REDEEMING THE HOURS
Time is precious; once you spend it, you cannot get it back. We have been discussing ways of organizing our time for this upcoming year so that we can enjoy every possible moment available.
One other thing to consider is the art of journaling your time as you go along.
Journaling can be an enjoyable way to keep track of your life.
JOURNALING IS A GOOD THING
You might decide to write a word or two in your on-line journal, and/or post a photo that will work similar to a personal diary to help you remember the events of your daily life as you look back over the last year of your life later.
A lot of people find this more helpful than using Facebook or google photo albums for remembering the timeline of their personal lives with photos. It is definitely more personal and less distracting.
I use my on-line calendar for little journal entries as often as I can. I call this little daily routine “Five Minutes with the Past, Present and Future.”
PHOTOS ARE FUN
Using the photos is totally unnecessary; but a lot of fun!
I find them very helpful because I am a very visual thinker, and I like to keep a scrapbook of our family life for each year then give a copy of it as a Christmas gift to the whole family.
Day-to-day life is so easily forgotten without photos. I want to cherish all of the moments of life; and this helps me to remember things that sometimes get lost in the day-to-day rush.
Looking back over these daily photos I’ve posted in my personal journal helps me to organize the annual family scrapbook whenever I have the time to actually sit down and enjoy this hobby.
HELPS YOU REMEMBER
My journal also helps me to remember important and significant family events that have transpired. The dates are right there on the date that I write them down. If I forget; I just consult my daily journal.
Some days my journal entries are only one line; on other days they are even just one word.
At times I want to share the journal memories with other close family members and friends.
Some days I just want the journal to work like my own personal diary which no one ever sees but me. The journal is almost like having a therapist that you never have to pay. It seems to be good for your mental health.
I have all of those options (whether to share or not) available with the on-line personal planner that I have chosen to use.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Most days though, I am just trying to keep things as simple and brief as possible. I want to check my lists and my appointments and make some notes and move on through the day.
After all; I do have other things to do with my time besides sitting at a desk all day. That is part of the reason we are working on staying more organized. There is no more need for me to carry this load of information around in my head or hunt in one million different places for all the different pieces. My journal keeps my life very organized.
MAKING YOUR BIG DECISION
So how will you decide on which on-line planner and which hand-held planner to use?
Have you ever met Cozi?
I think Cozi has become my favorite on-line personal organizer.
Cozi is a great tool for totally organizing your day. I found it years ago while following The Fly Lady’s website.
This brings up another great organization fact.
Have you ever met The Fly Lady?
She is known for being one of the first great on-line organizational coaches.
This blogger; called The Fly Lady, had all of these ideas before they even became popular with the general population.
The amusing part about The Fly Lady’s story is that all of her work on organization sprang from the fact that her own life was a total mess. She needed to create a way out. I think many of us can identify with that; at least I’ll admit that I can.
As she helped herself; she helped the rest of the world. Life often works like that.
These blog articles might fall into that same category. As I offer advice to you about getting more organized; I’m actually preaching to myself.
EVERYONE LOVES THE FLY LADY
Anyway; you might enjoy looking The Fly Lady up on-line. It will be a delightful and educational experience to say the least. She is quite amazing and helpful and she recommends using Cozi as an on-line personal planner. You can probably sign up right from her webpage. If you get the family organizer it is free.
Just google “The Fly Lady.” She can become your own personal on-line coach for just about anything. I’ve attached her best-selling book references to the bottom of this blog page for your quick reference.
Guess what?
I RECOMMEND USING COZI
You can also find Cozi by going straight to the Cozi website at: www.cozi.com.
One of the neat features about Cozi is that it can be shared by other family members, or anyone else that you chose to share it with. If your husband is wondering where you are at 10 a.m. on a Tuesday, all he has to do is check your appointments on Tuesday from Cozi.
Are you wondering what class Johnny is sitting in at 3 p.m. each afternoon? No need to call the school. Just check his class schedule that you recorded in your Cozi at the beginning of the school year.
You can share a portion of your Cozi, or all of it. If you do not want to share, you can keep the whole journal private.
Moms with school kids find Cozi especially helpful for organizing sports calendars and keeping up with all their kid’s many homework assignments and after-school activities.
Every kid can have a separate calendar if you wish for that to happen.
There is a place for organizing your grocery shopping; and a really helpful place for stashing your recipes which will feed over to your grocery list, which can also be shared to your mobile phone for convenience.
No printer to print your list? Just send it to your cell phone and look it up as you enter the store.
No problem!
You’re welcome!
A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING
There is a handy section for making and keeping specific “to-do lists,” which can have items that are dated and put on your daily calendar as reminders.
Yes, there is a place for keeping your daily appointments on a calendar. Also there is a place for organizing your contacts. This really comes in handy for Christmas cards. Cozi will mail your cards out if you ask it to do so. You simply have to order the service.
The calendar will send you e-mail reminders if you tell it too.
It is helpful for remembering to buy birthday cards and helpful for remembering all the dates and details for traditional holidays and holy days. Cozi will remind you of anything you wish.
OTHER SPECIAL FEATURES
This on-line organizer called Cozi will arrange everything at a glance for you on your home page, but you can navigate to specific individual functions too.
You can post in a journal within your Cozi daily, or weekly, or monthly if you wish and make notes about your day-to-day activities and family events.
You can also go to Cozi’s website and/or blog from within the program to find helpful articles about daily living and life hacking tips.
There are also very helpful menus and recipes.
TAILORED FOR SHOPPERS
Need some help shopping?
Cozi can probably pull up the dirt on the item you are longing for. The articles help you stay up to date on daily life. There are articles on organization, and other such subjects that are very handy according to whatever season of the year we are currently living through.
If you have time you can read Cozi’s magazine posts. They read similar to most typical woman’s magazines. The good thing about that is once you buy the service; the articles are free. You can now pay up to $20 each for good magazines in the grocery store check out. Don’t do it; refer to your Cozi and save money.
Just look for the free Cozi app; and I do recommend going gold. You must pay for gold, but it isn’t very expensive.
A WAY TO KEEP UP WITH EVERYTHING AT ONCE
Cozi is an awesome and very inexpensive way to keep up with everything you could possibly want to do in the realm of organization in your daily life. Everything is right where you want it wherever you are and whenever you need it.
This happens to be my favorite on-line planner; but there are many others out there to choose from.
OTHER ON-LINE PLANNER/ORGANIZERS
Some of the other planner/organizers would include: Evernote, Google Calendar, Zoho Calendar, 30 Boxes and Which Time.
Of course if you use Microsoft Word, it has a calendar that will keep appointments and events and send you reminders. That option felt too much like a regular work task to me; so I opted for something different at home. It will do though; if you want to use it.
Your home computer may have come with its own version of an on-line personal organizer. Check there first!
Google all of these or simply google “daily planner software” and pick the specific on-line planner that meets your needs.
I’ll see you later in your more-organized life!