At the start of 2009, I made a resolution to read more books. I didn’t quantify it, because I didn’t read that many books in 2008. I’m happy to say that I’ve definitely met this goal. I kept a record of the books, and I was able to do 26 in all! Yay me!

Here’s the list of books, mostly fiction, that I read in 2009:

1. The Adventures and the Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (Unabridged Classics) / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Author), Scott McKowen (Illustrator)

2. ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income / Darren Rowse and Chris Garrett

3. Anne of Green Gables / Lucy Maud Montgomery

4. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

5. The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks

6. The Letter Writer / Ann Rinaldi

7. Remember Me? / Sophie Kinsella

8. A Wrinkle in Time / Madeleine L’Engle

9. The Wedding / Nicholas Sparks

10. The Testament / John Grisham

11. Wings / Aprilynne Pike

12. The Power of Less: The Fine Art of Liming Yourself to the Essential…in Business and in Life / by Leo Babauta

13. New Moon / Stephenie Meyer

14. True Believer / Nicholas Sparks

15. Nights in Rodanthe / Nicholas Sparks

16. Eclipse / Stephenie Meyer

17. Breaking Dawn / Stephenie Meyer

18. On Writing / Stephen King

19. The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy / Jeanne Birdsall

20. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) / Rick Riordan

21.  Holes / Louis Sachar

22. Bud, Not Buddy / Christopher Paul Curtis

23. The Magician’s Elephant / Kate DiCamillo

24. Prada and Prejudice / Mandy Hubbard

25.  A Wind in the Door / Madeleine L’Engle

26. Pride and Prejudice / Jane Austen

***

So for 2010, my reading goal is simply to top 26!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends! I sure did. It’s been a busy week (month!) of presents, food, and family activities.

The last few days have been hectic, because I had postponed Christmas shopping until the last weekend before Christmas. And then, I got sick! Ugh. I eventually got things done, thanks to my wonderful hubby, who watched the kids so I can go out and finish up whatever needed to be done. And so, we are on the last few minutes of Christmas 2009. The presents have been opened, and oohed and aahed at. I have gorged myself on the scrumptious food, lots of it! Just look at this:

Isn’t that gorgeous? These are the Cornish hens I made for Christmas eve dinner, which is when we have the big feast in our family. I love how these roasts have turned out. They are now officially replacing turkey in our family celebrations.

Taking photos of the food gave me an excuse to use the new flash for my Nikon camera. Can I say that I just love it? I can’t believe I waited so long to get a dedicated flash. It’s already gotten so much use in the couple of days since it arrived. Christmas portraits? You bet! I think Sears’ photo studio has lost a customer because of this flash.

Right about now, I just want to put my feet up, relax and think about the blessings of the season. Christmas 2009 is over, but the joy, peace and love that comes from Jesus Christ will last forever. And that’s definitely something to celebrate.

I came across this quote today, from one of my Facebook friends:

If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

- Jim Rohn (1930-2009, Author and Speaker)

Lately, I’ve been thinking about being more intentional and what that means. First, to be intentional, one has to identify a mission, a goal, the intention. What is it that I want to accomplish in my life? What is my life plan?

While an entire life would be impossible to plan to the smallest details, I’ve always believed one must always have a general direction in life. Otherwise, drifting is the result, with no clear goals and nothing to show at the end of it.

Being intentional means being proactive, setting out a plan, and evaluating decisions and steps in accordance with that plan. I don’t want to “fall into someone else’s plan”. There is no joy or fulfillment in that.

I have a thing about paper. Sure, I spend a lot of time everyday on my laptop. I have probably done more damage to my eyes staring at the screen than doing anything else, including reading in dim light late into the night. But nothing inspires me, excites me, like new paper does.

You’ve heard it before, the love for the smell and feel of crisp fresh-from-the-mill paper. It’s true for many, and it’s definitely so for me. I cannot pass by a stationery display in any store without sparing a glance. Often, I stop to run my fingers over the latest planners, journals and notepads. More so, if they’re prettily designed. Sometimes, I surreptitiously sniff them, eyes closed to really take in the invigorating scent.

Out of all the paper products I’ve encountered, there are 2 brands that I adore: Moleskine and Franklin Covey. I use Moleskine, a large lined journal and a pocket one, respectively, for personal journaling and for writing on the go. My planner is a Franklin Covey 365 compact binder I got from Target, and which is currently stocked with Major Plan refills.

For writing, I often use a black Pilot G2. I have these all over the house and always have a couple in my purse. Recently, I also dug out a Parker 45 fountain pen, which was a wedding gift from friends. It has my and my husband’s names engraved on it. But the hubby has never shown an interest in using it, so it’s mine now.

Though the G2 is a perfectly good pen, it doesn’t inspire me to write as much as a fountain pen does. I use Quink black ink on my fountain pen, which has a fine nib. The ink works very well on the Franklin Covey paper, even better than the G2. The G2 results in more see-through on the other side of the paper. On the Moleskine, the G2 seems to work better, but I suspect it’s because of the finer line it makes. The Quink ink doesn’t bleed through or feathers on the Moley, but I can still see more of it on the other side.

