Home Management Binder!

Happy Wednesday Everyone! As promised I am here to deliver my Monday, Wednesday, Friday posts. I have been working on a lot of blog stuff today and almost forgot to post. That would have been embarrassing. But I am here with a home management binder walk through. This is what I use to keep our house organized, it includes our budget, media inventory, cleaning schedule etc. Its a great tool to have and I can't wait to get to filling out the pages.  Lets Dive In!!!

The system I am using for the binder is the ARC system by Staples. I got the clear organizer for this project and I love it because I could choose or design my own over. 

As you see above the cover is clear and its pretty sturdy. I also invested in the Arc punch because it allows me to really use this system to its fullest. I can tear out the pages as I go, fill them out, then put them back in. I also add our bank statements from the previous month for budgeting purposes. Its like a filo fax, only 8 x 11 size and much more accessible for me.

This is my cover page, I got it from the etsy shop iheartorganizing. These printables are by Jen and she has great home binder printables as well as planners you can print off at home. Go check it out.

So behind the cover page, which I put in a sheet protector that I just used my arc punch to punch, I have this pocket folder. These are from staples here in packs of two, and are really handy to store my pay stubs for the year, receipts, pens, etc. They come pre-punched as well.

Behind the pocket folder I have a zipped folder, this holds stamps, stickers, anything like that sort of thing that I want to keep safe. I also got them pre-punched at staples here. They also come in packs of two. 

The next page is this special dates calendar, Jen has one in her shop that was mentioned above that I have in another calendar but this one I got from another etsy shop. They all serve the same purpose so it doesn't really matter which one you have. I just liked these colors. Zack wrote in our birthdays already, it was kind of cute, that was the first thing he did with the notebook when I showed it to him.

Next is the most used section! The budget. I printed off these pages for the rest of 2014, I put this binder together in August so I had 5 months in here. Page 1 has categories for rent, utilities, savings, income, food, clothing. Page two has these categories you see above, and page three has columns for Personal items, medications, free budget, eye glasses, cosmetics, toiletries, printer ink/paper etc. The vertical columns are for budget, actual, difference and comments. I love this system. I am just someone who writes things down and this really works for me, as I mentioned before I print off our bank statements from the previous months, highlight items in the certain columns and use that to put in our actual column. It really helps me to see where my money is going. Last month I was shocked to find out I spent around $500.00 on items that are completely unnecessary, this month I have a plan to really save that money and get back on track. These printables help me with that.

I made these myself but I know Jen has a very similar layout in her Etsy shop. If you would like mine specifically I can make those available as well. Let me know in the comments.

Page 3 of the budget worksheets.

Now behind those budget sheets I have the password tracker, there are a lot of websites that I go to and this helps me keep track of all the passwords. I pay the majority of my bills online so this is handy to keep in the budget section.

The next section is the media inventory section. I use this to keep track of our DVD's (I'm a movie collector), books, video games, etc. Anything media related goes here, we have a lot of STUFF :)

Behind the full inventory list is a checkout system. That way I can keep track if I let my family borrow books or movies for different things and I can bug them if I don't get it back.

The next tab houses this cleaning checklist. I like that I can write what needs to be done in these time frames, then I refer to it to make sure that the cleaning has been accomplished in our house. Even though we live in an apartment right now its still important to clean it.

 The next section houses this important info printable. Again from Jen's shop, all of the above mentioned printables can be found there as well. This one has information for doctors numbers, banking information, etc. Its handy to have it all written down for future use.

The next section is this gift giving plan, and then a party planning printable. I don't host many parties but I do like to use this guide to plan out gifts, especially during this time of year.

The next tab is cooking information, its a master list of our favorite recipes and another list for recipes to try. I was keeping this information in the back of my planner but it grew to be a really long list so it was better used here. The nice thing about these printables is that I can print them out as I need them, right now I have three in there, in the future I can get more and add it in as I go.

Last section is for the Master To DO lists. I always have a running to do list of things I basically need to do everyday, this helps me so I don't have to write those out every single day.  Instead I can get this laminated and use a white board marker.

