How I Keep My Blog Organized

Hey y'all!  Today I'm going to share some of my organizational tips with you.  I didn't write any of this out in advance, so I'm kinda drafting this as I go.  So, please excuse any ADD moments in this post. I'll sort of be walking you through the process of how a blog post (of mine) goes from start to finish, but I'll be jumping all over.

There's no set rules on how to blog.  You can be as organized or dis-organized as you want to be.  If you want to blog, do it how YOU want to do it.  Not how someone else says you have/need to.  This is just how I do it and what I've found to help me stay on top of everything and be organized while doing so.

These are just a few of the things that help me do just that.  I have several SD cards for my camera's, in fact this is just a smaller sized spare one that I have.  I used to keep my pictures on my desktop until I got a bad virus and lost EVERYTHING.  Since then, I've started keeping everything on flash(thumb) drives.  One is dedicated to everything nail polish while the other is for everything else.  I'm actually looking into getting an external hard drive because one of these drives is about full.  Both of these items, flash drives & SD cards can always be found easily online or in stores.  I always look for a deal online or during Black Friday deals.  In fact, I usually tend to stock up around the BF holiday shopping.

Having something external gives me the flexibility to do things on my desktop & move over to my laptop if/when needed without having to transfer everything.  It also makes it easy for those times when I've already edited the pics and just need to type the posts, but I have swatches to get done.  I can just take the drive into the office, plug it into the desktop, and swatch while I'm working on the blog.

I'm always dragging this notebook back & forth from the office to the living room.  I use this to take notes while doing swatches or testing products out.  I used to just use random sheets of paper just to note how many coats & polish names, but I was constantly losing where I put those at.  With this notebook I don't have to worry.  I make a note of the brand & collection name, then list each shade, amount of coats used, and any color/application notes for each one.  If it's a nail art design, I just list each shade used & kinda give it a nickname.

Then when I edit the pictures I have information I need so that I can name each file while saving & I mark each one with a + sign as I go.  That way, I can have everything in reach when I go to add the info to my spreadsheet and type up the blog posts.  Once I'm done, I just cross everything out so that I know it's completed.

I used to make notes with a pen, but I noticed it would sorta bleed through and I couldn't always see on the other side when I'd use my pencil to make marks for each coat of polish I applied.  Plus, using a pencil makes it easier to erase things if needed.  I have them everywhere now and even bought an electric sharpener for myself and the kiddo to use.

Once everything is completed with the actual post I'll either leave it as a draft or go ahead and schedule the post.  Because I'm a thrifty person, I make my own "calendar".  This is actually one I found online for free, and downloaded.  I had some extra plastic portfolio/folders with the 2 pockets & fasteners from purchasing school supplies.  Once the calendar was printed I just punched holes to insert it into the fasteners & use paper clips to separate the previous months from current/future.  Having the pockets helps me keep track of any info that companies might have sent with their products.

Having this in front to look at, rather than just my posts info on Blogger, helps me know when I have empty days to get posts done for.  Because I can schedule everything pretty much in advance, I can move things around if I need to because I write in post titles with a pencil.  This is about as "ahead of the game" as I've been in a while.  I'm trying to get ahead enough that I can take breaks from doing stuff if I feel like it without feeling bad for not having any content to post.  At one point last year I didn't have to actually do anything for about 2 months because I had everything done way in advance and it felt great.

The smallest notebook is something I use to keep up with my stats.  It's not something I actually focus too much on, but I think it feels nice to know what works.


There are also a few things that aren't pictured that I use to help once the post is completed.

• IFTTT - This is a HUGE lifesaver.  While you can do SO much with this one site I do the following: Blog posts automatically post to Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr, Anything I post on Instagram automatically posts to Twitter, anything I post in Instagram with #TrailerHoodChic automatically posts to my FB page, and anything I post on my FB page posts to Twitter.  
• Photofy - While there's a TON of photography app's out there, this is the one I'm currently using.  I have the free version and like the options to add to/edit posts.  It also helps resize my swatch photo's for me to post onto instagram without cropping half of everything out of the shot.  
• Latergramme - This is another HUGE lifesaver.  I can use this app to schedule instagram posts in advance.  Then I don't forget to share things.  I just go ahead and set everything up & when the time comes it alerts me.  I just click on the alert and it loads Instagram with everything I've already typed in.  

That's about all I can think of for now.  Any questions?  How do you stay organized?