Christmas Gift Shopping With Your Planner

I am constantly encouraging you to either create a Christmas planner or use the Project pages in your planner to plan your holidays.

I also almost ALWAYS carry my planner with me.

But in the mall, I get tired of carrying a heavy purse. I want a lightweight crossbody bag instead.

Organizing Christmas Presents

Take a minute to go read this updated post about Organizing Christmas Presents!

I promise it's worth clicking over to read!

Etcetera.

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What to Buy Your Husband for Christmas

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So many of my friends are asking what to buy husbands for Christmas? What gift should I get my husband? Is there a gift guide for husbands?

Live Blogging Thanksgiving

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How do you get your Loyal Readers to tune in to your blog on Thanksgiving Day?

Why, an event, of course!

For years, my Facebook friends have been urging me to write a book about the funny and cool things my kids say. 

In high school newspaper class, we kept all such sayings anonymous and called them "Overheards."

What to Plan in a Planner

People ask me constantly, "what do you even put in a planner?"

Well, lots of stuff.

Le Doigt: A Story of Paris and Planners

As a little girl, I would visit Grandma Julie every Sunday. At first, we would pick her up for Mass, walking her slowly up to the front pew, so she could take communion without leaving her seat.

As she grew older and more feeble, we'd go to Mass alone, then visit at her old, raised wooden house about a quarter mile from the church, complete with a creaky front porch that oversaw the Mississippi River, while she watched Mass on television.

I was young, so I always tried to escape to that porch instead of sitting through a second Mass. 

The Right Planner for Everyone on Your Gift List

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A dedicated day planner user - also known around these parts as a plannerd - might ask, "why would I ever buy a day planner for someone else as a gift?"

After all, if you are a Loyal Reader of Giftie Etcetera, you likely already use a planner tailored to you and your needs. That's the goal, anyway. You understand that a planner is a very personal item.

This year, I'm challenging you to share that love of planners with someone in your life who might either need or truly appreciate it!

Since every plannerd (or potential plannerd) is unique, I'll try to share some interesting planners that you might not know about and the unique aspects of each of these planners with you.

Christmas Gift Guide for Kids Who Are Too Old for Toys

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Every year, we take our kids to Toys 'R Us to make a Christmas wish list. It's always a fun day for them.

My second grader, Loki, made a list that was two pages long (and calculated out to about $1,500 worth of stuff...so, that's NOT happening).

But this year, for the first time, it was different for my older kid, a fourth grader.

He's no longer into toys.

3 Shortcuts for Writing Your Blog Post in Less Time

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Blogging takes a ton of time. If you blog, you realize that.

I think my Loyal Readers know about the time commitment, too.

The Power of a Planner Over Scraps of Paper

Even though I use my planner regularly and mostly keep it organized, there are times when the sticky notes and random entries get overwhelming.

How to Deal with Paper Clutter

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I am an organizing blogger.

If you haven't visited Giftie Etcetera before, I write about day planners, parenting, and keeping life in order.

So the real, live pile of papers in this picture?

Adulting Should Come with Instructions

Adulting is hard.

They expect you to get up every morning, feed yourself (and sometimes other people!), and skip nap time.

No toys allowed before 9 p.m.

Your socks have to match. HAVE TO.

And don't even get me starting on filling out forms. Forms, people!

Talking to Children About Terrorism

I hate having to write this post. It makes me sad.

Must Have Planner Accessories: You Don't Have to Spend Much

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I constantly see pictures of people's HUGE planner stashes.

Planning Thanksgiving Dinner

Every Sunday, I invite readers to a classic Giftie post, while I laze away my day.

Today, I'm featuring my glimpse at Thanksgiving planning post, just in time for the holiday.

Enjoy!

Etcetera.

If you enjoy what you read at Giftie Etcetera, please share on social media. Click here to join the Giftie Etcetera Facebook group.

Partied at: Making Your Home Sing, Mommy Monday, Much Ado About Monday, Mix It Up Monday, Art of Homemaking, Tuesdays at Our Home, Best of the Weekend, My Favorite Things, Saturday Sparks, Saturday Sharefest, Sharing Saturday

Featured at: Turn It Up Tuesday

Parenting, Planners, and Public Speaking

Once a week, I focus on technology. But I don't limit the technology talk to my blog.

