Thank you for all of your sweet comments regarding L and I's engagement news last week! We cannot wait to start this next chapter of our lives together. I recapped our engagement story last week and am looking forward to sharing many more details of the wedding planning process on this blog and instagram.  

I think it's important to preface this post by letting you know that this is a project that I have been working on for a while now. Long before I opened my Etsy shop and was engaged, I had been designing a wedding planner that could be downloaded, printed, and digitally distributed. I had the best of intentions, however I kept putting it off and eventually grew tired of the format and original design. I have since begun updating and redesigning the original planner and will hopefully have it up and ready to go sooner than later. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you the five page wedding checklist that will be included in the planner. (:

These five pages are a fraction of the amount of content that will be in the final planner, however, they are the most important. My goal was to design something that was clean and easy to read, as well as a resource to keep your thoughts and ideas organized. Each "time period" is squared off with the corresponding month(s) until the big day, which is labeled above each box.

The extra space makes it easy to check everything off, or circle items that have yet to be completed. If I forgot to include something (which is certainly a possibility, as all brides have a unique list), there are 15 lines on the fifth page where you are able to include other important details.

I put aside a binder, with a bookplate that has our hashtag to work as our wedding bible. All important documents, checklists, receipts, details, invoice's, EVERYTHING wedding related will live in the binder. Once it is full and working for me, I will give you a tour of that as well!

There aren't enough dancing emojis to express how pleased I am that this checklist has been designed, printed and put in my binder. Having something that L and I can reference to throughout the planning process is gold!

WEDDING CHECKLIST
WEDDING MAD LIBS

Laundry Room Hacks

 Laundry rooms aren't really a thing here in the city which may be why I am feeling inspired to write a post all about them! A girl can dream! My laundry room goals...

via I admit, I am really good at taking freshly laundered sheets, crumpling them into a big ball, and throwing them into the linen closet storage container. I can assure you that I am quickly working to perfect my Martha Stewart sheet folding skills!

via I don't know what kind of decor people typically hang in their laundry rooms, but a laundry guide identifying wash symbols is a fun, cute and useful decoration!

via What better way to save ironing board space than to hang it on the wall like this? It saves space, is extremely accessible and makes a cute decoration as well!

via I love stuff in jars, which is why tossing all of your tide pods into a pretty cookie jar makes wanting to do laundry 10 times more fun (looking). Keep this high and out of reach if you live in a home with children, you wouldn't want them to mistake it for candy!

via If you have a front loader washing machine, install a butcher block on top to act as a folding station. Heck, you can use it for shelving as well!

via I love these drawers that have been turned into drying racks for items that should not be thrown in a dryer! They also take little no floor space!

via I love to keep dirty laundry and baskets out of sight, which is why these built-in hampers are dreamy!

What are your favorite laundry room hacks and decorations?

30 Days of Decluttering

While living in Boston has taught me a handful of wonderful life lessons, one of the most important lessons, and my personal favorite, is the value of a square foot! There aren't many of them here, so it is important for us to stay on top of cleaning, organizing and decluttering so that we can make the most out of our space and make our space work for us. Having too many knick knacks and randoms lying around the place gives off a cluttered and messy look making for a stressful environment.
I jump at any opportunity that helps keep our little home tidy and clean, and thought it would be fun to design a 30 days of decluttering worksheet to help keep me on track. Nothing is more fulfilling than crossing something off of a list! I recently implemented a "15 minutes of cleaning everyday" rule and also made progress by getting rid of a few things. Here's to hoping I can stick to my guns and complete this list! Feel free to follow the link below and print a worksheet off for yourself!
30 Days of Decluttering

If you're interested, I also have a handful of other printables that you may print off as well, and a bunch of kits over in my Etsy shop!

8 TIPS THAT WILL HELP YOU RESET YOUR WEEK!

Ready. Set. Reset! Put your Sunday to work prepping you for the next week!

