Keto Journey: Week 7

Like many of you, I created a New Year's Resolution. (I know! I know!)

I stepped on the scale soon after Thanksgiving and I did not like the number I saw. So, I spent the remaining week of 2019 learning about Keto.

What is Keto?

Keto, or the Ketogenic Diet, is a diet that focuses on fat, protein, and carbohydrates. While there are variants in the amount of each macronutrient are eaten on the Keto diet, the percentages are typically as follows: fat - 75%, protein - 20%, carbohydrates - 5%. There are a lot of great macronutrient calendars online. I used this one:

Should I track? How do I track?

In a word: yes. If you don't track, you don't know what you're eating. For me, tracking (and measuring) has helped me get rid of portion distortion. Tracking is as simple as reading a label (no, really). What you do with that information, is up to you. You can either track via apps (Carb Manager and My Fitness Pal are two that are used frequently. Spark People is also another tracking app that is simple to use). Or if paper and pencil is more your flavor, you can keep a simple food log. I use this one.

When you track, start with carbohydrates. You can add the other two macros after you get the swing of tracking carbs.

There are two ways to track carbs: whole carbs or net carbs. There is varying school of thought on which you should track, but if you're used to eating All The Carbs, I'd probably track net carbs vs total carbs just to make it easier on yourself.

What is a net carb?

A net carb is a total carb MINUS fiber and sugar alcohols (please do not confuse this with sugar). Sugar alcohols are artificial sweeteners that do typically do not impact blood sugar.

Source

In the above food label, the total carbs (carbohydrates) is 31 g (grams). there is no fiber in this food, so the total carb count for this food (a 1 cup serving) is 31 carbs. However, if that same food had 6 g of fiber, you would subtract the total carbs (31) from the fiber (6), to get a net carb count (25). 

Many digital food tracking websites and apps (see the ones I named above), will automatically calculate net carbs if you set it up that way in your user settings. 

Once you get comfortable tracking carbs, then you can begin tracking fat and protein. Carb Manager gives you a pie graph of your macros so you can see at a glance if your percentages are in check or not).

CarbManager.com

This was a good day. You can see that my percentages are pretty good. I didn't quite eat enough to use up all of my macros and that's okay. I wasn't very hungry this day. Other days, I am hungry and when I am, I eat.

What else should I do?

Forget the devil. The scale is a liar. After being completely obsessed with the scale, I decided to put it in the closet during the week and only weigh in on Saturdays. So, how do I know what I'm doing is working? I take pictures and I take measurements.

When I took pictures back in January, I did not like what I saw. However, when I took pictures in February, I could really see some change, even though the scale wasn't a huge "success". And if that wasn't enough, I took measurements so I could sure that my eyes were not deceiving me.

I will update with three month totals on March 1st, so please stay tuned. In the meantime, come join me on Instagram and Facebook! I'd love to chat with you!

New Year, New Me!

Yes, yes. This is yet ANOTHER New Year post. So what's one more?

It's been while since I've brushed off the old "Create New Post" button. It's been so long that Blogger has completely updated their user interface for users (on this side of the screen; I don't think much changes on your end.)

The blog has been through yet another overhaul. I just couldn't seem to find the right color combo, but I think a simple green and white suits me just fine. (Odd since my favorite color is red. But I didn't think red translated so well in blog terms. I think simple is best).

I've spent all of Christmas break researching. Goal setting. Debt management. Diet. Exercise. Pretty much everything you research right before the new year.

Y'all..I know this blog is trite. There's not much I can do about that. I want to stay that I'm knock out these goals and that will be the end of it. But the truth is, I haven't been so great about goal setting when I've been in charge. I am convinced that I graduated college because everything was laid out for me. All I had to do was show up and do the work.

