Life update: September 2015

Hi everyone! I've been silent on here since the beginning of September and for good reason too! I thought I'd do a little update post just to let you all know what's going on, where I've been and what I've been doing. 

At the beginning of September, I landed myself in a new job. I absolutely love what I'm doing - I'm a Credit Controller which is something I've done before and found that it suited me perfectly. I've been in and out of employment all year and I can finally say that I've found a job I like! This is my third week and it literally feels like I started yesterday, my group is an absolutely amazing bunch of people, which makes it all the better. 

I've also been down to London again for two reasons, one to see my Sister again and the other...HARRY POTTER STUDIO TOUR!! Oh god I can't even contain how excited I was to be there, to see everything and to actually capture some memories. I literally want to go back tomorrow, it was amazing. For a true Potterhead like me, this was such a great experience and my Boyfriend really enjoyed it too (we went on his birthday...it was more of a present for me haha!). It was also nice to see my Sister again as I'd not seen her in about 6 weeks. She cooked us a lovely dinner and her Fiancé made us pudding. It's a shame I couldn't of stayed longer but we had no one to feed the cat whilst we were away. 

The rest of September is looking pretty bland if I'm being honest, but I'm okay with that. I've had such a great start to the month, I won't be disappointed if the latter part is a bit more quiet. My Dad goes into hospital later this month so that's really taking up most of my thoughts at the moment - I shan't really be posting anything on here about that as it's quite a stressful time for all of us as he's having another heart operation and we're not too sure how it's going to go. 

I'm not quite sure what posts I've got planned for my blog as of yet, I really haven't had the time to sit down and think about it. I need to start making my planner a little more interesting, which is what I plan on doing this weekend as it'll be the first weekend in a while where I just get to chill and do nothing. 

Till next time!

♥

Staples Arc planner - the initial setup!

If you've been around my blog for about a year now, you'll know that I love anything...and I mean anything...to do with planning. My obsession started off with Filofaxes. As innocent as I was, I started browsing on Pinterest (oh, a cardinal sin of mine...) and soon became amazed with how much effort people put into their planners. I've always been one for using diaries to keep important dates, but I felt like I needed something more, something that I can, well, plan my life with.

I happened to stumble across the Staples Arc planner whilst browsing Pinterest and it instantly caught my eye. I'd never seen a planner like it before, it wasn't a coil bound nor was it a ring bound...it was a disc bound planner? Weird. The idea is that you are able to add, remove, change and do whatever to the pages as you wish, all being held by these plastic discs. I actually really liked the idea of this, as sometimes I don't want something as bulky as my Filofax in my bag. Don't get me wrong, my I love my Filofax but this...this just intrigued me.

I took a trip to Staples and managed to find the whole range (not as much as the US stores though, sadly!) and instantly knew I was going to like it. I picked up one of the leather cover "notebooks" as they are called, had a flick through, and was pleasantly surprised at how easily the pages turned, how the planner lay flat and how you could turn the front over to the back like a spiral notebook without the pages falling out. The one I had picked up was an A5 size which seemed a little larger than what I had wanted. The planner I had picked up was around £16-£17, which I actually didn't think was that expensive as the cover is real leather and it was already filled with lined pages.

I browsed through the pre-printed papers you could purchase for the planners too, where there was the standard packets like lined paper, graph paper, undated weekly pages, sticky notes etc. Quite a nice selection, and not too pricey at all. But then I stumbled upon the Arc punch, something that allows you to create your own printables (from Pinterest, Google etc) and place them into your planner. This was around the £30.00 mark which seemed SO expensive for a holepunch! I know you wouldn't necessarily need to have one of these if you were a skilled craft knife user but I'd rather not risk my own fingers...Now I'm not going to lie, the cost of the holepunch did deter me from plunging into the Arc planner world. I don't think I was prepared to spend over £50 on two items, so I waited.

This weekend just gone, I received an email from Staples saying that there was 30% off the Arc range and you guessed it, I bought it. Including the holepunch, much to my dismay...I didn't go mad on things to buy as I knew I could re-use some from my Filofax stash, so I ended up spending around £15 for the planner, clear protective sheets and undated weekly pages, then £18 for the Arc punch, which is a LOT bigger and heavier than what I thought it was going to be, may I just add! 

Here's what I purchased: 

Now the thing which was the deciding factor for me to take the plunge and buy the initial setup is that it's going to be so damn easy to make notebooks for the future. I know they're not expensive and you can pick them up for as little at 70p, but I'm about to start a new job and will need to take a lot of notes where I want to be able to write then re-organise once I'm done. I want something that looks neat so I can leave it on my desk and be able to go through it without worrying about making it tatty. All I'd need to do to make an extra notebook is buy an extra set of discs (around £2.00 for a pack of 12) and then punch the sheets to organise. 

I know the initial setup has cost me a lot, but this is something I'm going to reuse time and time again. I fully understand that some people will be put off by the fact you have to have the punch in order to make this planning system work (unless as I said, you're a demon with a craft knife) but I'm glad I did purchase this. They're so much more robust than my Filofax and you are able to customise them so much more!

Let's have a look at the punch which normally retails at around £30: 

I wasn't joking when I said it was bigger than I thought it was going to be - this is literally industrial sized, haha! In all honesty though, for the price I paid for it I am seriously happy with the quality. The plastic seems really durable, it's definitely weighty and the punches are clean and crisp. I'm pretty sure this said it can punch 8 pieces of paper in one go? I can't remember! Even at full price, I think I'd be happy to pay £30 (if my bank balance would let me...) but if you know someone else who is a planner fanatic and is looking at the Arc range, maybe you could split the price. 

So far I've only gone as far as making monthly dividers and marking the pages up with the correct dates - I've not gone design crazy at the moment because I want to focus on the coming months (until January) then possibly change the design of the pages. I'm still trying to find a layout that I'm 100% with - I need to buy new cartridges for my printer and then I'll be away! I'm not too sure if I like the planner inserts I have at the moment, but again this is one thing I'm sure I'll get used to once I start writing stuff in there.   

My first impression of the Arc system is that I love how easy it is to assemble, rearrange and put back together. I think I love it more than my Filofax already...the only thing I'm really a bit meh about is the fact that there's no way to fasten it, but I've used a headband to keep it together for the time being until I can figure something else out. 

In the next coming weeks I'm going to be updating my blog to show you how this is coming along, how I'm finding it and how durable it is. Keep your eyes open if you're interested in this planner range as I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about it!

♥