Modern Laine

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Organization

Digital Organization Tools

· Organization, Tech Talk

Ivory Mix Stock Photo

My Favorite Organizational Tools

I love my physical day planner, but I still rely on digital tools to help keep my life organized. It’s easier to put an appointment with the dentist in my phone calendar than to pull my planner out at the checkout desk. I also handle so many files and photos for work that I rely on being able to access them even if I’m not near my computer or phone.

Dropbox

I have been using Dropbox since 2013 when my cousin introduced me to it. It’s crazy to think that back then you couldn’t easily access files unless you emailed them or carried them around on a flash drive. Cloud-based storage was pretty limited and wasn’t nearly as nice as now.

I enjoy using Dropbox because it’s so easy to access files on my phone, iPad or MacBook Pro. I can even access my files on any computer through a web browser. It’s just that easy. I also enjoy having a personal and work Dropbox

Organized Chaos: Using A Planner

· Organization, Planning

I have always enjoyed using a paper planner, but I didn’t commit to consistently using one until December of 2016. That’s when I purchased my first Happy Planner from Hobby Lobby. It was a horizontal layout with rose gold accents and discs, which was my obsession then (still is). I became hooked on The Happy Planner and introduced many other women to the planner brand.

When Laura introduced me to the brand she was using her Day Designer and hadn’t used The Happy Planner since 2015. About six months ago she decided to give The Happy Planner another try and she’s hooked on it like me! We even have weekly planner dates where we FaceTime and plan out the upcoming week. 

Trying to Find The RIGHT Planner

I tried many day planners over the year, mostly from Target during back to school. Before The Happy Planner, I tried using the Day Designer for Blue Sky. I used the daily planner for a few months and eventually switched to their Today and To

Organized Chaos: Color Coding My Day Planner

· Organization, Planning

Color coding is a major part of my organization scheme. My iCal calendars are color coded, my folders in OneNote, my psychical day planner and my school assignment tracker are all color coded. I’m so organized (I wish) that my physical day planner colors match my iCal colors. I feel at ease knowing that a certain color will always mean a certain group of tasks. Let’s talk more about how I use color coding to organize my planners!

 

How To Start Color Coding

Color coding is easy to do. All you need is a blank piece of paper and a handful (at least 5) pens in different colors. Try to avoid from black pens, because what fun would that be? The point of color coding is to make it fun and help your brain to process the information it is taking in. I found a great Fast Company article on this topic.

Once you have your pens and paper write down the different categories in your life. These are the ones you

Organized Chaos: Email Overload

· Organization, Tech Talk

I’ve been suffering from a case of email overload. As of publishing this post I have 14 emails. About three weeks ago I had over 3,400 emails dating back to September 12, 2015. I’m not sure why, maybe the mix of being busy with work and school, but I stopped checking my emails regularly. I was going through my most recent 50 or so and read or delete, and I’d check my inbox for work, but other than that I wasn’t reading emails.

Email Overload: How to take back control of your inbox.

I’ll admit that dealing with cleaning out my email became a little overwhelming, especially because I get at least a couple hundred emails a day. I also have multiple email accounts, which can be a help sometimes and other times just contribute to the stress of having too many emails.

How did I finally deal with my over 3000 emails and get back to a manageable inbox? First, I used a site called

Using OneNote: An Introduction for College Students

· College, Organization

Laura over at Ginger & Co. is my best blogging friend, but we disagree on one thing. Which is better, OneNote or Evernote? She has a whole series on her blog about Evernote and I have contributed a few posts about OneNote to her blog. I don’t think we will settle this little feud for a long time, but that’s okay with us!

Today I am going to show you how I use OneNote as a busy college student. I became acquainted with OneNote last October but it wasn’t until the spring semester that I started using it for school.

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KEEP UP WITH HOMEWORK AND ASSIGNMENTS IN ONE PLACE

Here is a screenshot of my homework and assignment list for this week. With five classes and a lab I have a lot of work to