A photo of guest Monique Sveinsson wearing a pink jumper writing in a planner

Episode 241 – How to use an organise planner with guest Monique Sveinsson

Today’s guest loves time management, setting goals and prioritisation so much that several years ago she took everything she had learnt over the years and incorporated it into creating a series of planners. If you love a list but have too many lists on the go at one time, maybe a planner might be the answer. In today’s podcast we are going to delve into planning and organisation in your personal and working life and how a planner might just turn the dial for you.

* Please be advised that in today's podcast we talk about the loss of a baby, which some listeners may find distressing

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Transcript of this podcast episode

[00:00:00] [00:00:00] Ingrid: Today's guest loves time management, setting goals and prioritisation so much that several years ago, she took everything she had learned over the years and incorporated it into creating a series of planners. If you love a list but have too many lists on the go at one time, maybe a planner might be the answer.

In today's podcast, we are going to delve into planning and organisation in your personal and working life and how a planner might just turn the dial for you.

[00:00:33] Voiceover: You are listening to the Declutter Hub podcast, bringing you tried and tested no nonsense tips and advice from the lead in experts decluttering and organising your home. Now here's your host, Ingrid Jansen.

[00:01:03] Ingrid: Hello and welcome listeners. I'm Ingrid if you're new to the Declutter Hub podcast. You are so welcome. What you'll find is that we try and find the fun factor in the serious business of decluttering, and if you've been here for a while, you know exactly what we mean. So thank you so much for listening.

If you'd like to get involved in conversations related to this podcast, it all takes place in our free Facebook group. So come and join our lovely, warm, and supportive community. Go to declutterhub.com/group to find out more.

Right. Well, welcome Monique to our podcast. We're delighted to have you on as a guest on our show.

[00:01:44] Monique: Thank you so much for having me. What a fabulous intro. Thank you.

[00:01:49] Ingrid: Well, we had the privilege of meeting you in real life and not just online or on Zoom, because we met at the Clean & Tidy Home Show last year, didn't we?

[00:01:59] Monique: We did. We were neighbors. We were neighbors. What a show it was.

[00:02:04] Ingrid: I know it was absolutely fantastic. And indeed we were neighbors. And of course, Lesley and I love a beautiful notebook and a planner. So we started chatting, but we were busy, both of us. And we actually said at the end of the show, we need to stay in touch and kind of see if we can do a, you know, do a chat about planners and about notebooks and things like that, because I'm sure our listeners would be, um, interested as well. And here we finally are.

[00:02:31] Monique: We've got there. We've got there. Hey, I know. Come together with a love of stationery. Everybody loves stationery, don't they?

[00:02:38] Ingrid: They do, they do. And we find it loads. And I think a lot of our listeners have a lot of, um, uh, stationery as well. So we need to find the quality over the quantity here, don't we?

[00:02:49] Monique: Exactly. Very much so, very much.

[00:02:52] Ingrid: Well, we are delighted that you're here and we're going to talk a lot about planners, but you also know a lot about time management and it that has so many facets as well. So if you could choose one strategy that makes the most difference in time management, what would it be, do you think?

[00:03:09] Monique: It's a really good question because I think for everybody, time management is so different because we all have different amounts of time available to ourselves. But I think, I think there's two things here. First of all, is really understanding how much time you have available. 

Because you know, one of the quotes that I love, and I use it all the time, is to plan for the time that you have, not the time that you wish you had. And how true is that, right? Because so many of us think that we've got so much more time than we actually have. 

Now, you start out the beginning of your day and you think, I'm going to get all of this stuff done today, and we have a list in front of us and all this, you know, all our to-do lists, and, and it's all there.

And then by the end of the day, we're completely frustrated because we've actually only managed to do a few of those things. And I think what it comes down to is first of all, really understanding how much time you have got available because then you can plan into the time that you actually have. And I think as well, good time management along with time management comes productivity. And this can be in anything, in any area, whether it's, you know, finding time to clean your home, to organise an area of your home, um, for business, for time with the children, whatever. I think it's about planning to do less.

[00:04:29] Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

[00:04:30] Monique: I would say my biggest tip for anybody that wants to improve their time management is to plan to do less, because you will get it all done.

You'll feel satisfied, you'll feel accomplished. Then you'll feel fired up and ready and energised to go the next day. But when we do too much, we get held back. We're frustrated, we're overwhelmed, and we're on this horrible spiral. So yeah, do less.

[00:04:56] Ingrid: I know, but you know, that's, that's, oh, I, I, I completely agree with you, but it can be really hard can't it? Because there are so demands and so many pulls on our time, and we get bombarded with messages all the time that we have to do more, that we can't take time to relax and chill and take care of ourselves. So I know it, it is so tempting to cram every minute in the day, isn't it? 

it 

[00:05:23] Monique: Yeah. Yeah, I think, I mean, leaving spaces, one of the, one of the, um, strategies I use is a strategy called time blocking. I don't know if you've come across this, but I, I love, I literally live by time blocking, and this is where I sort of might look at my week or my month or whatever and say, okay. This time is non-negotiable.

So this is time that is with my children and with my family. So I'm not going to be doing anything else in that time purely devoted to them. This is time where I block out for self-care because I know I can, because the children, this is where sort of what, when I might let the children go onto the iPads or whatever it is, you know, the modern day babysitter, as I call the iPads now.

