Calendars

Many of you have kids that will be going back to school soon. My #1 suggestion is to use an electronic calendar, and my favorite is google calendar! When you receive the school calendar for the year, take the time to sit at your computer right away and enter all the days off, late starts, early outs, conferences, etc. This is a tremendous help later on when things get super busy!

Most people have a smart phone these days, and it is very easy to link your google calendar to your iphone or android. When you are away from home, you can always pull up the calendar on your phone and see what is coming up so you don't overbook.

My favorite tip is to start a different calendar for each family member and use the different colors available so that you can look at a glance and know who has a sports practice or gets out of school early. If you and your spouse both have calendars, share them so you see each other's appointments. Then create one for each child, and share with your spouse. If your kids are old enough, they can start putting things on their own calendars as well.

Use the Settings on each calendar to make a default notifications, like 30 minutes or an hour ahead, or default two notifications.

Using one calendar is key! Having everything showing up on the same calendar, color-coded, works great! You can also print a week or two or month at a time, if you want, and post it on the refrigerator.

Other suggestions:

• Create a menu calendar where you put what you are making for dinner each night. In the notes you can put the whole recipe, or where to find it
• Subscribe to sports calendars
• Some schools, churches and organizations may have a gcal or ical link you can subscribe to, which puts the events right on your calendar for you!

When you make a reservation, put it right on your calendar with the text of the information in the notes. Then when you go to the hotel or flight, you will have the confirmation #, phone # and address right with you!