In the mid-90's everyone started using a Day Planner. I could never get used to that 'Franklin' system, although I know of others who still swear by it.

I know I need calendaring but I, too, could not come up with a good system.

I have had my Palm Pilot for about 2 or 3 years but never really used calendaring. I started using it this summer and it worked well, to have all details of any meeting or event in one central place.

The trick is, I HAVE to get in the habit of putting the event in there the minute I get word of the event. And that is a habit I am trying to get better at. I made a doc appointment yesterday for later this week and I still have not typed it into my Palm :-)

But when I *do* use it the way it was intended, it seems to work great for me!

I have sort of 3, all paper. One in my backpack (the multiyear one that Jamie got me), a work one on the wall at the office (where I mark off deadline time & freelancer bookings), and a big one on the front of the china cabinet at home, for family events.

I haven't gotten electronic yet. At work, I don't usually have meetings throughout the day, so I haven't gotten used to using the electronic calendar in Notes.

I like the paper, plus the big wall calendar means 1) it doesn't move around, so everyone always knows where it is; 2) all of us can look at it and write on it, at any time (that we're home, of course).

I couldn't give up the paper. Are you organized enough at home that you could transfer stuff from the paper to the electronic once or twice a week?

I do find that "work" and "home" are OK to be separate, for me. Any home thing that affects work (doctor appts that I have to leave early for, for example) gets written at work (and sometimes at home, but not always).

I use Outlook all the time. Trouble is, for the longest time I didn't use the snooze on the reminders, and accidentally dismissed the reminders. That WAS a problem. I missed a few appointments at first. I think I've got it down now, though, and it's very helpful.

Wendy

I would be lost without my daytimer. Everything in my life, personal and business, goes in it. If I every lost it I would be sunk.

I also have a palm pilot that I rarely use. Just too used to my daytimer, I guess.

And, I have a big calander on the fridge that has personal information on it. Doctors appts., kids' work schedules, that type of stuff on it. It is more for the kids' use than mine, but I still put all my personal stuff on it, just in case my day timer is a work or in the car.

Rose

I generally have three - all paper. One at work, sits on my desk, week-at-a-glance type. *All* of my appts, meetings, work scheduling, personal appts, etc get written on that, because I make most of my appts. from work, even personal ones. And for some reason, as long as I write it down *somewhere*, I will remember it - at least long enough to write it down at home.

I have a small dayrunner in my purse that I was using for awhile, but it's fallen by the wayside, and I think I'm going to go back to just a very small pocket calendar like I got Tally Sue for my purse...I do use it for hair appts, and vet appts, but I'm really bad about checking back in it - I think because it's *too* comprehensive (not just a calendar). But then again, I use the address book quite a bit, so not sure if I want to give that up either...might have to get a separate little address book for my purse just for phone numbers.

Then at home, I've been going *nuts* this month because I had to clean off my fridge, but normally, I have a monthly calendar hanging on the fridge that I write all my personal appts on as well, plus birthdays for that month, holidays, when cards need to be mailed out, etc. I go through and put all the birthdays for the year in that one (the squares are blank, so I write in the months/days and it's a tear-off type calendar with enough pages for 2 yrs). It works for me in the kitchen, because I spend a lot of time there, so it reminds me every night before bed what's going on the next day, and again the next morning first thing.

I know it would probably make more sense to just have one, but then for me, it would have to be a fairly decent sized one (I like big writing spaces), so it would be a pain to haul it around everywhere. And I generally won't go to the effort of opening a calendar at home - it's quicker to just glance at the fridge. The one at work is always open to the current week, so I'm lazy with that one as well...I guess I'm just too lazy to be *that* organized. LOL

I think for me, everything needs to be in one place, ie work/family/volunteer entries. Because my work schedule is somewhat flexible, I do have things that happen during work hours. And vice versa; I"ve got a few events at work that run early (Homecoming breakfast) or late (Entrepreneurship Dinner Forum) and so on. It also helps me to have things like birthdays and so on in the same place as my calendar appointments because I check it so often. What I like about the paper system is, it shows me my time in a weekly format-so it's really easy to quickly see, for example, if Thursday is a terrible day to cram in one more thing (given a choice) or if Monday is free and clear etc.

My husband keeps our son's shooting commitments on a wall calendar that lives in the kitchen. I do check that to see if they are in town, since they travel one weekend monthly at least and much more often in the summer. Otherwise though, everything needs to live in one place. As convenient as the online calendar is, I don't think I can give up my paper planner. It's just too important to not only have the portability but the easy-view format.

Thanks for the feedback and I really do find it interesting how all of us try to stay organized!

Ann

A few years ago we bought this awesome calendar that hangs on the fridge - it's very large, magnetic backed, has a corkboard along the bottom (holds papers we need for upcoming events), a white board (great for grocery lists), and a large replaceable calendar - we buy a new refill every November. I like this system because everyone in the family can look at it and know what's going on for the day. We picked this up at Office Depot - it's a life saver for us!

