"The Palest Ink Is Better Than the Best Memory." How Do YOU Remind Yourself of Things and Keep Track of Your Schedule?

Hey Everyone,

Back in school, a teacher quoted this version of a Chinese proverb, "The palest ink is better than the best memory." In other words, he believed that the best way to remember things was to to write them down. This was long before anyone ever even thought of personal phones, so apps and electronic calendars were not an option.

Even as they became available, I've always opted to write things down with a real pen and paper. Shoot, I'm getting old enough to where it may as well have been a stone tablet and chisel! I try to keep all my scribbled notes in my "command center" (a free leftover cardboard tray I got at Costco,) and every week, I sort through what's been done and what needs to be moved to next week's agenda.

I also keep a paper calendar on which I keep birthdays (to some people's dismay!) and other various events, reminders, and appointments.

I've TRIED keeping notes on apps or my phone's calendar, but the first thing I do every morning when I go for my coffee is check my "command center" anyway. I often forget to look at the calendar on my phone, so I only us that as a backup of the most important things.

Years of habit have just trained me to write things down, and I haven't been able to get used to any other way. I also use different colored pens on my calendar -- red circles are for birthdays; turquoise blue is for errands; green is for bills, etc. So at one glance, I know the type of event that's coming up soon. I would find it a pain to type all of this into my phone.

I think I'm also a very kinetic learner, so the motions of writing the different letters and the association with the words helps embellish them in my brain just a little bit more. And if it's a one-shot reminder for the week ("chop veggies",) I can tear up the note and throw it away, leaving my main calendar free from extra visual clutter (fewer things for me to sort through as I look at it.) This might be my own version of OCD, but if I just cross something out, I'll still go back to reread it just to make sure I didn't miss something. But if I use just one note for a frequent, regular event and tear it up when I'm done, it really is "out of sight, out of mind."

However, I'm always looking for ways to streamline my system.

What works for you?

* How do YOU keep track of appointments, bills, meetings, etc.? Do you use paper, a bullet journal, personal organizer, your phone, etc.?

* How well do these methods work for you? How do you "cross off your list" as you go?

* Do you use any kind of color or coding system (different colors, notes, post-it papers, etc.) to help you remember different kinds of events?

* What are YOUR best tips for keeping track of everything you have going in YOUR busy life?

I use Post-It notes. Regarding keeping up with the schedule, my policy is "why do today what can be done tomorrow?"

What does YOUR planning system look like?

You sound incredibly organized. Heh, I am nowhere near as organized as you are.

I am more organized at work than at home, but that is for the benefit
of all having some system to follow so everyone knows what is what.

And in my keeping of notes and image files for designing I have to be somewhat highly organized,
because it is a very involved and somewhat complex process with many moving parts as it were LOL.

But outside of that I do not even make grocery lists any more.

I normally go out for coffee and breakfast at least three days a week.

That means if I have some grocery need on my radar and I forget to buy it one day, I can make an extra effort to get it next time, or buy it on my way home from work on a work day, though I prefer coming straight home. The back-up plan is online ordering... where would I be without that? Because I simply do not buy certain things in person any more, like cases of cat food or cases of tinned milk for my coffee at work. Yesterday was a day off for me and I had forgotten to buy Italian herbs when I went out for coffee and breakfast, so I made sure to add it to the list I had going for an online order through Instacart, because I was down to my last tin or two of cat food. No matter what, Luna cannot go hungry LOL. For doctor, dental, and chiro appointments, I rely on being reminded through messaging.

Thank you, Lady Magenta, but I have to confess -- I think I've mastered the APPEARANCE of being more organized than I actually am!!

A few weeks ago, I missed a close friend's birthday that was clearly marked on the calendar, and felt rather foolish for that. My parents, however, are the king and queen of organization, and so I'm always trying to emulate them.

I'm not nearly as successful, but I keep trying!

