There’s something about a new year and a new calendar. My main calendar is in Outlook on my computer, synced to my phone. I won’t give up the computer calendar, especially with the phone, because I can always look up dates when making an appointment and check its availability. I also like that I can set reminders of little things, like turn off the water outside or a website that I wanted to look up. The reminder feature on my phone is set for a type of gong. The first time I heard that sound I was driving and kept wondering if my car was doing something strange! I’ve adjusted since. With all the wonderfulness of computer calendars and reminders, I still like a paper calendar. I like to make to-do lists, jot down things I want to get done at some point in the week or month. During the short time that I sewed for a living, I started using an appointment book that had every 30 minutes blocked out, in the hope that I could organize myself. That’s still my preferred method of organizing my day, which may seem redundant to those of use who were born organized. For 2011, I bought a new kind of calendar book. It is called At-A-Glance Quick Notes. So far, I am loving this calendar! Here’s the way the right side of the page looks. 
The yellow part is for notes, which, so far, seems to work with the way my brain works. I can jot things down and plug them into the appropriate day or time frame to get it done. I’ve even been jotting down things of interest to me as I read the morning paper. (We’ll see how that part goes when I want to find that again.) I also like that Sunday is a full day, not just a partial day. Of course, to get all of those columns, some writing space had to be given up in each column, but I think I can live with that. Now, I just have to actually LOOK at the calendar each day!
I love hearing how people organize themselves. Anybody want to share?
I use a low-tech but portable 5″ x 8-1/2″ month at a glance calendar. When you teach or take a class at Sievers, they always give you one for the next year. Just a few lines for each date. Other stuff goes on my master to-do list. Stuff for the day or week goes on index cards. Stuff for next crisis gets written on the back of my left hand, where I can’t misplace it!
I love hearing how other people not only work, but manage their lives. Have to admit that I never have written on my hand (probably deep-seated childhood upbringing), and in a crisis, I probably wouldn’t be able to find a pen anyway. I may try the index cards, especially now that I’m actually going to try and plan meals for a couple of weeks. Another “resolution” that never lasts long around here. Index cards could be carried around in my pocket, right?
I use index cards when I travel, much more portable than a travel book. I couldn’t live without a calendar, and some years I make my own….I don’t want anything too big, but need enough space to write my appointments for each day. My To Do lists go on scrap paper but sometimes I end up with 3 different pieces of paper with messy lists all over them, then I have to consolidate….
One of the things I love about having a “smart” phone is that the calendar goes with me. I can make appts w/o worry. I also set reminders to myself to look something up when I get home, or take notes for later. I have also been using a program called Evernote, that syncs. But I may have to experiment more with index cards!