Our house and my workspace has been a work in progress over the past several years. When we first moved into our home, we had an extra bedroom that I used as my office. Once our daughter was born she took over my office space – which left me with no office. I actually got pushed downstairs into our kitchen and I’ve been trying to make the best of a really cramped and awkward situation. The kitchen has been my “home” for the past three years and only recently did I decide to purchase a proper desk and bookshelf. Before this purchase was made I was using an old desk that my husband brought home from work. It weighed about 400 pounds and took up the entire back wall of our kitchen so moving to a smaller, more compact desk space meant that I needed to also reconsider how and where I organized my packaging supplies. For a long time I have felt unorganized and messy. My workflow was slowing down, and eventually it started to stress me out.
At the turn of the New Year I started to pick up a few items whenever I had the chance. The desk, super comfy chair, and bookshelf all came from Target. Another trip to Target I came home with a few little decorative items I found in the clearance aisles. My $2 little fox was THE best find!! Even though he was made to be a salt or pepper shaker, I couldn’t help but think he had a better purpose sitting on my shelves to keep me company. The little bowl on my desk that holds my washi tape was also a Target clearance find. And the lamp was picked up at Target as well.
Each of the baskets that I have were picked up at Target (geeze, here’s a peek into my shopping habits!) but I didn’t get them all at once. I was pleased that I was able to find the same brand and style though. My baskets hold all of the little items that I had been pulling my hair out over how to store them. My USB drives and muslin bags that I use in my packaging are nestled into one basket. The larger basket at the bottom of the bookshelf holds all of my kraft crinkle paper that I use in my boxes to make sure nothing rattles around during shipping. The third basket I have now holds all of the odds-and-ends that were a pain to store. These are the rechargeable battery chargers, camera battery chargers, USB cords for various electronics, my light meter for my film camera. Basically anything that has a long cord gets wrapped up neatly and placed in this basket. Now I have a go-to place I can look for what I need and it makes things so much easier to find!
I purchase my larger shipping boxes from Uline and I still haven’t come up with a neat place to put these. So, for now they lean against the wall next to my desk within easy reach when I’m ready to mail a package.
This year was also the first year that I discovered, and started religiously using the Day Designer planner. I have tried other planners in the past that were advertised to be great planners for small business owners, but something was always missing. I either felt like there was too much space and I just wasn’t using it to it’s full potential, OR I felt like there wasn’t enough space and I was using a ton of sticky notes to keep track of things. The Day Designer was the answer to my planner problems!! When it came in the mail I knew instantly it was exactly what I needed. The daily views keep track of important tasks, my to-do list (that always seems to be growing), and even what we plan on eating that night for dinner. I take it everywhere with me!
One more item that really helps me stay organized is my beautiful camera bag from The House of Flynn. I’ve owned numerous camera bags over the years and this baby has a removable insert so you can use the bag for other things. (I’m thinking an overnight bag that has pockets for DAAAYYYYSSSS. Or a stylish diaper bag!) Honestly, when it arrived and I started to pack my gear my husband stopped me and asked me how I could get him one. They really are amazing! And if it’s husband-approved, you KNOW you’ll love it.
I recently spoke at a Calvert County Photography Club meeting and when I was asked about my gear, the bag came out. I started to pull lenses out to talk about them, I pulled out two bodies to talk about them. And at the close of the meeting several people stopped me to ask me where the bag came from and what it can all hold. I’m not kidding when I say that this bag has impressed a lot of people! Even non-photographers have stopped me to ask me about it.
Succulents. This baby was a gift to me from a dear friend. It has a special place on my desk because every time I look at it I think about our friendship. Surrounding myself with the things that give me peace and make me happy has been my main goal with what I put in my workspace. This bowl of succulents had the perfect spot – right where I could see it everyday!
I’m a mug collector. If there’s one thing I love people to know about me it’s how much I LOVE a hot drink – hot tea, hot coffee, hot cocoa, hot cider. I love it all!! I don’t know if it’s the feel of a warm mug in my hands (which always stay cold, by the way) or if it’s the comfort I get from warming myself up with a relaxing cup of ______ (fill in the blank). But whatever it is, all I know is that I love to collect mugs and I love to drink a hot something while I’m working.
