Paperless Productivity - Google Tasks & Keep Notes

The  first month of the year is almost up and this is the first month of me trying out some paperless productivity.  For ease I decided to start by using the software that is connected to the calendar I already use, and that is Google Tasks and Google Keep Notes.  The simplicity of both these apps probably also meant that they were a good place to start.  (In this post I'm just going to keep referring to my to-dos as tasks - it just seems to make sense here).

Google Tasks

This is a very easy piece of software to use.  You literally just open it up, link it to your Google account (it asks you to do this in the set up), and then start adding things in using the large multi-coloured cross at the bottom of the page.

Then you just add in the name you want to give the task, a due date if there is one, whether it repeats, and any additional notes you'd like to add.  It's pretty simple.

Once you have completed the task you tap on it and a quite satisfying tick accompanied with a fire work in the Google colours appears before the task disappears.

However, the task doesn't disappear of your app altogether but gets put into the completed section at the bottom of the page.  To me this seems like a very good idea as one of the things I like about a physical diary is seeing all that I've accomplished that day, week, month, and here you can do that.  Or you can choose to delete them all.

The tasks can be added on both your phone through the app and through your Google calendar, where it will actually show on each day as long as you remember to tick the tasks calendar on the left.  You  can also open the Tasks tab on the right if you want them to little bit larger and with more information.  And, of course, they sync with each other so you'll always have your tasks with you where ever you are.  The only thing I couldn't work out how to do was how to view them on my mobile's calendar which I've synced by Google calendar to.  But as I had the app on my phone any way it wasn't too much of a bother.

So what did I like about this?  I did really like having my tasks on my phone so that I only needed to take that with me instead of my phone with my diary and a pen / pencil.  I also liked the fact that I could sync them between different devices so that I could see what I had going on no matter what I was doing.

And what didn't I like?  This is going to be a little bit longer.  Firstly, and this is not something that is specifically bad about Google Tasks but a possible problem I'm going to have with all digital tasks software, I realised that I quite like the fixed space that you get in physical diaries.  This fixed space makes me feel that I can only add as many tasks as there is space in this section, and that prevents me from giving myself too much to do in one day.  I could, of course, limit the number of tasks for each day to a specific number, but it doesn't have quite the same feel.  I have a feeling this might be the same for all of the apps I'm doing to be using.

When it came to viewing my tasks on Google calendar I actually didn't like having them all sitting at the top of the calendar.  It made it look pretty cluttered to me and so I usually unmarked that calendar.  However, when I had them open as a tab I then couldn't see the calendar properly to then work out when in my day I wanted to fit the tasks in, and I like to have my calendar open as a week at a glance when I'm organising what task I'm doing when.  There are definitely times when I feel like it's just easier and more efficient to have things you're working on on two separate platforms.

I also realised that, whilst I do like quite a minimum aesthetic this layout was a little bit too stark for me.  Even if it's just my weird-arse handwriting , I like to have something that adds a little bit of character to the page I'm working on.  However, as I said before, this does make it very easy to use.

Google Keep Note

I have to admit that I downloaded this app with good intentions, but in the end I barely used it at all.  I added in my project pan for the year, but that was really about it.  I just didn't find myself navigating towards it this month.

The good thing about this app is that, like Google Tasks, it is very easy to use.  

You just click on the multi-coloured cross, decide what format the note is going to be (including tick boxes, image, or even voice recording), and you can even colour code it to fit whatever colour coding you might have in your calendar or diary.  You can also open this on the right tab of your Google calendar if you're needing to work between the two and, as you also log into Google with this one, it syncs between all the devices you have it on.

The problem I found with this app was that, as each note sites on your screen like a post it note, I didn't feel like I could write too much for each one.  As I was wanting to use this piece of software as a way of keeping all my notes together, like the research and drafts I do for these posts, it just didn't seem like a very viable option here.  However, this would be good for more concise, bullet point note taking such as shopping lists and the 1 hour cleaning lists I put together.  It might also work as a sort of Bullet Journal with each separate note being for a day, but I'm not really looking into Bullet Journaling as such as the moment so I'll leave that for now.  It is an option for the future though, but for now this app is coming off my phone.

