Staying organised + happy in 2015 || #COUNTDOWNTO2015

Hello everybody! As promised, here's the next post for my series #COUNTDOWNTO2015. Before I start rambling on, I actually met one of you the other day and you went up to me and asked me for a selfie, you were so cute too! It was so weird knowing that people are actually reading my blog and I'm not just talking to myself like a freak. I believe your name was Vivian (sorry if I'm not spelling it right) but HI! Anyway, today I'll be writing about how I stay organised throughout my year and the little things that make me happy and "motivate" me to stay organised. So let's get to it!

1. Keep your surroundings organised, it helps. Trust me. I'm the type of person where if I want to get things done and do them well, I need to do them somewhere where it's neat, clean and organised. I feel like if the things that surround me are a certain way, so will my headspace. But I'm also the type of person where if my room has been messy for a while, I need to wait for a Monday or the first day of the month to make sure it's clean so that it's a "fresh start". It's pretty silly but I'm trying my best to keep everything neat for the year of 2015.

2. Have a good "setup" If I have things to get done like homework or writing a blog post up, I really have to get in the zone. Everyone is different and everyone works differently under different conditions. Personally, I like to have everything nice and neat, with a drink or a small snack, music and a candle! 

At the moment I'm currently LOVING a candle by Wicked Candle Company called Sweet Pea Vanilla. This is the first that I've tried of their range and it smells so good! I'll leave links at the end of this post if you're interested in getting one. Check out their other products too, it looks extremely promising. I think it's so worth it due to the fact that it smells so good and it' lasts for ages too. I'm also currently listening to Taylor Swift's new album on repeat all day everyday. Comment down below if you've been loving it too! (Not that keen on Shake it off though haha)

3. Write things down! Putting pen to paper always helps me remember things. Personally, using a time planner/diary always helps me keep what I'm doing on track. It's definitely not some people's cup of tea but I have been absolutely loving doing this for the past two years that I've tried it. This planner is the Mint Personal Planner from kikki.k which is a stationary store that has the cutest things ever. (Don't worry, I'm not sponsored by them or anything, I genuinely love their stuff) 

This planner didn't come with a day to day type of diary, only an 18 month perpetual calendar but I bought the inserts on it which you can get online / in store too. This is the first year that I got a time planner rather than just an ordinary diary because I just think it would be so useful considering I'll be managing my blog, work and Year 12. I love the fact that it has little tabs that you can section off things. It also comes with a To do list page which is so useful! (Is it weird that my pens have to stay the same for the entire thing?) #OCD

4. Be thankful for the little things How corny right? But honestly, in the midst of our busy lives it's so rare for us to just stop and be thankful for all that we have and how privileged and blessed we are. A great thing to get into is just to think about a few things that you're thankful for. Maybe it's when you wake up or before you go to sleep. I love journalling about anything that I'm thinking about and one of my goals is to write down what I'm thankful for each day. 

5. Treat yourself Whether it's giving yourself a cheat day after clean eating for a week, taking a short break from studying or just taking time out of your day to do what you like just to break away from everything that's going on around you. I am obsessed with the TV series Friends, I have literally memorised every single episode because I watch it so much. I even have it playing in the background while I'm sleeping or getting ready. If it's ever a really long day and I want to pamper myself, I usually pop on a facial mask, put an episode of F.R.I.E.N.D.S on and use my favourite body butter. I think it's so important to do what you love or enjoy yourself so that you don't go completely insane from your busy life!

Anyway all you gorgeous people, I hope you enjoy this and stay tuned for more #COUNTDOWNTO2015 posts and some other posts too. So excited for the new year coming up. Don't forget to check out Wicked Candle Company for their amazing products and Kikki-K if you're looking to get some cute stationary or a planner.

Links: 

KIKKI K PERSONAL PLANNER IN MINT [HERE]

KIKKI K DIARY REFILLS (DAYTODAY) [HERE]

WICKED COMPANY CANDLES [HERE]

INSTAGRAM: @karynengee

TWITTER: @rynspiration

BLOGLOVIN: *check sidebar*

(*) The candle was sent to me, but all opinions are honest and genuine as usual. 

New Years Resolutions? 3 TIPS || #COUNTDOWNTO2015

As 2014 comes to an end, I can't help but be really excited for a new year. To some people, new years is just another day because nothing's going to change, right? Personally, the end of a year usually gives me an opportunity to reflect on the year that I had, be thankful, make room for improvement and change.

I used to always set the most unrealistic goals and end up disappointing myself because I never came close to achieving them. I'm sure we've all been through it before. Whether your new years resolutions include health goals, academic goals, personal goals or anything else, make 2015 the year that you can look back on and be proud of yourself.

So I decided to do something a little different for my blog and create a mini series called #COUNTDOWNTO2015 where I'll be doing one or two blog posts a week leading up to New Years. This post will be about New Years Resolutions, how to set them and how to stick to them. I'll also be sharing with you a list of my New Years Resolutions.

#1. Come up with categories

One of the biggest mistakes that I used to make was that I would come up with a bunch of goals for one area of my life and I would completely fail at achieving them. For example, in the year of 2013 I set all my new years resolutions revolved around my studies. "I'm going to get an A in all my subjects, I'm going to study every single day and I'll never hand in my work late" Right? Wrong.
Think about the different areas of your life that you would like to focus on and make goals for each of them. I like to draw up a little table in my journal and brainstorm.

HEALTH, FAMILY, FRIENDS, STUDIES, FINANCE.

By doing so, if you end up achieving your goals for that year, you would have enhanced all the areas of your life.

#2. Be realistic

Are you really going to go to the gym every single day while studying every single night and working twice a week? You'll be much more successful in achieving your goals if you stay true to yourself and realistic. Of course it's great to have a big dream! But start small and you might end up exceeding your expectations.

When I first joined my gym, I told myself that I would go 6 days a week. I kept up to it for about three weeks and I completely crashed and ended up not going for a whole week! I then decided to come up with a schedule that targeted different muscle groups that fitted into a 4/7 days a week plan. It made such a huge difference and I felt so much more motivated.

#3. Set mini goals along the way in order to achieve the bigger goal.

When I was younger I used to hate walking up the hill on the way to my primary school. One of my best friends taught me a trick. If I looked down at the steps that I was taking rather than looking up at the big hill, I got there much quicker and it felt like I was walking on a flat path. Strange, right?

If you set little goals and achieve them, you'll feel much more accomplished and it'll eventually lead up to you achieving your bigger goal.


My new years resolutions?

1. Start a YouTube channel & get my dream camera This is something I've wanted to do for the longest time, but I never really had the guts to do so. Why? I mean, there's so many YouTube channels out there but it's something I really have a passion for so I'm going to give it my best shot and we'll see where that leads me to.

2. Make my last year of high school, my best I'm going to be finishing up my final year of high school in 2015! WOOHOO! Pretty self explanatory but I hope that 2015 will be a great school year. Plus, new stationary!

3. Read more books When I was little, I was the biggest book worm. I still absolutely love reading but just never find the time to do it. I recently started reading a book called "The Pawn of Prophecy" which is BOOK 1 in a series called "The Belgariad" and I'm loving it!

4. Improve my blog I would love to change up my blog and make sure that I'm bringing the best quality photos, posts and soon to be videos haha!

I guess that's all I'm going to say as my other new years resolutions are pretty personal, I really hope that this helps some of you or inspired you to plan for a great year, I can't wait for the next post that I'm writing up for you, it's going to be a GREAT one.

Stay tuned for more posts!
XX
KARYNENGEE