It’s LET’S LOOK!!!
Once a month, Erika and I host a link up where we “look” at little aspects of our lives. If you’re a blogger, make sure you blog and link up!
Here’s what we’ve been “looking” at so far this year…
In January, we looked at the coziest spots in our house
In February, we looked at our favorite reads
In March, we looked at the people in our family!
In April, we looked at our pantries!
In May, we looked at our favorite #OOTD
In June, we looked inside our suitcase
In July, we looked at a day in the life of us.
In August, we looked at shows to binge watch.
And today, we’re looking at OUR CALENDARS!
On my calendar today, it’s SEPTEMBER 11TH which means, it’s Madeley’s 3rd Gotcha Day!!!
If you missed my post yesterday about her special day, you can read it HERE. Also, if you have adopted, are in the process of adopting or are prayerfully considering adoption, please join my adoption Facebook group! It is such a wonderful community filled with people who are so helpful, knowledgeable, encouraging and uplifting. We would love to have you a part of it!
Okay, now we’re looking at our calendars.
I am such a calendar person.
I pretty much have calendars for my calendars.
I like them organized, color coded and typically, not electronic.
I use three calendars every day:
1: My desk calendar.
2: My Google calendar.
3: My Erin Condren planner.
Three?
Yes.
And I use them all.
Let’s start with my desk calendar…
…hahaha! I had to blur it because I didn’t realize until I took a pic of it how many personal things/passwords/logins/etc I had written on there. So, sorry for the blur but at least you get the general idea. I always buy this one (I bet I’ve used this style for like 8 years). It’s just the right size for my desk and allows me to see the month at a glance. On this calendar, I have some bigger events, but not all of the little things. This lets me see the month at a glance and kind of the “bigger” picture throughout the day.
This one is not color coded…but I do keep it “seasonal” with festive stickers and markers. Right now, it’s “fall-ish”.
My second calendar is my Google calendar…
…this is not my actual Google calendar, but one I found online. I only use this calendar for Mix and Match Travel Agency. I put all of the information for all of my clients’ trips on here. I don’t have anything non-MMTA related on here as I don’t want to ever miss something because it’s too busy with other things. When I open my Google calendar, I know that it’s only work-related things, so it keeps it all nice and neat. It’s color coded 🙂 . I put all of my departure trips in green, my balance due dates in red, my excursion reservations in purple and so on. After I “complete” a task, I change it to yellow, so by the end of the month, every single detail is in yellow (as it’s been completed). I love that I can look at my Google calendar on both of my computers and my phone. Plus, I love how I can make myself reminders and then receive them on both my MacBook and my iPhone.
My third calendar is my fave…
…my Erin Condren Life Planner…which indeed holds my life.
Thiiiiis little book has everything in it not work related. So, it’s here that I write down all of our doctors appointments, birthdays, school activities, sports practices, games, church events, play dates, notes, grocery store reminders and on and on and on. I also kind of use it like a journal/diary because I don’t ever throw them away, so I can make little notes about the kids, life and such in the margins and then I always have that next to the date it occurred.
Since my planner has #allthethings in it, I can’t really show you the real pages, so I made some fake pages that way you could get the idea of how I “do” my Erin Condren planner…
…as you can see, it’s color coded. Instead of writing down “Smith’s dentist appointment”, I can just write “dentist” in orange and I know that it’s for Smith. It makes it so helpful on busy Saturdays when we could potentially have four different sporting events, to just be able to put the words “game at 4:00” in purple and know that’s Ashby’s soccer game, etc. Also, when everyone has their own color (mine is green!), I can quickly look at the day and/or week and see who is busy and who isn’t quite so busy. When it’s an even that involves more than one of us, I’ll use an alternate color.
So, over the years, I’ve asked you guys for different apps to use for family calendars, and I’ve never been able to keep up with one because I just love paper and pen so much. Andrew and I just tell each other what we have going on and then we add that to our calendars where applicable. That being said, if you have a new app that you just LOVE that you think will CHANGE MY LIFE, then please feel free to share it! I’m always willing to try something, just as of now, nothing has been able to “stick” with me.
