What Diary do you use?

[clara85]

As part of being more organised and planning I have been looking at a new diary for next year and wondered what ones come recommended?

I know that seems very early to think ahead but I am currently preg with no 3 so will have 3 dc under 4 in Sept, and work shifts with a thankfully very hands on and helpful DH who does most housework but I am trying by taking one day at a day with tips from all the threads on here to do more and plan for our family so we are organised and the house is kept relatively clean & tidy with less clutter!

I have used Pinterest for ideas and like the look of the filofax, but not sure how family friendly the set up is.

The other 2 diarys I have looked at are by Mums Office & Organised Mum if anyone has used these and could share if you liked them :)

Have had Moleskine notebook for the last 10 years.
I have the hardback one with one page for the 7 days of week, with a lined page opposite for note making.

Wouldn't swap.

Are you interested in online tools at all? I'm just trying out Cozi which I think might suit our family well.

I use the calendar function on my phone - it's made life SO much easier now I'm not trying to transfer stuff between my diary, the calendar in the kitchen, and dh's diary - it all just syncs.
I'm the least techy person I know, and it really is very simple to use.

Thanks for the replys so quickly :)

I have tried online but I like writing things down to remember so dont really get on using my phone when I have tried in the past although I know in theory this should be easy.

Another family of 5 here, also with 3 toddlers

I have a big 5 person/ column calendar on the wall in the kitchen, which shows one month at a time. Means each family member has their own column. It works really well for us- if it isn't on the calendar, it doesn't exist as far as I'm concerned!

I'm very techy and love my gadgets, but I find a paper organiser works best for us as everyone can see it. Being in the kitchen on the wall by the fridge means that you see it every morning and see what joys the day holds

Oh just realised you meant a diary not a calendar. Please ignore me!

I use a softback Moleskine, with the week on one page and the lined page opposite. Absolutely perfect.

I have used an A4 week to view diary for the last few years but have to succumb to online tools now. . Don't love them but think I will get used to it. Google Calendar I'm using but it sadly has no task list linked with it.

I use a filofax and I love it. I use a day to a page in a personal size and also use it as my wallet. I don't use many of their dividers as they don't suit my needs so I've just punched some card to make my own. I have:

1. Month to view, with all appointments-work in one colour, family in another.
2. Year to view, with DH's annual leave marked on it so we can see at a glance how much he's got left.
3. Birthdays, which I add to as babies are born and always put the year of birth.
4. Day to view diary, which is the main bit and takes up the vast majority of the file. I plan meals at the bottom of each page, have a to do list down the right hand side of each page and put appointments in their time slots on the left. That means appointments are duplicated but I find it useful to be able to look at a single date and see all appointments, to dos and meals, and also to be able to look at the month and see how many tutees I've for booked in, where free slots are etc.
5. Finances, where I keep track of household expenses. I use Excel for my tutoring finances as I like to have them in an easily accessible system in case HMRC ever want to see them.

Got a moleskine this year..transferred all my appointments over to it ( took ages as there was something most days)...got to June and they had 8 weeks with wrong date/month printed in.

I use google calendar, family of 5. Have forcibly linked DP to it so he can see it too and I have it set up to text hime with every new event so he can't say "you didn't tell me about that".

I can update it from anywhere - phone, tablet, computer at work etc. I sometime print out a month and stick it on the fridge.

Agree with Google calendar, it has changed my life! Dh and I both work full time and we have 4 children so life is HECTIC. I have one, dh has has one and they're linked so we can easily check what the other has booked, I get reminders about appointments, I can put my shifts in etc etc. I prefer writing something down to inputting on my phone, but it's a small price to pay for being much better organised.

I have this one KTwo

One side of the diary is work, and the opposite side is home, so you can see at a glance what you have planned for both work and home, but also keep them separate.

I find though that I am not rigorous about keeping it up to date. This, for me, is because it would avoid duplication. My work calendar is on my PC and blackberry in outlook. Our home life is organised through the kitchen calendar on the wall. So that is two places which are up to date. Maintaining a diary on top is a step too far for me! I would go electronic if I knew enough about technology to sort that out. I don't have a smartphone, which I am sure would make it easier.

Google calendar which I access on my laptop and iPhone. I send calendar invites to DH when we're doing stuff together.

I spend my life organising people (am a PA) and online is the way to go. Recurring appointments so you will never have to go through your diary and re-write Birthdays or Anniversaries ever again! Plus you can add full addresses and notes. You can't do that with a paper diary...

We have a mix of online (Google Calendar with DH's and my work calendars synched in) which we can both look at on phones, I carry the Mum's office diary (really great little diary) in my handbag and we have the Organised Mum monthly planner in the kitchen. Every so often we do updating between them.

The online ones are great because they ping you reminders, but I still prefer to flick through a paper diary when I'm talking to someone. The wall calendar is mostly for the childrens benefit, it has birthdays, swimming, holidays as well as meal plan on it.

I suspect we will all be online soon.

Yahoo calendar on computer and phone has transformed our lives, I cannot imagine going back to paper. I tried a filofax but couldn't bear the weight of it in my bag so it was always left at home and that's no good when I'm at work or out and about generally. It's got all the birthdays in it too. I still use paper for shopping and to do lists, but just use scrap paper for that. I use the note and reminder functions on my phone too.

Having said that, I need to train the DCs in calendar use, so will probably have to start using a paper calendar again for them

Oh yes, I also love being able to ping all the school term and bank holiday dates into the Yahoo calendar from the internet, plus any other calendars that are online (I have all the Formula 1 dates for an obsessed DS). My Ocado deliveries ping in automatically too, it's brilliant. Do get the occasional glitch, but nothing disastrous so far.

i can recommend lakeland calendar for the family. column per person and a pocket to pop relevant papers in for that month (party invites, appointment cards, birthday cards etc)

I was using an A4 diary when I last posted but have now migrated to Google Calendar. It isn't quite as satisfying but it does work brilliantly, and I'm teaching my son to use it too.

I've been using Google Calendar which has worked really well for us. It's synced with DHs and DS1 get invites to his events.

We also use the Organised Mum weekly calendar as that has the at a glance routine for the DC and meal plans. It's by the front door so it's easy to check.

I've used the Organised Mum Pocket Life Book for the last five years. I used to use a Filofax but I'm much happier with the OM.
In the kitchen we have the OM wall calendar and I 'synch' the two regularly

I used to use a Moleskine one with the notes page opposite each weekly page but found after children came along that I was forgetting to look at it and keep it up to date.

We now use an online calendar with a separate colour for each of us to keep track of everything (this is the master diary) and in addition I have an organised mum monthly calendar (with just one big square for each day rather than separate columns) which is in the kitchen and gets filled in from the online one each month . This has all the things like after school activities, home clothes day, anything else that needs to be taken into school etc. I found this was the only way I was remembering things on the day.

Dodo diary!!! Look it up on line- it's amazing. I have 5 kids and there's a space for all. It's week per view so you can see how your whole week is shaping up- with lots of space on opposite sheet for to do lists- phone numbers etc. they come in all sizes. I have been using them for ten years and have kept them all. Really useful if I want to look back on something or find a phone number I know I had a year or two ago. Highly recommended!!!