Calendars are a pretty awesome way to keep organized! Keeping organized is great self care because it helps you feel less stressed knowing what is happening and when it is happening. I have several typed of calendars I use for different purposes in my life. I will go into those more later. For those who want to get started themselves, there are many options for calendars to choose from. Choose what works well for you for what you are using it for.
Some Types Of Calendars
- The typical wall calendar – you know the ones that get gifted at Christmas or that businesses give away with their advertising on it.
- Smart phone calendar – This one probably goes everywhere with you. If you haven’t tried this feature out on your phone, you really should. It’s incredibly useful and can even be set to remind you of events before they happen.
- Dry Erase or Chalk Board calendar – These are great for weekly activities that you want to be able to adjust each week.
- Calendar Books – These can come in several sizes ranging from purse size to desk top size. They also can have the two page spreads organized as a monthly calendar or as a weekly calendar.
- Printable Calendar – Many sites on the internet will allow you to print out a calendar. Some you might enjoy are eprintable, Landee, or The Suburban Mom.
- Bullet Journal Calendar – These are one of the most wanted this year! You create your own calendar for whatever use you want in this.
Now that you know of so many ways to access a calendar, you are probably wondering what you can organize with a calendar. If you can assign something a date and/or time than you can organize it into a calendar! Most people are familiar with the family activity calendar where you post a calendar where everyone can see it and put their activities on it. I keep a wall calendar hanging in my kitchen for that purpose. You can also use calendars for meal planning, your work/school projects, home school/college schedule, chore schedule, reward charts, habit trackers, and your self care plans.
5 Ways I Use A Calendar
- I have a wall calendar posted for family members to write their activities on. This is a great way for everyone to share the information especially when you have teens making their own plans.
I use a calendar on my cell phone. It is perhaps the most important calendar in my household now. If the activity isn’t on it, then I’m not guaranteed to make it happen. It’s where everything I have to get everyone (family & friends) to is entered to avoid double booking myself. Everyone around me knows if it’s not on the cell phone calendar, it’s not happening!
I use a book calendar for my work stuff. It’s great for posting what I plan to do every day and check marking off when I complete each task!
I use a bullet journal for work as well. I’m using it as a habit tracker to remind me of the many ways to interact on social media. The dates are across the top of the chart and I can color in my interactions each day. It’s great when you look at it and discover that you forgot one social media, so you can go to that social media and do some interactions there.
I use some blank weekly calendar sheets I found at a dollar store to plan my families suppers for each week. It really takes a lot of stress off of the day when you aren’t worried about what to eat for supper. It also saves time when you plan ahead and don’t have to run out last minute for ingredients.
One final tip from my daughter on using calendars is to use wasabi tape to color code things. You can use different colors for each member of the family, each type of activity, each meal of the day, each social media you use for work, etc. I love my calendars. What will you use a calendar to organize?
