by Jessika Hepburn, Editor
Let’s face it, life is messy~ my life is messy. Physically messy, yes sometimes, but the biggest issue is the mental mess. The stacks of post-its and notes to myself, the meetings, deadlines and the endless list of “to-do’s” that pile up until they become overwhelming and great ideas get lost.
I have a daily deadline for OMHG, yup, daily-plus I need to schedule over 20 contributors & all the features/interviews/giveaways, stay on top of social media, build our community/make connections & answer what seems like a hundred million emails a week-as well as parenting two kids & whatever other work I have on my plate. I was starting to feel like the red queen from Alice in Wonderland, running all day just to stay in the same place, but no time for focusing on goals or planning for the long-term. I have calendars and software galore intended to help organize my messy life, but much as I love computers I needed something physical that would help me bring OMHG to the next level and keep me on track to achieving my dreams. Enter crafty superwoman Mayi Carles and her Life Is Messy Planner come to save the day & rescue me (& now you too) from my mess!
OMHG literally could not function if I didn’t plan ahead-I have had to start scheduling our whole calendar up to three months in advance! With so many contributors & guests I really needed a way to keep my thoughts in order while prioritizing goals for the future. Mayi has created the perfect solution for messy creatives like me, in her words the Life Is Messy Planner will help you:
– see the big picture + think about the higher purpose of your business.
– remain present about the future that you’re building.
– break big ideas down + think about what it looks like to make those ideas real.
– be self aware enough to be the protagonist + prompter + performer of your life.
– diminish procrastination + maximize productivity.
– brainstorm your creative ideas.
– organize your finances (at last).
Featuring a bunch of helpful printables like weekly & monthly blog planners, a monthly action planner, meal & weekly planners, an awesome goal generator, resolution board + tracker, a bullet proof your goals worksheet plus 2011 earning goals, investments, and living expenses spreadsheets, the Life is Messy Planner has been a powerful resource to help me declutter my mental landscape & focus my time on what really matters. I took some great photos of my planner but my messy life interfered with getting them edited to share with you today-sick kids & flu season is NO fun. The good thing is that since I am planning ahead I know that April is our Spring Cleaning/Business Makeover theme so I am going to share them then along with some other ideas for keeping the messiness of life in check. Until then….
First off go watch this adorable video by Mayi on her planners (isn’t she so cute, don’t you want to hug her?!) then enter to win one of your very own. The lovely Mayi wants to make a lucky Oh My! Handmade reader’s life a little less messy- she is giving away a Life is Messy Planner to one of YOU!
Here’s the deal, comment below and let us know why you really need these pages, how is your messy life keeping you from reaching your goals, are you dropping balls all over the place, do you write important notes on the back of your hand? Fess up! We’ll choose a winner based on your answer this time so make it a good one: )
You can also show us how much you really, really need this planner by doing all the usual giveaway things like adding Mayi to your Etsy favorites, following her on Twitter & sharing this giveaway on Twitter & Facebook then letting us know below, but we’ll still be choosing a winner that we think could really use an extra hand (or two!).
This giveaway closes next Tuesday at 12am EST and the winner will be announced at the bottom of this post on Wednesday.
by entering this giveaway you agree to the oh my! handmade giveaway policies
This giveaway is now CLOSED! Congratulations to April with comment #4 please do visit us and let us know how your planner is helping you achieve your goals.
I’m a wife & mom of 3, working full-time in the corporate world, & starting a wedding & event planning business in my not-so-spare time! I’m starting to lose focus because I have nothing written down aside from my planner, but the spaces are small & dont hold all the right info and defnitely not the right categories are prioritized! I hope to win this so that I can get organized with my new business as well as manage my families events/appointments/finances as well!
I have re-tweeted & followed Mayi! I will also add her on FB & post there tonight!
Thanks for the chance to win!! 🙂
I’d love to win a fab planner. My life is way messy! I have a nearly 2 yo, hubby, 2 cats & a messy dog who I have to clean up after- I’ve started going to playgroups with the Lil one 3 days a week 2 of those im now co-administrating, promoting & organising activities for. I’m not an organized person nor tidy by nature but that’s gotta change as I’m now blogging, starting to study & crafting to try & open an etsy store & go to the markets as well as building my social media profile & knowledge. Phew. So I have allot on my plate & no time management skills!! I need a planner!! Fingers crossed 🙂
Ok I’ve tweeted, fb on my personal & Sweet Rustic fb pages & I’m already following Mayi on twitter!!