My Palm is the best calendar I've ever had. Complete with an address book, space for memos, my grocery list, car expenses, downloaded travel guides, lots of statutes and case law I need for work, a few games, a calculator, mini versions of Word, Excel and Quicken, and a place to store pictures of my family to show to friends.

One thing I love about the calendar is the you can sort items by work, family, friends, birthdays, etc.

I am definitely a computer person, and it works well for me. I don't have any other backup, excepting the downloaded version on my desktop. And I back that up to disk.

Most people I work with have a PDA. Some, like me, are comfortable with entering items directly into the calendar, but others print a few months of the calendar, write in the items, and transfer it to the PDA.

I can't imagine ever going back to a paper calender.

I have a PDA that I use. It hooks up to my computer. I can type things directly in my palm or onto my computer. I do whatever is easiest at the time. I use paper to take the odd note or something but that is it. I combine everything in one place.

Ginger

I'm old-fashioned. I have ONE big family calendar hanging on our kitchen wall. (It's the one that FlyLady sells, but it's also available in retail stores.) I've tried everything else, and this is what ended up working best.

Sheryl

I'm like Rose - I would be lost without my DayTimer. Everything is in there.

At work I use outlook but only for work meeting reminders.
I also have an At-a-Glance that I record daily tasks because I have to provide monthly reports to my customer.
I guess I could use my computer but I have to have paper and pencil.

And, I keep a calendar in a kitchen cabinet for reference and keep general information on it. Like water filter changes, pet appointments, appliance repairs, etc. I put some of our personal appointments on it for the benefit of other family members.

I'm with Sheryl - one big calendar next to the door that everyone can see.

It seems like there should be a way to print out each month's calendar as a back up. I'd be worried about losing things, too! Plus, for me, it's out of sight, out of mind. I'd probably delete & ignore the reminders and never look at the calendar online :)

I just found the 2005 version of my favorite "large" family calendar and it was half off! So once again I will use ONE calendar to write everything on, in a very visible spot in our kitchen. Now when the kids say, "On Tuesday I have a..." I stop them and say, "Write it on the calendar!"

Sheryl

I was harassed (friendly) at work for resisting moving from my paper based system to Palm Pilot, which the company bought for us. After resisting for 2 years, I gave in...and will never go back to paper. It's so portable, and when you can sync at home and work (not that I currently have work) it's simple to keep all accesses up to date. I even keep personal lists like household measurements (e.g. AC filters) and new products that I want to try.

Two years ago, I, too, had to be coerced into using a Palm Pilot. I do love it. It is SO handy. And I use it regularly.

Having said that  I also love paper calendars, planners, etc. We have one central family calendar in the kitchen which I fill in at the beginning of each month. But, since schedule changes come via email, changes are made on the Palm application on the desktop (then synched). Each week I print an updated "weekly view" and post it in the kitchen. I donÂt think the former teacher in me will allow me to give up some sort of paper planner.

But having a Palm Pilot at my finger tips has been very useful  especially with storing information. Just an example: I used to copy, paste and print recipes "to try". These papers accumulated into a small pile and the recipes were rarely used. Now, I copy a recipe into the Palm application in a memo called "Recipes to Try". If while grocery shopping I decide IÂd like to try a new recipe, I have the ingredients at my finger tips. Then, I print out the recipe. If we enjoy it, I file it into a page protector/cookbook, with any notes/changes I made. I then also re-file the recipe on the Palm application to "Recipes to Keep" for future use. That is one example of the benefit of a PDA.

It is also useful for measurements for home decorating, books I want to read, directions to various places, storing the many "phone chains" for the kids various activities, schedules, school info., gift ideas, songs to download, etc.

I donÂt find it really useful for daily "To Do lists. I like to write those out. I also donÂt usually set any "alarm" functions. I also wouldnÂt use a downloadable feature called HandyShopper (for grocery shopping) because unless it can scan current circulars or clip coupon, I wouldnÂt work for me.

But overall, it is a great gadget to have  if not for anything else than storing information to have at your fingertips.

Maura :-)

Oh, and sometimes if I'm running out to karate, piano, to catch a train, etc, I might copy and paste an entire thread into the Memo feature of the Palm to read "on the road"

:-)

I have a Palm Pilot & love it. I can keep everything on it. It shows me blocks of time during the day that I have things scheduled. If I have, say, a meeting & a doctor's appt, it blocks off the time I have scheduled for those & shows me the available time between. I also keep a shopping list, organized by store, my To Do list, & household info like window measurements, etc.

Greta

I used to use several & found that it was more disorganized that way. I keep mine on a Word file which I make up at the begining of the year & then make changes to it daily. It includes not only appts., functions & activities but also my daily to do list so everything is in 1 place. At the begining of each month I glance the month & then at the beginning of each wk I glance the wk to see what's coming up. I'd be at a lost without my computer. I had purchased a PDA but didn't like that it wouldn't accomodate my phone directory as I have it set up by category so I returned it.

Michie