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OT - paper vs electronic organizer?

Lynne

Veteran

I'm talking about your primary organizer here, not a duplicate calender you might keep in the kitchen. What do you reach for if you need to make an appointment - a diary or an electronic organizer?

Ornella started a thread about handbag size and weight recently; I would love to 'downsize' my bag, but one of bulkiest things I carry is a B5 sized Filofax. Somehow I relate better to a week-in-view, pencil and paper system, even though I carry a smartphone. I'm not sure if it's because I'm a highly visual thinker or I'm just old!

What do you use to co-ordinate appointments, family, work? Have you transitioned from one to the other? Any pointers for me?

General

29 replies

Latest reply was from Ornella

Polly (thunalata)

Veteran

Paper all the way. I carry a Filofax too and love it. DH is keen to move over onto electronic and has recently upgraded our computers and got onto MobileMe - this means that we can have our calendars electronically updated automatically and can see what each other is doing, and I have promised to try to keep that updated (he can access his on his iPhone all the time, but my phone is more ordinary so I can only update the calendar at home on the computer).

DH is still working on keeping his updated - it's not fail safe yet, so I keep paper as primary and will try to keep open to the idea of moving over to electronic as soon as it's working as well for me as my Filofax.

crwilson

Veteran

I move back and forth between different things, which ultimately means that I'm not nearly as organized as I would like to be. I would like to find an electronic calendar/to-do app that I really like because I always grow tired of carrying around the paper version, and then I end up forgetting important things.

Kristen

(website)

Veteran

We use Google Calendar for the family stuff, and I have the Calengoo app on my iPhone to manage it.
At work I have Outlook, a huge dry-erase calendar on my wall, and a monstrous to-do list.
Sometimes it's tricky because I am remiss about putting work-related late nights on the home calendar, or just blending them in my mind (especially if I have to work on the weekend but I keep planning things with my friends), but since it's just us two and not any kids, we seem to do okay.

Kristen

(website)

Veteran

Also, I have a big pile of what I call "Dad pads". My father used to use these small white pads, about the size of an index card, to make himself lists for shopping, etc. He would tuck it in his shirt pocket and off he went. They were everywhere growing up, in his car, in his office, in the kitchen, anywhere he could jot a note and stick it in his pocket. They are SO useful!

Barbara

Veteran

I use a leather-covered calendar, which I carry in my purse. It's small, concise and it works. Hubby also has a pocket calendar for work-related appointments. Our son keeps EVERYTHING on his Droid. He's 25 and loves his apps!

Kristen, your dad had the right idea! My husband keeps index cards, clipped together with a binder,and a pen with him ALL THE TIME. He's an engineer, so he is SUPER organized. He inspires me to be too.

Dusty

(website)

Digital all the way. When I'm out and about I add appointments to my iPod touch which sinks with my Google Calender and send invited to DH to add it to his Google calender (which sinks up with his Android phone). It keeps us both on the same page without having to sit down and copy each other's calenders.

marianna

Veteran

Digital. All my appointments go into my iPhone calendar or iCal. I use MobileMe so both sync together.

medusa

Veteran

I recently got a droid and I LOVE how easy it is to do everything electronically. Google calendar syncs between the droid and my computer, and it has a to-do list that syncs as well. I use gmail for email and if I get an invitation or seminar announcement a little link appears next to the email that says "click to add to calendar". It's wonderful.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Neither! Guess I'm an unorganized person The only list in our house is the magnetized pad of paper on the fridge. Great way to jot down what you need as you go. In my house growing up we had a blackboard that was where all the family notes went. Way before cellphones I'd leave a few words - at the park - and be off for the day. Never once got kidnapped or mugged.
.

Kate

Veteran

All electronic. I had a PDA in high school, but since college my schedule has been such that I just keep everything on MS office (before) and Google Calendar (now). I also have my computer with me often, so that helps, but I figure someday when I'm juggling more schedules than just mine and my bf's I'll go back to some kind of PDA (or fancy cell phone) to keep track of things.

I don't like paper because it can get lost and I won't have a back-up, and I like being able to shuffle around my to do list, which gets messy on paper but is easy electronically.

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I do keep everything on the kitchen calendar LOL

Elly

Veteran

Paper-- small planner. Even then I am constantly creating calendar lists and charts of blank paper, otherwise my mind doesn't seem to be able to plan! Honestly, I find so much of the computer frustrating because many programs are so limiting. I want to be able to do everything I can do with my darn pen in real life, dang it!

Lynne

Veteran

Thank-you, all! In principle, I like the idea of an electronic calender. And my kids school has an online calander that you can sync to so the school dates are all constantly up to date....I'm just not sure that my thinking is aligned to an 'out of sight' system. I guess there is a way to find out :).....