my life is super duper messy. Although I fantasize about a fully functional life, I come up short every time. I have all these ideas of finishing that children’s book I want so desperately to finish but can never find the time. I crave finding vintage furniture and painting it for resale- again, my basement is full of furniture waiting to be painted and yet I can never seem to squeeze in the time to paint. I get such a thrill when I sell a piece and often dream of opening up a consignment store with unique things to sell…I also want to tackle photography and increase business and skills. I have plans on taking classes and marketing in less popular avenues…but again, I wake up in the morning and sometimes I don’t even know where to begin. If my 5, 3, and almost 1 year old are fed breakfast, I’ve accomplished a great thing for the day. A lot of time I am running circles all day accomplishing very little, while realizing all the while there is so much more I could do if I were organized and my goals had an attack plan. I want so desperately to learn the value of time and to make the most of each day. I do not want to make money or work a priority over my children so there is even a greater need for organization in my life as I balance motherhood. I already know I need order in my life- it’s just the figuring it out that gets me confused. I know there is a system out there that will work for me. Sounds like “life is messy” might be the system that will understand me the most!
I have been eyeing the planner for a while now! With 2 kids to take care of , a small business that could use a push , looking for a job at the same time , I do have a lot of balls up in the air.
It would help to have a planner that is created by someone who is methodical like Mayi .
I tweeted and am I already following Mayi 🙂 She knows I love her 🙂
Thanks for the giveaway !
My life got messier on December 31 with the birth of my first child! Prior to her arrival, I was doing a pretty good job of being able to focus on my graphic design/marketing freelance as well as my etsy shop and get things done around the house.
Not so much anymore! I can use all the organizational and goal planning help I can get because I want to be a successful mom/wife and a successful business woman. I just haven’t figured out how!
Ladies these are AWESOME comments!!!! I want to give you all a planner now: ) Thank you all for taking the time to share a bit about your messy lives-we really are all in the same boat <3
Mayi is one of my Etsy favorites….
Okay, I don’t have a kid {yet}, but I am married to a messy guy with two dogs who love to be messy and I am a super-organized gal who needs to get our household, plus ministry, in order! I would LOVE to use this!
P.S. I DID add her to my Favorites in Etsy and I AM following her on Twitter!
My mental life is “way messy” and having this planner would help me prioritize the most important things within my life. Right now I’m a mother of a cute 3yr. old girl, a wife, a corporate monkey and owner of ExQuisiteInvitation (2 yrs. in on Etsy), but my goal is study to get my teachers license in order to spend more time at home with my little one and start a children’s accessory line. My Etsy shop has taken over my life, especially with wedding season coming up.
Receiving this planner would surely keep me on track to get in some studying time and designing time while maintaining the life I already play in. Not to mention help me in posting more than one entry a week on my blog!!!!
Thank you for the opportunity.
Wow, this is just the thing I needed today! I woke up extra early this morning 4:30 am rather than 5 to get a head start on my messy day.
I stay at home with my just turned 3 year old son & am 5 months pregnant. I started my business in effort to do something I love and have the chance to watch my child grow. It’s been an incredible journey and I know I am incredibly lucky.
However, as both my business & family grow life only gets more hectic. I’m up to my eyeballs in goals, blog post ideas, and to-do lists. All of which have have the best of intentions, but only seem to further clutter and impede my creativity. Sometimes I feel like I need a to-do list for my to-do lists!
I really appreciate Mayi’s clear objectives & outlines. I truly feel they would help with this mound of mess keeping me from fully realizing the potential of what I’ve created.
Thank you for such a lovely giveaway!
I would loooove to win this. A few months ago, I started taking some multimedia design classes at the local art school – and I fell in love. Now I’m juggling classes with real clients (did a few sites for my friends and they told their friends, etc etc – it just keep growing!), a full-time job, and wedding planning. I don’t want to miss the opportunity to start a business in something I’m really passionate about: creating engaging spaces on the web for small businesses and individuals. I think this planner would be perfect to keep me on track and motivated!
I’m LOVINGGGGGGG these comments!!! Thanks for these awesome entries! Keep them coming 🙂
have followed you on twitter.
my life is messy and i just quit work to look after my twin darlings 16months! i write notes here, there and everywhere even i hang notes in the bathroom hooks! tell me about messy and unorganised!
i need this planner!!!!
Juggling five children and working for myself, from home means I am in a constant mess. I scribble notes all over the house on various pads & paper, never mind the million ideas I have stored in my head. I despreately need to get organised then I think I will see which goals I really want to achieve!
I am in the process of planning my wedding so I am constantly making a to do list on various apps, websites or random post it notes at my desk. I keep telling myself that I’m organized but I’m really not lol HELP!
My life is messy from a drifty schedule… (Lunch? Oh that should have happened an hour ago sorry kids!) to homeschool blunders…(hmm maybe we can shove a weeks worth of activities into one day then blog about it like it happened over several.) To the clutter. I float from one idea to the next without cleaning up (or sometimes even finishing) the previous one. I am in the midst of creating various items to sell at the local farmer’s market this year as well as starting up a profitable hobby farm, homeschooling my children and baking a baby due in September.
