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My Amazing Month

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This is a blog post straight from the heart. I need help! I need My Amazing Month! Do you ever feel like you are your own worst enemy? I did really well last year to lose a bit of weight and improve my work life balance and self-care. I made great progress with all my projects but it has all started going badly wrong!! I feel like I need a kick start to a new routine and to find some motivation from somewhere. Do you know the feeling?

It is time to stop thinking about it. It is time to stop putting this off until next week, next month, next year and start making the changes. Join me and we will knock ourselves into shape together!!

I don’t know when you are reading this. I am writing it just at the start of a month. I have missed the first two days and I am tempted to put this all off until the start of next month but NOOOO!!!!! that is just more of the same bad attitude and there is no need…. This is ONE month – it doesn’t have to be a calendar month. Download the tracker, print it, fill it out and START NOW!!!

Let me introduce you to the tracker that will help us sort ourselves out!! There are five sections to the tracker – five sections that you need to give thought to as you prepare for your Amazing Month!

1. Focus

This section of the tracker is where you put the areas of your life you want to focus on. I have allowed space for five items here. Any more than five and you are not focussed! Arguably you could only include one item here, it all depends what you want to fix! Whatever you put as your focus I would ask you to consider including self-care. Life is so pressured and we are all so hard on ourselves. It is easy to forget that we have a responsibility to look after our mental well being.

2. Goals

Use this section to capture the goals you are setting yourself for the month. These should be things that you can achieve in the space of a month as progress towards your wider/life goals. If you are looking to complete a larger project then break it down into a realistic chunk that you can deliver if you really apply yourself for 31 days! I will share my completed tracker here so you can see the challenge I am setting myself. I also plan to post my part completed tracker each week so you can see whether or not this process is working for me!

3. Daily Tracker

This is the business section. Look at your goals and focus and work out what actions or habits you need to set in order to deliver against your 31 day goals. There is enough space to record 10 items here but if you feel you need more just print more sheets! I suggest you also write the items you are going to track on an index card or other small format that you can keep with you all the time. You could print two copies of the tracker and cut this section out to keep with you. Keep checking the balance of the things you are tracking. Make sure you leave room for self-care and try not to make the schedule so punishing that you can’t keep to it. The idea here is to plan for success.

4. I am doing this because…..

This is your space to remind yourself of why you are doing this. Try to put thoughts and feelings into this box that will keep you going through the month when things get hard. Things will get hard if you have set your goals appropriately but the messages you give yourself here will carry you through. One thing that drives me as I start My Amazing Month is that the do nothing option doesn’t leave me in the same position in a months time. Everything would be on month worse!! 🙂

5. Treats!

Ok – it cannot be hard work all the way. There have to be some treats to look forward to and to fall back on when things get too hard! Consider here which treats would fit in well with your goals. There is no point in having a box of chocolates as a treat if losing weight is one of your goals! This is just one month remember?! You have to try to live without the box of chocolates for 31 days! List here the things that you would like to have as treats during the month.

One of the by-products of my plans for the month is a significant cash saving. I am planning to do more walking and less eating and drinking! This means I can plan a nice treat at the end of the month, a spa visit or some new clothes. Why not see whether you can make savings as part of your Amazing Month and then you can use any spare money to treat yourself to something at the end of the challenge.

That covers all the preparation work. Here is the free download and below that is a picture of my completed tracker as I start My Amazing Month.

My Amazing Month – A4 (19821 downloads ) My Amazing Month – Letter (19456 downloads )
My Amazing Month - tracker

Are you going to join me? I don’t know how many people this will reach but I would love to hear from you in the comments section if you are joining me in this challenge. I will share my progress and I look forward to hearing about your success too!

If you like this tracker then please check out my other pages where you will find printables to help you organise life and plan family activities.

Have an AMAZING MONTH!!!

Annie 🙂

Get Organised!!!

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Three more basics for your family bullet journal. I use these more than any other pages in my bullet journal so I thought I would create them as loose leaf templates for you. The downloads are available in A4 and letter formats.  

Get Organised!!!!

Do list

The trusty do list! I used to have several of these running in different notebooks and a couple of electronic ones for good measure! I recognise that my do list habits are not good. Habits such as adding tasks to the list that are already complete (so I can give myself a tick)…. not really helpful. Another trap I often fall into is putting enormous tasks on the list that I have no hope of completing… again not conducive to making progress. Here are some tips for constructing a useful motivating do list….

  1. Make each task clear so it is obvious when it has been completed.
  2. Break down larger tasks into actionable elements
  3. Only put tasks on the list that you can complete yourself
  4. Put the tasks on the list that will make a real difference
  5. Put the hardest tasks first and do them first or alternate one hard one easy. 

