real life

Comedian and mum of five Mandy Nolan road-tests the pinless whiteboard, and ohmygod she’s organised.

Justick Australia
Thanks to our brand partner, Justick Australia

I have school notes on the fridge. Piles of mail on the kitchen bench. There’s reminders to pay bills on my office desk.

I’ve got canteen lists from two different schools blu-tacked to the pantry wall. Recipes torn from magazines are randomly strewn on my kitchen counter. Some lurk as crinkled surprises in my handbag. I have pathology requests, radiology referrals. Lists of items to pack for my son’s school trip. Birthday invitations I haven’t RSVPed to yet that catch the wind and drift like giant confetti onto the tiles. Another party my kids will miss out on (oops).

via GIPHY

I have stuff everywhere, but one item stopped me from being on Hoarders. The Justick Mini.

Politely positioned in my kitchen, this is not just any ordinary noticeboard. This is the future of noticeboards. No need for glue, or tape, or magnets or thumbtacks. No more evil encounters with stray thumbtacks laying in wait for fleshy feet to pierce and torment. Unlike most people in my life, Justick doesn’t disappoint. Justick does what is says it does. It just sticks.

For someone like me who hates the visual disorder of random bits of paper sent from the universe to command me to action, Justick is a very modern solution. I can keep my notes and keep my surfaces paper free at the same time! How? Well let me explain.

Discreetly designed to hang on your wall, the Justick Mini magically holds your notes neatly behind a plastic overlay. The board kind of suctions them on. You just lift the plastic cover and pop your notes in. Nothing falls out. Nothing is lost. And best of all, no more dust collecting canteen notes curling in the sun.

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Usually I am the woman who loses notes. Sometimes by accident. Sometimes on purpose. I have these crazy throw-everything-out days – and that includes school notes because they’re ugly and hard to tidy – so my kids are the ones who turn up on swimming days without their costumes. They get awards at assemblies that I’ve missed out on attending. Last week my phone got cut off. Not because I couldn’t pay. Because I threw out the bill.

My eight year old is so used to me ditching notes she recently added a warning in to the bottom of a note she had detailing time and dates and outfits required for a school concert she is supposed to perform in. ‘Do Not Throw Out’ it reads.

No Mummy won’t throw that one out darling, misspelled threats in red pen make notes like that keepers! Forever! Thanks to the Justick it’s still in pristine condition. And when it’s finished it will be going straight in her memory chest.

My Justick Mini has the most important job in the household. It keeps this mother of five and stand-up comedian organised. It’s my little PA.

My PA is better. via GIPHY

Justick, or Juzzie as I like to call her (yes she’s a girl), is currently charged with the responsibility of holding a list of what my son needs packed for his upcoming trip.

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To Italy, mind you. A school trip to Italy! When I was a kid the most interesting thing we did was go to a ginger factory. He’s travelling into a European winter so this isn’t really a note you don’t want to read properly, items MUST be collected and ticked off lest my son be the only blue-skinned child in the class pics.

And Justick is interactive. The plastic top acts as a kind of whiteboard. I can actually write on it. So as I collect items I can cross them off on the hard copy note, but I can actually use a whiteboard pen and write bigger more important instructions about what I need to do to fulfil the note requirements on top of the note.

Me and Juzzie in action. Image: Supplied.
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I love my Justick Mini. Now I’m looking for notes to put on it. The plastic top creates this neat display that makes the whole thing look like an art assemblage. Honestly I could exhibit it at MONA. I would call it "One woman’s life determined by the unending requests of others". Or something like that.

Juzzie has become part of the family. When the kids pull out notes from their bags I’m like ‘give it to Juzzie, love’, and she takes care of it. It’s working. I’m organised. My kids are turning up at planned events. And so am I. They nearly fainted last week when I turned up at canteen.

I can’t stop humming Bryan Ferry's 'Let's Stick Together'. But I change the words.."Let's Justick together."

My little noticeboard does naturally what all my hippy friends boast their yoga gurus do. She 'holds space'.

OK, what's your home life admin tip to end all tips? We'd love to know, share below.

This content was created with thanks to our brand partner Justick Australia.