Every year the number of photos that I take has grown exponentially and I’ve used various systems to try and organise them. For the last few years I’ve been using a relatively simple folder system on my laptop to organise my photos and thought I’d share it for those of you who might be interested.

Single Place for All of Photos

Most of my photos are taken and located on my phone but I also get photos from other sources such as Watsapp, Arlo, and DSLR. Eventually all of these will end up in my Photos folder on my laptop. Having a single place for all of my photos means that I save time transferring all of my photos and can quickly locate them.

Folder Organisation

Within my Photos folder, my photos are further organised by yearly and monthly sub-folders. The monthly folders are numbered so that their shown in order of the month. For example, 1. Jan and 2. Feb. If there’s been a special event in a particular month, it’ll have it’s own folder but numbered with the appropriate decimal number and a brief description so that I can easily see it amongst the monthly sub-folders. For example 3. Mar – NZ for our recent New Zealand Road Trip.

Previously, I used to keep all special events in a further sub-folder within a particular month. However, I found that I couldn’t easily locate the folder because I couldn’t remember what month the event occurred in! I would have to either search or go through the monthly folders that I thought it happened in, which was time consuming. With this new ordering system, I can see at quick glance when I went on a trip or had a special event throughout the year.

Selecting Your Photos

In an ideal world where I had lots of time on my hands, I would transfer all of my photos and select which ones to keep. While it’s a nice to do, I usually transfer all of my photos across and leave it at that. If I’m working on a project I’ll quickly delete some of the obviously bad ones but I won’t spend too much time on it as it’s not a priority for me. If you have limited space and have the time, then definitely go for it!

Backing Up Your Photos

Lastly, don’t forget to backup your photos! I have all my photos automatically backed up by Google Photos but there are many other online cloud or external hard drive options.

I hope you found this article useful! How do you organise your digital photos? Any other tips or ideas in the comments below would be awesome!

Marie xo

This year I wanted to keep things as simple as possible. I was looking for a pocket sized diary that I could pop in my handbag and keep with me at all times. On a trip to Melbourne last year, I found the perfect diary at one of my favourite stationery stores!

The diary that I’m using this year is a 12-month pocket agenda by Rifle Paper Co. The cover is made from thick, flexible paper and it has a gorgeous floral print. It includes a 2020-2021 yearly overview, 2020 holidays, monthly and weekly overviews, and sections for important dates and notes.

I love how small and light it is. I can definitely see myself using this all year and taking it away with me on trips. So that’s my diary situation for 2020!

Do you like to use a diary? If so, what’s your diary situation this year?

Marie xo

At the start of every year, I love to do a digital declutter. With technology now being such a pervasive part of our lives, it’s important to streamline, minimise and get rid of digital information that’s no longer of any value. Just like having a clean home can help to improve your productivity and outlook, so too can having a well organised computer and phone. If you’re not sure where to start, then read on!

8 Areas to Digitally Declutter Your Life

1. Email Inbox. Years ago, I went to an Outlook productivity training session and ever since then, I subscribe to the 4 D’s when it comes to my emails: delete, do it now (if it can be done in 2 minutes or less), do it later (schedule this in to ensure it gets done) and delegate. It’s a really great system to get through those emails and prevent you from touching an email more than once!

2. Marketing Email Lists. These days it seems that every online purchase or store membership requires you to hand over your email resulting in marketing spam. Free delivery! New arrivals! Drop everything sale! Unless there’s something that you’re specifically looking for, save yourself an email (and the temptation!) by unsubscribing or updating your email marketing preferences.

3. Facebook. With the news of Facebook’s recent security and data breaches, I’m not a big fan of the platform. Every year, I use it less and less, and the only reason why I still have an account is because of its events and groups functionality. As a new mum, it’s been a great way to stay in contact with the mum’s in my area and organise catch ups. If you’re in a similar situation and can’t delete your account, then it’s worthwhile checking your security settings and friends list to ensure that the information you’re sharing is to the audience that you intend too.

4. Instagram. I love Instagram! It’s one of my main sources of creative inspiration, so I like to make sure that my feed is curated to the things that interest me the most. This means unfollowing accounts that no longer inspire me and following those that do.

5. Blog Feeds. I use Feedly on my phone to manage all of the blogs that I follow. It’s great because I can sort them into different categories, read current articles, and see how many new articles that I haven’t read yet. It’s also a great app to manage blogs as I can easily add and remove blogs.

6. Unused Apps. Just like the unused items taking up space in your home, unused applications take up space on your phone, tablet or computer. If you’re no longer using an application then it’s as simple as uninstalling it! If you do end up needing it in the future, you can easily re-install it.

7. Photos. If you’re like me, you probably have hundreds of photos on your phone and computer that never see the light of day. This year, I’ve set a monthly task to transfer photos from my phone to my computer and delete any doubles, blurry photos, or photos that I don’t like. These are organised in folders by year, month and any special events, which makes it easy to navigate and print out.

8. Old Documents. Do you have folders full of old or irrelevant documents taking up space on your computer or phone? Then it’s time to get rid of them! Of course, there may be some documents that need to be kept for legal or tax purposes, but if not, then the Delete key is your best friend!

Happy decluttering!

