Monday, October 20, 2014

Organizing -- Day 10

Today I'm going to love on my calendar, just a little bit.

I am a paper planner/calendar gal.  Yes, I have a smart phone permanently attached to my hand.  Yes, I live on my computer.  I've tried all sorts of digital calendars, but paper is the only thing that works for me.  My little green planner is my BFF and I would be lost without it.

A few weeks ago, I bought my 2015 planner pages.  I was geekily excited about it.

Today, I actually opened the package and started using my new pages.  Squee!!!!

The first thing I did was write all birthdays on the calendar in bright pink ink.  Every time I open my calendar, I will see loved ones' birthdays and know to plan gifts, cards, and visits.  I will also know not to schedule any work on the weekend of a very important person's very important first birthday!


I have an entire list of birthdays on a single sheet of paper.  I keep this updated and filed in my tickler file in the October folder so I remember to do this each year.

After all of the birthdays are noted, I then transfered any confirmed quilt shows and doctor appointments onto the calendar.  I keep 5 years of "future planning" single calendar pages in my book so that I will know not to agree to teach at two quilt shows at the same time!

The last thing I did was to pencil in any quilt shows that I think I will be attending.  They don't get re-written in ink until there is a contract, plane ticket, or hotel booking.  The pencil marks help me know not to schedule a dental appointment during Houston Quilt Festival or AQS Lancaster.  This saves me so much time on the phone, re-booking appointments that overlap quilt shows.

Now my calendar is ready and I feel like I can handle life again!

How does this help me quilt?  Every time I check my calendar (daily), I am reminded of upcoming birthdays and what presents need to be finished by which dates.  I usually miss those deadlines, but this way I'm only a little late instead of "You had a birthday?" late.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

I went from paper to digital - but I think I need to do a dual system - because only digital is just not working totally. I hate it that I can't pull up and see a full month/week on my phone in little boxes like an old fashioned calendar. My brain can't make the jump.

Kathy@KayakQuilting said...

Love your system! I start with a digital calendar and then print it out!