Or you know, or they're with friends or whatever. So you can map that out for a bit of self care or gym, health, fitness time, whatever you are doing in your life. And, and I kind of put little pockets into my diary. So this is business time, this is work time, this is life time, home and, and it is amazing when you sort of break it down, you can fit quite a lot in, you've just gotta be disciplined with that time to make sure that you actually do do those things and not get distracted.

Which is really hard to do because we, we do by nature, you know, the phone rings, the messages, the emails ping, and we think I have to deal with that now. But actually if you can time block and say, do you know what, Tuesday afternoon at four o'clock is email time? Then you can almost get it out of your head because you know that you're going to be looking at that later on.

And it's a really good strategy to have because somehow mentally it puts us in different places at different times.

[00:07:02] Ingrid: It's so interesting because we, , I had a whole conversation. It's, it's a while back, but somebody said to me, actually the weekend has seven blocks.

[00:07:11] Monique: Hmm.

[00:07:11] Ingrid: Because somebody said, well, you know, because we all see the weekend is I'm going to do it in the weekend, but then the time seems to dwindle away. But actually when you look at it, I've got Friday evening, I've got Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning, Saturday afternoon, Sunday evening.

So you got seven blocks and you can then decide, I'm going to do one of those blocks maybe on grocery 

shopping and unpacking or on cleaning my house or on decluttering 

or on walking outside and doing some health and wellbeing, or on going to the movie and doing a date night instead of seeing it as the weekend, as a, as one kind of chunk of time, and then it seems to dwindle away. 

[00:07:54] Monique: I love that. I love that.

[00:07:56] Ingrid: that was, I, I really enjoyed that too. So you run a very, very busy business and you've got indeed young children as well. So how do you look at then goals? How do you fit everything in because you time block. Okay, great. But do you use prioritisation and goal setting as part of that then?

[00:08:18] Monique: Yeah, I'm a, I mean, I love goal setting. I absolutely love it. I think it's important. I think anybody that's got any kind of drive or ambition, and I think that that's something that just generally everybody should strive to have in one way or another but when we think about goal setting, it doesn't have to be, you know, oh, I'm going to go and buy, you know, a Mercedes or whatever it might be.

That's my goal. For some people, their goal can be, I want to get up this morning, I want to get myself dressed and I want to put on a load of laundry and then that might be it. And that's okay. But we all need something to work towards. So when I talk about goal setting, it can be something as simple as that, or it can be obviously something much more extravagant and, and material.

Success is something, you know, that is very, very different for everybody. 

And you know, when we are, when we're working on our goals, as I say, it can be these small things or these really, really large things, but it's about prioritising that. If you want to get that done, if you want to work towards that thing, I believe that you need a plan.

And with that plan, you have to put that first if it's something that's really, really important to you. And I'll talk a little bit. We have, a strategy that we call our Six Steps to Success. And this really sort of centers around that really this, this features a lot in our planners because, When we set goals, I think it's really, really important to understand why we want to achieve those goals, and this is where the six steps to success comes in.

It's a little six step ritual that we have, but it's all centered around why? 

Why do we want to achieve that thing that we want to achieve? So, For me, I have goals in my business. I have goals in my personal life and I have goals in my family life as well. Um, and like I say, for me, some days it is life is busy.

I've got two kids, the time that we're recording this, we're actually on school holidays. So, you know, business has to take a sort of different flow for me. In the school holidays rather than in, in normal term time, because I can organise my time differently. So in the school holidays, some days it might be for me, get up, get showered, get dressed, and actually put some makeup on.

I think, yay, I've done it. I've achieved something, or I've done a workout. And it's about understanding what is important to you, why you want to achieve certain things and, and fit it into your life. And prioritise, if that makes sense. So, I mean, let's talk about, let's talk about business goals, for example.

So, we have in our business, you know, we'll sit down like many businesses do at the beginning of the year or towards the latter part of quarter four, and go, what are we going to do next year? What are we going to do? And then we think about it, and then we have to break it down into steps, and we break it down into really, really manageable chunks.

Working out, actually, this is where we want to be. This is our end point by the end of the year. And then, We can then break that down monthly. This is what we need to do then weekly, and you can go as far as breaking things down into daily life, and this can be applied. The same strategy in every area of your life, whether it's in your health, for example.

So somebody that might be on a fitness journey, um, that they maybe want to potentially lose a few pounds or they want to shape up or change their body shape or eat healthily, they might be on that kind of journey. Okay, well you're not going to get there overnight. So what do you need to do? This is maybe I want to be there because you've got say, a holiday that you want to feel good for.

So there's your holiday date. What do you need to do every single day? It might be that somebody wants to refurbish their home. This is the end point. What do I need to do every single day to ensure that I'm chipping away at something that's leading me towards that goal point. And when you understand why and when you understand the importance that you put on your life for that,

[00:12:33] Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

[00:12:34] Monique: You will then go and do it.

You will then make that a priority. 

So, you know, we have many areas of priorities and obviously for me, first is always going to be my children. Making sure that everything in my family life is sorted. And then bit by bit by bit, everything gets added onto that.

[00:12:52] Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. And those six steps that you mentioned 

then, uh, is that steps to write those goals down or what, how can I, how can you define the six steps for me?