Final tip from me is to date the tasks. Write down the first date you put the task on the list. This is one thing I started doing when I realised my do lists going back months had some of the same items on. These were items I always wrote down but never actioned. I was constantly carrying the weight of failure to complete these actions. Either these were things that weren’t important to me (or anyone) or I was really letting myself down by not doing them! One item that sat on my list for more than a year was to start a blog! ? 

Do List - prints to A4 paper (29354 downloads )

Do list - prints to Letter paper (30583 downloads )

The printable formats you can download here have a space to include the date. If you find a task sitting on the list for a long time then consider…is it REALLY something you want to do? If so GET ON WITH IT! If not, strike it from the list and give yourself a break!  

When did I last….

This is a great tracker for routine tasks. Everything from changing beds and towels to caring for pets and cleaning rooms that aren’t in frequent use (if you are lucky enough to have them!). Even jobs that are supposed to be done weekly get a slot on my list and putting them here means my do list doesn’t fill up with repetitive routine.   

You can also use this tracker as a reminder to stay in touch. Time passes soooo quickly. Adding reminders such as when did I last call Jack or visit Rachel reminds you not to lose touch. Fill out the list and check it over each week.  

When did I last... prints to A4 (6465 downloads )

When did I last... prints to letter paper (32430 downloads )

Activities List

This is one of the layouts we use as a family to record things that any of us would like to do. We have often used it at the start of school holidays to work out how we will spend any free time we have together. Having this list helps to get the best ideas together. The first step is to brainstorm all the activities each member of the family would like to do. We keep a list open all the time and add to it whenever the inspiration comes!

The layout includes columns to estimate the cost and to indicate whether an activity is indoors/outdoors… important when you consider the normal British weather. Using the completed list to drive the discussion about how to spend time as a family teaches us lots of interesting things:

  1. The budget is not limitless
  2. Everyone likes doing different things
  3. Negotiation and persuasive skills are needed if you want your activity to make it to the top of the list
  4. Time is precious!

The layout also includes a section where you can add notes and review the activity. We use a simple method of *’s out of 5 and each member of the family has a colour they normally use. I think this teaches us that it isn’t always the expensive activities that are the most enjoyable. The ratings people give can be a real eye-opener!

Activity Planner - prints to A4 (32592 downloads )

Activity planner - prints to letter paper (32238 downloads )

Next week I have a habit and sleep tracker for you… or I will have if I complete all the actions on my do list! Have a good week!!

Annie ?

Family Menu planning – free printables

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I don’t know about you but I find menu planning for the family one of the least enjoyable jobs of the week. Trying to keep everyone happy and keep them healthy whilst fitting around everyone’s busy schedules is hard! Keeping up with changing tastes is impossible. It is easy to get into a rut of making the same dishes over and again. Even this only works till everyone gets bored and tastes change – which seems to happen every other week!

I have two free printables for your family bullet journal to help you with the job. Firstly, a tracker that lets you list all the meals make and get feedback from everyone on which dishes they like or do not like. We keep this list in our family bullet journal and anyone can update their preferences as they change. Everyone’s tastes change from time to time but this is especially true for children as their palettes develop.

From time to time we try new recipes and we decide as a family whether or not something new is worth adding to the list – ie would you ever want to have this again!? The format of the tracker allows you to list down the left hand side the dishes you make. Along side the list of dishes, we take a column each and put our initials at the top. Everyone scores the meals according to their own preference. We use a rating of 1 – 10. You could just put stars next to your favourites or use ticks and crosses – choose your own method to show your preferences! The free downloads for these printables are at the bottom of this post in both UK (A4) and US (letter) formats.

The other bullet journal format that I like to use is the documented weekly menu plan. I find that this helps in soooo many ways! Firstly it helps keep cost under control – planning ahead for the week enables batch cooking and planned use of leftovers. We also do less impulse buying which means reduced waste. Where possible we involve the family in planning which can lead to happier meal times and less grumbling (note I say ‘can’ lead to!). Keeping a bank of these sheets also means that you can refer back to weeks that worked well and repeat them – although too much repetition is a source of grumbling, at least it is in our house!

It helps when starting the plan for the week to run through the favourite dishes list at the top of this post – it is easy to forget things that you have made in the past that have worked well. It is also fun if your children are old enough, to get them to add dishes from recipe books that they themselves can make. Anything to add a bit of variety is a good idea.

Each day and meal on the menu plan has a space to write how many people the meal is being made for and the boxes are deep enough to include more than one dish. We have some days where we cannot all eat together and other times when we have family or friends round. The notes section is helpful to include any info for the week eg if someone is away from home or has decided to avoid meat for the month! 🙂

Here are the links. I hope you find these printable trackers helpful and that you come back again for more of these free downloads as I build the collection for your family bullet journal. Please let me know if there is any particular format you are looking for and I will try to produce it for you.

