My bare-bones, cheap planning system
Would you show us your planner? Even just a dummy page to keep your privacy, it would be interesting to see how you do it. Is it electronic or on paper?
-Jan
PAPER. Always paper.
I triiiiiied to like electronic calendars because they are inarguably more sensible in terms of convenience and cost. But I am an abject failure at using them.
It's like my brain forgets calendars even exist unless they are on paper.
I have a very, very simple planner because as I have mentioned before, my spatial synesthesia makes my brain see days from bottom to top instead of top to bottom (morning is at the bottom in my brain).
(More on spatial synesthesia here.)
So planners with the hours of the day printed are all wrong for me.
I like this undated pad of weekly planners from 3-2-1-done. Super affordable, super simple, and it works for me. It's 50 sheets, so basically one will get you through an entire year.
$17.99 for a year feels seriously affordable to me.
I draw a horizontal line down the middle, and use the top part for scheduling things out. (with the hours going from bottom to top OF COURSE)
I write in the dates up at the top.
And then I use the lower part to put in any necessary tasks for each day.
In the top section, I put in:
- my school schedule (the most essential part) including lecture, lab, clinical, exams, etc.
- my work schedule
- Zoe's work schedule
I also add in any appointments for me/Zoe.
Those are all the non-negotiable things on my schedule, so once those are in, then I can see where I have time that is up to me to use.
That's when I figure out when I will walk and I also plan my gym sessions (which happen at different times every single week due to my school schedule).
The rest of my life is more willy-nilly.
For example, I don't plan out when I will study, write blog posts or run errands; I just fit those things in between the non-negotiables in my life.
Would my life be more efficient if I planned those things out? I dunno, maybe. But this is working efficiently enough for me right now.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I say. 😉
Monthly Calendars
I usually have six months' worth of monthly calendar pages printed out, and I always have two months tacked to my bulletin board above my desk.
That way I have a place to write it down when I do something like scheduling an appointment for next month.
You can get printable monthly calendars a million places, but I like the free ones from homeprintables.com.
Scrap Paper To-Do Lists
In addition to the weekly planner, I often do a day or weekend to-do list on a scrap piece of paper. That helps me get random household tasks done and helps me keep track when I have a bunch of school things I need to knock out too.
A satisfying way I get more use out of my planner: when I'm finished with the week's page, I slice it in half with my paper cutter and use the plain back sides of the paper for my scrap paper to-do lists. 🙂
It's such nice heavy paper, I like getting a second use out of it.
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An overall thought: I don't think there's one right way to plan or one right planner; everyone's gotta do their own process of trial and error to figure out what works best for them.
As with many things in life (like exercise, for example), the best option for you is one you'll stick with!
Also: the best option is often not the most complicated one. Something simple will probably work just fine (and will probably be less expensive than something fancy and complicated.)
I also have spatial synesthesia! And some other neurodiverse traits which gives me a different approach/understanding of time.
I have a paper calendar on my wall but I rarely write things on it for some reason. I often use scrap paper or an old notebook for to-do lists though; my brain is interesting in this sense. I usually remember important dates without having to write them down but if I don't write down smaller tasks I either forget them or don't get round to them (they feel more overwhelming if I don't write them out). I also have to physically write to-do lists with a pen and paper - digital doesn't stick in my mind, plus I like being able to cross things off with a pen!
I have a paper calendar, a white board on which I write in the week's schedule, and google calendar to get reminders on it all . I write short term to-do lists on post-its or old envelops or papers. I also use Google keeps sometimes, for long term check off lists ( like movies i want to rent to share with my kids) or patterns I'm trying to track.
I still missed an appointment last week ( in my defense, 2 kids were sick! ) . I need multiple inputs to penetrate my brain.
We have a calendar on the wall in our dining room--near the landline phone--where we write in the major out-of-the-house stuff for the whole family. Sports schedules are posted on the refrigerator. Nothing else is planned except in my head. Thankfully, my head is pretty efficient. 🙂
@kristin@going country, It used to all be in my head too, but I can't trust it anymore! I still remember the day I gave up on my head. Luckily I can just use a weekly planner from the Dollar Store (physically writing it down helps me).
