Why You Should Sign Up for Google Calendar
Google Calendar. It’s free. It syncs. You (and whoever you choose) can access it from your phone, tablet or computer. This serves a multitude of functions for me. The rule in my house is: If it’s not on our calendar– it doesn’t exist.
The lie that I used to tell myself, “I don’t need to write that down.” Well, yeah, I actually do. These days, my brain is running much like my 10-year-old laptop. Memory full and slow processing speed.
Time is probably one of our most precious commodities. Check out how you can organize your life with Google Calendar too!
What to Track to Organize Your Life
Activities and Events. The older my children get, the busier we have become. Each child has their own obligations; school programs., friends, assignments., trips, etc.
Then there is all of my time requirements; doctors appointments, dentist appointments, teachers meetings, PTA, practices, etc. There are future school breaks– are we taking a trip anywhere?? You see where I’m going with this?
Household Functions. Oil changes. Fill prescriptions. Family birthdays (You can set the calendar to save this as an annual event to repeat year after year– no more forgetting Aunt Sally’s Birthday!!). Christmas cards mailed.
Schedule it all out, with reminders.
Money. Make sure you are paying bills on time. Want to know when your water bill is due–how handy would it be to have it at your fingertips anywhere you go? Plus, you can make a note of when you paid it.
Or let’s say you get paid biweekly and you need to see what bills can get paid and when. Put your bills with due dates on the calendar and shift dates to the left and right as needed.
Need to remember to file quarterly payments for taxes- schedule it out here.
Cleaning and Maintenance. Need to make sure you remember to have the furnace serviced before winter? When to change those pesky air filters? Here you go! And you cant set it and forget it to keep on repeating, year after year.
Meal Plan. In Google Calendar you have the ability to include information in the description, which is a great place to list ingredients or even copy and paste a recipe.
So accessible and handy if you find yourself making your grocery list. Or, not that I’ve ever done this *cough*, but you find yourself at the store and your list at home–it’s on your phone.
Plus, if you find a meal that your family loves, you can go ahead and schedule it to repeat in the future.
Keeping a record. You took a sick day. You paid for child’s photos. You got the flu vaccine. You purchased a big ticket item with a time sensitive warranty. I track it here.
Another benefit to using Google Calendar is the ability to attach photos or documents.
Recently I purchased a new laptop. I marked the day I purchased it and then scanned a copy of the receipt and warranty into my calendar so that I will always have a copy of that information.
Following up on marking the date of purchase, I marked the date my computer warranty expires so I’ll be able to have a visible record of that as well.
Upcoming concerts, upcoming movies, new book releases, 5k runs, etc. Love doing 5k’s? You can track them all (along with the details in the description) so you can decide if you want to participate. The new Steven King book, or some new-to-you author– you can track book releases so you can buy on release day. U2 is coming to your town and tickets are on sale when??
Fitness Tracker. What time are those Spin classes? Membership dues? How much water did I drink? All contained here.
Block out your day. You can really up your productivity level by blocking time to maximize what you are able to accomplish!
Goals. Visibly mark out your progress. Track accomplishments. See where things took a left turn. Check in to see where you are.
Bonus! Content Calendar. I love plotting out post ideas here. I can set reminders. It’s not another plugin clogging up my WordPress. I can move things around. I can see when holidays or events are coming up so I can plan around them.
Why Google Calendar is the answer to organizing your life
Offline. You do not need to be connected to check in and see what’s going on.
Email reminders. Free up brain space! No need to worry you are going to forget something. You can just have it sent to you the night or even an hour before the event. Super helpful!
Shareable calendars. Your family wants to make it to every. single. soccer game?? No problem. You can simply share your activities calendar with them.
These are just a few of the ways I use mine. If you can make this a habit, it is such an easy way to level up your life.