Family Calendar management

[Claire[_2_]]

I was wondering how people manage family calendars. I can put things
on my husband's home calendar with my work calendar, but his home and
work calendars are separate. The girls maintain paper calendars to
track their own lessons and homework.

Lately, what seems to be working for us is to have an excel
spreadsheet up on google's spreadsheet sharing system, accessible by
all family members. The spreadsheet is a monthly calendar. In it are
things like my business trips, my husband's professional classes, the
kids' lessons and rehearsals, etc. It means I have to re-enter
everything from Outlook, but that's the way that goes.

How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?

Warm Regards,

Claire
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

[Ericka Kammerer]

Claire wrote:

> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?

The big calendar in the kitchen works for us.
The low tech approach is the only thing that others in
the family will use consistently.

Best wishes,
Ericka

[[email protected]]

We have a really big calendar on the fridge door in the kitchen for
the family, and all the appointments, key dates, school stuff, lessons
etc. go on as soon as we know about them. I don't normally put all my
work stuff on it - only the things that will impact the family, like
me having to be away in the evening or overnight etc.

This is the product we've been using for a couple of years. We like it
because its big (we have the 12x17 one, but they make a 20x30
version), its basic, lots of room to write things on every day (we
have three kids and there is LOTS to track).

http://www.ataglance.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product3_10052_10002_118113_-1_false_10052#%23

This company makes lots of variations on the theme. Worth buying if
you ask me. Its like the nerve center of the house.

M

[Penny Gaines]

Claire wrote:
> I was wondering how people manage family calendars. I can put things
> on my husband's home calendar with my work calendar, but his home and
> work calendars are separate. The girls maintain paper calendars to
> track their own lessons and homework.
[snip]

We use a dodo pad diary near the phone. It is a weekly planner type,
with a column for each family member and space opposite for notes
eg addresses of the place we are going to.

http://www.dodopad.com/pages/howto.htm

Dh's work stuff goes in his work diary, and is only put in the family
diary if it involves an overnight stay, or impacts the family in a big way.

Do other people keep their calender/diaries at the end of the year?
I feel I ought to so that in years to come they could be part of a
family history, but enough doesn't get in them that I think it wouldn't
show the whole picture. They do get thrown out, although not immediately.

--
Penny Gaines
UK mum to three

[Sue]

"Claire" > wrote in message
ups.com...
>I was wondering how people manage family calendars.

One big calendar on the fridge is what we do. Works for us. I update it
every month and I can add or take away things if needed.

Sue

[Chookie]

In article om>,
"Claire" > wrote:

> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?

MY computer calendar (which synchs with my Palm) is THE CALENDAR. If it isn't
in THE CALENDAR, it isn't happening. DH does of course have a diary for work,
but my diary tracks all engagements that impinge on family life (eg, his
evening meetings).

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You may
start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
Kerry Cue

[toypup]

On Thu, 5 Apr 2007 14:33:48 EDT, Chookie wrote:

> In article om>,
> "Claire" > wrote:
>
>> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
>> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?
>
> MY computer calendar (which synchs with my Palm) is THE CALENDAR. If it isn't
> in THE CALENDAR, it isn't happening. DH does of course have a diary for work,
> but my diary tracks all engagements that impinge on family life (eg, his
> evening meetings).

LOL. My Palm is my brain. When they break, I am lost.

[Irene]

On Apr 4, 4:24 pm, "Claire" > wrote:

> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?

A combination of things. Since dh and I have our own company,
personal and work plans tend to overlap, so I try to get most things
in the office Outlook calendar. I also have a paper schoolyear
calendar that goes with me in my purse (a first for this year!)
because I was tired of not being able to know what was going on when I
didn't have computer access. (Our database is so big that syncing
with a Palm takes too long to be practical). We also have a calendar
on the wall in the kitchen, but not much goes on there. (This year,
it is the one ds makes in kindy each month). We do post invitations
and such on the bulletin board in the kitchen, too. Since ds is only
in kindy, he doesn't track his own stuff yet, but I'm sure that will
be coming.

[[email protected]]

On Apr 4, 5:24 pm, "Claire" > wrote:

> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?

