspot.co.uk/) and her friend Alina!
We browsed in H&M for a while, then walked down Regent Street, going into Body Shop, a very posh coffee shop, and finally J P Books, which is in the Japanese Department store Mitsukoshi, where I bought a notebook and a credit card insert for my Midori Traveler's Notebook!
Then we walked back down Regent Street, and went to the Filofax Shop on Conduit Street! I had arranged to get a replacement for one of my faulty filofaxes from there, because I've had problems with replacements that have been sent to me in exchange for faulty filofaxes being faulty themselves! So I chose an A5 Holborn in Wine as my replacement Filofax, and Susie was shopping for a Boston A5, which happened to be on the 30% off shelf!
Then we left and went to the restaurant, Vapiano. It's a very nice restaurant, and everyone was waiting upstairs! Some people I had met before, but lots I had never met, and I've been reading their blogs and chatting to them on facebook and twitter for ages!! We ate our lunch, then went around and chatted to people, showed off our filofaxes, and of course, did the famous Filofax pile!!

 

Then we went to the Filofax shop (again, for me!) We browsed the shelves etc, but actually we didn't stay there long. I bought 2 translucent A5 rulers (I've never been able to get them anywhere else!), and an A5 top-opening envelope, because I seem to keep losing mine!

Then we went to the Mulberry store, because Imy wanted to get her Mulberry pink Postman's Lock organiser! BUT... they apparently didn't stock it! In fact, apparently, the organiser DIDN'T EXIST!!???? You should have heard the gasps from us! There were about 10 of us standing around Imy like her posse, and when we heard that she couldn't get her longed-for binder, we were outraged! Not only did they say that they didn't have it, but the shop assistant had the cheek to say it didn't exist because he couldn't find it on the website! Well, of course it exists, because Imy has been staring at it on the website for months! So we insisted he phone the Covent Garden store to see if they stocked it, and when the man came back, they had miraculously found one! After an inspection, Imy found that there were scratches on the metal closure, so we asked if she could have a discount... and the answer was No!!! So Imy didn't buy it from there. And I'm glad, because I don't think the rude staff their deserved her custom!

We walked to Covent Garden, and went to the amazing Artbox!! Oh, I've been longing to go there for absolutely ages! My mum had given me £20 for some birthday money, which I knew I was going to spend all in Artbox, plus some more out of my own money! Below are photos of what I got! I went around once with my little basket, and then decided to have another quick look around the store... big mistake!! Eventually, after putting even more stuff into my basket, it cost £39.50!!! But well worth it!!!

We split up, and Imy, Steve and I went to the Mulberry store in Covent Garden to see if they stocked the organiser. They didn't, but the shop assistant was nice, and he was horrified when we told him that Imy had received terrible customer service from the New Bond Street store, and he said if she ever needs anything, she should contact him!

So me and Imy went to the VERY busy Covent Garden underground station, and made our way back to Paddington with plenty of time to spare! We stocked up on food for our journey home, and even went to the Paddington Bear shop!

On the way home we chatted, looked at our pretty purchases, and chatted some more! I think I talked way too much!!

It was a fantastic day, and now I shall have to start saving up for the next one!! :D 

Here are the photos of my haul from yesterday!

All of my haul- from Filofax shop, Body Shop, Artbox, and freebies!!

My A5 Wine Holborn!!! :D

2 A5 frosted rulers, and Philofaxy cards!!

A Midori TN Notebook (squared) and a Midori TN credit card holder, from J P Books

Artbox haul!