Is this a messy enough confession? I hope so 🙂
I may not be in time for this, but nonetheless, i feel i need to be in this group! I’m at a point in my life where i feel it’s time to embark on my lifelong dream of setting up a shop, however i need more motivation! and of course, i need more advise, a little more help, not to mention the financials to push me through as well! with all these in mind, i do need a nifty help like this.
Wow could I use this! Between applying for artist residencies, starting up a waldorf toy business, looking after my (almost) two year old and dreaming about buying a house with studio space, I feel like balls are constantly dropping all around me. It’s raining balls here in Caitlin land. For example, my DD and I ate a bowl of blueberries for dinner because I forgot to pick up groceries. Luckily, she loves blueberries, but I could use some help with meal planning! I also find myself so lost trying to plan the two very different streams of my creative career. One being more craft centered and the other being fine arts based.
Oh, and throw on top of this laundry heap that I am taking a training course to be part of a volunteer Doula program! I need something more than a day planner. I need a life manager.
living life in flux has become the norm for my family. just over a year ago my husband was laid off and then landed a job 2.5 hours away from our home. since then we have had our house on the market and have been living with family closer to his job. we are cramped but, loved. the extra hands come in handy but, this also leads to a lot of ‘where did i put that’ and the ‘i know it is in this pile…or maybe this pile’. i know that if i was on top of things, i could and would be more productive with my time. i have lots of ideas to stitch up for my shop and children and lots of snuggles and tickles to give.
This planner is exactly what I need! I’ve tried to create planning sheets myself, but failed miserably.
I have too many balls, not enough hands and my filofax can only do so much. As I work to take Poppy Sparkles to the next level – creating my own online shop, expanding my ranges and starting on PR and marketing to national press, I really do need to ensure I am organised and on track. Throw in my blog too and two young children under 3 years and it’s all a bit crazy town at Poppy Sparkles HQ. I’m trying my best to keep organised and stay on top of it all, but the Life is messy planner would help me organise my goals for future growth, as well as the various things I need to do in the here and now in a much better way than my current set up of notebook, loose pieces of paper, filofax and notes on the computer.
My life is not exactly messy, but I feel like my brain is. I have a 2 year old boy, a cat, husband & an Etsy shop.
I’ve had so many cool ideas for my shop, but never seem to get around to write the ideas/goals down and they get lost in the crevices of my brain. I would love one of these fab planners to get everything in order! I know my store can always do better & organizing is a big part of that. I just have one small child (pretty well behaved, actually) & I feel like there are lots of ladies up there that deserve this more than me! Just thought I’d try my chances to win. 🙂 Thank you!
I’ve been following Mayi’s blog for a long time now & love it! She’s also one of my favorite Etsy sellers 🙂
i have spent most of my adult life so far organizing other people’s work, homes, and lives, quite splendidly, if I do say so myself. However, when it comes to my personal or entrepreneurial stuff, i routinely miss great opportunities because I am too busy catching up, making up for missed engagements, or staring at a blank page because that great idea I had is now gone with the last phone call from another last-minute request. I have 8 notebooks in rotation where I try to keep track of all the 6 projects I am working on, and the the two potential businesses I want to develop, plus my home renovation binder where I try to keep track of all the receipts, warranties, and contractor information. I aspire to do much more, and at a pace that will allow me to enjoy this new chapter of my life – I am (finally) getting around to planning my wedding – 4 years after our engagement. I can only physically juggle two tangerines at a time, but who says I can’t alternate with new tangerines every so often? Mayi’s planner pages seem right up my brain’s compartmentalizing alley – because nothing beats paper when it comes to planners! Here’s hoping for the goodies!
Scatterbrain, that’s me. I have a 1,001 ideas flying around my head and it’s no easy task reining them in. I’ve been living the last 3ish years in hazy new mamahood (2 daughters, one almost 4 years old, the older almost 2), letting the important things which feed my soul fade into a memory. I’m putting a stop to such nonsense and declaring 2011 my year. I’m getting back to writing which is my everything. But as great as focusing on my self is, I’m so inspired and ignited that I can barely keep up with the ideas I have. I’m working with a local company. I want to write my heart out on my personal blog. I want to grow several online communities. I want to get published. I want to use my writing, my blogs, my communities to do good. It’s so ridiculously overwhelming and it seems like the hardest thing isn’t doing it all but just figuring out how to start. It’s the lack of a clear, organized vision which keeps me hovering in idea generation / planning mode instead of getting-er-done mode.
Just because I write about Filofax Organisers doesn’t mean I’m the most organised person around, I would love to win one of your giveaways
wait, I won? Really? So now what? I didn’t receive an email or anything? How do I get my planner? Let me know what I need to do.
Thank you thank you!
Hi April! You can expect an email from Mayi soon with details. I have passed your contact info on to her: )