Random note - I just went to the Dollar Store to buy my 2025 planner and it was the same as always EXCEPT that many of the planners started the week with Thursday! Which I would not be able to adjust to since the blocks need to be roughly in the right place spatially for me. Just sharing in case anyone else goes there; be sure to double-check the layout.
@kristin@going country, I remember the conversation I had with my DH who no longer wanted the landline phone (which cost us all of 9.95) where I told him the family central command was going to fail if we cut it off. His response was something like we could use google to keep us organized. This did not work, I still miss our landline. It now resides on my personal desk.
@kristin@going country, oooh, I like that phrase "my head is pretty efficient". Gotta remember that one. It can be a bit of a challenge sometimes, to be a hyper-functioning person with a lot of F&F with executive function and organization issues. (How do I attract them so strongly? Beats me!)
@Suz, starts on Thursday?!?? Who does that and why?!!!
@Suz, Thursday??? Why? That makes no sense to me.
@WilliamB, Yes, it is challenging. The only one of the family in my house who is as organized and functional as I am is my seven-year-old daughter. My sons and even my husband are train wrecks of inefficiency and forgetfulness much of the time, though they have many other good qualities that I don't.
@WilliamB, @Cindi - I can't come up with any idea other than misprinting and deciding to just give them a whirl on the shelves regardless? Unless there's some viral TikTok Thursday trend I'm missing (which I would). I stared for a while and then asked another shopper to look at it & she was equally dumbfounded.
@WilliamB, I would guess that's WHY they were at the dollar tree! LOL!
@WilliamB,
F & F? Not sure what that means?
@Suz, A few years ago I bought a DollarTree calender and every month had 30 days. Somehow every month started on the right day of the week, though. I wound up editing the ends of the months with paper squares.
@Liz B., Guessing friend and family.
I used to use a paper planner that I got at Sam’s club for around $10, which seemed really good for a whole year and would write my to do lists on the right part of each week page so that I had both daily commitments and weekly to dos all on two pages, along with my meals for the week. I left it open on my kitchen counter (I’m mostly a stay at home mom, but work part time remotely.)
However, I received a kindle scribe as a birthday gift (and love it for so many reasons) and have started using a digital planner on it in the same way as I used my paper planner. I love this because it feels like the best of both worlds, digital and paper.
I agree with you, that what matters with planners/calendars is what you’ll do!
We hope to homeschool in a year or so, so I know that will add a whole other element to my planning, so we’ll see if my system changes then!
Speaking of which, Kristen, (or other parents who have homeschooled) what did your planners look like then?
@Hannah, my system is similar to Kristen's except I use a Personal Planner each year. Anything homeschool related that's out of the house or has a deadline (like state reporting) goes on my paper calendar. Planning out what each child will do is separate for me, but I always checked the calendar to determine the daily workload each week.
We have used quite a few different options for keeping track of school assignments, depending on season and students: Homeschool Tracker, a spiral bound notebook with daily assignments written in, a typeable weekly lesson plan in Excel, and then transitioning to students keeping track of their own work with the guides that come with our curriculum.
That was probably more than you wanted to know. 🙂
@Jan G, So helpful, thank you! I'm a "collect as much information as possible before starting something new" type of person, so that was great!
I use a whiteboard monthly calendar on the side of our fridge- I've had it for over 10 years now, maybe closer to 15! I can see at a glance what's coming up, and it keeps my husband and I mostly on the same page. On the same side of the fridge I have the kids school calendar, and I also note appointments and such in my Google calendar. That way I can check things if I'm away from home.
I love making written to do lists, although I don't make check boxes! I prefer to cross out the whole line once it's done 🙂
@JP, I'm a line-crosser-outer too. 🙂
@CrunchyCake, me too - line crossing is a sense of accomplishment, no matter how small the task/entry.