WASH YOUR SHEETS AND TOWELS

• Technically you're supposed to send your sheets through the wash every three days, however if that's not feasible, at least try to get those sent through the wash on your Sundays! There is no better feeling than crawling into bed surrounded by fresh sheets! By the way, I recently made the switch to Tide PODS, and it couldn't make this chore any easier! No more lugging an entire bottle of laundry detergent down to the laundromat, all I have to do is throw two of these into my laundry basket and we're good to go! Plus, everything comes out smelling amazing!!

ORGANIZE YOUR COMPUTER DESKTOP

• My desktop background starts to disappear by the end of the week from saving photos, paperwork and projects directly to it. I try to make folders as I go, however when that doesn't happen I usually sort through them on Sundays and file them accordingly.

FOOD PREP

• I am 10x more likely to eat a healthy, well-balanced meal when it is planned out and appropriately proportioned out for me. I look at the week ahead, plan out my meals and put the right measurements of food into these delitainers (fyi... they ship in huge quantities). Each container holds one cup and makes it easy to grab and go. If I'm preparing a meal from scratch at home, everything is already measured out and cut up!

PUT TOGETHER A TO DO LIST

• I live my life by a to do list. I keep a running list in my notes app where I'll add and delete tasks as they are completed. This isn't ever anything elaborate, however it does remind me to do simple things like my laundry, go to the post office, bank, upcoming deadlines, projects, etc. When I look at the week ahead, I'll update it and make sure everything that I completed is crossed off! 

PLAN YOUR OUTFITS OUT

• Digging through my closet and bureau is not something I enjoy doing in the morning which is why I am finally mastering the art of planning out my outfits for the week ahead of time. After months of cleaning out my closet, I feel as though I have finally found my staples which does make putting an outfit together much easier! 

REVIEW YOUR PLANNER

• No week is ever the same which is why I am constantly referring to my calendar to keep me in check. I used to use a daily planner, however I found my iPhone to be the most efficient these days. It's easy to input dates, it's always on me, and it syncs to the cloud so that I can access it on other devices. I like to look at my week in advance and reference to it throughout to make sure I don't miss any important due dates, appointments or meetings.

CLEAN OUT YOUR PURSE

• I'm currently using a black crossover (similar) as my go-to bag and I love it! The convenience of being hands free and constantly having everything very accessible is the best! My only problem is... despite it's size, it become a blackhole for receipts, business cards, tissues and bobby pins! I've found that if I stay on top of it and take everything out of the bag at the beginning of the week, it doesn't build up as much! I strip it down to the essentials each week and am good to go!

CLEAN YOUR INBOX OUT

• I don't know if this will ever be possible for me, however I do dream of a world with a clean inbox. Between my school, work, blog and two personal email addresses, my inbox is constantly flooded daily with mail that needs read and addressed. I do love that all of my gmails are in one place and would love to eventually get the other two under that server as well. In the meantime I have implemented a new rule for myself where I will not open an email unless I have time to respond, reply, and file it right then and there. This helps me to avoid opening emails and forgetting to respond. I'm currently working through deleting old, old emails that make everything look cluttered.

How do you reset your week?

8 THINGS I GOT RID OF LAST WEEK!

Every one has a little bit of clutter in their life, no matter who they are. After looking around at our already very small apartment, it dawned on me that I had a few things that could definitely be removed from the ever growing collection that is our stuff. Inspired my this list of things that can be disposed, I poked around and found a handful of items that I felt didn't need to live in our home anymore.
ALCOHOL

• This sounds silly, but we have so much alcohol in out apartment. I don't know where it came from and why we have it, but we are not big drinkers, and when we are... we stick to beer and wine. Honestly, if we hosted people frequently (which we don't really do that often) then maybe it would be worth keeping around. However, I have friends who would get much better use out of this than we would. After all, all they do it collect dust. The good stuff is in the fridge ;)

BOXES

• Let me clarify... cardboard boxes, not organizing containers. For some reason, cardboard boxes end up collecting in our bedroom from amazon and J. Crew shipments, and I never throw them out in fear that I will need them to ship some random thing. This includes shoe boxes. I realize that some boxes may be worth keeping because they are from nice brands and look pretty, however there is just no space for us to do that. I think that I would prefer to store my nicer shoes in acrylic containers like this anyways... that is of course if there was space. Almost all of the boxes went out for recycling Friday morning.