[00:13:02] Monique: Yeah. So I believe that when it comes to, I talk about goal setting success, and as I said, you know, earlier, these goals can be huge goals, you know, or they can be really small things. 

Um, But I think with everything when we are these six steps, I think if sometimes, you know what it's like when we set New Year's resolutions for ourselves, say beginning of the year, everybody goes, new Year's, new Year, new me.

And we say, I'm going to do that this year. And generally by February most people have dropped off. 

It's because it's not, they don't really understand why they want to achieve that thing. But with the six steps, and I'll tell you what the six steps are, um, if you kind of fall off the wagon, You can kind of see where you were and then get yourself back on and carry on. So our six steps is, step one is preparation. It's about really understanding, sort of doing the groundwork and the research and anything that you might need to do to prepare to go out there and achieve that goal. And this is something that so many people miss off. So for a very small example is that somebody wants to save some money for deposit, save for a house, but they don't look at their bank account and they don't look at the kind of money that's going out and direct debits and standing orders for things that maybe they don't need anymore.

So actually, if you did that bit first, it could save you a job and you are already saving some money in advance. So it's just about doing a little bit of groundwork. So step one is preparation. Step two is the goals, understanding what the goals are.

[00:14:39] Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

[00:14:40] Monique: Step three is strategy, which essentially is just your fancy word for a plan.

It's setting a plan in place how to achieve it, knowing what time you've got available to yourself, and fitting in a plan to make sure that you do allow yourself to do those things. So if you, if you want to go and run a marathon, you've gotta go and allow the time for the training. So how are you going to do that and fit that into your life?

Step four is the action if you want results. Whatever it is. If you want to get that load of washing on, you gotta go and take the action. If you want to run the marathon, you need to take the action and go out there and do it. And step five and six is review and reflection because quite often things don't maybe always go according to plan.

You know, we need distractions and things come in. I quite often get the phone call from the school. You've gotta come pick up your daughter, Monique. You know, she's banged her head or you know, or she's sick or something. And so we can fall off that wagon, but it's if we understand why we get back on it again.

So rather than just going, I give up because there's too many distractions, I can't do it anymore. We actually know why we want to do it. We know what's important. Review and say, what did wrong? What didn't go so well for me?

[00:16:02] Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

[00:16:03] Monique: I'm not going to do that again, or what did go well? I can do more of that and reflect on the process and just go round and round and round this cycle again.

[00:16:13] Ingrid: Yeah. 

[00:16:13] Monique: I promise if you follow it, you can achieve the things that you want to achieve.

[00:16:19] Ingrid: I love this so much, Monique, because within the Declutter Hub we've got the cycle of success we call it,

[00:16:26] Monique: Whoa.

[00:16:26] Ingrid: it's got eight steps, but it's the same thing. You have to, and we always say as well, preparation is key.

[00:16:35] Monique: Yeah.

[00:16:35] Ingrid: So many people say, okay, this weekend I'm going to Declutter my whole house, or I'm going to tackle that horrible room and I'm going to do it all.

And then of course, after an hour and a half, they look around and go, oh my word, I, I, I, just, I, I even forgot to you know, get some bin bags ready. And now I found some stuff, I actually want to declutter, I don't even have bin bags. So off they trot, get their bin bags and then they, they get distracted by their phone or the posty rings the doorbell, or they're suddenly thirsty because they forgot to bring a bottle of water up.

And then before you know it, another 15, 20 minutes has gone, they're back in their room and, and then they're like, because there was no plan, the preparation was not done. 

And preparation is so important.

[00:17:19] Monique: Absolutely,

[00:17:20] Ingrid: Yeah. 

[00:17:20] Monique: If you don't do that, it is a vital step. In any form of organisation, in any form of planning, you have to be prepared.

[00:17:29] Ingrid: Yes. Exactly. Exactly. So are you very good at keeping your boundaries then? Because I mean, you know, I am a super organised person, but every once in a while, like, where, where's the day gone? You know, what happened today? You know? I, I planned so much. My to-do list was so long and I got sidetracked by 12 other things that I did do today, but it's hard to keep those boundaries, isn't it?

[00:17:55] Monique: It is. It is hard and it is a skill, and I think nobody wants to say no. I think that's the first thing. When it comes to boundaries. We're all scared if I say no. Then, you know, this person's not going to like me anymore. If I don't answer the phone, they're not going to like me. They're not going to want to talk to me.

Or you know, if I don't go out for a friend with a coffee, for that coffee, they're never going to call again. And it's very, very difficult. Um, it is very, very difficult and it's a discipline that I think. I've had to learn to master, but it's going to sound like I'm a really cold person now, but I'm really not.

But I've just got good at it. I just got good at saying no when no needs to be said. And I've got good at saying yes when yes needs to be said. 

And the thing with boundaries like mine, mine got really good during covid, so that was a time that I really did learn to have to set boundaries because I had my two children at home and like many of us out there had to get involved in home education.

Ah, which is something I never have to do again. I salute any home schooling parent. They're, they're incredible. Absolutely incredible. Um, But we had that and I still had a business to run. I couldn't, you know, so all of a sudden that, that juggle was real. So I had to sit my kids down. And at the time, my youngest, she was only four.