So, not a bad start really.  Both of these apps function well for what they are and are very simple to use.  If that's what you're looking for I would definitely recommend checking them out.  It's just not quite what I'm looking for at the moment so I'll keep testing out other types of organisation apps.

Next month I'll be looking at Microsoft's To-Do and One Note.

Just Water Challenge

As you might be aware from the blog I wrote at the beginning of last year, Water Aid is one of the charities that I had chosen to support in 2019 and have actually chosen to carry on supporting in 2020.  And, of course, part of the support involves receiving emails from them about their activities and the any additional things you can do to help out.  So when I got an email from them about taking the Just Water Challenge in January I thought why not, seems like a good way to start the year.  Start as you mean to go on and all that.

The challenge is to drink absolutely nothing but water for the whole month of January.  Obviously drinking only water is really good for your body in many, many ways, but this challenge is also about helping those in the world who have to travel long distances to collect dirty water which contains worms and other parasites in it.  The money raised by this challenge will go towards ensuring that fewer and fewer people each year have to face these very real challenges just to get a drink of water.  If you want to get a real look at how this affects someone directly then Water Aid have put together a blog about a grandmother called Juliette who lives in Madagascar.

I had already done Dryathalon for Cancer Research, where you drink no alcohol, a couple of years back and had actually found it pretty easy to do.  This seemed like it would be quite a bit more challenging and, therefore, warrant the request I'm making of people to hand over their money when sponsoring me.  If I'm honest water is already the main fluid that I drink on a day to day basis and it's not often that I drink much else.  The other drinks that I do tend to have is the dreaded Coca Cola (as you already know), chai and matcha lattes if a café does them (it would be rude not to), and tea.  But the truth of the matter is that I don't drink the lattes or the tea that often.  In fact, I have been known to go for days without having a single drop of tea.  However, it is still something I keep around, after all I am a Brit and who knows when the urge might strike.  The one positive for me is that this challenge is a much better incentive to give up Coke then just my health,  Lets face it, it rarely is a strong enough reason to do any thing.

So on New Year's Eve whilst everyone else was having alcohol I was enjoying two last cups of tea before the month of not having any at all started.  I didn't bother with the Coca Cola as I had already decided and started getting off that drink.

And, how's it going so far you might ask?  Actually a lot better than I was expecting.  At the beginning of the challenge I was still having the urge to drink Coca Cola, but this has now gone completely.  I still think 'that would be nice' if I see one in a shop but it's pretty easy for me now to just walk by and not think about it again.  Probably the weirdest moment was on the first day.  After not having tea for a good few days I suddenly had a strong urge to have a nice cup of tea.  I just ignored it though and carried on with my glass of water.  Since then I have wanted a cup of teas pretty regularly but I've found that a mug of hot water with fruit in it (after some experimentation raspberries and strawberries work particularly well) has been enough to hit that craving on the head.

And now I have just under two weeks left to go and I think I'm going to get through it.  I have come this far after all.  It'll be interesting to see, as the end comes into sight, if any of the cravings come back.  And it'll be interesting to see what I go back to once the challenge is completely over?  Or will I just carry on only drink water with a bit of fruit in it now and then?    

If you would like to support me (and I would really appreciate it if you do) and the great work that Water Aid does then you can go to my Just Giving page and donate by going to https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/George-s-Just-Water-Challenge.  It would be amazing if you could.

Project Pan 2020

I have to say that last year went pretty well when it came to my project pan.  At least, much better than how I was expecting it to go.  I'm expecting this year to be pretty similar as I don't have a lot of items this time and this year is mainly the year where I go through the last of my products to really downsize and simplify my makeup.  However, though there aren't too many items (5 really), most of them are going to take a while to use up so this is going to be a pretty slow project pan.  Because of that I'm going to do the quarterly updates that I did last year otherwise there's going to be some pretty boring posts.

Starting with the one item that I know is definitely going to take at least this year to go through and that's the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette.  There are 15 shades here, though they're not the biggest eyeshadow pans I've seen which gives me a little bit of hope.  They are a little powdery, but I do really love most of the colours so it shouldn't be too difficult to make myself wear this every time I wear makeup.  However, I definitely don't need this many eyeshadows and there are some colours there that I don't normally gravitate to, at least not anymore.  So, to push myself out of my comfort zone I'm going to make myself hit every single one of these colours at least once this year.  In fact, let's say at least once every quarter.  I think that should be do-able.  I'm not expecting to finish it but I am hoping to hit pan on at least five of the shadows.