Which is the secret to all goal setting, right? Show up. Do the work. I haven't been showing up to my own life lately. And it shows. I'm a mess. An utter mess. Aren't we all on some level? The only solace I can give is this: you aren't alone. This is what my blog is all about - just trying to tackle life and sometimes getting it right. If I can share my experience and allow readers to learn from my mistakes, I'm willing to be vulnerable. Which is why I'm going to share my goals for 2020.

I'm going to lay out my goals and then I might take a post for each one to discuss how I plan on tackling them (tools, guidelines, etc). Then, you'll be able to come back and get updates on whichever goals interest you. I also am going to try to be a greater presence on YouTube and Instagram. If you don't already follow the accounts for This Side of Perfect, please consider following along.

My goals tackle four areas: Health, Money, Organization, and Life

Health: Lose 50 pounds by December 2020.
Money: Pay off credit cards by December 2020.
Money: Save $1,000 in savings
Organization: Create a morning and evening routine
Life: Complete a 50,000 word project by December 2020 (NaNoWriMo)

So why should you care about my goals? You shouldn't. They are mine. *Unless you're a friend or loved one who knows me personally or an empath, you probably don't care much about these goals.* BUT, my hope this year is that I can share what I'm doing to reach these goals and these tools will help you reach your goals. And I care about you reaching your goals (no, really, I do!)

As I said, I'll go into further detail about how I'm going to reach each of these goals (they will be one blog post each, I think so that they aren't too terribly long. People are busy. Y'all don't have time to read my drivel, after all.)

Let me finish this post, however, with a tool you need for setting goals. Every teacher on the planet is familiar this type of goal setting, as are millionaires and business people.

In order for your goals to be true goals (rather than just notes on a sheet of paper or hopes, wishes, and dream) there is a formula most successful people follow: the SMART formula. This idea isn't mine (and I'm not sure who created it) but it's tested and research based (teachers - see what I did there?)

A S.M.A.R.T goal is:

S - Specific - if you noticed, I didn't say I wanted to "lose weight" for my health goal. I was specific. I want to lose 50 pounds.
M - Measurable - how will I know that I've reached my goal? I lose 50 pounds
A - Attainable - it needs to be something that you can accomplish; I might want to own {insert Fortune 500 company} but considering I have zero marketing and business experience, the chance is slim.
R- Relevant - is it a goal that you set (verses one you think you should set or one everyone else is setting). For me to set a goal of running a marathon isn't relevant OR realistic. I don't like to run. I don't plan on running. I would never reach this goal because I'm not motivated to take step to make this goal a reality.
T - Timely - how long are you going to give yourself to achieve your goal? If you leave it open-ended, the chances are good that you will never reach it. Instead, give yourself a deadline. You'll thank your future self for it.

So, there you have it. Some examples of  non-S.M.A.R.T goals vs S.M.A.R.T goals :

non-S.M.A.R.T - Lose weight.
S.M.A.R.T - Lose 50 lbs by December 2020

non-S.M.A.R.T - Get out of debt.
S.M.A.R.T - Pay off 6 credit cards by December 2020.

non-S.M.A.R.T - Read more.
S.M.A.R.T - Read 2 books per month by December 2020.

Get the picture? Non-S.M.A.R.T goals, while complete sentences don't quite have the flavor that S.M.A.R.T goals do. They give you a little meat to sink into. They help guide you through your story.

In my next post, I'll break down each of my own goals and explain how I plan on achieving them, what tools I will, and how I'm going to track progress. I've never done this before. I'm the queen of setting goals, never to accomplish them. I'm taking my own advice here.

I hope you'll follow along this upcoming year and learn from my mistakes and (hopefully!) a few of my successes!

Organizing in 2019: Freedom Filer Review

Use Freedom Filer for all of your home, office, and school filing needs

If you've found this blog post, it means one of two things:

1. I invited you here via some form of social media.
2. I used the right tags and Google led you here.

Either way, thank you for taking the time to click over and read what I have to say.