Definitely a paper & pencil planner here! I heavily use my no-frills, large-box, matte paper (on which pencil erases easily) annual calendar to mark important info & commitments. Then as each week comes, I sketch a more detailed weekly plan on scrap paper to fill in the littler things (like workouts, menu plan, and smaller to-do list items). My brain jives with paper and pencil format much more than digital! Plus, as you noted, it's so very satisfying to physically cross things off when they've been completed! My husband is team digital calendar, though, so we have to carefully communicate re schedules.
I have a standard old paper wall calendar for any scheduled items. I use a bullet journal to include things that need more space (like to-do lists) and set alarms on my phone for important things I might forget (I’m very forgetful).
I buy a weekly and monthly planner from Amazon that's about $11. It has pockets at the front and back and pages for contact info, tabs for each month, and is spiral bound. I do EVERYTHING on paper and in this planner I also write ideas and a do a tiny bit of journaling. I note trash and recycle days, paydays, birthdays, appointments, all of it. Life in one place. I save these journals in a box in my closet because they are small and easy to store. Maybe my kids will read them someday? I see them as diaries, really.
We used to have a paper family planner when our kids grew up and it worked fine, except that we needed to align with our online (work) calendars. For the past few years, since covid, I've primarily used my online work calendar. In addition I have paper Leuchtturm calendar that has 7 weekdays to the left and lines to the right. To the right I write the house zone that I want to deep clean, a (limited) number of private actions I need to take (get something repaired, send an important email, file taxes etc). And also some categories with 7 check boxes behind them to monitor if I took excercise, had my fruits, spent time on study and me-time etc.
That leaves enough space to jot down the week's events and emotions, sometimes very useful to read back.
@JNL, ps my husband and I align calendars through whatsapp, to avoid "but I did tell you I need to go to xyz that day", and other avoidable frustrations
My life as a single woman and a retiree is not that complicated, so I get by with a simple system of putting appointment cards and other notes about upcoming events on the side of my refrigerator with magnets. This also enables me to move notes around if appointments get changed or the like. For recording past events, I keep a basic desk diary. (It got really basic this year: It’s now a blank notebook!)
@A. Marie, We do that same thing with appointment cards. I started doing a paper calendar on the freezer door for family obligations so that we do not schedule a repairman to show up when no one is home. I take a photo of what's on the fridge/freezer so there's a reference when making other appointments.
I cannot do a Google calendar or the like. Stuff simple disappears to me when it's on a screen.
I have a number of unused paper planners around the house. I have tried to find an electronic one but they're always for things like iPads and I do not do Apple products.
I just keep a list of things I have to do and that's it. Actual meetings or appointments go in my Outlook calendar. There's no point me planning to do X on Thursday afternoon; for all I know I'll have a migraine.
And checking things off means nothing to me. I just really don't like to plan.
Paper, paper, paper!!!! I don't schedule anything digitally and I've felt like there must be something wrong with me since everyone else seems to sing the praises of going digital. So this post was music to my ears. Paper is okay!! I just love the tactile feel of handling pens and flipping back and forth and, also, not having to look at a screen.
I use calendars from the DollarStore that I love. One is a mini-flip that goes on my desk and only has quarterly business things recorded, the full-sized version hangs on the wall in our kitchen and has family events. But mostly I live and breath by my planner. Three years ago someone gifted me a Sprouted planner and I took the bait. I love it. They are pricey (IMO) at almost $70, but I absolutely love my planner. It goes with me everywhere and aside from when I travel, I use it every single day of the year. It's practically an extension of my body! Now that I have a blog, the sweet owner has started giving me a planner to giveaway (for anyone that reads my blog, spoiler alert that the giveaway will be next Saturday!) but I would buy one to give away anyway because I just love them.
That said, my DollarStore planner (about ~$3) worked just fine and I think it has a lot more to do with the system than the actual paper planner.
