Dear FlyLady,

Calendars, both current AND past are helpful!

Hands down, your calendar is my favorite tool (I get both sticker kits!)

I love the fact that it starts in August because my kids’ schools start in August, (as do their various band camps and school orientations.) It’s like new back-to-school supplies, only it’s for ME, lol.

Every year I have a routine w/my new calendar, and I have a list of what I need to put on it right from the start.

(That little reminder list is written in the extra “notes” space on the “August” page, so I don’t forget.)

Here are the types of things on my list:

1. Birthdays/special anniversaries transferred from last years’ calendar.

2. All the zone stickers for the year.

3. “Work” stickers on pay days.

4. All reoccurring commitments, (which I have listed so I don’t forget one) like a community choir meeting weekly, or a service organization meeting on the 3rd Tues of each month – you get the idea.

5. My husband’s schedule, etc. When school papers start flooding in, I add all THOSE dates, and use stickers like crazy!  The stickers make it EASY & colorful.  BUT our calendar is not ONLY a great planning tool, keeping us organized and preventing double-booking, it is ALSO a great record of our year.

We save them, and I enjoy a little nostalgic review of our year when I do the “big transfer” of info from the old to the shiny new one.  EVERYthing goes on the calendar!

As a result, when my husband was rear-ended on his motorcycle, an important part of the insurance settlement was because of our calendar.  The attorney asked about medical visits and missed work and events, and my husband simply brought in our old calendar.  It was all RIGHT THERE, and more!  We’d never have remembered it all.  In fact, they suggested that I had a claim too, based on things I had to do because of him being out of commission. (No thank you!) The other insurance company interviewed my husband for credibility, looked at the calendar, and then settled immediately.Thank you!!

Brenda

FlyLady here: I save my calendars too! They don’t take up a lot of space. I use them to chart my weight and health! I am so proud of Brenda for using her calendar to save her family!