my obligatory new years post, part 2

well, hello. how are your tanks today? i hope you are getting the hang of them. really, once you do, you see how they all work together in a beautiful cohesive way.

today's lesson is brought to you by the letter, 'g'. as in google. or google calendars.

they are my life.

i love calendaring things. i knew dan truly loved me forever the day he let me share calendars with him, and i knew he was the one when we created a combined calendar. it was magic.

anyway, i have calendars for everything. my daily tasks, my work schedule, dan's work schedule, weekly commitments, house work, appointments, lunches, coffees, people's birthdays, people's dog's birthdays--you get the picture.

i do crazy calendaring things for two reasons. 1. i have to write everything down. if i don't, forget about it. my nana was this way. it must be genetic. she always carried 2 things in her purse...a notepad and a pair of giant iron scissors that always presented themselves at the right time. we called them "nana scissors." i tried to be like her and take a pair just like them on a vacation to south padre island when i was 9. they were confiscated at the airport. anyway, i used to carry a journal with me until the sweet, sweet invention of the iPhone and it's delightful syncing and calendaring capabilities.

okay 2. i also calendar because it is imperative for to keep an organised home. every monday morning, as i slug up to the computer with my pot of tea (no judging! coffee makes my tummy crazar.), i can look and see what the entire week holds. you know, like if we are going to a big fancy ball, i might need to have dan's suit drycleaned. 

bonus number 3. calendaring helps me balance my tanks. if i've received an email that someone wants to have dinner, but i know i'm bordering at social capacity for the week i can ask for a different time. also, if someone wants a date night, i can move some chores around so their kids can come over and not have to play in a pile of rusty nails and red paint, and thus making me a stressball. just saying.

so here are the the calendars currently in my queue.

i'll intervene. if you don't have gmail, you're so totally wrong. go get it and embrace it, hug it, live it, breath it, envelope it...and the calendaring system. it's for the best. you're welcome.

okay QUEUE!

"emily"
this is my calendar with my doc appointments, coffee dates, etc. i share this with dan, but it reflects events that are just for me.

"dan and em"
this calendar is for things we are obligated to together. like having guests over, movie nights, small group times, the sunday's we serve at church, etc. the list goes on and changes depending on the time of year.

"house work"
this calendar saves my bacon every monday night. it tells me at 5:50pm to go and put my trash can at the curb so that tuesday morning it will be picked up, and not forgotten. one step better, every other monday it reminds me that the recycling needs to go out, too. there are things that repeat every week on this calendar, like every saturday is floor and bathroom day.

"menu planning"
this basically says what we are having for dinner. it's great because right above it will say if someone is coming over or not. in a different color.

what?

oh yes.

i forgot to mention my favorite part. EACH of these calendars are a different color. it's glorious. so if something pops up that's orange, i know it's housework. blue? it's something dan and i are doing together. BAM!

it takes some time to set everything up how you want it. but the return is well worth the investment. one key to my personal success, is to always be looking ahead. while we are certainly not married to everything being set in stone, calendaring helps me see the a general 'big picture' a week, day, month at a time. in my opinion, this type of organisation helps us to be more flexible when things happen or changes come our way. 


in the upcoming posts, i'm going to focus on the menu planning and housework calendars more specifically. organisation at it's finest! okay that's dramatic.


thanks for reading!