That’s how I calendar, friends. How do you? Is it weird that I’m super curious about the inside of your calendar???? Because I am! Hahaha!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
You’re so organised, Shay! I actually have three calendars too, but I’m not as dedicated to them as you, haha!
–
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Holley@BeeSimplyOrganized.com says
Love this! I’m totally a paper girl too although my husband and I use Google Calendars also. I LOVE planners and feel like I just want to try all of them!!
Erika Slaughter says
I didn’t realize how nosy I am until this post! I love seeing everyone’s calendars!
Sheaffer Sims says
I bet an all yellow calendar gives you a feeling of such accomplishment!
Laura says
I use the Cozi app & love it!!! You can color code by family member, keep up with shared grocery lists etc- it’s great!!!
LaurenK says
I’m a huge fan of the Cozi app too!
Heidi says
I’m another Cozi fan! You can color code by person on the app. But it seriously was a huge help for our marriage. I was starting to get frustrated constantly being asked about the kids schedules, when the games were, hubby forgetting constantly. Hubby has the app and it all syncs together. So when he’s scheduling a late meeting he can look at the app without having to call me mid-day & then me go run and look at my paper calendar. You can set it to send you emails each day reminding you what’s on your calendar. Total family game changer.
Narci says
I can’t wait to go through and read these posts. I love to hear about how people do their calendars!
Kasie Miller says
Fun post! I think every mama has to find what works best for them and how they thing/function. We have a dry erase calendar in the kitchen that I fill out each month and I use my phone’s calendar (and Reminders!), too.
Also, my husband would want me to tell you to download Keypass this instant so you have all of your passwords stored safely and not visible! It’s so easy-just takes a master password to log in then all of your usernames/passwords/notes/etc are right there stores safely!
Mix and Match Mama says
That’s such a great tip!!
Patty Anderson says
Kasie, when I searched for Keypass several things came up but not one with that word. Is there another name or spelling for it?
IC says
It’s KeePass
Deena says
I’m not Kasie but when I searched it showed up as KeePass. I have another password keeper so highly recommend having one.
Katie says
THIS is brilliant! I keep mine in calendar currently too and this is a much better idea! Thank you!
Sarah says
Love my Erin Condren planner!! I need some food inpso in my life though!! Can you tell me a typical day in the life for you?? Do you snack? Stick to meals? Eat after dinner?? Help! Love your blog and you so much!
Mix and Match Mama says
I love me an afternoon snack 😉 .
Susan says
It’s good you’re using Google cal, at least partially. The most important aspect of Gcal is that it’s SEARCHABLE! Throw the paper calendars away and go fully electronic. You’ll be so happy! Entries can be color coded, and more important, edited. I can’t imagine the number of times you’ve written something down that required amending, only to have to block out everything.
Holly says
I went completely electronic until one year when my entire calendar deleted for no reason(at a time when I had dozens of IEP meetings scheduled at school).? Needless to say, after that I went back to paper.
Katie says
Holly – that is truly one of my BIGGEST fears! So I refuse to go only digital. Plus I just love my paper ones too. But I would be totally lost if mine were to get deleted!
Jennifer says
I’m like you and I just feel so much better being able to physically write something down in a calendar/planner. I currently use “happy planner” and really like it. It seems very similar to your Erin Condren Planner. I’ve tried electronic family planners but my husband simply never looks at them or updates them so I always found myself telling him what was going on in addition to inputting it into the calendar: too much work! Now I just stick to my Happy Planner ☺️
Ilena Varner says
The Cozi App made life so much easier for my husband and I. We often don’t get to communicate much throughout the day and we were constantly double booking plans. Now we can add it there and we immediately get a notification. We can also keep shared grocery lists and so whoever goes to the store first can see what is needed!
