What’s In My Blogging Kit – All My Blog Tools/Gears + First Look At 2018 Cassie Daves Blog Planner

When I first started blogging, I honestly never imagined that I’ll be this girl that won’t bat an eyelid when it comes to dropping money for a camera and other blogging gears. I started out blogging with a gifted canon camera which I didn’t know how to work and treated as a point and shoot. There was no structure or workings to it and definitely nothing like lens, tripods or Cassie Daves blog planner in my dictionary.

It’s been four years plus now in the blogosphere and just like I’ve updated my blogging process, I’ve also acquired a few things to help make blogging for me a bit easier and to create better content.

So today I thought I’d share some of these tools that I use to create my content, share what’s in my blogging kit/bag and also a sneak peek into the 2018 Cassie Daves blog planner!

Let’s dig in.

Camera

I recently purchased the Sony A6000 and did a review of it here. Before then, I was using the Canon Rebel XS which was good in its own way but the sony was a much-needed upgrade. This camera is so handy, fits into my bags easily and produces great images. A couple of people have commented on how my pictures look good lately, well, that’s the secret.

I know how tough it can be deciding on a camera to get for your blog/vlog needs so I wrote an easy guide here that might help make your decision easier. Details about the cost of the camera and where I got it from is in this post.

Lenses + Memory Cards.

With my Canon, I had the regular kit lens and the good old nifty fifty. The 50mm lens is a really great lens so of course, I had to purchase that again to go with my new Sony camera. But because the 50mm lens is a prime lens(Can’t be zoomed in or out), and I wanted to be able to vlog, I also had to get a second lens and settled for the Sigma 19mm f/2.8 lens. I got the 50mm lens together with the body of my camera and the 19mm was purchased from Amazon.

I use the Transcend range of memory card, although my friend who is a photographer thinks I should dump them and go for something a bit “faster” in his words. I’m a cautious person so I tend to store my pictures in my memory card even after the post is live. This is probably not the best, so I have my eyes on getting a hard drive soon

Blog Planner

Honestly, getting a planner (in this case, the Cassie Daves blog planner. Yes, shameless plug.) was a game changer! I’m more partial to physical journals/planners to digital, so it’s where I store my blog post ideas, to-do lists, editorial calendars, notes, brainstorm– the whole shebang! And of course, evaluate my blog/goals progress monthly. It has been one of my best additions to my blogging kit.

Tripod.

The plan has always been to get a tripod for days when I can’t bully anyone into helping me out with pictures but this was way cheaper and seemed to fix my immediate need. Getting a proper tripod is still high up on my list but for now, this has come in handy for videos and self-portraits. I also bought this from Amazon.

Cardboards.

For them flatlays! My flatlay game changed forever when I made the discovery of using cardboards for that clean background. Blogged about it here and also shared a few tips to perfect your flatlay game here. At any given time, you can always find a couple of cardboards in different colors scattered around my room.

What's In My Blogging Kit? All The Tools + Gears I Use To Create My Content! Click To Tweet

Tech Tools

My sturdy HP EliteBook has come in handy these past few years and asides from the size, it’s a really good laptop. When it comes to laptops, I’m practically a novice and happy with the barest minimum as long as it get’s the work done.

Here are just a few tech tools that I use every day to create my content.

• Canva – For my Pinterest graphics.
• Buffer – To schedule my posts to be shared automatically on social media
• Image Resizer – If you’ve been uploading your pictures without resizing them, stop that asap! and use this.
• Snapseed – It’s a mobile app that I use to edit my pictures.
• Grammarly – To spellcheck my posts before I hit publish.

2018 Cassie Daves Blog Planner Is Almost Here!

Finally, the 2018 Cassie Daves blog planner is here! Well, almost here! I’ve gotten lots of questions about when the 2018 planner will be ready so I’m super excited to show you guys a sneak peek at the different cover options for the 2018 edition.

I ran a poll on my instastory and more than a few people wanted the original monochrome design to stay put. The plain black cover design was one of my most requested for this year as well, so I decided to make it an option for 2018. And for those who aren’t about that minimalist life, I decided to add a splash of color to the remaining two options.

I hope that you guys like the new cover designs and I can’t wait to share the rest of the planner and new features with you all soon!

The 2018 Cassie Daves blog planner will be available for pre-order later in the week, so If you’ll like to stay updated to know as soon as it’s available, preorder and get on the early bird list to get discounts and your own specially customized planner. Sign up here!

Here's A First Look At The 2018 Cassie-Daves Blog Planner Cover Design Options! Click To Tweet

What’s your blogging kit looking like at the moment and what are some tools you use in creating your content?  I’ve also got posts on my blogging process, What I’ve learned in four years of blogging and the reasons why I started in the first place!

Please comment, don’t forget to pin/share this post if you found it helpful and let’s connect!