Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Day 14: Use A Calendar

We've made it to Day 14 of 31 Days of Decluttering and Organizing! 

Let's talk about calendars today. 

I actually still have a paper calendar that I buy every year. In fact, I think now I might buy them more for the pictures than the dates! I don't write on it as much as I once did. I now opt for digital versions. The dates are still important and handy to have right at a glance when talking to someone on the phone about an appointment for example. When does the 14 fall this month? Is that a Monday? A simple glance tells all.


I use my Yahoo calendar the most. When my daughter's school sent home the school calendar, I made sure to type in all the important dates. And most of them remind me by email at least two days ahead of time of the event. If my husband tells me the dates he will be out of town traveling, I put those in. 

I've found that digital calendars can be used to remind of us of all kinds of things, such as to change the furnace filter regularly. We change them every two months in this house. A reminder every two months by email is VERY helpful to remember to do that task. I also have a calendar reminder to check our credit reports every four months with a note about which credit bureau to request one from. Again, I use my Yahoo calendar for these. Yahoo emails me. I keep that email in my Inbox until I complete the task. 

I've probably mentioned this on the blog in the past, but I use a calendar as a way to remember chores I need to do somewhat regularly. The sheets on our bed are done twice per month. I decided a couple years ago to mentally link this with payday for my husband. He is paid on the first and fifteenth. I decided those would be the days to wash all bed sheets. And I really do try to get them done on or as close to those dates as possible. I have also mentally have linked Friday's with the day to wash towels. No particular reason, but since I have done that it is more of a habit. I have one more that I'm still working on, and that is to shred receipts on the first of the month. If I shred one month's worth of receipts it takes me five minutes or less. If I wait until I have a stack of several month's then it takes longer and feel like much more of a chore. I'm not perfect at this one yet, but I'm getting better. 

I'd like to get to the point where I have more tasks that I am reminded of by using a calendar, either by email or mentally having linked them to a particular date or day of the week. I'm not sure yet what those might be. I'm thinking of adding some seasonal tasks to a particular month might be good. For example, it is November and our ceiling fans are off for the season...time to dust! And the reminders don't have to be about cleaning. They could be something fun like mailing cards to your best friend each month. 

Do you use a calendar to keep your life organized? Do you use digital or paper versions? Both? Do you mentally link certain tasks with calendar dates or days of the week?

1 comment:

  1. Yes, to this whole post! I need a calendar (or, well, a planner) to keep myself on task. Certain things are done on certain days, and the only way I'll actually keep with it is if I have somewhere to actually keep track of it! The only task that's really tied to a specific day (that I've set up for myself, that is) is groceries - which is a Monday. It's changed days in the past, and my brain manages to keep up with it, but I'm also writing it in my planner for Mondays! I'm using a cleaning calendar this month, so I'm hoping that I'll get to a point where certain chores are attached to certain days, but we'll see how it goes!

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