31 Days to Organization - Day 5: Your Calendar

Happy New Year! January is a time to start fresh...to begin again with a fresh, clean start...so it is only appropriate that January is National Organization Month! And since many people make a New Year's resolution to become more organized, I'll be posting organization tips every day for the month of January.

Day 5 - Choose a Calendar

You only need one calendar or planner to be organized. If you have too many calendars, some information may not be transferred and you could wind up with conflicting appointments.

For most people nowadays, the ideal solution is to keep everything in a storage cloud or an app that can be accessed using all your devices whether it is a computer, tablet or phone. Appointments, lists, addresses, expense reports and more can be accessed and updated from anywhere and everything is kept in sync.

For many other people (myself included), a good old-fashioned paper calendar is the only thing saving them from ultimate chaos. But with so many calendar styles to choose from, which is the right one?

Guinea Pig 2019
"Wheek! ly Planner"

Decide what you need to keep track of. Do you only need to jot down event dates and appointment times for the doctor or dentist? You could probably get away with a simple monthly calendar. There are many different styles and designs to choose from, and this time of year they can be found pretty much everywhere. You could also download a printable monthly calendar from various places online.

Do you have multiple appointments or meetings every day? A daily or weekly planner may work better for you.

Other considerations would be whether you need to keep track of expenses or mileage. Would the addition of an address book be helpful?

Keep in mind that the more information you need to keep track of, the more space you will need to write. Planners can become very bulky if you're not careful in separating you "needs" from your "wants". You may need to go through several different types before finding the one that works best for you.

If you must keep more than one calendar, be sure to sync them on a weekly basis to keep schedule conflicts at bay.