Marie xo

This year I’m using another diary designed by Fran Meneses. I used her diary last year and was pleasantly surprised to find out that she’d released another version, so I knew I had to get it! While the format of the diary is similar to the earlier version, there have been some changes, so I thought I’d share them and let you know what I think.

What’s Stayed the Same:

• Hard cover
• Paper quality
• Monthly calendar format
• Weekly calendar format
• Pages for notes
• Expandable pocket
• Elastic diary band

What’s Changed:

• Additional bookmark
• Minimal weekly calendar format with no illustrations but more space
• Dream/goal/project oriented writing prompts
• Quarterly goal check-in’s
• No stickers (can be purchased individually)
• Less ‘fun stuff’ such as the vouchers or packing list

The Verdict

The major change for this diary is that it’s meant to be used as a “planning companion”. At the start of the diary, there’s a simple step-by-step process of how the diary can be used to list, track, and evaluate goals throughout the year. As a goal oriented person, I absolutely love this and am intending on following the process to get things done.

While there are less illustrations, the diary still has a whimsical feel and I actually prefer the new format as it’s more practical. While things such as the movie vouchers and travel packing list were cute ideas, I never actually used them, so I’m glad they’ve been removed.

I’m also loving the 2 bookmarks, as I can now easily keep tabs on the current month and week. Who knew that was a thing? Although the diary didn’t come with stickers this time, I actually don’t mind. I ended up buying some monthly sticker tabs elsewhere instead, which makes it easier to find the month that I’m looking for.

All in all, I’m loving the updated version of this diary and would particularly recommend it to people who love to plan and set goals for themselves!

What’s your diary situation this year?

Marie xo

As much as I like to go digital and have less things to carry, I love using a physical diary. In the past 2 years, I’ve used diaries from Kikki K and Muji. Last year, I absolutely loved using my Muji diary due to its lightweight, sleek and minimalist design, and was intending to get another one for 2018. That is, until I learned that Fran Meneses was releasing her own illustrated diary this year!

Fran is an illustrator based in the UK and I randomly found her Youtube channel last year. I love her bubbly personality and style of drawing, so was happy to pick up her diary and support her work. It was also a great excuse to pick up a few other bits and pieces from her etsy shop!

A Look Inside the Diary

The inside of the diary is filled with Fran’s whimsical illustrations. The first few pages are personal details in case it gets lost, 2018-2019 yearly calendars and 12 blank monthly calendars. The main body of the diary is set out in a blank weekly format with a space to put weekly notes or to do’s, and has cute illustrations on the bottom corners of each page. Near the back, there a few pages for notes, and some fun stuff like movie vouchers, travel packing list, important dates, new years resolutions and writing prompts! At the very back of the diary, there’s an expandable pocket to put various bits and pieces in.

The diary comes with its own set of illustrated stickers including a set of 2018 monthly stickers. It also has a handy elastic, which wraps around the diary to keep everything closed. All in all, I’ve really enjoyed using this diary so far and am loving Fran’s touch throughout the diary. The only cons that I can mention are the blank monthly and weekly pages, as I hate spending that initial time pre-filling everything out (however, I am aware this was done intentionally, so that the diary can be used at anytime of the year) and the plastic stickers (paper options would be great!). Other than that, it is a really well-made, cute diary and would make the perfect present for a fellow diary lover!

So that’s my diary situation for 2018! Do you like to use a diary, and if so, what are you using?

Marie xo

At work I use Outlook to help keep me organised but in my personal life, I much prefer to use a physical planner. I’ve used various planners over the years as I love experimenting with different designs and layouts, but this year I’ve gone back to using a Muji Diary.

I first used a A5 Muji Paper Diary a few years ago and fell in love with the size, weekly layout and if I’m being frank, the grid paper. I have an unhealthy obsession with grid paper and the extra space was perfect for listing any projects, ideas, lists or overflow from the week. Since there aren’t any Muji stores in Perth, I went searching for the same planner while I was in Singapore a few months ago, but was only able to find the White Vinyl Diary in stock. I wavered because I’d had my heart set on the simple brown paper look but I’m glad I ended up buying it as I’ve quickly grown to love the clean, silver look of the planner.

Inside the Planner

The inside of the planner is as I remembered and starts off with a yearly overview from 2016 to 2018. The next section are monthly overviews that spread across both pages and I’ve been using these to map out potential blog posts and highlight any birthdays, public holidays or important dates. The next section and majority of the planner are weekly overviews from Monday to Sunday on the left-hand side and my beloved grid paper on the right-hand side. At the end of the diary is extra grid paper that I’ve started using to track things that aren’t specific to a particular week. The outside of the planner has a plastic cover that protects the diary. It’s a snug fit, which I like and the inside of the front cover has an extra flap for inserts and the back has a smaller flap for small cards.

Using my Planner

Nowadays I much prefer functionality rather than trying to make things look pretty, so I don’t really do much other than list what I need to do and cross things out once their done. I’ve watched plenty of “plan with me” videos and I love to see other people’s creative process with their planners but its just not for me. Beyond using watercolour for my monthly overviews, I’ll probably stick to using highlighters to colour code tasks in my weekly overviews because it’s quick and easy.

So that’s my diary situation for 2017! Do you like to use a diary to plan and if so, what are you using this year?

Marie xo