I also buy pads of pull-off small scratch paper from the DollarStore. I use at least one sheet daily for to-do lists and adore them. (I recycle the paper when I'm done, but don't write on the reverse side; I grew up in a house where we used the back of envelopes and other paperwork for lists and I really dislike having something messy/printed on the other side of my lists, so I spend about $3 a year on the paper pads, but it's worth it to me because I love the sensation of writing a fresh list on a fresh piece of paper).
@Elisabeth, paper all the way for me too!
@Elisabeth, I think the act writing something down helps to emblazon it in my memory. I just don’t get that when things are automatically added to the calendar on my phone or computer. I also prefer to glance at my entire week or month at once.
@Bee,
Yes, exactly! Seeing something on a screen doesn't help me remember it, and I also want to look at the week and/or month all laid out in front of me.
I'm old school, too, and just use paper and pen. Altho, I run it as a list of everything I want to accomplish in a short timespan. This sheet, along with a grocery list are on my desk at all times. I do read thru it daily to see if I can cross anything off (and the answer to that is usually no because they are some big items!)
And I do use a calendar that is right next to my desk for my husband's and mine appointments. He does put his in his phone and he always has the people text him to remind him. But I like a calendar so I can also jot down important things like birthdays to move to the next year.
I use my Outlook calendar, so I have it always with me. And as I use it on my Phone, it also sends me alerts.
I use two things to organize my life. One is a pre-printed, monthly calendar and the other is a 3-section spiral bound notebook. On the calendar, I record birthdays, appointments, reoccurring obligations, and other important dates. I then use this to make my weekly to-do list.
I have a 3-section note book that is my book of lists. The first section is my weekly list. The second section is my list of projects. These are things that need to be done, but not immediately. The third section has all sorts of list in it. For example, that where I keep my list of books that I want to read.
@Bee,
I love your idea of a notebook as a place to keep your lists of books to read and the like. I'm going to borrow that idea!
I use a legal pad which I divid in thirds. Work (if I am working 2 jobs I divid this third in half) schedule, To Do List Which has the following headings: Mend, Thrift, Trash, Daily 5 (the 5 things I have to do to: Dishwasher load, wipe counters, Load of laundry, Make bed, Floors) and Bills/balance checkbook and Appointments/Calls. I also keep a paper calendar for reference on what day 10/30 is. But I put appointments into Google calendar along with important dates like family birthdays and last day of work. I share this with my nuclear family: Spouse and adult children. We have a neurodiverse household. Altough I keep trtack of all this I do have help actually doing it. Finally I write down my work schedule into a pocket calendar because I am not allowed to print it out. It is a rule about hooking my laptop up to a printer not about not have the information. Yes I can save it as a PDF and send it to my personal email but that is too many steps.
I have learned that I also need a paper planner. And scrap paper daily to do lists.
Team paper here. I remember things better when I physically write them down - I always took lots of notes in school.
As PD does, I keep a matte paper calendar with large daily squares at home on my refrigerator so I can write with and erase pencil. I have a calendar at work on the wall to remind me of appointments, etc. while at work. And because I like to keep notes on my life (What I ordered on what day, with order number and expected ship date, responding to government red tape letters, an item I want to remember to pick up or dimensions I will need for an item when shopping) I've been splurging the last few years and buying a pocket-sized Moleskine calendar/notebook in my purse. I also keep information like phone numbers and contact names in it for numbers I don't call often but still have to call at times. It keeps me from cluttering up my phone contacts with forty-eleven different departments of the VA, that sort of thing. I have a richly dark green 2024 one in my purse and a beautiful scarlet one for 2025 waiting on me. I get appointments scheduled six and four months ahead, so I get the new year's calendars early to mark the new year's appointments in ahead of time.
Once I retire, I will probably greatly simplify my calendar system. I will still need to mark down appointments, birthdays (they can slip up on me!) and social engagements - should I have any, ha - so I will keep a calendar of some kind. And I will keep a notebook of some kind in my purse, because I have done that for years.
