Keeping a Monthly Master Calendar in Your Planner | Giftie Etcetera: Keeping a Monthly Master Calendar in Your Planner

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Keeping a Monthly Master Calendar in Your Planner

Even though it's summertime, a glance at my monthly calendar shows just how overbooked I truly am at the moment.


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Things happen. Things that cannot be rescheduled happen.

This week, that includes saying goodbye to my grandmother forever, going to court for a speeding ticket (for going 32 miles per hour...sigh), and having my epilepsy kid go through a 24-hour EEG. None of those things are flexible. 


A monthly calendar gives an overview of what you HAVE to accomplish.


Even without much flexibility in the timing of the appointments, realizing what can actually needs to be done give me a measure of control over my life.

If nothing else, it guides me in what I should pack into my purse and tote bag. (Hint: a water bottle, my Nook, and a ton of mints and hard candies.)


A monthly calendar limits what you can plan in a given month.


A jam-packed calendar motivates me to delay, delegate, or delete other things.

On a weekly calendar, I'd have more space and be tempted to overschedule.


A monthly calendar serves as a master calendar for your family or office.


Maintaining a monthly calendar allows me to overview what everyone is up to. My husband keeps his own calendar, so it's not that important that both of us keep everything. But SOMEONE needs to know everything.


Exception: Daily and routine scheduling can go on vertical weekly pages. For example, if I schedule a work session from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. daily, I can write in actual client meetings on the vertical weeklies.

A monthly calendar enables you to plan menus easily.


I know when I need to cook and when we need takeout by glancing at my monthly calendar. That's such an easier way to figure out the weekly menu than looking at individual daily pages.


A monthly calendar is a source for weekly or daily plans.


When I create my weekly plans or, more often these days, daily dockets, I can use my monthly calendar as a skeleton of what time is available.

A monthly calendar is the "go to" section in an emergency.


This week is all about emergencies so far. From Grandmother dying to my kid needing emergency medical treatment, there was a lot of legitimate rescheduling.

Things on the monthly calendar got rescheduled first.

I have never been as thankful for a calendar as I have this month. If you don't use one now, consider changing that practice.


Etcetera.


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1 comment:

Jaime Barfield said...

I admire your ability to be able to use the monthly calendar for appointments. I have always used my weekly for this. Makes it easier and I have plenty of room to write. My monthly is currently used for bills due and things like animal flea meds and changing my contacts.