Inside My Gym Bag

My gym bag…otherwise known as my purse. But seriously, it is. I carry my gym bag more than I carry my purse!

I’m an organization junkie and I feel like I have mastered some “tricks” to keeping my bag organized and effective. So I thought we could talk about that today.

Now, I usually go dressed and ready to the gym, but this is what I take with me every time.

All the necessities, right in my Lululemon bag, this is a similar one. I got mine for Christmas a couple of years ago and it still holds up nicely. It’s super sturdy which is needed because sometimes my bag gets heavy after my wallet, water bottle, and yoga mat are all thrown in there.

I love a clear bag! Right here is a cute 3-pack of clear toiletry bags for a great price. These might have to be my next investment!

It’s so much easier being able to see what’s inside to make sure I have everything. In this bag I keep my body wash and washcloth, chapstick, lotion, all toiletries (including make-up removing wipes), along with extra hair ties and headbands. I always, always keep multiples of those because that’s the worst if you get to the gym and realize you don’t have them!

This little bag came with my Lululemon bag and it’s where I keep a change of clothes. I keep separate bags because I always hated when I would throw everything inside my main bag and then it was a maze trying to find what I was looking for. This process is so much easier!

It holds my gym clothes (for when I used to workout after work), or it will hold my school clothes (if I workout before I go to classes for the day).

I always keep an extra pair of socks, underwear, and a sports bra in here as well. Those are also things you don’t want to forget about!

The side zipper pocket holds my yoga mat cleaner, body wipes for if I just need to wipe sweat off my face real quick, and the female necessities. You never know when you need these and I keep them in the zipper pocket so they don’t fall out/are seen. Nobody cares to see that stuff!

The other side of the bag is more pockets without the zipper. I keep my workout watch, headphones, my keys, and my phone on this side. This makes it easier to reach those things without having to dig to the bottom of my bag. I learned that the hard way when it took me 5 minutes to find my keys one time after just throwing them in my bag.

At the very bottom of my bag I keep all of my “workout specific items”…you know, socks for Barre class or wraps for boxing class. I don’t always need them, but when you do, you do. You know what i’m saying?

A few more things to note:

1. I keep a beach towel in my bag…but always a lightweight one. I don’t know about you, but we have lightweight and heavy beach towels. I always use the lightweight ones because they are easier to stuff and they aren’t as bulky and heavy. I will usually use this as my towel if I shower at the gym , or to towel off from the sauna, or a towel to wipe off sweat during my workouts.

2. If I am going to yoga, that towel is usually replaced with my yoga mat, unless I am just carrying it by hand.

3. I always keep a cheap ol’ pair of flip flops at the bottom of my bag for if I am showering, or using the sauna after a workout, or if I want to let my feet breathe after a sweaty workout.

4. I “re-stock” my small extra clothes bag first thing when I get home if they were used so I don’t forget. You don’t want to end up having to sit in some sweaty clothes because you forgot your extra pair.

5. Keep travel sized toiletries in your bag. They are easier to handle and cheaper to purchase too.

Now let’s go hit the gym with our organized bags! And then we can jump in the pool afterwards? 😉

Tell us about your gym bag! Am I missing anything?!

Follow me…

…and my Simplified Planner on over to The Low Country Mama as i’m guest posting today. You’ll have to go over there to see what about 🙂

Happy Wednesday!

The Simplified Planner

Well, it should come as no surprise to you that i’m writing a post on a planner. Have you ever seen New York Minute? The Mary Kate and Ashley movie? Well one of the girls is obsessed with her planner and when it goes missing she has a mini panic attack. That would be me!!!

I live through my planner.

I breathe my planner.

My planner is basically my best friend.

Sometime in November I was out Christmas shopping and stepped into this cute little paper boutique. I was looking around, checking out the sale section, and lo and behold…a SIMPLIFIED PLANNER. This planner is one that I had wanted to try for some time, but couldn’t fathom paying around $60 for it. I had it on my Christmas list, but was able to cross it off once I realized this bad boy was 70% off. I was sure there had to be something wrong with it, or it was last years edition, but nope. Perfect condition just at a great price. So I snatched that bad boy up and come home the happiest camper. Now i’m sharing it with y’all today.