While I haven't let you into my life completely on this blog in the past, this year that will change. This year, I commit to being honest and unapologetic for who I am. And it's time you all knew who I am.

I am a very disorganized person. No, no. It's true. I've had make shift systems in place for years that have fallen by the way side. On occasion, a few have stuck. For example, I have a laundry schedule that is pretty solid. When I use it, that is. As I type this, I've had "fold and put away laundry" on my to do list for ... well, almost all of Christmas break.

Another system that I used was a clip system for my bills. I'd clip together all of my current bills and then once they were paid, "file" them behind the clip. What resulted was a huge mess of papers that looked dreadful to the eye. And worse, it wasn't the least bit functional.

Did I pay the electric bill? I dunno. Where is the phone bill? Beat me.

[beep, beep, beep] What's that noise? It's the garbage truck. The garbage truck is taking away our garbage can. Did you pay the bill?

[crickets]

(True story, by the way. Yes. My garbage can was repossessed for non-payment one year. I told you - I'm keeping things completely real this year.)

Obviously, my system for bill paying (or filing) wasn't working. I needed to do something.

Of course, like most of you - I searched YouTube. (The other lot of you probably headed to Pinterest. Amiright?)

I found tons of women (because let's face it - organization is still mostly a woman's game) who had their act together. They showed me their systems. Accordion systems. Mobile systems. Filing systems.

Once filing system kept coming up again and again. I was intrigued. Especially because every single review I found on the system was positive. Better yet, I really liked how it worked!

After I watched the videos, I searched the company's website.

Everything looked amazing! The system looked really, really easy to use. How much was it? I was ready!

What I found was a $30 price tag. There was no way I was going to spend $30 for a system. So, I clicked away and pretty much forgot about it. I continued to use my system and things were okay. (No more repossessed trash cans, so that's a win!)

But then, I was talking to my team at work about how we all organized our home files. We all had a good laugh that one time Floyd had her trash can possessed. And we all admitted that we weren't where we wanted to be in the filing game.

I started talking about the system I had spent hours researching. I explained how it worked and how really excited I was to try it out - I just couldn't swing the price tag.

That night, I went home and began looking at the same videos I looked at before. I went to the same website and read the same information.

But I looked on it with different eyes. I was ready to do something. I was going to order the system!

There were several different systems to choose from (home, business, self-employed). I opted for the home system and waited for the labels to ship. (That's right - full disclosure - the system is a set of pre-printed labels for everything you could possible label in a home filing system. But the system also teaches you how to file! Please continue reading while I explain more).

The package came and I was really overwhelmed with all of the choices I had in how I wanted to organize my files. I poured over the book that came in the reusable envelope to study the system and to determine what I would need to complete my file system.

I headed to Staples where I bought some hanging files and some inner file folders (this is important for the system).

I set aside one Saturday and I do believe I spent several hours setting up the system. The book did say it would take about an hour and half (you could certainly divide it up into several sessions). I think it took me so long because my files were a mess. (Remember, this is a woman whose trash can was repossessed for nonpayment!)

But when I was done - oh what a glorious day it was!

I will probably do a video showcasing the filing system because it might get a little confusing to explain. But I will try, briefly, here.

The system touts itself as a "maintenance free" system. And for the most part, it really is!

I actually have two filing cabinets. One filing cabinet holds my bills and my taxes. This is really the beauty of the system. I've chosen to file my bills and other expenses on a monthly basis. (If I chose, I could have filed them by category. I chose monthly because this is how I pay bills). I have one set of folders for even years (ex. 2016, 2018, 2020) and a set of folders for odd years (ex. 2017, 2019, 2021).

Every month, after I pay my bills, I file them in the corresponding month. At the end of December of every year, I switch out my even and odd year folders. For example, this past year was an even year (2018). At the end of December, I took those 12 files (and 12 mos of paid bill receipts) and put them toward the back of the filing cabinet. I then took the odd year (2019) and placed it in the front of my filing cabinet. When I placed January's bills in January's odd-year file, I took out the bill receipts from two years ago (2017) and shredded them.

