After recently discussing multiple subjects that skirt around it… I’m finally there… to the day when I talk about organizing your family calendar. Now this may seem a little odd since we don’t have kids yet, but there is no time like the present to start a habit that will carry on and prove to be useful in the future when we do have kids with busy schedules.
In addition to your planner that I’ve recommended you buy, you also need a dry erase whiteboard calendar for the week. (Not for the month… there’s too much to write and the spaces are too small, so it’s a waste of money because you won’t end up using it even tho you intend to…) I have a weekly calendar from Pottery Barn that has the days of the week already printed on it, and then it divides each day by Breakfast Lunch and Dinner sections. Here’s how I put this to use:
I not only write the meal plan on each day in one color, but I put events and appointments on there in another color. If it’s an event such as a special birthday it’s one color and goes at the top b/c it lasts all day, and appointments I need to go to are in another color, and are written in the box that best fits their time of day, and I write the time with it.
Imagine how great this system would be for a family of four with kids that go to gymnastics, soccer, karate, and swim lessons, for example. Use a different color for each kid, and put the appointments in order in the box based on when they will occur in the day. The important thing is to keep the calendar rolling. Each morning part of your routine becomes to erase the day before and add the next one. For example today, Wednesday, I would erase Tuesday the 12th and put up Tuesday the 19th. I check my planner for events, but then this also makes it easy when a friend calls last minute for lunch to glance at the board and see what appointments I’ve got going on tomorrow at 11:30 when she wants to meet… and I don’t have to pull out the planner.
Then put your white board in a central location where everyone in the family knows about it. Then anyone can easily check to see what’s for dinner tonight, or when their recital is Thursday night. This is where you broadcast “date night” and “family game night” as well. If it’s happening in the family, it goes on the calendar. Also – for your sanity, have a post-it note pad close to the calendar so that when others want to add events they can jot it on a post-it and you can add it to the calendar. ONE set of handwriting is easier to read, and also you can make sure you are consistent with your color coding, etc, where others might not.
As always, it’s only a suggestion… but it works for us! :)
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