UHeart Organizing: Synchronizing Schedules

The paper vs. digital debate has been around for years and years now, and it really all comes down to personal preference and what works best for you.  I personally love writing things down, because it then seems to be engraved within my memory and I love touching pens and paper and seeing everything at a glance, but there are also times when going digital wins big!  Contributor Anneke, from the blog This, That & Life, has found a way to keep her entire family on track with schedules and appointments, thanks to Google's calendar and sync capabilities.  Here she is now to share how it has changed her life for the better.

I remember when I was growing up, every month my mom would draw up by hand a BIG, oversize calendar with the family schedule. It was your basic calendar format and every family member had their own color {of course}. We could all see what the month was going to look like, as far as who was going to be where and when. Well, fast forward 20+ years to the digital age, and you have the same exact thing available to us with even greater potential to stay organized and efficient with our time.

 

To some of you, this may be an absolute no-brainer and you've been operating this way {couldn't imagine your life without it} for quite some time now, but I wanted to share this information with those of you who could really benefit from making the leap from paper to digital calendars. I have literally had face to face conversations with enough people {even young people!} about this who then finally "made the switch" and are now thanking me for telling them!!! So, before I begin, I definitely have to lay a few things out there:

• I'm not some crazy awesome, technologically savvy girl that's about to show you an in-depth how-to. There are many resources out there.
• I will absolutely always be a pen and paper girl, but mostly for my personal day-to-day "To Do" list, jotting down ideas or sketches, etc. I confess....I'm the girl who will write something on the list and cross it off just because I've already done it, but it wasn't on the list! You either TOTALLY get that or just laugh at us list-loving peeps. I don't mind one bit!
• This post is mostly reaching out to those who are frequently involved in and need to know the schedule of another person, multiple people, or those who possess separate calendars for various aspects of life.

  

One - Ok, so first things first. YOU NEED AN ACCOUNT!

My husband and I organize our calendar communication through GMAIL. I'll admit my husband was the one who finally got ME on board. I had an e.mail account through our internet provider, but then we switched, and I was scrambling to figure out how to save my contacts. How many of you can relate to that one??? Then there was some e.mail forever lost on hotmail. Creating multiple gmail accounts has significantly streamlined our lives because it is "cloud-based" technology.

Two - Once you get yourself set-up with your contacts, day-to-day appts., etc. you can then add another person's calendar to be accessible when you are logged into your account. They have to give you permission and the owner of an e.mail account is always the one who determines the level of sharing with someone else. You may be able to add and view a schedule for work, but you would not necessarily be able to edit another person's calendar. Here is how our family has personally utilized multiple calendars online through gmail:

• I have my personal account that I use to input all of our family's appt., sports activities, school activities, family birthdays, parties, massage appts. {I wish!}, etc., all of which can be color coded per family member or priority. This account is all things personal and this calendar is shared with my husband.
• My husband has a personal account for everything work/personal related that I need to know about. He is a firefighter with an ever shifting schedule as well as the union President which has him participating in many meetings. He shares this calendar with me. This is so helpful because if he is off of work one day, he may take the kids to swim lessons while I work on something else. It's literally always changing in our family.
• I have a blogging gmail account for everything This, That and Life related.
• We have a Beach House vacation rental {last year's BIG project!} where I'm responsible for correspondence with inquiries and tenants. Both my husband and I share this calendar which is directly synced with our vrbo.com account so we know what dates the home is booked.
• At one point, I was even able to view a volunteer schedule because it was shared through "cloud" technology.

Three - Now that you have the ability to view just one calendar at a time or all of them at once and that these calendars can be synced with your iPhone or tablet.

I can't even tell you how much less stressful it is since we made this switch a few years ago. No unnecessary arguments over lack of clear communication. No more wasting time so you can "Go home and check your calendar and get back to you about that". Not that we always have to be available instantaneously because the date on the calendar is free, but instead I may say, "Let me check with Michael about that and get back to you."

There IS definitely the ability to look ahead and plan accordingly because everything is inputted. My husband knows his schedule for the entire year even though he's on an eight-day rotation. I love that I can look ahead 3 months and see if he happens to be working a particular Saturday that I could schedule for our child's birthday party, for example. This is all without having to spend 10x longer writing it down or wasting time figuring it out because the timeline is so far out. This helps us be purposeful with our time too and not get overbooked.

So are you already on board with "cloud" technology and syncing accounts or is this a bit foreign {and possibly intimidating} to you? Do you have some specific online calendar tools that you've found helps keep you more organized? I hope that you'll either find this encouraging to take the leap and give it a go, or share this with a friend who could benefit from some calendar sharing tools like this! There are so many clear and detailed tutorials in the Help section to guide you through.

"Hi everyone! I'm Anneke and you can often find me working with some tools, browsing for great furniture finds, or getting all girly for a date night! Like many of you, I'm often looking for ways to make life run more smoothly amidst kids, messes, responsibilities, and limited time. I recently celebrated the awesome 3-0, ten crazy years of marriage with my hubby Michael, and have the privilege of being a stay-at-home mom to 3 amazing kiddos, not to mention our sweet miniature schnauzer. We live in the beautiful Northwest, near Seattle.

Although I have a degree in Music, my brain spins with ideas about DIY projects, interior design, health, and family, all of which I blog about over at This, That and Life.  I am beyond thrilled to be a part of the wonderful contributing team at IHeart Organizing and can't wait to get to know some of you better as well!"