MAGAZINES

• For a little while I received the weekly People magazine as a "thank you" from Saks off 5th... however I NEVER read them and now they sit in our bathroom and collect dust. In addition to those, we also have an eclectic collection of shopping and finance magazines that live there now as well. I'm not going to read them, they're old, and look messy. They're outta here!

HAIR TIES

• So many. I finally have a method down for hairties. I've been keeping all of the nice ones that are still new and stretchy on a carabiner, while all the others fall to the bottom of the drawer. I think it's time I say my good byes. They aren't doing anything for me.

CHANGE

• Lots of change, all the time, and it's really heavy! I've narrowed it down to two or three jars, and now all I have to do is haul it to the bank and run it through the machine. I have already made leaps and bounds in this department, and am now just trying to finish the project up. That's money, people!

PENS

• Maybe it's because TD banks are like dunkin' donuts here... but I am usually finding a TD bank pen in my purse at least once or twice a week! I really don't need that many, and know of a great cause for all of your extra pens. Donate your unused or unwanted pens to your local restaurants. Believe me, the servers and bartenders NEVER have enough. That's where mine went!

EXTRA TUPPERWARE

• I'm a tupperware snob. After getting into meal planning and buying containers that help me keep everything organized, I have shunned the mismatching sets. I stick to these DELItainers, and my beloved sistema ones and dropped the mismatchy ones off at the Goodwill... they're still in great shape and very useful!

UNWORN CLOTHING

• I am always getting rid of clothes that do not fit or that I do not wear. eBay has been my best tool thus far. I get such a rush of excitement every time something is bought, PLUS I'm getting rid of stuff that takes up space. Win, win! I've been trying very hard for the past forever or so to get my closet down to just the staples and purge it of items that shouldn't be there. 

I'll have to continue to reference back to that list to help de-clutter my life! What other items do you find yourself getting rid of?

Health and Wellness Panner

I'm really stinkin' excited to get this planner live for everyone today! With the new year right around the corner, I for one am definitely someone who likes to set small resolutions here and there, one of which is to continue to make an effort to live a healthy lifestyle. I thought it would be fun to add a health and wellness planner to my Etsy shop that I can reference to throughout the year to keep me motivated.
With my primary intention being to help keep me on track by working out, eating appropriately, and tracking my progress I have condensed most of my ideas into six EASY pages that make living a healthy lifestyle fun and ORGANIZED!

Page 1 - Measurements and Goals The sole purpose of this page is to set a large goal (whether it be fitness related or not, who cares?), accompanied by a handful of smaller goals that you would like to see happen. Remember, a goal without a deadline is a dream so MAKE SURE YOU SET AN END DATE! Once you meet your BIG goal, print off another copy of this page and set ANOTHER attainable goal! There is also a section towards the bottom of the page where you can take measurements before and after if that is something you are interested in recording!
Page 2 - Workout Schedule When I have something written down in front of my face, I am 10 times more likely to actually do it! This schedule is designed for 7 days at a time where you can record the type of exercise you will be doing each day, an area to jot down the kind of workout that you completed, the number of hours of sleep you got that night (sleep IS SO IMPORTANT), as well as a water bottle checklist to keep you on track with your water intake. After you complete a week, save the sheet so that you can reference back to it later on!

Page 3 - Meal Plan Eating right and consuming appropriate proportions is KEY to feeling your best. When you have your meal plan written out for you in advance, and your groceries in check you will feel motivated to stick to that plan!
Page 4 - Monthly Dinners This page is for the super organizer in you. Feel on top of the world with every single dinner for the entire month planned out beforehand. It will do wonders.

