You’ll be happy to know that I draw the line at putting a calendar in my bathroom….

Somehow I feel this post needs to come with a disclaimer because although I’m going to be discussing planners and calendars today I also need you to keep in mind that I might not necessarily be the best source of information for you. Why you might ask? Well that would be because I LOVE them and each year I purchase MANY calendars for my home. Let’s just say this year it edged close to 15. I know, I know, it’s part of the overindulgence for sure but here is where I remind you of the “junkie” in the title “I’m an Organizing Junkie”. I can’t help myself and clearly I’m addicted to all little squares with numbers in them.

Let me walk you through my obsession. First of all I buy most of my calendars at the Dollar Store for $1.00 or during Boxing Day sales for 50% off. That’s the justification part of my addiction.

In my kitchen resides my MAIN calendar better known as grand central station. This calendar is displayed in a very prominent position of the kitchen where it can be seen and USED BY ALL. This is the key. EVERYTHING is written down on this calendar from birthdays to events. Everyone checks this calendar before scheduling anything, that’s the rule. The kids even check it. The other rule we have is whoever gets their activity on the calendar first wins. In other words if I want to do something with the girls one evening and my husband has already got something scheduled in (ha!) then it’s up to me to pick a different night (although we’ve been known to compromise when I whine when necessary).

After much deliberation and selection this is my kitchen calendar pick of 2008 (purchased at Shopper’s Drug Mart for $1.99):

As you can see, I’m going with a different style this year just to be wild and crazy. It’s a family planner which uses both the top and bottom portions of the calendar making more space to write on each day. And yes I know it shows February but I already wrote on January so I had to flip the page for the picture.

Next is my personal day planner. This year for my blogging notes and other goals I’ve decided to try out the Polestar Family Calendar that I’ve heard so much about. It’s very popular with my homeschooling friends. I just purchased it yesterday (had to wait for the sale!) and so far I’m very pleased with what I see. It’s got a lot of nice features. Stephanie from A Keeper of the Home just did a review about it here if you are interested.

So now on to the “freak” part. I also have two calendars in my office, one by my hubbie’s computer and one by mine. I don’t write on them but I love to look at them.

This one below is my Whomi calendar that sits beside hubbie’s computer and the only reason I didn’t use it for my MAIN calendar is it was too wide for my space.

I also have a small one by my bed but I don’t write on it either but it sure is pretty to look at.

I also carry one a small one in my purse and another small one resides by the computer to record our financial information including paydays and when all our bills are due. Each of my bigger kids also like to keep calendars in their rooms as well and my hubbie has one in his workshop.

Oh and I almost forgot the magnetic weekly wipe off calendar I keep on my fridge for menu planning!!

It’s a sickness I tell you.

And after all that, this would be my reject pile, otherwise known as the poor suckers that didn’t get picked:

But don’t feel too sorry for them, I’ll give them away to good homes, I promise.

I’m also finalizing the family weekly cleaning schedule and will probably use one of these calendars for that. I’ll post about this soon once it’s completed.

So if you didn’t get it before or perhaps for whatever reason thought I was just putting you on all this time, nope it’s true.

I AM AN ORGANIZING JUNKIE!

So my only advice at this point other than to run for your lives is that it doesn’t matter so much what type of calendar you decide on as long as you are using one. There are so many variations and methods out there that are all wonderful and trust me I know it is hard to decide but once you do, stick with it. Your household will run much smoother for it. Also for those of you that prefer to go paperless, Daily Home Planner is an excellent software calendar/planner program to help you do just that.

My “small thing” for today is to record all the birthdays for the year on my kitchen calendar. You can read in more detail about how I go about that here.

So now won’t you help feed my addiction and tell me what kind of planners/calendars you are using. I’d love to hear about YOUR favorites!