One of my favorite things about the planner is that it has metal spiral binding. When I had a Vera Bradley planner in 2014, the back would always come undone and I would have to re-bind it. Weird, right? It got super annoying, too.

I love the metal corner protectors as well. I am hard on my planners (because they go EVERYWHERE with me) and these have held up for the past 3 months that I’ve been using it. The laminated month tabs don’t bend/tear/break and I love how colorful they are making it easy to read.

The inside pocket is where I keep all my necessary papers, reminders, etc.

Such as the Group X schedule for school! I keep receipts in there too if I need them.

I use a paperclip to hold all of the pages of passed days, so when I open my planner it goes straight to today. I don’t want to spend time flipping through all the pages trying to get where I want to be.

This planner started in August, so when I got it towards the end of November I had a lot of extra pages that I didn’t need. So instead of using notebook paper, I usually write stuff for the blog on those pages. That way I always have it with me, just like my list of guest bloggers.

I also keep lists of ideas from you sweet people in my planner, so when i’m trying to think of posts I want to write, I refer back to this list….see I DO LISTEN!!! 🙂

So with The Simplified Planner there’s a daily and weekly view, and i’m super thankful to have gotten the weekly view. I feel like with the daily view I would have had too much space, I feel like it would be too much paper for me. I write a lot down in my planners, but since it is very personal I just posted one that didn’t have much written.

My weekly view shows all my appointments, to-do’s, work schedule, and schoolwork. Each of my classes is highlighted in a different color to keep them separate.

I keep track of all my workouts, too. And then occasionally I will be flipping through some pages and see one of my oh-so-funny siblings left me a note. Ps. notice the paperclip!

Before each month, there’s a monthly view. This is where I keep my blog schedule. I love this because I used to keep a separate planner for my blog and my life and I didn’t like having to carry around two separate planners. Now I have it all in one. I also like this because I can go back and look at when I posted each blog. Then, I usually check them off as I do it or I “X” it out if I didn’t post that day.

This is how a month starts, and then as I come up with what I want to write about I start a list on the side. And then depending on what’s going on, what I want to write about, what information I have or research i’ve done, i’ll place it in a box and schedule it for that day! In the above picture you can also see that I keep my monthly/fitness goals on the side because I refer to these pages a lot. That way I always see them!

The back cover page has this little quote that’s signature to Emily Ley. Love. It.

Papers, paperclips, scheduling, plans, blog posts…this is my life. Right here on these pages.

It’s time to get planning, people!!

So tell me, what questions do you?

What type of planner do you use?

Have you tried The Simplified Planner?

Let’s talk about organization today!!! One of my very favorite topics 🙂

Show and Tell: Organization Tips and Tricks!

Today’s Show and Tell is all about our personal organization and tips. And if you know me you know this is SO up my alley. In fact, everything that I wanted to include was in my photo gallery already because i’ve posted about organization. I love. being. organized.

Organizing just makes me feel so much more put together when I feel like i’m going all sorts of directions. This is probably my guilty pleasure. I’ve been known to spend a couple $100 on organization stuff. I don’t know, maybe that’s just gossip. Maybe that’s true. Sooooooo today i’ve listed organizational tips from different parts of my life.

Home Office

 

I have my work office and my home office. In my home office ( a credenza turned desk), I usually keep all my personal paperwork (paystubs, medical records, receipts, etc). I usually put all my papers into these folders right away because I hate when there are random papers laying around on my desk. I labeled these folders with different colors; usually I can remember the colors associated with each: To do-green, to file-pink, to read-yellow and there are more of these, don’t you worry!. If you were a teacher you could put: To grade. Another good idea for bills is: To pay. You know, that type of thing.

Closet

Before:

I recently re-organized my closet. Check it out right here and see what I did. I love this jewelry box, my Uncle made it for me, however I couldn’t see all of my pieces of jewelry. One day I went to The Container Store and got this bracelet three-tier organizer and I really like it. I can see everything I have. The only difficulty is if I want something from the middle, but those are usually the pieces I don’t wear as often.