Rachel says
Love your calendar ideas. I do it very similarly with my paper planner. For an app, we use Cozi. My husband and I both have it with a family account. That way we can both go in and add items to the calendar. It is also color coded, can keep repeating events, etc. It also has a place for lists. We keep Costco lists, grocery lists, to do lists, packing lists, etc in there. It has worked great for our family, but I still add the items to my paper planner and use that also.
Miranda Bodenhamer says
We use the Cozi app. Everyone has a color (family of 6!) and I can share it with my husband and in-laws. Everyone gets a notification when it’s updated and it sends you an agenda every Sunday with the week’s activities. That being said, I also use a paper planner on our kitchen counter, a chalkboard weekly calendar, and a desk monthly at-glance calendar at work. Lol!
Anna says
Shay, I’m sure you already know this but Colleen Rothschild has buy 1 get 1 50% off on her site! Also if you use ebates, you get 10% cash back! Just thought your readers should know
Marie Curcio says
We use the Cozi app. Everyone has a color and then when you post something on the calendar you can choose who the event is for and who gets notified. That way when my husband schedules a tee time, he’ll post it in there and I’ll get a notification. That way he doesnt have to remember to tell me or I dont have to ask if he finally scheduled it and what time it is for. On Sundays you get an email where you get a look at what’s happening your entire week. Then you also get a daily email in the morning telling you what is scheduled for that specific day. It also has a to do list feature as well. That’s where we keep our running grocery lists and you can also create extra lists so we typically have running home depot and BJs lists as well. I highly recommend it!
Elspeth says
I love this post! I too have three calendar, one online, one planner and one desk calendar.It makes staying on top of my schedule so much easier!
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Kelli Bollman says
Love your blog! I am using the Cozi calendar app and loving it!! Each family member has their own color. I use this because I always have my phone with me at doctors appointments, etc. I felt like I was always transferring to a paper calendar (and hoping I didn’t forget!) It also sends you reminders (one day before, one hour before) which is fantastic! It saves birthdays from year to year which is so helpful! I also keep a wall calendar in our kitchen with an overview of the month for all to see. Cozi finally converted me from a paper planner!!
Laura says
We use our Apple calendars to sync schedules. I have one for family and one for each kiddo (so everyone doesn’t have to get the reminder of a club that meets before school). I also keep our monthly family calendar on the fridge (it has a hanger and I use a magnetic hook to hold it there) – no one can miss it when it’s literally in front of the food!
Amanda Wilson says
Morning Shay! We just recently added the cozi app to our life and it has helped so much. My husband works away from home so he loves being able to check where we are what we are all up to. He also can see when a good time to call the kid she is instead of calling us as we are running out the door. As everyone else said you can colour code to….5 kids here it’s awesome. The shared lists are awesome to….I can sneak things on to his to do list without feeling like I am nattering at him. I have a planner for my work stuff, and 2 calendars in the kitchen on the wall for the kids to be able to check in with.
Jill says
I have a large paper calendar on our kitchen wall that I colour code for the sports my kids are in or any activities we have that are for the whole family. If I only used an electronic one it would drive my kids crazy not to see. Now they get to look at the calendar and see what they have that day or that week and I don’t have to repeat it all the time. We have a lot of sports so it’s the best way for everyone to be able to see it. I use my phone’s calendar for all appts. It sends me reminders so I remember to go or to take someone to it. So I use both and only two right now. I have used the Erin Condren day planner for work but I haven’t bought one in a couple of years. Once I am working I will most likely use Outlook calendar and another day planner for work as I do love to write things down!!!
Chrissy says
I’m surprised you’re not a Capricorn like me!! I live for lists and I’ve used a black, At-a-Glance, spiral bind, calendar book for the last 25 years. And I have them all. 🙂 I only use pencil. And an event goes in with the first person’s initial (vs doing different colors.) Since sport practices are the same days of the week for us, those go in the header and not on each day. It’s basically the family bible. Everyone else uses electronic, but if they need to verify a date, they come to mama’s book.