Everything goes on my work calendar (Outlook). Since I work from home,
I have easy access to my work calendar at home. No one else can see/
write to it, but I just put everything in my calendar and remind
people of the things they need to remember. Everyone in the family
seems to be happy for me to be the "keeper of the calendar" for now
and they don't mind that they can't access it directly. They just ask
me. Sometimes the PM me from another computer in the house. ;-)

I like using a computerized calendar program because I need those
little reminders that pop up to remind me of what I need to do.
Otherwise I can get engrossed in my work and forget to do things. It
is useful to have my personal appointments on my work calendar so that
people can easily tell when I am really free. (They can't see the
content.) If it's someone else's appointment and I don't have to take
them, then I can still set it so that I show up as available at that
time.

When my company used MeetingMaker I used to sync regularly to my palm,
but it's messier with outlook (since I want to keep my Palm sync for
other applications) so I don't do it much anymore. Since I'm at my
computer most of the time when reminders pop up, I don't need the
portable version as much anymore, and I usually just take the old-
fashioned appointment cards from doctors etc. until I enter it into
Outlook.

--Robyn

[Laura Faussone]

Claire wrote:

>
> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?
>

I put out-of-the-ordinary events and reminders on the paper
calendar in the kitchen -- it's from the school, so it has all of
the school holidays already on it. I put *everything* on my PDA,
especially weekly/repeating events (with alarms).

Laura

[Rosalie B.]

toypup > wrote:

>On Thu, 5 Apr 2007 14:33:48 EDT, Chookie wrote:
>
>> In article om>,
>> "Claire" > wrote:
>>
>>> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
>>> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?
>>
>> MY computer calendar (which synchs with my Palm) is THE CALENDAR. If it isn't
>> in THE CALENDAR, it isn't happening. DH does of course have a diary for work,
>> but my diary tracks all engagements that impinge on family life (eg, his
>> evening meetings).
>
>LOL. My Palm is my brain. When they break, I am lost.

My sister keeps losing her palm pilot. I keep some phone numbers in
my cell phone, and for the rest I have an address book. ATM, we
write Drs appointments on the calendar that is on the wall - the one I
make up every year which has everyone's birthdays and anniversaries on
it, and that's all the keeping track that we need to do.

After the kids had left home I had a small yearly calendar (about
3.5x2") and I wrote my office days and field visits down in it, and
later used that to make out daysheets (we had to do day sheets, and
weeklies which accounted for every minute of time). I had a separate
mileage book of about the same size for filling out the expense
account. DH did his own thing.

When I was teaching, I had a big planning book, but that was for
lesson planning.

Otherwise, I wasn't working and we all did the same thing at about the
same time and I could keep that in my head.

And I do keep the calendars - especially the ones where all the births
and anniversaries are because among other things they have photographs
of everyone at various stages in life. But I even keep my little work
booklets because after awhile things tend to merge into each other.
When did I have the auto accident? When was the last time I went to
the dermatologist?

[annie]

On Apr 4, 3:24 pm, "Claire" > wrote:
> I was wondering how people manage family calendars. I can put things
> on my husband's home calendar with my work calendar, but his home and
> work calendars are separate. The girls maintain paper calendars to
> track their own lessons and homework.
>
> Lately, what seems to be working for us is to have an excel
> spreadsheet up on google's spreadsheet sharing system, accessible by
> all family members. The spreadsheet is a monthly calendar. In it are
> things like my business trips, my husband's professional classes, the
> kids' lessons and rehearsals, etc. It means I have to re-enter
> everything from Outlook, but that's the way that goes.
>
> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?
>
We use a regular size calendar hanging in the kitchen and it seems to
work just fine. Anything more sophisticated seems like more worth
than it's worth.

We also have the rule that if it isn't on the calendar, don't expect
anyone else to plan around it, unless it's a known recurring event.
Many recurring events, like after school clubs, are only put on the
calendar for the first month or so until they are just integrated into
our routine. I usually only put the event and the time. Any other
details are usually left on the original literature (school
newsletter, wedding announcement, etc) and those items are kept in a
folder in a drawer underneath. Some days, the squares get a little
full, but I use that as a sign that we're over scheduled and we often
have to skip something. I do write the conflicting activities on the
calendar though, in case the higher priority activity gets cancelled
for some reason.

I have a good memory for dates, especially once I've written it down
once, so when we have a family activity that I need to leave work for,
it's easy for me to remember to also add it to my work calendar. The
only work activities that need to be on the family calendar are when I
need to travel out of town, which is only 2-3 times a year.