After:

Before:

When I was using our guest room closet and when I was in my dorm room I used this bucket to hold all my shoes. Again, I couldn’t see anything and it was irritating when I was in a hurry or couldn’t find the match to a shoe I was looking for. So at Bed Bath and Beyond one day I snatched this shoe organizer and it’s awesome. I can see everything and it’s all organized!

After:

Attic

 

We are right now in the process of re-organizing our attic and getting rid of things we don’t need. It’s crazy right now, but usually we have everything in sections (Dad’s stuff, Christmas, Kids’ stuff, Mom’s fabric, etc) We label all of our boxes, so we know what’s in everything instead of it being a guessing game. The picture above right is what we put all of our wrapping paper in to keep it together. Wrapping paper thrown everywhere = unwrapped disaster.

Spiritual Life

 

Organization in your spiritual life is super important. These three things above left usually go everywhere together when they are with me, i’m thinking they should probably be glued together. Except, at Church I usually leave my Jesus Calling at home. I think setting aside specific time in your spiritual life is key. I love to highlight all over my Bible, I use those sticky tabs to mark certain sections or verses I want to memorize. And now i’m going to begin using this Daily Devotional printable from Emily Ley’s sight during my Quiet Times. Maybe this will help you too?

Pantry

 

We organized our pantry this past fall. All of our extras went on the top shelf of our pantry and everything is now organized into labeled buckets within the pantry. Yes!!!! It’s an organized girl’s heaven.

Physical Life

 

I’ve probably said it once before and I’m sure i’ll say it again, but working out is the. best. thing. you can do for yourself. It really is. Check out my running post here to see what I mean. I stay organized in my physical life and keep healthy by that LuLuLemon bag in the picture right above here. I keep a spare everything in that bag and all I have to do is pick it up and go work out. It’s a lifesaver!

I hope you got some ideas today. I’m sure there will be way more where this came from 😉 Stay organized, people! It really does change things!

PS. If you’re having a bad day, just think…you could be me sitting in classes for 12 hours. Hmmm, suddenly that traffic isn’t so bad, huh?

What’s on….your calendar?

Happy…..December? Wait did I just say that because where in the heck did November go? On the bright side, today is Jonathan’s birthday!!! So a 21st birthday shout out to him!

It’s another Momfessionals link-up. So you know that has me excited! It’s coincidental that this month’s “what’s on” is the calendar because it just so happens that my calendar has me running everywhere this week.

Now, i’ll just go ahead and tell you that I have two planners. I color code my planners. One is for the all things Colors of Life related (just a cheap ol’ red leather one) with lists for Christmas gifts, financials, and other random things written in it. My other one (the Vera Bradley student planner) holds me together. This has appointments, reminders, school things, nanny and work information…this, ladies and gentleman is my pride and joy.

(These were taken in August, which is why you can see that page open.)

What’s going on this week?

• I’ve got a presentation due in my 8:00am and it could be M,W,F this week depending when she draws my name. Praying for today, let me just get it over with now!
• One of my other class has three 750 word essays due for extra credit. Excuse me, what?
• I’ve got work every day this week, it just mixes between nannying, babysitting, and waitressing.
• Like I said earlier, i’m celebrating my friend’s 21st later tonight!!
• And this weekend i’m celebrating two very special people for two different reasons, i’m so excited!

What’s happening this week at Colors of Life blog?

M: What’s on…Your calendar
Tu: Come on in…Christmas Decorations
W: Another edition of Meet My Peeps
Th: #everydaymollay is coming back…this will be my Thanksgiving recap and day in the life wrapped up into one post.
F: Friday Favorites, as always! If I can remember to get some pictures of Jonathan’s birthday dinner, i’ll probably recap it there too.

How do I stay organized?

• I make sure everything is planned out two weeks in advance, it sounds crazy I know. For one, the restaurant I work at requires a two week notice, but I also like to know if I need anything specific done for a blog post, school work, etc.
• I color code everything. Yes, many people don’t do this. My mom thinks my color coding is sick haha, but it works for me. With the way my mind works, it helps me stay on top of things.
• If I have enough room, I leave gaps if there’s open time in my day. I don’t like when things are written right under one another if they aren’t chronological. If I don’t have enough room, i’ll suffer through it but most of the time I try to avoid that.
• I write legibly…this sounds a little like “DUH!” but I know people that have missed certain things on their calendar because they can’t read it and then forget about it. That’s just an easy fix!