And that is, was very hard to have a conversation with her, to say, listen darling, you know, I'm going to sit with you and I'm going to be doing your schoolwork. And I will be with you, and I promise you, darling, when I'm with you, that phone will be put to the side. I will turn it off. I will be really, really good and I will be with you.

But when I go into my office and I shut that door, I. I am going to ask the same of you. And so to ask a four year old to understand that was really difficult and it took quite a bit of practice. Um, but we ended up with a sign on the office door that said, um, if you want a snack, go to the bottom of the fridge.

There's fruit in there, fruit only. And I, I mean, it was as bad as saying, only come in if you, if you are bleeding. But you know, I had to be really strict and, and the same goes, especially for me. I work for myself. You are, you know, people think, oh, you are at home.

[00:20:27] Ingrid: I know.

[00:20:29] Monique: You're at home, you're free. Come out, come and have lunch. Come and have a coffee. And I did at first when I first started working for myself. Um, and then I got nothing done.

And then I was frustrated that nothing was getting done. So if I've got things to do, especially like I batch, I do things in batches now, which is a great way for me to use my time if I'm preparing content, for example, for the business. I'll do a lump of content altogether, which is much easier on my time, but I'll put the, the phone away.

My phone goes in a drawer, turn off my notification so I'm not distracted by an email coming in. Um, and you have to just, whatever it is, you have to put those boundaries in place. Uh, it's important. Whatever we do, you know, otherwise we just end up frustrated and cross and we go to bed angry at the end of the day.

We want to do that. Doesn't help anybody.

[00:21:23] Ingrid: I know, I know. I think, uh, we talk about that a lot. Uh, if, if we connect it to clutter is when people give hand me downs to other people. So a lot of people with clutter have, I'm generalising now obviously, but lots of times get given stuff from other people because. And they don't want it, but they're afraid to say no.

So we sometimes actually have to kind of go, well, you could say, I really appreciate you thinking about me, but I'm okay. Thank you, or thank you so much for giving me the clothes last time, but I'm okay for a while, so don't need anything else or, because sometimes, um, you can be the person that everybody gives stuff to, and then it's all up to you to sort it out and donate it and, and, and wash it and clean it and, and it gets a whole job in itself.

So it's even boundaries like that. But indeed, exactly what you're saying. Um, I, I've run, you know, two businesses from home as well. This one and my own, um, Organise Your House in South East London. And it's like, oh, you know, oh, you're working from home so you can do this, that and the other. And I'm like, 

I'm actually like on meetings the whole time, or phone calls or meetings, recording podcasts.

It's, it's, it's busy and you have to really go, what and when can I say no? What does make me feel happy? Because always as an organised person, and I don't know if you've got the same people, ask us to do things because they're like, let me ask this organised person because they'll get done. 

Can I just 

[00:22:50] Monique: pick your brains. That's the good one, isn't it? Yeah.

[00:22:52] Ingrid: Yes, yes. And it's like, well, actually I'm sorry, but I can't help because I already volunteer there or already do this for somebody else.

And you have to really put yourself first. And that's really, really hard because so many of us are conditioned to always help others. But if we don't put our own oxygen masks first, how are we going to 

[00:23:15] Monique: do that?

Oh yeah. So, yeah, I love that, what you've just said. I use that a lot. It was Tony Robbins that said that.

[00:23:22] Ingrid: Yeah,

[00:23:23] Monique: And it's so true, isn't it? You know, if you, you can't help other people if you don't look after yourself, and that that will go for health and all sorts of things to do that.

[00:23:33] Ingrid: Yeah. And, and it's also when you see that in, in homes, we say a lot to in, in our Facebook group, on our podcast, in our membership, do your own clutter first. Do your own stuff. You set the right example. You can't say to a child, tidy your room, it's a tip when your own room is a really big mess and you've got no idea what's going on and what laundry is clean or dirty and it's on the floor, and then the washing up isn't done. So start with yourself. Learn those good habits yourself.

[00:24:05] Monique: yeah.

[00:24:05] Ingrid: Put those goals in place are of I want in at the end of the year, or I, I need to work on a room. Or that's, I want to be able to craft again, or I want to get control of my paperwork 

What do I need to do to make that happen?

And then, other people in your house see a shift slowly but surely, and then you can say, come on, let's start your room. Let's do it together. Let me show you how.

[00:24:34] Monique: We've just introduced at home and I love it. This new laundry system at home, and we've got these baskets, and so now when I wash, do the washing and I fold everybody's washing and it all goes. We've got four baskets on a shelf above the washing machine, and they've all got their own washing in there now, all folded, but if you want it now, I'm gradually teaching them even the young one.

If you go into your drawer and you realise that you've got no underwear or whatever it might be, you come and get your basket and and offload it. Because again, it's, what was happening was I was bringing all the laundry up, it was ending, scattered everywhere, and nobody knew what was clean and was dirty. And you know, it's teaching people the habits, isn't it? Ultimately it's good habits, you

[00:25:20] Ingrid: Definitely, definitely, so, then the question of course is, Monique, how do you know so much about time management and goal setting and prioritisation, and how did it become your business? What's the story behind you? How did you end up here?