Using this system, I  actually keep two year's worth of bill receipts.

Why would you want to do that when there are online statements?

Very good question. You might not want to file your bills receipts if you get the statements online or use ebilling. But I don't. So I keep paper statements.

Now, have I ever needed to pull a past month's bill?

YES. (Fooled you, didn't I?)

And how exciting for someone like me (trash can repossessed chick) to go the exact file I needed to go to in order to find the exact paper I needed to find!

This filing cabinet also has my taxes. TEN years of taxes. (Do we need ten years of taxes? I'm not sure - but I have them!) And lo and behold, I needed to pull some tax info not too long ago and I had the past two years I needed - right when I needed them! These tax files are divided up by digit years. Year O is for 2000, 2010, 2020, etc.) Year 1 is for 2001, 2011, 2021, etc.) Year 3 is for 2003, 2013, 2023). You get the idea. So when I filed tax info for 2018, I filed it in Year 8. When I start working on this year's file, I will file it Year 9. In the year 2020 (it's closer than we think!), I'll use Year 0. When I get to Year 0, I will take 2000's tax returns and shred them. I can shred them in confidence, knowing that there's a good chance, I won't need them after 10 years. (But, it is kind of fun to look back of previous years' finances and see how far we've come!)

Whew! Are you still with me?

My other filing cabinet is organized like a "standard" filing cabinet. I have auto and renter's insurance policies, medical bills, banking and other paperwork filed in this cabinet. (It's not as near as exciting).

So, would I recommend the Freedom Filer system? It depends.

If your filing organization is in such shambles that you're likely to get a trash can repossessed for non-payment, then yes. By all means. Invest the $30. (If you're short on time, buy a ready-made system - stickers, files, and folders - for $95!)

But, if you're filing system is suiting you well - well, you probably don't need such an in depth system. But you might want to do something different. In which case, yes. Sure! Go ahead and give it a try.

The Freedom Filer "philosophy" is working for me so well that I've used the idea on my files at work. I have an archived drawer and an active drawer. I might have figured out this system on my own - but it probably would have taken a long time.

Instead, I'm glad I found it.

I know this was a lot to take in. If you've made it this far, thank you for reading. If you have any questions or need to me to expand on anything I've said here, please let me know in the comments below.

You can find out more about the Freedom Filer system by clicking here.

Until next time,

{Planners for the Rest of Us} 2016 Uncalendar End-of-Year-Review

It has been just about a year since I started using the Uncalendar my mother gifted me last year. I received another one this year (this time, from The Man Beast). I thought it would be an excellent time to update readers on my usage of the Uncalendar this past year - what worked and what didn't.

If you have fifteen minutes to spare, feel free to click on the link below in order to see the video version of this post.

The Uncalendar Lifestyles Pro is a three-ring binder undated planner that comes in red, blue, or black. I received the full-size version, but the company also provides a half-size version of both the Pro and the regular Lifestyles version. The Uncalendar website has pictures of their products as well as upclose screen shots of the pages. The company also provides a skills center meant to help Uncalendar users get the most out of their planner.

After watching just a handful of Uncalendar videos (seriously, there aren't a whole lot available - at least when you compare to other planners on the market), I learned that one user placed Post It Pockets in the front of her binder. I, too, placed two envelopes in the front of my binder - one which I used for different colored pens and the other I used for Post It flags and tabs.

Around July, I moved the guts of my Uncalendar into my own binder. It was a binder I had bought from Staples several years ago and at 1 1/2 - 2 inches deep, it seemed to be bigger and have more room in it than the Uncalendar binder. The plastic envelopes did not make it into my new binder because the whole thing seemed too cumbersome.


