Project Pan 2020 Update #4

This is my last blog of 2020 and it seems almost appropriate that, after such a year, it's something as mundane as a project pan update.  Especially one this short.

This quarter I only had the Urban Decay x Gwen Stefani eyeshadow palette to work on, except it didn't exactly go to plan in as much as I basically stopped wearing make-up.  That being said, I still managed to hit pan on Skimp (it's small but it is there), but not on Zone as I had hoped.  I did really like a number of the colours in this pan, especially Steady and Baby, but the actual quality of the shadows is not great as they're quite chalky and I find them difficult to blend.  I'm going to wear this for one more week and then I'm going to move it out of my makeup bag.  It has had a good round so I don't feel too bad about not using it up completely before letting it go.  Urban Decay is a cruelty-free company and most of their products are good quality items, this one just falls a little bit short on that front. 

One thing this palette has shown me is that I don't really like using eye shadow as an eyeliner, I much prefer a pencil.  Not the most important revelation this year, but good to know none the less.  I am going to do one last project pan next year and then that should be me down to the amount of makeup I actually want to have now.  I just need to decide exactly what it is I want to work on. 

Goals 2020 Update #4

                                                 

And this is it, the final update of my goals for 2020.  What a funny old year it has been, but at least I have a pretty good excuse for not completing all of them.  Unlike the last few years.

British Sign Language Learning

Apart from this one, I don't really have an excuse for this one.  After all, I had a whole lot of extra time to work on this, but as I said in my last post I just lost the motivation.  It's a shame really as this is a great language to learn, but I have time still and will probably roll this over to next year.  I should also be able to concentrate on this more now that I have work, at least temporarily, and all the work that I can do on trying and get my money back from the airlines and travel agents is done - it's just a waiting game now.

Financial Fitness

I did manage to get my pension sorted out and rolled into one pot this quarter, so that'll make things easier moving forward (you can read more about that here).  I also now have a job (though it's closed down for the two weeks over Christmas and New Year) so at least there will be money coming into my account again.  However, we did have to buy a car for work and that, along with needing to keep aside six months rent to try and entice letting agents to rent us a flat when self-employed and with a zero-hour contract (it's turning out to be very difficult at the moment), has meant having to go back into debt.  It's upsetting but fixable with a bit of grafting.

Being a Tourist

I haven't been able to do as much exploring as I had hoped, but now with the car, this should become a lot easier to do.  We had a nice little walk on Dartmoor, which entailed getting slightly lost in the fog, and I've earmarked a number of other walks to do in the near future.  The biggest issue this last month has been getting the work schedules to match up and may mean that I just need to go out and do some solo walks in the future.  I have been a little unmotivated to go outside recently, but getting to work outside again has reminded me how much I enjoy it giving me a nice little kick out of the rut.

Paperless Productivity

I won't go too much into this here as I've already written a blog about it.  However, it's been quite an interesting time testing out all these new apps and, after a year of it, I've decided that OneNote has been the best note-taking one for me, and Cute Notes and Teux Deux have been the best apps for keeping an eye on my tasks.  I'll be making the full move next year.

That's it.  This really hasn't been a great year for getting goals done, but I still managed a couple and so I'm still going to classify this as a win.  It might not be a lot, but it's something.  I've decided that I'm going to end this year by really sitting down and deciding on some actual long term goals.  Normally I just make goals for the year, but really, if I want to actually get to where I hope to be, I need to plan a little more in-depth than that.  I'll let you know how that goes.

Paperless Productivity: Final Decision

 

About this time last year, I decided that I would try out moving my paper-based productivity tools of a diary and notebook to a more digital format (you can see the post about that here).  Other than the digital calendar I have linked to my phone it's never really been something I've tried before.  I've always liked using paper and pen, as it just seems to work with how my brain is wired, and the satisfaction of ticking off the work that you've done, so this year has been a bit of an eye-opener.

After a year of testing out 14 different apps (twelve for productivity and two for note-taking) this is what I've found:

• There are a lot of options out there, so it's pretty likely you'll find something that suits you.
• Despite the variety, it's unlikely you'll find something that is 100% what you want, but then that's the same for all forms of productivity, including paper.
• That I actually prefer the simpler apps with the least amount of frills, which is not what I was expecting when I first started this.  Really this should have been obvious, I've tried many complex versions of diaries, habit tracking, and task completion, and yet I always reverted back to simplest format.  The other forms just made me feel like I should be busy, even when I really shouldn't.

So, which are the apps that I actually liked and am likely to carry on with.  

When it comes to note-taking I only tested two apps and the one that I prefered was OneNote.  I liked the way I could have it on my phone, my laptop, and link to it through my email, and the layout really works for me as it's more like a notebook than just post-it notes.

When it comes to the to-dos or tasks my favourite apps were actually Cute Note (which is funny as I originally picked it as just a light end) and Teux Deux.  I like Cute Note for the simple but actually quite effective layout, the countdown page, and, to be completely honest, the cuteness of the whole thing.  It's also completely free, which is always good.  Teux Deux is just as simple but has a more minimal appearance with no distractions.  However, it does function much more effectively as a task keeper, specifically the part where the tasks get moved for you to the next day.  This one does cost money, but the price wouldn't exactly break the bank.