And I agree that online ordering is a Modern Day Miracle. (I'm guessing your beloved Luna thinks so, too!)

What do you do for a command center when you are on the road? I have never seen this command center.

I always carry paper folders, envelopes, a notebook, and small pad of paper for quick-reach notes, along with a whole bag of different colored pens and writing tools.

One folder will carry an improve calendar of important dates I need to remember during my trip. Other folders are for storing receipts, brochures, travel and contact info, etc. Each folder has a category. And the envelopes are for wrangling smaller pieces of paper (hurriedly scribbled notes for later, register receipts, business cards, etc.)

Trust me, I've only learned to do this from a lot of trial and error -- mostly error!

And I'm sure you've seen me with my backpack -- basically, half of one of the compartments in my pack becomes my "Mobile Command Center." (I originally got the term "Command Center" from my mom.)

Back in the day I wrote notes and would end up with a big pile of them. I also had an appointment/calendar book I'd buy and I'd write things in there.

Nowadays for things I need to do on any given day I put it in the calendar on the phone and I also need to set an alarm otherwise I'm likely to miss whatever it is. If it is just information I need to remember I put it in the notes app on the phone. Having everything in once place, on the phone, is helpful to me.

I have to treat my memory as if it no longer exists because there isn't much of it left... So hopefully each evening I remember to look at the calendar for the next day and set any alarms that are needed. Not missing something is challenging... but my system works most of the time...

This is the thread that will expose the problem I have...keeping track of everything lol. Well, everything in my life (I only have time and patience for my own life lol). I always have notebooks beside me.

I keep a daily To Do list (in a physical notebook). It's a smaller notebook. In a larger notebook I have a long range To Do list and then in a sort of messy scrappy type of notebook I have a more detailed daily/weekly To Do list with messy notes.

Also, I keep a daily journal. I've been doing this for years. I used to keep a physical journal, but I've kept an online journal for the last several years.

I also have a habit journal (a notebook type of thing) and I have color coded (on paper) project lists.

Besides my online journal, I about the only other thing I keep track of online is my daily intake and activity. I log my activity, supplement intake, and food/liquid intake. I used to do this on paper, but 2 years ago I started doing it online.

When I used to spend a lot of time in Georgia, I'd even have separate notebooks for while I was there lol. I had a separate To Do notebook for there and I kept a physical journal while I was there.

I lived for 2 years with a teacher (before everyone had cell phones and hardly anyone had a computer) and later I worked for several years in an accounting office. I think these 2 things probably exacerbated my "problem" lol. Actually, I didn't even think that it was out of the ordinary until one of my closest friends said to me one time, "You are an excellent record keeper." They seemed to be impressed with this. However, I've found out that it doesn't impress everyone. But, I'll just continue to be me...notebooks and all

*Seoulsearch's heart stops beating.*

People...

I. Think. I've. Just. Found. My. Soul-Mate.




Run off with me, @CarriePie!!!

We can make beautiful platonic to-do lists and fill PILES of notebooks -- TOGETHER!!!










Look, I've even found you a Prince!! 🖋️📔📓📒

My heart is melting!!

Piles of notebooks! Be still my beating heart!

This deserves a trophy, heart, and laughter all at the same time!

I gotta go make note of this in my journal! 💓

Reading y'all's posts alone has made me tired. Keeping up with all that sounds exhausting.

At the end of the work day, I do spend a few minutes making a "to do" list for the following day using the "Sticky Notes" on the computer. I also use "Sticky Notes" and Outlook calendar at work for upcoming longer-term deadlines. I track doctors' appointments that are even months ahead using my Outlook calendar at work. I have people's birthdays on my calendar on my phone; it is set to send reminders. I also use the Notes feature on my phone for personal reminders, but I do not keep routine "to do" lists for personal matters.

@CarriePie and everyone else -- have you ever tried bullet journaling?





I know that was a huge thing several years ago. And journaling was an entire enterprise!! I remember going into Jo-Ann's (RIP!) and Michael's and being amazed by the section for buying new "updates" for various journal systems.