I also teach my kids how to use technology in a positive way.

Currently, that means learning how to write, produce, and star in their own YouTube videos for kids.

Planner people, especially those with children or grandchildren, keep reading. I've got a special tutorial for you to watch (with or without your kid) about using planners!

A Real-Life Peek at a Written Daily Plan

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My Loyal Readers (and my many new visitors - welcome!) have been clamoring for more You Tube videos.

Making videos is not my favorite thing to do, but I get that sometimes information is more easy to understand when you heard it.

For this video, I did my nails all fancy, but left my hair wet from a shower. That whole "use good lighting and makeup" theory of video making is lost on me. As I tell my darling children, "you get what you get and you don't throw a fit!" {grin}

Affordable Gifts for Cubicle Dwellers

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Every year at Christmas time, there is that awkward moment when someone in the office suggests a gift exchange.

Not in? You look like a Scrooge.

All in? You look like a kiss up.

I figured I'd help you out with Christmas gift ideas during this holiday season, so I'll occasionally share ideas, like this Gift Guide for the Obsessively Organized. 

(Don't worry. I'm still writing about planners and organizing most days! That won't end.)

This time, I thought I'd help you out with some inexpensive gift ideas for co-workers or other people in your life who do office work.

The Many Ways to Use a Planner to Battle Anxiety and Depression

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Confession time...I'm currently wearing brown nail polish. Honestly, it's more a dark bronze than an actual brown, but no matter.

What matters is the reason why I'm wearing such a dark, difficult-to-ignore nail polish.

Finding the Redeeming Qualities in Others (aka "An Ode to the Crimson Tide)

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There are some wonderful, beautiful, special things even in people that sometimes make your blood boil, like people who insist your planner is stupid, people who put the toilet paper roll on upside down, and Bama football fans.

3 Things You Should Be Tracking in a Day Planner

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People who don't use planners are always asking me what I put in there.

Well, everything.

In particular, though, I put appointments, deadlines, and task lists. 

Oh, and some other stuff that non-planner people rarely consider, but that makes my life so much easier.

How to Create Better Habits

I'm posting a New Year's Day post in November.

My Loyal Readers know that I rely heavily on my calendar, so I feel like I need to explain why Habit Happen When You Least Expect is my flashback post this week.

How to Increase Blog Pageviews By Being Yourself

I'm friendly, intense, energetic, intelligent, and obsessed with planning.

Even with all that, last year my blog stats were low. Really low. I had a core group of fans (my Loyal Readers), but that was it. No one else even knew my little blog existed.

The Life-Changing Magic of a Daily Plan

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Today's You Tube video talks about the value of a daily plan and the simple way to make one quickly.

A Guide to Gifts for the Obsessively Organized People in Your Life

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Even though I blog about organizing all the time, I do not consider myself obsessed with organizing. 

How to Get Everything Done

Sometimes it feels like whatever I do and however hard I try, I get nothing done.

The day passes by without accomplishing anything.

The Obligation to Use White Privilege to Combat Racism

I live in the South.

I attend Catholic Church and am surrounded by Conservative Christians. 

We are supposed to love our neighbor. But here in the South, we too often don't love our neighbor.

I take responsibility for some of that. After all, I say stupid stuff all the time that doesn't exactly ring with love.

Once, I asked my friend, pictured below, to bring watermelon to my Fourth of July party.

In all fairness, she doesn't cook and I love watermelon. I figured fruit was an easy thing for a non-cook to bring. Plus, what's Fourth of July without watermelon?

So when she asked if I wanted her to bring fried chicken with that, I was honestly confused.

Then embarrassed and ashamed of myself.

3 Common Reasons for Planner Fail (and How to Overcome Them)

Planner peace is so elusive.

People want a way to keep their lives in order and record their thoughts and to dos.

But time and time again, they fail.

Don't be one of those people! 

It's Time to Start Planning for the Holidays

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I hate it when a store plays Christmas music before Thanksgiving.

I rarely buy a single gift before Black Friday.

I never put up a tree until we have some leftover turkey in the fridge.

Check out the nose on our Cajun St. Nick!