However, I did get this nifty Post It Note station from Dave and Busters. I thought it would be a great addition to my binder. Unfortunately, the post its and flags started crinkling and falling off. To be fair, I don't know if it was the product or it's the fact that this particular set up won't work in a binder. I have seen similar  Post It Notes systems at various stores around my community. If, after trying the coil Uncalendar system this year and deciding on going back to the 3-ring binder system, I will definitely be trying this out again.

The first part of the Uncalendar houses the weekly view. I chose to label the three sections "work", "home" and "me". I explained this in my other post and video. It made sense for me to divide my day like this because I woke up - I went to work. I came home and dealt with home stuff. And then I had my stuff - exercise, Bible studies, reading, writing, etc. that I tackled at the end of the day. While I was last on the page, I do not feel that my needs came last, by any means.

I used a color-coding system in my Uncalendar. At the beginning, it was consistent, but toward the middle of the year, it fizzled out to a very basic color-coding system. Work has always been blue. I've off-set any special education events in red. It's a system that I adopted my first year teaching, it made sense to me, so it's stuck. This was before I even began using the Uncalendar. At the beginning, each family member had their own color - The Man Beast had orange, Baby Girl had green, The Man Child had a variation of blue and I had purple. This system didn't stick much at all. First, the colors didn't make sense. They weren't favorite colors (except for Baby Girl's), so there was no emotional attachment to the colors. I know it sounds weird, but it's how my mind works. Everything has to have significance. If it doesn't, then I want nothing to do it with. (That's an epiphany I just had while writing this out! Amazing how writing frees the mind).

Moving on...
Because my system was new, I developed a key for it. I also used the chart to track habits - at least in the beginning. It, too, fizzled out mid-way through the year.

 

A key for my weird system

 After seeing a fellow Uncalendar user use the big space on the bottom of this page to track her food on a Post It Note notepad, I adopted the system, too. Unfortunately, what I found was it was just as easy, if not easier to track food directly into my phone. I'm unsure of what I will use this area for this upcoming year.

During the summer months, my Uncalendar hardly got used. I didn't have any work related tasks to track. I didn't set any personal goals for myself in the summer, so there was nothing for me to track for me. Even my home appointments didn't get tracked in the Uncalendar. I found it easier to sync Google Calendar with everyone in the family.  This year, I think I will track habits for me personally in my Uncalendar. This way, it will be used during the summer. Of course, I plan on laying eyes on my Uncalendar much more frequently this year than I did last, too.

Over all, however, most of my summer weeks were kept blank. I believe this is why the people at Uncalendar suggest only filling out your planner for a few weeks at a time. I started doing that at the beginning but what I found was, it was just another item on my to-do list. So, around July (it must have been a magic month) I filled in the rest of my Uncalendar. I will say this: filling it out on a weekly basis did force me to interact with it more than when I filled it out for the whole year. Still, I just do not see myself going back to the weekly system. However, my main goal for the upcoming year is to really utilize the Uncalendar and touch it and interact with it several times a day verses once a day or (wore) once a week!

This area is for monthly planning. I didn't touch it. I don't even know what to do with it. I'm going to try to delve deeper into all things Uncalendar and really try to utilize this for a goal. I think the reason why I never used it is because I never had any real goals. I wasn't a goal setter last year. I was all talk - and even after awhile that fizzled out. I welcome any suggestions on how you use the area. Please comment, below!

Left side goal page

Right side goal page - top

Right side goal page - bottom

The monthly view layout was consistently used throughout the year. I guess I'm just a Big Picture kind of girl who has no interest in breaking the picture down into manageable goals. (Ironic considering I'm a SPED teacher whose whole world revolves around year-long IEP goals that are broken down into bite-sized pieces). I kept the color-coding - the basic color coding - throughout the year in the month view - blue was work and red was SPED (Hey! I rhyme!) All the other color-coding went by the way side.