I know it's a very personal thing (you can do as little or as much as you like,) and some people's journals are works of art!!!

But I always thought to myself, "Whoa. I spend enough time sorting out all my notes... If I tried that, I'd be spending all my time and money on writing out what I had to get done, rather than actually doing them!"

Has bullet journaling worked (or failed) for anyone else?

If I understand it correctly, a bullet journal has all your stuff in one place. I think it's a great concept. I just can't keep everything in one place. For some odd reason, I need/like having more than one (actually more than 2 or 3) notebooks/journals for things.

Even so, it sounds interesting. I think about my grandmother and how I never saw her keeping notes or making lists except for a grocery list. She'd make a grocery list in her little cheapy notebook and if someone told her a phone number/address she'd write that down in the same notebook. And that's about all I seen her doing when it came to keeping track of anything. How'd she keep her life together, I wonder? lol Yet, she did. I'd be a mess without some kind of system. It fascinates me how we are all different.

Oh my goodness, I can so relate.

I've tried streamlining and keeping most of everything in one place/book/calendar, and I just wind up with something that looks like this:







The closest I've ever come is trying a larger notebook that was split into different sections (like those 5-subject notebooks for school,) but eventually that just got to be too much. I'd rather have smaller books designated for specific things than have to flip through different sections.

Color coding is also huge thing for me. It's just easier for me to remember, "The red notebook is for X, the green one is for Y, and the blue one is for when all hell breaks loose!"

I have loved reading about everyone's organizational journeys!

And I am thrilled to have met such a "not(ebook)able" partner in record-keeping crime!

I keep notes on my calendar and several alarms on my phone and tablet.

You gotta do that! 😀

This might be a bit off topic of keeping track of things, but I was thinking back to when I was young and if there were signs then of me being prone to this sort of thing at a young age. I remembered Lisa Frank. Was anyone else a Lisa Frank fan growing up? lol

Anyway, when other kids were going to the toy area, I wanted to go to the stationary area and look at all the neat stuff there. I lived in the country and went to a small school in a small town (I rode the bus for about an hour each way). Anyway, one of my friends lived in a different area of the country and another friend lived in the small town. Oddly, back then it was long distance to call from where I lived to where they lived and vice versa. So, when it was summer time, we'd snail mail each other (only a rare few people had computers then). We'd use Lisa Frank stationary to write each other. I wish I still had some of our letters. Of course, we'd use the stationary to write down notes and make lists. I don't know if my love of stationary added to my obsession of keeping track of everything or if I just liked Lisa Frank at the time.

I hadn't thought about Lisa Frank in a long time, so I guess I wanted to make a record of it lol.

We used to have a Woolworth's in our little town, and they had a stationery section -- with actual stationery. Garfield, Just a Rose, and other decorative paper for LETTERS and not just school notebook paper! I was in heaven and loved checking out what they had.

When I was in school, the cool girls had Lisa Frank and Hello Kitty -- I loved Lisa's colors, but not as many of her designs, but my parents always said no -- because they were too expensive.

I am ever-grateful that my parents taught me delayed gratification.

But these days, if I see something bright and colorful that I wouldn't have been able to have in childhood -- I sometimes snag it now, just because I can buy it for myself.

If/when I get to meet other people here on the site, don't be surprised if I have a Hello Kitty notebook in hand!

My folks only allowed a limited amount of Lisa Frank due to cost. We had a place in town that was a store that was probably the equivalent of Big Lots these days. They'd take me there for any discounted Lisa Frank stuff. Fortunately, my 2 friends that I wrote to also went to this same store, so we didn't mind if we were writing each other on discounted Lisa Frank stationary lol.

I loved Garfield even more! I would have definitely went for the Garfield stationary if I had seen any. My grandmother did find a Garfield eraser at a store that she gifted me. My young heart was ecstatic over that eraser