I am going to experiment with calendaring as an organizational tool.  I've done this in the past, and when I stick to it, it works very well.

Lately, though, I've been slacking and falling behind. That has led to missed appointments and forgotten dates. Many days, I have to check over my toolbar on the computer to figure out what day it is. I've been putting EVERYTHING in my Outlook, but now that I'm not working, I don't have my Outlook open every day.

In the past, my Mom bought me a Franklin planner. I had everything in there. But eventually, paper became my clutter bug, and I actually lost my planner. Not THAT big of a deal, because it was torn to shreds with adding and removing pages, addresses, etc. That lasted about 6 years.

Then I moved to the Palm Pilot organization system. The problem was that it was difficult to write in my appointments when I was on the go, and it was often difficult to synch with my computer. Right now, it serves as a glorified MP3 player. Don't tell hubby.

I tried Google calendaring, as well. That's been pretty decent, but honestly, I don't like having things out in the public domain that have to do with my family's comings and goings. YES you can make the calendar private, but how completely foolproof is that, really?  It is great for the small reminders, though. Especially because it sends reminders to my cell phone. I have one "master" calendar that reminds me of appointments, but that's about it.

I have also tried those dry erase calendar boards (and the less environmentally friendly paper desk calendars). Those were very effective, except I felt guilty for killing trees. Also, with the dry erase, by the end of the month, it's a scribbled mess.

It seems I need some kind of mix between computerized and written calendars.  I think I may have created a system.  I'm going to make a template that will run on my computer automatically. Whenever I have an appointmen, I will write it in there. Then, on Sunday night, I will print a monthly calendar, as well as a weekly calendar, and hang it in the kitchen, by the door. That way, we can add things in writing on the monthly calendar, and have a weekly reminder of what's going on.  And since it's in template form, I can add an event I know is coming up next month, etc.  I'll try it out here for a few weeks, and if it works for me, I'll share it with you!