Remembering Franklin

If you entered the business world in the 90s, there is little doubt that you own one or even several Franklin planners.  Remember the day you graduated to the "Monarch" size with the built in holder in the front for you PDA (Personal Digital Assistant)?  Yeah, me too...proud moment.

However, if you are still living within the world of symbols (alphabetic, arrow, dots, and checks) to organize your days, I implore you to close the Franklin...go ahead...I'll wait...and join us in 2014.

Don't be afraid.  While the transition from your current system can be overwhelming, I promise after the initial effort of setting it up, it will simplify your scheduling in 3 ways.

1) Mess Free Revisions.  No more erasing, scribbling, or squeezing in the last 3 items on one line at the bottom.  A digital schedule will allow you to revise with ease.

2) Less Time.  With an online scheduler, baseball practice every Monday and Wednesday can be added in one update versus writing an entry for each.

2) Multiple Formats.  Almost all schedulers today are available in multiple formats; web, mobile and for those who must, printed.

While there are a lot of options available, the right one for you may depend on your family dynamics.  We use Cozi (www.cozi.com) and absolutely love it.  We all use the same account, but each family member has an individual color.  Unlike google calendars, you don't need a separate calendar for each person.  It's one calendar, and you choose for each event who the participants are.  Then, you can view everyone or just one person.

It allows me to print a weekly or monthly schedule out.  This is essential for me as some of my kids are still small enough not to have an electronic device to see the schedule on.  For the older kids, and my husband, it's nice for us to be able to share calendars.  This allows my sons to enter their work schedule or sports schedules, and my husband and I can see at a glance what is available if we are making plans with friends.

While all schedulers I tried have their own pros and cons, try a few and you will find one that works best for you.

Happy Scheduling!