Hi guys! How are you today? I hope well! I’m over here majorly soaking in some warm weather before another cold snap breaks into Arkansas tonight! We MAY even have a bit of wintery weather coming our way which has me a little extra excited! We sure don’t get much around here, so when we do, it makes the weather forecast of major interest for us Arkansans. 😉 I also totally just broke out a 4 miler in the neighborhood which has me all kinds of happy too! I think that was just what I was needing! Thank goodness for running, right?! It saves the day every time!
Now to today’s post–My favorite blogging essentials! I don’t normally blog necessarily about blogging, but I’ve had so many questions about it that I figured I would start sharing a little bit more of it here! Are you a blogger yourself? Are you interested in starting your own? Or maybe you’re neither and you’re just reading along! Either way–I thought it would be fun to share a little bit of the behind the scenes fun of my blog and share what it is that I use all day every day to keep things moving along! If you’ve ever even considered starting a blog yourself, I can’t speak higher of doing it! It’s become my favorite thing to do and has brought me so many more opportunities than I ever thought possible. It really is worth every minute spent!
Saying all of that, there’s a lot more that goes into putting together an entire blog and it’s probably a lot of things you’d never even imagine! coding, I’m looking at you!> I absolutely LOVE spending time blogging and my only regret is wishing I would’ve started earlier! Alongside the “fun” aspects there’s also plenty of “work” too that keeps things going each and every day. I hate to really call it “work” though because it sure doesn’t feel that way at all! I can sometimes spend hours working away at it and not even realize the amount of time that’s gone by!
There are a few basic essentials that I use every single day with my blog and if they didn’t exist, this blog wouldn’t either! So, I thought it’d be fun to tell you what a few of those things are! Maybe this will help give you an idea of what you would need if you decided to start one for yourself! Or, if you’re already a blogger–I’d love to hear what essentials we share in common! I know everyone has their own style of doing things, so I’d love to hear what your favorite blogging tools are too!
So, let’s get right to it! Here are a few of my favorite blogging essentials: (affiliate links included)
My DSLR camera
I use this Canon E0S Rebel T6i and absolutely LOVE it! When I was in college, I took a photography course and learned a few basic things about using a DSLR camera and I’m so thankful I did! I am constantly learning new things with it and still have plenty left to learn as I go, but it’s definitely a fun step up from a basic camera! Plus, the image quality is amazing and really makes a huge difference in the editing side of things too!
My Gorillapod Tripod
(This is the exact one I have.) I LOVE this tripod so much because of a few different reasons. It’s super portable and not overly huge which means I can easily pack it with me in my purse or bag so I can have it handy when I need to use it. It’s also really awesome because the legs bend allowing you to set it up on different surfaces! It has a handy balance at the top too which tells you when your surface is flat, which is a huge help when it comes to taking good (and straight) pictures!
Aside from my DSLR, the other camera I use is my iPhone6. I am nothing fancy over here and am overdue for an upgrade for sure, but it definitely does the job I need it to do.
My lap desk
(Mine is similar to this one here.) The fun part about blogging is the ability to do it anywhere-literally! I can’t tell you how many posts I’ve written in bed surrounded by my fur babies with Gilmore Girls or something on in the background! I’ve also written so many posts from Starbucks, Barnes & Noble and Panera too! Most days, I’m blogging from home though and that’s when my lap desk really comes in handy! I like having a barrier between my computer and my lap too because sometimes it gets warm when it’s charging. It’s also nice just to have something flat to sit it on too!
My editorial calendar
I have been using a calendar now for the past few months to plan out my posts for the month ahead. I don’t like to live with regrets most days, but I sure regret not using an actual calendar before just a few months ago! It helps SO much to be able to know in advance what I need to have done for each post, instead of just doing everything all in the same day! (Talk about chaos! HA!) I like to sit down at the end of each month and look ahead to what’s coming and write down any and all required posts and ideas! This has made the biggest difference for me in my blogging! I’m also a huge fan of bullet journaling too so that’s a current work in progress for me!
These are a few of my favorites: Here, here, and here.
My notes journal
I am constantly thinking of topics for posts or things I need to buy or do for the blog and have to write it all down before it leaves my brain in .1 seconds after I think of it. This even happens in the middle of the night so I have one right by my bed too! I seriously cannot live without my notes journals so that I can have my lists going all day every day to keep me feeling 10x more organized!
Canva editing program
I use Canva ALL the time for my graphic design images and absolutely love it! I don’t use any sort of an expensive editorial program at all because Canva does pretty much everything that I need it to! Seriously, if you’ve never tried it–do it! You’ll never look back! I have used a few other programs like PicMonkey before too, but I wasn’t as big of a fan of that as I am Canva.
Alright, so there they are! These are just a few of my basic blogging essentials that have seriously saved the day for me when it comes to working on the JMCB blog. I could probably go on and on with all types of other things I use and have used before, but those will come with additional blog posts! 🙂 I’m sure there are a ton of other things too that I’ve completely missed out on but need to try too, so feel free to share what your favorites are in the comments! I’d absolutely love to hear!
I hope you guys have a fabulous Thursday!! PS tomorrow is FRI-YAY!! Did you know? 😉
Questions for YOU today: (Comment below with your thoughts!)
What are some of your favorite hobbies? Are you a blogger?
What was for lunch today?
Do you make to-do lists throughout the day or are you more of a fly by the seat of your pants type person?
