Hannah Suarez

My first job out of high school was in Officeworks where I started in the Stationery department.

“Why do you want to work in Officeworks?” asked my future employer during my job interview.  I simply replied that I love stationery.  One of my fondest memories of childhood involved going to stationery stores and looking at the masses of crayons, coloured paper, scented erasers, notebooks, stickers. I may no longer own crayons or colouring pencils but I do own a lot of multi-coloured pens, multi-coloured highlighters, multi-coloured whiteboard markers, magazine holders in various textures and colours (favourites: one made out of durable red cloth and another one with grey and white pinstripes) and various kinds of notebooks.

My love of stationery also involved my love of keeping things organised.  Having a busy schedule and juggling various commitments, I am always looking for ways to better manage my time and my projects and various ways of manifesting it:

Email: I’ve yet to download a desktop client that allows me to see several emails at once. But most of the emails go directly to one address but the reason why I have separate domain names is to ensure that I have a better understanding of why the email is sent to me.  Gmail is the best to use and you can easily point your domain name to Gmail.  Gmail also have features which I use to further organise my emails – I can set labels and different icons.  For example, a purple star means that it’s a meeting/event, a red star means that it needs to be actioned ASAP and so on.

Yearly Planners: I have one hanging from my wall.  It is not really glamorous, just a Sunsuper one that a housemate has picked out for me, but it is a great way for me to get a quick visual overview as to which days are going to be busy.

Weekly planner pad (desktop based): I bought a delicious kikki.k weekly planner (see right).  It is currently based on my table only and I am basically using it for any tasks, schedules and to-do’s that needs to be done at my desk.

Weekly planner diary: This red A5 leather diary out has been getting a few compliments every time I bring it out.  It is a vicarious, you-have-no-choice-but-to-pay-attention-to-me type of bold red (see image below).  I bought a small pencil which neatly tucks into the diary’s elastic band so that it may never be lost in my handbag.

Diaries are also a personal fashion accessory.  Each individual has a preference depending on their needs.  My previous diary was A4 black leather weekly planner but throughout 2009 I have found that it was too bulky for me to carry around in a handbag.  I also considered getting a hand-made one from Etsy but I wasn’t sure if it’s going to last the whole year due to its nature.  Perhaps next time.  I also have a big desire of one day making my own diary!  I did make one in Year 9 – I converted a boring old notebook by covering it in way too much purple glitter and glue.

Random notepad/notebook: I used to keep A4 sized notebooks to make my to-do lists but it contributes to the clutter on my desk.  I also want to stop using post-it notes because I end up not looking at it again.  At the moment, I am using an OurBrisbane notepad that I picked up at an Interactive Minds event.  The pages are quickly thinning out but I have a baby blue A5 notebook ready to be used!

Whiteboard: I am very sure that I bought a whiteboard for the sole reason of buying multi-coloured whiteboard markers but it’s great to use when I need to make mind-maps, to-do lists and to brainstorm.

Silver thread and mini silver pegs: I saw this done somewhere (I thought it was IKEA but someone told me that it could be kikki.k) but Myer had the post-Christmas sales and I decided to buy a Hallmark Christmas card holder.  At the moment it’s hanging beside me and I have business cards (people that I need to get in touch with) and a postcard pegged on to it.

To-do/to-buy the following includes a monthly wall planner, a HUGE corkboard to act as my ‘inspiration’ board and upgrade to one of those metallic whiteboards.