I keep lists, too, usually using freebie notepads or junk mail envelopes. I don't do check boxes, sorry Kristen, but I happily draw a line through completed items. 🙂
@JD,
I forgot to mention that I write my Christmas shopping list in the back of my Moleskine, too.
Love this question. I consider one of the upsides of running my own business that no one can make me use Outlook as my calendar. I use a little pocket paper calendar to record all time specific commitments (zoom links or phone #s just stay in my email and I search). I use a custom Plum Paper “Notes and Day” format planner for my weekly planning where I figure out my priorities for the next week. Then each day I make my to-do list in a little notebook. I create a family calendar each week + weekend that is just a word document outlining the schedule of who goes where and when and who takes them. I email this to the relevant stake holders and print up a copy for children who are literate but not on email.
I have a weird quirk; I loathe writing on lined paper. Often for a to do list I would just take an old worksheet from my kids' files and just use the backside. But when I started school for myself I wanted something I could carry with me and plan the week with; I found small unlined notebooks, about 5x7, and I love them. They have plain brown cover and tuck nicely in my desk organizer. I can tuck one in my backpack easily. The larger planners with all the lines and decorative bits irk me slightly.
I usually use one page for each day, listing out the things I need to do in the order it makes sense to do them; categories in my head include homeschooling stuff, college assignments/studying, cleaning, food prep/grocery shopping, errands.
One thing I have learned over the years, and my professors keep reminding us, is we need to not just schedule what we NEED to do, but what we WANT to do. Students who fill their calendars with study, study, study, work, work, work, will burn out. First slot in the things like activities, hobbies, and of course non-negotiables. Then slot in studying and working on assignments around that. It's been working for me quite nicely. I know, for example, that I want to get my youngest's homeschooling done before 3 each day. We plan his day out so he gets 15-20 minute breaks in between lessons, so those times are when I can fit in some work on an assignment, or check my team discussion boards. Or get dinner prep done if I'm on dinner duty that night.
@Karen A., You are so right about the need to slot in time for activities, hobbies etc. Yay, it's "Trivia Night" on Saturday on my Outlook calendar. I am really, really good at trivia.
I, too, am paper-based.
I use a yearly desk calendar hung in the wall where I can easily see it, using hooks big enough for two calendars. This year I needed a 2025 calendar in May of 2024, new record for me. I keep the old pages in a box because old pages are like a diary.
As far as planning itself, for the flexible things such as when to run errands, I do what I call "semi-planning." I have ideas but they often get changed by circumstance, mood, or energy levels. If I try to strictly plan, say, when I exercise, I won't do it at all.
Usually I can keep my immediate to-do lists in my head. That said, I have a lot of lists as well for the more complicated tasks or ones that aren't immediate.
If I need a to-to list, its usually on one of the small dry-erase boards I've accumulated, and I keep some paper in my wallet in case I think of something while I'm out. Occasionally I'll put it in a spreadsheet when there's a ton or I need to write them down in the order I want to do them.
Here's a small frugality: when I run errands, I think about and write down in what order to do them. Not only will I not forget something, it saves a bit of time and fuel.
@WilliamB, Amen to saving previous years' calendars, getting the 2025 one months ago, and strategizing errands for maximum efficiency, lol!!
I use a yearly calendar that can fit in my purse for all birthdays, appointments, etc so I always have it with me. I check it daily. I then use the notes section on my phone for my ongoing to-do list. I use categories there like Gift ideas, camp needs, daily to-dos, etc. I delete the items once bought or done. Works well for me.
We rely on a Google calendar - I'm able to share what I need with others to their calendars (my son's school/activity schedule, the custody calendar, my personal calendar) and everything is color coded. I also print out a calendar just for my son and place it near the back door so he can quickly check it for games/practice, school events, reffing gigs, or any abnormal custody schedule changes. It's been working well for years and I like that I can look things up when I'm out and about and it's so easy to share.