Page 5 - Progress Report One of my favorite pages, the progress report was designed to track where you are in terms of weight. Record your Current weight and goal weight on the y-axis, and the week on the x-axis. This is a fun way to connect the dots and track the progress of your journey. Sometimes having it drawn out in front of you (literally) is the best dose of motivation you can get!
Page 6 - Recipes Having your healthiest recipes separated and on hand helps to influence your mind to make the right dinner decision. Keep them on this page, or cut them out... it's up to you! It's also incredibly easy to snap a picture of the finished meal and tape it onto the back!
I hope you enjoy this planner as much as I enjoyed creating it! I have this listed for sale in my Etsy shop for $3, however LIFE AS YOU LIVE IT readers can receiver 50% off through the end of 2015 with the code LIFEASYOULIVEIT2015.
Thank you and have a wonderful NEW YEAR!

A New Look

After much thought concerning the layout of the blog, I decided to mix things up a bit, and download a new template. 
I went with a layout from Designer Blogs and couldn't be happier. I was looking for something simple, where I could add my own punch of color where I would like. Right now, I'm keeping most of the font black, however I can easily adjust that!
I went with the Lennon Template, however it was quite the toss up between this one, this one, and this one! Designer Blogs is great to work with. The link was emailed to me right away with step-by-step instructions as to how to install it into blogger.
Look at the difference between then and now!   [THEN]

[NOW]

  Doesn't it feel so much cleaner!? I think the chevron was really getting to me.

Utility Drawer Revamp

Living in a 350 square foot apartment in Boston leaves you with little to no room to store your belongings :( The space is VERY limited, and I'm always trying to think up new ideas to organize everything without it looking cluttered and messy.

The kitchen alone only has 2 drawers and 4 cabinets (including the one that holds the sink). Where am I  supposed to put all my stuff?!

We use one of the drawers as a "throw all" that houses everything from tape measures, screw drivers and hammers to scissors, notepads and pens. We don't have a garage or a coat closet to store these necessary tools, so we just toss them in this drawer in the kitchen.

Let me tell you what, if I would have taken a before picture, you would have been disgusted! We had everything shoved into that drawer! Napkins, trash bags, tools… EVERYTHING!

SO! I emptied all of the contents out of this tiny 12"x19"x2" drawer and started fresh.

...boring…

Lined it with some cute, bright and happy craft paper…

Filled the drawer with acrylic containers to use as organizing dividers.

…and then filled them! 

The best part!

I did what I could to keep it as neat and orderly as possible without it looking too cluttered, and I am loving the splash of red from underneath.

I was able to fit everything that I wanted to into this drawer and am pleased with the outcome!

I used other smaller containers to help corral flashlights, batteries, nails, hooks and other randoms, and was able to perfectly slide the paint stirrers and hammer right on the side. 

Score!

DIY Dry Erase Paint Chip Calendar

Inspired by the Maple and Magnolia blog on paint chip calendars, I took it upon myself to create one for my own home!

I left Wal Mart with 35 paint chips in 7 different colors (5 of each color), and a huge 22" x 28" picture frame!

I decided on some green and yellow shades because they are just so bright and springy!

I painted the picture that they put inside the frame all black. Obviously, since it was the picture that was originally from the frame, it fit perfectly!

Once I trimmed down all the paint chips to the size I wanted them to be, I laid them out on the board to make sure they would all fit.

I used sticky tabs to secure everything down to the paper (if you use glue it will leave marks and will be noticeable), and printed out labels for the days of the week and the "month" label at the top.

I put the plastic cover and frame back on the calendar and was finished!

I also drew lines on each of the paint chips so that you could write down the corresponding day of the month.

Filled out my new Dry Erase Paint Chip Calendar and I was ready to go!

--Kaylie