Mix and Match Mama says
I think I’m a Scorpio???
Misolee says
We just use google calendar. Boring but it gets the job done and there’s not ads or a learning curve to it. It’s also always with me and I can look at it or make note into it when I’m at the doctors office or whatever.
My question is: what about family calendar? Do you guys use a big wall calendar for family to see? My seven year old is always asking us when this is and things like that. My other two kids are too young but as they grow I can see them asking too.
Meagan says
We just print out our google calendar for the month and put it on the fridge. Some small things change but it stays the same for the most part.
Sarah says
“I have calendars for my calendars” ??? That’s hilarious. I use an Emily Ley calendar which I love- $14 at Target… but I’ve been an EC girl too- they are so fun and colorful!
Julie says
I am such an office supply nerd. Love calendars! I too, have three calendars! One is the cute little stand up ‘Art for Every Day’ version for my desk. They have three adorable versions, but I choose dogs. Always dogs! Next, for electronic, I use my I calendar. I like that if the kids get a birthday party evite I can add to my I calendar with the press of one button. Also, my husband and I share so he can see when I’ve added stuff online. But like you, my favorite is EC! I use that for all my kids stufff (color coded exactly like your system). I throw both work dates and personal dates on EC. I also do work dates on i calendar. That way I won’t miss them no matter what! Lastly, I have kind of a ‘perpetual calendar’ posted on my kids backpack wall. It’s just an 8.5×11 paper (excel) and in their “colors” it says what they have every week. So, soccer practice every Monday and Friday. This limits the amount of times they say “What do we have after school today?” I also have school “specials” on there, so they can easily see if they need sneakers for PE that day, etc. Love this post-thanks for sharing!
Becky says
We use google calendars for EVERYTHING! I have mine, my husband has his, I have a secret “personal” calendar, I have a kids sporting events calendar that is shared with grandparents, I have my meal planner calendar, etc. I even make special calendars for our trips and I share it with whoever is going on the trip with us! It’s like our little personal itinerary. Yes, it’s a lot of calendars. But if it ever gets too overwhelming, I just unclick the calendars I don’t want to see. I love having everything all in one place and I love that google calendars allow for me to work from both my phone and my desktop. And I love that I can share calendars with certain people. I have four kids who are all involved in many sports. The grandparents always want the kids schedules and I love how I can just add it to our google calendar and it is shared with them!
Marisa Tompkins says
We have 4 people in my family with 2 kiddos (15, 12) We all enter things into a family shared iCal that way we can ALL see what we are committed to. Then I sit down monthly and weekly and merge my work calendar and iCal on paper in my EC planner so we all understand the flow of the week. I still get out a sticky note and attach todays events to my EC cover so I dont forget last minute errands that pop up.
Sonia says
My husband and I have a shared outlook calendar, which is really great for us because, like most husbands, I’ll remind him that we have dinner with A on Saturday, and when I remind him of it, he always says you never told me! But, it’s on our shared calendar so he can’t dispute it. It also helps keep track of doctor’s appointments and work engagements/plans with friends. We live in NYC so we often have people visiting and the calendar helps us keep track of that as well. It’s not anything super-revolutionary, but it definitely helps!
April says
We use the Timetree app. My husband and I both have it on our phone and it connects so we both can add and know what is going on. I’m usually the only one adding though. But it keeps us connected.
Amy T says
We use the Cozi app so that my husband and daughter can see it as well as my Mom, she likes knowing when teh kids sports events are and if we’ll be around on the weekends.
Carolyn says
I use Google calendar, but also have a Lilly Pulitzer “To-Do” planner that I love. It has a beautiful hardback cover, then has spiral pages, much like their agendas. I organize mine by week, and each set of left and right pages has sections: To Get, Top Priorities, Appointments (I use that for appointments I need to schedule), Calls & Emails, and then a generic To-Do section. I write in black ink, and use a yellow highlighter to mark off completed items. I also love finding an appropriate quote for the week, and I write that at the top. I am a bit of a nerd about keeping it beautiful!