All this talk of bleeding through and feathering may sound like too much fuss about nothing. But for me, and apparently for many Moleskine fans, it’s significant. I like my paper creamy and clean on both sides. I get distracted if I see too much of the writing on the other side. But I can’t bring myself to use just one side, not just for economy’s sake. I simply like the look of a filled notebook, with writing on all pages.

There is hope, though, for the Moleskine/Quink combo. I, through a stroke of luck on eBay, recently acquired an extra-fine nib for the Parker 45. I paid more for it that I normally would for a pen – let alone the point of a pen! – but the XF nib for the Parker 45 is rather hard to come by, and the one I bought is brand-new. And it’s coming all the way from France! Just for the romance of being able to say that I got my fountain pen (nib) from France, it’s worth it.

images: sxc.hu

One of the hardest things for me to organize is paper. It’s embarrassing to admit, but I’ve had a few years worth of paper files in assorted boxes, folders, and bins, and sometimes just haphazardly stacked on top of each other. Up until a few years ago, I’ve been able to keep up with the monthly waves of paper that came by the mail. Then I had a baby. Suffice it to say that everything was so thrown for a loop that by the time I resurfaced, there were piles where there were none before.

The problem with piles, as anyone, organized or not, will know, is that they tend to attract even more piles. I looked at those silent testaments to my sleep-deprived and  exhausted state, and felt even more tired just by looking at them. I simply didn’t want to deal with them. So I left them as they were, filing them away in my mind so as to supposedly help me remember where to find what I needed when the time came. Ha! A few months and several new piles later, the only time I could find any given piece of paper was to go through the entire lot.

Still, I couldn’t do anything about them. The truth was, I didn’t know what to do about them. Should I file the way I’ve always done, that is, by service provider, bank, etc.? This method has always taken me more time than I’d care to put in. Then I had to go through each of the old folders to figure out what I should keep and what can be thrown away.

The prospect of having to plow through piles of paper, with the knowledge that I didn’t like my filing system, paralyzed me, and so I just shut the door into the basement office. Month after month I did this. It was overwhelming because I didn’t have the tools to deal with my paper files in a way that works for me.

So why am I telling you all this?

Well, because I finally found the filing method that I can use no matter what stage of filing I’m at.

FreedomFiler. It’s very aptly named, because it’s given me freedom from my past piles, and freedom from having any more piles ever.

What is Freedom Filer?

What it is is a self-purging filing system. The FreedomFiler has allowed me to:

• deal with new files in monthly batches
• discard old files per month or year, again in batches
• color-code files according to how long they should be kept (It even tells me how long!)
• keep monthly files for two years
• maintain tax archives
• keep documents required for filing taxes
• organize permanent and periodically replaced files
• know that I will have the files I need for any reason for as long as I need them
• eliminate the need for file clean-up day
• not have to set up a new file for every new year/company

Here’s a diagram of what the system looks like, once it’s set up. I have my system pretty much laid out like this. Click on the image for a larger view:

I now have designated places for statements, bills, receipts, medical records, home and car records, insurance records, tax documents, references, active files (to do, addresses, etc.) and every piece of paper that I will ever have to file.

The logic behind FreedomFiler’s color codes is what makes it work pretty much perfectly. The codes are as follows:

• Green – monthly files, to be kept for two years; one set each for odd and even years
• Red – permanent files
• Orange – files that are replaced as new ones come in (bank policies, etc.)
• Light blue – documents needed for filing taxes for odd and even years
• Dark blue – tax archives up to 10 years (ending in “0”, “1”, etc.); there are extra tags to keep tax documents beyond 10 years, for those inclined to do so
• Purple – references
• Grey – action files (to do, letters to answer, files to sort, etc.)

How it works

This is just a glimpse of how FreedomFiler works. At the start of every month, any papers in the appropriate green folder are discarded, ready for that month’s new files. For example, for next month, I will get rid of the files in the folder with the white-topped green label, which contains files from June 2007.

Every year, and only once every year, the different sets for green and light blue files are swapped around. If the new year is even (eg. 2010), the black-topped labels are used. For odd years, the white-topped labels go to the front.

Once it’s set up, the FreedomFiler Organizing System is very easy to use and is highly effective. You can watch a demonstration video here.

FreedomFiler is available in kits or ready-made systems. The kits come with a set of colored tags – some pre-printed and some blank – and instructions for filing. The ready-made system adds a filing tote and folders.

I got the Home Filing Kit Deluxe Edition for $42.95. It may look expensive just for a bunch of printed tags. But what I consider to have paid for, in addition to the actual tags, is the organizing expertise behind this product. It’s like having a professional organizer come into my home and help me deal with my paper piles, and I don’t think I can find someone to do what FreedomFiler has done for me, for the affordable price of $42.95.

I usually don’t gush about products. But this is one product that I make an exception for. If you have trouble keeping up with your paper files, you have to try FreedomFiler.

Now that I have my paper piles under control (that sounds very formal, when in fact I feel that I should be doing cartwheels about this), I’ve been inspired to fully organize the basement office. I’m about 95% done, and when it’s finished, I’ll show you pictures of my beautiful, functional space, and my FreedomFiler drawer!

images from FreedomFiler