My scheduling system
Hey ya’ll, happy new year! I have been scrolling through my Facebook feed this week and have seen about 5,000 people asking for help in choosing a paper planner, or advice on how to get their schedules organized. Since this is a subject I feel pretty passionate about, and can’t be contained in something as small as a Facebook comment, I thought I’d write a post here and let you know how I keep it all organized. My testimonial: In 9 years, I haven’t forgotten to pick my kid up from school yet. That’s about all I’ve got. Haha. I’m certainly not perfect, and I’m one of those people that has trouble keeping numbers (like dates, times, ect.) in my head, so this is a system I’ve worked on perfecting for years. I hope you get a little inspiration out of it, and will share with me your tips as well!
My system: A Paper/digital hybrid
I love the feel of a planner in my hand. I like writing things down in different colored pens, in my own handwriting, and setting it out on my desk so I can see the big picture in actual physical form. However, planners are heavy and I don’t want to carry it in my purse. It’s hard to drag out when I’m running through the airport and need my gate number. I don’t take it with me to the park, or to a friend’s house. Which is why I have naturally developed a hybrid system, using both a physical paper calendar and a digital one.
How I use my digital calendar:
I am a Mac user, so I use iCal, a program that will sync across all my devices. If I add something to my calendar on my work computer, I can access it on my phone, ipad, watch, or home computer. At work, we use google calendars, and that syncs to my iCal program as well. For non-Mac users, I’m sure you could use google calendars to sync your devices, as their setup is very similar. I love this system because I can color coordinate different subjects, and even turn them on and off to just see what I need to. All I have to do is click the box and it becomes visible, or disappears from my view.
Some examples of the calendar subjects I use:
Home
I use this calendar for anything personal, like a doctor’s appointment, date night, or a friend’s birthday. I also use this calendar to record airplane flights, so I can access departure times and gate numbers on the go.
Cash
I use this for anything directly related to Cash’s schedule, like days off of school, field trips, or picture days.
Theme Parks
Okay, this one is a little unusual probably, but shows just how versatile these things can be. On this calendar, I list things like our Disney Blackout dates, Epcot’s Food and Wine Festival, or Seaworld’s Christmas Schedule. These are things that are super handy to have on the go, but really convenient to hide until I need them.
Work
My work email is also set up with iCal, so I can see our on-call schedule, who has scheduled days off, and any events we have coming up. I also set up reoccurring tasks for things that are due each month.
I use my digital calendar for two main things
1) At-a-glance, big-picture events.
2) Any information that I might need quickly on the go, like flight times, theme park info, or the website for a festival event.
An example of what it looks like
After taking a close look at this calendar, you might see why using ONLY digital is not an option for me, if I want to stay truly organized. See how, when you’re looking at the month view, things get cut off? I can see that I have something involving a telephone on the 25th, but it cuts it off. It also cuts off if you have too many events in one day. There are ways to view just a week, or a day, but you have to do a lot of scrolling, and things are easily missed. This is when my paper planner comes in: for the details.
How I use my paper planner
First of all, to answer question number one: I use Erin Condren. One of my best friends gifted me one a few years back, and I fell in love. I’m sure there are other lovely planners out there, but since I’ve found these, I simply haven’t found any need to research anything else.
For an in depth on what I like about it, you can see the post I wrote last year when they were on sale here: My Favorite Planner is on Sale. By the way, they do go on sale every year a few months in, so if you’re a procrastinator, you can get a deal. :)
If you’d like to purchase one of your own, you can use my referral link and usually get $10 off yourself (I get $10 off my next purchase too, so thank you!): Click here!
Now that that’s out of the way, I want to show you how I actually use it.
The monthly page is generally pretty empty, since I use my digital calendar for big picture stuff. The weekly/daily views get the most use. I choose the horizontal layout option, which shows 7 days at a time, with three different sections for each day. On the days themselves, I record any appointments and to-dos that are time specific. I like that the days are divided, because I can visually see what I have going in the morning/afternoon/evening. In the open section on the left, I make a running to-do list of anything that needs done that week, usually divided by work and home. There are lines underneath every day, that I usually use to record any meal plans for that evening.
I order stickers for any repeating events, like paydays, on calls, food truck night, soccer games, movie nights…anything that happens more than 10 times. She has seasonal sticker books that are my favorite way to add a little color. I like to add a little motivational quote or reminder that pertains to my goals for the week.
Scheduling tips
Write it down now
One really big tip when it comes to either digital or paper calendars is to write it all down when you think of it. Just got your oil changed? Put a reminder 3-4 months from now to do it again. Add reminders about replacing air filters, getting prescription refills, checking smoke detectors, buying a birthday card….you can do all of this months in advance so when the time comes, you’ll open up your calendar and it’s there. You can get it out of your head and into your calendar, where it belongs. You know that feeling you get, like you’re forgetting something? That happens when your brain is trying to remind you that something needs done, even if that thing isn’t happening for months, and it won’t stop bugging you until it’s been accomplished. If you write it down, your brain feels like something has been done, and will stop nagging you.
Don’t forget the details
Any time I get an invitation or see an event I want to attend, I copy all of the information down in my calendar. Digitally, that might mean copying the website where the information is held so I can access it quickly on my phone. In my planner, it means writing down what channel the Oklahoma game is on, so I can remember to turn my television to ABC instead of having to look up that information all over again. The idea is to only have to handle information once, then be able to reference it easily when you need it. iCal makes this really easy with a notes section that even lets you add attachments, like a PDF. For my EC planner, they sell coil clips that will allow you to clip in a wedding invitation, for instance, in the week that you’ll need it and it will stay safely there until you need directions to get to the reception.
That’s it! I hope that you all are having an amazing new year, and hopefully you’ll be hearing from me again soon!