[00:25:37] Monique: So the story behind Perfect Planner Company. Well, my background was as a stage manager. So I worked in the theater industry. I started out as a stage manager. I went to drama school back in, well, I'm giving my age away now. Late nineties. I went to drama school, studied to be a stage manager, went on to work in the West End on major musicals, such as We Will Rock You and High School Musical West Side Story. And I, I loved it. I loved absolutely everything about the theater, but the job of the stage manager essentially is. You sort of like, it's a cross between being mum and, and a PA I suppose. But you are not just a PA to one person.

It is to the whole company. So you are looking after, a company of performers. Technicians, you know, even the producers as well. You sort of overseeing this whole production as a stage manager. So to ensure that the running of the show is absolutely smooth and perfect, and you cannot be out with your timings.

So, for example, you have to be ready. That show starts at 7:30, that curtain goes up. But also when you are in rehearsals and production prep for productions, you know, you've got a timeline to work towards. The opening night is here. We are starting here and we know nothing, and now we've got to work towards it. And. what I did for 25 years. So I kind of lived my life on a timeline of saying that this is a starting point and this is an end point. But also I had to be completely rigorous with timings because time is money. Very much so in in show business because if actors or performers or stage managers or anybody runs over in rehearsals or timings, it costs so much money and producers would be up in arms and demanding to know why you ran a minute over and why now they're having to pay, you know, X amount of penalties to the musicians union or whatever it is. So we became rigorous. I was like literally lived my life on, on a clock. And so that kind of carried over. Um, Throughout my whole life, I sort of brought that into, it just became a part of me planning and organising just was, I, I always say it was sort of in my veins, you know, it was just part of me.

And, but I have my daughter, my daughter's now 11, and when I had her everything changed, you know, for so, so many people. Everything changed and I knew that I wanted to do something different. Um, but, but didn't know, didn't know what, and so I had a bit of time off and then went back into theater when my daughter was one, went to carry on and I worked as stage manager on a chorus line, and then went onto Warhorse, still not knowing what on earth I was going to do with my life. But then, so I'm just going to talk about something that happened to me. So just, uh, for the listeners out there, this comes, potentially with a trigger warning to talk about baby loss.

So, this happened to me, so just sort of, if anybody's out there and feels uncomfortable, maybe just pause just for a moment, but, For me, I fell pregnant with my second child when I was on Warhorse. And I was over the moon. You know, we wanted a family. We were quite late, my husband and I, starting a family. because we met late and but sadly I had a stillbirth when my daughter was, um, 30 weeks. I was 30 weeks pregnant and I gave birth to a, a little girl at 30 weeks. But sadly, she wasn't, um, she wasn't born alive. And that threw me as it would, you know, I went through a lot of trauma at the time with that.

I sort of brushed myself off and as you do, like, you know, life continues. I've still got, I've got my other little girl at home who was only two at the time and still didn't know what to do so went back to work and fell pregnant again. But this time I miscarried at 11 weeks, but it was quite a horrific miscarriage and I was really ill and I remember being in bed and at that point I think I just spiraled into a depression and not, not knowing what to do with myself, but I knew I didn't want to go back to work and I suppose that was the moment that turned the corner for me because I thought I cannot go back and work as a stage manager working all those hours.

I was working six days a week, quite often, 70, 80 hours a week, not spending any time with my daughter. And I suppose for me, that turning point was I've got a daughter. I have. And yes, I've been really, really unfortunate with what's happened to me, but I'm spending so much time focusing on that and my career that I'm not actually looking at this little girl that I've got.

And so I handed in my notice and I thought, right, that's it. I'm going to be at home with her until I kind of decide what to do. And I fell into the direct selling industry as a way to earn a little bit of extra money, but quickly realised when I was in that industry that people, they were like me, they were mums and nobody could organise their time, but I was like, I was all over the time management.

I was like just running my life like I was running a theater show, you know? And. I thought, hang on a minute, there's something I can do here. And I started to create worksheets for the people in my team that I was working with in the direct selling industry. Those worksheets over time became our very first planner and I put them together and created what was called at the time Network Marketing Manager was this one diary seven years ago.

And I thought, I wonder if anybody will buy it and put it out there. And it became a huge hit. And from that we evolved and we became Perfect Planner Company. And I think the thing that makes our planners so unique is that huge experience that I've got of planning that I take people on a journey because I believe that business and life, especially when you work for yourself, they merge. Everything merges together. And you have to find a way, as we've been talking about, to really separate those things. Otherwise it's overwhelming. And when we get overwhelmed, we don't take any action because it's all too much. 

So, that's what our diaries do. That's what our planners do. They take people on a journey and teach you, not only say, here's a diary with some time slots in it.

We can all do that, but they take you on a process. So following the six steps to success, following a strategy of habit tracking and evening and morning routines and, and health and wellbeing and goal setting and all of those things. Time management, you put that in. And I think it, it forms what, you know, I would like to call the perfect planner to, to really help people organise their lives in business life, home.

So that's where we are today and you know, I'm extremely grateful where our journey's gone. We won the best working from home, product of the year last year for stationery matters. We just found out yesterday that we've been nominated again and, you know, the, the, the products kind of hopefully, you know, help people and that's how we came about. And I just love hearing stories of how it's helped people really.

[00:33:51] Ingrid: Well, listeners, thank you so much for sharing all of that and being so open about your journey and how it all came about. I want to know more about the planners themselves, so let's go for a quick break and we'll see you soon.