For a long time, TickTick was actually my favourite app, but I've now decided it's a bit too complex for what I actually need.  I'm also no longer bothered about keeping an eye on my habits at the moment.  My main aim is to drink enough water and take my iron tablets, I'm not sure I need an app to do that.  This may change in the future if I ever need to work on more things and I would definitely recommend it if that's what you're looking for.

An honourable mention has to go to Habitica.  It's far more complex than I need, but it definitely added an element of fun to getting tasks done without taking up a large amount of space on my phone.  Definitely keeping it in my list of future possibles for if things get a bit more complex.

So, am I doing moving forward?  My physical diary is now coming to an end.  It's a visually beautiful diary, but I'm not going to buy a new one.  However, I do have a number of notebooks sitting in my storage boxes that I want to use up, so the start of the year is going to still be paper-based when it comes to organising my to-dos.  I'm pretty sure I'll always need to have a notebook of some description with me as my brain does work better when I write things down (I just don't think I'll ever be able to go completely digital).  However, I have already moved a lot of my long-term notes and note-taking onto One Note, and I'll continue to do that.  Also, once those notebooks are finished I'll move to a digital task manager.  I haven't decided yet if it's going to be Cute Note or Teux Deux yet, but it will probably be one of those two.

To read about the apps I tested this year you can following my Paperless Productivity label.

Getting Ready for Christmas 2020

 

This has been a very unusual year, but one thing that is sort of following the same route is Christmas.  Of course, there have been some slight changes but on the whole, it's pretty much been as standard.  So, this is how I've prepared for Christmas this year.

Christmas Cards

These have basically all been sent now, with only a couple to go with Christmas presents.  As with the last few years, I've made them myself using a cross-stitch pattern.  However, as I had extra time this year, I decided to turn them into sort of Christmas decorations by putting them onto fabric.  It's unlikely I'll do this every year, but it was a nice way to pass the extra time I had.

Christmas Presents

As before, I've tried to make my presents as sustainable as possible, though it's not always possible.  I have done my best, but I did still have to buy some things from the dreaded Amazon (I know they're now putting forward their climate plan - after much pushing from outside sources - I still feel guilty doing it).  I've actually made a few items this year, mostly knitting with a few bits of sewing here and there.  I've really enjoyed it, but I don't know if I'll be able to do this again next year.  One thing I do want to do in the future is to pay much more attention to the wool and fabric I use to make sure I'm buying the most ethical and sustainable products possible.

As I said, a few items were brought from Amazon as I struggled to find them anywhere else.  However, I did manage to find a few items on the Ethical Superstore and some books from Book Shop, which helps support local, independent bookshops by allowing you to buy directly from one of them or by pooling their profits and distributing this to the stores.  I also brought something from a small independent music shop.  It has taken a little longer for the items from independent shops to get to me, but I'm hoping I've ordered them early enough for them to arrive in time for Christmas.

Wrapping paper

In the past, I have tried to get out to charity shops to buy scarves and fabric to wrap the presents in, or brought brown paper which I've made more festive with stamps.  That hasn't quite been an option this year, so instead, I decided to go for wrapping paper made from 100% recycled paper and printed with environmentally friendly vegetable ink from Re-wrapped.  The designs are really good and the paper is such good quality that it's almost difficult to wrap with.

Advent Calendar

I usually don't bother with these, except for the one my Mum sometimes gets me.  However, we decided to do things a little differently this year, basically when we saw the Brewdog advent beer calendar.  Good beer, supporting a British organisation that pays a living wage and is being carbon neutral, seemed like a good idea.  And then I had a hankering for something tea-based.  So now we also have the English Tea Shop Organic advent calendar which allows me to try a whole lot of new teas.  Of course, there's also the chocolate calendar my Mum has gotten us.

Christmas Decorations

I do have some somewhere in storage, and by some I mean a couple.  I'm not really sure where they are and I'm not too bothered about not having them up this year as I've never really needed Christmas decorations to feel Christmas-ie.  We did get this little wooden Christmas tree, to replace mine that broke last year, so that we have somewhere to put the presents.  In the long run, what I'm really looking for is some Scandinavian decorations (mostly the wooden ones) that I can keep for years to come.  However, they are turning out to be quite difficult to find and may just be something I have to collect over the years rather than get this year specifically.

Christmas Food

This bit I haven't thought about at all.  I don't even really know where we're going to be so starting to buy in stuff that needs to be stored isn't really an option right now.  Obviously, it'll mostly be vegetarian, if not vegan, and mainly made from scratch, but that's about as far as I've gotten when it comes to thinking about it.  I guess we'll have to just wait and see.

And that's it.  It's pretty similar to the last few years (apart from last year as I was in New Zealand), just with a few more constraints.  The biggest difference this year is that I wasn't able to save up for it over the year like I did the last couple of years.  That's definitely the plan for next year to make things easier.  I hope your Christmas planning is going well.