Annie

[Cathy Kearns]

"Chookie" > wrote in message
...
> In article om>,
> "Claire" > wrote:
>
>> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
>> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?
>
> MY computer calendar (which synchs with my Palm) is THE CALENDAR. If it
> isn't
> in THE CALENDAR, it isn't happening. DH does of course have a diary for
> work,
> but my diary tracks all engagements that impinge on family life (eg, his
> evening meetings).

That's exactly how we do it. Down to Palm Zire that came free with a set of
tires. The tires are long gone, the Zire is still running like a champ. We
sync to the free Yahoo Calendar. And if it's not on there, it's not
happening.

Cathy
>
> --
> Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
> (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
>
> "Parenthood is like the modern stone washing process for denim jeans. You
> may
> start out crisp, neat and tough, but you end up pale, limp and wrinkled."
> Kerry Cue
>

[Marie]

"Sue" > wrote in message
news:t7Odnb_ECMEOR4nbnZ2dnUVZ_oernZ2d@wideopenwest .com...
> One big calendar on the fridge is what we do. Works for us. I update it
> every month and I can add or take away things if needed.

Yep, the calendar on the fridge. Ours is a big white-board and each week is
a separate strip. There's 5 strips altogether. When the top week is over, I
erase it and stick it on the bottom and push the rest of them up. I love it!
It also has Saturday AND Sunday on the end instead of Sunday at the
beginning. I do have my own calendar, which is a notebook(paper) style, but
the whole family uses the fridge calendar.
Marie

[Zipadee]

On Apr 6, 8:37 am, "Marie" > wrote:
> Yep, the calendar on the fridge. Ours is a big white-board and each week is
> a separate strip. There's 5 strips altogether. When the top week is over, I
> erase it and stick it on the bottom and push the rest of them up. I love it!
> It also has Saturday AND Sunday on the end instead of Sunday at the
> beginning. I do have my own calendar, which is a notebook(paper) style, but
> the whole family uses the fridge calendar.
> Marie

Another calendar on the fridge user here. For about 5 years I've been
using something called Mom's Calendar - you can see it here:
http://www.amazon.com/Moms-Family-Calendar-2007-Wall/dp/0761140492

It's in a table form with a column for each family member and a row
for each day of the month. Plenty of room to write things in.

For my own things and so I can carry it around, I have a week-at-a-
glance
book. I duplicate some things between the 2 calendars. And my son,
a high school junior, has gotten busy enough that he recently asked
for a week-at-a-glance book of his own. I haven't wanted to use
computer
calendars or a PDA.

-- Zip

[Kevin Karplus]

We do a paper month-by-month calendar hanging next to the fridge.
I also have a little (2.7" x 4") pocket calendar for my own use for
work appointments. I put my regular weekly meetings up on a web page
for my lab group, but otherwise avoid electronic calendars like the
plague. "Corporate" calendars that allow some random staff person to
schedule your time are particularly pernicious---I've made sure that I
do NOT get signed up for any of those.

------------------------------------------------------------
Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus
Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz
Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics
(Senior member, IEEE) (Board of Directors & Chair of Education Committee, ISCB)
life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels)
Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed)
Affiliations for identification only.

[Anne Rogers[_3_]]

> When did I have the auto accident?

never?

if I start having to record that I'll start having to worry, any kind of
auto accident should be a significant enough and rare enough event that the
date stands out.

Anne

[Rosalie B.]

"Anne Rogers" > wrote:

>> When did I have the auto accident?
>
>never?
>
>if I start having to record that I'll start having to worry, any kind of
>auto accident should be a significant enough and rare enough event that the
>date stands out.
>
Well it did stand out (I broke 4 ribs and the car was totaled by a
driver with no insurance or license who ran a red light), but when
asked, I can't remember the exact year.

Most of the time, I can date stuff after counting forwards and
backwards by the births (or in one case the death) or graduations or
marriages of my children and grandchildren and by where we lived at
the time. But the auto accident wasn't tied to any of those things.

[Ericka Kammerer]

Anne Rogers wrote:
>> When did I have the auto accident?
>
> never?
>
> if I start having to record that I'll start having to worry, any kind of
> auto accident should be a significant enough and rare enough event that the
> date stands out.