Christy Latimore says
We’ve also used Cozi, it’s not my first preference as my EC planner is my lifeline, but it drastically helped my husband visualize our schedule and communicate our plans. We don’t use it anymore since I am the one who shuffles the kids 90% of the time, so I didn’t find the need to continue to keep two.
Sarah R says
I NEED to write things down on paper too! For some reason, typing into an app doesn’t help me remember things. I think since my phone screen is smaller than the paper calendar, I can’t get a good visual of what we have going on that week if I just look at my phone.
Lynn says
So do you carry your planner with you everywhere? That is my only problem with mine. I hate carrying it everywhere.
Mix and Match Mama says
Only as needed. If I’m going to a doctor’s appointment or something where I know I’ll need to do scheduling, then I will. For the most part, my day to day life can be managed without it with me.
Kim says
This post has Monica from Friends written all over it!! ??? You’re too much Shay!! ? I want to be you when I grow up. P.S. I’m 51
Mix and Match Mama says
I am so Monica. Hahaha!
Kim says
Could you BE any more like her? (Chandler voice) Haha have a great day Shay!
Susy says
Paper ? all the way!
I love Cloth and Paper which allows you to customize your agenda inserts and style of agenda e.g. A-5 vs. spiral. I love the elegance and professionalism of their products. I first received their products as a gift subscription.
Plus there are agenda items that encourage you to set and check off goals—available in monthly, weekly and daily inserts plus more specialty pages.
P.S. For anyone who loves beautiful pens they have a monthly ‘ penspiration’ subscription or stationery subscription. I can hardly wait to receive my beautifully wrapped boxes with special desk surprises each month.
Now how about a monthly “subscription box” post? I’d love to hear from your readers. I also get Birchbox.
Lauren West says
Do you use the monthly section of your Erin Condren planner? If so, what for?
Mix and Match Mama says
I write down on that what I’ll be blogging that day! It’s an easy way to, at a glance, see my blogging schedule.
Shari says
I finally splurged and treated myself to an Erin Condren Life Planner this summer, and it has changed my life!!! Thank you for influencing me Shay! Will add my link up later today.
Amanda @ That Inspired Chick says
Am I the only one who just uses the calendar that comes on your iPhone??!! ? I tried to use google calendar but I couldn’t figure out how to import the boys’ baseball schedules straight from their team app into Google Calendar like I can with the basic one on my phone. And since that is the majority of our scheduling and I didn’t want to manually fill in each game and practice for both boys for the next 3 months, I just quit. ?♂️ Someone let me know if there’s an easier way to do that! We also use a weekly whiteboard calendar so everyone can see what we’ve got going on that week.
That Inspired Chick
Erin says
Give me a monthly calendar from the dollar bin at Target and I’m set. But if I lose it, honestly my world would stop. I’m so dependent on it.
PS—my favorite thing on my calendar right now is the trip that Clare from Mix and Match Travel Agency is planning for me!!!
Julia says
I love the Cozi app! My husband and I are both able to see the family calendar and we can both add to it. Each family member is color-coded. When you put an address in, it syncs up to my Waze app so when I hop in my car and turn on Waze, it automatically knows where to navigate me to! AMAZING! Life changing! And of course, it’s portable, you can easily add recurring events, and you can import schedules (for example, Red Sox MLB schedule if you wanted that on your personal calendar). I could go on and on!
Andrea Wienen says
I’ve been using Cozi for ten years and recently installed Waze. I did NOT know they’d sync up, thanks for the tip!
Sandi says
I bought my Mom an EC planner every year for Christmas. She passed away this past April and when I saw her most recent planner she had put every cover from the past on the one. They were all family pictures and seeing her planner every morning brought a smile to her face.
Dianna says
We love Cozi! Have you tried it?