*aaaaahhhhhh, so peaceful*
After I replaced the 400 pound desk with all of the storage space, I knew that I needed to figure out a way to make things easier on me. I need to make sure that the essential items were within easy reach. I needed bills to be organized. So that basically meant that everything needed it’s own space. I was walking around…you guessed it, TARGET…and I walked into the aisle where the tupperware and kitchen items were kept. There was a plastic storage bin made for drawers to hold silverware and it hit me – it doesn’t HAVE to hold silverware. So I brought it home praying it would fit in my desk. And now I have a wonderful little space for pens/pencils, my stamps, packaging trinkets, and my calibration system. Everything else in the desk is neatly lined up for easy access.
This little card was in the very first Click printed magazine. They sometimes provide their subscribers with samples of printed products so you can see what it looks like in person. Genius!
I actually loved this card so much that I held on to it. And now it has it’s own special little place. <3
The last organization tip I have for you today has to do with a plugin that a close friend of mine tipped me off on yesterday. Christina, from Christina Forbes Photography, and I were talking and sharing tips on blogging and how to manage your working schedule. Lately she’s been sharing a few personal posts that have really helped her audience get to know her heart, and she’s really inspired me to do the same thing. I reached out to her to let her know that I loved being able to read about what makes her HER – and that led us into discussing planning out our blogging schedules. I don’t know about you but I’m REALLY inconsistent with what I blog. I find that I have a hard time posting content if I have a ton of things going on at once. That should be a natural problem, right? You can’t be in a gazillion places at once doing a gazillion different things.
Or at least I thought you couldn’t be!
She told me about this wonderful plugin you can use with scheduling your blog posts and social media interaction. CoSchedule is the blogger’s editorial calendar. Now…mention the words “editorial calendar” to me and I freeze up. I once had a pretty bad experience with an editorial calendar that convinced me I had no idea what I was doing and that I would never figure out how to properly use one of these things. (But that’s for another blog post.) 😉 If you’re interested in taking advantage of a FREE TRIAL for CoSchedule, click HERE!!
Not to worry! CoSchedule actually makes this easy on you!! All you have to do is write your content in your WordPress blog, schedule your blog to post the content on a certain date through CoSchedule, choose which outlets you want CoSchedule to share it to and how often – and BAM. It’s all taken care of for you. In other words you can now be off shooting a portrait session while your blog and Facebook/Twitter account are sharing your content for you as if you’re sitting at your computer.
Now you really CAN be doing a gazillion things at once.
I am still waiting for my office space to open up so I can move in and get things even more organized. But for now, the kitchen is my “home”, and I’m totally okay with that! All I have to do is stay on top of keeping my small space organized.
During the span of the past three years I have also learned quite a bit about myself. Of course organization is important to me and how smoothly my business operates. But I’ve also started to notice small things about my personal taste and style. I’m now paying attention to the things I surround myself with. For a long time I just purchased things that reminded me of home, the home I grew up in, my mother’s home. I felt like I was just recreating her house every time I purchased a piece of furniture or even a cinnamon scented candle. I never stopped to think about what I really love because I was so busy trying to make my own home really feel like HOME.
As I stepped back and started to look at the little things I was purchasing for my office, I started to notice a trend. Everything was neutral. Everything was the same color. Why? It’s not that I’m afraid of color. I’m really not! I love color!! But I’m drawn to the neutrals that I see I’m surrounded by when I’m near the ocean. The sea is such an important part of my life that I don’t even notice how it affects my decisions until I stop to think about it. The walls in my house are the color of sand. I find myself attracted to creams, dark woods, soft textures, open spaces and a ton of natural light. Soft grays and sage greens like you see in the beautiful succulent plant also speak volumes to me. In fact, I can almost feel it slowing my heart rate and calming me down. It’s peaceful – and I am purposefully surrounding myself with peaceful things because other parts of my life are really, really hard. (Again, another blog post.) LOL! 😉
If there’s one thing that I would like to encourage all of you is to make sure you take time out to surround yourself with the things you absolutely love. If you LOVE super bright, punchy colors because it energizes you – surround yourself with it. And do the same with neutrals if that’s what fills your soul. Create a space that is just for YOU and fill it with everything you love. And when you do that, you’re sure to boost your productivity and it will make you love your work even more!