Monthly view

Do you see that area on the far left, highlighted in red? This is where I put my weekly to-dos on the monthly calendar. For example, when my son graduated high school this past May, I needed to be sure to get out invitations and announcements and consider sleeping arrangements at the house. I placed these things on my "big calendar". They did not, however, consistently make it to my weekly to do lists.

To make the monthly calendar section easier to use, I used these tabs. They come in four colros: red, blue, green and yellow. I divided my months according to "seasons" (read: as the colors made sense to me). Blue were the cooler months, yellow were the spring months, green were the summer months, and red were the back to school/fall months. I stuck the tabs in the Uncalendar and they never once came loose the whole year (and remember, while the majority of my Uncalendar went untouched, the monthly view got *a lot* of use.) I will transfer these tabs over to my new Uncalendar. If they end up not sticking, I will be buying more. The system really worked for me.

On the very back page of the monthly view is a next-year-at-a-glance page. As a teacher, this page was invaluable to me! Since I began my Uncalendar in January (the middle of the school year), I have future dates that do not fit in my current Uncalendar. January through May/June dates are listed on this page in my Uncalendar and now that I have my new one, I'll transfer these dates over. And, in August, when I get dates for next January through May/June, I will place those dates on this page in my *new* Uncalendar. My only regret is that half of this page ends up going unused. I hardly ever get dates further than a year ahead. I suppose I could use this area for more goal setting in the new year? I will have to give more thought to this. I used color coding in this area too - but very basic. Again, blue for work, red for SPED, etc.

Upcoming year-at-a-glance

I think my biggest issue with my Uncalendar use this past year was just not using it as much as I should/could have. The phone book feature in the back went completely untouched because - you guessed it - all my contacts were in my phone. This was one reason why I opted for the coil-bound Uncalendar this year. It's more streamlined and it doesn't have a lot of features that the Pro does, but it still has the writing space I crave (but apparently don't use) that the half sized version does not.

Waste of paper for me

My over all opinion about the Uncalendar after one year of "use": I really like it. I will continue to use it this year, too. (Be sure to be on the lookout for a video and blog post outlining my plans for the upcoming year in more detail).

Pros: Blank - start whenever you'd like; spacious - a lot of room to write; durable pages - aside from a few coffee stains, my pages look just as good as the unboxing last December; affordable - with several versions, you can find a planner to fit any budget.

Cons: Blank - a lot of space means there is a lot of opportunity to be overwhelmed; Bare Bones - it's not very pretty as planners go BUT you can always decorate it to your liking; Color Scheme - a lot of people are put off by the red, blue, green and yellow color scheme. I contacted the company and they said that a grey scale was in the works for 2017, so that's promising.  I'll be sure to keep you updated if I hear anything.

Until next time,

{Planners for the Rest of Us} Unboxing: Uncalendar Lifestyles Pro

Since my mother's diagnosis three months ago, my life feels like it has gone off the rails. Friends, colleagues and family have assured me that on the outside, I'm holding it all together. But I know differently.

I know I can do better. {Read: I am a perfectionist.}

So, a couple of weeks ago, I was on Facebook, chatting with fellow You Need a Budget (YNAB) users and the discussion was: "How do you get it all done?"

Ever the student, I eagerly read comment and after comment (there were several) about how different people "got it done".

Someone mentioned the Uncalendar. Having never heard of it, I went on a search.

The website led to a pretty basic layout of an undated planner. What seemed unique about this undated calendar was 1) you could start at any time and 2) the creators broke it down that provided enough parameters for people to meet their goal while, simultaneously (and this is the genius part) allowing it to be completely customizable.

I was intrigued.

The next stop is where everyone goes to learn everything about nothing at all: YouTube.

What I discovered was that while there were tons of videos on planners (for every planner under the sun, including but not limited to, making your own from a dollar notebook), there weren't a whole lot for Uncalendars. But they were there, so I devoured everything I could on the subject. I even found (joy!) a Uncalendar Users Facebook group.

