Organising my life... how do you do it?

[madcows]

Hi there,
I don't know where is the best place to put this, but have chosen here as guess many people here are juggling work and parenting. I work full time, and have 2 children - one at school and one at nursery. I'm struggling with ORGANISING everythign. I have a work diary and a kitchen calender, and dh also keeps a diary (we split drops offs- pick ups etc). My problem is that we struggle to make sure that the 2 diaries and calender are all uptodate. I find myself constantly making double-bookings, and having to rearrange... esp for my 7yo where things are usually arranged in the school playground.

So my question is - what do you use?

At the moment I have a v cheap PAYG phone, but would consider switching to something more fancy if that could mean I could have a good electronic diary on me at all times (but would this replace the kitchen diary, which the 7yo likes to be able to see???).

Anyway - any suggestions much appreciated!
tahnks,
Madcows

Interested to see the replies you get. I will very soon be in exactly the same situation.

Am thinking of getting a dreaded blackberry to try and organise everything, hopefully networked to home and work........

We always had a kitchen calendar with one column for each person plus a work diary each. Anything that needed to be put on a work diary as well as the calendar got emailed to work (before we had blackberries and could do it straight away). Always look a week ahead and always diary something that need doing twice straight away

Leaving it till later is the road to disaster

My DH and I both use Google calendar on our phones, so we can each see entries the other has put in. From this, each Sunday night I fill out my magnetic weekly calendar (from Organised Mum) which goes on the fridge. This has a column each for myself, DS1, DS2 and another showing what we're eating each night. I also have a folder with a space for each month where I store school letters and stuff like that. I check that each week when I'm filling out the calendar.

Okay - so I'm getting the impresion that a phone upgrade might be in order. Next question (remember you're talking to a techy-illiterate here!) how do I chose between blackberry / iphone / anything else? As I say, I have a really basic phone (which I hardly use)... so have no idea how to chose / decide. Also dh is also useless with technology (worse than me) and I don't know if I'd be able to convince him to use an electronic calendar too. (Hmmm. ... and even then, we have to remember to write it up on the kitchen calendar (we also have the 1 column per person one, and it is great!)
madcows

Google calendar. You can have multiple calendars so we have a family one, and I have one that reminds me of upcoming birthdays. We only use it for one off events - regular things (swimming lessons etc) go on a big weekly planner on the fridge, but actually I am thinking about transferring it ALL across to Google, so I would for instance be reminded the night before that dd has a swimming lesson. It will send reminders to you whenever you need them and is really simple to set up and use.

On the technolgy front, as a Blackberry and iPhone owner (complicated...) I would say iPhone all the way. I only use my Blackberry for work emails, and loathe it. iPhone is far simpler, and more fun. Honestly, I've never once had a "how do I do that" moment with it. And I get text-like reminders through some clever integrated set up, which I didn't do on purpose but are super helpful.

The advantage of an electronic version is that you can both update it wherever you are. Individual paper diaries need regular reconciliations, and kitchen-based ones don't get updated...

I love Mumsnet. Where else can you get such useful advice from people dealing the same things?!

Okay - so I'm going to look into getting Google calendar, convincing dh how easy it is(!), and getting an iphone.

Does it really mean i can get a reminder sent to dh to put the recycling out?! I guess he'll have to get a new phone too... 21st century here we come!
madcows

Yes, it really does. Every week, up until 2050, or some equally distant date. It is just marvellous...

I go for the old fashioned approach after being let down too many times by imperfect technology. Including google calendar but it's a while since I've used it.

I use a hardbacked A5 diary. I don't write in every weekly session of eg "swimming" but I put in first/last week and "no swimming" at half term.

DH book everything with me so we know early on if we need to juggle something.

It works very well.

But do you carry the diary around? My problem is that I'm at the school playground, trying to rush off to get to work on time, someone comes up to me and says can x come to play this Thursday... and I have no idea. Or I say yes, then get home that evening to find i've double-booked...

But - having said that, I'd be interested in hearing about how you've been let down by technology (before I invest!)
thanks,
madcows

Yes, I do carry it around a lot. I found it too difficult to go home to the shared on-line diary, or the family calendar. Children have a better social life this way. I have one I can make notes in and carry the relevant bits of paper too.

I have been trying to use technology for this since about 1996 but have never had enough money to have good enough portable stuff. And I hated re inputting everything with every upgrade. I think iphones and android are good enough now, but I'm on a 24 month contract on my less good smart phone (all I could afford at the time). But a paper diary that you guard with your life is still a good option.

I have a blackberry, and keep thinking of using it as a diary, but what happens if someone rings to make an appointment?

No no you don't need the blackberry (they were forced on us by work) - we managed fine with the calendar, the diaries and the efficient updating

so, iphone or blackberry, that is the question. Work all have BB's but at home we have a macbook, want to try to synchronise it all.............

Am going to look for a new phone tomorrow!

iphone is the obvious choice if you have a macbook at home