Hello Kitty stickers, Rilakkuma notepads- 1 A6 and 5 A7, Rilakkuma tape, and a Hello Kitty stamp! I bought more than this in Artbox, but as they were out of my birthday money, I have to wait to get them :(

Some very generous people gave me some freebies! I won a competition on Susie's blog, and she said I would get a Moleskine notebook as a prize, but she also gave me a Paperblanks notebook! Thank you sooooo much!!! I love Paperblanks, they are so pretty!!! Christa gave me some A5 inserts which she won't be using, and there are even unopened packets of some things in there!! Susie, Alina and I also swapped some inserts that we won't be using out of our A5s! Ray (http://mylifeallinoneplace.blogspot.co.uk) , who makes amazing Filofax inserts with Steve, and Midori Travelers' Notebook inserts, gave me a lined insert, which was so fantastic, because I have been wanting to print out his inserts for ages, but my printer is broken! And the lovely Lindsay gave me some tabs which I have been wanting for ages, but can't get in the UK!!

Thank you so much, guys!!!

On a train to London!!

I'm on my way to the Philofaxy London meet-up!
I'm so excited! We're going to go to some fabulous shops, and I can't wait to see everyone, some people I have met before, and others whose blogs I've been reading for a long time and I talk to on facebook and twitter!

Currently I'm sitting on the train in 1st Class, and I'm the only one onboard this carriage; but don't worry about me, Mr and Mrs Malden and their adopted daughter Maru Midori are keeping me company!

Ultimate Organisation Project: Planning tools for this challenge!

Hi guys!

This is a quick update about my March Organisation Challenge! I aim to blitz my room by the end of March, so that it stops looking like this! I am making progress, but you don't get to see photos yet!

Today I am going to tell you about the tools I'm using to plan my Challenge. It's a fairly simple system:

1) My Plannerisms Planner

I'm using the fantastic month-grid of March for planning when to do certain areas of my room. I love how big the blocks are! I use the column on the left to write what the aim for each week will be, and on Sundays I write down the blog posts in this series (today's is late, woops!)
I haven't finished writing in the blocks for the rest of the month, I will do this as I go along.

Every day I transfer the task for that day into my planner. I don't write a long list of to-dos etc into my daily spaces in my planner, I just use the lists I have made in my A5 Malden!

2) My A5 Purple Malden

I'm in the process of setting this Filofax up as a binder for all of my lists, notes, etc etc that I don't need with me every day in my normal planner. Most importantly, it's the home for my projects. My bedroom organisation challenge is my main project for March, so I've set up its own temporary section in my filo, although I will be setting up a permanent section on my room (routines, where important things live, cleaning tips) when I've finished my challenge. Once I've done this big Spring-clean (which I guess my challenge boils down to!), my goal is to maintain the tidyness and cleanliness of my room every day, so I will have lists etc for that (maybe based on Flylady!)

So in the Challenge section of my filo, I have lists of tasks that need doing in my room for the organisational challenge, and to-dos that have needed doing for a while anyway, which I will get done this month!

I'm still The Perpetual Student (although I'm not a student any more!)

My alias is The Perpetual Student, but technically I'm not a student any more! When I started this blog I was in the 3rd year of my BA, which I finished in June 2011, and since then I have completed my MA, which I did from September 2011 to September 2012. But since then, I haven't been in university, but I still consider myself to be a Perpetual Student!

This is because I believe that we never stop being students. Even if you aren't in university, college or school, we never stop learning, and life is a great teacher! But I also push myself to be scholarly and academically constructive at home.

Egyptology:

This is my main focus, because I am an Egyptologist! 

During my MA I focused on the Theban 'kings' of the First Intermediate Period, and I thought my future research area would be on this period of Egyptian history, but my research project evolved more into an investigation of what was kingship during this period, which is an issue I found really fascinating (and it turns out I find the First Intermediate Period quite boring, actually!), so I decided to focus on the issue of ancient Egyptian kingship as my own research area. I try to research this in my spare time at least a couple of times per week.