Paper planner here, too. I have to SEE things lying out right in front of me. I use a Happy Planner. I often find them on clearance.
Organization is a fundamental aspect of my job, so my system contains redundancies. I must use Outlook so that others in my office can see my schedule to plan meetings and such. My assistant uses the office’s bring forward system to diarize big due dates and appointments. I use an iPad calendar/planning app for my personal life which can be shared with DH if required. I routinely reconcile my work and personal calendars so that I am not double-booking. I also have a paper scheduler (1 page/day) that I use as a planner and to record my time on a 2 week go forward basis. If I get overwhelmed with to-do’s, I write everything down on a separate page to tuck it into my paper scheduler and pick away at that list until things are under control. Uggg. Retirement will make life so much easier….
I have become so attached to yellow legal pads for everything that I almost can't think until one is in front of me. I make a bullet point "to do" list with big and small ideas and then use the rest of the space for calculations, phone numbers, menus, ect. . .By the end of the day it is a mess. The next morning I recopy bullet points not completed on a fresh piece of paper and start again.
Recently I have printed out a list of projects to be done in the year. All of these require many steps to complete. For example: Spanish Fluency test ( my benchmark assessment for daily Spanish Babbel lessons); Chess tournament - another benchmark assessment for Chess Lessons; National Parks 40% visited; River House renovation. I make sure my daily bullets are matched to my larger life goals because I want to keep growing and challenging myself in these retirement years.
I put appts in my Google calendar making sure to add addresses, flight numbers, etc. . .
Planning? What's that?
I keep a little black book in my purse where I record business miles driven. Any definite dates/commitments (especially if my husband needs to know about them) get written on a calendar in the kitchen. Appointment cards go on the fridge with a magnet. I also write a daily or just a weekly to-do list on scrap paper or in a notebook that frequently gets misplaced.
@Central Calif. Artist Jana, Your first line made me laugh. 🙂 My friend's husband is like that and only uses sticky notes for things he needs to remember. He makes fun of my planner and his sticky note system cracks me up.
I use a cheap weekly planner from dollar tree, but any appointments, I also add to my phone calendar so it alerts me as well as my work calendar, because that way for sure my brain will see ONE of them!
The "weekly planner" typeface would drive me spare if I had to look at it for a year.
I used to be able to keep track of it all in my head. Then somewhere between perimenopause and COVID, all that went out the door. I have to rely on a shared google calendar. It has all four of our schedules there. The only disconnect is my work calendar and my home calendar but luckily I have access to both pretty much at all times.
Paper here too; don't need a media maid nagging at me. 😉 We use a monthly calendar on the kitchen door to the garage to track health, finance, home & auto appointments. For personal planning, I draw my own monthly calendar in the back of my sketchbook so it's always handy.
I keep a spiral bound notebook with one week at a time. Each page contains one weeks worth of appointments, mine & my husband's work schedule for the week, work & home task lists & any other vital information for the week.
I mark tasks, appts off as I go and carry anything that I don't complete that week over to the next week. I handle my budget in the same way except it is month by month. I have recently purchased some spreadsheets for this as I would like to have a better overall picture for planning, building in different savings funds for vacation, sinking, emergency etc. I am not sure if this will work for me but I am going to try. As far as weekly planning goes I am a pen and paper girl forever - it is like letter writing to me or conversations that don't involve technology. A long lost art.
I don't quite understand why you purchase that weekly planner rather than just a printable. The main benefit to me would that the dates are already filled in.... But they aren't. And you use a printable for your monthly calendar.
Worst case, seems like you could scan or copy a blank page of what you have, and you are done.
I wonder about the ethics of scanning it, though. The company that makes these products (321Done) is, as I understand it, a small business that just uses Amazon as a selling platform, so I’d hate to basically be taking revenue from them.
I could find a printable planner page, I suppose, but so many of them are set up in ways I don’t like. So, I don’t mind spending $18 a year for this pad of paper.
