Last fall, in my attempt to be more organized, I ambitiuosly bought a calendar whiteboard and added my schedule, my kids' activities and my husband's work schedule - all cutesily color-coded, too. It worked great - while it lasted. It's still quietly hanging in my dining room, mostly forgotten, with DECEMBER's activities cheerily posted on it.
In the meantime, I've tried a more electronic means to organize our calendar: Mobile Me, Google Calendars, Outlook. But nothing seems to be working.
Last night, my husband came home with his schedule for the next few weeks - he's in training at his new job. With my morning cup of coffee, I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I updated his google calendar, so at least I have something useful for when I schedule meetings. But this is getting incredibly complicated.
My kids do NOT participate in very many activities, but this scheduling thing is becoming more difficult to maintain. All of my reading about effectivness seems to imply that handling the same pieces information numerous times is inefficient. It also seems rather time consuming to maintain several calendars - a whiteboard, an electronic one, my personal planner.
I'm open to suggestions. I'm curious what works for YOUR family.
If we came up with a perfect solution, we'd be rich! :-) I use Google Calendar because it syncs to my phone. I have my husband's calendar appear as a different color. The kid's activities are mixed into my calendar because I don't need them in a different color since they are my job. If I was working, I'd need a better solution to separate home/kid appts from work appts/deadlines. Let me know when you find it.
ReplyDeleteKristeen, I think you're right. It's incredibly TOUGH to find a great solution to keep it all straight. I have been somewhat resistant to MOMMY calendars. But I'm starting to see the benefit of those, too.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you keep it all straight. You're busier than I am by a longshot.