Ever since I was a little girl, my love for “school supplies” has been slightly out of control.  I remember meticulously color coding by subject (blue for math, pink for social studies, etc.), all the way from the folders, binders, and book covers, straight down to which Post-it® notes and highlighter to use.

As I slowly integrate into the adult world while trying my hardest to say office supplies rather than school supplies when speaking to other business professionals, I have retained my color coding and organization skills with just a few tweaks and additions.  These are my favorite organizational tips to keeping an organized calendar.

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First and foremost, I am a huge believer in the power of a paper calendar.  Yes, it may seem old-fashioned in today’s world of technology, but physically writing down an item tends to add a better mental stamp in my brain than typing a new event into iCloud Calendar.

 

I currently use two physical calendars:

1. A personal agenda that shows one week at a time with space to write several rows of events, notes, to do lists, etc. each day.  For years I used a Gallery Leather planner (see here), purchasing a new one each year.  Currently, I use the Louis Vuitton Medium Ring Agenda (see here) which was a gift from my parents for graduating with my Masters in 2012.  It had always been on my wish list, and I could not be more happy with it!  Plus, each year you simply buy the refill pages and can keep as many months in the LV monogram canvas cover as you prefer.

2. A monthly wall calendar that I keep hanging on my desk at work.  I purchased this one with cute gold foil details from Target last December, but you can find similar ones here and here.

 

My next favorite step to staying organized is creating a personal color coding system that works for you.  (You can see my favorite pens to use in this post.)  My system is as follows:

Red – bills/deadlines

Pink – holidays

Orange – pets (i.e. medication reminders, vet appointments, etc.)

Yellow – TV shows

Dark Green – Brandon (any important events the hubby has that I am not a part of and need to be aware of; i.e. boys camping trip, Braves game, etc.)

Lime Green – appointments

Dark Blue – work schedule/events

Light Blue – trips

Dark Purple – birthdays/anniversaries

Light Purple – all other events (dinner with friends, engagement parties, concerts, etc.)

Using this system not only makes your calendar a beautiful work of art rather than a boring and mundane to-do list, but also helps give you a vision of how your week/month is going to unveil.  You can easily see if a birthday/anniversary is coming up that may need a card or gift, as well as remember dentist appointments and upcoming trips!

See how I integrated this system into mine and B’s shared iCloud Calendars in my next organization post…coming soon.