[00:34:09] Ingrid: Hi everyone. Welcome back. Well, Monique, before the break, you shared a lot with us about your journey and how you ended up from the West End running a planning company and thank you for, giving our listeners a warning as well, because of course it's very personal story, but I think it all starts to now make sense why you are where you are and how you set up the planners and why that all happened to you and why you're such an expert in, in time management and in goal settings.

So my question is, I want to talk a little bit more about the planners because one planner is not another planner so do different types of planner work for different types of people? Do you see that like this planner would be better for that person or that person or, I like, no, we've got a planner that works for most people.

[00:35:00] Monique: Yeah, we have a variety actually of, of planners in our range because I think even though you know, we had our original planner, as I talked about, that was a business sort of orientated planner,

[00:35:15] Ingrid: Yeah.

[00:35:16] Monique: but not, not everybody's a business person. And so, you know, then we moved on to create one for families.

So again, sort of putting in place the same strategies, but instead of me thinking like a business owner, I started to think like a mum. 

Okay, as a, as a mum, how do I want to organise my family and all of those things. 

And we've done that now with health and wellbeing and gratitudes and, you know, we have one of our planners is a bedside book of gratitude and goals because you know what it's like you go to bed and you think all these thoughts go through your head and then you don't sleep. So it's essentially become a bit of a, sort of a sleep journal that you can offload your mental clutter.

[00:36:00] Ingrid: Mm-hmm.

[00:36:01] Monique: Before you go to bed, 

uh, and then sleep well. So, no, I don't think that there's one planner for everybody and I think even people that have been buying our planners for years, and it's amazing, we've got some wonderful, loyal customers still say, oh, I don't use that bit of it, but I use that as a notes page or something like that. I think to get inside the brain of every single user out there would be near on impossible.

[00:36:28] Ingrid: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:36:28] Monique: But you know, people are, some people are drawn towards style and just sort of the look of the front cover. I know I was originally, I was a massive stationery addict and I used to go to Paper Chase every year and buy a diary, but most of their diaries were the same inside.

They just all had different covers. So I'd go for whatever I liked aesthetically but I know that most people come to ours for content, but we still try and make them look

[00:36:52] Ingrid: Yeah, they're beautiful. Uh, beautiful. Well, what we'll do, definitely we'll put the link, uh, to the Perfect Planet Company in the show notes so you can have a little look. And I'm sure, um, Monique will tell us as well at the end of the podcast where we can find out more. But they're indeed, they're beautiful, beautiful colors and everything, and beautiful lettering on them and really, really nice. So have you got a favorite planner of all your planners, I mean, of course. I mean, you, you love all of them because you've put, of course, lots of time and effort in designing them and thinking about them. But is there one that you use yourself all the time?

[00:37:27] Monique: Yeah, I feel like I should almost get it out now, but yeah, I, this is my one, this is my Bible. So this is my, my one. This is, it's called She Loves to Plan, which is sort of basically it's just me, isn't it? But I love that one, because it just has everything that I need in there, you know, I can track my goals, I can track my habits which is something that I really am trying to do, in order to get better at certain things, and I can track all the kids' stuff in there. So it's just, it's got my life in there. I'm just a real pen to paper person.

[00:38:02] Ingrid: Yeah.

[00:38:03] Monique: Um, and I, and I love it. So I suppose that's my favorite is the she loves to plan spiral.

[00:38:08] Ingrid: Yeah.

[00:38:08] Monique: But they're coming out in 2024. We've just finished designing the 20 24 ones and it's a bit different colors this year,

[00:38:15] Ingrid: Nice. Exciting. Um, I'm also really glad I wanted to come back to something you said, I think it was before the break, that you also have morning routines and evening routines in your planners. And I love that because that's what Lesley and I call the daily resets. So we say indeed, um, in a, we've got a, a whole course about it in our membership.

What are the things that you need to do every day in the morning, possibly also in the afternoon and in the evening to make sure your standard things keep ticking over because if you don't empty the dishwasher in the morning, you're going to be struggling all day because you're going to run out of clean stuff. You can't put the dirty stuff anywhere. So that is a non-negotiable for me in my house. Every morning the dishwasher gets emptied, the recycling bins get emptied every evening after dinner by the kids. So I love it that you've got that in your planners as well, because we actually really see, and it's interesting because our members who, for example, start with their kitchen and declutter their kitchen, and then start to incorporate those daily resets in their lives. They're like, it's starting to make sense now. My house already looks tidier because I'm doing these things, these habits every day, and just like every day we need to have probably breakfast, lunch, and dinner or when you've got a pet, it needs to be fed and walked. 

[00:39:41] Monique: You know, it's non-negotiable, isn't it?

[00:39:43] Ingrid: Exactly. So I love it that you've incorporated these things in your planner as well, because it's absolutely important. 

