My Diary/Calendar

What is the one thing that you found hard to manage when you became a parent? For me, it is my time. I have always been a procrastinator. My lifestyle is not the best, I eat badly, and when the weather gets cold like it has been lately, I struggle with the motivation to exercise, therefore my energy levels are pretty low. I am trying hard to manage my diary to prevent missing appointments or double booking.

My diary is also where I keep my plan for blogging, and my to-do list. I am a little unhappy with my diary, and would love to upgrade to an Inner-B diary, which is something I will look to do in the future. In the meantime however, I have this diary, which I picked up from Cheap as Chips. It has a week to a view, and ribbon page separator.

I use lots of sticky notes. I am currently taking part in Seven Cherubs project: Happy days in May. I keep my notes for this project on sticky notes each week. I was also inspired by the lovely Marissa at Beautifully Organised when she completed a post on her own diary, complete with a little video. She talked about using a sticky note in her diary with a small to-do list, containing only 3-4 items. The idea is that with a smaller list you don't feel overwhelmed. I have been putting this into practice and finding it actually works. I then also will sometimes do another sticky note list for a specific day of the week.

I also use this magnetic calendar. I picked up the magnetic whiteboard from the reject shop for less than 10 dollars and drew up my own calendar on it. Every appointment that is in my diary goes on this calendar. This means that I can check my appointments at a glance. I don't need to open my diary and fight through everything written in there to find my appointments for the day when I am trying to chase a toddler around the house. To make it even easier, I use a red marker for my appointments, and blue for appointments and play dates for Master A. 

I even put in recurring appointments, such as day care, as often when I am on the phone at home and making a play date, I forget about these things and have booked things on days Master A is at day care, or his dad's house. 

This is my current system for my diary and planner. It is certainly working for appointments. I haven't double booked appointments, or forgotten them in a couple of months now (most mums would know that this is an achievement in itself!)

However when it comes to my time management, I am struggling to find time for everything. So I am currently looking at improving my time management skills, and organising my blog, so watch this space!

Do you have an effective diary system? I would love to hear about it.

Do you have good time management skills? Whats your secret?