If you're like me, just because the event stands out in
your mind doesn't mean that you also remember the date it
happened ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka

[Rosalie B.]

Ericka Kammerer > wrote:

>Anne Rogers wrote:
>>> When did I have the auto accident?
>>
>> never?
>>
>> if I start having to record that I'll start having to worry, any kind of
>> auto accident should be a significant enough and rare enough event that the
>> date stands out.
>
> If you're like me, just because the event stands out in
>your mind doesn't mean that you also remember the date it
>happened ;-)
>
>Best wishes,
>Ericka

Right - when the doctor asks me the dates when I was in the hospital
etc., I can remember operations and childbirths and dh's heart attack
but not the dates of all my ER visits..

Although when I was coaching I used to have a problem with the
birthdates of the children on the swim team. Sometimes the moms with
multiple kids (over 2) didn't know. (The kids always knew of course.)
When I had the fourth one, I started to have that trouble too - I was
unsure of his actual birthdate for quite a long time. I could
remember the year and the month, but had a problem with the day. He's
36, and I think I have it down now.

But I never had a problem with figuring out who was doing what when.
By the time I was working, at least one child was driving, and mostly
they took care of it themselves. And before that we all mostly did
the same thing at the same time, with the little ones tagging along
with the bigger ones. Of course it helped that we did absolutely NO
team sports. NONE.

My dd#2 who has two children in two different levels of multiple team
sports and lessons and is an airline pilot so she doesn't work a
standard 9-5 schedule does use a kitchen calendar.

[enigma]

Ericka Kammerer > wrote in
:

> Anne Rogers wrote:
>>> When did I have the auto accident?
>>
>> never?
>>
>> if I start having to record that I'll start having to
>> worry, any kind of auto accident should be a significant
>> enough and rare enough event that the date stands out.
>
> If you're like me, just because the event stands out
> in
> your mind doesn't mean that you also remember the date it
> happened ;-)

yup. i know mine was over 10 years ago now, but what year it
was is, well, no longer really relevant despite the permanant
back injury. i held the kid's drivers license for over 5
years, but i figured that by 22 he *might* be smart enough to
tell the brake from the gas pedal...
lee <besides, i understand the usefulness of having a car to
getting a job>

[andrea baker]

On Apr 4, 4:24 pm, "Claire" > wrote:

*snip*

> How are you tracking this sort of thing these days? A big piece of
> paper in the kitchen? Electronically? Mom's head?
>
> Warm Regards,
>
> Claire
> See the books I've set free at:http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

In our household, it's rather a strange situation because DH and I
live 85 miles away from one another and we only see each other on the
weekends (long story, but it's employment-related-- I had to go where
the jobs are). The grownups each have a work planner (mine is a
separate page for each day). We pretty much just keep track of our
own stuff, except if it's something that the other person has to be
involved in, in which case we'll call or e-mail the other person and
it'll then end up in both calendars.

Of course, Hypatia is only just shy of three (two more weeks) so she's
not involved in extracurriculars. I don't know what will happen when
she's older.

-Andrea

[Anne Rogers[_3_]]

>> if I start having to record that I'll start having to worry, any kind of
>> auto accident should be a significant enough and rare enough event that
>> the date stands out.
>
> If you're like me, just because the event stands out in
> your mind doesn't mean that you also remember the date it
> happened ;-)

fair enough, I'm guessing that you'd remember enough to calculate the year
and month it happened, though I guess as life goes on that might be more
tricky.

Anne

[Ericka Kammerer]

Anne Rogers wrote:
>>> if I start having to record that I'll start having to worry, any kind of
>>> auto accident should be a significant enough and rare enough event that
>>> the date stands out.
>> If you're like me, just because the event stands out in
>> your mind doesn't mean that you also remember the date it
>> happened ;-)
>
> fair enough, I'm guessing that you'd remember enough to calculate the year
> and month it happened, though I guess as life goes on that might be more
> tricky.

Believe me, it gets much more tricky! If it didn't happen
near a move or a birth or something like that, it's very unlikely
I'll figure it out. When the kids get older, there's not this
huge difference from year to year. No way would I be able to narrow
it accurately to a month for most things, unless maybe they happened
very near a holiday--but even then I might not get the year! E.g.,
I'll know something happened near Christmas, but won't know which
Christmas. I'm quite loosely situated in time ;-)

Best wishes,
Ericka