Oops I forgot one section is for car maintennce. I use this tracker to help be on top of when our cars get updates and when its time to change something in the future. I printed two off one for my car and one for Zack's

And the end, I have more of those zip pockes and a folder pocket in the back and some pages for blog organization.

I love this system. It really helps to keep me organized. I use it everyday and I would be lost without it. Thanks so much for reading and let me know in the comments if you have any questions or want to see more details of something.
XO
Caitlin

2014 Blog Goals

Lately I have been having a hard time with committing to my blog. I have really wanted to grow it a lot more, I just don't have the desire to work for that next level. This last week I thought a lot about this. I thought about why I started this blog and why I like to keep up with it. I decided that this is really something I want to stick with and something I want to grow. I would love to see what comes of it and I believe that through this blog I can connect to more people than I ever would without it. Already I have seen that happen and I feel successful in that goal.

Today I came up with goals that I have, specific for the blog, that I want to do for the rest of 2014. I have made them doable, nothing crazy, but doable and I believe that these will happen, and since I am posting about it today I am becoming accountable for these goals. 

1) Blog every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. In the past I have tried to blog every day and post 5 times a week. This hasn't happened, and I get discouraged, give up and don't post anymore. If I want my blog to grow I am going to need to be consistent with my posts. This one will be hard but I hope to see it help in January of 2015 and see where it takes me. 

2) Plan out blog posts and stick to the plan! I have been trying this lately and it seems to work, as long as I plan out what I want to write about I generally do okay, so I am going to use my Planner to set this up and get it going. I will also share with you the plan of how everything works in January as long as I am consistent until then, hey its only 2 months away so this can work right. 

3) Create a Blog Facebook page. I have noticed that people who have a Blog Facebook page are more successful than I am with their Blog, so I am going to do that as well. It might not happen until Christmas Break when I really have time to set it up but I really do want to be official and have a Facebook page. 

4) Sign up to sponsor someone else's blog. I know this will be one of the best ways to get my blog out there. I have done my research and I have a list of people who I think our blogs would be a good match up. I am going to pick one and see if they will add me to their sponsor list for December, if they do that would be great because I feel like it would get me a lot of readers, however this does have to wait until December to make sure I am consistent with my Monday, Wednesday, Friday posting. So I have to be consistent. 

5) Write good quality content. I think that most of my previous posts have been just for fun/life sharing articles. Which is fine. I want to have a good mix and by planning out my posts I can create a balance of what I want to write about. Topics will include life updates, makeup/beauty related, recipes, home management, organizational tips, home decor, etc. I have an interest in all of these areas and I feel that my blog can be a place where I share all of those titles. 

There you have it my 2014 Blog Goals for the rest of the year. I hope this will be successful and this is my first post as part of this new setup. I will be posting my Monday, Wednesday, Friday posts the night before as easiest for me to stay up late and write. 

Thanks for reading, what are your goals for the rest of the year?

XO

Caitlin

TV Shows I love

My Current List of TV Shows and Where To Watch Them

NETFLIX:
1) The Office. Always. I am constantly watching the office, I think I have watched it from season 1 through the end of season 9 at least 10 times if not more. It's my go to show and the day Netflix removes it is a day I will be very sad.
2) Gilmore Girls. I love this show. I used to watch it after school during Junior High and High School. I graduated in 2006 and the show ran from 2001 to 2007 so its right during that critical time of figuring out who I was. I remember watching it and just thinking I knew exactly what the girls were going through, Rory and Lane anyway. It's so fun for me that it is back on.
3) Once Upon A Time. I am obsessed. Still. I am currently watching the new season on HULU but I wanted to start the series over because there are so many story lines that I missed stuff, I love watching from the beginning and Netflix has all the seasons up until season 4.
4) Parks and Rec. I missed a lot of season 6 so I am catching up on it through Netflix.

HULU:
1) Dancing with the Stars. I love this show, its so great. I love Alfonso the most, he's from the Fresh Prince of Bell Air and I used to watch that show in the 90s as well, ahhh the 90s so many great things.
2) Nashville. This is a great show if you love Country music and drama. It has a lot of drama and some really good old fashioned country songs. I really like the story lines and I feel that they portray the music industry pretty accurately. Of course I wouldn't know any of that because I am not a music artist.
3) Biggest Loser. This show is inspiring. If only that inspiration would last longer than the 30 minutes during the show.