Christina Adamson says
I couldn’t live this post more! I am all about calendars (paper of course!). I’ve tried going electronic, but it doesn’t work for me. I do, however, hate it when I’m out and don’t know what I’m doing next week because my planner is at home. A friend suggested taking a picture of my calendar, that way it’s on my phone. As I add or change things, I just take a new picture! That has helped tremendously!!
jordan says
Love this! I’m curious if you or Andrew or your group of girlfriends, your extended family has dived into the Enneagram yet and if so, what are your numbers? Fascinating!
Mix and Match Mama says
I haven’t! I think Andrew has??? I need to ask him! I probably should do it too!
Mother of 3 says
That’s pretty much how I do it too; we have one family wall calendar with EVERYTHING on it and I have a separate calendar for my work stuff. I love that you can personalize your last one so much and that you keep them from year to year.
Heidi says
I’ll add a second comment… I also picked up a $10 dry erase wall calendar at Home Goods to hang in our kitchen. Now that the kids are old enough to read they like being able to reference what our week looks like and what they have coming up. It helps them get their stuff ready for the next day and know what they need to prepare.
Heather Christopher says
Hi Shay,
I use my g calendar for clients trips also…fellow ya 🙂
I had to ask though – a game changer for me was Travel Joy and having task lists with the due dates auto loading so I never had to worry I’d miss anything key!
LeAnna McKinney says
I use the same calendars! One thing that has helped is the erasable frixion pens in different colors. Since I color code activities per family member (and everything always changes) I like to erase rather than white out! They are awesome!!
CATHY Boulanger says
I can’t imagine spending the money and time on a paper calendar. I went full digital 8 years ago and we love it. It is synced between all 6 of our family members (teens and young adults with iphones) and it is PURE MAGIC. Everyone is reponsible for entering their own dates, you can “invite” people to events and it is so easy to add recurring things like choir practice every Wednesday evening. Plus all of our kids’ sports schedules come through Team Snap so it automatically adds every practice and game and continuously updates. We always have our phones with us – so it is so easy to check dates on the fly.
cg737 says
Love looking at all of your calendars, thanks for sharing! Do you have a method for reminders? I know you said you used google calendar and had those reminders, but do you integrate reminders from your paper calendars at all?
Mix and Match Mama says
I have a daily “to do” list that I leave on my desk at the end of each work day (for the following day), and I cross reference it with my EC planner to make sure I don’t forget anything.
Dena says
Hi Shay – when my 4 kids were little, I could use a paper calendar but as they got older (middle school, high school) I could subscribe to a “feed” directly from the sports calendar. LIFE CHANGING because it automatically updates as times or locations change. When I subscribe to the feed, I can choose the color and also how often I want it to refresh. I have the feed go into my iCal where I put all other appts that any of us have – color coded as well. The only thing I feel like I need a paper calendar for is when I’m planning out the week and trying to see which nights I can cook, which nights we need leftovers etc. And maybe I want to put on 9/24 that This Is Us is starting back up. I wouldn’t put that in my iCal. Thanks for sharing your calendars with us!
Dena says
Forgot to say I was at a friend’s house and she kept her family calendar on a DRY ERASE board in a spot where someone could easily rub against it and wipe it clean! It gave me heart palpitations to think info could be lost. Plus, it was a 2 month calendar so if you had Aug and Sept up there…..once she got into Sept, she had to erase Aug and make it October. I get people have to do what works for them but that stressed me out Lol!
Angela Ellingson says
I used EC planners for about 6 years per your recommendation and loved it. Last year I flipped through a friend’s Emily Ley planner and knew I had to try it this year. I felt a little guilty (ha!) to make the switch as I really loved the EC planners, but I cannot tell you how much more I’m loving the daily Emily Ley planner!
Stacie Johnson says
Cozi app…both my husband and I have it on our phones so we can manage all the things for our family. It has practices, dr appts, travel, vacations, programs, school activities
Marie says
My husband and I share our Google Calendar. To me, it’s the fastest and most accurate way for him to see my stuff (and family stuff) and for me to see his stuff. No excuses, people. We KNOW what’s going on in this house!