So, um, what is your daily non-negotiable? What is something that you need to do every day, of course, besides brushing your teeth that you think that is something that's really like, that's,

[00:40:01] Monique: have I, I love my morning routine. I love it because I find if I get off on the wrong foot, it can really affect my whole day. So for me, I love it. I get up in the morning, I like to get up before the house is awake. That for me, is so important. I put the kettle on, have a cup of tea, and quite often I'll sit and read for 10, 15 minutes just while I have my morning cup of tea. If it's summer, I'll go and sit in the garden and get a bit of fresh air straight away. And I do the laundry. For me, it's, I put one, if, if I can do one load of laundry a day, I keep on top of it. I know I've already talked about the laundry already, haven't I, in this podcast, it'll seem like I'm obsessed, but I hate laundry everywhere, and so I

[00:40:48] Ingrid: me too. 

[00:40:51] Monique: so it's like just keep on top of it. If it's one load a day, then I know that it's all taken care of. So that happens and I've read my book, I've had my little bit of quiet time, and I also look at my diary for the day and what's, what's coming up for me. So I know, I, I do look at it the night before as well, before I get to bed, so in case there's anything I need to think about. But generally I look at it for the day and think, okay, this is how I need to get dressed, or this is how I need to show up for the day and then I can go and sort out the children. But several days, I do a workout as well. So then once I've had the tea, I've done the laundry, I'll go upstairs, get my gym gear on, and I do a work, just a little workout at home just to keep the body moving because when I keep my body moving, my mind is definitely so much better.

So I have like a little ritual that I do and I, I love it. I love it. It just sets me up for the day.

[00:41:46] Ingrid: Yeah, I

[00:41:47] Monique: You have one.

[00:41:48] Ingrid: it. Oh, yes. Oh, yes, yes. So I'm, I'm, I'm really glad because I do love a morning walk, so I'm really glad the weather is getting a bit better because it's been dire in the morning. But I get up, I do my walking, then I go into the shower, then I have breakfast probably all a little bit later than you, because of course, I don't have to drop the kids at school anymore.

So, and I'm an evening person, not a morning person, so I, I would never. I only set my alarm at like four or five o'clock in the morning if I go on holiday day in that nor like seven o'clock, but I mean, you can easily call me at 10 30 at night.

[00:42:21] Monique: Yeah, you would be wide awake. Yeah.

[00:42:24] Ingrid: So I just have it all a bit later, but I do the same, you know, I, I try to get a bit of exercise in, if I can have my breakfast, I can't even move without breakfast. I'm like, I don't even know how people not have breakfast. I'm like,

[00:42:36] Monique: Yeah.

[00:42:36] Ingrid: I just, everything shuts down, you know?

[00:42:39] Monique: Yeah, I'm a bit like that with coffee. You know, I have like my tea in the morning and then I'll have like my breakfast and a coffee once the kids are at school, and then it's.

[00:42:47] Ingrid: Exactly. So, you said something else that make me smile because you said, I like putting pen to paper and I am very much like that as well. Lesley has, is, is dragging me, kicking and screaming into the 21st century and start to have like a digital calendar and we have Asana where we have our, our, our lists in our to-dos and things like that. But I still love a paper and putting it to pen. So have you seen a difference with people, because your planners are all paper planners between paper and digital. Do you see that difference?

[00:43:23] Monique: Yeah, well, people always say to me, oh, you know how you, why are you still selling paper? You know, everybody's digital now. And I disagree. I really disagree. 

I mean, I don't know if you remember when, of course Kindle came out and things like that, and everybody sort of rushed to buy the Kindle and started reading everything on a little device, but, and the sales of paper books declined completely. They're now on a massive up again, and it's the same for diaries because holding something in your hands that tangible diary, book, whatever it is, you can't get that same experience from digital. It isn't the same. 

I don't enjoy sitting there curled up reading a digital thing. I like holding that book. You know, it's satisfying and it's the same writing pen and paper for me. The satisfaction is there and also, I find that we spend so much time on our phones, we spend so much time on devices, on Zoom, on all of those things to be able to have that escapism and actually write down and, and spend some time. I enjoy planning my week out and, you know, it's quite creative. And just to be able to come away from my phone and come away from my laptop and not have to use it for another thing.

[00:44:46] Ingrid: Yeah.

[00:44:47] Monique: That said, we are completely embracing the digital world and understand that it's there and let's just say Perfect Planner Company. Well, probably by the time that this is launched, this podcast and released, the digital planner will be out there. So we have created one because we know that so many people do like it but it is in addition to not instead of. Can't lose paper. I love it.

[00:45:15] Ingrid: Yeah. Um, then one of my last questions that I want to take, because I indeed saw on your website as well that you've got notebooks, you've got gratitude journals, bullet journals, health and wellbeing planners. Have you seen an uptake in that, maybe even since Covid, that those are sold more than before or has it always been something that. You wanted to develop, but you, you grow a business of course but have you seen a shift in that?

[00:45:45] Monique: Yeah, absolutely, absolutely, people are becoming so much more aware,

[00:45:50] Ingrid: Mm-hmm. 

[00:45:50] Monique: so much more, and I think again, it's down to what I was just saying, you know, that we do spend so much time in this technology led world, you know, that we are overwhelmed, stressed out with all of this sort of technology that actually people are becoming more aware, therefore, they're concentrating on their health and wellbeing more. They're concentrating on, themselves self care. It's really, it's really, really important and, you know, we are being more conscious as sort of our environmental awareness changes as well.