Menu Plan layout - A4 size (16417 downloads )

Menu Plan layout - Letter size (16478 downloads )

Favourite Meals - A4 format (17226 downloads )

Favorite Meals tracker - Letter format (17985 downloads )

Happy menu planning and have a good week!

Annie 🙂


Fun Family Activities

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In my last blog post I introduced three activities that we like to do as a family here in the mad house. Family scrapbook/journal, family playlists and our activities list. If you would like to read the previous post you can find it here

In this post I will share the downloads to help you get started with two of these activities.

  1. Setting up a family bullet journal and
  2. Documenting your family playlists!

Family Bullet Journal

There are many benefits to keeping a journal. You might want to add a bit more organisation to your family life. Maybe you want to create memories and record holidays or achievements. There are some beautiful and inspirational bullet journal ideas out there. I have a Pintrest board dedicated to them which you can see here .

I am a self confessed stationery addict and I love the specialist notebooks and gorgeous fineliner pen sets that people use to produce these glorious layouts. I have included some of my personal favourites in the box at the foot of this post. Please note that the some of the links in my blog are affilliate links which means that I might receive a small payment at no additional cost to you, when you follow the links.

The layouts you can see on Pinterest can be intimidating in that they are soooo artistic. I don’t know about you but I am not at all talented when it comes to art. I love colour and design but free hand drawing is something that I just cannot do. The beauty of bullet journals is that you can create lovely pages just using colours and fonts. You can use stickers and washi-tape if you can’t design/draw your own images. Anything goes!

I find when sharing bullet journal pages with my family, a note book is not the best format. Pages can easily become messy or torn. Also we like to save tickets, postcards, art projects and photos in the journal and notebooks don’t allow space for this easily. For all these reasons I prefer to use a loose leaf format that I can add to and replace easily.

The foundation of most bullet journals is the basic dotted page. This simple format allows you to produce tidy layouts as it provides a guide for boxes, lists or pictures. The first of the free downloads I have for you is therefore this basic bullet journal page. The download includes a title box plus a place to record date and location. The file is available in three sizes. A4 and Letter have just one sheet ready to print. The A5 format prints to A4 paper and has two A5 layouts side by side so needs to be cut down the centre. In my favourite supplies (shown at the foot of the post) I have included the gadget I use to cut these pages to size.

Here are the first three free downloads:

Dotted page - A4 (17572 downloads )

Dotted page - Letter (17611 downloads )

Dotted page - A5 (6344 downloads )

Family Playlist

The second of the free downloads I have for you will help you with another family activity. This is where you document a family playlist.

We all have playlists that are favourites for a while before we move on. Recording the reasons for tracks in a playlist make it a permanent record of a time in our lives. Something we can later look back on and (hopefully) smile about!

There are many music services out there that allow you to set up playlists. For example Amazon prime membership gives you music streaming and many other benefits. When we first started to do this the only option was to set them up on an ipod from music in our library. When I was young people made cassette tapes (have I lost you now?)

Having a playlist as a family allows you to record a particular event or period in your lives. Documenting the reasons for the tracks on the list gives you something to look back on many years ahead when you might have forgotten some of the details of that time. If you have any family members who are struggling with memory loss then I am told that a playlist from a period of time in their lives can be a comfort. Note down the reasons or triggers for each song you include in the list. Any detail you include here might be a memory jog in the future.

This download again provides a framework to document the playlist. You can have as many of these as you like in your family bullet journal. They can be shared or individual. They could be playlists from a party or wedding. It could be a playlist from your annual holiday or roadtrip. It might be the sound track to your daily school run. Whatever the reason behind the list, this could be something that you will play again in the future and be taken back to that period of your lives. Once again the download is available in A4 and Letter formats. There is also an A5 format that prints two pages side by side to A4 size paper.

Playlist layout - A4 (18143 downloads )

Playlist layout - Letter (18439 downloads )

Playlist layout - A5 (prints to A4 paper) (18914 downloads )

That is it for this week. I will be putting up more free downloads for your family bullet journal in future weeks and also sharing some of the craft projects we are trying as a family. Determined we will spend more creative family time crafting and less time glued to electronic devices! Wish me luck 🙂

Annie.

Full time working parent who blogs

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Hello and thank you for clicking through to this page. If you are here for a general explore – please scroll on down! 🙂

I have been finding it very rewarding to work on my blog in my spare time, evenings, weekends, holidays, the (very) occasional lunch hour at work. BUT – I also find it difficult with such a huge list of things I know I need to do for my blog and NO TIME to do them.

