As the new year gets going, I find myself drawn to my calendar. I love, love, love my calendar. It fills me with excitement, and sometimes it fills me with dread, but at least I always know what to expect.I love the care and maintenance of our calendar. Here are my routines.
I vary when it comes to placing weekly activities on the calendar. My husband is not a calendar person, and I am. I know my daughter’s weekly schedule and I know mine, but often he’s left out of the loop. Having a weekly
calendar on your paper or online calendar helps all members of the family know what’s going on.
I also like to schedule things like potential play times with friends. When you work outside the home, it can be hard to schedule these things, especially if your work schedule changes weekly as mine does. I make a note of the days that work for us, and I write those on our calendar so that I can see whether we’re available by glancing at the calendar.
I place monthly commitments on the calendar so that I don’t forget about them when I am planning other things. That’s easy to do!
We have lots of doctors’ appointments. While that’s unfortunate, what’s equally difficult is the scheduling. Many of these appointments require referrals from another doctor, or they need to be booked a year in advance. I keep track of these appointments and put reminders on my calendar to book them – well in advance!
Who’s forgotten a birthday? Ok, put your hands down. Every year, I place birthdays and other special events on our calendar, along with reminders to get cards and gifts. That way, I don’t make that terrible social mistake!
I like to schedule our vacation times early. Since my workplace plans about 6 months in advance, this means that I’ve already booked my summer holidays. This prevents me from having to take off early from my vacation to go back to work!
I also schedule times off during the year. My most important time off is during the Christmas season. Every year, I take a week off during the end of November or early December. During this week, I get ready for the season and bake cookies. Lots and lots of cookies. This gives me a gentle beginning to the Christmas season, and it’s become a ritual that I really value.
Over the last few weeks, you may have considered some changes that you’d like to make in the new year. For me, these often involve spending more time with my family. To make sure that I am living up to these commitments, I try to create a weekly schedule that reflects them. Sometimes I do this on a separate piece of paper, so I don’t clutter our existing calendar. If it’s exercise or something else the needs to happen at a particular time, onto the calendar it goes!
I like to place things on the schedule. I’ll do this for a few months at a time. For example, at the moment I’ve got a standing date with my aunt to go tobogganing one of these Sundays, as soon as our local mountains aren’t sodden. And I’ve already planned some skiing times with my dad while my daughter is going to her skiing lessons. This prevents me from thinking, “Oh, it would have been nice to invite so-and-so along for this event!” I’ve already invited them!
How do you manage your calendar?
Image Credit: [rdragan79]