So there you have it. Some of the shows I love to watch. What are you currently enjoying on Netflix or Hulu?
XO
Caitlin

Favorite YouTube Beauty Guru's

First off I just want to say Thank You! I received so many kind words from friends and family from my last post on trying to start a family and I am just so blessed that so many people love me. I really am so glad that I am not the only one who has felt those feelings and I am grateful that I have made new connections with others through this experience. I am very grateful for everyone's comments. I tried to reply to the comments on my blog but blogger is being weird and wont open the link for me, maybe I'm doing something wrong? I don't know sorry about that.

As many of you know, if you have been following for a while, I have been really into makeup lately. It has turned into a really fun hobby and I just love it. I have been getting a lot of high end makeup and its really fun to experiment and try new things. I learn all my tips and tricks on makeup from YouTube. I refer to YouTube anytime I am thinking about buying a product to here reviews, etc and see if it is truly something I will use. It has been so helpful. I also refer to You Tube for tutorials on how to best apply eye shadow or to get a certain look. I have loved playing around with everything and its been a great hobby. So here are my top beauty guru's I follow on YouTube, this list will be long but has so much useful information.

1) emilynoel83 I love her channel. She is probably the number one person I watch who is truly unbiased in her opinion. She always gives great reviews, even if she has been given a product to review by a company she is honest about if she likes it or not. She gives great dupes for high end makeup and I love her tutorials. Great channel. 

2) Kathleenlights. She is a bit younger than me, but I still like her reviews and tutorials. She does really pretty, bold looks that I like to try if I am feeling adventurous. 

3) Jaclynhill. Everyone gets on the Jaclyn Hill bandwagon. I don't think there is a single person who doesn't like her. I do feel she does great makeup tutorials, however I don't always trust her opinion on brands because she does a lot of promoting on brands that work with her/she gets discounts from. I'm not saying this is a bad thing since I watch a lot of other channels I can safely say that I wouldn't go to her for just one single opinion. However I do go to her channel for a lot of makeup looks. 

4) Tati. I feel like Tati is a little closer in age to me than the other channels. She seems older anyway so I like to watch her and get makeup advice. She does this series called makeup graveyard where she goes through her entire collection and gets rid of specific items, I like that series. I also like her Tip Tuesday series where she shares different beauty tips and I have learned a lot from those. 

5) Kristin Gehm. I love her channel. I think she is very relate-able, and she is older, much older than the majority of YouTube I mean she is 39 but I like that, most of YouTube beauty Guru's are between the ages of 19-25 so I like the Kristin is older. She is super funny, has gorgeous eyes and really does great product reviews. Along with Emily (mentioned above) Kristin is one of the channels I go to for an honest review. She does a series called 4 looks 1 palette where she does 4 different looks out of 1 makeup palette. I think its great because not a lot of channels offer that. 

6) Nicole Guerriero. I really just like her style. She is younger but not too much and she has great taste. I like watching her makeup collection videos because she has tons of makeup. But she does great Halloween tutorials and really good tutorials all around. 

7) Belinda Selene. She has great planner tutorials on her channel. She also has an Erin Condren planner, like I do so I love getting ideas on how to organize it from her channel. I also love how she organized her glam room and stored everything. 

8) Miss Liz Heart. I love her style. I just enjoy her taste of decorating and organizing. I know this isn't for everyone but I just love the minimalist feel of it. Its sleek and elegant and I love getting inspiration from her channel. She only has about 25 videos out and her channel has grown so fast, she is great inspiration if you are thinking of starting a beauty channel. 

9) Mae Badiyan. I have no idea how to pronounce her name but I like her channel. It has a little bit of everything but I especially love her planner related videos. 

10) From Head to Toe. Her channel gets kind of lost in the rest of them but I really do like her voice and her presentation. She does great tutorials for hooded eyes which I have. 

Well there you have it, my list of where I get all my makeup knowledge from. I hope you find some of these channels helpful. 

XO

Caitlin