If you crave more organisation in your life but aren’t sure where to start, the good news is that the humble calendar is going to be a bigger asset th
If you crave more organisation in your life but aren’t sure where to start, the good news is that the humble calendar is going to be a bigger asset that you might realise when it comes to organising your time and keeping track of things. While most of us today will have a calendar that we carry around with us in our pockets on our smartphones, how often do you actually open it and use it? For most people, it is more useful to have a physical calendar that can be hung in the kitchen or another high-traffic area in the home where they will see it every day and easily be able to jot down events and other things to remember on it as soon as they know. Along with this, a physical calendar can be useful for families and couples since it is hung somewhere in the house that everybody goes – after all, no matter how organised you are when it comes to using the digital calendar on your phone, that one is only accessed by you. If you are interested in learning more about the basics of using a calendar to get your life or your family’s life more organised, here are some of the best things to do.
Choosing a Calendar
While getting any old calendar from the supermarket or a gift shop at the end of the year will work, there are some types and designs that are going to work better than others. You might find that a slim calendar that has more space for writing next to each date works better for you compared to a grid calendar where it can be difficult to write multiple things to remember on each date. Some calendars come with other options like a shopping list section for the month or a place to put your to-do list, which can make it easier to stay organised with everything that you need in one place. While it’s not necessary, you might like a calendar that is personal to you, and creating one also gives you more freedom over the layout and design. You can make a personalised calendar using your photos at Photobox. Personalised calendars from Photobox come with a few different layout options to choose from and the option to add a picture or several pictures per month, making it a great way to display your family photos at the same time as getting more organised. Simply head to the website or download the app to get started with your design.
Using Your Calendar to Stay Organised – Top Tips
Many people get a calendar and hang it up at the beginning of the year with lots of good intentions about staying organised, only to find that it’s March and the calendar is still opened to January – oops. So, to avoid this, keep the following tips in mind to help you get into the habit of using your calendar for organisation:
- Place the calendar somewhere that is easy to see and easy to reach. If it’s out of the way, you might forget that it’s there.
- Keep a pen near your calendar, or even better, get one with a pen holder so that you can immediately write anything important on it.
- As soon as you get your calendar, fill it out with any important dates for the year such as birthdays, school holidays, etc.
- Make a habit of checking the calendar every day – even if you don’t have anything listed for the day, this will help you avoid forgetting to look on the days that you do.
What Can You Track with a Calendar?
Using a calendar is a simple way to organise your life as you can use it to track pretty much anything that might be happening on any given day. Many people use calendars to track birthdays, weddings, christenings, and other special occasions, and this can be a good place to start when filling out your calendar as the last thing that you want is to forget these dates or double-book them for something else. When using your calendar to organise your life, you can also track:
Tasks
If there’s something that you need to do on a certain day or before a certain day, then add it to your calendar. If your calendar is somewhere that is easy to see in an area of your home that you go to a lot like the kitchen, then this is going to be an everyday reminder of what you need to get done, which can help you to prioritise your tasks and avoid taking on too much.
Reminders
Another item that you can add to your calendar to get your life more organised is reminders. This could include deadlines, tasks that don’t have a specific timeframe, or ‘save the date’ events. Anything that you need to do, but can do at any point during the day, week, or even the month can be added to the calendar to help you avoid forgetting about it, especially when it comes to things that might be less of a priority compared to others.
Appointments
Most people who use a calendar also find it useful for tracking appointments. From parents evening at school to dentist appointments, doctors’ appointments, job interviews and anything else that you need to do at a certain date and on a certain time, adding them to your calendar will help you keep track and help you avoid that dreaded feeling of waking up in the morning only to remember that you have an appointment in an hour’s time that you’ve forgotten about.
How Using a Calendar for Organisation Can Benefit You
Using a calendar to organise your time and track the things that you need to do can benefit you in a range of different ways. By keeping track of everything in your calendar and keeping it in a place that you see every day, you can avoid procrastinating and find it easier to prioritise what you need to do first based on the order of importance or when the task needs to be completed by. Along with this, using a calendar will help you remember all those things that can be easy to forget – after all, the human brain only has so much capacity to remember things. You may also find that your family gets more organised as a result of using a calendar as if everybody follows your example when it comes to getting into the habit of checking it every day, you will probably find that you’re not reminding people of things quite as often as it’s right there in front of them on the calendar. Finally, using a calendar that has other capabilities like shopping lists and to-do lists can make your life even easier by allowing you to easily get things out of your head and down on paper, making everything run much more smoothly in your household.
If you feel like you are always remembering a hundred things at once, constantly reminding your family about things and struggling to keep track of everything you need to do, getting a physical calendar in your kitchen can be more beneficial than you might realise.
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