Anyone who knows me even on a basic level knows how OCD I can tend to get when it comes to our family calendar. In THIS post, I explained exactly how anal I can get about it, and while I was talking specifically about this last fall in that post, it is pretty much how my calendar looks all the time. I write down EVERYTHING we have planned or I would forget something and stuff would fall through the cracks. Below is my explaination of my color coding.

If you don’t know, or have never seen my personal calendar, you know it’s completely color-coordinated. I can tell just what a days’ activities will bring by peeking at my calendar and looking at the colors and not what is written. As I started filling in my calendar, I noticed that there were four very distinct colors that were very prevalent, and it is becoming quite obvious that we are going to be frantic this Fall.

Emma (turquoise) is playing volleyball – Junior Varsity or Varsity yet, we don’t know. She will find out Thursday evening. She also has a friend who is on the Varsity Football Team, so I am sure she will be wanting to watch much more football this year, too.

Harley (orange) and Katelyn (purple) are also playing competitive volleyball this year, and their season of Columbia Youth Volleyball starts September 10th. They will have a couple of skills camp days before the competitive season actually starts, and then they will have a few tournaments to participate in.

There’s a fourth color that is becoming pretty prevalent this fall. It’s even showing up more than the turquoise is. Reagan (teal) is still too young for the competitive team of CYV, but she will attend the skills camps for younger kids. We have enrolled her in soccer for the first time ever, and she is loving it! The great thing about it is that we all think it will help with her coordination, and it will settle her down in class. However, the bad thing is that it is a huge time committment – many nights a week and Saturdays.

When I talk about updating my calendar, it was just that – my calendar that was on my desk at work, and my little calendar that stays in my purse. One big problem was that THE FAMILY wasn’t always aware of everything everyone else had going on. I would use a pretty simple ball-point pen, write the activities on a wall calendar we had by the door, and then I would forget about it – just like everyone else in the family. That, in and of itself, is the problem. We – none of us – ever remembered to check the calendar. I have been on the look out for some sort of family planner calendar that could be posted somewhere conspicuous where everyone in our family could look at it at any time and know what was going on.

I was at Wal-Mart yesterday (ugh – that’s another story) for dog food. On my way from the back of the store to the front, I went by the cards to purchase a birthday card I needed. As I was headed to the checkout, I passed a section with a huge selection of 2011 Family Planner Calendars. THEY’RE PERFECT! They had several different styles, but I liked the frilly – fru-fru design of this one. It is perfect because each family member has their own line on each row of days. I only had to write our names once, they stay in place when the months are changed. It also came with a shopping list tablet that I will use more as a scratch pad than a shopping list because it doesn’t have any magnets for holding it to the fridge. The calendar included stickers small enough to fit on each person’s line. They included doctor, dentist, haircut, no school, vacation, birthday, anniversary, etc., pretty much any category you can think of. It even included stickers related to pets. The very back page includes phone numbers for doctors, emergency contacts, police, fire, poison control, etc.

I am keeping our color coding, though I am adding Aaron (blue) and Me (red) to it. Emma is now purple, Harley is still orange, Katelyn is pink, and Reagan is lime green. I have already gone through and written school vacations in brown (like Spring Break), all of our family and friends’ birthdays are written on their dates in turquoise, and I have filled in our schedules as much as I know them. Harley just got her schedule for basketball, so I have to add it, but other than that, I think we’re up to date. IT FEELS GREAT!!!

One of the best parts of the calendar is that you can hang it by a hook or use the magnetic strip to attach it to something, which is exactly what I did. This calendar is now hung on the side of our refrigerator where everyone can look at it at any time!

I am a happy OCD girl! 🙂

The calendar in its packaging.