Anyway, enough of my Egyptology waffle. What I mean to say is that even if you have finished your university course, it doesn't mean that you have to stop studying that subject! If you enjoy it, and have the time and resources (books etc), it is brilliant to do your own research! In fact, I think it is more fun! Since I finished uni, I have enjoyed doing Egyptology much more, because I don't have the pressure of deadlines and feedback etc (I HATE feedback!!). Also, you don't have professors saying that you can't or shouldn't research a certain subject- if you enjoy a subject, make it your own!! Don't give up!! 

Languages:

I have quite big goals for learning languages. I aim to learn German well enough to be able to read German Egyptology articles (conversing is a whole nuther ball game!!), and I need to revise my French, because bits of it are dropping out of my head every day! Also, I need to continue with my Middle Egyptian (Hieroglyphs), because it's fascinating and really important to my research, but also because one of my Egyptology tutors said you have to do some Hieroglyphs (mainly translation) at least once every 3 weeks, or you will start to forget it!

So I push myself to learn languages. French is taking a bit of a back seat at the moment, maybe because I can't be bothered (bad girl!!), but also because I feel the other 2 are a bit more important.  I am trying to teach myself German, as I have a background in learning languages in university, having been taught by really amazing teachers, so I use their languages learning methods to teach myself German- basically, I start with the structure of the language- grammar (like the skeleton of the language), and fill it in with the vocabulary etc (like the muscles, skin etc). I have a few German grammar books, a dictionary, a couple of vocab/phrase books- so I just read the sections in these books, and make notes, then revise. I try to do these a couple of times a week, but I have been neglecting them recently :(

Languages are really important, because the world is becoming much more multi-cultural, so if you learn another language, you are investing in your future!

Creative writing:

This is more like a hobby, but I think it is scholarly too, because writing a novel etc is very difficult. When I was little I always wanted to be an author, and since I finished university I have had some really good ideas! I'm not going to tell you about them now, they are secret!

I think creative writing, like any hobby, can be really beneficial to you. When I read, I like to feel like I am transported to another world. When I'm thinking up ideas for my novel (I'm only at the ideas stage, not the writing stage yet), I'm transported again, but this time to a world that I create!

I am sure when I start writing (hopefully in the summer), I will feel as though I'm really accomplishing something important, just when you are on a roll with writing an essay. I don't know if my novels will ever be published, but I think that the exercise of writing it is a great task in itself. At the moment I just write down ideas as I think of them, but when I'm ready to start writing I will sit down a few times a week and work properly on it!

So although I'm technically not a student any more, I'm still learning, and working hard to do my scholarly projects and hobbies. Just because you've graduated university, it doesn't mean that you have to stop being academic! It makes me feel sad when people finish a course and say good bye to that subject- I will never say good bye to Egyptology! 

I'm a student of the world, and I'm committed to continuing learning!

Ultimate Organisation Project: My bedroom! Part 1

This is a scary post, and very difficult for me to write! I have a confession to make...     I have a VERY messy bedroom!!

Before I show you photos, let me give you my reasons (excuses) as to why it's this messy!

1) I have a LOT of stuff. I'm not a hoarder, I just have a lot of stuff that I need, or is useful and still functions well, or is sentimental to me. I can get rid of stuff when I need to, but I often don't feel the need to!

2) I am a nester. If I sit in one place (on my sofa, or in bed when the weather's cold), I have to have all the things I'll need (books, stationery, laptop etc etc) within an arm's reach of me. Therefore, my sofa and the surrounding area, or my lovely big bed, get a large amount of accumulated stuff on them.

3) I am a leaver. Comedian Jon Richardson argues that there are 2 types of people in the world: putters and leavers. I am definitely in the latter. In fact, my mum would call it 'dumping'- I just leave stuff where it is, or move it to somewhere else and leave it there. I don't sort things unless I have to, and I don't put things away unless I have my 'tidy brain' switched on.

4) I am very much an out-of-sight-out-of-mind type of person. Therefore, I have to leave things out, so that I can see them, and be reminded to deal with them! I said this to my mum once, and she said my dad is exactly like that- in fact, he would like floor to ceiling shelves around every room, and everything on show on them.