Powder foundation is definitely my foundation of choice.  That's probably quite strange for a dry skinned girl, but I just find it much easier and less messy to use, and I don't feel like it's sitting on my skin like an unpleasant layer.  This is my last foundation and it is the Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation in Blondie.  I really like it and it suits my skin, but if I'm honest I much prefer the compact foundations or the loose powder.  Just so much less mess involved.  I've already gone through quite a lot of this but getting it finished by the end of the year is still going to be a challenge.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do once it's used up as, as with all these types of products, there's always the issue of mica.  I guess I'll just have to do my research and make a decision when the time comes.  For now, I'm just going to concentrate on getting this finished.

This The Body Shop Eye Definer Crayon Kohl in Black is also my last eyeliner.  It's a very soft product and, whilst the colour is good, I do end up putting on a few layers when I use it so I'm not expecting this to take that long at all.  I don't think it's a product I'll get again once it's gone as I prefer a liquid or gel eyeliner, but once it's gone I'm going to use up the black eyeshadow I have in the UD x Gwen Stefani palette before I make any decision on buying another eyeliner.  Right now The Body Shop Kohl is 9.5 cm long.

The Burt's Bees Matte Lip Crayon in Napa Vineyard is one of the last two lip products I have and, as you know, I'm thinking about not owning any lip products once they've gone other than a lip liner.  We'll wait and see on that front, but for now this is the first lip product I want to get through this year as I'm already using it.  It's a beautiful colour, however, I find it difficult to apply this neatly as the crayon is so thick and it was difficult to keep the point it had at the start.  To be honest, it probably needs a lip brush to really apply it properly, but I can't be bothered buying one of those so I'm just going to persevere with it as it is.  I also think that the texture and colour would make it a good cheek colour and will be using it there as well.  That should probably reduce the amount of time it'll take to use it up.  This lip crayon is 2.4 cm at the moment.

This was a naughty buy I really shouldn't have done when we stopped off at Bangkok on the way to New Zealand.  I just really want to try an Asian brand.  However, if I'm honest, a liquid eyeliner or mascara probably would have been better, I'm just more obsessed with lipsticks.  Any way, this is the Mistine Cosmetics OHH Lipstick No. 01.  I can't really say too much about it as I haven't started using it yet and won't until the Burt's Bees product it finished.  It seems like it will be a lot more matte in texture and pigmented than the Burt's Bees.  I guess I'll find out.  At the moment it's 2.8 cm in length.

Lastly are the Amazonian Clay 12 Hour Blushes in Royal, Genius, Pop, and Vibrant.  I'm not going to try and use these up (that would be insane) but I am going to try each one and decide if I want to keep all of them or if there are any that really don't suit me and can be gotten rid of.  I also want to play with the two blush brushes I own as I really don't feel I need both and could probably get rid of one.  I think I know which one it's going to be, but I still want to give both of them a fair go.  I should probably have this one completed by the end of the first quarter.

There is one extra thing I'm going to be doing whilst I go through this project pan and that is basically going on a no buy for 2020.  I will let myself buy mascara when I need to and concealer once the foundation has finally run out (I've basically got my eye on the RMS "Un" Cover-Up), but for everything else I'm not going to buy anything new until I have used everything else up.  So no eyeliners until the one I have and the eyeshadows are completely gone; definitely no blusher, highlighter, or contour probably ever - that stuff is going to last me for years; and definitely no lip products until these are all gone and I've gone a few months without any lipstick at all.  I actually feel like I want to use up most of the eye shadows before I let myself even look at another lip product.  I don't actually think it'll be too hard and I like the challenge of it.  

So possibly the last year of project pan here we go.  Good luck everyone, I hope yours all go well.  Let me know what you're planning to get rid of.

Goals for 2020

My inspiration photo.