Cilleena

Veteran

I keep all appointments on my kitchen calendar. I am a visual person and I like to just glance at the whole month to see what I've got going on. When I'm out and make an appointment away from my kitchen calendar, I rely on dr.'s appointment cards and just a sticky note. Sounds crazy, but I haven't had too many problems with overlapping appointments. I should upgrade to something, but I am usually juggling a fussy toddler, so stopping to write down things in a calendar or pull out a technical piece of equipment doesn't work.

Scarlet

Veteran

My iPhone very cleverly can divine appointments from my e-mails and add them automatically to my calendar, so I am starting to find myself relying on the electronic system due to the sheer convenience of it. Before that I was always a paper and pen girl. I find that if I write an appointment in my book, I don't even need to look at it because I will remember it, but if I type an appointment or add it automatically via my clever phone or whatever, I have to constantly check my calendar because I have no idea when things are. Something about how my brain works.

Kate

Veteran

I want to add that my mom started using a palm in her mid 50s and loves it! And the transition wasn't as hard as she feared (to give you an idea of her computer skills, I taught her how to copy/paste around the same time as when she got the palm, and this past Christmas I introduced her to the marvels of Ctrl + F to find text.)

She has a system where each of us is color coded, so it's easier to keep track of who is where when, who has a car and where they are, what events are for the whole family, etc. Since my siblings and I were in our teens when she got it, it was easy to let us input our own schedules in the calendar on the computer so long as we also told her about what we were up to, and it looks a lot cleaner and more organized than when we used to write in her paper planner. It is hard to see more than a couple days at a time on the palm itself, but it's easy to get a clear view of the month on the computer. And if she misplaces her palm for the day, she still has all of the information on the computer and back up on an external HD.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Okay, Kate, now I want to marvel - what is control F?? I use a computer all the time but really don't know any of the tricks everyone seems to innately have command of.

Kate

Veteran

Mo, this explains it: http://www.coreynahman.com/findfeature.html

Just press the control key and the f key at the same time, and type in the word you're looking for. It will show you every occurrence on the page.

It's also helpful in a word document (or other document you're writing) because there's a replace function (which you can get to from Ctrl F). So, for example, I can search for the word "tv" which I always forget to capitalize, and get the computer to replace every occurrence of "tv" with "TV" or whatever I tell it to replace. It's an awesome time saver.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Ah, that might explain it - I don't write documents lol! I enrolled in a Word Processing class back in '92 when it was a new mysterious thing and dropped out 3 weeks in. Thanks for the explanation, though

Kate

Veteran

Mo, you can use it for finding something on a website too. Say I wanted to know who in this post used an iPhone, I can click Ctrl F, type in iPhone, and it will take me directly to the word iPhone.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

Oh, got it - thanks!

Megan

Electronic all the way- I made the (difficult) switch last year but now I'm used to it it's SO much better. I use google calendar for scheduling work (2 jobs) and personal life and Spring Pad (www.springpadit.com) to keep my 'GTD' (getting things done) list simple. Springpad also sycs with Google calendar.

I sync on my Iphone using Pocket Informant for the calendar and Springpad's own app.

Louise

Veteran

I'm a paper girl through and through. I've flitted between regular diaries and filofaxes for years I am currently using a small Mulberry planner which I scored on Ebay for £12 I love it and never want to change it. I have a week to a page diary in it, I don't have a lot of engagements to put in and it cuts down on weight. i love the whole process of writing things down and it helps me remember them. I hate emails and online books I feel like I want to pull the pages out and hold them in my hand x

Kristine

Veteran

I just keep all appointments on my Yahoo calendar online. That way I get an emailed reminder too. Work appointments go in my Outlook calendar.

Lynne

Veteran

Kate and Megan, it's encouraging to hear that the switch can be made......thx all, for your input. My appts are kids and school, medical, and part-time work, and I carry them with me in my Filofax and duplicate them in a diary in the kitchen.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Made the transition to digital a few years ago and never looked back! Thanks to MobileMe (I am a Macphile!) I can enter an appointment or a new contact on my iPhone or my computer, or my laptop, or my iPad... and it will be synced to all the other devices. I love it.

Lynne

Veteran

Megan, Springpad looks cool - thx for the link!

Patty

Veteran

We`re not a super busy family so a calender and stickies does it for us. Everything needs to be in the open--my hard of hearing son might misunderstand a date or time so he needs to check the calender often.
I don<code>t know how anyone can do it--everything in electronic box --I can only imagine I</code>be doubling up information on paper anyway--I love paper.

Now how<code>d that happen--- a different font!!! I can</code>t trust electronics lol!

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

I love writing And I love crossing the completed tasks from the lists.

I do use electronic organizer and as much as I try to switch to paperless habits, my mind works better when I see things on paper.

But, I do try to reduce the number of post-its I use, as it can get out of control if I'm careless