Happy blogging anniversary to me! As of this October, I have been blogging for ten years.

I. Can’t. Believe. It.

Even though I’ve been a Professional Organizer for seventeen years (which I find astounding) it’s equally as astounding to me that I have been blogging about organizing for a decade. That’s a loooong time.

In the past, I have started off these Blogging Anniversary Posts with a few lines on how I started blogging. The short story is that I took a blogging workshop at the NAPO Conference in 2009 and started my blog a few months later after dropping my then three year old off at preschool. That kid is now thirteen.

A few days ago, he walked into my home office as I was writing this post. He asked me what I was doing so I told him what I was writing about and how I started the Organized Artistry blog. He laughed when I said that I waited until he was in preschool to compose my first blog post in silence!

Besides talking out ‘how it all began,’ I use this post to hold myself accountable for the goals I set for myself and my blog. This year, it was challenging to keep up with my blog. I had some major family obligations to put my energy towards and I had made the decision to start a YouTube channel. The learning curve that came along with it ate up much of the time and brain power I often allotted to blogging.

My 2018-2019 goals were to blog 1x a month, use the blog template I created for myself, and add Canva generated/Pinterest worthy images to blog posts. How did I do?

Goals for 2018-2019

Blog 1x a Month
OK, I dropped the ball on this one.  Family obligations kept me from blogging this summer. Family first! My goal was to get back to blogging this Fall (and here I am blogging!).  Also, in the beginning of 2019, I was putting most of my writing abilities into scripting my YouTube videos and had little left ‘in the tank’ for blogging. I did though, use the blog template. It focused me and saved me hours of ‘thinking time’ when I had a rare moment to turn my ideas into a blog post.

Keep Using Canva to Update Images on Already Existing Blog Posts
Did it! And I’m continuing to do it. I created a list of blog posts that need a Canva generated/Pinterest worthy image and every few weeks I design one and upload it. This has allowed and will continue to allow me to generate traffic to my website via Pinterest.

Goals for 2019-2020

Blog 1x a month
I created a YouTube video script template for myself (much like my blogging template) and the writing of my video scripts are now more streamlined, leaving me more brain power for blogging. I’ll continue to use the blog post template I created for myself last year–it enables me to concentrate on the task and saves me time. Besides composing a monthly newsletter, I’m going to try my best to make sure I compose a monthly blog post.

Tweak and Update Existing Posts
When you’ve been blogging for ten years–that’s a whole lotta content to keep track of! Not all of it is as up to date and evergreen as I’d like. So, I’ll be going back in to those posts to create Canva generated/Pinterest worthy images, update the text, check links, and delete any that no longer serve my readers.

Consider a Pin Scheduler such as Tailwind.
Using Tailwind is something I’ve been thinking about for a while. My blog gets a ton of traffic from Pinterest. There are only so many hours in a day for me to be pinning to my boards. Believe me, if I could spend a few hours a day pinning, I’d be a happy girl but I have clients to organize and dinner to cook! I’ll be putting more thought into using Tailwind this year.

Create New and Relevant Content
Even after ten years of blogging, there are still a ton of topics that haven’t been written about! I keep a running list in Evernote (one of my favorite productivity apps) of organizing topics I’d like to blog about. I’ll be consulting that list as I jump back into blogging.

And guess what happened this past year?

Look on the right side of this blog page under the ‘Categories’ list. In January, I became a Superstar Blogger of the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for taking part in 25+ Blog Carnivals!  Big shout-out to Janet Barclay of Your Organizing Business who created the the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival as well as a space for us ‘Blogging Organizers’ on Facebook. 🙂

Ten years of blogging. Still. Can’t. Believe. It.

Happy 10th blogging anniversary to me!

Who doesn’t love a good top ten list? I think David Letterman made them famous but wherever you turn on the internet whether it be a newsletter, a blog, or a sales pitch, everyone has a top ten list. I even have one on my website (left under the Facebook logo).

In my last post, I wrote about the top ten helper shelf ‘hot spots’ in your home. If you’re not already using helper shelves, I hope my post gave you some inspiration to double your space on any of your horizontal surfaces.

I submitted that post to The Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for August. The theme: Top Ten Lists. Twenty-eight Professional Organizers contributed to the ‘Top Ten Lists’ Blog Carnival. That’s 280 tips! To read all 280 nuggets of organizing advice, go to Top Ten Lists – August 2012 Professional Organizers Blog Carnival.

Some of the Top Ten Lists you’ll find are:

• Ten Tips to Save Big Money on Your Food Budget
• Top Ten Ways to Say ‘No’
• Ten Strategies to Stop Procrastinating
• Ten Best Sources for Organizing Help

…and twenty-four more! (including mine)

So, if you have some time to relax this weekend and would like to pick up  ‘a few’ organizing tips, kick back with some BBQ and the Top Ten List Blog Carnival. You never know what you’ll learn!

This past month was the first time in almost three years that I took a break from social media. No blog posts for a month and only one or two Facebook shares. No original content was created for anyone in the month of June. Instead, I focused on family events and took a trip with my hubby and kids. My head is more clear now and I’m ready to blog again!

Before I started my social media ‘break’, I submitted a post to the ‘Your Organizing Business’ Blog Carnival. The last one I participated in was about helping families get organized. This one focused on Product Reviews of Organizing Products.

The product review I submitted was about the wonders of cable turtles. Our homes and offices would be a web of wires if not for this great product!

If you’re wondering what organizing products might work for you in your home or office, this is the place to check them out. Twenty three professional organizers have road-tested these products for you. I’m still only halfway through the list!

When you find a product from the list you think might help organize your space or time, let me know about it. I’d love to hear about your newest discovery! Meanwhile, I’ll be trolling the list looking for some cool products to try…

A Blog Carnival? You may be asking, ‘What is that?’

Like I said above, at this carnival there is no ferris wheel, funnel cake, or way to win an oversized teddy bear.

A Blog Carnival is a recurring, theme-driven publication which congregates content from many sources in one place online. (Thank you Treeblogger.com for this definition…)

I am thrilled to be a part of my first Blog Carnival!

Janet Barclay of Organized Assistant has created a space for Professional Organizer bloggers to share their knowledge with each other and the online world. Each month, blog posts are contributed based on a different theme. This month’s theme is Organizing for Families.

I’m honored to be one of sixteen Professional Organizer bloggers helping families get organized. I contributed my recent post, Best Products for Organizing Your Car, but to read posts written by my colleagues, head straight to the carnival. No tickets necessary!