@Kristen, yes, I thought of the ethics concern after I wrote that. I would probably just make my own since your format is so simple. But $18 is not a concerning outlay for something you use every day. :-)
I use the Passionate Penny Pincher home planner (paper, baby!) and LOVE it. I can keep track everything I need, plus it reminds me of things I would otherwise forget.
We also have a wall calendar and a Google calendar that get appointments and practices and church functions and other family info.
But for me? It's till death do us part with my paper planner.
Interesting topic, but my eyes got a little blurry reading everybody's methods. At first, I was thinking I didn't have much of a planner, but the more I thought about it the less laissez faire I realized I am.
Missouri has a wonderful Conservation Department and as such has a wonderful yearly calendar of nature pictures and nature events (such and such should be blooming this day, raccoon babies are born this time of year, etc.) on each day. I make an event of purchasing it at the Conservation Department and fill in birthdays of friends and family first.. When I get appointment cards, I write them on the calendar and put it in a file folder on my desk. Scheduling appointments is not usually difficult. If they are local, I try to schedule them in early morning so if I worked the night before, I can still do it and not "cut a hole" in the day of sleep or activity. My work schedule is routine. I work every other weekend, and work the same days every week for a total of three each week/six in the pay period. The calendar hangs next to the medicine cabinet and sink in the bathroom where I have the potential of seeing it daily. At the end of the year it goes into the file as a diary of events.
I am not good at putting dates on google/phone. Two months ago I got a call from Radiology with a date for a DexaScan and put it on my phone as I was not near a piece of paper. The day of the appointment, my phone alarmed me and it was forty-five minutes after the fact. Since then, if I put an appointment in the phone, I allow myself enough time to be "alarmed" and put it on the calendar.
I have to keep track of community service hours as a Master Gardener. I purchased a beautiful Marjolein Bastin Planner in which I record my hours and garden related events. It stays by the computer and goes with me to Master Gardener Meetings.
I like the magnetic backed lists from Marshalls for grocery lists or to do lists and I like to mark a line through the "done" item.
My SIL believes in being VERY busy. She bought a white board and assigned a different color marker to each family member. Her board looks chaotic to me but it works for her. You can actually look at it and see at a glance who has something scheduled when.
We use a combo of digital and paper. We use a magnetic white board at the kitchen desk, a printed out weekly 8x10 and a 16 month calendar on the wall by the landline. When the week is up, a new page goes on the white board and the last week goes in the binder. We've been doing this system for 40 years, it's worked well. The white board also holds the family's wants and wishes for the month. They are so fun to read and plan into the month. Fairs, shows, community events, etc. This is for the whole family (cousins, aunts, uncles).
I keep a journal/calendar in my go bag to take to meetings. I use page sized post it notes to write notes in meetings.
I also have an old school desk blotter calendar in a leather holder from my Grandpa's desk from the 60's. That is on my desk in the office, where the important tasks are completed.
I’ve been using a Google calendar for years; it is a game changer! Most of my commitments are either lessons that I teach on a weekly basis for an indefinite length of time, or rehearsals and performances that are scheduled months in advance. There is no way I could use a paper planner just one week at a time. I also need to reschedule lessons around other commitments often enough that it is very convenient to be able to change them on my phone without ending up with a whole space of scratched out names as I used to in the old days. I absolutely love the “repeat on a weekly basis” feature along with the ability to change an individual appointment without changing all the others.
My husband and I share our Google calendars and it is extremely useful for each of us to be able to see what the other has on any given day, as we both work, and neither of us has a typical 9 to 5 job. My youngest child, in graduate school 1200 miles away, can also see my calendar so she knows not to call me while I am teaching.
Time is difficult — I am time challenged (or perhaps time optimistic) and calendar blind. If I can't see it written down, it's not real, even if that just means I'm in the other room from where it IS written down. And in fact if one of my people says to me, "Mom, what are we doing on Friday?" on Tuesday afternoon, my answer is: "I have no idea. I can't see it."
