Not really. The idea behind this concept isn’t that you don’t check your email. It’s this: don’t check your email first thing. Go ahead and plan your day first. Figure out what items you need to work on. Is today a meal planning day? Laundry? Light cleaning? Deep cleaning? If you do outside work (but from home), what projects do you need to make progress on today in addition to household chores?

There’s so much to do, isn’t there?

If you plan your day before you open your email, you have an idea of what you need to do. And if some emergencies come up in those must-read emails, you can adjust. But if you already have your day planned out, you might not get sucked into a bunch of time-wasting emails. Instead, you can glance through, decide what you need to deal with today, mark the ones that can wait until tomorrow, and then get busy.

You’re immediately more in control of your day. (As much as any of us can be with kids around, right?) When I look at what I have scheduled that day, I know how much time I have to peruse blogs or emails. I don’t get behind by reading a bunch of emails and then realizing I had an appointment, or that I let time get away and I’m suddenly rushing to get everything done.

Give it a try. First thing in the morning, look at your calendar. Plan what you need to do that day. Then open your email and see if your priorities need to change. Then close the email and get to work.

Does checking email in the morning help you plan your day? Or do you immediately feel like you’re behind?

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I have tried to keep things at a particular time, but my son isn’t always tired at naptime. What do you do then? Do you put them down when they’re obviously not tired? In this house, that would entail much wailing, screaming and bouncing in the bed. Yet one hour (or two) later, and there’s a little boy asking to go to bed and nap. I prefer the boy who’s ready to lie down.

I wonder sometimes if this unschedule keeps us flexible or just makes it hard to get things done.

But since it seems I can’t manage to be consistent, an unschedule it will be. Tell me, how do you set a schedule and stick to it? I just can’t seem to make it happen.

While my other calendar works okay, I’m hoping the separate spaces for kid & other items will help me plan my writing and other things a bit better.

By the way, I got it in purple. It’s pretty. Will post pics and more details soon.

A whiteboard, located in a central area, can be a great place to keep track of everyone’s activities. And you can arrange it a variety of ways.

You can list items by family member. Put the coming week’s schedule by person, so you know where everyone is going to be at any point of the week. You can see that this week your son has soccer, followed by a playdate, followed by a big school project. You’ll easily notice that your daughter’s ballet is one night, with a sleepover two nights later.

Listing things by person can be great for seeing each person’s week at a glance. But you can still overschedule yourself by putting things too close together.

In contrast, if you write things down by the day of the week, you can immediately see how your day is shaping up. How many errands do you have that day? How much chauffeuring will you have to do? At least if you write things down by time you’ll know when your schedule is clear. But you’ll have to stop and look closely to see whose activity is when.

Your system can be as simple or as complex as you’d like. You can just write down the day of the week and then list all of the activities, noting whose they are and what time they occur. Or you can color code by family member.

Just make sure that if you color code or do something else a little more complicated, it’s easy to follow. If you make it difficult, you’ll stop using it after a few days or weeks.

Make it easy to use, and write everything down. If you consistently keep track of activities you’ll be less likely to double-book. You can check it in the morning to make sure everyone has what they need for the day.

Of course, it still probably won’t eliminate reminding your family what they need to do. We’re not sure if any calendar or schedule can help with that.

[image: sxc.hu]

But I still use a small weekly planner that I can get at Barnes & Noble.

There are some fabulous mom organizers out there that I hope to review at some point. With only one child at home, though, I don’t find a need for a more elaborate calendar. Yet.

If my projects increase, and the child’s activities increase, then I may need something more robust. But right now it contains everything I need. It can get a little messy when I have a bunch of things going on in a week, with changes and cancelations. Overall, though, it’s simple.

So why paper?

I’m tactile. I like to write down my appointments. It (sorta/ mostly/ sometimes) helps me remember things a little better. It’s much easier to carry everywhere than a laptop is. It’s less complicated than a Palm Pilot or Treo or Blackberry. And I don’t have to remember to charge its batteries.

It’s not fancy, but I can see my week at a glance. I can take it to the doctor’s office and make my future appointments. Same thing at the dentist. Hairdresser. School.

If a friend wants to get together, or I need to meet a client, I can just open it to the right page and look. No scrolling through things, opening a program, or booting up something. If I drop it, it doesn’t break. It only goes out of style every 18 months, and I can replace it at a reasonable cost.

Lots of columns for people and activities, meal planners, and other sections would be nice. But I probably wouldn’t use them anyway. I have good intentions, but it’s more complicated than I need or want right now.

So I use my cute little weekly calendar. It fits in my purse or diaper bag. It works for me. For now. And it’s inexpensive enough that if I want to change it, I can anytime without feeling like I have to stick to something because of its original/ startup costs.

Do you use a paper calendar? Planner? Do you prefer electronic? What mom organizers do you like? What’s currently working for you?

[image: sxc.hu]