5) I don't like tidying. I don't like sorting or cleaning even more! So if I can get away with it, I won't do it! Even worse, I have a very high threshold for untidyness... my room can be really messy before I actually realise I should tidy it, and then it's usually only because my bedroom is becoming an assault course or a trip hazard!

So, these are the reasons why my room is very often messy, or even when it's tidy, why I can't finish sorting out my piles and boxes of STUFF.

Below are photos of my room this morning, after I haven't tidied it for at least 5 days. It's not normally so bad, but there are key spots that I haven't touched in ages.
I am hoping these photos will shame me into my goals of:

• Getting it sorted and cleaned thoroughly, once and for all
• Maintaining the tidiness and cleanliness level
• Changing my habits and making new habits to:
•  tidy as I go, and
• sort my stuff on a regular basis.

So this month of March, I am going to BLITZ my room, once and for all!! I need to do this ASAP, because at the moment I don't have a job, but I will hopefully get one soon, and then I won't have the time to do it!

I am going to be using my Plannerisms planner and my A5 purple Malden to plan this!

I will be turning this into a series throughout this month, showing you how I am using my Plannerisms planner and filofax, new methods and tips I think up, and of course, my 'After' photos!

Here are my 'Before' photos: please don't judge me!!

 My desk area. I don't sit here any more, and my desk has become a dumping ground. If you can believe it, this area has been tidied and sorted a lot recently, and is a lot better than it used to be!

Between my desk area and my wardrobe- washing bin, paperwork and stuff to sort etc, and my storage area behind my wardrobe, which quickly becomes messy!

Dressing area. Wardrobe drawers open, but they are difficult to shut because the wardrobe is about 80 years old and the doors are misaligned from the frames; however, it still makes it look untidy. My bin nearby (it doesn't have a permanent home), my chest of drawers with perfumes and make up on top (I sorted all this last week). This is actually the least messy part of my room... until:

This pile of papers and stuff on the floor. It's been there for a couple of months, because I just do NOT want to deal with it!!!

My bed. Unmade, messy, covered in stuff. This morning I had to search for receipt, so it's very bad today, but normally isn't much better! The boxes on the floor to the left are little bits and bobs that I have to sort out- and keep putting off doing, because I don't want to do it! 

Beside my bed. All of my teddies sit nicely on my window-sill, but my bed-side cabinet always has used glasses on it that need to be washed up, and other stuff that shouldn't be there.

Trousers left on the floor where I undressed last night, lip balm which fell off my bed, a bag of stuff to put away, magazines I've been meaning to read and get rid of.

My 'living room' area! Clean laundry to put away on the back of my chair, boxes and containers on the floor, my craft stuff on top of the cabinet that REALLY needs organising...

The coffee table another dumping ground, and stuff all over my sofa too, so I can't sit down on it!!

Video: My New Planner!

Hi guys!

I've been trying for 2 days to film this video and upload it for you!

At first I used my phone camera, and when I tried to upload it to youtube, it said it would take 240 minutes to upload! So I cancelled the upload, and filmed it again, thinking this would fix the problem- nope! It said it would take around 220 minutes to upload, so I tried to put it through converters, save it in movie maker software to make the size smaller, etc etc... nothing worked. By the time I did all that, it was 4 hours later, and I could have uploaded the first video by then! So I just decided to upload the original to youtube, and 220 minutes later, youtube said it was finished! And when I went to check it... it had squished the video from 15 minutes in length to 4 minutes!!! So I had to delete the video :(
This morning I tried to fix the problem, but I couldn't, so I decided to film it AGAIN using my webcam. That went fine, and only took 23 minutes to upload, but the sound quality is rubbish because my microphone doesn't work very well, so I apologise for that!

I had wanted to publish this post with the video on Thursday, but now it's technically Saturday, so here, FINALLY, is the video of my new planner!!