Once typed out, that seems completely ridiculous. But here we are.
I don't operate well with habits or schedules, with the notable exception of Sunday morning, which thankfully happens once a week regardless of everything else swirling around me. Other days of the week I just lose track of. Summer, forget it. No idea what day it is.
Sadly for me, the world still has ... y'know, dates, and times, and things.
Therefore: We have a wall calendar for things like the county fair and VBS week, days off school, medical appointments, ball games and birthdays; we have the school calendar, lunch schedule and things like the acolyte rotation dates on the fridge. The people I live with are expected to make sure I realize these things, lol.
I am wholly committed to to-do lists, though. Sometimes they're also tah-dah lists. The format has a kind of annual churn rate. Right now they're on a (perfect) quarter sheet of blank-back 8½ x 11 and are new nearly daily. I also use whole 8½ x 11 sheets folded in half vertically, preferably things that come from home from school on AstroBright paper with a blank back, for long lists or lists of long-term things.
And on complicated days, like check-in day at the fair or whatever, I will absolutely do a schedule like Kristen's top half (although non-spatial-synesthesia-ly starting with the top as a.m.) so that I don't lose things or people. Because I will.
@Karen., please feel free to ignore this, but have you considered being tested for autism or ADHD? Being 'time-blind' is a common trait for both of those. Again, no pressure to reply 🙂
@Sophie in Denmark, actually no, and I’m in no way taken aback by your suggestion, so don’t worry. I think it’s just a quirk. I’m moderately familiar with both ADHD and autism, and while this and my serious twitchiness around lots of people do kind of align with that, practically nothing else does. I don’t think I’m any more or less neurodivergent than any other typical, unique human. And thank you for the suggestion/concern. It’s very kind of you.
@Karen., I'm glad. I think if anything else, tips for managing time blindness for autistism and adhd can be helpful even if you don't have it. I am on the autism spectrum and didn't know for years because I didn't fit the 'typical' profile.
Glad you're not going corporate America re: planning. I've been in the same career for 46 years (and still a few to go before Medicare time). I bite my tongue at the latest and greatest "way I should work" BS that emanates from the safe cocoon of the ever changing upper management. Truth be told, I've dealt with all the "methodologies" at least once during my career. To quote Project Runway "one day you're in, one day you're out". I figure out how to make the latest hare brained rules work for me and my team. Flying under the radar is my specialty.
So whatever works for you, works for you. And I'm with you - paper. I do live and die by reminders for meetings at work. But IMHO, you can't go wrong with paper. Not dependent on the internet, cell service, software of any kind - aka NO TECH. Generations did just fine thank-you-very-much without digital everything in their lives. The day our microwave that displayed "enjoy your meal" died was a happy day for me lol.
1982, I remember the year distinctly (besides being the year I got married). Heard the words "paperless society". I laughed then, I am still laughing. Paper will never go away.
Fun Discussion! I use my iphone calendar on my phone as my place where all my things are stored as it can pull in my work calendar (outlook) that has meetings/appointments/deadlines, my personal google calendar, and my family calendar that I share with my spouse.
I use paper for daily to do lists and when I am feeling anxious/too much to do, I do a dump on paper or in my phone and then put an entry on a date to do the activity/task.
I have a VERY cute paper planner but I have not used it enough to justify the expense. I use it more like.... a planning exercise, but don't keep updating through the week or month, so I think I will just grab one from the dollar tree this year to use for that purpose.
We do have a busy schedule with social plans, two jobs, family obligations/plans, personal goals/hobbies, etc. and I am sure it will only get busier once my little is older, but I really value open space in our calendar and try to practice minimalism where possible with obligations (in addition to just possessions).
My big requirements for to do lists:
1) they must be on paper
2) I "mark them off" using a highlighter. I love this, because then I can see what I've completed easily, and it's very clear what remains to be done.
I love seeing your planner! Some good ideas there to try. And I love how you cut it up for scrap paper when you're done - how eco friendly. (heart)