We're becoming more conscious about what we're putting in our body and what we're eating and how we're looking after ourselves, and certainly for those sort of stationery lovers out there. Being able to write it down and to look at it and to jot down and note what you are eating, you know, you are doing, your health, your wellbeing. I think it's so valuable and I do think that has changed in the last few years and I do think Covid's got a lot to do with it because.

[00:46:52] Ingrid: Yeah.

[00:46:53] Monique: In that time, we were suddenly subjected to so much more, technology than we ever have been. 

I always used to joke with friends and say, have you finished Netflix yet?

You know, we need time away and we have to, we, we are more conscious of it now than ever.

[00:47:09] Ingrid: yeah, yeah. Well, I have really enjoyed our talk, Monique, about everything that we've chatted about where can our listeners find more about your planners?

[00:47:21] Monique: Well, um, we sort of hang out mostly, I suppose, on Instagram. That's where you can find us. You can see sort of more of the behind the scenes things in our stories and things like that and we showcase the products there as well. So that is, instagram.com. perfect planner .company you can find us on Instagram that's in there and that will take you through to our website where you can see all of our products.

But I've also got the, she loves to plan Facebook group as well, which is for our community and we have lots of planning tips in there. I go live every week talking about probably one of the subjects that we've chatted about today and it's a great place to be lots of, lots of, lots of people in there that love organisation and planning, so come and hang out there too.

[00:48:07] Ingrid: Thank you so much. Well listen, Monique, it's been an absolute pleasure to have you here on the show. Thank you for being our guest today.

[00:48:14] Monique: Thank you so much for having me.

[00:48:16] Ingrid: You're so welcome and listeners, has this podcast inspired you to? Take maybe some of the notebooks that you have out of your dusty cupboards and are you like, right, I need to start writing stuff down, or are you inspired and are you going to go, you know what, I actually need to get off my digital device and I'm going to go back to a paper planner because Monique has inspired me to do so.

I would love it. We know you've got lots of notebooks, so go ahead and use them. And the ones that you don't fancy anymore, please donate them because that's really important too. So thanks so much for listening. We love hanging out with you. I've really enjoyed this podcast and we'll see you next week.

Bye everyone.

Thanks so much for listening to the Declutter Hub podcast. Don't forget to subscribe to us in your podcast player so you don't miss an episode, and we'll see you next week.

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Why should we set boundaries in our business, life and home? A guest blog by Monique Sveinsson

Setting boundaries is an important part of maintaining healthy relationships and achieving personal and professional success. Whether you're running a business or managing a household, setting boundaries can help you establish expectations, maintain focus, and protect your time and energy. I thought I’d explore the importance of setting boundaries in the home and business, and provide some tips for doing so effectively.

Setting Boundaries in the Home

Define your personal space: We all like our own space and I know for one, I get grouchy if my space is invaded! Whether that’s my bedroom or my desk, I get pretty protective! For you it may be somewhere like a corner of the living room or a dedicated home office. Having a space that's designated for your personal use can help you maintain focus and reduce distractions.
Set rules for technology use: Technology can be a major source of distraction in the home, so it's important to establish rules around its use. This might include setting limits on screen time, or designating certain areas of the home as "tech-free zones.”
This is a big one for us. As a family with one teenager and a younger daughter each family member has their own role and responsibility. I’d suggest you establish clear expectations around chores and responsibilities. Assigning tasks can help ensure that everyone in the household is contributing to the upkeep of the home. Make sure everyone understands what's expected of them, and establish consequences for not meeting those expectations.
Schedule quality time: In addition to setting boundaries around work and responsibilities, it's important to make time for fun and relaxation. Schedule regular "family time" or "date nights" to ensure that you're making time to connect with loved ones.

Setting Boundaries in Business

Setting boundaries in business can help you avoid burnout, increase productivity, and maintain healthy work relationships. Here are some tips for setting boundaries in a business setting.

Establish clear work hours: Whether you're working from home or in an office, it's important to establish clear work hours and communicate those hours to colleagues and clients. This can help you maintain work-life balance and avoid being interrupted during personal time.
Set expectations around communication: It's important to establish clear expectations around communication, including preferred methods of communication, response times, and availability. This can help you avoid being overwhelmed by constant emails, texts, and phone calls.
Learn to say "no": Setting boundaries also means knowing when to say "no" to requests or projects that don't align with your goals or values. This can be challenging, but it's important to prioritise your time and energy in order to achieve your goals.
Take breaks and prioritise self-care: To avoid burnout, it's important to take breaks and prioritise self-care. This might include taking a lunch break, scheduling time for exercise, or setting aside time for hobbies and relaxation.

In conclusion, setting boundaries is an important part of maintaining healthy relationships and achieving personal and professional success. Whether you're managing a household or running a business, taking the time to define your personal space, set clear expectations, and prioritise self-care can help you maintain balance and achieve your goals.

Remember, setting boundaries is a personal process, and what works for one person may not work for another. It's important to be flexible and open to adapting your approach as needed to achieve the best results.

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Episode 241 – How to use an organise planner with guest Monique Sveinsson

Setting Boundaries in the Home

Setting Boundaries in Business

Episode 261 – The power of slow in a fast world with guest Carl Honoré

Episode 260 – How to get things done with a list

Episode 259 – 10 Organising products worth investing in

Episode 258 – The transition from young adult to home-maker with guest Penny Moyses

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