So, naturally with it being the Christmas season, I asked for it for Christmas. I asked for the Lifestyles Full-Size version and received the Lifestyles Pro Full-Size version. When I shared this on the Facebook group, I had several people beg for pictures of the planner (and even an unboxing. You can view it here, but I'm warning you - as my first video it is beyond rough. This why I've created this blog post. It's much, much less painful.)

I will be unboxing the Uncalendar exactly as I received it. I did spend a couple of hours this afternoon customizing it for my use. I will share that as a later date.

One thing I did mention in my video was the idea of creating a series for planners who were anything but natural planners. Certainly, I cannot be the only person who is grasping at straws trying to find something that works for her. If the interwebs has taught me anything, it's that whenever you think you're alone or unique, you are not. There are millions of people just like you. As such, whenever I write about the Uncalendar, I will label it Planners for the Rest of Us. Being new to the Uncalendar, I know that I'm going to be constantly tweaking my system. And I want to be transparent in my journey in hopes of it helps someone out there. If it does, great. If it doesn't, well that's okay, too.

Uncalendar Unboxing

The Uncalendar Lifestyles Pro Full Size comes in a 1 inch textured vinyl three-ring binder. There is a pocket inside the front cover. The planner comes divided into four tabs: Day/Week, Month/Goals, Notes/Techs and Data. Each tab is printed on durable card stock with suggested uses for each section.

First page of planner

Overview of planner

Suggested weekly schedule w/ example day

Month/Goals

Notes/Techs

Suggested mantras for different areas of your life: Interacting w/ Others, Family, Personal Efficiency, Diet and Exercise

NOTEsystemPAPER (notes) suggestions

At the very back - and I believe this is what sets the Lifestyle Pro apart from the regular Lifestyle is a phone book/contacts log. As I mentioned in my video, most of my contacts are stored in my phone or on my various emails, however, as The Man Beast pointed out - if I'm ever in a training and I need to jot down contact information, this would be a good place to put it.

Index at the beginning of the address/contact log

Address/contact log (there are 40 contacts per page - front and back; contacts are divided up alphabetically: AB, CD, EF, GH, IJ, KL, MN, OPQ, RS, TU, VW, XYW)

Index at the back of address/index log (I'm not sure why - unless these are frequently used numbers/contacts OR these are the contacts you will carry into your next year's Uncalendar. Honestly, I see this part of my Uncalendar physically being moved to my new Uncalendar next year. This might change.

The Uncalendar is color-code with primary colors: red, yellow, blue, green and sometimes black (depending on the section).  While there are suggestions throughout, the general blocking of the planner is very empty (and thus customizable). 

Weekly planning page which is adjacent to Weekly page (52 of each)

Weekly layouts begin on Monday and end on Friday (with the weekends underneath in large blocks). Each day is divided into three sections. What these are used for is up to the user's discretion: morning/afternoon/evening; work, home, personal; home, personal, finance - options are endless)

Monthly goal planner sheet

Bottom of goal planner sheet (complete with larger grid for monthly tracking)

Monthly planning

Monthly layout (12)

Projection for the next year (appointments, planning, goals, etc)

Notes Section w/ blocking and large tracking grid

Full sheet, numbered (45 lines) note page

Data sheet (very large tracking grid) w/ boxed-out areas

Frequently used numbers (data sheet)

Three-year at-a-glance (data)

The Uncalendar comes in two sizes (half and full) with three color options (black, blue, and red). The Lifestyle (full and half size) come coiled-bound. All Lifestyle Pro planners come in three ring binders. The company also offers full and half size refill planners.

Prices are as follows: (Please note that since I received this planner as a gift, I do not have working knowledge of shipping cost, how the product is packaged or how long delivery takes - my apologies)

Lifestyle

Lifestyle Pro

Lifestyle Pro Refill

I will get into how I am planning on using the planner in another blog post. This one is just to get readers a general idea of what the Uncalendar Lifestyles Pro entails.

