Blogging: The Blog Binder

I'm really excited for this week.  All my of newly laid plans for the blog will be in full effect.  I feel so much more in control of my little blog world.

How did this all happen?  I started blogging back in September to have on outlet while I stayed home with the Things all day.  Now I've been featured a handful of times (even on tt&j...holy crap!) and I'm a full on big girl blogger.  The last month has been a turning point on the behind the scenes side of the blog.  I'm no longer frazzled and left feeling like I have to scramble for ideas.  It's magic!

Okay, not really.  See...

Meet my blog binder.  Love it!  This little darlin' has given me back my blog sanity.  I like posting again.  I never hated blogging, it makes me happy, but doing something I like and not feeling overwhelmed...awesome sauce.  And I'm a bit of an organization FREAK when it comes to this kind of stuff, so this binder makes me a really happy control freak.

Here's the break down.

Front page: Blog Format Ideas

• Dates when I wanted to start my newly planned blog schedule
• Big projects in a given month (ie. St. Patrick's Day link party)
• Weekly schedule
• Sunday - Sugar-Coated (sweets)
• Monday - Mildly Crafty / Savory
• Tuesday - Off or Sponsored Post or Guest Post
• Wednesday - Wednesday Whatsits link party & features
• Thursday - 3.6.5.
• Friday - Savory
• Saturday - Namaste  (originally reserved as an off day just like Tuesday)

This gives me reserved days for extra things/posts to come up.  I'm only posting food 3 times a week, 2 savory and 1 sweet.  I have 2 days off Tuesday and Saturday (when I have a guest poster series).  The link party once a week...a happy post, but not something I have to create for...it's a mini break.  A craft post to kick my butt in gear and a personal post to keep me happy.  I think this keeps things well rounded.

The best part for me?  I can take pictures anytime I cook or make something and slot that post idea into the calendar.  Posts spread out more and I feel under way less pressure to perform.

Okay, next.

Monthly Calendar Pages.

I'm very visual.  I like to see everything laid out in one place so I can look at what going on now and what's coming up in the next week, two weeks, month, whatever.

All those orange squares are sticky notes.  When plans change or I need to switch things around, I cut a post-it note down to size and rewrite the plan for the day.  This way I'm not 100% locked into place or getting frustrated when I need to adjust.  I'm totally the kind of person to reprint and re-write the entire calendar page every time I need to adjust.  However, that's not practical and post-its keep my crazy reeled in.

Planning is only half the battle.  Ideas for the future are important too.

I made myself a list of all the recipes I wanted to try from my cookbooks.  That's in the Recipe Ideas section of the binder.

There are also pages for each subcategory I group my food posts into.  

I use page protectors so that I can throw anything in there and when I'm feeling that ingredient/recipe type I can dig around and see what I've got.  I use these pages for magazine pages I've ripped out, newspaper clippings, and recipes I print off.

Next in the binder are the project ideas.  Crafts, home decor, DIY, anything.

This list includes pins that have just been sitting there not doing me any good.  

Again, page protectors.  These ones are filled with the same kind of papers as the food pages, but there are different categories.  

A little masking tape and a pen work great for labeling.

And last, but not least, Project 365 idea lists.

My set if lists is from Capture Your 365.  These lists give a picture idea for every day of the year.  There is also a "How to Use These Lists" info page with January's ideas.  I'd love to think I could find inspiration everyday, but it's nice to have a back up plan to help me get past a mental block or to give me ideas I never thought of.  August and November look like they are going to be really fun.

There are some great free blog printables over at Infarrently Creative to help get your started.  I made my calendar pages on Excel.  I'm controlling like that.  I wanted my pages to be just so.

I hope this gives you all a little inspiration and makes you feel like you can control your blog...not the other way around.  Planning out my posts and what days I wanted to do blog "work" made me see the possibilities my blog had.  I would have never come up with a series idea (or cute alliterative and rhyming names) or had posts planned 2 1/2 months out.  That's right.  I've got things figured out through May.  If something changes I can tweak the plan and keep on keeping on.

Remember, just keep swimming.  :)  Happy Monday!

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