As we all know from my last goals post, 2019 didn't exactly go according to plan.  At all!  But 2019 is over now so I'm drawing a line under it and resetting for 2020.  There are some basic habits that I have developed over the years through goal setting and which I will continue to do in 2020, running along in the background.  These are making more sustainable choices in my purchases and lifestyle decisions, getting rid of things I do longer need / use, and keeping my diet as healthy as possible and low in things like processed sugar.  But there are four larger goals I want to work on this year.

British Sign Language.

This is the roll over goal from last year and I really want to do this language the justice it deserves in 2020.  As the subscription to my online course finishes at the end of the first quarter it seems like finishing the last three lessons in the next couple of months is a good place to start.  Once I have finished the course I want to spend the next three quarters finding people I can practise sign language with.  To begin with this may have to be in New Zealand and I'm hoping that the connection between New Zealand sign language and British sign language should make it easy enough to cross over between the two.  Learning a new language (or at least attempting to) always makes me nervous and a bit stressed, and I think I've been letting myself make excuses to not do the lessons because of that.  But it's time to stop doing that and look the scary new language in the proverbial face.

Financial Fitness.

This was my goal a couple of years ago and I did pretty well in getting myself sorted, but I've kind of let things slide a little over the last couple of months (okay a lot - not helped by needing to buy a second-hand car).  I let some emotional decisions take over the more sensible ones and now it's time to get back on track.  I have some credit card debit to pay off, an emergency fund to rebuild, and I really failed last year at putting the amount of money I should have been putting into my pension fund.  The pension fund is especially important as I'm in my late 30s now and have never really had much of a great track record when it comes to contributing in the first place.  The time is now ticking and I really need to make sure I have financial security in my old age.

This isn't really a goal that I can break into quarters but, roughly, I would like to have paid off the credit card debt (including my partners) by the end of the first half of the year.  I then want to build back up my emergency fund and have started paying good amounts into my pension fund in the last half of the year.  This is going to be a little bit more difficult than normal as I only really know what's going on in the first three months of this year.  After that jobs and income amounts are all a bit up in the air, but I'm going to keep the goal and do my best to work towards it.   

I actually want this goal to carry on for a few years until I have gotten myself into a real sound footing when it comes to finances.  I think that'll take 3 years to do, as long as I'm sensible, and a long term goal should stop me falling off the wagon again.

Being a Tourist.

This one probably doesn't seem like it really fits with the goal above, but when I talk about being a tourist I'm not necessarily talking about travelling to new countries.  I'm talking about being a tourist in your own area and country.  When I look back on last year in Scotland, when I had the van I'd sort of converted to live in, I really didn't see as much of the country as I had intended or wanted.  Now, when I think about it, I'm a little angry with myself for not taking the opportunity that I had and really going for it.  I don't want to make that mistake again.

So, here's the plan for 2020.  When I move to a place I'm going to work out what the local attractions are and actually go and see them.  I'm also going to travel a little further afield and make sure that I really get to know the area.  And here's why it won't really affect my financial fitness goals.  Pretty much everything I'm interested in are based within the three overlapping circles of nature, trekking, and local history, most of which don't really cost anything to do.  The main cost will probably be fuel and possibly accommodation (though I do really enjoy camping so that reduces that considerably), but these won't eat too much into my budgets and will probably save me a lot of money on the boredom spending I do when I'm stuck at home.

Paperless Productivity.

I've already written about this in a previous blog, but as it's one of my goals for  2020 I thought I should probably give it a quick mention here.  I'm going to see if I can take all the paper I use when planning out my time, to-dos, and even work for this blog and make it digital.  The plan here is to reduce my paper waste and have a system that is a little more compact and portable.  I'll be testing out different types of software over 2020 to see if I can find one that really suits me and will probably do separate updates on each one as the year goes on rather than waiting to do a quarterly update.

And that's it.  Those are my goals for this year.  Most of them are going to be pretty doable, but I know my financial goal is going to be a difficult one to do and I didn't want to overload on too many challenging goals in 2020 that would be competing for my time and energy.  Especially not after last year.  I'll do quarterly updates as before so that I can see how I'm progressing, but I definitely feel better and more optimistic about this year's goals.  I think I'm going to actually manage it this time.

There is one other little goal that I'll be doing this year that I thought I would quickly mention here.  It's a pretty simple one that doesn't require too much planning or work.  And that's giving up the fizzy, black stuff. Wish me luck!