While many product reviews found on the web offer paid compensation, I want readers to know that I in no way, shape, or form received any compensation of any kind for completely this unboxing. Like most people on the interwebs, I just like sharing.

Until next time,

It's gonna cost ya...

I am a huge procrastinator. I can find something, anything to distract me from the task at hand.

Such was the case with my coupons. Between work, school, surgery and yes, procrastination, my coupon inserts piled up and up and up. A couple of months ago, I went through them. All of them were expired. In essence, money down the drain.

I vowed that I wouldn't let my couponing get the best of me. Well, you know what they say about good intentions...

I was looking for a way to procrastinate from doing homework the other day, so I decided to tackle my coupons. (At least it's a productive procrastination.) After several hours, I ended up with this:

This is several months worth of expired coupons. *hangs head in shame* While going through all these coupons, I found coupons that I would actually use adding salt to an already-opened wound. As I'm going through them, the following conversation transpires between TMB and myself:

Me: "I found a Hormel Chili coupon! Expired! *defeated*
TMB: ...
Me: "I found an eye solution coupon! Expired! *ashamed*
TMB: ...
Me: "I found a Tetely tea coupon! Expired...*disgusted*
TMB: "Have you learned your lesson?"
Me: ...

Yes, Mr. Man, I have indeed learned my lesson! When I was finished, I had a nice (albeit, smaller) pile of coupons:

Which I will file-whole inserts-here:

Why would I publicly bare my shame and procrastination? Why, to help you, of course. I know everyone is knee deep in resolutions. (It's everywhere! I saw a couple of nurses walking during their lunch break, for crying out loud!) Since I certainly can't teach you what to do, I can teach you what not to do.

The truth of the matter is: not being organized can cost ya - big time. The proof is in the pudding (well, pictures). I outlined three coupons that I found that were expired. These are brands/products that my family uses every month; these aren't obscure brands of the oh-I-don't-use-that-brand-so-it-doesn't-matter land. No, these were high-end coupons that could have saved me $3. What's $3?, you might say. $3 is a pound of ground beef when it's not on sale. It's a pound and a half when it is! $3 is a gallon of gas! $3 is a gallon of milk! You get my drift. I threw away $3. Trust me, it's a big deal.

Why am I rambling on about coupons when most of you don't use them for a variety of reasons (too much time, too much hassle, not enough money saved, etc)? Because if you have them and don't use them (especially if you have them for items you normally buy), you are wasting money. Still not connecting with you?

Okay, let me put this little spin on it - if you have bills due and you don't keep track of them (or their due dates!), you will incur late fees (which is pretty much free money to the companies because you aren't paying them for a service). Or, you lose that service (cable or internet isn't such a big deal, but electric, water and housing is a whole other story!)

And, since a lot of you are wanting to save money this year, getting organized with the stuff that matters is a very good way to do it. Is it common sense? Of course it is. Most of the things that we have to do to "fix" the things that are wrong in our lives is - simple common sense.

So, how do you get organized? Well, it largely depends on who you are. Taking coupons for example, there are several ways that people choose to organize them. Some people cut them out and file them individually in notebooks (been there, done that - it took too much time). Other people file whole coupon inserts (like me, it saves time - when you don't let them pile up). The same is true for bills. Some people choose to have their money automatically withdrawn from their accounts; others use online bill pay or other online bill paying system. Some people budget using Excel spreadsheets; others use simple pencil and paper. The point is: a system that works for you is the system you should work.

Steph over at Debt Free Through Spending is working with her husband to create a webinar series to help people help themselves get out of debt. It is completely free - their theory is that you shouldn't have to pay money to get out of debt. She and her husband have included free printable forms that go along with the webinars. By the way, in case you're wondering, I plan on undertaking the task of getting (more) debt-free in 2012. (Disclosure: Just sharing some linky love - I am not compensated in anyway other than helping you help you get out of debt.)

Until next time...