How to use a calendar to keep your household organized
I never used to be a big proponent of calendars. I hated writing things down because I often made changes that caused my calender to become messy and unreadable. Then one day I read an article in a magazine and all that changed. I don’t remember the specific magazine, but the photos of other people’s actual calendars inspired me to try something I had never thought to try before.
You see, I had always used a pen. Once I began using a pencil, and only a pencil, I found that I actually quite liked using a calendar. Nothing is permanent, nothing requires Liquid Paper. All I need is my pencil with eraser and I have everything I need to keep a useful, working calendar.
These days I use a calendar software program. Because I want my entire family to have access to the calendar, I prefer a stand-alone program, independent of my email or other personal communications.
I use Sunbird now, but I’ve only recently converted from Windows Calendar, and before that Google Calendar. If you have a very internet savvy household, Google Calendar is a great option. Your kids can have their own calendars and share events or tasks with your household calendar.
Since my children are too young to keep up with their own calendars right now, and my husband still doesn’t see the need for a family calendar, I keep up with everything, and I enjoy using Sunbird as my calendar.
Unless you’re around your computer a lot, I suggest you go with the printed calendar. My personal preference has always been a weekly view.
How to make a calendar work for your household
Let’s start with the paper calendar. If you don’t have a calendar, but would like to be able to print calendar pages, I have a template you can print from. This monthly calendar template doesn’t have the dates, so you’ll need to write them in, but it prints nicely on an regular 8.5 x 11 inch piece of paper.
Here’s how you can make a calender work for you. Not only will it help you stay ahead of household tasks, it will help you keep up with household events and family members’ appointments.
What you should put in your household calendar
- Add timed events
- Add scheduled recurring tasks and any other tasks you need reminders for
Add dated and timed events
These events have set dates and times that are usually out of your control, be it your child’s sports events and practices, or appointments for your household members. These events can’t be easily shuffled around, unlike your tasks.
Add scheduled recurring tasks and any other tasks for which you need reminders
Some organizational gurus suggest you never include tasks on a calendar because the tasks can be moved around and shouldn’t be assigned to specific dates. However, for a household calendar to effectively guide you as you try to get your household tasks done, your schedule is the perfect place to keep them.
Precede each task with empty check boxes or circles, so you can mark the task as complete. Using a pencil overcomes the issues of moving things around, as does using arrows –> instead of check marks to indicate that a task has been rescheduled instead of completed. Of course, reschedule as soon as you place an arrow through the box so you don’t forget!
Adding your tasks to your calendar also allows you to assign certain tasks to family members and then remember who did it last. This heads off arguments between your kids and can motivate them to get their chores done because they’ll quickly learn it’s no use arguing with Mom’s calendar!
Things to include on your calendar
- Family members’ appointments
- Doctor appointments
- School events & school holidays
- Work events
- Laundry days (see my article Staying Ahead of Dirty Laundry: 5 days to an empty laundry room for suggestions)
- Auto maintenance schedule
- Household maintenance schedule
This might seem like a lot to keep in one calendar, but having it all in one place really does make things easier to keep up with.
If you choose to use a calendar on your computer, you can segregate your tasks and events into groupings and create separate calendar views for each group. I do this. I keep calendars for household, personal, work, auto, and school. I keep all the calendars “on” most of the time so I see everything, but I can turn off any that I want, to eliminate distractions when I need to concentrate on getting tasks done for one particular group, such as household or work.
Give it a try and see if this doesn’t help you keep your household running more efficiently.
Calendars to try
- Mom’s Plan-It 2009 Softcover Engagement Calendar
- Mom’s Plan-It 2009 Desk Calendar
- Mom Organizer 2009 Pocket Wall Calendar
- Little Helper 2009 Planner
- Family Organizer 2009 Pocket Wall Calendar
If you have any tips for keeping your household calendar organized and up to date, consider sharing them in the comments.
January 6th, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I like the idea of having one printed calendar with all your stuff on there, so I printed out a blank calendar template with nothing but the numbers in them. Then I printed it out on 16 sheets (4×4) to make a humongous master wall calendar. I schedule our chores and chore switches for days 1-7th, 8-15th, etc. This way, I can just use the same calendar month after month. When I need to customize it for the current month, I can just write the date on it. I can put monthly chores on there and even seasonal ones by just noting the month name in any given square. So for example if I do windows once a month, I might write it on the 8th square. Then on the 8th of each month, I wash windows. And of course, I pencil everything in…..just sharing…