Getting Organised for 2012 (a bit late)

You know what it's like, every year you say to yourself "This year I am going to be organised".  Hmmmmm.  Well I have tried to set myself up for success this year with a calendar and a few apps.  Of course, if I was really organised I would have done this in December last year!

Firstly I created a family calendar.  I usually use Snapfish but this year I tried a Kikki K one.  I like creating my own calendar as you can add all your favourite photos.  Once I got the calendar I recorded many things on it:

• Public holidays
• School term dates and holidays
• Birthdays and special occasions
• My son's tennis fixtures and competitions and my daughter's dancing commitments
• and social functions

I then entered all the same information on the calendar on my phone.   The advantage of the iphone calendar is that you can set up recurring events and alerts/reminders.  Although I use the calendar on my phone when I am out and about, I like having a paper calendar in the kitchen where everybody in the family can see what we have on.  It's easy to see at a glance what's coming up.

The next thing I did was to set up a "To Do" list system.  I chose a free app called Errands.

See the app here

Using this app I can create a list of things to do.  Each task is given a due date, priority, and category.  The app then sorts all the tasks in the order you specify.  Here's an example:

There are a couple of things I like about this app.

• I can set up recurring errands.  For example, I like to check what bills I have to pay every Monday, so I have set up this task.  When I tick that I have completed this, the app automatically creates this task again for next Monday.
• When tasks need to be completed in the next 24 hours, a red circle showing the number of tasks shows on the apps icon.  There is also a folder called Focus which only shows the tasks requiring your immediate attention.  I like this as I will often happily pin away on pinterest instead of doing something I really need to do.
• The other thing I like is you can create a project such as Re-decorate Bedroom, then create a list underneath that task listing each action you need to do to finish the whole project.  For example, buy paint, sand/wash walls, clean carpets... Each item on the list has it's own check box so you can tick each one off, as you work towards your final goal.

So hopefully, these couple of things will help me to stay organised.  We'll see!