This week and this weekend are going to be BUSY BUSY and

PINTERESTed In: Closet Organization

Mornin’, y’all!

“PINTERESTed In” is a new series that I started last month. I was really inspired by Mel, Sheaffer, and Shay in their Pin-spired posts, and I started participating in them. However,  instead of just being about clothes I thought I would use “PINTERESTed In”  to be for every category. Thus, last month was shoes, and now closet organization.

I know we’ve talked about it during the peek inside my room, but again, I have a tiny closet. When I was in the guest room that closet was impossible to deal with. Those closets remind me of a mouse hole. You can barely fit in them. Now that I have one of the upstairs rooms, the closet is still super small, but i’ve been able to do some things with it. I mean i’ve lived in a dorm room, and having that “closet” makes this one feel ginormous to me. I’m a total organization junkie. Tell me to organize something and before you finish your sentence i’ll be on my way to the container store. 😉 I started seeing all sorts of closet organizing pins on Pinterest, and some of the ideas below I used from my own noggin or got inspiration from seeing the products in stores. Let’s go to my closet, we’ve got a long way to walk!

This is looking directly into my closet from my room/bathroom area.

The dresser is a really old piece of furniture from when my dad was young. My parents have a hard time throwing the darn trash away, much less a piece of furniture. This dresser is pretty big, so although it doesn’t match anything I can totally deal. And I can always refurnish it if I want. And I don’t have a choice anyways, haha.

First thing is first. I see my scarves in my closet!!! And my belts. I don’t think you can see as well as I thought you could, but that belt hanger spins around. I was totally sold on that and I love that I don’t have to take all the belts off the hanger to get to one that happens to be on the very bottom. My scarfs are just in the little “scarf organizer” so I can see them all. I’m pretty sure if you click right here you will be able to find more than half of them. On some major sales too. What, my favorite word????? 🙂

And then in the “old closet” I was totally annoyed because whenever I went to get a bracelet, or earrings, or a watch out of my jewelry box they would always tangle because I had so many in such a small box…So here it is before

and using  my “Pinterests” in this Stella and Dot organizer. Drooling.

that one is sold out, but here’s another option
loving the bracelets like I am?!
CLICK HERE TO SHOP THESE GORGEOUS BRACELETS
This is after….I know mine is such a bare bracelet holder compared to the one above, but guess what’s on my Christmas list??? And the picture on the right is my “little black dress” holding each pair of my earrings in their own pouch so I can see them. The back of my closet door holds my robes.

 

And i’m kicking myself for not taking a before picture of my “little black dress” because you didn’t see the mess I had with all my necklaces. That’s where they used to be, then I saw this Pinterest picture from Place of my Taste….

and I was Pinterested because I liked the fact that she can see all of her jewelry pieces. I tried getting a picture where you can see all of mine, so I had to take it from the floor up. Whenever I walk in I have no problem trying to untangle or find my necklaces and it makes me giddy every time I walk in my closet. haha. giddy. 🙂

Then the next goodie I found was this scented shelf paper, I thought i’d try it out…so far so good!

My bottom shelf on the right holds my tanks and sweatshirts

My top shelf holds my long sleeves/jackets/dresses/skirts. I’m currently in the process of organizing them by color because i’m OCD like that.

Last but not least I took a before picture of my shoes. I despised when it was like this picture below!!!!! I could never find any shoe, and I forgot I had some and they would be bent when I found them, and it had to change. So this is before….

 

during, while I found the Pinterest picture…

and after….

I really liked that the picture above could see all of the shoes, but the bookcase thing would not work for me. I found this little ol’ organizer, and put it up. Now I can look at all my shoes and be even more giddy!

So after I took this picture, a couple days later I brought down my winter clothes from the attic….shoe mess!! But have no fear, the organizer is here!!

Hope you’ve enjoyed.
Click to see my first PINTERESTed In: Leopard Flats