I have seen lots of groups to support bloggers and I have joined a few of them. It is great to be in a group of people who are supportive and who understand what you are trying to do.

There seem to be a lot of stay home Mums and Dads in the groups. I know what that is like (ie very tough) – I have been there/done that. However, my current challenges are different.

I am looking to understand whether there is any demand for a group of bloggers who share the same challenges…..

I work full time in a job that demands far more than the 9 to 5.
I have a long commute – 5hrs a day (so I do blog work whilst commuting!)
I have children who are doing their exams over the next few years

If you would like an invite to join my group please drop me an email to Annie@s633864173.websitehome.co.uk or leave a comment here and if there is enough interest we can get started supporting each other!!

thanks for your time!
Annie 🙂

Blog progress #6

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Hello and welcome to my August update.    Note – this post is focussed on my progress as a blogger – if you are here for the crochet please visit the craft projects section of my  blog!

It feels like I have been able to make some real progress this month as I was on holiday from my full time day job for a week or so.     I will include my stats for August compared to July at the bottom of the post.    But the key headline is that traffic to my site has more than tripled in the month.   Here is how I did it:

Actions taken to drive blog traffic

Write new, relevant content – One post I wrote early in the month grabbed the attention out there on Pinterest and I had two or three very exciting days where traffic to my site increased.   This also had a lasting impact as I acquired new followers on Pinterest.   As I had more time available this month I was able to write a new free pattern which again drove additional traffic to my site.   There are lots of actions you can take to drive traffic but having solid content makes it all so much easier.

I used the power of Pinterest –  I use Tailwind to manage this for me but also pin manually from my daily commute.   I am an affiliate for Tailwind so if you click on links on my blog to explore Tailwind that could generate a small payment to me at no additional cost to you.   However, that is not why I am recommending this tool.   Tailwind is a great way to maintain regular pinning, especially if, like me, you work full time and have to cram all your blogging into the weekends and evenings.    The reason I recommend it is simple.   I could not do without it.

I started with the free version but I now pay for a higher level of membership.    I am a member of five active tribes within Tailwind.     These are groups of people who are pinning in the same interest groups.    I post every new pin I write to the relevant tribe which then means that other tribe members see it and if I am lucky they add it to their scheduled pins.   Some of the members of the tribe have many more followers than I do so if I am lucky and one of my pins is selected by a tribe member with a big following it can really help!

Every Sunday I get my Tailwind schedule loaded up with my own pins and pins from other members of the tribes I belong to.    I can schedule pins for a couple of weeks or more but generally only set up one week at a time.    My Pinterest following is growing steadily.    This drives much of the traffic to my blog, and I am sure that this is in no small part down to Tailwind.

I Got started on Instagram – (with the assistance of my children!).   August was my first month on Instagram.   I found it really easy to find like minded people on this platform.   I also found it much easier to share work in progress quickly.    The format is based more heavily on images and there is no click through option so you only need a photo of your work and a few lines of text.

You need to set up a business account which gives you access to insights and stats on how your posts are doing.    This also enables you to include a link to your blog on your profile page.   You get information on how many profile visits you have had in the last seven days.   Those are important because those visits have been to the page that has your blog link and could have driven traffic.

You get an immediate response when you put new material up which is lovely and you can ask for views/opinions which can be helpful.     I haven’t explored the ‘story’ side of Instagram yet.   It is on my do list because I understand you can set up links to your blog from your story.    I can see my blog traffic increase when I gain new followers and put up new content.

Invested more time in Facebook – I had a Facebook account but hadn’t really had chance to use it.    This month I started to get involved in blogger support groups.   If you search for groups in your niche to join on Facebook they will all have their own set of rules you need to follow.   Find groups that fit your needs that have rules you can buy into and put in an application.   It really is worth while spending time on this.   There is so much support and help out there and you will find you can help others too which keeps it all going.     I started working on Facebook late in the month so didn’t see much impact as of yet.   I plan to spend a lot more time on Facebook in September.


So that has been my month!   Here is the impact.

Blog Progress Report – August 18

  • Pinterest followers – 770 (up 67 this month
  • Instagram followers – 313 (up 313 this month!)
  • AdSense clicks – 11 (up 5 this month)
  • AdSense income to date – £1.59 (down £0.23 this month after one really well paid click in July!)
  • Amazon affiliate income – 0
  • Shareasale income – 0    (Tailwind affiliate links)
  • Subscribers – 14 (an increase of 11 :-))
  • Etsy listings – 10
  • Etsy sales – 0
  • Page views – 2,178 (up 1,588 this month!)

I am delighted with progress but worried that it has been a blip that will be hard to maintain…. tune in next month to find out.    Happy blogging!

Annie 🙂